Saga of two villages
DTE tracks the developments in Sukhomajri which became a model of self-reliant development in the 1980s due to successful management of ecological wealth by HRMS. But the situation has changed now. The forest department has hijacked the forest created by the villagers, while control of water is going into private hands. Sukhomajri, a village in Haryana's Panchkula district, became a model of self-reliant development in the 1980s. Its journey from the depths of poverty to a level of prosperity that made it the first Indian village to pay income tax has been a source of inspiration the world over. What lay behind this incredible story was its success in managing its ecological wealth by creating a powerful and united village institution: the Hill Resource Management Society (hrms).
Down To Earth(dte) has tracked this village's fortunes close on 15 years (see