Laxman Singh was born into a farming family in Laporiya. As he grew up, he saw his home pasturelands disappear and his once green village turn drought-prone. He obtained a degree in social work from Rajasthan University and then returned to Laporiya and started the Youth Service Association in 1980.
Thereafter, he traveled to the forests of Ranthanbore, Assam, and Manipur and realized that the pasture in his home village had a lot of potential. He later applied the lessons learnt from his travels in Laporiya – the start of the movement that he now plans to grow to scale across Rajasthan.
Laxman has a track record of setting precedents in his personal and public life. During his wedding, he created a furor in his community when he publicly announced his family's decision to wed subsequent generations into families that would neither give nor take dowry. As a result, though all his brothers and sisters married late (families that eschew dowry in Rajsthan are rare), it marked the beginning of a subtle movement against dowry in his village.
Laxman's rapport with communities has yielded results that has even earned the recognition of the government. In 1992, he received the Nehru Youth Award for his work with women and children, and in 1996 he received the Priyadarshini Vrikshamitra Award ("Friend of the Environment Award") as recognition for his efforts towards tree plantation and animal husbandry in Rajasthan.
His organization, Gram Vikas Navyuvak Mandal Laporiya's (GVNML), has 42 full-time staff, 110 part-time staff, and 545 volunteers.
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