Shyam Sunder Paliwal

Some Lesser Known Facts About Shyam Sunder Paliwal

• Shyam Sunder Paliwal is a well-known social activist from Piplantri, Rajasthan.

• When he was 6 years old, his mother died due to snakebite.

• At the age of 11, he dropped out of school and worked for a private marble company.

• When he was 23 years old, he got married. The couple was blessed with two daughters and a son.

• When his elder daughter, Kiran, was 18 years old, she died due to dehydration. It was the turning point of his life.

• After witnessing his village turning into a barren land due to extensive mining, he decided to plant trees in the area so that no one faces the situation of drought in the future.

• In an interview when he was asked about his inspiration, he said:
  

  August 21, 2007, was the saddest day of my life, when my daughter Kiran, 16, returned from school with stomach pain. Despite been taken to hospital, she could not be saved. It was a terrible loss. But I decided my daughter shall stay with me forever. I also decided that each person in the village shall feel the pride to be a parent of a daughter.

• This noble initiative of turning his village into a green haven was started by planting a Kadam tree (Burflower tree) in the remembrance of his daughter, Kiran; as it symbolises sublime love.

  

• When he became the sarpanch of his village, his first goal was to encourage and motivate people to stop killing the girl child, and the second goal was to plant more trees in the area.

• He started ‘Kiran Nidhi Yojna,’ according to which 111 trees are planted whenever a girl child is born. It is followed by a fixed deposit of Rs. 31000 in which Rs. 10,000 is contributed by the family members of the girl child and rest by the panchayat members and other villagers. The amount is handed over to the girl or her family after it gets matured.

• After his initiative, the sex-ratio of the village has increased, and more than 3,50,000 trees have been planted, so far. They have also planted aloe-vera and rose plants, which are used to make different products of daily use, and later, sell them in the market. It has helped in generating employment in the village.

  

• He has also started ‘Swajaldhara Yojana’ to conserve and preserve water, and almost 1800 check dams have been constructed in the village.

• In 2017, a bilingual (Hindi and Malayalam) film “Piplantri’ was made on the story of Piplantri village. Many other documentaries and films have been made on the transformation story of this village.

  

• Apart from the Malayam movie, there is one Argentine movie made on him and his project, “Sisters of the Trees,” directed by Camila Menendez and Lucas Penyafort and produced by Victoria Chales. 

• The story of Piplantri village is taught in the schools of Rajasthan and Denmark.

• Apart from promoting the birth of girl child and trees plantation, he has also worked on open defection free project.

• A 2016 government policy is inspired by the work done by Paliwal towards the welfare of society. In an interview, Dr Pankaj Gaur, a government official from Rajasthan said,
  

  Under the policy, the family receives 2,500 rupees on her birth and the same amount on her first birthday. This is doubled to 5,000 rupees if she finishes class five and class eight. When girls finish class 12, they get 35,000 rupees, making an overall total of 50,000 rupees. “These benefits stop a girl being seen as a liability.”

• He was awarded the ‘Nirmal Gram Award’ (2007) by the then President of India Dr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam.

• At the entrance to Piplantri village, a large hoarding is hanged on which the names of all the girls born over the past year is written.

• He daily takes a round of the village on his motorcycle to inspecting whether work is being done properly or not.

• In 2019, Shyam Sunder Paliwal and TV actress, Sakshi Tanwar, appeared in the ‘Karmaveer’ episode (7 November 2019) of Kaun Banega Crorepati 11 (2019).

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Shyam Sunder Pariwali shows us how to turn a defeat in life into a movement that empowers and inspires thousand of lives. Watch our #KBCKaramveer share his journey on #KBC11 this Friday at 9 PM only on Sony. @amitabhbachchan @shyamsunderpaliwal_111

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