A little deeper look into the status of this benevolent creation of God provides us with the following information about the venerable Coco-nut tree (Cocos Nucifera):
The Oxford Dictionary defines this as a “Tall tropical Palm Tree”. The Reader’s Digest Great Encyclopaedic Dictionary calls the Coco as “A Tropical Palm Tree”
The Encyclopaedia Britannica (EB) describes the Cocos Nucifera as a Tree of the Palm Family. The EB goes on to say that that the slender leaning ringed trunk of the tree rises to a height of up to 25 meters. In Indonesia it is claimed that the coconuts have as many uses as there are days in a year. It is a well-known fact that the tree provides us with its precious nuts which in turn besides other uses provides us with coconut oil which is used in the manufacture of soaps, shampoos, detergents, edible oil, margerines, vegetable shortenings, synthetic rubber, glycerine, hydraulic brake-fluid, plasticizers for safety glass. Copra meal is a livestock feed and fertilizer, and shredded coconut is a familiar item on the grocers’ shelves.
The Government’s decision to demote the ancient venerable Tree to any other status is nothing short of blatant “ungratefulness” and smacks of utter lack of application of mind. While on one side we have organizations and even local governments at various levels showering praises on select milch animals, on the other hand we have our Government apparently giving in to pressure from vested interests to make the chopping of the irreplaceable coconut tree as easy as mowing down grass or weeds.
In our own culture and ethos It is said that that a person can live on one coconut tree. From material for food, clean potable water, roof, timber, toddy, the famous Goan coconut feni, the rare palm cabbage used in exotic salads, the oil and oil cake, fuel, ropes and mats, there is not a single part of the coconut Tree that goes waste. No doubt, where necessary the tree may need to be cut when it has outlived its life or when it is posing a danger to the surroundings. But to swipe the species in one simple action of calling it anything but a tree is inhuman. Nature may never forgive us for such a crime.
