India, April 24 -- This Earth Day, around 80 members of the Gond tribe travelled from Bastar, Chhattisgarh to the heart of Delhi with one message: protect the earth, stop the destruction.

For the Gond adivasi community, Earth Day is not a modern concept. They have revered the earth for generations, long before the UN declared Earth Day in 1970.

The group also discovered a connection in the city - Karkarduma, a locality in Delhi, shares its roots with the Gondi word for protector of earth. For many of them, it was their first time in the city.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Down to Earth....