Activity Update September 2017: Kanha

Highlights:

Overgrown area around the well in Dhamangaon

The area after clearing overgrown vegetation

Kutwahi - volunteers clear the area around a hand pump

A wildlife film screening at Mocha school

Patpara - a compost pit dug in Anil Baiga's yard

Nature education class at Patpara school, by our Field Assistant
Sampathlal Dhurve

Lalit Batti at his new place of work, Koushalya Resort, Mocha

Santhosh Dhurwe at his new place of work, Koushalya Resort, Mocha

THE FULL REPORT

Team: Amit Awasthi – Conservation Officer

            Sampathlal Dhurve – Field assistant

           

Highlights                                                                                                                                                  

·      2 voluntary work projects for community assistance – area next to hand pump cleaned at Kutwahi and area next to well cleaned at Dhamangaon

·      Socio-economic surveys of 9 villages done

·      5 compost pits prepared in 5 villages

·      2 anti-plastic programmes

·      Environment education programme conducted in 9 schools - attended by 241 students

·      7 nature and wildlife film shows -- attended by 379 students

·      2 unemployed youths get jobs through our Employment Cell

·      3 awareness programmes on vegetable farming

·      Selection of 22 youths for training in hospitality and housekeeping

           

 Conservation

On September 17, Amit and Sampath led a team of 8 people in a programme to clear wild growth around a hand pump at Kutwahi. 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.

A similar programme was organised on September 20 to clear the area next to a well at Dhamangaon. 
 
Our team completed socio-economic surveys of 9 villages.

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 compost pits. During September, we helped 5 villagers dig compost pits – Sohan Markam of Manegaon on September 2, Santosh Dhurwey of Sautiya on September 6, Chhavi Uikey of Kutwahi on September 10, Aghan Singh of Batwar on September 15 and Rama Singh of Chapri on September 16.  

On September 8, our team organised an anti-plastic programme at Kutwahi. 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. The team of villagers and 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 Patpara on September 10.

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 September.

Employment Cell

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

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 3 years, 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 farm land for this activity. To encourage more villagers to take up this activity, we conducted 3 awareness programmes in September at Patpara, Batwar and Kutwahi.

Training programmes

A programme to train village youths in hospitality and housekeeping ended in September. The training was imparted by Jagatguru Shankaracharya Institute, a private agency based at Raipur in Chhattisgarh which provides vocational training to youths.  We had selected 9 youths from villages in our area of operations for the programme.