Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Activity Update July 2017: Kanha


Highlights:

Batwar - telling villagers about livelihood opportunities
and skill-development programmes

Bhagpur - compost pit being dug in Bhadu Singh Tekam's yard

Chhapri - villagers plant saplings at Government Tribal Hostel

Chhapri - clearing wild growth from the village paths

Khatiya - workshop on basics of hospitality and housekeeping

Kutwahi - villagers planting saplings 

Manegaon - villagers practising improved techniques in paddy farming

Mocha - rally for Global Tiger Day



Sautiya - children cleaning up plastic litter

Global Tiger Day celebrations




















THE FULL REPORT

Team: Amit Awasthi – Conservation Officer
            Sampathlal Dhurve – Field assistant
           
Highlights                                                                                                                                                  
·      2 voluntary work programmes for community assistance – area next to well cleaned at Batwar and wild growth cleared from road at Chapri
·       3 awareness programmes on snake bites and improved farming techniques
·      Plantation programme – 1,320 saplings planted in 5 villages 
·      3 compost pits prepared in 3 villages
·      6 paddy seedling beds prepared using improved farming techniques
·      2 anti-plastic programmes
·      Global Tiger Day  celebrated at Mocha – conservation rally, contests for students    
·      Environment education programme conducted in 9 schools - attended by 253 students
·      7 film shows on nature and wildlife – attended by 234 students
·      2 unemployed youths get jobs through our Employment Cell
·      Arranged  for 20 youths from villages in our area of operations to get trained in hospitality and housekeeping                                                                                                                            

Conservation 





































On July 16, Amit and Sampath led a team of 11 youths in a programme to clear wild growth from the main road in Chapri leading into Kursitola. Besides making movement difficult, the wild growth was also providing refuge to snakes and scorpions. Our team cleared away the wild growth, thus reducing the chances of people stepping on snakes and killing them.

On July 22, Amit and Sampath led a team of 8 people in a programme to clear wild growth around a well at Batwar. Due to heavy rains, wild growth had proliferated   around the well and access to the well was affected. Our team, which comprised 8   youths from the village, removed the wild growth and cleaned the area around the well.

During the month, Amit and Sampathlal organised 4 awareness programmes on snake bites and improved farming techniques.   Details of the programmes are given in the table above.

During the month, the following 4 farmers were also taught to plant paddy using improved techniques:






As part of our monsoon activities, our teams across the landscape motivate and organise villagers to collect seeds, prepare saplings and dig pits so that a plantation drive can be launched once the rains set in.

During July, we helped plant a total of 1,320 saplings in 5 villages. The species planted included mango, kanji, jamun, aawla, kanher, bamboo.  The saplings were provided by various government agencies.

Our team encourages organic farming as part of our strategy to reduce the impact of chemical fertilisers on fields adjoining prime wildlife areas. Part of our work includes assistance to villagers in setting up vermi-compost tanks and compost pits.

During July, we helped 3 villagers dig compost pits – Bhadu Singh Tekam of Bhagpur on July 2, Bhadu Lal Uikey of Batwar on July 12 and Balram Uikey of Manegaon on July 15.     

On July 9, our team organised an anti-plastic programme at Sautiya. Sampath spoke to the villagers about the harmful impact of plastic/polythene on the environment and motivated them to remove such litter from the village. A team of students went around the village, collecting plastic and polythene litter/waste, which were then buried in a pit on the outskirts of the village.

A similar anti-plastic programme was organised at Kutwahi on July 10.

On July 29, Global Tiger Day, our team collaborated on a joint programme with the Forest Department and World Wildlife Fund in Mocha.

Due to our consistent work in schools in the villages in the buffer zone, Mr. Sanjay Shukla, Director of Kanha Tiger Reserve, had asked us to mobilise children for the programme and to organise activities for them.

Accordingly, we organised a drawing/painting contest with the theme of tigers and tiger conservation. We also organised a rally, with students carrying banners/placards and chanting slogans for tiger conservation.

A total of 49 students participated in the contest while 260 students joined the rally. The students were from Government High School and Government Middle School, Mocha and Middle School, Patpara.  Teachers from these schools were also present.


Besides Mr. Sanjay Shukla, other prominent officials present in the programme included Mr. Gulshan Bawra, Divisional Commissioner, Jabalpur;  Dharmendra Verma, Director, Forest Research Centre, Jabalpur; Renu Singh, Chief Conservator of Forests, Jabalpur; Sufia Farooqui, Collector, Mandla and Dhirendra Bhargava, Chief Conservator of Forests, Balaghat.

Education  

During the month our team organised environment education programmes in 9 schools in the villages in our area of operations.
















Education van programme

There were 7 film shows on nature and wildlife conservation in July.











Employment Cell

We helped 2 youths get jobs during the month of July.











Hospitality and Housekeeping Training programme

Jagatguru Shankaracharya Institute, a private agency based at Raipur in Chhattisgarh provides vocational training to youths. Officials of the Institute approached Amit Awasthi to send youths from villages in our area of operations to get training in “Hospitality and Housekeeping” which will equip them with skills suitable for employment in the hospitality industry.

Accordingly, Amit selected 9 youths from our area of operations and they were included in a batch of 20 from the Kanha region for the training programme.

The programme was conducted at Khatiya, Mocha and was inaugurated on July 26 by Sanjay Shukla, Kanha Field Director. After this training programme, arrangements for employing the youths will be made in nearby hotels and resorts.