S. M. Raju

Bihar has been one of the most underdeveloped states in India. It is ravaged by floods in the North and by droughts in the south. It also has a very high density of population with more than 50% of the people living below the poverty line – this leads to most of the people migrating to other states in search of menial jobs. As such, Bihar comprises 5443 sq. km. of wastelands which consist of degraded, waterlogged and marshy lands. This region poses enormous challenges of growth in lieu of the natural calamities of floods and droughts. The state of Bihar has been divided into 9 divisions, this project has been executed in 4 divisions as of now, viz. – Tirhut, Saran, Magadh and Munger.

As the Divisional Commissioner of Saran Division, Saran, Bihar, he took the lead by planting 1.2 million plans in 2011-2012, and as the Divisional Commissioner of Munger Division, Munger, Bihar, he took the lead by planting 1 million saplings in a single day on the 25 of March 2012.

This project has been supported, evaluated and appreciated by multiple agencies; viz. Chief Minister of Bihar, BBC, The Telegraph and The National institute of Administrative Research. Also, the Lal Bahadur Shastri Academy of Administration conducted a National level peer-learning workshop in 2010 based on this project.

As the Divisional Commissioner of the Tirhut Division, Muzaffarpur, Bihar, he took the lead by planting 9.64 million plants (Approx. 1 crore) in a single day on the 30 of August 2009. This was further nominated for the Guinness Book of World Records. Mr. Raju inspired MNREGA functionary across Bihar to plant millions of saplings.

Raju was born in a village called Sultanpet, Chikkaballapur District (Karnataka, India) on 3 July 1960 in a family of farmers. His father's name is Munilakkappa and as he hails from the village of Sultanpet, he was christened Sultanpet Munilakkappa Raju (S.M.Raju).