Hyderabad women turn green crusaders

By Aishwarya Jain Hyderabad: Making a small contribution in their own way to the mother nature, 10 women from the city travelled to a village 55 km from Hyderabad to plant 250 saplings. The group of 10 from Akhil Bharatiya Digamber Jain Mahila Parishad, Hyderabad inspired 100 volunteers to join the plantation drive. On reaching […]

By Aishwarya Jain

Hyderabad: Making a small contribution in their own way to the mother nature, 10 women from the city travelled to a village 55 km from Hyderabad to plant 250 saplings.

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The group of 10 from Akhil Bharatiya Digamber Jain Mahila Parishad, Hyderabad inspired 100 volunteers to join the plantation drive. On reaching Gonglur, they were also joined by local village authorities. On a daylong mission, the drive had 250 saplings of neem, peepal, mango, custard apple and guava planted.

Swati Jain, one of the organisers said: “We, as women, want to make a difference. Our aim for this event was to increase the green cover in the village through a participatory family activity so that even our children are sensitised about such matters.”

Laxmi Ramchandra Reddy, sarpanch of the village, Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax (Hyderabad), Dr P Sudhakar Nair and Harish Solanki, Senior Assistant Professor, National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, also participated in the event.

Another volunteer, Anubha Jain, who came along with her family, described the whole effort as an enriching experience. “Not only did it help us contribute towards the development of the village, but also taught us about their background and daily lives. Our presence also helped them promote their local handmade goods industry,” she said. The Hyderabad Income Tax Department adopted this village in 2019, and since then, over 5,000 trees have been planted in a move towards reforestation.

With contributions from IRS officers, including the Director-General of Investigation of the Income Tax Department, RK Paliwal, the ‘Gandhi Gram Seva Kendra’ was set up. This was a multipurpose institution that helped women start cottage industries that produced cold-pressed oils, handmade soaps and pulses via traditional pounding methods.
A cooperative self-help group was also set up, where women raised a capital of over Rs 2 crore to make non-chemically trea – ted, naturally soaked and sundried dal. In the last three months, they have sold over 50 quintals of organic dal.

Earlier, this women’s group had volunteered to help underprivileged students from Chandanagar by providing them with food. Next month, in a bid to promote the holistic growth and creative learning, they also plan to distribute stationery and educational games to economically marginalised children.