Om Prakash Sharma: A Living Legend

I am a passionate cook and not many people are familiar with this aspect of my life. Cooking is not only my hobby but it is like a passion and that is the reason I have kept a separate kitchen in my office where I off and on cook food and serve it to my friends. The idea of making traditional food from forest herbs and vegetables struck my mind in summer of 2015 when I accompanied Mr Om Prakash Sharma (O P Sharma) the then Additional Principal Chief Conservator Forests (APCCF) to Basant Wodder forests near Doodh Pathri in Budgam. We visited the area in connection with commemorating the World Environment Day on June 5^th 2015. A group of students from a local private school and their teachers were also accompanying us. When Mr O P Sharma spoke about various forest herbs and edible green leafy vegetables like Hand, Krech, Obej, Pamb Haakh, Lissa, forest mushrooms like Paenz Unjgee etc., I suggested him organising a small food festival wherein we can cook and serve the same forest food to people.

In August 2015 Mr Sharma was posted as Director Environment, Ecology & Remote Sensing J&K Govt. Soon after being posted there he decided to organise a forest food festival. Initially we decided to hold the event at Yusmarg to see if the programme could be held there, but due to some logistical issues that was not possible. Finally we decided to organise this event in Srinagar at Institute of Hotel Management (IHM) Rajbagh. On Oct 4^th 2015 my dream came true and the first ever Forest Food Festival was organised at Srinagar by Department of Environment Ecology and Remote Sensing in association with Centre for Conservation of Culture and Heritage (CCCH) Kashmir and Institute of Hotel Management -IHM Srinagar.

Faculty of IHM Srinagar especially Chef Yaseen prepared lots of dishes from forest herbs and mushrooms including other Kashmiri vegetables like Makai Halwa, Hand Paratha, Maval Cookies, Soi Soup etc. Before these dishes were prepared we had several brainstorming sessions at IHM about the food items, soups, desserts that could be prepared. O P Sharma, Nusrat Jahanara Chairperson Centre for Conservation of Culture and Heritage (CCCH) a small NGO working on promotion of forest and Kashmiri veg food, late Ramzan Khan Sahib from Gurez, Chef Yaseen including myself shared many ideas. We did a lot of brainstorming on this for a week or so. On Sharma ji’s request Ramzan Khan sahib brought lots of herbs from Gurez and he played a great role in holding that event. The then Forest Minister Bali Baghat inaugurated the festival. From 2015 to 2019 I kept writing on the subject and in July 2019 we again organised an event at Yusmarg with Mr O P Sharma and after a week or an event was held in Gurez also.

These food festivals made the visiting people well aware about our forest wealth and biodiversity and this was a great learning for me especially. I not only wrote extensively on forest food festivals, forest herbs and other allied things but I became a great proponent of Kashmir’s traditional food especially the veg food which is very much rich but remains unexplored . I went to Gujarat several times to promote this food in different food festivals and we got great appreciation from people. In fact 60 to 70 % tourists who visit Kashmir are vegetarian but we serve them Punjabi veg food which isn’t our traditional food at all. The credit of getting acquainted with our Kashmiri herbs, leafy vegetables and mushrooms goes to O P Sharma.

Om Prakash Sharma Vidyarthi’s decades-long service has left a lasting imprint on literature, environmental conservation, and community awareness. As a Retired Indian Forest Service -IFS Officer, his professional expertise seamlessly merged with his passion for public service, making him a unique bridge between policy, science, and grassroots action.

 Through his pioneering “Tree Talk” initiative with over 1,655 outdoor sessions across Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh, and other regions—he inspired thousands of students, farmers, villagers, and urban citizens to understand, value, and conserve biodiversity. These interactions democratized environmental education, bringing scientific knowledge to the field level in a free, accessible, and engaging manner. It is now more than 15 years since this Tree Talk was initiated by Mr Sharma, he continues to hold the sessions even after his retirement. He keeps traveling to Kashmir and other parts of J&K to hold the tree talk sessions.

