Afforestation helps career bloom in rural TN

Afforestation helps career bloom in rural TN
S VIJAY KUMAR

MADURAI, DEC 6: The Tamil Nadu afforestation project (TAP) has brought more than increased green cover to Kadamanur in Theni district; it has brought software training programmes to the remote village, whose only claim to fame in the past has been caste riots.

Today, Kadamanur is set to enter the new millennium as a success story not just for providing its young residents with software training facilities but also as a prime example of symbiotic rural and forest development.

The project part of TAP was the brainchild of Conservator of Forests A. Ramkumar and Divisional Forest Officer S.K. Shanmugasundaram. The two decided to bring the Government of India's Community Polytechnic Scheme. Initially, this comprised type-writing and sewing but was gradually extended to computers. Till now, over 58 students including girls have applied to join the free computer course which starts off with date entry operations course and goes as high as training in latest software courses like Java, Oracle and more. Thecertificate issued to successful students by the Government of India will also be help them register at employment exchanges.

Ramkumar says the villagers were initially reluctant to understand the importance of TAP. The state was the first to adopt the conservation concept. TAP lays emphasis on `Participatory Rural Appraisal', a novel venture in the 152 years of modern forest management, he noted. The concept envisages conserving and regenerating natural vegetation around the chosen area in this case Kadamanur and at the same time, provide villagers with training that will get them jobs.

``Our life was a misery when we went to the hills to cut wood and graze cattle. The TAP has come as a boon to us. Now we generate more income than before and lead a better life. Neither the district administration nor the panchayat have executed any scheme here. We have planted thousands of saplings and know that TAP will render more benefits in the long run,'' says Sannasi Village Forest Committee (VFC) president ofPudu Ramachandrapuram.

The TAP has identified 25 villages in Madurai and Theni districts this year. Villagers here depend on forest resources in one way or the other for their livelihood. The TAP aims at making them aware of the urgent need to preserve forest wealth for a better future. Those depending on forests, like shepherds and wood-cutters among others, are provided with an alternative occupation by granting them interest-free loans.

The Japanese Bank for International Co-operation (JBIC) had allocated a soft loan of Rs 500 crore to Tamil Nadu Government for this. The Department of Forests has chalked out a programme to adopt and develop 200 villages annually and clear 1,000 villages by 2001 through the TAP. Kick-starting its mission, the Department concentrated on stopping illegal felling of trees, cattle-grazing and encroahments. TAP allotted Rs 35 lakh towards rehabilitating each village through various measures. A village forest committee was established in every targeted village, withrepresentation from all communities. A sum of Rs 3 lakh was deposited with the VFC. The remaining Rs 33 lakh was kept for constructing water harvesting structures and other forestry programmes.

With the money generated through rotating its Rs three-lakh fund, the VFC has purchased a 60-cent piece of land in Kandamnur where the Forest Department is planning to build a training centre. By offering these free and immensely useful courses, the Department hopes the beneficiaries will explain the need for conserving bio-diversity to others.

This is not all. All those rearing goats have been advised to sell them off and take to dairy farming and other income-generating jobs. The VFC gives out Rs 10,000 as interest-free loans for purchasing a Jersee cow to each family. The money has to be repaid within 10 months and the beneficiary donates some money to the VFC's corpus fund. Pillaimugampatti, a Dalit dominated village, is an example of official apathy. Residents claim that all the work done by the panchayat forthe village was an overhead tank.

The VFC has been so successful here that with the active participation of the entire village, land has been purchased for a training centre. For the first time in the history of the village, farmers are cultivating paddy. The water level in the area has increased following construction of check dams.