Piplantri- A Village that Plants 111 trees for Every Girl Child Born

Piplantri is a village in India, where villagers plants 111 trees every time a girl child is born. The local community ensures that these trees survive and attain fruition, as the girls grow up. Piplantri village is situated in Rajsamand district, Rajasthan, India.

Neem tree

Planting trees when a a girl child is born, is unique to this village. Piplantri may be the only village in the world, known for planting a tree for the birth of a child. The villagers contribute Rs 21,000 collectively. The parents contribute Rupees 10,000. They deposit the total amount in a bank fixed deposit. The villagers also make the parents to sign a legal contract, which restricts them from marrying the girl child off, before she attains the legal age for marriage.

Shyam Sundar Paliwal, the former elected village head, was instrumental in starting the birth tree initiative in 2006. He did so in memory of his late daughter Kiran.

Neem, Mango, Amla and Sheesham trees are planted as birthday plants. This has helped the ground water level to increase. 2.5 million Aloe Vera plants were planted to keep the termites away. Aloe Vera is processed and marketed as a medicinal pant and this helped the villagers to increase their earnings.

How Do I Go to Piplantri?

Piplantri is at a distance of around 15 kilometers from Rajsamand. Rajsamand town is named after the Rajsamand Lake. Jaipur, the capital city of Rajasthan, is at around 330 kilometers distance from Piplantri.  Gandhinagar, the capital of Gujarat, is at around 335 kilometers distance.

Charbhuja road railway station is at around 30 kilometers distance. Nathdwara railway station is at around 27 kilometers distance. Mavli junction railway station is at around 53 kilometers distance.  Khemli railway station is at around 64 kilometers away.

Maharana Pratap Airport at Udaipur is the nearest airport at around 87 kilometers distance.  Jodhpur Airport is at around 185 kilometers distance. Deesa Airport alias Palanpur Airport at Deesa, is at around 274 kilometers away from Piplantri village.

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