Jyotsna Sitling, an alumna of IIM Bangalore, has accomplished what most of us usually think of. She is India’s first female tribal IFS officer and this is not the only achievement to her credit. With her genuine and passionate efforts in the field of environment, she has received the paramount honour for environment conservation in India – the Indira Gandhi Paryavaran Puraskar. She truly deserves the honor as she has done incredible work for the environment of our country.
In 2002, she joined as the Director at Nanda Devi Biosphere in Uttarakhand. Her work there was a challenging one, as she had 5800 acres of land to take care of, with two national parks and a sanctuary to bring back to life.
The beautiful Valley of Flowers National Park had a 19-km trail leading to the highest Gurdwara in the world, Hemkund Sahib, which was stinking with plastic and other garbage left behind by the pilgrims. Jyotsna took it to her head to do something about it with the involvement of the local community. Owing to their collective efforts, they collected 15 truckloads of garbage that weighed up to 50 tonnes which was further sent for recycling. the valley gradually transformed and became pollutant-free. She even made sure that the cleanliness was maintained in the trail. She regulated 400 unorganized shops which were creating pollution in the region, thereby improving the quality of lives of the resident people. Due to her continuous efforts to make the Valley of Flowers National Park, even more beautiful, UNESCO declared it as a World Heritage Site in 2005.
Her yet another initiative was between 1997 and 2000, where in an erosion-prone zone of the Shivalik range near the Doon Valley, she mobilized a community of approximately eleven thousand people to spend at least 1 day in a year for the restoration of their villages. They all came together to plant 3,82,000 plants along with sowing over 70 kgs of seeds
Jyotsna Sitling, India’s first female tribal IFS officer is an eco warrior who’s made a difference.
She transformed an entire mountain region which would otherwise have been deteriorating with all the plastic waste. SwachhAbility salutes her amazing achievements she has accomplished to restore the environment.
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