Chhattisgarh

• 20 Dec 2022

Chhattisgarh Wins National Silver SKOCH Award for 'Mor Mayaru Guruji' Program

Why in discussion?

On December 19, 2022, the 'Mor Mayaru Guruji' program of Chhattisgarh State Commission for Protection of Child Rights was awarded silver SKOCH Award at the national level by The SKOCH Foundation at a program organized at India Habitat Center, New Delhi.

Key Points

• The award was received by Women and Child Development Minister Anila Bhediya and Commission Chairperson Tejkunwar Netam.
• Chhattisgarh Housing Board and Forest Department Balod also received awards in this honor ceremony.
• Anila Bhediya said that this program has been started with the aim of making the teachers behave with the children after understanding the mentality of the children.
• It is noteworthy that the National SKOCH Award is a very prestigious honor which is received only after passing the step-by-step process of 7 steps. This award has been given for the innovation of 'Mor Mayaru Guruji' program in the field of child protection in the category of Women and Child Development.
• It is worth mentioning that through the 'Mor Mayaru Guruji' program of The Chhattisgarh State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, teachers are given training in an interesting way through sports and other activities to protect child rights.
• The Commission has so far trained about 2000 teachers at various district and state levels in this programme and plans to expand it to the district level in future.
• This program has been designed in an interesting way. Its duration has been kept only 2 to 3 hours, so that teachers can easily accept it.
• The Commission believes that the relationship between a teacher and a child lasts from 5 years to 12 years and in the meantime the personality of the teacher has a profound impact on the children. Keeping this in mind, all these topics have been included in the Mor Mayaru Guruji program, including child rights, what to emphasize and what shortcomings to be corrected while interacting with children and teaching.

Book: 'Back from the Brink' Released

Why in discussion?

On December 19, 2022, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and Forest Minister Mohammad Akbar released a special book 'Back from the Brink' written by the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) on the conservation of wild buffaloes, the state animal of Chhattisgarh, at a meeting of the Chhattisgarh State Wildlife Board .

Key Points

• For the last 17 years, WTI has been working with Chhattisgarh Forest Department on conservation and promotion of forest buffaloes. The book details the various aspects of the project that has been going on for the last two decades as well as a detailed description of the goal of conservation.
• India accounts for more than 80 percent of the globally endangered wild buffalo (Bubalus arnee). In Chhattisgarh, the number of forest buffaloes in hard ground has come down to less than 50. The number of forest buffaloes in the wetlands of Assam is close to 4000.
• According to Vivek Menon, founder and executive director of Wildlife Trust of India, when WTI started functioning in the state in 2005, there were only six forest buffaloes left in Udanti Sanctuary along with one female wild buffalo. This meant that there was a serious threat of extinction of the isolated populations of central India.
• This report chronicles 15 years of conservation work with endangered wild buffaloes. The conservation of Chhattisgarh's State Animal requires global attention as well as the cooperation of the Central and State government.
• According to Dr. Rajendra Mishra, Deputy Director and Central Zone Head, Wildlife Trust of India, there were a maximum of 11 wild buffaloes in Udanti Sanctuary during the project period. The Forest Department also succeeded in shifting two forest buffaloes (male and female) from Manas National Park in Assam to Baranwapara Wildlife Sanctuary in the year 2020 with the technical support of WTI.
• The book states that the wild buffaloes of Udanti share a haplotype with wild buffaloes of Assam state and even Maharashtra and hence can be used to increase the population of wild buffaloes in Udanti. However, the shrinking forests and grasslands in the Udanti-Sitanadi Tiger Reserve can pose a serious threat to protect wild buffaloes.
• Through three consecutive years of public awareness campaigns, WTI has disseminated conservation and promotion of wild buffaloes to about 4000 students, 3000 villagers and 12 public service departments, whose impact has reached all sections of the society.

Chhattisgarh to Increase Tiger Population

Why in discussion?

On December 19, 2022, the Chhattisgarh State Wildlife Board meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel approved several other proposals including bringing tigers from Madhya Pradesh to increase the number of tigers in Chhattisgarh.

Key Points

• According to this proposal, tigers brought from Madhya Pradesh will be released to the Sudden Tiger Reserve. Along with this, tigers will be released in Baranwapara sanctuary due to favorable conditions for tigers.
• In the meeting of the Chhattisgarh State Wildlife Board, several proposals were approved for protection and conservation of wild animals, prevention of wild animal-human conflict.
• A proposal to increase the number of tigers in Chhattisgarh was made by the Global Tiger Forum (GTF), whose implementation was approved in the meeting. Under whichtigers will be brought from Madhya Pradesh to the Sudden Tiger Reserve.
• Officials said that water sources, pastures have been developed for wild animals in Achanakmar Taigar Reserve, so that the number of herbivorous wild animals can increase.
• In the board meeting, in-principle approval was also given to the proposal to release tigers to restore tigers in Barnawapara Sanctuary in Balodabazar district .
• Tigers were found in Barnawapara Sanctuary till the year 2010 . Under the Tiger Re-Introduction and Tiger Recovery Plan, habitat suitability report will be prepared from renowned wildlife institutes, after which the work of tiger restoration in this sanctuary will be started after getting approval from the National Tiger Conservation Authority, New Delhi.
• Officials informed the meeting that the herbivorous wild animals have been brought from various breeding centers and other places and released into the natural habitat of protected areas of the state.
• It was also informed in the meeting that due to the provision of pasture, water etc. for elephants in the forest areas of Chhattisgarh, the incidents of elephant human conflict have been significantly reduced. About 11,314 hectares of pastures have been developed. About 80 thousandhectares of edible grass species have been planted.
• About 64 forest areas of Keshkal and Kanker forest divisions in The Danti-Sitanadi Tiger Reserve and Idravati-U Danti-Sitanadi-Sunabeda marked by wildlife institute of India Dehradun for construction of raipur-Vishakhap dameconomic corridor proposed under Bharat Mala project Permission was given for the construction of the proposed economic corridor in about 3.5 km highway passing through 7 forest chambers of the Tiger Corridor.
• The proposal will be sent to the National Board for Wildlife. In this way, permission was given to construct a new bridge over chintavagu river on Bhopalpattam to Jagdalpur National Highway. The proposal will also be sent to the National Board for Wildlife for approval. The construction of this new bridge and approach road falls under the buffer zone of 1.177 hectarearea of The IndiraVati Tiger Reserve.
• The meeting also approved proposals for laying optical fibre cables and installing mobile towers to facilitate better communication in forest areas. This will strengthen the forest animal protection system. At the same time, pds system, paddy purchase, old age pension, banking and online education will be easier in the villages of forest areas.
• In the meeting, permission was also given for artificial insemination in forest buffaloes. According to the proposal, semen extraction will be carried out under the supervision of experts from Wildlife Trust of India and LaCONES, CCMB Hyderabad and veterinarians posted in the Forest Department and this will be used for artificial insemination of female forest buffaloes.