3 days ago
In Assam's Goalpara, children give lessons on coexistence with elephants
GUWAHATI
Kabita Sutradhar, a Class 4 student of government-run Dorapara Lower Primary School in western Assam's Goalpara district, has a simple solution to reducing human-elephant conflicts (HECs).
She says one must first know what the elephant is called in the language or dialect of each community sharing the animal's domain, and then try to understand what these communities think about the elephant and how they read natural signs to anticipate its moves.
'The elephant is called hathi, gaja, and oirabat in Assamese and Bengali, miyong in Bodo, mongma in Garo, midar in Hajong, huti in Rabha, jongli in Mishing, and hadi in the Tiwa language,' she said at an event to mark World Environment Day on June 5.
The event was organised by the Centre for Microfinance and Livelihood (CML), an initiative of Tata Trusts, working with 159 primary schools in the Balijana Education Block of the Goalpara district.
Some of these schools are on the routes elephants take to migrate or move between rivers and jungles. Many children of these schools are used to HECs in their villages, too.
Witnesses to conflicts
Kuldeep Das, the CML's coordinator for the district, said Kabita and other students displayed wisdom beyond their age and underscored, without probably realising it, traditional methods of handling a critical situation with a modern outlook.
'Some of these children have been witnesses to conflicts near the schools in our project area, when the elephants come down from the hills yonder during winter when paddy ripens,' he said.
Dipanwita Kalita, the mathematics coordinator for the district, said a key component of the project has been to provide primary school libraries with quality books and learning materials to develop foundational literacy and numeracy and reduce dropout. Some of these 'child-friendly' books are on environment and elephants, which the children read aloud during the event.
'Our project involving the local communities goes beyond classroom activities. It focuses on coexistence with elephants and other animals just as diverse communities coexist in the area,' Mr. Das said.
Conflict mitigation
The focus was also on the elephants in north-central Assam's Udalguri district, where HEC-related crop damage and property loss are serious concerns for local communities.
Members of Aaranyak, an Assam-based biodiversity conservation group, distributed high-intensity torchlights to 10 residents of Nunaikhuti village, one of the HEC flashpoints in Assam. 'These torches are intended to improve night-time visibility and help deter elephants, providing a simple yet effective tool for community safety in a HEC situation,' a spokesperson of the group said.
The villagers were also taught practical mitigation strategies and the use of HaatiApp, a mobile phone application designed to monitor the movement of wild elephants and respond to conflicts with elephants.
According to a 2024 survey by the Assam Forest Department, the State has an estimated 5,828 elephants. A year-old report by Aaranyak said 812 people and more than 300 elephants died because of HEC in about a decade.
