Elephant

“The Kattunayakans, for example, a traditional hunter-gatherer tribe, would never plant a cash crop like bananas, since ‘elephants would eat it, of course’. They think it’s perfectly natural for elephants to come through their land and eat whatever they find. But for many of the newer immigrants into the region this is completely unacceptable, and they think elephants are a huge problem. Such nuances are frequently lost on biologists, conservationists and the media.” – Tarsh Thekaekara (Director, Shola Trust) in “Can elephants and humans live together?” (The Guardian, 6 March 2017)
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/mar/06/can-elephants-and-humans-live-together
https://indiantribalheritage.org/?p=22634

Gudalur’s Vidyodaya School and outreach programme: A success story with Adivasi history, culture and songs integrated into its curriculum – Tamil Nadu

by

Deep within the Gudalur valley, bounded by the Mudumalai, Wyanad and Bandipur tiger reserves, the Viswa Bharati Vidyodaya Trust has developed a school which is attracting the neglected children of Adivasi tribes into primary education “What use is your education to us? It will only take away our children. Your schools talk about changing the … Read more

Training women as Health Workers and resource persons : Ashwini’s Community Health Programme for the tribal communities of Gudalur Valley (Nilgiri) – Tamil Nadu

by

A health program for the people by the people | For up-to-date information about Ashwini’s Community Health Programme, click here >> The intervention on the Health situation of Adivasis started with the training of tribal women as Health Workers. Tribal women, who were till the other day, considered only as manual workers, suddenly became the … Read more

Cultivating wild varieties of medicinal plants makes tribal communities self-reliant: Increased demand for Ayurveda medicines – Kerala

by

Giji K. Raman, The Hindu, KATTAPPANA, August 26, 2014 | To view more photos and read the full article, click here >> Murugan, a native of Kammalankudy in the Marayur sandal division, is a happy man. He was selected the best farmer in the forest division for cultivating the largest quantity of ‘kattupadavalam’ (a wild … Read more

Video | Creating a forest single handedly, now home to Bengal tigers, rhinoceros, deer and many varieties of birds: Molai Forest – Assam

by

To read the full report, click here >> Almost three decades ago, a teenager, after noticing the deaths of a large number of reptiles due to a lack of a tree cover, started planting Bamboo in an area that had been washed away by floods. Today, that same land hosts 1,360 acres of Jungle called … Read more

Adivasi mahouts who never beat their elephant: In search of workable solutions for dealing with rogue elephants – Tamil Nadu

by

Mari Marcel Thekaekara, New Internationalist, November 5, 2013 | Read the full blog here >> […] Living as we do on the edge of the Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary, we hear many elephant stories, not all pretty. Our much-maligned forest department gets a lot of flack from animal rights activists for catching and taming rogue elephants. All of us … Read more