Sabujshree

What is Sabujshree?

Sabujshree is a scheme of the Forest Department, Government of West Bengal under which the family of every newborn baby in the state is gifted a free sapling of a valuable tree species. The scheme was announced by the Chief Minister and rolled out from 2016, and it is often written in Bengali transliteration as "Sabujshree Prakalpa": sabuj meaning green and shree meaning wealth or grace.

Sabujshree links two separate state priorities in a single act. The first is afforestation: West Bengal adds several lakh saplings a year through Social Forestry, and tying planting to a life event guarantees that the sapling has a named family responsible for it. The second is a long-term family asset. A mahogany, teak or sissoo tree planted at birth reaches harvestable size roughly when the child reaches adulthood, so the Forest Department frames the sapling as a small savings instrument that grows in soil instead of a bank.

The design is deliberately administration-light. Sabujshree has no application form, no online portal registration, no income test and no caste condition. The sapling is handed over at the point where the state already meets the family. The maternity ward at the time of discharge.

Who is eligible for Sabujshree?

You can receive a Sabujshree sapling if:

• A child has been born to your family in West Bengal.
• The birth is recorded at a government hospital, sub-divisional or district hospital, block primary health centre, sub-centre or a registered private nursing home participating in the distribution.
• You are willing to plant the sapling and look after it, normally on your own land, homestead plot or a place your family can protect.

Sabujshree is universal within the state. There is no income ceiling, no requirement to hold a BPL card, no ration card condition, no minimum education and no restriction by religion, caste or category. Both boy and girl children are covered, the scheme is frequently discussed alongside Kanyashree Prakalpa because both concern children, but Sabujshree itself is not girl-child-only.

You are not eligible if:

• The birth did not take place in West Bengal and the family is not resident in the state.
• You are seeking a second sapling for the same child. Sabujshree is one sapling per newborn, not one per visit.
• You are asking for a cash grant instead of the sapling. Sabujshree carries no cash component and no official can convert it into money.

There is one practical limitation rather than a legal exclusion: families living in rented rooms in dense urban wards sometimes have nowhere to plant. In those cases block or municipal staff usually suggest planting in a community space, school compound or roadside plantation strip identified by the local body.

What documents are required for Sabujshree?

Sabujshree is one of the few West Bengal schemes with essentially no document burden. No income certificate, no caste certificate and no bank account is required, because nothing is paid in cash.

How to apply for Sabujshree and get the sapling

1. Deliver at a government health facility — a district hospital, sub-divisional hospital, rural hospital, block primary health centre or participating nursing home in West Bengal. The distribution point is the maternity ward itself.
2. Ask the ward staff or the nursing sister about Sabujshree at the time of discharge. In most facilities the sapling, supplied in advance by the local Forest Range Office or Social Forestry nursery, is handed to the mother together with the discharge papers and the birth record.
3. Sign or give a thumb impression in the distribution register. The register records the mother's name, the date of birth of the child and the species handed over. Keep the acknowledgement slip if one is issued.
4. Plant the sapling within a few days, ideally in the monsoon months of June to September when survival rates are highest. Choose a spot on your own land, homestead boundary or patta plot where the family can water and protect it.
5. If you did not get a sapling at discharge, or if the delivery took place at home, approach the Gram Panchayat office, the Block Development Office or the nearest Forest Range Office with the birth record. Blocks hold stock during the planting season and can issue the sapling later.

There is no separate online application. Any website asking you to pay a fee or fill a paid form to "register for Sabujshree" is not an official channel.

Which species are given under Sabujshree?

Saplings issued under Sabujshree are chosen for long-term value and for suitability to the local terrain. Species commonly distributed include mahogany, teak, gamhar, sissoo (shisham), red sander and rosewood. In some divisions, fruit-bearing species are offered instead, particularly in areas where the household plot is small and a fruit tree gives the family an earlier and more regular return than a timber tree.

The choice is made by the Divisional Forest Officer and the local nursery, not by the family, because a species that will not survive the soil and rainfall of that block is of no use to anyone. Coastal and saline zones of South 24 Parganas, the laterite tracts of Purulia and Bankura, and the sub-Himalayan belt of Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar all get different planting stock.

How do you care for the Sabujshree tree?

Sabujshree only delivers its promised value if the sapling survives, and the first two years matter most.

• Plant during the monsoon. A pit of roughly 45 cm on each side, filled back with loosened soil and any available compost, gives the roots a start.
• Fence or guard the sapling against goats and cattle for the first two seasons. This is the single largest cause of loss in village plantings.
• Water through the first two dry seasons, particularly February to May in the western districts.
• Keep the base clear of weeds in a circle of about half a metre.
• Do not plant directly under electric lines or against a wall foundation. A mahogany or teak that lives 20 years needs the room.

