Shodhyatra 41

41st Shodhyatra Radha Nagar, Diglipur, North Andaman to Webi, Mayabunder, Middle Andaman Andaman and Nicobar Islands 23rd April - 28th April, 2018

Index 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Introduction Past Shodhyatra Shodhyatri Interactions in school i) Innovative rat catcher 6. Learning from the school ii) Innovator who challenges society iii) Innovating for the society 7. Aanganwadi workers iv) Recipe artist from RKgram v) Food formulator in the middle of nowhere 8. Village meets at panchayats 9. From the eyes of villagers 10. From the eyes of shodhyatris

11. How SRISTI/NIF can help 12. On the way vi) Deepika’s marriage preparation 13. Value Additions 14. Last stop vii) Innovator who bridges traditions viii) Innovating for the family ix) Andaman Karen Crafts 15. Coastal Green Zone 16. Bureau of Outreach and Communication 17. Closing 18. Follow ups 19. Costs 20. Food Formulations of Andaman 21. Traditional Herbal Knowledge 22. Biodiversity competition with students 23. Ideas

1. Introduction Andaman and Nicobar islands is situated about 800km South-East from the eastern coast of the Indian mainland.

The first settlements in this region came in the late 18th century. But long before it, the islands were inhabited by tribes which are decedents of some of the earliest known humans, hundreds of thousands of years ago.

Evidence suggests presence of four negrito groups (Andamanese, Jarawas, Sentinalese and Onges) in Andamans and 2 mongoloid in Nicobars (Nicobarese and Shompens).

These tribes still exist today but some have been “modernized� with the exception of Sentinelese who have shown a strong repulsion against any foreign interaction.

Ranchi style roof made from hetal patti

2. The past

The first settlers came with the British in 1925. Karen tribe, known to be the most robust and adaptable tribe in Burma at the time, quickly made Andaman their home. They used their traditional dungis to go deep into the ocean to catch fish and cultivated rice and vegetables using their traditional Karen ways.

• Along

with them came the Ranchis, a generic name given to tribals brought from Chota Nagpur region around Ranchi. These were mostly Munda and Oraon tribals. They chose the jungles as their home depending on forest products to fulfill their needs. Their deep knowledge of the forests of Andaman can be matched only by the ancient islander tribes.

• During

this time, Andaman was popularly known as “Kala Pani” (black waters). As one moves away from the islands, the ocean goes so deep, that the water seems black, hence the name. Surrounded by water on all side, “Kale Pani ki saza” (punishment of black waters) was the worst nightmare for criminals and later freedom fighters. Three of seven wings of the cellular jail still exists today and is a famous tourist destination. Built with natural stone, for a long time, this jail was the strongest building on the islands. The other building - houses, shops etc - were traditionally built of wood and bamboo and roofing was done with dried heat leaves. Today, the timber is relatively scarce after the supreme court prohibited felling of trees for commercial use to check the massive deforestation happening on the island. Most houses now are made with hollow bricks made of concrete manufactured on the islands itself.

• The

next set of settlers that came to Andaman were the refugees who fled from East Bengal during the crisis after India’s independence. The Indian government supported the cause, but barely. The refugees welcomed the little attention after the violence turned their life upside down. Until the turn of the century, life went on in the same way. Settlers found their way to Andaman in search of new life. Andaman came to be called as mini India with people from Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Orissa, Jharkhand, Bihar and many more residing on the island. They celebrate Durga puja as merrily as Onam, Makar Sankranti with the same joy as Christmas, and Id with the same grace as Easter. Idli dosa from Tamil Nadu came next to fish curry from Bengal while everyone sipped the king coconut.

• There

is a silver lining for those who are forced to start a new life - they leave all their baggage behind and bring only the good things. Even now, one can feel the equity and freedom in the region. Religion, castes, genders nothing matters. Only present does. The farmers from Bengal cleared the land to grow rice and vegetables. The ones from Ranchi dwelled in the forest collecting wild fruits and vegetables for use. The coastal families went for fishing. Everyone worked to enough to feed their families and the community around them. Even with the houses spread out sparsely in the village, one can still see the sense of community at the local tea shop where everyone comes to exchange vegetables in the evening and chat.

3. Shodhyatra

Shodh Yatra is to undertake a journey for the search of knowledge, creativity and innovations at the grassroots. Shodh Yatra is an attempt, on the part of SRISTI, to reach out to the most remote parts of the country with a firm belief that the hardship and challenges of natural surroundings are prime motivators of creativity and innovations. Shodh Yatra aims at unearthing such traditional knowledge and grassroots innovations. Shodh Yatra is also a journey of mutual exchange and sharing of knowledge. Whatever knowledge and practices that we have pooled in, over the years are shared with the villagers during the Shodh Yatra. We also share the Honey Bee database with the villagers.

Shodh Yatra is also a journey undertaken to spread green consciousness and we do it by involving women and children to display their ecological knowledge through various competitions.

OBJECTIVES OF SHODH YATRA Shodh Yatra, as a major scouting, networking and dissemination programme of SRISTI, is being carried out with the following objectives: • To learn about the experiences of the farmers engaged in organic farming and inform other farmers about the same.

• To encourage the curiosity of the children about variety in organic farming and to discover the knowledge of bio and crop diversity among rural people.

• To meet the people who solve their problems through their presence of mind and inborn ability, store their knowledge and felicitate them.

• To compile and disseminate the knowledge, which is fast disappearing and establish a dialogue between the old generation and future generation • Shodh Yatra is open to all. However, the Shodh Yatris have to take care of their own lodging and boarding expenses.

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The 41st Shodhyatra happened in this region. Beginning from Radha Nagar village, the last revenue village in the North, 50 Shodhyatris walked 120km to reach Webi in middle Andaman.

While Andaman known as mini-India, shodhyatris themselves came from very wide regional and professional backgrounds covering states from the north-east to the south, and from USA, Spain and Germany. The simple reason - to explore grassroots creativity and innovation in the region. Having covered every state in India at least once, Andaman was one place that remained completely untouched. Famous for its tropical rainforests and having cultural diversity like no other in the country, this was definitely in our bucket list. We travelled through 17 villages, exchanging knowledge with more than 3000 men, women and children.

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Joining us on the journey was Chanchal Singha Roy and six of his students. Chanchal is a government school teacher, who was teaching in Diglipur for the past five years. He nurtured many students with creativity and innovation, two of whom, Dipankar Das and Sumit Biswas won the IGNITE award in 2015 and 2016 respectively. The 3rd student, Shubrato Das and Saurabh Das have designed a water conservation technique for a Betel leaf farm using bamboos. Pranav Das had collected over 500 different seeds and is setting up his own seed bank.

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It was the first time young innovators like them joined us on the Shodhyatra. In future too, we would try to have some young innovators walk with us. The first day of Shodhyatra(23rd April) also being the world earth day was inaugurated with planting a tree at the Radha Nagar panchayat, our first stop. Soon after, we proceeded as planned in the schedule.

The shodhyatra was inaugurated with planting a tree at the Radha Nagar panchayat, our first stop.

Shodhyatris start walking from Radha Nagar with the banner in hand.

Route 23/04/2018

Radha Nagar

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Bhaskar(Pradhan) 09476079662

Inaugration of Shodhyatra Evening meet with villagers at panchayat, Night halt at panchayat

