We are organizing a Shodhyatra in Aligarh on 29-30th 09 and you are invited
to attend Shodhyatra.
Main objective of this shodhyatra will be conservation of
Bio-diversity,promotion of organic
farming,green technologies,herbal practices e.t.c. and it will cover around
12 KM in two days.
Details are attached with this mail. We will be leaving for Aligarh from
Delhi/Noida on Friday(28th)
evening by college bus & will be back by Sunday evening.We will take a token
amount of Rs.100
for all expenses(food,stay,transportation) of Shodhyatra.
Shodh yatra
"The next century will belong to India, which will become a unique
intellectual and economic power to reckon with, recapturing all its glory,
which it had in the millennia gone by." - Dr. R. A. Mashelkar
WHAT IS SHODH YATRA?
Shodh Yatra is a journey for the search of knowledge, creativity and
innovations at grassroots. Shodh Yatra is an attempt on the part of SRISTI
to reach out to the remotest part of the country with a firm belief that
hardship and challenges of natural surroundings are the prime motivators of
creativity and innovations. Shodh Yatra aims at unearthing such traditional
knowledge and grassroots innovations that have not only simplified the lives
of men, women and farm labourers but have also significantly contributed
towards the conservation of bio-diversity. Shodh Yatra is a journey of
mutual exchange and sharing of knowledge. Whatever knowledge and practices
that we have pooled in, over the years are shared with the villagers during
the Shodh Yatra. We also share the Honey Bee database with the villagers.
Shodh Yatra is also a journey to spread green consciousness and we do it by
involving women and children to display their ecological knowledge through
various competitions. During Shodh Yatra, we also look after the problems
faced by the people in those areas and try to solve their problems by mutual
operations.
HOW IT ALL BEGAN?
On 7th and 8thMarch 1998, Jethabhai Gajera of Divrana, organized a meeting
of Shodh Sankal at Vallabhbhai Sojitra's orchard at Titodi of Junaghad
district of Gujarat. The farmer friends present felt that it was important
and necessary to encourage organic farming. Moreover there were many
honourable people from nearby villages who had found the solutions of their
own problems through their inborn ability and presence of mind. There is no
information in the society about such people and their activities. There is
a need to contact such honourable people and spread their knowledge to other
people through Shodh Yatra (a journey of exploration).
A workshop was held on 29thMarch1998 at Ahmedabad on the subject, "How to
make interaction between experimenting farmers and Scientists?" under the
project, 'Management of Natural Resources'. This workshop was also attended
by the farmers of SRISTI, and Shodh Sankal Network. A farmer Gafarbhai
Kureshi from Junaghad district, Talala Taluka's Village Ramdechi (Gir) gave
invitation to start the Shodh Yatra from his place. For this purpose many
farmers gave different suggestions about how to conduct Shodh Yatra and
finally it was decided to start the Shodh Yatra on foot.
OBJECTIVES OF SHODH YATRA
Shodh Yatra, as a major scouting, networking and dissemination programme of
SRISTI, is being carried out with the following objectives:
1. To learn about the experiences of the farmers engaged in organic farming
and inform other farmers about the same.
2. To encourage the curiosity of the children about variety in organic
farming and to discover the knowledge of bio and crop diversity among rural
people.
3. To meet the people who solve their problems through their presence of
mind and inborn ability, store their knowledge and felicitate them.
4. To compile and disseminate the knowledge, which is fast disappearing and
establish a dialogue between the old generation and future generation
WHAT DO WE DO IN SHODH YATRA?
The Shodh Yatra is organized by SRISTI twice a year. Primarily, the Shodh
Yatris, walk around a distance of roughly 250 k.m or so in a span of seven
to eight days. The travel route that is chosen is usually bereft from any
regular road or transport connectivity. This even makes the yatra more
challenging. Shodh Yatris meet the villagers, farmers, artisans etc.
individually and a report is prepared later collectively based upon each
person's experience. The report is prepared both in Gujarati and English.
