In the modern times when crimes against women are on a rise and some of them are not safe even in their own houses, people from a small village in Rajasthan are setting up a great example by not only safeguarding daughters but also by securing their future and the future of the village as well.
We are talking about Piplantri village which is in the Rajsamand district of Rajasthan. Whenever a daughter is born in Piplantri, the locals plant 111 saplings and also take care of them so that these plants bear fruits as the girl grows older. The people of Piplantri contribute Rs. 21K, take Rs. 10K from the parents of the girl and deposit the total money in the bank in FD which will be withdrawn only after the girl will be 20 yrs old.
Not just this, the parents of the girl are also made to sign an affidavit in order to ensure that the girl won’t be married before the legal age of marriage and this is also a way to ensure that the girl gets appropriate education.
This project was started in the year 2006 by the former sarpanch, Shyam Sundar Paliwal in the memory of his daughter Kiran who passed away some years ago.
Since then, the residents of Piplantri are following it and as a result, the village has become an oasis. It has not only fruit bearing trees but more than 2.5 million aloe vera plants too which play a great role in keeping the pests away. Now the villagers are also earning a good amount by manufacturing and selling items made from aloe vera and they are also improving the environment considerably.
In a country where sons are given preference over daughters and some daughters are even ki*led just after their birth, Piplantri is scripting history and giving a lesson to the whole world.