Shyam Sundar Paliwal

Shyam Sundar Paliwal is the former sarpanch of Piplantri in Rajsamand district, who made his village a model by planting 111 trees for every girl born there. He was named for the Padma Shri in 2021 in the field of social work, from Rajasthan ^[1].

A daughter’s death

Paliwal was born on 9 July 1967 and lost his mother when he was six ^[2]. As a young man he worked in the marble mines nearby before returning to serve his village ^[2]. In 2005 he was elected sarpanch of Piplantri ^[2]. In 2007 his daughter Kiran died of dehydration, and he started the Kiran Nidhi Yojana in her memory ^[2].

111 trees

Under the scheme, 111 saplings are planted whenever a girl is born, and money raised from contributions is deposited in a bank for her education, to be withdrawn only when she turns 18 ^[2]. Each girl plants a tree when she marries, and families plant 11 saplings when someone dies ^[2]. Once barren, Piplantri now has more than 3.5 lakh trees, and female foeticide there has ended ^[2].

Work for the village

Aloe vera was planted widely, and women make juice, gel and pickle from it under the name “Gramodyog Piplantri” ^[2]. As sarpanch he brought every central and state rural development scheme to the panchayat, and its water conservation work draws visiting scientists from abroad ^[2]. Rajasthan’s secondary school board has put a chapter on his work in its social science course ^[2]. He passed his own Class 12 examination in 2020 ^[2].

He received the Nirmal Gram Puraskar from President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam in 2007 ^[2].