Events of 2021

November 27th to December 27th, 2021: ‘SOIL MONTH’ AT ANGARIKE MAALA: 

On November 27th, the children of Nagavalli who participate in the weekly Saturday program at our resource centre were special guests to the land. They informally ‘inaugurated’ the new threshing yard (kana) and also took walks around the land. They sang songs and engaged in short discussions about land, forests, biodiversity and the need to be ecologically responsible. On the 29th, we had 33 Solega from various hamlets visit us and participate in discussions, singing and dancing on the land. On December 2nd, we had Vasu and K.C. Raghu speak about the importance of soil conservation and food awareness to an audience of farmers, ILP alumni and friends and students from Arivu School, Mysuru. On the 3rd December, we had women from Nagavalli join Sunita Rao and Santhosh conduct a ‘beeja baluvalli’ or ‘seed sharing’ session. Later, they all took a round of the land and also enjoyed doing a collective exercise to indicate the importance of collective work. On the 16th December, we had eight members of MoonFrog Labs, Bengaluru, visit the land and review the work and programs. Over the month, visitors from the Chamarajanagar, Tumkur, Mysuru, and Bengaluru districts have enjoyed walks over the land and engaged in discussions about restorative agriculture and the need for climate change preparedness.

Case studies of four schools in Chamarajanagar district (in Kannada) were compiled by P. Veerabhadranaika and the Azim Premji Foundation, Bengaluru printed these for wider distribution. A panel discussion on the book and the significance of these case studies was organized with the District Dept of Education. Shivnanju represented the Dept of Education and spoke about the challenges of working in government schools, Mr. Sheikh Jinnah of Azim Premji Foundation, spoke about the need for new orientation among teachers, and Veerabadranaika and Vasavi spoke about the complexities and challenges of establishing government schools as public institutions.

On our annual ‘Hitala Hita’ (Strength of the Garden) day, we had Prof. Rameswari Varma as a special guest to both honour her and her work on women’s issues and for her support to Punarchith. The women brought vegetables and a beautiful mural was made by Ms. Sundramma. Prof Varma not only exhorted the women to become economically independent but also sang women’s empowerment songs. 

We revived our work on conducting out-reach and awareness sessions on climate change in the district. We invited representatives from various organisations in the district to a presentation and discussion on how the district was being affected by climate change. Sixteen persons attended the session and a new shorter version of our presentation was developed by Ratheesh, Sharada and Shrikanth, three volunteers from Bengaluru.