4.8km

Rinku Baroi, Ward member, 9531885663

Meeting at school

11:00 am Milangram

3.5km

Mohanander Sarkar, Up Pradhan 9531918128

Meeting at Community hall

1:00 pm Laxmipur

7.2km

Sujon Kumar Das, Pradhan 9474296036

Meeting at panchayat Lunch halt

4:00 pm Madhupur

3.5km

Shyamlal, Pradhan, 9474225591

Nighthalt Evening meet at Panchayat

2.4km

Zubaida Ibrahim, Head Master

primary school meet

1:00 pm Rkgram

3km

Sarupa Halder, 9474299450 Dipti Biswas, 9476032349

Lunch Meet at anganwadi

6:00 pm Sitanagar

4.5km

Bulbul Mistri, Pradhan 9531919786

Nighthalt at primary school/panchayat Evening meet

7.7km

Niranjan Baroi, Pradhan 9474253621

Lunch at Primary school Meet with kids

9:00 AM Swarajgram

24/04/2018

Dbgram 9:00 AM

25/04/2018

Nabogram 1:00 PM 5:00 pm Kishori Nagar

11.4km Anjali Biswas, Anganwadi 9531910769

Nighthalt at panchayat Evening meet

3.4km

Rajnish Arya, teacher, 9476053729

Secondary School meet Recipe competition

1:00 pm Pailun

9.3km

Mahesh, village leader 03192-217376

Lunch Village meet in primary school

5:00 pm Kalapahad

12km

Anjana Roy, Anganwadi

Night halt at aganwadi Village meet

Mohanpur

10km

26/04/2018

Parangra 9:00 AM

27/04/2018

Lunch meet

11:00 AM 5:00 pm Webi 28/04/2018

Webi 7:00 AM

16km

Saw John - 9474215682

Morning meet at AKC(Andaman Karen Crafts) closing session

4. Shodhyatris 1. Vinit Doshi, Andaman and Nicobar

26.Anita Pathak, Housewife, Maharashtra

2. Manjit Dabas, Farmer, Haryana

27.Sunil Pathak, Retired sub-magistrate, Maharashtra

3. Lokesh Soni, Professor, Gujarat

28.Dr. Abhay Jere, Scientist, Andhra Pradesh

4. Vijay S Jodha, Photographer

29.Sarvesh Tewari, Changemaker, Delhi

5. Nishit Sangomla, Barefoot College

30.Jyoti Ranjan Sahoo, Student, Orissa

6. Sethrichem Sangtam, Changemaker, Nagaland

31.Arjunbhai Mohanbhai Paghdar, Innovator, Gujarat

7. Dharambir Kamboj, Innovator, Haryana

32.Anjali Lakum, PhD student, Gujarat

8. Tshering Lepcha, Sarchpanch, Sikkim

33.Bharatbhai Nasit, Farmer, Gujarat

9. Lokesh Jain, Engineer, Electric Scooter, Gujarat

34.Om Prakash Chalka, Retired education officer, Gujarat

10.Rajshekhar, Electric Scooter, Karnataka

35.Maria Belen Rooriguez Caamano, Professor, Maharashtra

11.Janakrai Joshi, Farmer, Gujarat

36.Col Akshay Yadav, Retired

12.Ashokbhai Upadhyay, Social Entrepreneur, Gujarat

37.Chanchal Singha Roy, Teacher, Andaman and Nicobar Islands

13.Oleksandr Dmytrovich Kuzura, Researcher, USA

38.Dipankar Das, Student, Andaman and Nicobar Islands

14.Sharmila Mandal, Akaar Innovations, Maharashtra

39.Sumit Biswas, Student, Andaman and Nicobar Islands

15.Jaydeep Mandal, Aakar Innovations, Maharashtra

40.Pranav, Student, Andaman and Nicobar Islands

16.Nirzaree, Analyst, Electric Scooter, Karnataka

41.Shubrato, Student, Andaman and Nicobar Islands

17.Rajendrabhai Parmar, Farmer, Gujarat

42.Rahul, Student, Andaman and Nicobar Islands

18.Shipra Suneja, Professor, Azim Premji, Karnataka

43.Mannan Gupta, Scout, SRISTI

19.Devanshi Parikh, Student, Gujarat

44.Ramjibhai Dabhi, Scout, SRISTI

20.Parsottambhai Ladhabhai Vavaiya, Farmer, Gujarat

45.Rajiv Mili, NIF

21.Ratibhai Govindbhai Kapadiya, Farmer, Gujarat

46.Nitin Maurya, NIF

22.Ladani Kantilal Shamjibhai, Farmer, Gujarat

47.Vivek Kumar, NIF

23.Arun Shankar, Travel consultant, Maharashtra

48.Chetan Patel, Coordinator, SRISTI

24.Umesh Patil, Engineer, Maharashtra

49.Brig Ganesham Pogula, Andhra Pradesh

25.Narendra Patre, Scientist, Andhra Pradesh

50.Prof Anil Gupta, Professor, Gujarat

5. Interaction in schools

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Schools give us a platform to interact with young minds. We organize idea competition competition to trigger curiosity and reinforce the innovative spirit of children and biodiversity competitions to help them become aware and proud of their natural surrounding. The aim is to encourage the students to look for ideas from their environment.

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Even though shodhyatris didn’t get a formal permission from the district education officer, enthusiastic teachers and headmasters welcomed shodhyatris with open arms. Parangra secondary school teachers helped organize idea and biodiversity competition with the kids, gathered traditional and innovative crafts. Teachers and mid-day meal workers displayed their creativity in food formulations. Even kids, some as young as 10-year-olds, prepared traditional recipes with their mother learned about its advantages and displayed for the shodhyatris. During the honoring ceremony at the school, the loud cheers from the kids for their teachers reflected the level of enthusiasm the teachers had instilled in their your students. Even when the shodhyatris were leaving, the teachers regretted not having prepared some cultural performances with the kids.

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The primary schools of Dbgram and Mohanpur had a similar story to tell. Even though the students were only till 5th grade, the level of creativity of the kids and enthusiasm of the teachers helped us to have a powerful session with the community. Teachers prepared traditional recipes, students gathered wild fruits in Mohanpur, creative ideas came from kids in Dbgram and parents came to share their knowledge.

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There were some schools where we entered for the first time just during the yatra. In Swarajgram, the shodhyatris displayed posters and innovations to the kids before asking them to think of their own ideas. Being able to physically touch innovations gave the kids encouragement to think some of their own. Ironically, the younger ones came up with many ideas while those in grade 11 and 12 sat confused putting a big question-mark his schools are killing creativity in students.

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In an interesting aside/ instance children were not satisfied by just seeing the coconut tree climbing device, they wanted to see how it worked. They immediately identified the tree and a big crowd gathered to see a shodh yatri climbing a tree to show how easy it was to use the device developed by late Shri Appachan (Idukki, Kerala). If was funny how one kid after watch the machine work, showed us his own skill. He climbed up the tree as if he was walking on plain ground.

i) Innovative rat catcher

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Santosh Kumar Dutta, at Mohanpur school, after hearing about our purpose, ran back home and brought with him an innovation he had made to kill rats on his farm.

6. Learnings from the school •

During one of the night meets between the shodhyatris it was pointed out that “awards” and “prizes” should not be used as an incentive to encourage kids to think of ideas. Rather, solution-based thinking should itself be felt as a reward when explaining the kids about the idea competition. In Nabogram, the secondary school was next to the village panchayat. While the session was ongoing, a group of shodhyatris went to the school and interacted with the kids with the newly decided approach. Surprisingly, the outcome was still the same.

Even without any incentive, a number of students came up with interesting ideas.

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The school infrastructure, clean toilets, high degree of sanitation and inspiring quotes on the walls of schools impressed every Shodh Yatris. The teachers deserve appreciation for having created a very friendly environment in the schools such that children were very eloquent and uninhibited in sharing their idea. Some teachers had developed their own techniques to engage with students. Pratima Biswas, in Parangra, used innovative methods for learning alphabets and attendance using formulae. If we could record such unique practices/methodology used by teachers, no class would ever go boring if the teacher is motivated.

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When a student finished primary school, it was the teacher who took the student to the secondary school and not the parents. This ensured minimum fallouts and maximum admission. A similar tradition is followed by anganwadi workers who take the kids to admit them in the primary school. Felt like the teachers are not just a part of the community but also of the family.

Some of the key ideas which got the attention of Shodh Yatris were • Water harvesting umbrella and Expandable umbrella for 4-5 people by Tithi Gharami, of class 3, Govt primary school, DB gram, • Spectacles with camera for taking snapshot of blackboard, by Anjana Mistry, of class 9th, Govt Senior Secondary school, Swarajgram • Machine with foot operated car jack mechanism for tree climbing • Remote operated wheel chair, by Riya Das, class 9th, HM Govt School, Laxmipur • Remote operated car based floor cleaning device, Riya Das , class 9th, HM Govt School, Laxmipur • Rotating window pane for ease of cleaning both sides, Abhishek Mandal, Govt School, Village Nabagram

ii) An innovator who challenges society People who think differently are all around us. There are some who see the innovator in them and get inspired. The next steps are not generally known in the grassroots community. Sitting at a tea shop in Laxmipur during the planning phase, I found myself telling a group of men about my purpose. Sujan, a young man who had recently started working with the electrical department listened carefully. While everyone just nodded, he jumped into the conversation telling me about a man who made “such things”. He asked me to come in the morning and took me to his home.

We entered a small, untidy shack. Wires were hanging from every hook, magnets, motors, and television parts scattered all around. Looked like a junkyard of sorts. Out came a man in his mid-30s – Shumanto Haldar. I was at the right place. After a few minutes of conversation, I handed him my visiting card and to my surprise, he said, “What is this for? I can’t read.” I felt so stupid. He left school when he was in fifth grade and could barely write his own name. But give him any piece of machinery or electronics and he could repair it. Every now and then he scrounges through the electronic waste to pick parts he uses to make his own things - speakers, gadgets, an air pump using the compressor of a refrigerator, a wood cutting device from a scooter among others. He even made a set of speakers which Sujan uses and says are better than most pieces available in the market.

Here I was, an electronics and communication engineer who could not repair even a remote and in front of me, Shumanto, who without any education or mentorship, could do better than an engineer; innovate. Was it the education system that went wrong or was it just me I wondered. Shumanto learned by watching. How did the motor rotate? How did electricity through the copper wires create a magnetic effect? As if the machines spoke to him.

Most people in the village acknowledge his talent by have deemed him crazy for cutting ties with the family. He himself is heartbroken and spends most of his time in his shabby shack lamenting about the past. He says his heart calls for the family, but the innovative brain doesn’t allow him to go back.

Don’t know if our society is equipped to handle such misfits.

During the Shodhyatra, Shumanto was there at the Laxmipur meeting. All cleaned up and excited to meet everyone. He told his story. Everyone could see the passion in his eyes. Having heard his story, and watching the passion he hasd in store, Professor asked him to build three speakers, two for SRISTI and one himself paying an amount Rs. 5000 for the products. He seemed happy and excited too. We invited him to walk with us to the next village and he gladly accepted.

There he was proud of his brain, walking with us, when he found himself listening to a young girl. When he paid a bit more attention he heard her explaining why it was so important to make peace with the family. Didn’t make any sense to him so he went back on the walking and enjoying with the group. Its difficult to know how the brain and heart work. The girl was sensitive about family, Shumanto more about his creativity.

