In India, money does grow on trees

In the poverty-riddled Indian state of Bihar, the vision of one man is helping to address two of today's most prevalent issues: environmental destruction and unemployment.

Mr Raju, a civil servant from the area, has embarked upon an effective tree-planting campaign which will provide employment opportunities for millions of poor people. An ambitious employment generation scheme launched by the central government in 2006 – the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) – states that the authorities are bound by law to provide a minimum of 100 days of employment a year to members of families living below the poverty line. Seeing as about 44 percent of Bihar's population falls into this category, Mr Raju decided to link his ‘social forestry’ programme to the NREGA.

Bihar is the poorest and most lawless state of India and, due to a poor monsoon season this year, has produced a lower agricultural output than usual, a situation which has been exacerbated by flash floods in some northern areas of the state. Mr Raju's scheme means that each family may earn a minimum of 10,200 rupees ($210) to plant and protect trees, and every village council in the state has now been given a target of planting 50,000 saplings. Each group of four families has to plant 200 seedlings and they must protect them for three years, until the plants grow more sturdy. If they can ensure the survival of 90 percent of the plants under their care, they receive the full payment.

In this deprived region, Mr Raju's scheme has so far been a roaring success, and has even stopped the migration of poor labourers from the area in search of employment elsewhere during monsoon season. The scheme may even be listed by Guinness World Records, after a tree planting ceremony which took place on 30th August saw almost one billion saplings planted in a single day. Now that central government is giving more money to the scheme, it seems that, for these villagers, money really does grow on trees.

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