Forestmaker
the Dropadi Naari Niketan Shantikunj, spread over 300 hectares near the township of Didihat in Pithoragarh district of Uttar Pradesh's Kumaon region, is a repository of 120-odd species of plants, ranging from tall trees to small shrubs. About 2,200 metres above sea level, Shantikunj is a storehouse of various floral species, a fish pond where culture of carp is carried out, a small angora rabbit farm and numerous nurseries of floral and medicinal species as well as Chinese hybrids and Assam tea. More than two-thirds of the farm is devoted to five bamboo species of the Thamnocalanus group, which is known here as ringal .
All this is the result of the efforts of one individual, Kunwar Damodar Singh. Singh's story is the story of Shantikunj, or the other way around. He spent his childhood as a loner, and started befriending his only proximals