Hailed as the ‘Encyclopedia Of Forests’, 72-year-old Karnataka-based environmentalist Tulsi Gowda was among the notable figures awarded with the Padma Shri by President Ram Nath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhavan’s Durbar Hall.
Belonging to the Halakki tribe in Uttara Kannada, Karnataka - Gowda was awarded for her immense conservationist efforts towards protecting the environment. Gowda is known to possess in-depth knowledge of plants and herbs that she has gained from over 60 years of working with nature.
Hailing from the village of Honnali, she received no formal education and lost her father when she was just two years old. The environmentalist gained her in-depth knowledge by working at a local nursery with her mother from the age of 12 onward. Though she was married off before reaching her teens, her dedication to preserving the environment did not waver and she received a permanent position in the Karnataka Forest Department where she looked after the nurseries.
As an environmentalist, her most notable contribution is planting over 30,000 saplings. Though she has now retired, she has dedicated her life to educating the children of her village about the importance of forests and how to care for seeds.
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