The Better India · 14 days ago

Jasmit Singh Arora, the ‘Gutli Man’, Distributes Mango Saplings to Farmers in West Bengal

Jasmit Singh Arora transforms what most people throw away-discarded mango seeds-into lakhs of fruit trees that offer farmers a path toward stable income and environmental regeneration. Since 2019, he has collected over 21 lakh seeds from across India and abroad, converting them into grafted saplings he distributes freely, along with training in organic farming and carbon credit systems that turn trees into both ecological and economic assets. What began as work that earned him mockery has become a movement: "The name 'Gutli Man' represents something powerful," he now says, as vendors, schools, and farmers send seeds and support his vision. His "Tree ka Langar"-a collective tree-planting initiative-reframes agriculture not just as extraction but as reciprocity, honoring what trees give back. In the space between a thrown-away seed and a fruiting tree lies a quiet insistence that waste, like potential, is only a matter of attention.