Secondary View of Literature

Secondary review of literature
Eco-Feminism, a term coined in 1974 by Francoise d’Eaubonne, a French writer, is made up of

two words ecology and feminism. Eco-feminism aims to connect the oppression of women with
ecological degradation and how women’s contribution to nature can have a positive impact on
both. In India, the brand of ecofeminism was pioneered by Vandana Shiva which supports that
women have been a strong force of solving multiple societal problems and environmental
protection is one of them. An article by Shweta Vashistha published on EcoIdeaz displays some
intriguing trends portraying the stand taken by village women towards ecological conservation
and further establishing a foundation for Ecofeminism in India.
The first trend that the article talks about is the digging of a well by the villagers of Langoti in
the Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh. Langoti, like any other backward village, faces the evil
of caste discrimination, separating the upper castes and Dalits. The untouchable part of Langoti
lacked supply of water which made the lives of Dalits miserable and caused greater discomfort
to women, who had to travel long distances in order to fetch water. Therefore, the courageous
and determined Dalit women decided to demand the construction of a well in the Dalit area
from the Langoti gram panchayat. Due to a lack of funds, the demand was rejected. This forced
the women to pick up hammers and shovels in order to dig the well themselves. After 40 days of
digging, the well was about 20 feet deep and water had started flowing into the well. (Ecoideaz,
2018)
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The story of the Piplantri village in the Rajsamand district of Rajasthan is the second trend that
the article focuses on. Shyam Sundar Paliwal, the former sarpanch of Piplantri started an
eco-friendly tradition in the memory of his daughter, Kiran who passed away in 2006. As his
response to this grave loss, Paliwal started an initiative of planting 111 trees on the birth of a
girl child in the purview of growing female infanticide in Piplantri. The villagers have
voluntarily participated and planted many saplings along with ensuring their maintenance.
Aloe Vera is planted around the trees to prevent infestation by termites. Furthermore, the
produce obtained from the planted trees including Aloe Vera has acted as a vital source of
income for the village residents. (Ecoideaz, 2018)
“The purpose of planting trees is to ensure that every girl child is financially secure and for this,
the villagers contribute 21,000 collectively and take 10,000 from the parents to put it in a fixed
deposit which gets matured when the girl turns 20. Besides making the girl financially stable the
villagers also make sure that the girl receives proper education and is not married off before
they attain adulthood. Apart from conserving the environment and empowering women the
village has another feather on its cap, it is reported that in the last 7-8 years there has been no
police case. The Piplantri village truly stands as an example of Ecofeminism that must be
emulated.” (Ecoideaz, 2018)
Finally, the article talks about two other stories, one of an NGO named Navdanya and the other
of a 12-year-old, Shrusti Nerkar. Navdanya was started by Vandana Shiva to advocate
biodiversity conservation by means of a large group of organic producers and seed keepers.
Shrusti Nerkar has developed an innovative shower that saves many liters of water. She claims
that the shower takes up only 15 liters of water as opposed to the usually used 80 liters.
Therefore, it saves 65 liters of water in every shower. (Ecoideaz, 2018)
The above piece of literature describes the phenomenon of eco-feminism with the use of
multiple case studies. Through the means of this article, the study was further focused
specifically on the case study of the Piplantri Village in Rajasthan in order to answer the
multiple questions about the movement and the village model. (Ecoideaz, 2018)
The Guardian published an article in 2018 titled “It's for my daughter's memory': the Indian
village where every girl's life is celebrated”. This article talks about the story of Piplantri and its
popular tradition of planting trees. After his daughter, Kiran’s death, Shyam Sundar Paliwal, the
sarpanch of the village pledged to put an end to the stigma around the birth of a girl child and
decided that the birth of each baby girl in the village would be celebrated by the planting of
trees. Since Paliwal was the village head, his word was highly influential. On a decided date,
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each monsoon, the new mothers of the village would lay a red cloth inside a large basket and
decorate it. They would place their baby girls in the basket and carry them on their heads to the
spot where the trees were to be planted. Around 101 trees have been planted in the village since
2006 for around 65-70 baby girls born in the village. (Dhillon, 2018)
The transformation of Piplantri began with sowing the seed of the first-ever tree for Kiran.
Paliwal did not just stop on that day, instead, he kept planting trees throughout the year and
persuaded the villagers to follow the same. The panchayat laid water pipes that were dotted all
around in order to irrigate the saplings. In all 350,000 trees have been planted in Piplantri since
the beginning of this tradition.
“With this, I’m doing two things: showing joy at the arrival of a daughter and honoring the
land where my ancestors lived and died,” Paliwal informed Guardian.
The village entrance has a huge hoarding displaying the names of all the girls born throughout
the past year. (Dhillon, 2018)
Along with the planting of trees, money is collected when the girl is born in an attempt to raise
31,000 rupees which can be saved in a Fixed Deposit. With the interest on the Fixed Deposit, the
family has a safe sum of money that would act as the potential dowry of the girl.
The literature available in books, reports, journals, and on the internet provided an overview of
the tradition being practiced in Piplantri and how it correlates to the theories of Ecofeminism.
The literature also points out some relevant questions that remain unanswered due to the lack
of on-field and quantitative research done for the same. Piplantri has been used as a common
case study for several larger studies such as the study on wasteland management and village
planning and development mentioned above. Reviewing the literature contributed to the basic
understanding of the initiative in Piplantri.

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Secondary View of Literature

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Secondary review of literature

Eco-Feminism, a term coined in 1974 by Francoise d’Eaubonne, a French writer, is made up of

land where my ancestors lived and died,” Paliwal informed Guardian.

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