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India is home to an abundance of natural beauty and a rich culture that is often found in the less frequented villages of the country. While the metropolitan cities continue to expand over forest lands, eco villages in India awe tourists with their surprisingly clean, green, sustainable and self-sufficient lifestyles. Today’s eco urban villages in India are taking tremendous steps to harmonise their relationship with nature.
From adapting sustainable lifestyle changes to implementing pragmatic policies for the betterment of society, eco villages in India are giving us a peek into what life amidst the abundance of nature looks like.
Eco-villages in India that offer a rendezvous with nature:
1. Piplantri in Rajasthan
Rajasthan's breathtaking Piplantri eco village won hearts when it adopted the unique movement of planting trees on the birth of a girl child. 111 trees are planted for the birth of every girl child in the common grazing ground of the village. This step honours new life, eliminates female infanticide and grows the state’s green canopy. In 14 years, over a million trees have been planted, protected and nurtured along with the girls of the village.
2. Auroville in Pondicherry
Working towards making an eco India, Auroville in Pondicherry is a quaint French-inspired village in Tamil Nadu. An area where acts of violence are banned, whether towards humans, nature or animals, Auroville gives and receives nature’s bounty in leaps and bounds. An exemplar of sustainable living, Auroville runs courses for visitors on green lifestyle building practices and activities that are easy to implement in our daily city lives.
3. Khonoma, Nagaland
Khonoma, an eco village in India in the lush state of Nagaland, is steeped in ethereal beauty and vibrant heritage. But this beautiful village is the result of a laborious effort by the community that resides there. Khonoma village focuses on sustainability and self-sufficiency by preserving the natural habitat and its surroundings. One of the Cleanest Villages In India, Khonoma is also home to a 700-year-old Angami settlement. They embrace the ecosystem and practice eco-friendly agriculture as a gesture to give back to the all-nourishing mother earth.
4. Odanthurai, Tamil Nadu
Among the few nature-first eco villages in India, Odanthurai in Tamil Nadu is widely popular for its self-sufficient practice of electricity generation. They use a 350-kilowatt windmill to derive renewable energy from nature, instead of exploiting combustible sources of energy. This eco urban village generates surplus energy and sells around two lakh units of electricity to the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board, generating revenue for the village.
5. Hiware Bazaar, Maharashtra
In the eco village of Hiware Bazaar of Maharashtra, the locals have witnessed severe droughts. To ensure there is never water scarcity in the village again, in 1995, the locals took up the task of cultivating horticulture and dairy farming instead of water-intensive crops. It helped the village replenish its groundwater levels, and today they have over 300 open wells full of water. While Maharastra still faces seasons of severe drought, the village of Hiware doesn’t.
6. Baghuwar, Madhya Pradesh
Eco friendly images of Baghuwar village in Madhya Pradesh will show you what independence can do to an area. The eco village does not have a sarpanch that leads the locals of the area, yet Baghuwar is a self-reliant, sustainable and green spot in the state. The villagers also ensure their land is open defecation free. With an underground sewage treatment pipeline setup, the locals receive biogas for cooking among other incentives to keep their village clean and green.
7. Govardhan EcoVillage, Maharashtra
One of the best eco villages in India, Govardhan in Maharashtra, is run by the ISKCON trust. They educate locals and aid them with sustainable and eco-friendly practices. Located on the foothills of the Western Ghats, the village has access to free-flowing water and plenty of natural resources that help in their green techniques.
8. Mawlynnong, Meghalaya
A trip to God's own garden will reward you with breathtaking clean views, sparkling water and spotless roads that dot the streets of Mawlynnong. Located in the East Khasi hills in Meghalaya, Mawlynnong - the cleanest village in India is a breath of fresh air, and the locals ensure it stays so with their diligent efforts. Plastic is banned in the village and bamboo dustbins are used for waste disposal. Villagers themselves participate in cleanliness activities to ensure their surroundings stay as green as it was given to them by their ancestors.
As you travel through the length and breadth of India’s culturally diverse states, you will open yourself to a treasure trove of experiences that will baffle the eyes and mind. These eight eco villages in India emerge as hidden gems and are an inspiration for the rest of the country to learn and adapt to a more mindful style of living. Apart from these eight, also visit these beautiful villages in India to witness an authentic rustic charm along the off-beat tracks of the country.
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