O P Sharma, who calls himself Vidyarti (student), has written over 52 books in Dogri, Hindi, and English—spread awareness of environmental stewardship, local flora and fauna, and Dogra cultural heritage. By producing the first Dogri book on the environment, he empowered local communities to relate ecological concepts to their own traditions.

Mr Sharma has worked selflessly without monetary gain, often funding events, publications, and awareness campaigns himself. He has gifted books to educational institutions, guided biodiversity councils, participated in policy-making bodies, and mentored young researchers.

His volunteer roles include serving on the Ladakh Biodiversity Council, J&K Biodiversity Council, and J&K Wildlife Board, contributing his expertise for sustainable development. His approach—blending traditional wisdom with modern science—has promoted sustainable livelihoods, inspired conservation ethics, and preserved indigenous ecological knowledge.

Overall, O P Sharma Vidyarthi’s social work reflects a rare combination of environmental activism, literary excellence, and cultural preservation, leaving a legacy that continues to motivate citizens toward ecological responsibility and respect for biodiversity.

Through is tree talks Mr Sharma has revived people’s vernacular names of plants, animals, birds & mushrooms. He compiled Bilingual trilingual illustrated dictionaries with English,Hindi, Dogri, Kashmiri names of plants & animals. He ignited young minds for Plant, bird and butterfly Taxonomy as Director Ecology, Environment & Remote sensing J&K and organized citizens gatherings to spread indigenous knowledge on flora & fauna as per Indian Biodiversity Act 2002.

Mr Sharma collected forgotten Dogri words and coined new words in the field of Environment, Biodiversity, Agriculture, Botany, Zoology & forestry. And also popularized forgotten wild edibles and organised series of Forest Food Festivals. Through his work Mr Sharma provided platform to farmers, shepherds, writers,poets, historians, scientists, botanists, zoologists, wildlifers, birders, butterfly experts to pool ideas & wisdom for the benefit of common masses & students.

Through his tree talk programme that is going on for last 15 years Mr Sharma has spread biodiversity awareness in all districts of Jammu, Kashmir & Ladakh as well as major cities of India like Chandigarh , Delhi , Hyderabad, Bangalore, Mysore, Dehradun, Jalandhar. He conducted Tree Talk sessions in Chicago & New York as well.

With his immense action research work about forestry and biodiversity Mr Sharma innovated herbal beverages, teas, snacks like Chiu pakauda, Taju chai, Tinbru snacks, Remusatia khatta, Simbal da Ambal, Butrub parantha, Hippophae sauce, Tarad Parantha, Shisham chai, Gamhari chai etc.. He connected the knowledge of local language with expert knowledge of scientists to bridge the gaps. O P Sharma discovered new plant taxa that were not reported by workers from J&K, the taxa included Solanum sisymbrifolium, Chionanthus ramiflorus, Daphniphyllum himalense, Bischofia javanica, Ilex excelsa, Machilus gamblei, Mosla dianthera, Ludwigia octovalvis, Beilschmiedia roxburghiana etc.

O P Sharma is son of the soil who hails from Ramnagar area of district Udhampur. After rendering 32 long years in J&K Forest Department, Sharma ji retired from active Government service in 2020 as Principal Chief Conservator of Forests. His last posting was Director State Forest Research Institute. After serving Forest department in different capacities for more than three decades I am sorry to say that successive Government’s in Jammu & Kashmir couldn’t utilize services of this enthusiastic Forest officer. Because of his honesty and simplicity he was never posted on important positions and I blame J&K’s bureaucracy and politicians for this. Even after retirement he continues to disseminate his knowledge and skills to other people particularly younger generation. Sharma ji has a great following among Green Warriors and envo-saviours not only in Jammu or Srinagar but in all areas of J&K, especially in Gurez, Budgam, Kupwara, Ganderbal, and Kishtwar. He has a vast experience with him which needs to be transferred to people especially youth.

Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat is an Acumen Fellow and Chairman J&K RTI Movement