Kulbir Ahlawat

This started with my own family. When my sister got married, we were eligible for government help of ₹21,000 to ₹51,000. But it meant visit after visit to the office, and the money still came two months after the wedding — long after we needed it. That day I promised myself that no girl from my village would leave her home worried about money. We started in 2022. So far 120+ girls have received ₹51,000 each, handed to the family directly. No files, no waiting.

During Kila Bandhi, the government cleared the legal records and told people where their land actually was. Families did an adla-badli and moved to the plots registered in their names. Many of them cut the old trees standing on that new land and sold the wood. The village lost its shade very fast. That is where Vraksh Mitra began. We started planting on village land, and today more than 4,000 trees stand in Dighal, with another 2,300 outside the village.

For many families, even a roof over their head feels out of reach. And when you are still worried about shelter, you cannot think about anything else. So far I have built 6 homes for families who had no safe place to live. 3 homes in Dighal villag, 2 homes in Chuliyana village and 1 home in Hanswas Kalan in 2024 for a family whose house was completely destroyed in a fire. A house is not just walls. It is the first thing that lets a family stand on its feet again.

For me the uniform was never just a job. My father drove a truck, and I had seen what money problems do to a house. A uniform meant a steady life, and in our village, it meant respect. So I trained. Six years of wrestling, early mornings, no shortcuts. The mat is what got me into the Border Security Force, and I wrestled four more years while serving.

I started this work in 2022. Dholera is India’s first green estate project, and once I understood what was being built there, I wanted to be part of it. Most people invest in land that is already crowded. Dholera is the opposite — planned from zero, built around clean energy and open space, before the city even arrives. I came from a farmer’s family, so land is not a new subject for me. What is new is helping people put their money into land that will still make sense twenty years from now.

I started this work in 2018. A friend in Delhi was already in finance, and he explained to me how it works. I took money from him, put it in the market, and it gave a good profit. Then Corona came and I lost most of it. I gathered courage and started again, and this time it worked. Losing it once taught me more about money than earning it ever did.