JALUKBARI, June 18 - The Department of Environmental Biology and Wildlife Sciences, Cotton University, organised a community meeting on the topic �Exploring Alternate Livelihood Options� at Satargaon village located in the Rani Reserve Forest adjacent to Deepor Beel today. The meeting was part of a long-term project on conservation of Deepor Beel supported by the Wipro Foundation, Bengaluru.
Dr Narayan Sharma, Assistant Professor and project investigator highlighted the need to explore alternative livelihood options in order to reduce the dependency of the locals on this important wetland of international repute.
Dr Mayur Bawri of Cotton University interacted with the participants and suggested various alternative livelihood measures that can be explored to not only reduce the local dependency on the Deepor Beel resources, but also support the local economy.
The participants suggested measures such as making handicraft from water hyacinth, organic farming, value addition to the products produced by the villages, weaving in local handlooms and other vocational courses like mobile repairing and beautician training courses.
The possibility of implementing skill development training programmes taken up as CSR activities of various corporate and government firms was also discussed at the meeting.
Around 50 individuals, mainly women, actively participated in the interactive session. Promod Kalita, secretary of the Kalitapara Village Committee presided over the meeting and coordinated the event. The meeting ended with vote of thanks by project assistant Himangshu Kalita.
