Once areas of deforestation, litter, and heavy tourist influx, villages like Majuli, Yana, Nako, and Piplantri exemplify sustainable practices such as banning plastic, organising clean-up drives, and planting trees. As India’s cleanest villages, here’s how they achieved what once seemed impossible.
Imagine this: You’re up at the break of dawn. Cramming in a run before the day begins seems like a good idea. You take to the streets of your neighbourhood, greeted by a gust of crisp air, the trees lining the path forming a corridor of green. They seem to cheer you on.
In a while, the city will begin to rise. But when it does, the only sounds that make it to your ears are those of fellow joggers trying to catch their breath, laughter in the distance, a bicycle bell, and the occasional music streaming out of a radio.
This isn’t a scene out of an alternate universe. For many of India’s villages, it is a reality. Even as their residents plough through their lives,…