Tree Man of India Peepal Baba joins Jury for Times Internet Ecopreneur Awards 2026

For over four decades, Peepal Baba, the public name of Swami Prem Parivartan has carried out a mission that began with a single sapling and grew into one of India’s largest volunteer-led tree plantation movements.

Widely recognized across the country for this continuous environmental hustle, travelling from villages to cities to get local communities to plant, protect and care for trees.Now, as a jury member for the Times Internet Ecopreneur Awards 2026, Peepal Baba is bringing decades of real, mud-on-the-boots environmental experience to a platform built for sustainability-driven innovation. Having him on the panel highlights a massive shift, the growing realization that actual, community-led climate action is a critical part of the conversation around sustainable development and green businessA movement that began in childhoodFounded formally in 2011, Give Me Trees Trust became the institutional backbone of his expanding environmental movement. The organisation describes itself as a community-based voluntary tree-planting initiative focused on protecting native forest trees and restoring ecological balance. Its philosophy revolves around what the trust calls the “three Bs” - bees, birds, and butterflies highlighting the interconnected relationship between trees and biodiversityThe scale of the movement is striking. Different sources place the number of trees planted and preserved by him and his volunteers at over 20 million, with some recent figures suggesting the number has crossed 24 million trees across multiple Indian states.

His organisation also says he has conserved and planted over 1.25 crore peepal trees over the years.Times Internet Ecopreneur Awards 2026The Times Internet Ecopreneur Awards 2026 is designed to acknowledge individuals, startups, and established companies pulling off measurable environmental impacts. The platform focuses heavily on sectors like renewable energy, circular economy models, waste management, sustainable mobility, clean tech, and grassroots community efforts.

At a time when climate conversations are becoming central to business and public policy, the awards attempt to spotlight solutions that combine innovation with long-term environmental responsibility. The platform also reflects how sustainability entrepreneurship in India is rapidly evolving beyond corporate boardrooms and into communities, grassroots initiatives, and citizen-led action.This initiative doesn’t exist in a vacuum; it’s a direct reflection of the massive boom happening across India's green entrepreneurship scene.

Over the last few years, we’ve seen a huge surge in public spotlight and serious investor interest when it comes to climate-tech startups, EV ventures, slow fashion labels, and recycling innovators. The Ecopreneur Awards are essentially here to pour fuel on that fire, giving these planet-first companies the mainstream credibility, visibility, and backing they need to keep changing the game.For someone like Peepal Baba, whose work has largely depended on volunteers and public participation rather than institutional power, the association with the awards carries symbolic weight. It acknowledges that environmental leadership can emerge not only from startups and enterprises, but also from sustained grassroots movements that inspire behavioural change at scale.To nominate yourself or your organisation for the award, CLICK HERE