Click to play videoSakhipada village, Orissa: The forests in a remote village of Orissa’s Kandhamal district are lush, green and protected. And the forest’s protectors are a team of some 100 women.
Twenty years ago, the women of Sakhipada village decided that their alcoholic husbands couldn’t be trusted with protecting the forests. The women teamed up and formed the ‘Maa Patakhanda Nari Sangh’, which is now a forest conservation movement.
The 100 odd members of the Sangh' divide themselves into groups of 10. They guard and nurture the forests on a shift basis and make a living by selling forest products, like honey, timber and seeds.
"People respect us a lot for protecting the forest and now the men too cooperating in our mission. We have to protect our forests, without which we would not have survived," says Bisaya Behera, president of Maa Patakhanda Nari Sangh.
The men of the village admit the forest has survived because of the women. "We used to spend most of our time in drinking liquor and cutting forests. It was only after these women started the movement we realised the importance of forests for our survival," says Ramchandra Sahu, a resident of Sakhipada.
Their effort started a chain reaction. Under the 'Vana Suraksha Samiti' scheme, over 7,000 such groups across the state are now helping in conserving forests.
"It is only by the help of these villagers we are able to protect the forest. Otherwise with such few staff and poor infrastructure we could not have done that," says Suresh Chandra Hota, Range Officer, Phulbani forest division.
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