Guwahati: One of India’s foremost biodiversity conservation organisations, Aaranyak has organised a two-day handloom training workshops for women from human-elephant conflict affected villages of Assam.
The training was conducted in partnership with the British Asian Trust and with support from Darwin Initiative, to provide additional livelihood options for women to help them offset some of the losses incurred by the conflict with wild elephants.
Training in skills, such as handloom techniques, can help the women reduce their dependence on traditional livelihood options like paddy cultivation, horticulture, and so on, that have become unsustainable in HEC-affected areas, a release from Aaranyak said.
Availability of sustainable alternative livelihood fosters better coexistence with
wild elephants, improves community well-being and contributes towards biodiversity conservation, it added.
“We learnt a range of handloom techniques during the two-day training. It has encouraged me to think seriously about taking up handloom as an alternative livelihood option. In our area, we are frequently in conflict with wild elephants, which often results in extensive damage to crops, our basic and primary source of livelihood,” Joshna Taye, an elderly woman from Sagunpara village in Jorhat district of Assam, a region greatly affected by human-elephant conflict (HEC) was quoted.
She had attended the training workshop on handloom operations held in her village recently. Another such training workshop was held in Hatishal village on July 20 and 21.
Nabanita Kalita, a middle-aged lady from another HEC-affected village – Bejorsinga of Jorhat, expressed her happiness with the training experience and usefulness of handloom operations and hoped that it would help her supplement her income.
“More than thirty women from HEC-affected areas attended the workshop held in Segunpara village conducted with support from Darwin Initiative and over twenty-five women attended a workshop conducted in the community hall of Hatishal village for women from Hatishal and Bejorsinga villages. A well-known handloom expert in the area, Nandeswar Deka, taught participants about in-depth handloom applications”, said Aaranyak official Zakir Islam Borah.
The training workshops were coordinated by Aaranyak’s senior official Niranjan Bhuyan with the assistance of Village Champions Sunil Taye, Makhon Kalita, and Sabita Malla. Other Aaranyak officials Bidisha Bora, Rimpee Moran, Ananta Dutta, Lakhinath Taid, Chiranjeev Kalita, Afride Rahman and Jiaur Rahman contributed to the success of the training.
As per study, weaving as a means of supplementing livelihood was preferred by many village women. Traditionally weaving is practised in the households, mostly by women to weave daily use clothes.
Dear Reader,
Every day, our team at EastMojo travels through rain, rough roads, and remote hills to bring you stories that matter – stories from your town, your people, your Northeast.
We do this because we believe in truthful, independent journalism. No big corporate backing, no government pressure – just honest reporting by local journalists who live and breathe the same air you do.
But to keep doing this work, we need you. Your small contribution helps us pay our reporters fairly, reach places others ignore, and keep asking the tough questions.
If you believe the Northeast deserves its own fearless voice, stand with us.
Support independent journalism. Be a Member.
Thank you,
Karma Paljor
Editor-in-Chief, eastmojo.com
Aaranyak conducted a series of weaving trainings for these women who were affected by human-elephant conflict. In Majuli’s Halodhibari village, 17 women received the training on July 23 while at Gazera and Jaborchuk Kathoni, 32 women participated for the weaving training on July 24. At Konwarbam and Tanti Pathar of Dibrugarh district, 20 and 13 women respectively were trained to develop their weaving skill.
In Sibsagar, weaving trainings were organised on July 30-31 where 23 and 30 women were trained respectively. All trainees were provided with 5 kg of cotton yarns at the end of the training.
Also read: Assam’s Kokrajhar all set to host 132nd edition of Durand Cup