A Village That Plants 111 Trees For Every Girl Born In Rajasthan, India

Rajasthan is land where girls are killed almost every day, with the worst statistics of female infanticide in India. This is the land of honour and tradition. For example, in Rajasthan's Jaisalmer district, men prefer to keep their women behind veils, while their daughters are buried deep inside graves.

But things are changing fast. Women's empowerment is the new mantra. No more are girls considered a liability to be disposed off even before they are born.

In an atmosphere where every morning, our newspapers greet us with stories of girls being tormented, killed or treated like a doormat in one way or another, trust India's “village republics” to bring in some good news from time to time.

One such village in southern Rajasthan's Rajsamand district is quietly practicing its own, homegrown brand of Eco-feminism and achieving spectacular results.

For the last several years, Piplantri village panchayat (village council) has been saving girl children and increasing the green cover in and around it at the same time.

Here, villagers plant 111 trees every time a girl is born and the community ensures these trees survive, attaining fruition as the girls grow up.

Over the last six years, people here have managed to plant over a quarter million trees on the village's grazing commons- inlcuding neem, sheesham, mango, Amla among others.

But this village of 8,000 did not just stop at planting trees and greening their commons. To prevent these trees from being infested with termite, the residents planted over two and a half million Aloevera plants around them.

Now these trees, especially the Aloevera, are a source of livelihood for several residents.

Gradually, they realized that aloevera could be processed and marketed in a variety of ways. So they invited some experts and asked them to train their women. Now residents make and market aloevera products like juice, gel, pickle etc.

Fascinating stuff! Making the world a greener place to live in.

www.thehindu.com...

edit on 12-4-2013 by OrionHunterX because: (no reason given)

Just great!!
This proves old sayings are true: If you want the world to change, start with yourself.

Wow! That's fascinating! I think every village and town on Earth should follow this example. Imagine the number of trees we'll have which would not only slow down global warming but also release tons of fresh oxygen into our polluted atmosphere!

Good to know some people are changing.

Fabulous! Wow, we have some good news today!!
S/F Thanks for posting this.

What a great idea. I was just musing about how slow cultures and societies are to change...but it does happen. Maybe humanity really IS getting its act together!

They realized the implications of having to import brides due to a shortage of females.

It's encouraging to hear that some people in India don't just value a girl's life, but also play an active role in raising the quality of thier lives.

Rs. 21,000 is collected from the village residents and Rs.10,000 from the girl's father and this sum of Rs. 31,000 is made into a fixed deposit for the girl, with a maturity period of 20 years.

“We make these parents sign an affidavit promising that they would not marry her off before the legal age, send her to school regularly and take care of the trees planted in her name,” says Mr. Paliwal.

“Gradually, we realized that aloevera could be processed and marketed in a variety of ways. So we invited some experts and asked them to train our women. Now residents make and market aloevera products like juice, gel, pickle etc,” he says.

Originally posted by notsosunny
Just great!!
This proves old sayings are true: If you want the world to change, start with yourself.

It goes like this :- "Be the change that you wish to see in the world." - Mahatma Ghandi.

I find it weird that girls were killed in a country that itself worships Gods and Goddesses too. Anyways nice to know that the situation is improving.