Plantation Program

We have partnered with various organisations over the years to implement the plantation program in Sundarban area and distributed fruit saplings on multiple occasions over the last few years.

We are happy to share that Young Indians (Yi), selected Kishalay Foundation as its partner NGO organisation to distribute 3800 fruit saplings in Sundarban in 2021. Young Indians is a movement for Indian Youth to converge, lead, co-create and influence India’s future. As an integral part of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), a non-government, not-for-profit, industry led and industry managed organisation, Yi plays a proactive role in India’s development process. As a result, our fruit trees plantation program was better than the previous years and our commitment to food security will grow with this partnership.

Further, with the support by Asha Foundation, we did a plantation distribution program in Sundarban area, in July 2021. We got tremendous help from the local community in this plantation drive and our program generated a lot of enthusiasm in the local area.

Highlights:

2500 saplings comprising of Lemon and Guava were distributed close to 150 families in 2 locations- Harekrishnapur and Shibganj atSundarban in association with Sustainable Green Initiative (SGI) on 25th June, 2022.

2500 saplings comprising of Lemon and Guava were distributed close to 450 families in 2 locations- Masjidbati and Ramkrishnapurat Sundarban in association with Sustainable Green Initiative (SGI) on 22nd June, 2022.

5000 saplings comprising of Lemon and Guava were distributed close to 450 families in 3 locations- Godkhali, Kamrdanga and Ramgopalpur at Sundarban in association with Sustainable Green Initiative (SGI) on 18th June, 2022.

We distributed 2000 fruit saplings, first part of another 4000 fruit saplings plantation project sponsored by Young Indians and CHIP in August 2021.

We distributed 2500 fruit saplings supported by Young Indians in two villages Godkhali – Ramgopalpur& Ramkrishnapurin Sundarban in June 2021 and pledged to protect those.

Scholarship for Meritorious Students

We tried our level best to help some of the poor meritorious students in Sundarban area.We have awarded Scholarship (Arup Kumar Pal Scholarship) to two such talented girls – PranatiHaldar at Kamakhyapur in Gosaba block and Susmita Mondal at Masjidbati, Ramkrishnapur in Basanti block. We are thankful to our friend Soumya for starting this Scholarship program in memory of his father to support these girls for their studies.

We also sincerely thank Indranil Chatterjee for starting Education Scholarship program for two meritorious students from Satjelia block in Sundarban in memory of his mother late Ela Chatterjee and also providingsupport for nutrition basket to our sports kids.

Nutrition Support

We are providing nutritional support to extremely marginal kids and children in the remote rural villages of Sundarbanto meet their nutritional requirements which otherwise are not possible for their families to bear.Every month we are giving nutritious food to many poor and helpless children for nutrition. Many kind hearted people are constantly supporting us in this work.

Menstrual Hygiene Workshop

Menstrual hygiene workshops are being conducted in association with our partner organisation Aakar Innovationsacross various locations in Sundarban throughout the year under the leadership of our volunteer MadhumitaDolui. These sessions are being attended by adolescent girls and housewives in large numbers and received an overwhelming response within the community.At the end of the workshop we distribute environment friendly sanitary pads supported by Aakar Innovations to address healthcare issues of rural women. We started similar workshop programs in local schools as well for the awareness of adolescent girl students.

Covid Relief Work

In association with Kolkata Gives and Mukti NGO, during the pandemic we launched COVID relief services by our team with Oxygen Concentrators, Oximeters, distributing masks, essential medicines and sanitizers etc. at different locations in Sundarbans.We established our COVID Care Unit at Satjelia and Gosaba with an aim to extend our relief efforts in the remotest corners of Sundarban and support the distressed people with all possible ways during the most crucial times. Our COVID19 Relief Team was in action in Manmathanagar, Godkhali, Mokamberia, Canning and several other locations at Sundarbanwith Oxygen Concentrators during the pandemic times.

We also established a Covid Care Unit in association with Mukti and Kolkata Gives, our partner NGOs at Masjidbhanga village in Kandi block in Murshidabad district. We installed Oxygen Concentrator and provided necessary medicines, masks and sanitizers to this rural area largely dominated by Adivasi people. We have also distributed medicines in this tribal village.

We had also given PPE kits to two local doctors at Satjelia in Gosaba block in Sundarban. Our lead MadhumitaDolui have taken this noble initiative for the local doctors of the health centre to protect their lives and reduce the risk of COVID19.