The Forest Department's Range Office and the Social Forestry wing can advise on spacing and on which species suit your plot. Extension staff at the Range Office are also the right people to ask about later felling permissions, since some timber species in West Bengal require permission to fell and transport even from private land.

Common problems and how to fix them

• No sapling was offered at discharge. Stock arrives at facilities in batches. Note the date of birth, keep the discharge slip, and follow up at the block office or Range Office during the next planting season.
• The sapling died in the first summer. Ask the Range Office whether a replacement can be issued from the nursery. Replacement is at the division's discretion; it is not a guaranteed entitlement.
• No land to plant on. Raise it with the Gram Panchayat or ward councillor; school compounds, community grounds and roadside strips are used in such cases.
• Someone asks for money. Sabujshree is free. No fee, no service charge and no agent commission is payable at any stage.

Where to complain about Sabujshree

Take the matter first to the Range Officer or Divisional Forest Officer of your forest division, since the Forest Department supplies and distributes the planting stock. For distribution failures inside a hospital, the Block Medical Officer of Health or the hospital superintendent is the right authority. Block and district-level grievances can also be placed at a Duare Sarkar camp or before the Block Development Officer.

Statewide, the West Bengal Chief Minister's grievance channel and the district administration's public grievance cell accept written complaints about any state scheme, including non-delivery under Sabujshree.

Sabujshree at a glance

Sabujshree is a small scheme with a long horizon. Sabujshree does not put money in a bank account this month, and families should not expect it to. What it does is put a named, valuable tree in the hands of every family that has a child in West Bengal, at no cost and with no paperwork, and if that tree survives twenty years, it will be worth considerably more than most one-time cash grants the state hands out.

How to check your application status

Sabujshree has no application form and no online portal login, so there is no tracking number or status dashboard to check the way you would for a cash-transfer scheme. What you can verify instead is whether your family's sapling has actually been recorded and collected.

• Check the distribution register at the hospital. Every facility distributing saplings keeps a register noting the mother's name, the child's date of birth and the species handed over. If you signed or gave a thumb impression at discharge, that entry is your proof of receipt; ask the ward staff to show you the entry if you want to confirm it was logged correctly.
• If the sapling was promised but not handed over at discharge, there is nothing to "track" online. Instead, contact the hospital's nursing superintendent or the Block Medical Officer of Health and ask whether the batch for that period has been recorded against your child's birth.
• For a sapling requested later at the Gram Panchayat, Block Development Office or Forest Range Office (because delivery happened at home, or none was available at discharge), ask the office for the date your request was noted and the next expected stock delivery from the Social Forestry nursery. Blocks generally restock ahead of the June to September planting season, so a request made outside that window may simply be waiting for the season rather than being lost.
• There is no SMS alert or helpline number published for Sabujshree specifically. The reliable way to follow up is a phone call or visit to the Range Office or Block Development Office rather than waiting for the state to notify you.
• If you want written confirmation of what stock a division has released, an RTI application to the Divisional Forest Officer covering "Sabujshree sapling distribution records for [block/ward], [year]" is a legitimate route, though it is a slower path meant for disputes rather than routine follow-up.

Common reasons for rejection

Sabujshree does not go through a scrutiny or verification process the way a cash-benefit application does, so there is no rejection letter or portal status marked "rejected." Requests still fail to result in a sapling for specific, avoidable reasons:

• The hospital or nursing home was not a participating facility. Sabujshree stock is supplied by the local Forest Range Office to government hospitals, health centres and enrolled private nursing homes. A birth at a facility outside that supply chain, or a home birth, will not automatically generate a sapling; the family must actively approach the Gram Panchayat or Range Office afterward with the birth record.
• The request came outside the planting season with no follow-up. Stock is released in batches timed around the monsoon. A family that asks in December and does not follow up again closer to June is often simply forgotten in practice, not formally refused.
• A second sapling was asked for the same child. Sabujshree is one sapling per newborn. A request for a replacement of a sapling that already died is handled as a discretionary top-up by the division, not as a fresh entitlement, and can be turned down if the division has no spare stock.
• No birth record was produced when applying after the fact. At the point of hospital discharge nothing needs to be shown, but a later request at the Block Development Office or Range Office needs the discharge slip or birth certificate to establish that the child was actually born and roughly when, since staff have no other way to confirm the claim.
• The family asked for cash instead of the sapling, or asked to sell the entitlement. Sabujshree carries no cash value and officials cannot convert it; any such request is refused by design, not by error.
• The family is not resident in West Bengal. A birth that occurred while travelling through the state, where the family's actual residence and future planting location are elsewhere, does not qualify, since the scheme is tied to a West Bengal address where the tree will be grown and monitored.

In each of these cases the fix is procedural rather than a formal appeal: produce the birth record, approach the Range Office or Block Development Office directly instead of waiting, and time the follow-up to the planting season when fresh stock arrives.