Activity Update August 2017: Tadoba

Highlights:

Dewada students at our conservation film screening

Katwal - plastic trash clean-up drive

Khutwanda - village school teachers and students taking part
in the plantation programme

Kondegaon school plantation programme

THE FULL REPORT 

Team:

Conservation Officer:  Ajay Poddar

Field Assistant: Kishor Dudhbarai

Highlights of the month:

·       3 voluntary work projects to plant 700 saplings - 260 villagers participated

·       2 cleanliness programmes, 1anti – plastic drive - 70 villagers participated

·       6 visits in schools for nature and wildlife awareness programmes and film shows, attended by 320 students of Zilla Parishad schools

·       3 SHG meetings organised and attended by 28 women

·       4 VEDC meetings to discuss livelihood and conservation issues, attended by 25 members

·       Selected 30 unemployed youths from Tadoba buffer for four-wheeler driver’s training

·       Medical camps in 6 villages – 490 patients treated  

Conservation 

During the month, Kishor organised programmes in Bhamdeli, Sitarampeth, Katwal and Kondegaon to motivate and engage villagers in this season’s plantation drive in the area. A total of 260 villagers participated in this drive. With their assistance, we have managed to plant 700 saplings. We have also engaged Zilla Parishad school students to participate in the plantation drive. 

On August 4^th and 5^th, we organised cleanliness and anti- plastic programmes with the students of Zilla Parishad schools in Katwal and Dewada. 35 students in each village participated in the activity. Students went on the roads and the common areas around their villages with their teachers and our field assistant Kishor and collected plastic litter. They also chanted slogans about cleanliness during the drive. After collecting the litter, they dumped it into garbage pits, constructed through village eco-development committees (VEDCs).

Environment Education

We organised 6 visits to Zilla Parishad (ZP) schools to interact with the students to convey the message of nature and wildlife conservation. We organised wildlife film shows and documentaries in ZP schools. 320 students attended these programmes.

During these programmes, we focused on awareness about snakes and snake bites as the reptiles tend to come into frequent contact with humans during the monsoon when their pits are flooded and they have to come out into the open. We showed a documentary to the students about reptiles’ identification and awareness. 

Education Van

Employment Cell

We organised 3 self-help group (SHG) meetings and 4 VEDC meetings, focusing on alternative livelihoods which would reduce dependence on the forests.

We introduced villagers to district level vocational training and employment schemes like hospitality courses under Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gramin Kaushal Yojana (DDUGKY). Details of the programmes are given below:

Our team visited villages and selected youths for a four-wheeler drivers’ training programme. We had earlier conducted drivers’ training programmes which had benefited village youths, with many getting jobs as drivers and others taking up self-employment. Following their success, the following young men approached us to conduct further programmes.

Candidates list:

Mobile Health Unit

Team:  Dr. Shailesh Pawade, MHU driver: Mr. Gajanan Shanware, Coordinator: Mr. Ashok Athawle. 

6 camps were organised by us in August in which a total of 490 patients got free treatment and medicines.