Shyam Sundar Paliwal, The Father of Ecofeminism In India

Shyam Sundar Paliwal has dedicated his life to planting trees and encouraging the wellbeing of a girl child. Paliwal lost his daughter in 2006. After coming over the loss he began a campaign named ‘Kiran Nidhi Yojana’ by planting 111 trees for every girl child born in his village along with a financial scheme.

The local Panchayat opens a fixed bank deposit account in the name of the new born as a part of the campaign. The parents of the girls are supposed to nurture the saplings and also sign an affidavit saying that they would not marry off their daughters before18 or practicing female foeticide. His campaign garnered results and sex ratio in his village improved drastically.

Soon his model started being followed up by several villages. The Pipalantri Village, as a result survived Rajasthan’s chronic drought & water scarcity thanks to the campaign. This initiative also helped building check dams on the pastures on nearby hills to recharge the groundwater level under Paliwal’s leadership and turned Rajsamand into an oasis full of trees.

For his pioneering work for eco – feminism the prestigious Padmashri Award was conferred on him by the President R N Kovind on 10 November, 2021. On this occasion he said that it is said that Gods rejoice where the women are honoured : Yatra Naryastau Poojyante Ramante Tatra Devatah.