Piplantri Woman Plants 111 Trees for Every Girl Child

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

Over the years, people here have managed to plant over a quarter million trees on the village’s grazing commons – including Neem, Sheesham, Mango, Amla among others.

Piplantri a village located in Rajsamand district in Rajasthan State, India.

The initiative begun in 2006 has turned Piplantri village into an oasis. The birth of girl child is now welcomed and the village is covered with Neem, Mango, Amla and Sheesham trees leading to a higher water level.

On an average 60 girls are born here every year, according to the village’s former sarpanch Shyam Sundar Paliwal, who was instrumental in starting this initiative in the memory of his daughter Kiran, who died a few years ago.

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.

Gradually, the villagers realized that Aloe vera could be processed and marketed in a variety of ways. So the community now produces and markets aloe-based products like juice and gel, among other things.