Rajasthan Patrika a Hindi daily (22nd May 2012); has pointed out that 1500 sq. km area of forests in and around Jaipur has been encroached upon. Out of this 700 sq. km has now illegal housing or mining activities. The temperatures of entire India are running above 40 degrees.Sometimes temperatures of Middle East countries are lower. North eastern states are recording average temperature increase which is much more than expected.
Multiple roads 4 lanes or 6 lanes have caused removal of hundreds of years old trees which covered the roads for miles and provided cool temperatures to travelers. I have seen personally the road to Ajmer or road to Agra or Road to Delhi or road to Kota had very thick trees which were cut with the promise of  planting some more trees. A simple fact is forgotten: man cannot make soil. Means it takes hundreds of years to obtain as soil profile rich in nutrients and microbial flora which will support plant life. If you have witnessed floods of1984 -1985 in Jaipur where thousands of km of soil was washed away the farmers were not able to raise crops. If we destroy 30 cm of top soil there will be no growth of plants. One can laugh seeing the cement pots being provided on roadside in main JLN Road of Jaipur in VIP colonies, abutting University of Rajasthan, containing costly plants: the ultimate fate is that all plants will die. Botanist have failed in their primary duty to create love for plants among common man, guide local bodies which plants are to be raised and how. Experiments are conducted without consulting any botanist worth name on different plant species. Someone has a fancy for Cycas hence  Cycas plants are raised along the road side in semi-arid regions. Once all plants die another effort is made with some garden plants and finally Ashok (Polyalthea sp )  comes in to picture. There is urgent need to create an army of people who will take care of plants round the year. Putting more desert coolers or AC will not help in future as there will be no water left to fill the coolers. Plants help capture water in nature. Please keep forests and help plants survive as the human survival depends on survival of plants and forests. Will someone care?