Starting from a simple WhatsApp group with his friends, Surajmal has been going great guns with his goal of environmental conservation.

Surajmal is a Jeweller by profession.  He is also the Founder of Mission Badlav Paryavaran - an attempt to make his region greener through tree plantation.

Surajmal was born and raised in the Bilara village in the Jodhpur District of Rajasthan. He is educated till the seventh class. He shares that during his fifth standard, one of his teachers educated the class on the importance of tree plantation which hit him hard and inspired him to do something about that.

Surajmal has a family business of Jewellery and runs it along with his brothers. He shares that he and his four childhood friends started Mission Badlav in 2003, and then created a WhatsApp group in 2007 adding more people from his village into it. Starting from five people, the group now has 203 members who are ardently devoted to the cause. He says that the villagers are not only enthusiastic about tree plantation but also work for the welfare of animals in their region.

Initially, Surajmal says that it was not a walk in the park, starting and staying committed to the mission of tree plantation. He says that initially some of the villagers used to mock him and his friends, and were also sceptical of the impact of tree plantation near their houses. However, slowly but surely, everyone joined in, seeing the positive results. The next challenge in front of them was geography. Surajmal says that Rajasthan's (especially his region’s) arid soil was an obvious hurdle, as trees can't grow in that kind of climate. He says that villagers’ devotion and constant care of the plants make it possible for some plants to survive.

Sharing his experience of the COVID pandemic, Surajmal says that it was very frightening for all of them. He says that he and his brothers were stuck in Chennai during the lockdown and had to face scarcity of essential commodities, along with the constant fear of getting infected. He shares that even after having the option to leave Chennai, he and his brothers decided to stay in the city, and volunteered to serve CORONA Warriors and the locals as per their capacity. And finally, when he and his Marwadi group managed to embark on an overpriced bus journey to home, they witnessed the miserable conditions of the migrant labourers along the way, and decided to keep helping them with ration throughout their journey.

There are three role models in Surajmal’s life. He shares that while his father and his elder brother are his guides and his motivation in life; his teacher, who first taught him about environment conservation, is also a huge inspiration for him.

Given a chance to go back to his past using a Time Machine, Surajmal would like going back to his childhood and rectifying all the mistakes that he has made.

Giving a piece of advice, Surajmal says that everyone should plant at least one tree in their lifetime. He also advises everyone to have a spiritual side for their mental peace.