Click here for 2005 - 2006 Annual Report
This year our efforts ware concentrated on :
The farmers also are not united, so they don?t get good price for their products. There is also no awareness amongst the community for better education and health for the whole family.
We briefed a plan for dairy co-operative, and the community members said yes. Neighbours started helping us from plans to build the cattle shelter to buying the cows. We also initiated talks with the Government under one of the Government schemes for the poorest families. The community got a grant of Rupees 250,000 (appr. 4500 euro).
Lessons learned-
The people learned how to milk cows. They learned everything about managing cows. They learned the importance of milk for their babies. Even if they are not earning enough to support their family from selling milk, they are getting milk to drink at home, which improves nutrition.
They learned a lesson too ? that any kind of work requires hard efforts and knowledge of the business. When the government presented the people of Khunti with the grant ? it was all due to their efforts.
Knowledge leads to empowerment -
There are still many problems [in Khunti]. The people are not united. They fight amongst each other. Many are still unaware about the importance of health and education in their life.
This why we think the best option for Khunti is to have a resource centre.
We are trying to concentrate on the tradition that the tribal people have been following for years. Hence, we think we should have a resource centre in Animal Husbandry and (small scale) vegetable farming.
Apart from the mentioned specialised services/information centre, we would like to provide training to give exposure to the community members to make them think about the options available for their whole family to live a better life.
The basic need of the community at this stage is awareness, education and the motivation to dream, to aspire, to visualize and to explore. The people need more empowerment.
We dream of the whole region having cows and having the Khunti cooperative as a central place, where we will manufacture cheese and milk. Because of the high demand of milk in our area, we can create youth employment and start a "white revolution" with milk being the major need! Later we came with an idea
The sufferers are the tribal people, who are neither educated nor empowered. Their animals are always left to die without medicinal support/ care, which leads to the spreading of diseases amongst the other animals - this is common in Jharkhand. Also due to frustration and for not able to provide medical assistance to the ill animals, they are treated traditionally and left on their fate.
In Khunti and it's surroundings most families keep animals, such as cows, buffalos, goats, chicken. They care for their animals based on traditional knowledge. In case of diseases they usually don't know what it is or how it should be treated. Next to that a lot of their care could be improved: how to care for the animals, what to feed, ... etc.
We need to define the services of this centre: which resources, training, treatment can we offer to these families.
To address local issues, the village leadership have developed a plan based on the primary goal:
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With the help of The Mayhew Animal Home the infrastructure is partly completed. We all are acting fast to start the ABC program in Ranchi.
Addition to this we have signed MOU with the Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) for Pet Dog Registration and Stray Dog Control and Management in Ranchi City. Ranchi Municipal Corporation have very little funds to run the ABC program and we will be involving the State Government to implement the program. As per the Government rule, every pet owner should have a license to keep the dogs. The Lincense has to be taken from the Municipal Corporations. But poor understanding and awareness level of the Petowners, Ranchi Municipal Corporation had to involve the Animal Welfare Organisation to reach out to the people in registering their Pets.
The Mayhew Animal Home also came forward to motivate the Petowners by providing free rabies vaccine against each registraion. These efforts are
· To make people aware/ educate and responsible towards their duties (respecting the law of having license to keep the dogs).
· To create awareness about vaccinating their pets against rabies and not make their pets breed.
· To generate funds for carrying out the ABC program.
The pet dog registration work was carried until 31st March 2007. 1100 registrations are recorded with 320 numbered free rabies vaccines. Against Rs. 100/- as Registration fees, RMC is providing a Dog ID, Certificate and A Dog Guide where as from our end we are providing free rabies vaccines sponsored by the Mayhew Animal Home. Though there are approximately 4000 numbered pet dogs in Ranchi but low awareness amongst people reduced the number of registrations.
1. Promoting practice in Humane livestock farming and help improve lives of the farm animals, concerning care and rural communities, economically – <<<See Video
2. Animal Birth Control (ABC) Programme -- to vaccinate and sterilise the 30,000 + stray dogs in Ranchi.
3. Veterinary Clinic -- to provide assistance to all injured animals and to educate people about how to take care of their animals.
INITIATIVES for People and Animals in the rural sector – Humane Dairy Farming -
By Niraj Kumar Bhagat
Joining forces to increase income
Khunti is not suitable for farming, other than during the rainy season. Hence for most of the families, the only alternative source of income is livestock farming.
Few families have goats, hens, or bulls and a few have cows, too. But due to lack of awareness about animal health, many times their animals become sick or die. A Resource & Treatment Centre on Livestock farming
The Jharkhand state has 22 Districts. Each District has got 15 to 20 Blocks with 100 to 150 villages per block. Khunti has got only one Veterinary Clinic with just one or two Veterinary Doctors. It is always difficult for block level government veterinary clinics to provide services to all the villages (144 villages) at times of need. Many a times villagers don't get services at the government clinics, reason the doctors are visiting in the field or closed for holiday.
To educate the community members about the value of animals beyond their economic value, and increase awareness on how well managed livestock farming can help provide a sustainable livelihood for the people.
INITIATIVES for Stray Dogs By Mr. Praveen Ohal
In Spring and Summer of 2006, 3 members of our staff plus two Ranchi Municipal dogcatchers received training with Help In Suffering in Jaipur in all aspects of the ABC Programme. The dogcatchers were taught compounding and humane dog-catching methods as well as general animal care. Our vet also trained in sterilisation techniques, and Praveen Ohal learned about management and record-keeping.
Planned Activities for Future
ABC by adopting CNVR method for the Street Dogs in Ranchi.
A Resource & Treatment Centre on Livestock farming at Khunti
Awareness generation activities to promote dog adoptions.