IIPM Excom Prof Rajita Chaudhuri
A tiny village in Meghalaya, Mawlynnong, is now Asia's cleanest village! TSI's Dulal Misra visits the village to find out what worked in this clean oasis, which is also home to a 150-year-old living root bridge. photos by: Ranjan Basu
As an emerging economy, India has the image of being one of the principal pollutants on earth. But, a tiny nondescript village in Meghalaya, about 90 km from Shillong, has scripted a different story, turning this image turtle. Mawlynnong, straddled between the mounts of the East Khasi Hills district, has earned the unique recognition of being the cleanest village of Asia, following a Discover India magazine announcement in 2003.
It does not feel like a part of this country, the roads are dry but dustless. Every single tree leaf on the road is swept aside. The headman tells TSI: “We, the people of this village, do not litter or discard garbage in the open, but dump it in a pit where it is converted into organic fertiliser. This is used to increase the yield of vegetables.” Dominic Sangma, a villager, points at the extensive use of dustbins. The customary village body looks after the cleanliness of the village and every household donates a bamboo dustbin. The villagers of Mawlynnong have banned the use of plastic bags. Local college student Runila says, “We used plastic bags earlier too. But the Khasi Students’ Union and local village committee took an initiative to ban plastic in our area. Instead of plastic, we use earthen pots and paper bags. The village committee slaps a fine on whoever violates this rule.”
A group of people clean the village roads with brooms every three hours. A 60-year-old woman, part of the cleaning force, greets TSI: “God has sent us to earth to make it beautiful. We believe that through this, we worship God.” A point to be noted is the 100 per cent literacy rate of the area when juxtaposed against the not-so-satisfactory performance of Meghalaya in the same field.
Mawlynnong is a smoke-free zone. As per the guidelines of the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003, all places in the village come under the purview of the same. The Voluntary Health Association of Meghalaya keeps a strict vigil to restrict smoking. Students of St Edmunds College visit this village regularly to create awareness on conservation of ecology among villagers as well as visitors. Mawlynnong comprises 82 households. Every child birth in the village witnesses the parents planting a tree for the well being of the baby. They do not only plant the tree but also nurture it to growth.
A tourist from Kolkata, Shyamal Ghose, says, “I have visited several places in India. But I have never seen a village so clean and systematically maintained. People are honest and hard working. They respect tourists and make sure that visitors face no problems during their stay here.” Foreign tourists also find their way to this picturesque village. A small hospitality industry has sprung up around the eco-friendly image of the place. Completely eco-friendly lodging is provided by villagers. The ‘tree houses’ consists of two or three bed rooms and everything from the construction to furniture is wooden.
Mawlynnong is also home to a unique bridge made of living tree roots. Fifteen-year-old Fullmoon Khongjra counted the ticket counterfoils… 44 of them. At Rs 5 per ticket, the collection came to Rs 220 for that day. The day before, 47 tickets were sold to visitors to the amazing site of the living roots bridge that spans a 40-feet gorge which is just about a feet under water in the winters, but becomes a furious, 14-feet torrent during the rains, which lashes this wet desert near Cherrapunjee for the better part of six months. The six-feet wide bridge has been created out of the roots of two rubber plants by men of the two villages separated by the gorge. That must have been about 150 years ago.
The narrow and cobbled stone pathway becomes moss-laden, slippery and dangerous in the monsoon. But on the cloudy December afternoon that team TSI visited it, it was dry and firm.
It's like being tree-walkers, walking over roots, something humans have not done for past few million years ever since we transformed from apes.
“During the rains, the river runs as high as the bottom of this bridge, so it becomes impossible for the people of the two villages to cross over. So may be some 150 years ago, the wise old men of the two villages decided to biologically merge the roots of two rubber trees so that the whole thing became a bridge,” says Lumlana, a local Christian priest. He says that earlier, people from the villages tried to tie up boats and make a boat-bridge across the river. “But that failed, for the torrent was so furious that it took everything away. That is why the ancients hit upon this idea,” he adds.
Apparently, the elders decided to train the roots of the two trees with bamboo and bring them across. Then they tied them up using grafting techniques and over the next 30 or 40 years, the intertwined roots became a bridge. The amazing thing is that the roots are still living, vibrant, for if they were to die, they would crack up and the bridge would crumble.
The surrounding area is a primary forest, untouched for the past thousand years, inhabited by local people who are aware of how a forest must be lived in, used and yet not damaged.
Can India ever hope to replicate this in all our villages?...
