Highlights:
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| Volunteers examine nilgai scat on patrol organised by us in buffer area |
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| Bamdeli - Dr Gopal Adgokar treats child at our free medical camp |
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| Bamdeli - Students of village school perform in wildlife-themed skit |
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| Candidates for driver's training progrmme arrive in Chandrapur to give their learner's licence test |
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| Sitarampeth Anti-Poaching Patrol |
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| Sitarampeth Anti-Poaching Patrols, sloth bear foraging signs |
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| Spotted by our nti-poaching patrols, this tiger pugmark indicates the presence of the big cat in Tadoba's buffer forests |
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| Spotted by our anti-poaching patrols, the trails are well used by large carnivores like the leopard that left this pugmark |
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| Moharli - Candidates for driver's training programme get briefed about the programme |
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| Mudholi - School students participate in a kabaddi programme organised by us. We used the programme to promote the conservation message. |
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| Mudholi - Students of village schools take part in a kabaddi programme organised by us |
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| Sitarampeth - Dr Gopal Adgokar treats a villager at our free medical camp |
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| Signs of sloth bear digging for food spotted by volunteers on patrol |
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| Village youths on patrol in jungle |
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| Sitarampeth - Villagers learn about skill-development programmes offered by Bank of India's Rural Self-Employment Training Institute |
THE FULL REPORT
Field
Staff:
Conservation Officer – Prameek Kannan
Highlights
·
2 Anti-poaching patrols in buffer forests,
with 20 local youths.
·
2 Education programmes were conducted
with 145 participants, including wildlife-conservation themed sports and skit competitions.
·
One programme to train 40 village
youths in driving four-wheelers was launched on October 28 at Moharli. This is
a one-month programme
·
One awareness programme was organized
on October 14 at Sitarampeth in which village youths were given information
about various skill-development programmes run by Bank of India’s Rural
Self-Employment Training Institute (R-Seti)
·
Six villages covered by Mobile Health
Unit -- treated 417 patients.
Conservation
On October 20th Conservation Officer Prameek
Kannan conducted an anti-poaching patrol in the buffer forests around
Sitarampeth village with 9 youths from Sitarampeth village. Another
anti-poaching patrol was conducted on the 23rdof October around the
buffer forest of Sitarampeth, this time with 11 youths from the village. An
abundance of animal signs were seen on the buffer trails, including pugmarks,
scrapes and scat of tigers and leopards, and digging signs of sloth bears, as
well as tracks and scat of a variety of ungulates such as sambar, nilgai and
gaur.
Education
On October 6th, the SF team conducted a Kabbaddi
tournament in Mudholi village, where 120 participants from Zilla Parishad and Saraswati
Secondary Schools participated in the event. Trophies were presented to the
winners of the tournament, after which the teachers of the schools and Prameek spoke
about the importance of sports for health and development, just as conservation
actions are important for the health and development of both forests and
surrounding villages alike. They pledged to join hands for future conservation
activities with the SF team and the Forest Department. The teams bore names of
the wildlife of the area.
On October 7th, the students of Bhamdeli Zilla
Parishad School performed a skit on the harm that plastic can do to wildlife
and the ecosystem, and why we must stop littering.
Employment
On the 14th of October, a livelihood training
awareness session was conducted in Sitarampeth village, which was attended by
25 villagers, including members of the VEDC and Sarpanch. The session was
conducted by SF and Bank of India’s Rural Self Employment Training Institute (R-SETI),
and was presided over by their State Project Coordinator V.M. Potdar, who had
come from Nagpur. This session was conducted to make the villagers aware of the
availability of such services of support for self employment within their
villages, wherein training would be provided to help enhance their income
potential through self-employment by practices such as dairy and organic
farming, and various other forms of agriculture and cottage industry. This
session looked to ascertain from the villagers what form of livelihood they
pursue, and what skills they would like to develop through training from R-SETI
in Chandrapur to enhance their income through self-employment.
On the 24th of October we held a briefing session
for the candidates of our driver’s training programme Moharli, attended by 13
candidates. Our employment officer Ajay Poddar and the driving instructor from
Chandrapur’s India Driving School were at the session to brief the candidates
about their month long training program. Candidates were handed out study
material for their Learner’s License test to be held on the 28th.
On the 28th of October, 33 candidates took their
Learner’s License test through Chandrapur’s India Driving School at the
Chandrapur RTO.
Medical
Health Unit
There were 6 health camps in October.
