Kamal Dabral, student of Saksham Sanchar Foundation shared the sustainable story of a village in Rajsamand.
This is the story of a village in Rajsamand District of Rajasthan. The story of the land degraded by mining of marble and dumping of marble waste. The story of the land where gender inequality prevailed.
But things changed gradually with a grassroot econominist movement.
Today the villagers plant 111 trees, when a girl child is born and pledge to nurture them as they grow.
The village now boasts of its more than 3,50,00 trees that provide precious forest produce, nurture biodiversity and support livelihoods.
The village today, has something even more valuable : young, educated girls who believe that these forests will protect our future.
LOCATION :
Piplantri Village in Rajsamand district of Rajasthan, India.
HISTORY :
Piplantri, a village in the Rajsamand district of Rajasthan, was once a victim to denuded land due to marble mining, exhausted foliage and gender inequality.
Before the year 2000, Piplantri faced one of the worst adversities of industrialization. With almost no forests and greenery left, the entire village was dominated by a colossal amount of marble mines and quarries.
White marble, a much sought stone by the builders for construction industry of modern buildings is available in abundance in the area. Because of large scale mining of the marble the village panchayat faced a problem which is common to such villages i.e. marble waste was dumped on the village graze land. This dumpling resulted in formation of hillocks of marble waste making the land barren, moreover nothing could be grown on the hillocks as well and the winds blew the fine marble particles with it. The villagers without even realising inhaled it and asthma was a common disease among them. Because of mining drug problem also started to grow up among the village youth.
Water levels went down till 800 ft. leading to a situation when the villagers would happily share their food but not part with even a single drop of water willingly as scarcely any water was left to drink.
The village lacked general infrastructure, roads, irrigation and agriculture. With dust from the quarries covering the top soil, the lands went untilled. The villagers worried about no one wanting to marry off their daughters in this village.
THE CHANGE
The story of its transformation began in 2005, with Shri. Shyam Sunder Paliwal, the former Sarpanch (head of the Panchayat) of Rajasthan’s Piplantri village. Mr Paliwal who had studied upto only class eight tried to figure out the problems faced by the villagers. He noted that a water level has gone down alarmingly, the village youth was leaving as there were not enough employment opportunities. Gender discrimination against the girl child was also prevalent in the area. He realized that Sarpanch alone could nothing; therefore, he devised a strategy to involve the whole community in the developmental work of the Panchayat.
His initial projects included upgrading the school building and making education more feasible.
The Gram Sabha canceled the dumping permit given to the quarry to dup garbage on the 34 hectares of village common property in exchange for a tiny (1%) royalty on any material extracted from Panchayat territory, and the firm was ordered to empty the property.
The movement of planting trees was spearheaded by the Padma Shri, Shyam Sundar Paliwal, who was devastated after he lost his 17 year old daughter ‘Kiran’ in 2006 to bouts of dehydration. He planted a tree in her memory and encouraged everyone in his village to do the same for their daughters. Soon the village was able to revive their land and even earn additional income through the forest produce. The village now has more than 350,000 trees, with various indigenous varieties, proving to be a boon to the Environment and Climate.
The initiative has also helped the town’s economy. To keep termites away from the trees, many of which bear fruit, the village has planted more than 2.5 million Aloe vera plants around them.
Water levels that were below 800 ft have risen up 15ft. to ground level in mere 5 years.
Shri. Paliwal tapped various resources, schemes, and programs devised by the government to remediate the village. Water pipes were installed, education institutions were constructed, higher education became more feasible and infrastructure and sanitization were being developed. Another creative investment was that of the play-pump which was a water pump attached to a merry-go-round. Fresh water was pumped and circulated every time the kids used the swing.
With his increased involvement and humanitarian approach, he tackled three of the most prevalent problems in the most efficient way. Saving the girl child, growing more trees and reviving ground water levels.
By-Product of the change
To protect the planted trees from termites, aloe-vera plants were planted on the perimeter. Gradually, the villagers realized that Aloe vera could be processed and marketed in a variety of ways.
The number of aloe-vera plants lying around led to the inception of other women-led initiatives. Starting with 10 women, aloe vera was used to manufacture various products like shampoo, gel and then were commercialized in the market.