Air pump(left) made from refrigerator compressor explained by Shumanto (right).

Shumanto’s house was no less than a junkyard. Televisions, speakers and gadgets all opened up and wires hanging from all hooks.

The young innovators noticed that he had made a sliding door for himself using bearings and left the premises in awe of this real innovator.

iii) Innovating for the society Mithun, a young man in his 30s started a new life in Andaman in 1990s. He came first to Mayabundur but finally decided to settle in Diglipur. Today, most hydraulic hollow-brick machines used in Andaman are made by him from scratch.

“Earlier people had to import the machines from the mainland(Gujarat), now they buy from me. Its cheaper and I provide better maintenance.”

Apart from this, he has built an attachment to the power tillers that allows the farmers to use it as a thrasher. He worked on a machine to get the arecnut out of the shell. His third attempt could process 1kg of arecnut in 3 minutes but it ran into some problems so he dismantled it. He has an industrial size machine in his possession which he uses as a guide.

“No one will buy such a huge machine. I will make it smaller so that a small farmer can find it useful” Currently, he is working on a machine that could thrash rice and strip the arecnut shell, two useful solutions in one machine for Andaman farmers.

We couldn’t meet Mithun during the shodhyatra but he did spot the yatris when we were passing Diglipur. When I followed up with him after the yatra, he regretted not walking up to us and talking.

Nonetheless, he will soon go to Dipankar’s house, where the innovations are stationed and use them as an inspiration. During the yatra, we saw many porter rickshaws upgraded with scooter mechanism and wondered who was the one producing them. This too was Mithun’s brain at work.

Here is one innovator who innovates for the society.

(Clockwise) Mithun makes a living by innovation. He has sold about 8 carts with scooter engine. Areca nut stripper. Most hydraulic hollow block

7. The Anganwadi meetups Reaching out to women seemed to be the most complicated part of the planning process. How to explain to women that the knowledge they use in their homes is something to be proud of? How to replace conversation of movies and soaps with traditional and new recipes and its uses? But most of all where to find women? Is there a forum where women living in villages can be reached out to?

So many questions ran through my mind. On Chetan’s advice and nudge, I started interacting with the Anganwadi workers. Anganwadi is a government division to take care of pregnant women and nutrition of kids until six years. The Anganwadi workers also educate the newly wedded couples for family planning. This helps them keep a close contact with all women in the village.

Surprisingly, Anganwadis in Andaman are an integral part of the community. One of the villagers observed that while in most places the teachers are the first ones to get out for work, in Andaman, its the Anganwadi workers. They are also the ones to take the six-year-olds to primary school to get them admitted. As many shodhyatris observed, the Aaganwadi was a place where knowledge, creativity and art fused together. Which such a positive environment, how couldn’t the kids develop such amazing values.

It was astonishing to know that the aaganwadi workers thought of and worked for the betterment of the kids in the village despite of the little(unsustainable) wage they received. Development of the kids was the priority for them. Even if it meant getting some grains from their home.

When they got to know about our purpose, they did everything in their power to gather as many women as they could and share their knowledge. Women of Andaman have so much knowledge in store. What herbs are available around them to use in daily lives. How to make traditional recipes, or how to make recipes that their kids get the right nutrition.

iv) Recipe artist from RKgram •

Some people just love to cook. Dipti Biswas, an anganwadi worker from RKgram, was so excited to hear when she first heard what shodhyatra was about. She kept on talking about the different recipes she would love to make for us. It was like dreaming with one eyes. fish in Bamboo, fish in coconut shell, fish in banana leaves. Bengali food is incomplete without fish. She was a bit disappointed about making only vegetarian dishes. But later she took on it as a challenge. Even the food for all the 70 people during the shodhyatra was made by her mother and herself. She talked like it was no big deal. She even planned about serving us on banana leaves.

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The food formulation competition was another big surprise for us. She did not just make unique recipes of her own. But also inspired many others to participate. There were at least 10 women displaying their formulations.

Ironically not many photos exist for the recipes as everything was “tasted” before it could be documented but it should give an idea of how tasty they were.

Dipti Biswas honored for her food formulations.

Village meet outside anganwadi, Kalapahad. Apparently, this piece of land, next to the road, surrounded by jungle on all sides was also the resting place for the shodhyatris for the night. Sleeping under the stars in the open without boundaries gave shodhyatris a small taste of plight of the families living in “encroached� forest land.

Food formulators of Kalaphad

v) Food formulator of Kalapahad Anjana Roy, the Anganwadi worker in Kalapahad was yet another passionate soul.

Kalapahad, being an encroached area, has no concrete buildings. Dense forest cover both sides of the road with houses spread as far as two hours away from the road. Even though the families have been living for the last 60 years, they get bare minimum support from the government. The government primary school is almost no infrastructure. Drinking water is supplied through tankers, no pipelines. There are electricity lines passing the village, but the village itself doesn’t have any connection. No roads. Anjana was almost embarrassed when we asked if 60 people could stay in and around her Anganwadi and host a session with the villagers. Even when she agreed, she didn’t say much. Till the last day, I was a bit unsure.

When we finally reached Kalapahad in the evening, I was blown away by her arrangement.

Fifteen women came prepared with recipes and traditional crafts of the Ranchi community.

Many others came from the village for the session with shodhyatris. Recipes made from baby cane, khatti bhaji, banana flower, were a highlight in Kalapahad. Bibia Gwala , made a delicious recipe from mitha leaves(look in food formulations) and also showcased the traditional art of making chatai using khajur leaves. She had a happiness on her face, the one gets to know their knowledge is something to be proud of.

The next morning was another surprise. Sprouted beans with crushed jaggery and coconut served in bowls made of leaves. Such a healthy breakfast! Rich food of the poor people has lessons for many prosperous people whose food is very poor.

Dishes by Anjana Roy

Our morning breakfast couldn’t be better in look, taste, heath and the location where we had it.

A farmer looks at the poster about innovators and innovations, Kishori Nagar

8. Village meets at panchayats Several village-meets on the way happened in panchayat of the village in the presence of the pradhan. The role of pradhan is a very important one in the village. They sanction many government projects and help solve disputes. Sujon, Laxmipur’s pradhan was one of the oldest in the region, while Bulbul Mistri, Sitanagar and Bhaskar, Radha Nagar were the youngest ones. One thing most pradhans had in common was wide support in their village, mostly because of the work they did. Sujon had been elected unanimously for the last fifteen years and had been performing his duties religiously. Being one of the financially well-off families in the village a shodhyatri asked if his kids went to private schools, to which he proudly denied. All his kids went to the government school just like everyone else.

Shyamlal, Madhupur’s Pradhan and Niranjan Baroi, Nabogram’s Pradhan had returned from a training just three days before the shodhyatra. Even then, they quickly organized a huge meet where villager exchanges knowledge with the shodhyatris.

During these meets, a number of problems, ideas and innovations were exchanged from both sides, by men and women.

Majority of attendees in Nanogram were women. They asked questions about farming and discussed their problems. Our botanists displayed many plants they collected on the way and let the women figure out its local use.

(Clockwise) Laxmipur village meet. Shumanto the innovator being honored by professor. Young innovators walking with us till the village about their innovations. Professor hands a globe, a knowledge register and honey bee network knowledge banks to the Sujon the pradhan of Laxmipur

In Madhupur, the women gathered to display their knowledge about food and innovative handicrafts.

9. From the eyes of villagers •

Dhirendranath Mitra told about his experience. He came from erstwhile east Bengal. His main problem was the black worms that infested the rice while storing it. Professor suggested the following methods to tackle the problem

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Light a diya(lamp) in the storing cylinder and close it with an air tight lid. The lamp will die out when there is no oxygen left in the store, thus also killing the worms.

Light a camphor. Works in the same way

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Shake the cylinder few times a day. This will destroy the eggs and not let the worms reproduce.

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Growing fish in the pond is a new concept in Andaman. A villager told that the fish they grow are small in size.

Professor recounted the experience from Nagaland where they put multiple bamboo sticks in the pond.

Fishes rub themselves to these sticks, remove their dead skin and grow larger. Also they pour water into the pond from a height. This allows more oxygen into the pond.

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Hens in the region develop a disease because of which they stop eating and die in a few days. This creates trouble for poultry farmers. SRISTI will look for solution and get back to the villagers.

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Cow farms is slowly picking pace in the region and the farmers wanted to know how could they keep their cows healthier, stronger and use innovative ideas in the process. They were excited to see the machine used to milk cows. Many other herbal ideas were also discussed to keep the cows healthy and strong.

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Another farmer asked for advice for using manure from goat shit rather than cow shit. Goat’s manure is definitely better. But it is too strong. The area where it is stored will experience lesser produce for few year.

The reason being its high acidity. It was thus suggested to spread out the manure while storing and used in lesser quantities as compared to the one from cows.

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Teachers in Parangra noted that Subhash Chandra Bose was the first person to hoist the indian flag and the incident took place in Andaman. Accordingly 23rd January should be declared a state holiday in his honor.

Traditional arecanut stripping tool

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Arecanut is one of the cash crops in Andaman. It has its fruits hanging like coconut and the nut has to be extracted from the shell just like that of a dry coconut.