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A tiny village in Meghalaya, Mawlynnong, is now Asia's cleanest village! TSI's Dulal Misra visits the village to find out what worked in this clean oasis, which is also home to a 150-year-old living root bridge. photos by: Ranjan Basu
As an emerging economy, India has the image of being one of the principal pollutants on earth. But, a tiny nondescript village in Meghalaya, about 90 km from Shillong, has scripted a different story, turning this image turtle. Mawlynnong, straddled between the mounts of the East Khasi Hills district, has earned the unique recognition of being the cleanest village of Asia, following a Discover India magazine announcement in 2003.
It does not feel like a part of this country, the roads are dry but dustless. Every single tree leaf on the road is swept aside. The headman tells TSI: “We, the people of this village, do not litter or discard garbage in the open, but dump it in a pit where it is converted into organic fertiliser. This is used to increase the yield of vegetables.” Dominic Sangma, a villager, points at the extensive use of dustbins. The customary village body looks after the cleanliness of the village and every household donates a bamboo dustbin. The villagers of Mawlynnong have banned the use of plastic bags. Local college student Runila says, “We used plastic bags earlier too. But the Khasi Students’ Union and local village committee took an initiative to ban plastic in our area. Instead of plastic, we use earthen pots and paper bags. The village committee slaps a fine on whoever violates this rule.”
A group of people clean the village roads with brooms every three hours. A 60-year-old woman, part of the cleaning force, greets TSI: “God has sent us to earth to make it beautiful. We believe that through this, we worship God.” A point to be noted is the 100 per cent literacy rate of the area when juxtaposed against the not-so-satisfactory performance of Meghalaya in the same field.
Mawlynnong is a smoke-free zone. As per the guidelines of the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003, all places in the village come under the purview of the same. The Voluntary Health Association of Meghalaya keeps a strict vigil to restrict smoking. Students of St Edmunds College visit this village regularly to create awareness on conservation of ecology among villagers as well as visitors. Mawlynnong comprises 82 households. Every child birth in the village witnesses the parents planting a tree for the well being of the baby. They do not only plant the tree but also nurture it to growth.
A tourist from Kolkata, Shyamal Ghose, says, “I have visited several places in India. But I have never seen a village so clean and systematically maintained. People are honest and hard working. They respect tourists and make sure that visitors face no problems during their stay here.” Foreign tourists also find their way to this picturesque village. A small hospitality industry has sprung up around the eco-friendly image of the place. Completely eco-friendly lodging is provided by villagers. The ‘tree houses’ consists of two or three bed rooms and everything from the construction to furniture is wooden.
Mawlynnong is also home to a unique bridge made of living tree roots. Fifteen-year-old Fullmoon Khongjra counted the ticket counterfoils… 44 of them. At Rs 5 per ticket, the collection came to Rs 220 for that day. The day before, 47 tickets were sold to visitors to the amazing site of the living roots bridge that spans a 40-feet gorge which is just about a feet under water in the winters, but becomes a furious, 14-feet torrent during the rains, which lashes this wet desert near Cherrapunjee for the better part of six months. The six-feet wide bridge has been created out of the roots of two rubber plants by men of the two villages separated by the gorge. That must have been about 150 years ago.
The narrow and cobbled stone pathway becomes moss-laden, slippery and dangerous in the monsoon. But on the cloudy December afternoon that team TSI visited it, it was dry and firm.
It's like being tree-walkers, walking over roots, something humans have not done for past few million years ever since we transformed from apes.
“During the rains, the river runs as high as the bottom of this bridge, so it becomes impossible for the people of the two villages to cross over. So may be some 150 years ago, the wise old men of the two villages decided to biologically merge the roots of two rubber trees so that the whole thing became a bridge,” says Lumlana, a local Christian priest. He says that earlier, people from the villages tried to tie up boats and make a boat-bridge across the river. “But that failed, for the torrent was so furious that it took everything away. That is why the ancients hit upon this idea,” he adds.
Apparently, the elders decided to train the roots of the two trees with bamboo and bring them across. Then they tied them up using grafting techniques and over the next 30 or 40 years, the intertwined roots became a bridge. The amazing thing is that the roots are still living, vibrant, for if they were to die, they would crack up and the bridge would crumble.
The surrounding area is a primary forest, untouched for the past thousand years, inhabited by local people who are aware of how a forest must be lived in, used and yet not damaged.
Can India ever hope to replicate this in all our villages?...
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
IIPM ranks No 1 in International Exposure in the 'Third Mail Today B-School Survey'
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri Dean Business School IIPM
Kapil Sibal’s voters want Jan Lokpal, not Government-proposed Lokpal Bill
IIPM: What is E-PAT?
"Thorns to Competition" amongst the top 10 best sellers of the week.
IIPM RANKED NO.1 in MAIL TODAY B-SCHOOL RANKINGS
'Thorns to Competition' - You can order your copy online from here
IIPM Mumbai Campus
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