It just takes a step to move forward and set a benchmark. One can work and work throughout life but to set an example, asks a lot.
There hasn’t been a moment when we are not proud of our co-citizen’s wonders, but today the chest dwells up to another level. Sh. Shyam Sundar Paliwal of Piplantri Village, Rajsamand District is no lesser than a superhero. His work in the fields of plantation, water conversation and girl child attracts the whole world down to this astounding village.
About Piplantri Village of Rajsamand
- Piplantri is a village located in Rajsamand district in Rajasthan State, India.
- The villagers of Piplantri plant 111 trees every time a girl child is born and the community ensures that the trees survive and rigorously take care.
- To ensure financial security, after the birth of a girl child, the villagers contribute collectively and from the parents and put the amount in a fixed deposit.
- To make sure that girl child receives proper education, the villagers make the parents sign an affidavit which also restricts them from marrying her off before she attains the legal age for marriage.
- This initiative was started by Sh. Shyam Sundar Paliwal, the former sarpanch (the village head) and a Padma Shri awardee in the memory of his daughter Kiran, who passed away a few years ago.
Benefits of the campaign
- The initiative has also helped the village’s economy a lot.
- Village has planted more than 2.5 million Aloe vera plants around the trees, just to keep termites away from all the trees, especially the fruit bearing one.
- The villagers used the aloe vera as a remedy and gradually realized that it can be processed and marketed in a variety of ways.
- After that, the community started to produce and market aloe vera based products like juices and gels and other products.
- The campaign has also involved building check dams on the pastures on nearby hills to recharge the groundwater level.
Not only this marvelous village has excelled in the campaign to save the girl child and make them self-reliant but also their efforts to save the ecosystem and encourage the concept of plantation and water conservation are extraordinary .
In a country where male children are blindly supported and the rate of girl child foeticide is still not decreasing, this noble step surely has brought a change, which is a lesson to each and everyone that if one tries, one can!