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Most villagers were very excited to see the coconut climbing device and wanted a similar solution for arecanut trees.

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The extraction process too is a time consuming process. After the fruit is dried, most farmers used traditional tools to extract the nut. If a small and inexpensive machine could be developed for the same, small farmers would be of great benefit.

10. From the eyes of Shodhyatris •

In general the sanitation standards were found to be very high in the villages and the schools. It did occur little odd that in some stretches along the SY route, the national campaign to provide toilets in every house had not yielded results.

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Perhaps administration can take an extra step and include those communities whose legal right to the land remains uncertain despite having been living for about four decades it was much appreciated that despite these constraints drinking water was being provided to these communities, along with streetlights and voter identification cards. Given the peace loving nature of such settler for over 3-4 decades, administration may consider regularising their settlements and consider giving them water pipeline and electricity connection.

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The state has been very kind to provide access to government schools for children of such communities.After all, the squatters in the slums on public land have been regularised several time in last decades in many cities. As similar consideration is in order here. The forest and the revenue department may kindly coordinated and remove this constant source of pain for such encroacher/ unregularised settlements in an otherwise vey placid environment.

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Many healers but in particular women shared a very rich repertoire of creativity in healing, culinary and conservation practices. For instance, we have large scale cultivation of pigeon pea in many states of the country(Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh) and yet the use of tender leaves of pigeon pea for reducing sugar was unknown for the Shodh Yatris. Likewise an ornamental grass with small multi-coloured flowers also provided similar solution. The pieces of a particular red wood soaked in water is used for regulating blood pressure.

We came across women groups, members of human rights organisation working strongly to stop liquor consumption in villages by men leading to a lot of social problems. Their grouse was that special offenses committed after drinking were given less sever punishment than those committed without drinking. This practice, in their view, did not act as a sufficient deterrent for liquor consumption. Administration might like to modify its lenient policy toward such offenders and strengthen the hands of such women groups fighting against this undesirable practice.

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It was very encouraging to notice large number of very old trees more than 100 years by the road side. But the cost of development extremely high. The four-lane ATR will cost a lot of these trees. The Shodh Yatris plead to the administration of finding ways of safeguarding the trees while widening the ATR, in view of a new port coming up.

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Water shortage was quite apparent in most of the villages. There were a few ponds, which still had water. There is a strong case for having many more farms/ community ponds and other water h a r v e s t i n g s t r u c t u re s including check dams as widely practised in Saurashtra (Gujarat).

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Shodh Yatris did come across instances of using solar energy for lighting in many huts. Ironically, most of it in the encroached area, where the government has denied electricity. This is an area where a good effort can easily be transformed in a great effort by covering more people.

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There is a huge potential for regulated eco-tourism, home stays, responsible community living in north and middle Andaman. The responsible tourism implies that visitors with expertise in some art, skill, knowledge system should share their experience with school children.

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The migration of man from Africa took hundreds and thousands of years ago,which literally means thousands years of habitation of negrito stock in Andaman. When we walked we never heard about any archaeological site or heard about it, which was very strange. ASI only has a handful of excavations in the region, done over 30 years ago, if there are more such sites, they would be of immense learning value.

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Fruits hanging on the tree along the road suggest abundance in the environment as well as honesty among the people

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Not many public temples suggest that people pray in private.

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Several nurseries of the forest department showed the enormous effort going on in planting various tree species as well as shrubs. Perhaps every school may become a point of distribution for the seedlings and children should be guided to report their growth from time to time. This way children will become partner of forest department as future custodian of biodiversity.

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Everyone lives in harmony

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Walls in schools are filled with inspiring quotes and knowledgable posters

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The Shodh Yatris were very intrigued by the fact that there was not a single child who seemed malnourished. When asked, the secret came out. The mothers’ breast feed their children up to four to five years with a minimum of two years. Further, every house grew some vegetables or collected the uncultivated edible plants from the forests for feeding the children and rest of the family..

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Since the panchayats were really active in Andaman. It was suggested that during celebrations like independence day and republic day, outstanding villagers, and innovators and herbal healers should be honored. It should be the duty of the teachers to make sure that kids don’t limit themselves to ITI but look beyond and become engineers, doctors, accountants and scientists.

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If we observe something, we should observe with 100% focus and thus we’ll not miss anything.

11. How SRISTI/NIF can help •

There was practically very little value addition, food/fish processing during the yatra. The only few devices we saw included paddy threshers, power tiller and area nut husking devices. NIF has many solutions in the space of tree climbing, food processing, areca nut husking (green/dry), coconut husking, irrigation, farm machinery, ploughing, sowing, inter-culture devices etc. The Honey Bee Network is very keen that such devices are made available to the communities in Andaman and Nicobar islands through mobile exhibitions, custom hiring centres or through private entrepreneurs for renting/using these devices. A very productive partnership between A&N Administration, NIF and SRISTI is possible.

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There is a strong need for entrepreneurial development for which local creativity based start-ups to promote innovations; NIF will be willing to partner in it so long as these are based on grassroots innovations.

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The Honey Bee Network is very keen to encourage the visit of school teachers to meet other innovative teachers in other states of the country. The innovative teachers like Chanchal Roy, Pratima Das, Rajnish Acharya and others may be encouraged to visit other innovative teachers in other parts of the country (see a database of 15000 sub teaches at inshodh.org developed by IIM Ahmedabad in collaboration with SRISTI.

Rajnish Acharya an innnovative and passionate teacher honored by professor Anil Gupta

Food formulators of Kalapahad could be easily use their knowledge to set up a stall at Sattvik to reveal the recipes of Andaman.

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The recent introduction of organic agriculture practices is much appreciated just as Sikkim has become an organic state, the A&N islands may also try to pursue organic cultivation.While sharing such practices in various villages, we realised that a great deal needs to be done still. This is an area where Honey Bee Network can support the hands of the administration.

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SRISTI organises a traditional food festival called SATTVIK in which around 70000 people participated last year, we willlike to invite women groups from Karen and other communities to this festival to be held during 23-25 December 2018. This might help in stimulating the demand for crop varieties and cuisines based on them, to create awareness about knowledge richness of the states and generate entrepreneurial opportunities for the women group, besides generating lot of income for them. Local craft goods and handloom products can also be sold. The network seeks the cooperation and support from administration for such participation.

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There is a huge scope for the development of herbal drugs, dyes, functional foods and other products given such a rich biodiversity. The network is willing to support the efforts of the administration in this regard.

From left to right: Chanchal Singha Roy, 2016 IGNITE awardee Sumit Biswas, Prof Anil Gupta, 2015 IGNITE awardee Dipankar Das, shodhyatri Vijay Jodha Diglipur Senior Secondary School is where Chanchal sir taught for five years and the school from where Sumit and Dipankar, two of his students studied and won the IGNITE award for their grassroots innovation. It was his dream to have a photo of the two boys and the professor in front of the school. Only those who dream have the power to fulfil it.

12. On the way •

From the 3rd day of shodhyatra, we left whatever little civilization we were walking through and made our way through the forest region. We had to walk almost 26km on the third day. Clouds were of no help. Evening winds were absent. The next two days, we spent passing few villages through the forest. On the way we had three masters to learn from - nature, fellow shodhyatris and oursleves.

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During the walk, a dog started following a group of shodhyatris. With the love he received, the dog walked many kilometres before realizing he has long left his territory. Being in the jungle, surrounded by other territorial dogs, it was clear that the dog will not survive the night. Two shodhyatris took it upon themselves to take the dog back to where he belonged.

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The night at Kalapahad was a challenge. With the only concrete building destroyed by the forest department a few years ago, we were to spend the night around the Anganwadi in the open under the stars. While everyone was making their beds and getting ready to sleep, Dharamveer wandered around. Close by, there was a small shop where weary travelers stopped to refresh. While talking to the owner of the shop, he asked if there was a place he could sleep for the night. To his surprise, the owner had a room which he usually rented to weary travelers. He first thought of the professor. As the owner had just attended the session, he offered a second room, the one which he slept in. This time Dharamvir thought of the women in our group. He quickly came back to regroup and take the people to the arrangement he had just found, before finally coming back to the open space where he happily spread out his sheet and slept under the stars.

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Sometimes, it's not words that inspire but plain simple actions. Where everyone cheated once in a while to skip the walk and take some transport, Anita Pathak, 52 years old, walked every single meter.

There were times one could see the exhaustion in her face, but not a single inch of quit. Never did she complain, quietly observed everything around her and performed her duties as required.

She was an inspiration for every shodhyatri.

Between RKgram and Khudirampur lives a family away from all homes. The “pal� are known to be the masons in the community. This family of pals has been making ceramic pots for community in the traditional way known to them – with hand tools without the use of masons wheel.

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Dharamveer in his element telling about his story and how he become the innovator he is today.

Traditional roofing is done by using dried heath leaves

Cancerous growth on a tree on the way

Crocodiles are often found in creeks of Andaman

Traditional Chulha in Andaman is designed to work even during monsoon.

The one below is a portable chulha made in a bucket.

vi) Deepika’s marriage preparation •

On the way to Mohanpur, we stopped at a marriage preparation.

There was something unique about the decoration. The fireplace where the marriage rituals take place was made in the shape of a lotus flower. In many other places, beautiful clay carvings were made.

When we asked them who did it, they said that it was the bride who was decorating the whole house.

