In an arid town in the Indian state of Rajasthan, girls are welcome into this world with an earthly and lasting ritual: the planting of 111 trees in their honor. “We take care of the trees as part of our family because they are the fruit of the earth and because they will also give us fruit to feed our daughters”, says one of the women of the village of 8,500 inhabitants who benefit from the project.
For the last six years, the mothers of Piplantri have been able to join the Yogana Hadhi Kiran initiative voluntarily. By joining the project, the families are responsible for the planting and care of 111 trees for every girl born at home. Also voluntarily, parents are committed to providing a fixed deposit of about €271.5 for the future of their daughters. "The rest of the people contributing to a total of € 400 for each child. If families are unable to provide the highest amount, it would be the responsibility of the community, "says the mayor and project creator.
Shyam Paliwal Sundal conceived the idea when he was in charge of the Department of Sanitation and Environment Piplantri. "Kiran Hadhi Yogana benefits everyone. More than 60 families have joined the program and have planted 285,000 trees in an area of 2,000 hectares, "said Shyam, who says that families are now more willing to accept the birth of a girl for the economic aid that it entails.
The conception of a girl in India is a setback due to the constraints of a patriarchal and patrilineal society. Males are the mainstay of the domestic economy while daughters are married prior dowry, which involves an expense sometimes difficult to face. Atavismo the permanence of this leads in many cases to female feticide. For children under 6 years, there are only 888 girls for every 1,000 boys, when the natural sex ratio favors females.
The project Piplantri is paying off. According to Shyam, the proportion of children has been reversed in the last six years to reach 48 boys and 52 girls. In addition to improving the natural environment, planting trees also prevents child marriages, one of the social ills of India. To join the project, a couples is committed to keep the deposit granted until their daughter turns 18, when they can use it for her education or her dowry.
The Indian government has rewarded the initiative because it fosters a clean environment and the rights of the girl child, with some experts describing this movement in terms of eco-feminism. However, the project has not stopped at that, as some Pipilantri women have organized cooperatives for the production and sale of the aloe vera that grows amidst the trees. This, in turn, has made the cooperative think about the potential uses of wood and bamboo to make home-made home furniture, thus providing jobs and generating income for other village women.
Source: elpais.com