The Yatris also look for the odd ball i.e. any body doing something
differently and try to understand the logic behind it. During the Shodh
Yatra, we also discover new methods of crop protection, cattle rearing and
improved implements developed by the villagers. Quite often such people are
felicitated by SRISTI during Shodh Yatra. Along with this, we also share the
Honey Bee database with the villagers and ask for their feedback. The
discussion generates quite a lot of useful links for SRISTI and Honey Bee
Network. During the discussion, we also circulate copies of 'Lok Sharvani'
to share the innovations and traditional knowledge of other parts of the
country.
During the Shodh Yatra, following activities are taken up on usual basis:
1. Night Meets: The meetings are usually held with the villagers in the
night. The villagers are introduced to the activities of the Honey Bee
Network and the objectives of the Shodh Yatra. The meeting basically acts as
a forum for mutual sharing of creativity and innovations that the villagers
have developed over a period of time. The night meets act as a great source
of discovering the creative grassroots genius. But in Aligarh Shodha Yatra
meetings will be organized in the day time.
2. Bio-diversity Competition: Competitions on bio-diversity are held
regularly among the students and young people of the villages. In the
competition, the participants are asked to identify and stick the samples of
vegetation found in their village on a cardboard and list down their various
usage. Each participant is orally tested regarding the samples they had
brought along and the students making the best impact are given
certificates. Many villagers also join in the programme.
3. Recipe Competition: The recipe competitions are organized for the women
in the villages. The person who cooked the most nutritious variety from the
local ingredients was encouraged by giving a prize and a certificate. The
whole objective is to make the people aware about the unique nutritional
value of the indigenous crops and their importance in maintaining the
ecological diversity.
4. Felicitation of Creative Villagers: During the Shodh Yatra the farmers
active in organic farming, those who had developed new methods through their
creative abilities and ingenuity, the villagers who had helped in publicity
of the aims and objectives of the Shodh Yatra and the oldest person of the
village are felicitated and presented with a set of the volumes of
'Madhubindu'; "Samvad thi Sanshodhan Sudhi" and various issues of
'Loksarvani'.
JOIN THE JOURNEY OF EXPLORATION
Shodh Yatra is open to all. However, the Shodh Yatris have to take care of
their own lodging and boarding expenses. For more information and
registration, write at shodhyatra@sristi.org
For more information about the earlier Shodh Yatra's, please visit
www.sristi.org
Route and Schedule of Mini Shodhyatra (Aligarh)
Mini Shodhyatra will start from Madrak, Lodha Block on 29th August 09 and
will end at Badauli, Lodha Block on 30th August09. In total 10 villages will
be covered in the shodhyatra's two days program. Route with activities is
explained below.
Shodhyatris from outside Aligarh and SRISTI team will reach Madrak on 28th
August 09 and will do a night stay.
Day 1
Madrak (7:30 AM)
(29th August 09)
Nagla Pooran (9:30 AM)
(29th August 09)
Nhoti (11:30 AM)
(29th August 09)
Lunch at 1:30 PM
Keeratpur (02:30 PM)
(29th August 09)
Mai Nath (04:30)
(29th August 09)
Night stay in Manoharpur
Day 2
Manoharpur (07:30 AM)
(30th August 09)
Bhakraula (09:30 AM)
(30th August 09)
Dolra (11:30 AM)
(30th August 09)
Lunch at 01:30PM
Khadia (02:30 PM)
(30th August 09)
Badhauli (04:30 PM)
(30th August 09)
Shodhyatra will end at Badauli.
For more information regarding Mini Shodhyatra at Aligarh on 29-30th August
o9.
Please Contact: -
1. Vipresh Sharma, UP Coordinator, SRISTI
+91 9897216649/ +91 9711157147
Email - vipresh@sristi.org
2. Suresh Chand Sharma, Aligarh Coordinator, SRISTI
+91 9259026059
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