Regrettably, the bride wasn’t there, but the mother showed us all the decorative items she had prepared for the wedding. She had even made paper bouquets to present to the guests. What creativity!

13. Value Additions •

The idea of shodhyatra is share knowledge and happiness. Many shodhyatris brought along with them not just their passion learn but also a few token of appreciation.

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Dharamveer Kamboj, the innovator who made the machine to juice any fruit without breaking the seeds has promised to set up a machine in Andaman, primarily to produce juice from Noni fruit. Noni, he explained to the villagers, is widely available in Andman, but usually goes to waste owning to its small life cycle. Quickly juicing it and adding preservatives is the only way to make keep it safe for about year. This fruit has high medicinal value and can be of great benefit for Andaman and rest of the world.

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Narendra Patre brought along with him many interesting and informational books for the kids. In every village where we reached, he gave them to the most passionate kids he found.

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Dharamveer as always quenched the thirst of shodhyatris and villagers during the hot summer meets by making instant drinks with fresh fruits, milk or whatever he could scrounge around him.

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Rajshekhar brought footballs to be given to different schools and groups of kids.

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Even though Gopali and Hitesh Buch could not make it to the shodhyatra, they sent along with the other many packets of pencils sets to be distributed among the kids.

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These might be small gestures from individual persons cumulates into bringing so many new additions to such remote places. If every shodhyatri brings something to the table, there would be almost 50 new ideas they bring with them for the community! Doesn’t seem such a small number where the number of travellers is restricted to a few hundreds in a year, does it?

14. Last stop •

Crossing almost 60km of forests we reached middle Andaman stopping at a village called Webi. This place had been named so in 1925 when the first Karen families, brought by British colonizers from Burma, made it their home. Karens are known for their skilful and assiduous nature due to which they could sustain themselves in any environment. They brought with them their techniques and cultural traditions and used them to make living in the new region. They used the bark of Phadak tree found in Andaman to make a dugout dungi.

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It was very heartening to note that Karen community got the genome saviour award last year selected by a community chaired by Prof Anil Gupta incidentally.

vii) Innovation that bridges traditions •

The dungis have long been used by Karens to sail out to the open sea to fish. With the coming of Kirloskar engines in new fibre boats, Saw Sangtho saw the opportunity to innovate. He was the first person in the village to figure out a way to fit this engine into his dugout dungi, thus making it motor driven. To see the past and future and instead of rejecting the past and finding a way to bridge them is the work of a great innovator. Since then dungs have become engine driven showing wide appreciation and acceptance of his design.

viii) Innovating for the family •

Saw Pepe, now 65-years-old, always had a knack for using machines to get the work done in a better way. When there was no tractor, no power tiller, he modified his scooter to mulch his fields. In another attempt, he built a winnower for rice. He can just about repair everything. Among many other things he built, one was a mini cart he built for his nephew about three years ago.

Saw Pepe didn’t tell me much about it. But when I stopped at Saw Sarmo’s(his nephew) place to see the cart, he couldn’t stop appreciating the innovation. Sarko’s life turned around with this frugal innovation. He used it for everything - carrying water to his and others farms, cement bags for construction, rice bags, sand and what not.

The small cart could carry more than half a ton and still move smoothly. Due to the small design, it could even go through doors, thus solving the last meter problems also. With this cart for help, he earned enough t buy an auto and two vans. Now he uses these vans for transportation, but still maintains the cart every day for all the help it provided in the past. Today his kids use it to play around. :-)

ix) Andaman Karen Crafts •

In recent years, as is happening around the world, the Karen community kept losing their traditions with modernization. The younger ones were no more interested in learning the crafts. herbal knowledge and cuisines passed on for generations. To counter this, Some members of the community created Andaman Karen Crafts, an initiative to revive traditions and make the new generation proud of their ancestral traditions. On the first Saturday every month they set up a market where the community comes to sell local traditional cuisines and vegetables. In the centre of the first floor men and women learn Karen crafts - handloom, cane and bamboo crafts etc. The idea is to make the community proud of its traditions from within the community and then open up to the outside community.

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Shodhyatris had the privilege to experience the initiative first had. Traditional Karen dinner and breakfast was prepared by the AKC members. Mitopi(black stuff at the bottom right), a kind of cake of black till, last eaten in the region almost 40 years ago a lady told the shodhyatris.

Not everyday one gets to experience such stuff.

15. Coastal Green Zone Chanchal Singha Roy, a government school teacher recently transferred to a new school had been working in Diglipur school for the past 5 five years. After the Tsunami that his Andaman and the rest of the world in 2004, he saw many NGOs come to Andaman, but not for any real support. Saddened by reality, Chanchal started his own initiative – Coastal Green Zone. He encouraged school kids to protect marine resources and equipped them with the necessary skills to do so. The initiative worked with different schools and localities, took kids on exploratory journeys where they learned about their own ecosystem.

During the shodhyatra, he and his students walk with us, volunteering with the team and also spreading awareness about the work of Coastal Green Zone by presenting paintings made by kids during workshops in the past ten years. No wonder Chanchal was honoured with the best teacher’s award two years ago.

16. Bureau of Outreach and Communication Another first for shodhyatra. We were accompanied by a team from the drama division of Bureau of Outreach and Communication, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The moved with us, engaging the villagers about “Beti Bachao Beti Padhao� campaign through plays, puppet acts and dances. It was a win-win for everyone. The team received the opportunity to reach remote villages, creating awareness about the government campaign using an entertaining medium which the villagers loved to watch thus, helping Shodhyatra to engage with a larger community.

17. Closing •

Andaman had been happily taking settlers for almost five decades when literally a wave swept them away. In Dec 2004, the Tsunami hit the islands and the world they knew changed forever.

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Even before they understood what hit them, the “modern” world started flooding in organizations - governmental and non-governmental. Money started flowing in. Even in the devastation, the world saw the abundance of the islands.

More people came in, mostly to juice the islands this time.

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Feeding the family was not enough anymore. Everyone got used to the ease of selling to the market. Ganesh, the pradhan of Radha Nagar from 1966-70, says that they used to walk 20km on foot carrying 50kg rice bags to reach the Diglipur market. The buyers were all known people and warmly invited them to stay over night. That was the connection. Another fisherman said, “When our father went fishing, they brought home, the fishes we loved to eat and now all we can think of is what gets a good price in the market.”

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Organic farming was slowly replaced with chemical fertilizers, trees of all kindsby arecnut trees. Artificial lands are being made for industrial-scale farming.

Not that all of this is unusual. It's just that Andaman started running a bit late and slowly it is catching up for the lost time.

18. Follow ups •

Having found tremendous potential in recipes, if any one volunteers, these recipes can be video documented and uploaded on youtube to create a channel.

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A poster of Idea competition winners of each school should be made and given to each school along with a poster of innovator honored by the honorable president.

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More leave samples need to be collected for testing

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Shumanto has built one speaker. Need to follow up with him and plan how to bring the speakers to SRISTI/NIF

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Mithun has promised to test the coconut climber placed with Dipankar and build one for himself that can also climb arecnut trees.

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Many women have the potential to participate in Satvik. Find a resource person to make it possible.

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Check with Dr. Rajiv and Dr. Vivek about follow ups for herbal practices.

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Herbal register from the father in Webi needs to be retrieved.

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Unique ideas and teaching techniques by the teachers to be recorded.

19. Costs • •

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• • • • • • •

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58000 Scouting by Mannan Gupta (Including flights) 55000 Scouting by Ramji Dabhi(Including flights) Food 07300 Radha Nagar 05500 Laxmipur 11500 Madhupur 05000 RKgram 08000 Sitanagar 07500 Nabogram 07000 Kishori Nagar 06000 Pailun 07000 Kalapahad 06200 Mohanpur 12600 Webi 83600 Total Food cost 17700 Truck 17000 Printing 04000 Sound 00560 water 14425 Gifts 12000 Shawls 15000 Volunteers Total cost(approx) - Rs. 2,76,000 Total funds raised from shodhyatris(approx) - Rs. 2,20,000

ECA YÉÉw YÉÜÅâÄtà|ÉÇá of Andaman and Nicobar

Papita Halwa by Sobha Tirkey, Kalapahad Ingredients - Raw Papaya, Ghee, Sugar, Oil Heat the oil in pan and add grated papaya. Stir it well. After few minutes add water. Followed by sugar while it is cooked. Add Ghee and stir well

Thekua(Rice sweet) by Mary Kiro, Kalapahad •

Ingredients - Rice powder, salt, sugar, baking powder

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Boil water (approx 1.5 lt for 1kg rice powder) add sugar and salt to it. Mix 1 table spoon of baking powder with rice powder and add it to the water. Stir it well. Let it cool and make a soft dough. Give it a flat round shape by pressing with hand.

Mitha Bhaji by Babia Gwala, Kalapahad •

Ingredients - Mitha leaves, Onion, oil, dry chili

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Heat oil in pan and add few red chilis to it. Add chopped onions and fry till it becomes red. Add metha leaves and fry(use water if required)

Nali bhaji dish by Kanti Indwar(Student), Parangra •

Ingredients - Nali leaves, Oil, salt, turmeric, garlic, onion

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Heat oil in pan and add chopped onions and garlic.

