Damodar's Thengapali.

Considering the global discussions and seminars on environment, climate change, global warming and carbon emissions, the number of people working on these issues is very low. There are very few people who sacrifice their lives for nature.

One such person is Damodar Kashyap. There is a village called Sanghkarmari in Bastar district of Chhattisgarh. Damodar was born into a farming family in this village. Damodar's primary education took place in the village itself. Along with his studies, he was very fond of nature and forest. He spent a lot of his time with the trees. After 8th standard, I had to leave the village and go to Jagdalpur for further studies. Stayed in a hostel there and got a bachelor's degree. After graduation, he decided to take up farming in his own village instead of taking a job.

When Damodar saw himself returning to his beloved village, the trees he had seen in his childhood were not inert. None of the forest was left. The forest mafia went to cut down the forests. Precious trees did not survive and even the villagers did not spare any effort in cutting down the trees for their own needs. Wherever he went around the village, everything was deserted and the land was deserted. He decided that he would make the forest land as green as before.

For this he did the first work of public awareness. The women who used to come to the forest to cut sticks explained that if we want sticks in the future, we all have to grow and maintain the forest.

In the 18th village sarpanch election was held and he won it. We went from house to house gathering people and explaining that only by saving the forest can we survive. Adopted 'Thengapali method' to protect the forest. Thenga means bamboo. Clothes are made on bamboo sticks, which are considered to be the symbol of the goddess M.

Taking this stick, one of the villagers guards the forest every day, then puts the stick in front of the neighbour's house and the next day the neighbor guards the forest. In this way all the villagers in the village take care of the forest and protect the trees.

Along with Thengapali, some other rules were also made. For example, not grazing cattle in the forest. Trees other than dry sticks for house building or social work cannot be cut down. Planting a tree there and taking care of it. Anyone violating these rules will be fined five hundred rupees. With such ideas, Damodar along with the villagers created and protected the forest in three hundred acres of land. Planted trees and properly cared for the remaining trees.

This forest is located in Sanghkarmari gram panchayat. Many kinds of wild animals live in this forest today. Many herbs and medicinal plants are also found here. Spread over three hundred acres, this forest is known as Badlakot. Apart from this, the forest of Mavlikot is located in one hundred acres and in the areas of Dhodadongri, Karapak and Doulsora, the forest is located in two hundred acres.

Thus Damodar established a forest on a total of six hundred acres of land. Inspired by the success of Damodar, people in areas like Motigaon, Sivanaguda, Goiguda, Keragaon, Sirsiyaguda have also saved the forest by the Thengapali method. All these places saw an increase in the ground water level. Biodiversity and the environment have been protected as well as nurtured.

Damodar Kashyap, a 9-year-old from the Bhatra tribal community, was the sarpanch for 35 years and worked for the forest for five decades. In 2014, Paul K. of Switzerland. When he was awarded by the Fairwind Foundation, his office bearers paid homage to him by visiting his village, but he was happiest when the Chhattisgarh government included a lesson on his life in the ninth standard social science curriculum.

Purnima Singh's Papermashi

- They make all sorts of beautiful things out of five million tons of waste. This includes cotton, clothing and many other useless items

Purnima Singh, who lives in Japur, graduated from the National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra with a bachelor's degree in engineering. Purnima and her husband Chinmay Banthia - both had high-paying jobs in the corporate sector, but Purnima had a business of her own and a business that would help others.

Purnima talked to the house servant, the rickshaw driver, the vegetable and fruit seller and learned about their lives. She also thought of helping such people. Different thoughts came to his mind. Husbands and wives discuss it. To do something for society, for the environment, but there was no understanding of what to do and how to do it.

Once he had to go to a village called Manpura in Jaipur. Here he saw one or two houses where life was still traditionally lived. There was also an earthenware vessel for cooking, a place to eat, a place to store grain, and a basket of hay to hold things.

Seeing all this, he got the answer to the confusion in his mind. Did he realize what he had to do? Purnima quit her job and founded Shubham Crafts in 2014. The husband also quit his job and joined Purnima. Purnima thought that if we bring traditional living products to the market, things that are disappearing from Indian culture will be revived and the environment will be maintained.

There are so many things in our homes today that have been replaced by plastic. Poonama opted for paper mashing and decorative items made from paper pulp. To this end, he inspected the villages of Rajasthan so that those who have an idea of ​​this craft can learn from it by training them. Then production began. Revived this folk art of Jaipur. The first three women started this work.

Today, thirty-five women from five villages work for Shubham Crafts. Punema Singh says the biggest challenge in the early years was to get women to work, because getting them out of their mindset, leaving the veil and working outside the home was the biggest challenge, but today many skilled craftsmen work in Shubham Crafts. Is.

Bimala Aunty of Manpura village is a widow, responsible for two daughters. When Purnima asked him to work, he did not even ask what he was supposed to do, as he had the responsibility of having two daughters. They say that if daughters want to make something, they have to learn something first. Today they have become so skilled craftsmen that they create the designs that their customers send them.

Purnima Singh says they make all sorts of beautiful things out of five lakh tonnes of waste. This includes cotton, clothing and many other useless items. They trade with home decor wholesalers and traders with large chains. This is not much of a retail trade in India, as people are not willing to pay the price for things made of paper or clay. Don't look at the hard work behind it. While abroad, it has received a very warm welcome.

People from Europe, Canada, North America, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Singapore buy 'Shubham Crafts'. Shubhamcrafts, which started with an investment of Rs 5 lakh, today has a turnover of Rs 1 crore. At each exhibition they change the design of their products. Uses about seven hundred different styles and materials. Now he wants to include more women in his team. As well as carving on stones in the West who want to do more area.

He makes baskets from straw burned on the farm. Seven or eight farmers have been contacted and told not to burn straw. In Haryana and Punjab, burning straw spreads pollution to Delhi. It can also be solved by this. It strives to reach more and more people with these products.

Because it brings about a positive change in the lives of women. Purnima believes that every woman has some or the other skill. It just needs to be identified. There is nothing in the world that women cannot do.