Dharhara', A small, nondescript village in Bihar has found a great way to tackle declining sex ratios, global warming and climate change, all in one go. Theirs is a solution that incorporates tradition as well as knowledge of farming and it has been in practice for decades now.
Located about 20 kilometres from the district headquarters of Bhagalpur, this village is one of the greenest pockets of the region. And that’s not all. Unlike elsewhere, for years now girls in this village have been welcomed into the world in the most novel way: By the local community planting at least 10 fruit trees – traditionally mango – in celebration. New daughters here are treated as avatars of Goddess Lakshmi and stand to inherit these fruit trees as they grow up.
In the highly prejudiced Bihari society, where girls are generally seen as a financial ‘bojh’ (burden) on the family, dowry deaths that were once so common here no longer make the news. Planting trees to celebrate the birth of a girl child is essentially a move to build an asset base for her, which can eventually be utilised by the family to finance her education and future development. Former pradhan, Pramod Singh, puts it this way,
She inherits the trees and over the years the fruit not only helps support her family it also helps them bear the expenses of her wedding. We plant the trees at birth because as our girls grow up, so do the trees.
Pramod had planted 10 mango trees about 12 years ago when his daughter, Niti, was born. Niti now goes to school and neither her father nor other family members consider her school fees a burden since the money comes from selling the fruit from her trees. Of course her very traditional mother, Rita Devi, has taken to planning for her marriage already and sees Niti’s trees as an asset in that context.
According to the 2011 Census, at 933, the state’s child sex ratio may be better than the national average of 914, but it has dropped sharply from the figure of 981 that the state had registered 30 years ago.
The success story of Dharhara has even caught the attention of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who has visited the village to plant trees and ensure that a girls’ school is built there. During a public meeting in the village, some years ago, he said that the Dharhara residents’ age-old practice of planting trees to mark the birth of girl child is worth emulating at a time when the gender ratio in the country has been on the decline.
Treat the girl child as a blessing and trees as bank deposits – that’s the message from this tiny village.
Located about 20 kilometres from the district headquarters of Bhagalpur, this village is one of the greenest pockets of the region. And that’s not all. Unlike elsewhere, for years now girls in this village have been welcomed into the world in the most novel way: By the local community planting at least 10 fruit trees – traditionally mango – in celebration. New daughters here are treated as avatars of Goddess Lakshmi and stand to inherit these fruit trees as they grow up.
In the highly prejudiced Bihari society, where girls are generally seen as a financial ‘bojh’ (burden) on the family, dowry deaths that were once so common here no longer make the news. Planting trees to celebrate the birth of a girl child is essentially a move to build an asset base for her, which can eventually be utilised by the family to finance her education and future development. Former pradhan, Pramod Singh, puts it this way,
She inherits the trees and over the years the fruit not only helps support her family it also helps them bear the expenses of her wedding. We plant the trees at birth because as our girls grow up, so do the trees.
Pramod had planted 10 mango trees about 12 years ago when his daughter, Niti, was born. Niti now goes to school and neither her father nor other family members consider her school fees a burden since the money comes from selling the fruit from her trees. Of course her very traditional mother, Rita Devi, has taken to planning for her marriage already and sees Niti’s trees as an asset in that context.
According to the 2011 Census, at 933, the state’s child sex ratio may be better than the national average of 914, but it has dropped sharply from the figure of 981 that the state had registered 30 years ago.
The success story of Dharhara has even caught the attention of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who has visited the village to plant trees and ensure that a girls’ school is built there. During a public meeting in the village, some years ago, he said that the Dharhara residents’ age-old practice of planting trees to mark the birth of girl child is worth emulating at a time when the gender ratio in the country has been on the decline.
Treat the girl child as a blessing and trees as bank deposits – that’s the message from this tiny village.
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