Children of the Government School in the Western Assam district have been involved in activities to alleviate human conflicts Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Guwahati
Kabita Sutradhar, a student of class 4 Government Lower School of Dorpara in the Western Assam Goalpar district, has a simple solution to reduce human-slone conflicts (HeCS).
He says that one must first know what the elephant is called the tongue or dialect of each community sharing the animal’s domain, and then try to understand what these communities think of the elephant and how they read natural features to predict his movements.
“The elephant is called Hathi, Gaja and Oirabat in Assames and Bengal, Miyong in Bodo, Mongma in Garo, Midar, Hajong, Huti in Rabha, Jongli in Mishing and Snakes in Tiwa,” Mark World Environment Day 5.
Children participated in the event to mark the World Environment Day 5 June.
The event was organized by the center for microfinance and livelihood (CML), the initiative of Tata Trusts, which cooperated with 159 elementary schools in the Balijana Balijana block in the Goalpar district.
Some of these schools are on tracks that are used for migration or movement between rivers and jungles. Many children of these schools are also accustomed to Hecs in their villages.
Conflicts
Kuldeep Das, CML coordinator for the district, said that Kabita and other students showed wisdom over their age and underlined, without probably realizing it, traditional methods of solving a critical situation with modern views.
“Some of these children witnessed conflicts near schools in our project, when elephants descended from hills in winter when Paddy ripens,” he said.
Many of these children are accustomed to human-slon conflict in their villages.
Dipanwita Kalita, a mathematics coordinator for the district, said that the key part of the project is to provide libraries of elementary schools with quality books and teaching materials for the development of basic literacy and counting and reducing early completion of the study. Some of these “friendly children” books are in the environment of the environment and elephants that children read aloud during the event.
“Our project involving local communities exceeds classroom activities. It focuses on coexistence with elephants and other animals with equally different communities in this area,” Das said.
The event coordinator said that students showed wisdom over their age and emphasized the traditional methods of solving the critical situation with modern views.
Mitigating conflicts
Emphasis was also placed on elephants in the district udalguri in the northern Center of Assam, where damage to crops related to HEC and the loss of assets are serious concerns for local communities.
Members of Aaranyak, groups for protection of biodiversity based on Assam, distributed torches with a high intensity of 10 inhabitants of the village of Nunaikhuti, one of Hec Flashpoints in Assam. “The purpose of these torches is to improve night visibility and help discourage elephants and provide a simple but effective tool for the safety of the community in the situation of HeC,” the group spokesman said.
The villagers were also taught by practical strategies of alleviating and using Haatiapp, a mobile phone designed to monitor the movement of wild elephants and responding to conflicts with elephants.
According to a survey of 2024, from the Assam Forest Ministry, the state has an estimated 5,828 elephants. Aaranyak’s annual report said that 812 people and more than 300 elephants died due to hec over ten years.
Published – 5 June 2025 17:57