Add Nali leaves, salt, turmeric and fry

Drumstick soup by Zubeda Ibrahim, Head Mistress, DBgram •

Ingredients - Sajna leaves, Chawal ka Maand, Salt,Rai,red chili green chili, Drumsticks

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Recipe - Put oil in pan. Fry rai and red chili. Mix chopped onions and green chili. Fry. Mix Chawal ka maand in apt quantity. After it boils, mix cleaned drumstick, sajna patti and salt. Let it boil. Serve hot.

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Benefits - Rich in vitamins and iron

Coconut Barfi, Parangra •

Ingredients: Coconut, Milk, Cardamom, Sugar

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Recipe - Crush coconut. Mix with 0.5 lt milk and heat. As it boils add 200 gm milk, crushed cardamom, and sweet according to taste(about 250 gram). Let it heat and become thick. Put it into the mould and put it in the refrigerator to take shape.

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Benefits - Rich in Proteins

Lauen Payesh(Bottle Gourd) dish

by Mausumi Roy, Kalapahad •

Ingredients - Bottle Gourd, salt, sugar, milk, water, ghee, green cardamom

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Heat ghee in a pan and add grated bottle gourd and fry it.

Add milk and stir. Add salt, sugarr. Cook it till the milk becomes thick.

Jackfruit(kathal) ka ichhar

by Maharani Gain, DBgram •

Ingredients - Tej Patti, jeera, coconut milk, haldi, oil, salt, mirchi powder

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Recipe - Put oil in Pan. Add chopped jackfruit. Add tej patti, jeera, coconut milk, haldi, salt, mirchi powder. Fry it. Add coconut milk, let it boil for some time. Serve hot.

Mendak patti Pakora by Banedicta Kiro, Kalapahad •

Ingredients - Mendak leaves, gram flour, Red cili powder, baking soda, oil

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Make a paste of gram flour, red chili powder, salt and baking soda. Add chopped mendak leaves and fry in hot oil.

Mendak leaves chutney by Nirmala Kujur, Kalapahad

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Ingredients - Mendak leaves, green chili, tomato, garlic, salt

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Make paste of all ingredients into a chutney

Baby Bait(betang) ki sabji, Kamla Bai, Kalapahad •

Ingredients: Oil, spices, mustard seeds, cumin, onion, garlic, green chilli.

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Process: Add cumin seeds and mustard seeds in hot oil and then mix tomato and onion and fry it.

Add salt red chilli powder cumin coriander powder, turmeric and lastly add betang and mix it well.

Then leave it on medium flame for five minutes to cook and then serve it.

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Benefits: Betang is help to remove body pain.

Singapur Bhaji

by Adarsh Kindo, Parangra •

Make vegetable in the usual way

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Benefits - Controls blood pressure and sugar. Good for stomach if eaten raw. Can also be used in combination with other vegetables.

Papita ki Sabji by Veronica Kujur, Kalapahad •

Ingredients: Onion, Tomato, Turmeric, Spices, Green Chilli, Oil.

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Process: Pour some oil in hot pot and then add mustard seeds in oil then add onion and tomato, fry it well. Then add salt, red chilli powder, turmeric, cumin and coriander powder and papaya in it and mix it well. After making proper mixture add some water and close the pot and gave it rest at low flame till it cooked properly.

After some time mix it well and serve it.

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Benefits: It is Good In Fever (As a fruit papita is good in fever so make its sabji and eat it)

Khatta Meeta Aam by Sunita, Parangra •

Ingredients - Mango, Sugar, red chilli powder, oil, salt

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Peel the mango and cut into pieces. Heat oil, put rai, add mango pieces. After frying a bit add sugar and red chili according to taste. In 10-15 minutes mangos will release water. Add half glass water.

Heat for another 20 minutes till it becomes thick. Can be served hot or cold.

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Benefits - Rich in vitamin C

Mendak patti Pakora by Banedicta Kiro, Kalapahad •

Ingredients - Mendak leaves, gram flour, Red cili powder, baking soda, oil

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Make a paste of gram flour, red chili powder, salt and baking soda. Add chopped mendak leaves and fry in hot oil.

Betang Bhaji by Kamla Bairagi, Parangra •

Ingredients - Betang, Oil, mustard seeds, whole red chili

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Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds and whole red chili to it. Stir is and add betang leaves, salt, turmeric to it and fry well.

Kuli Peetha by Dipti Biswas, RKgram •

Learned from her elders. But modified it a little. Elder used a coconut filling while she added some paneer, Kaju badam

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Ingredients - Coconut, rice powder, Kaju, Badam, Paneer, Coconut milk, sugar and jaggery

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Recipe - Crush coconut, paneer, kaju badam in a mixer. Add sugar and jaggery and fry till it becomes red. Boil rice power in warm water and make a dough. Make one “pedi” and flatten it out in a round shape and make it into a bowl. Add the filling and close it.

Cover it with banana leaves, and cook it in coconut milk for 10-15 minutes

Mocha Curry by Dipti Biswas, RKgram

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Mocha Curry by Dipti Biswas, RKgram

Potoi Posto by Dipti Biswas, RKgram

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Potoi Posto by Dipti Biswas, RKgram

Rajma pakora by Sarupa Halder, RKgram •

No one about rajma ever. We used rajma for the kids in Anganwadi. So I thought if there is pakoda of kabuli-chana then why not rajma.

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Ingredients - Rajma, Salt, Haldi, Green chili

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Recipe - Soak Rajma in water overnight and crush it using a mixer(don’t boil before mixing).

Add haldi, salt, green chili according to taste and fry.

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She loves to make food for others.

Kela pool in coconut milk by Vandana Mandal, RKgram •

Ingredients - Kela phool, coconut milk, onion, ginger, garlic, oil, haldi powder, mirchi powder

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Strip Kela phool. Take the centre part. Mix paste of onion, garlic, ginger. Mix oil, haldi powder, mirchi powder.

Cook with coconut milk. When it becomes thick add jeera powder, garam masala.

Recipes by Kokila Pal, RKgram •

Karua Patti (3rd in second column)

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Ingredients - Roots of Karua Patti, coconut, garlic onion, oil, salt, Haldi, green chili, banana leaf

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Make small pieces of roots. Add coconut. Add garlic, onion.

Make paste. Add oil, salt, haldi, green chili. Covering banana leaf and make cook on low flame

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Sweet rolls (2nd in first column)

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Make coconut paste add sugar. Fry till it becomes red. Make a dough of rice powder, milk, sugar and roll the coconut paste.

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Gora peetha (3rd in first column)

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Mix coconut, banana, rice powder, sugar. Make tifght balls.

Fry in oil Take out when brown. Cook in coconut milk. and serve.

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Loti (1st in second column)

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Ingredients- Amia bel, coconut, mirchi powder, garlic, haldi, salt, oil.

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Recipe - Remove amia skin, cut it into 2 inch pieces. Mix crushed coconut. Add mirchi powder, garlic haldi, salt and little bit of oil. Mix well.

Chooshi Peetha by Rukmini Chandra, Parangra

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Chooshi Peetha by Rukmini Chandra, Parangra

Sabji Kele ka peetha

by Saraswati Mistri, Parangra

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Sabji Kele ka peetha

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by Saraswati Mistri, Parangra

Kumda Patti ki chutney

by Sushmita Mistri, Parangra

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Kumda Patti ki chutney

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by Sushmita Mistri, Parangra

Pumpkin Leaves chutney by Sanjana and Sriya(pre primary), Parangra

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Pumpkin Leaves chutney by Sanjana and Sriya(pre primary), Parangra

Kumro Sak and Lau dish by Aloka Mazumdar

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Kumro Sak and Lau dish by Aloka Mazumdar

Naali Bhaji and Bait kumba by Ram Sevak Ram, Class 10, Parangra

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Naali Bhaji and Bait kumba by Ram Sevak Ram, Class 10, Parangra

Aam ki chutney by Francis Kerketta, Parangra

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Aam ki chutney by Francis Kerketta, Parangra

Sajna Bhaji(Drumstick leaves)

by Sunita, Parangra

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Sajna Bhaji(Drumstick leaves)

by Sunita, Parangra

Pachdi - Louki with coconut and curd by Pushpa, Parangra

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Pachdi - Louki with coconut and curd by Pushpa, Parangra

Malyala Aloo Sweet cake

by Asha Devi, Parangra

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Malyala Aloo Sweet cake

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by Asha Devi, Parangra

Papaya kadi by Anita Mondal, Parangra

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Papaya kadi by Anita Mondal, Parangra

Malyala Aloo and coconut milk,

By E. Mary, Parangra

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Malyala Aloo and coconut milk,

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By E. Mary, Parangra

Mirchi Patti ka pakoda by Trishna Dakua, Class 7, Parangra

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Ingredients - Rice powder, salt, turmeric, oil,daal

Jackfruit with coconut milk

by E. Mary, Parangra

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Jackfruit with coconut milk

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by E. Mary, Parangra

Bait Kumba by Neelam Lakda, Student Parangra

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Bait Kumba by Neelam Lakda, Student Parangra

Banana flower with coconut milk by Mousumi, Parangra

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Banana flower with coconut milk by Mousumi, Parangra

Kochu Shukta by Anjana Roy, Kalapahad

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Kochu Shukta by Anjana Roy, Kalapahad

Raagi Chilla by Anjana Roy, Kalapahad

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Raagi Chilla by Anjana Roy, Kalapahad

Kela Phool Ki Sabji by Dipika Roy, Kishori Nagar •

Ingredients: Mustard seed, coriander powder, turmeric, red chilli powder, boiled kabuli chana (gram), dry fruits, salt, cumin powder, green chilli.

