The City-dweller and the Tiger: Activity Update October 2013: Kanha

Team: Amit Awasthi – Conservation Officer

Sampathlal Dhurve – Field assistant

Highlights

· Celebrated wildlife week programme in villages

· 2 bio-gas plants repaired in 2 villages

· 2 voluntary work project programmes for community assistance – one to clear area next to hand pump and one to clear area next to well

· Socio-economic surveys updated in 2 villages

· 2 nature trail programmes in 2 village

· Environment education programme conducted in 10 schools - attended by 224 students

· 7 nature and wildlife film shows attended by 546 students

· 3 unemployed youths placed in resorts

· Distributed vegetable seeds to 13 villagers in 5 villages

· 3 awareness programmes on vegetable farming

Conservation work

In order to reduce the dependence of villagers on forests for firewood, we encourage them to use alternative sources of energy. As part of this programme we assist villagers in repairing bio-gas units which have fallen into disrepair. In October, we helped two villagers restart their bio-gas units. The details are given in the table above.

Below: Tulsiram uses his biogas stove after we repaired it. In Manegaon.

During October, we organized two voluntary work projects (voluntary community work). On October 20, Amit and Sampath led a team of 14 people in a programme to clear wild growth around a well at SchoolTola in Batwar. Due to heavy rains, wild growth had proliferated around the well and water was stagnating. Access to the well was also difficult. Our team removed the wild growth. The participants included 10 women belonging to Maa and Durga self-help groups (SHGs) and 4 unemployed youths from the village. Photos below.

Above: The well area after clean-up

On October 27, Amit and Sampath led a team of 15 unemployed youths in a programme to clean the area around a hand pump at ChowkiTola in Chapri well. Due to heavy rains, wild growth had proliferated around the pump and water was stagnating. Our team removed the wild growth, cleared the area and also cleaned and repaired a soak pit next to the hand pump. Photos below.

The hand pump and surrounding area after clean-up

Education

During the month our team organized environment education programmes in 10 schools in the villages in our area of operations.

Amit and Sampath led children of Mocha and Batwar on nature trails on October 13 and October 30 respectively. On the trails, they helped children identify various species of plants and animals and explained the importance of preserving our environment.

Nature trail - Sampath with children of Mocha Middle School

Above, below: some winners of contests held at Mocha Middle School
during Wildlife Week

Kutwahi SHG members get mementos for participating in Wildlife Week
activities

See our posts on Wildlife Week celebrations in the blog

Employment Cell

We helped three youths get jobs during the month of October.

Anil Uikey of Chapri, who got a job at Kousalya Resort with our help

Livelihood programmes

As part of our programme to help villagers find alternative livelihood options which will reduce their dependence on forests, we have been encouraging villagers, in our area of operations around Kanha, to take up vegetable farming. Due to the presence of several resorts around Mocha and a steady flow of tourists, there is good demand for fresh vegetables. Over the past year, we have assisted around 15 villagers in taking up vegetable farming and they are earning around 500-1,000 rupees a week in additional income. The vegetable patches are typically of small size and located in the backyards of the residences. Some villagers have now got enough confidence to expand and are planning to use part of their farmland for this activity. To encourage more villagers to take up this activity, we conducted three awareness programmes in October at Dhamangaon, Batwar and Khisi.