Tribal Welfare

During Covid 19 pandemic, we distributed food and ration items consisting of potato, onion, biscuit, flour, mustard oil, soyabean, pulses etc. to almost 55 tribal families in Jiadara village in Kandi block of Murshidabad district on 26th July, 2021. Jiadara is an economically backward village with a lower literacy rate located in the Kandi Block of Murshidabad district, West Bengal. We stepped out of South 24 Parganas district and Sundarban region for the very first time thereby reaching out for the community development initiatives of Adivasi village.

Yaas and Amphan Relief Work

Our efforts to reach out to the destitute continued along with our volunteers as the cyclonesYaas and Amphanmarked its devastating signs in Sundarban.We provided relief to those in dire situation having lost their homes due to flooding after Yaas. We continued our relief efforts in association with Mukti, our partner NGO with utmost challenges in the remote areas which were water logged and the ravages of the storm were still visible. It was in these trying circumstances that our grass root level volunteers braved all odds, to reach out to the villagers and flood victims to distribute dry food items, tarpaulins, buckets, medicines etc. and participated in pond revival & sanitisation programs. We started Community kitchens as well with the help of local people in some villages.

Highlights:

In the villages of Kochukhali, Ranipur, Mokamberia and Ranigarh, we provided dry food packets to close to 350 families in May 2021 following COVID guidelines. As reported by our volunteers working in the grass root level, there was a toxic gas being generated in some of the areas where vegetation and marine life have been severely damaged by saline water.We also focused on long term sustainability efforts like pond revival (which have been contaminated with saline water) because it forms an integral part of rural economy and rural lifestyle.

We distributed dry food items at Mokamberia to 45 families in May 2021 following COVID protocol. We also distributed food items at Dhamakhali area following COVID19 restrictions.

In Ranipur, in Gosaba block our volunteers along with the villagers had to form a human chain to make way for the relief materials reach the village and distribute them in May 2021.

Our volunteers reached out to different islands of Sundarban, providing mainly dry food relief to the poorest of the poor. In some villages of Sunderban like Baikunthopur, Ramgopalpur, Kamardanga, and Dulki close to 125 families had been supported in May 2021. Bleaching powder was also being distributed in some areas.

Our Yaas Relief Team in association with Kolkata Gives continued support to the villagers by initiating Pond Revival work at Ranigarh village in June 2021. The water bodies were all contaminated with flood water and increased salinity resulted death of aquatic lives and fishes in the fresh water ponds. Hence pond revival was extremely important as post cyclone relief effort to support the livelihood of the people.

We continued our Yaasrelief work to support the destitute and marginal families in June 2021 at Ramkrishnapur and then started a CommunityKitchen for 300 people at Ranipur village in Gosaba block in association with Mukti, our partner NGO.

We distributed dry food items like puffed rice, pulses, soyabeans etc. close to 50 people at Chotomollakhali in Gosaba block for the marginal families in June 2021. We distributed dry food items like puffed rice, biscuits, sugar drop etc. and buckets for storing drinking water to 35 families at Satjelia area in Sundarban.

Our Yaasrelief work continued to 50 marginal families at Rangabelia area in Gosaba block in Sundarban in June 2021. We also distributed bleaching powder to sanitize and restore hygiene in the flood affected areas of Rangabelia.

We applied bleaching powder in Hetalbari village in Chotomollakhali area at Gosaba block in June 2021 to sanitise the local ponds /water bodies and nearby fields affected by the flood water.

Our team distributed 5 kgs of cattle feed to 20 families in Ramgopalpur at Basanti block in June 2021 to support their livelihood. We also distributed lime at Kamardanga to sanitize the local ponds.

During these troubled times, we also organised a Community Kitchen service in association with Asha Foundation in June 2021 at Jatirampur in Satjelia in Gosaba block. Our main focus was on nutrition and organic produce of Sundarban. We also organised a workshop on Nutrition with the local people.

Our volunteers started a CommunityKitchen in Baikunthapurin May 2021 to feed theneedy ones whose houses had been severely damaged by the Yaas cyclone. In Dulki we reached out to close to 78 families by providing them with dry food. In other areas our volunteers provided targeted relief to the families who have been severely affected, and was in dire need of support.

We covered Kalahazra village in Basanti block of Sundarban area which was badly affected by Amphan Cyclone. We distributed food items (ration), tarpaulins to 35 families in this village on 4th June, 2020. Kalahazra was inundated with saline water during the cyclone and the agricultural lands and ponds were severely damaged.