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Process: First of all cut kela phool in small pieces and wash it properly. Then boiled it with water and put it aside. Take another pan pour some oil add tej patta, cumin seeds and mustard seeds then add turmeric, salt, dry chillies, red chilli powder, green chilli paste and lastly add kela phool in it. mix it well and close the pan for some time, after cooked it mix roasted dry fruits and fried groundnut in it. then leave it closed on low flame to cook and then mix it well and serve it.

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Benefits: its full of iron, also good for stomach problems and help to increase blood in the body.

Jackfruit Sabji (Kathal sabji)

by Dipika Roy, Kishori Nagar •

Ingredients: Ginger and Garlic paste, Cumin and Coriander powder, Garam Masala, Tej Patta, Dry Chillies, red chilli powder, potato, and coconut milk.

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Process: First of all cut the jack fruit in small pieces and boiled it in the water and put it aside. Take another pan, pour some oil in it add cumin seeds, dry chillies, red chilli powder, turmeric, garlic and ginger paste, salt and other regular spices then mix it well and then add jackfruit and potato pieces in it and stir it properly.

Then cook it for some time and turn off the gas stove. Lastly add coconut milk and add garam masala in it and mix it well.

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Benefits: Helps for healthy Skin.

Kela Thor by Dipika Roy, Kishori Nagar •

Ingredients: Mustard Seeds, Oil, salt, Green Chilli, turmeric powder.

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Process: cut it in small pieces and just wash with hot water but not boil it. take one pan pour some oil and add mustard seeds, thor, turmeric powder, salt and green chilli and mix it well. Leave it for some time for cook and then serve it.

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Benefits: it help in kidney problems. It also removes kidney stone.

Guiya Bhaji by Dipika Roy, Kishori Nagar •

Ingredients: Mustard Seeds, Oil, salt, Green Chilli, turmeric powder, Garlic, Dry Fruits, Kabuli Chana (Gram).

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Process: Cut the bhaji and wash it properly. Take one pan pour some oil, add tej patta, dry chillies, mustard seeds, salt and bhaji then close the pan and leave it for some time.

Then stir it till the water of bhaji will burn and lastly add dry fruits and groundnut in it and mix it well then serve it.

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Benefits: Guiya Bhaji help in purifying the blood and increase the blood in body.

Guiya Bhaji by Dipika Roy, Kishori Nagar •

Ingredients: Mustard Seeds, Oil, salt, Green Chilli, turmeric powder, Garlic, Dry Fruits, Kabuli Chana (Gram).

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Process: Cut the bhaji and wash it properly. Take one pan pour some oil, add tej patta, dry chillies, mustard seeds, salt and bhaji then close the pan and leave it for some time. Then stir it till the water of bhaji will burn and lastly add dry fruits and groundnut in it and mix it well then serve it.

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Benefits: Guiya Bhaji help in purifying the blood and increase the blood in body.

Kochu bata by Dipika Roy, Kishori Nagar •

Ingredients: Mustard Seeds, Oil, salt, Green Chilli, turmeric powder, garlic,

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Process: Cut it and wash it properly then crush it.

Fry chillies and mustard seeds. (Leave mustard seeds uncooked). Then mix garlic and salt. No need to cook it. (This recipe is used in raw form and no need to cook it.)

Betang by Dipika Roy, Kishori Nagar •

Ingredients: Mustard Seeds, Oil, salt, Green Chilli, turmeric powder.

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Process: first of all wash the bhaji with salted water (water will turned red if you wash the bhaji in it). pour some oil in pan add mustard seeds, dry chillies, salt and bhaji and cook it on medium flame for 10-15 miniutes and then mix it well now it is ready.

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Benefits: its is helpful in stomach problems and also help in remove worm from stomach.

Kamli bhaji(naali bhaji) by Sunita Baroi, DBgram •

Ingredients - Kamli bhaji, rice powder, salt, chili powder, haldi, jeera powder

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Recipe - Put Oil, Add Kamli Bhaji. Fry. Add water mixed with rice powder. Add haldi, salt. Let the water evaporate for some time.

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Benefits - Hemoglobin cleansing

Khadi Bhaji by Kanti Indwar, Parangra •

Ingredients - Khadi leaves, oil, salt, turmeric, garlic, onions

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Heat oil in a pan and add chopped onions, garlic to it. Still well. Mix turmeric, salt and Khadi leaves. Fry it well.

21. Traditional Herbal Knowledge

Traditional Community knowledge in Nabogram Leaf juice of buti patti (Eupatorium odoratum) is applied for cuts and wounds One teaspoon flower juice of gudhal ( Hibiscus rosa sinensis) is given to stomachache One teaspoon flower juice of gudhal ( Hibiscus rosa sinensis) is given to menstrual disorder One teaspoon flower juice of gudhal ( Hibiscus rosa sinensis) is applied on hairs to treat hair fall Root juice of lajawani ( Minosa pudica) is given to treat leucorrhoea Dried fruits of mukchund ( Petrospemum acerifloium) is used as scrubber to remove ticks and lice from cattles

Individual Herbal Knowledge, Nanogram Tara Bholiya Mamta Murty Jayanti Paul Reena Roy Nirudh mandal

Three leaves of Archar ( Cajanus cajan) are squeezed to obtain juice which is taken on an empty sotmach with cold water to treat jaundice for three days. It can also be taken once is month to prevent for jaundice One teaspoon root juice of motha ( Cyperus sp) is given to treat diarrhoea and dysentery. Twice a day Half cup fruit juice of kaju ( Anacardium occidentale) is given to treat diarrhoea.

Equal parts of leaves of Kanchan phool ( Bauhinia vareigata) and bhui neem ( Andrographis paniculata) are pounded and small tablets are preapred from the paste.

One tablet is given to treat fever twice a day One cm frsh root of Ishwar mool (Aristolochia indica) is taken and pounded and paste is applied on place of bite

Traditional Knowledge in Village Pailoon put two to three drops of leaf juice of Banda Sita Devi Human health (Vanda tessellata) to cure earache leaves of Sindhwai ( vitex negundo) is kept with Sita Devi Agriculture grain to prevent from insect pest during storage of grains leaf paste of Satimani ( Alstonia macrophylla) is Sanika Bharla Human health applied on place of inflammation and pain flowers and leaves of Khudrum kanta (Hibiscus sabdariffa) is boiled in water and luke warm Ranjit Ram Human health juice is taken twice a day for twop days to treat diarrhoea

Ashutosh Das, Herbal healer of Laxmipur

Herbal treatment for jaundice

Herbal treatment for taking out spine from body

25g fresh roots of ulta kanta (Achyrathes aspera) is powdered and given with 50g goat milk to treat jaundice. Once in a day on an emptry stomach for three to five days One inch root of Katwa Data (Amaranthus spinosus) with taken with one banana for taking out spine. He belives that spine pricked in body part can come out as it supportes the infected portion

Narayan chandra Das, Herbal healer, Madhupur Take 200g adrak (Zingeber officinale), 10-12 leaves of dhatura (Datura metel) , 8-10 leaves of akanda (calotropis procera), 5g each of Herbal medication dalchini, elachi, lavang, gol mirich and for pian, camphor. All the ingredients are pounded rheumatism and together and mix in the mustard oil and kept in paralysis sun. the same is applied in the morning and kept for two to three hours. this has to apply till it gets releif.

Bidhan Roy, Herbal Healer of Paschim Sagar herbal medicine for snake bite herbal medicine for toothache herbal medication for reducing labour pain

herbal formulation for malaria

The stem of Ishwar mool ( Aristolochia indica) is cut into small slices and paste on place of snake bite. The medicine applied shall gradually appear in dry state which is the indication of effectiveness.

The two cm root of khutkhut khsui ( Eclipta alba) is pounded and chewed and also small piece is weared as amulet to treat toothache. one inch root of Tetul Gash (Tamarindus indica), Kela gash (Musa paradisica), Sish Akanda and stem of Gurush Lota are packed and tied with a piece of string on the arm till delivery to reduce the labour pain 100g leaves each of Kalmegh (Andrographis paniculata), Neem (Azdirachta indica) and Bel (Aegle marmelos) grounded and allowed to dry and ground them together again till that appears to have a powdery state. The composite sample is then divided equally into 100 proportions. Each proportion is then made into a tablet.

Each tablet is taken orally twice a day before meal for one month initially followed by ninety days.

herbal medicine for dandruff and lice herbal medicine for herbal medicine for jaundice herbal medication for Gastrointestinal disorder

100g fresh whole plant of khutkhut khsui ( Eclipta alba) is pounded and juice is applied on the hair and left for sometimes. Thereafter the hair is washed in fresh water. The same is exercised thrice a week in the first week followed by twice in the next week and finally once in a week. one leaf of pathar kuchi ( kalanchoe pinnata) is taken with pinch of salt orally for 2 to 3 months to treat kidney stone.

5 to 7 plants of bhi amlaki ( Phyllanthus amarus) is pounded and juice is mixed with 50ml milk shake vigorously till saturation. The composite sample is administered orally once a day before meal for seven consecutive days. For severe case, the duration may be extended for 15 days with similar exercise.