The prize money of Nirmal Village Award (Rs. Five lacs) was put into this enterprise which allowed the production to bloom. Other products from the vegetation were also put into use in the same way.
Gel, Juice and other products of Aloe Vera is being manufactured and marketed enabling more and more employment opportunities to the villagers.
With the increase in irrigation and fertile land, the men left their jobs at the quarries and got back to agriculture and farming. This added to the economic growth of the village as it became more self-sufficient than ever.
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
He encouraged that the whole Gram Sabha comprising all the villagers of the Panchayat gather and participate in the meetings to share their ideas of development of the village. This increased the unity and cooperation among the villagers. They collectively worked on the idea of covering the Marble Waste Hillocks with layers of soil and sand and sowed grass, Planted trees and cultivated Aloe Vera to keep the termite away. In due course because of collective efforts of the villagers under the guidance of Mr Palival and taking advantage of various Government schemes the villagers were able to cover the hillocks with bamboo, green grass, trees, herbs and medicinal plants.
To conserve water small ponds were made so that water is stored. The water level also increased. Now the village has many open wells which are full of water and farmers use this water to irrigate their fields. The village women who earlier would happily give their food to others but not share water with others now have taps at their home with regular supply of water.
Some of the villagers who had left the village because of unemployment while returning to the village during COVID-19 found that the conditions have changed positively and decided to permanently settle in the village, grow their own crops and lead a happy life with their kith and kin.
THE ECO FEMINISM MODEL OF PIPLANTRI
The village Sarpanch, Mr Paliwal encouraged the villagers to plan more and more trees in common land so that the land is protected from encroachment, the green cover goes on increasing forever and villagers get fodder for the cattle at arms distance. The villagers plant 111 trees on the birth of girl child and 11 trees to remember their dear ones who have left the mortal world. As the trees are associated with the loved ones, the villagers eagerly and enthusiastically protect the trees and ensure that these trees attain fruition and no harm is caused to them by anyone. Over the years the community has planted over 3,00,000 trees on the common grazing land. These trees include Neem, Sheesham, Mango, Amla and many more.
The villagers contribute Rs. 21,000 on the birth of girl child and take Rs. 10,000 from parents of the girl child. The money so collected is put it in a fixed deposit bank account, which can be used only after she turns 18. To make sure that the girl child receives a proper education, the villagers make the parents sign an affidavit (legal contract) which states that the parents will ensure that the girl child is educated and will not be married off before she attains legal age of marriage.
Moreover, parents of the girl child are encouraged to deposit Rs. 500, 1,000 or more per month in accordance to their financial condition. Thus, the girl child has a substantial amount when she grows up for her higher education and marriage.
The villagers celebrate a festival during Monsoon in which the villagers gather together mothers carrying their little fairies in baskets on their heads as Lord Krishna was carried by Vasudev and fathers carrying plants and equipment required to plant the trees. They sing song, plant trees, girls tie Rakhee on the trees. Thus the Panchayat of 5500 villagers and 1800 families is engaged in the holy duty of conserving the culture and preserving the environment.
RECOGNITION & Popularity
ISRO, from the satellite images of the area, realized that in 2006 this was a Barren Mountain and it became a Green Mountain in 2016. The scientists were surprised to find such an enormous change in only a decade. They sent a team of scientists to verify the fact. They were also amazed by the enormity of the change brought in by the collective efforts of the villagers to protect the environment. After that many researchers, media persons, government officers, NGOs and Panchs and Sarpanchs of many villages visited the Piplantri Gram Panchayat to study the Piplantri Model and implement it with the modification required to suit the needs of their society and surroundings.
Mr Shyam Sunder Paliwal also known as father of eco-feminism in India, has openly declared that he is more than eager to help anyone willing to work for preserving the land and help mother nature sustain its resources.
The initiative that began in 2006 has turned Piplantri village into an oasis. The birth of a girl child is now welcomed and the village is covered with Neem, Mango, Amla and Sheesham trees leading to a higher water level and richer wildlife.
Shri. Paliwal won the Nirmal Gram Panchayat Award and a Cash Prize of Rs 5,00,000 which was utilized for processing the by-products of plants like aloe vera.
Because of his exemplary work, he received a Padma Shri Award in 2021.
Mr Paliwal has openly declared that he is willing to guide and work with anyone who is willing to work for the betterment of one’s village.
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