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The Shodhyatra
organized by our institution, SRISTI, is a pathbreaking effort in the
sphere of recognizing, rewarding and disseminating grassroots innovations
through journeying by foot in rural India. Shodhyatra is a bi-annual event; one
held in the winter and the other in the summer.
In the most recent shodhyatra, we covered
the rural districts of Anand and Baroda
on foot. This December the shodhyatra will take place in the state of Tamil Nadu and will stretch from the village of Thiruvadgam to the village of Shovepur. The entire distance of 150km will be covered by foot. This shodhyatra will be managed by:
P Viveknandan
45, TPM nagar
Madurai
TamilNadu625010
(email:numvali@vsnl.com)
Phone:0452-380082
Fax:0452-604765
Further details of this shodhyatra are as follows:
In this shodhyatra we will concern ourselves with a range a fields:
1) Farming, animal husbandry, cock-rearing, and other rural technologies such as
carpentry.
2) Local veterinarians (vardh), famers who follow organic practices; teachers of off-beat beneficial ideas, traditional knowledge and women innovators.
3) Traditional knowledge as in the fields of organic farming, homeopathic medicine in the treatment of conditions in both humans and animals.
4) The promotion of the formation of similar organisations (with similar concerns) from local initiative.
5) For the benefit of students who are largely unaware of the value of conservation of the local environment, a competition will be held in different villages celebrating the diversities in plant species.
Here, the students who identify the most species are rewarded with prizes in every village covered in the shodhyatra.
6) The identification of unknown crop varieties and the various uses to which they are put and the varying methods of preparation of foods from these crops across the villages. This will be identified through various competitions held among the women of the villages.
The useful knowledge learned through these competitions will be taken note of and where relevant will be replicated back in villages in Gujurat.
7) Crops cultivated for their suitabilty to particular land types, methods of cattle rearing, homeopathic treatment and even challenges faced on the social fronts as a result of confrontation between man and environment.
8) Sharing practices recorded by SRISTI and Honeybee with the various villages through a computerized multimedia database. This will be shown to the farmers, women and children of the village; also traditional knowledge will be recorded and shared.
This Shodhyatra will see the participation of students, scientists, farmers, teachers,
NGO workers and scibes among others. As part of this yatra, 100 to 125 people in a group will go from village to village. Innovations and traditional knowledge will be the focus. We request you to encourage participation in the yatra
in your region.
Innovators are welcome to join the shodhyatra.
Timetable:
- 15 to 20 km. will be travelled daily by foot.
- Every participant will have to bring 2kg.rice and 1kg. pulses
- Every participant will have to bring along items of daily use.
- Shodyatris would find it convenient to carry along a notebook and pen to note anything of importance.
- You may bring anyone you like along with you on the yatra.
- Every shodyatri will have to bear his own expenses.
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