10 to 15 leaves of Butti patta (Eupatorium odoratum) crushed and juice is squeezed. Collected juice sample is diluted in known volume of water. As many as 1 tea cup size volume of sample is administered orally once a day before meal. This is being exercised till get complete recovery.

Dipak Biswas, Herbal Healer of Kishori Nagar herbal medicine for centipede bite

herbal medicine for jaundice

herbal medicine for daibetes herbal medicine for worms in stomach

takeout the infected blood and seed of tetul patta (Tamarindus indica) is cut into two equal halves. Paste is applied on place of bite.

50g root of Achol tana (Achyranthes aspera) and 50g whole plant of bhui amalaki (Phyallanthus amarus) pounded together and mixed with 50 ml milk and shakes vigorously. Prepared sample is taken orally before meal once a day for 3 days regularly.

50g leaves of Sitaphal ( Annona squamosa) is crushed and dip in 25ml water. The composite sample is shaked vigorously to get mixed properly. Thereafter the same is administered orally once a day before meal for 3-4 days.

Freshly prepared lime water is diluted in 1 glass of water and administered orally once a day.

22.

Biodiversity competitions with kids

Tanmay Mandal, Class 5, DBgram Leaf paste of Neem ( Azadirachta indica) is applied on place of skin disease.

One teaspoon leaf juice of tulasi ( Ocimum sanctum) is taken in cough Young leaves of tetul (Tamarindus indica) is chewed to treat cough Young leaves juice of arhar (Cajanus cajan) is given to treat jauudice Leaf juice of bhui neem (Andrographis paniculata) is given to treat fever and cough Leaf juice of karela (Momordica charantia) is taken for deworming Leaves of pather kuchi ( Kalanchoe pinnata) is chewed for removing kidney stone from body Leaf juice of genda ( Tagetes patula) is applied on place of cuts and wounds Leaf juice of Eupatorium odoratum is applied on place of cuts ans wounds

Barsa Bepari, DBgram Leaf juice of Neem ( Azadirachta indica) is taken to cure pimples Leaf juice of Sheoli ( Nyctanthes arbor tristis) is given to treat fever Leaf juice of genda ( Tagetes patula) is applied on place of cuts ans wounds One teaspoon leaf juice of mint ( Mentha viridis) is given in stomachache Leaves of pather kuchi ( Kalanchoe pinnata) is chewed for treating stomachache Leaves of centella asiatica is eaten as vegetable to treat diarrhoea Leaf juice of bhui neem (Andrographis paniculata) is given to treat fever Young leaves of tetul (Tamarindus indica) is chewed to treat cough Young leaves juice of arhar (Cajanus cajan) is given to treat jauudice Leaf juice of basak (Adhatoda vasica) is given to treat cough Gel of Aloe vera is applied on place of sking diseases and pimples Leaf juice of tulasi (Ocimum sanctum) is given to treat cough Leaf juice of sahjan (Morniga oleifera) is taken to reduce blood pressure

Sudeepa Dakua, class 5, Dbgram Leaf paste of Neem ( Azadirachta indica) is applied on place of skin disease.

Leaf juice of kalmegh (Andrographis paniculata) is taken for deworming Leaf juice of Eupatorium odoratum is applied on place of cuts ans wounds Leaf juice of tulasi (Ocimum sanctum) is given to treat cough & cold Leaves of pather kuchi ( Kalanchoe pinnata) is chewed for treating stomachache Leaf juice of karela (Momordica charantia) is taken for stomach disorder Leaf juice of Sheoli ( Nyctanthes arbor tristis) is given to treat fever

Surjit Dakua & Vikram kumar class 10, Parangara Leaves of pather kuchi ( Kalanchoe pinnata) is chewed for treating stomachache Fruits of Datura metal pouded and juice is mixed with water and sprayed to control inscet pest in agricultural field Leaf juice of basak (Adhatoda vasica) is given to treat cough Leaf juice of tulasi (Ocimum sanctum) is given to treat cough & cold Leaf juice of Dawai booti (Eupatorium odoratum) is applied on place of cuts and wounds Aloe vera gel is applied on place of pimples Young leaf juice of amrud (Psidium guajacva) is taken to treat jaundice Leaf juice of neem ( Azadirachta indica) is taken to cure pimples

Retika Ekka & Tapsi Dakua class 9, Parangara Leaf juice of booti patti (Eupatorium odoratum) is applied on place of cuts and wounds Leaves of pather kuchi ( Kalanchoe pinnata) is chewed for treating stomachache Young leaf juice of amrud (Psidium guajava) is taken to treat jaundice Leaves of bel ( Aegle marmelos) is chewed for treating stomachache

Roshan Bhengra class 8, Parangara Young leaf juice of amrud (Psidium guajacva) is taken to treat jaundice Leaf juice of booti patti (Eupatorium odoratum) is applied on place of cuts and wounds Leaf juice of sahjan (Morniga oleifera) is taken to reduce blood pressure Leaf juice of tulasi (Ocimum sanctum) is added in tea to treat cough Leaves of pather kuchi ( Kalanchoe pinnata) is chewed for treating stomachache

Sonali Devi class 5, Parangara Leaf juice of neem ( Azadirachta indica) is taken to cure pox Leaf juice of booti patti (Eupatorium odoratum) is applied on place of cuts and wounds Young leaf juice of amrud (Psidium guajava) is taken to treat jaundice Leaf juice of bhui neem (Andrographis paniculata) is given to treat fever Leaf juice of tulasi (Ocimum sanctum) is added in tea to treat cough Whole plant juice of bhi anola (Phyllanthus amarus) is taken to treat jaundice Leaves of pather kuchi ( Kalanchoe pinnata) is chewed for treating stomachache Leaf juice of genda (Tagetes patula) is applied on place of cuts ans wounds Leaf juice of basak (Adhatoda vasica) is taken to treat cough Leaf juice of Catharanthus roseus is taken daily

Mantosh Bisht & Rahul kumar class 9, Parangara Leaf juice of tulasi (Ocimum sanctum) is added in tea to treat cough & cold Leaf juice of neem ( Azadirachta indica) is taken to cure pox Leaf juice of aam patti (Mangifera indica) is taken to treat Leaf juice of booti patti (Eupatorium odoratum) is applied on place of cuts and wounds Leaves of pather kuchi ( Kalanchoe pinnata) is chewed for treating stomachache

23. Ideas of Students

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Anjana Mistry, class 9th, Govt Senior Secondary school, Swarajgram Spectacles with camera for taking snapshot of blackboard Sanjita Baraoi, class 8th, Govt Senior Secondary school, Swarajgram Amoke less stove. A fuel wood stove with no smoke Anay Mistry, class 9th, Govt Senior Secondary school, Swarajgram Innovative rice harvester. An idea harvesting left over rice after first thrashing Aman Biswas, class 8th, Govt Senior Secondary school, Swarajgram Wind operated boat. Aman has given an idea of use of wind energy for running the boat instead of using diesel. A battery would be there to store the generated energy

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Bijoy kumar Biswas , class 8th, Govt Senior Secondary school, Swarajgram Betal cutting machine. He has given an idea of making betal cutting machine Chatrajeet, class 9th, Govt Senior Secondary school, Swarajgram Water purifier. He has given an idea of low cost water purifier Anik Paul, class 1st, Govt Senior Secondary school, Swarajgram Tree climber. Machine with foot operated car jack mechanism for tree climbing Riya Das, class 9th, HM Govt School, Laxmipur Remote operated wheel chair for physically challenged persons

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Riya Das , class 9th, HM Govt School, Laxmipur Remote operated window and door opener R Dana Kumar, class 9th, HM Govt School, Laxmipur Voice operated window and door opener Tanmay Mandal , class 5th, Govt primary school, DB gram Battery based regulatory mechanism for electrical appliances Tithi Gharami, class 3rd, Govt primary school, DB gram Umbrella used for many persons and water harvesting. She gave the idea of an umbrella of large size in which three to four people can be covered during rain and also used for water harvesting Basu Kumar Das, class 4th, Govt primary school, DB gram a device for extracting mango juice

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Sneha manjhi, Govt School, Village Nabagram Improving the efficiency of rice thrashing by making four outlet as compared to single in existing machine Rahul mandal, Govt School, Village Nabagram Pulse and rice harvesting machine. He has given an idea of machine which can be used for harvesting both rice and pulses Abhishek Mandal, Govt School, Village Nabagram Rotating glass window. He has given an idea of rotating galss window and this will help in cleaning of glasses of windows Shilpi Biswas, Govt School, Village Kishori Nagar Roof made from solar panel

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Suraj Kumar Bachar, Govt School, Village Kishori Nagar solar operated vehicle

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Avishek Minj, class 9th, Govt Seconday School, Village Parangra Pen with scale

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Yash Tirkey, class 6th, Govt Seconday School, Village Parangra

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chalk holder

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Adarsh Kindo, class 8th, Govt Seconday School, Village Parangra Dustbin in bus

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Priya Roy, class 6th, Govt Seconday School, Village Parangra Plastic pipe made from used water bottle Prabha Bhengra, class 10th, Govt Seconday School, Village Parangra Kurkure packed in local leaves packets Sukanto Das, class 7th, Govt Seconday School, Village Parangra Remote car with floor cleaner Supriti Samaddar, Govt School, Village Kishori Nagar an idea of recycling of note books