This Village In Rajasthan Plants 111 Trees When a Girl is Born

In a bid to spread awareness about the need to save the girl child and the environment, a village in Rajasthan has come up with a great initiative. In the Piplantri village of southern Rajasthan's Rajsamand district, it is mandatory to plant 111 saplings every time a girl is born. The initiative started 15 years ago and is being consistently followed since then.

The unique step tackles two major social issues - girl child empowerment and afforestation. The community looks after the trees and ensures that they gain fruition as the girls grow up.

Besides this, Rs 10,000 from the girl’s parents and Rs 31,000 from donors and Bhamashahs are collected and put in a fixed deposit (FD) account whenever a girl is born. The village panchayat is responsible for keeping an account of this. 

Thanks to the initiative, over a quarter-million trees, have already been planted. These include neem, sheesham, mango, Amla among others, as per sources.

How did it start?

The initiative was started by village's former sarpanch Shyam Sundar Paliwal in the memory of his daughter Kiran, who died a few years ago due to dehydration. She was only 18-years-old at that time.

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It is great to see Indians changing their mindsets and welcoming daughters with open arms. A family in Khed tehsil of Maharashtra’s Pune district has become a positive example of girl empowerment. They arranged a helicopter to take their newborn daughter home. Rajalakshmi was born on January 22 at her mother’s place in Bhosari. The family then hired a helicopter to take their newborn daughter to her home in Shelgaon in Khed. The girl’s father is a 30-years-old and a lawyer by profession. He said ecstatically, ‘We didn’t have any girl in our entire family. So, we decided to make our daughter’s homecoming special and we arranged a chopper ride worth Rs 1 lakh.”

In an interview with Aaj Tak, he also said that the birth of a newborn girl should be celebrated like a festival and that’s the message he wants to spread in society, as per a report.

Suggested Reading : Pune Family Brings Baby Girl Home In Helicopter To Celebrate Her Arrival