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Achievements: |
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Landmark Achivements -
Rangabelia |
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The making of Rangabelia Project
Geo-physical area - The Sunderbans is a cluster of islands in the largest delta of the world. Its complex bio diversity makes it a " World Heritage Site" as recognised by UNESCO. It is situated in the southern edge of West Bengal and Bangladesh and is surrounded by the Bay of Bengal and various branches of rivers criss-crossing this region.
Out of the 102 islands on the Indian side, only 54 islands are inhabited and the rest are covered with dense forest and inhabited by wild animals, including the Royal Bengal tiger and the estuarine crocodile.
In 1967 Tushar Kanjilal joined the Rangabelia High School as Headmaster. Within a short time he realised to his dismay that one fourth of the students were coming to school with an empty stomach. This was the beginning of a journey of a man with a mission. At the age of 37, he started a comprehensive development programme in three villages and today it has spread to a large part of the Sunderbans. At the beginning, the Rangabelia Comprehensive Rural Development projects focused on agriculture and tried to free poor villagers from the clutches of money lenders. Nowadays, it delivers a spectrum of development interventions from agriculture to health initiatives. |
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| Dandakaryana
Tribal welfare -
Dandakaranya Project |
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In 1979, the mammoth task of resettling Bangladeshi refugees in Malkangiri in Orissa was underway. The mainstreaming of the refugees with the local tribes like Koya and Banodas was the greatest challenge. Sri Pannalal Dasgupta, the then Secretary of TSRD paid frequent visits to the villages and befriended the tribal community. He analysed their misery, the bases of which were land ownership, their social and economic problems.
At this point, he initiated a project for tribal welfare and organised people to implement the project. This brought harmony among the Bengali settlers and the tribals. Even today, the local people remember him with gratitude for his dedicated and selfless service. |
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| Sustainable Agriculture |
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During the early years of TSRD, Pannalal Dasgupta worried about the lack of environmental awareness created Swaba Lamban Samities ( Self Reliance Groups). These were encouraged to undertake plantation programmes round the traditional village pond. In the early eighties, Pannalal Dasgupta , then Secretary of TSRD, by "One Straw Revolution" and "Natural Farming & Philosophy of Green" written by Masanabu Fukuoka, a Japanese environmentologist. This was the worldwide revival of natural farming.
Dasgupta wrote to and invited Fukuoka to India. During Fukuoka stay in India in 1987, the two visionaries discussed in depth, ecological degradation and the importance of preserving the bio diversity.
Fukuoka was deeply impressed by Dasgupta's concern for comprehensive and sustainable rural development and invited him to Japan. In his quest for a greener India, Fukuoka introduced him to the Kyoto Forum, which provided support of those organizations which work in the field of environment and ecology. This was the beginning of a new era for TSRD.
Since then, concerns about the ecology and the environment have remained major focus areas for the organisation. Affirmative action has helped negate some of the worst effects of the continued plunder of Nature's bounty in most of the areas where the Society has been active. In fact, there is an increasing consensus about increasing our intervention in this critical area. |
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