Uttarakhand Jan Jagriti Sansthan intends to initiate and support a collective enterprise as a sustainable venture generating livelihood opportunities for the Himalayan communities to promote sustainable and organic produce while reviving the time tested valuable Social, cultural, environmental and ecological practices and life styles of the mountain people. JAGRITI SANSTHAN’s experience of havin
g worked especially with the women farmers in the last three decades has taught us that there is an urgent need to rediscover and reestablish the culture and traditions of Himalayan communities in relation to their food, clothing and shelter needs. It is being observed that in the name of development and modernity mountain communities are fast losing their valuable and rich traditions of protecting and conserving the diverse seeds of life. JAGRITI SANSTHAN therefore plans to reset the development paradigm by setting up a workable model of livelihood generation involving the mountain farming communities in a venture that promotes sustainable lifestyles. JAGRITI SANSTHAN is creating a space for the mountain farmers to come together and share their organic and traditional farm produce and collection in a collective and participatory manner. We call this creative space a lew.k (“Samoon”: Meaning a gift in the local Garhwali Language). The priority will be to collect, conserve and promote the growth and consumption of seeds that are fast getting extinct due to an ongoing war led by corporate driven market economy which is pumping in unhealthy and alien food in the local and village level markets as well. JAGRITI SANSTHAN is organizing a series of meetings and consultations with the women mutual support groups and a federation of women groups called “Uttarakhand Mahila Jagriti Parishad” in the process of creating this creative space “Samoon” at a place called Khadi in the Narendar Nagar Block of Tehri Garhwal District in Uttarakhand to start with.
“Samoon” intends to take up following steps in order to achieve its objectives:
To setup a continuous and ongoing dialogue with the farming communities on order to promote this dream of “Samoon”. To encourage the farming communities conserve grow and consume the traditional Himalayan seeds while bringing them back into the food chain. To organically grow and collect edibles like millets, pulses, food grains, wild growing fruits, roots and vegetables. To promote the traditional crafts based on local resources like woolens, cotton, wood, bamboo, bhimal, stone and other materials. To organize and promote artisans with skills and crafts for constructing homes and houses with local materials like mud, wood, grasses, stone and bamboo etc. that are eco-friendly, sustainable and earthquake resistant.
