CML chronicleNewsletter of Centre for Microfinance & Livelihood, An Initiative of Tata Trusts

Issue 1, May 2018

Identification of Arecanut Orchard for Black pepper and Lemon plantation, Boko, AssamFarmers of Boko have started sowing king of spices as a way to livelihood.

Launched in May 2016, “Intensifying livelihood for Tribal households of Boko block under South Kamrup district”, Assam is a collaborative project of Tata Trusts and National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) which is being implemented by Centre for Microfinance & Livelihood, Assam.

With the objective of promoting orchard, the team was successful in mobilising and identifying three hundred seventy-five bighas (1 bigha=14,400 square feet) of aeracanut orchard for introducing black pepper and lemon as an intercrop across villages in the block.

Five village entry meetings and four project execution committee meeting were conducted with a total participant of around five hundred members for the identification of the land during the month.

Aeracanut based black pepper plantation for two hundred forty-four have been completed during the last quarter.

Ensuring quality fingerling, delivering it at the right time and promoting alternative livelihood option for the landless, have been the unceasing effort of the team under the fishery intervention of the Tripura State Initiative.

In the month of May three farmers from Mainma village of Dhalai district viz. Ranjit Sarkar, Amal Debbarma and Poritosh Debbarma could harvest a total of 47000 (Forty-Seven Thousand) fingerlings of Common Carp from 1 kani (1600 sq mtr.) pond per farmer. The produce was sold to the farmers of the village and in the local market. The total revenue earned was Rs.70500 (@Rs.1.5 per fingerling) with a very minimum investment of Rs.1500 per pond.

Mainama is a tribal dominate village in Manu Block in Dhalai District of Tripura State. Around 80% of the households have a pond with an area of 1 kani or more. Yet production is low and sufficient only for self-consumption, this is mainly due to the unavailability of quality fish seed, lack of knowledge regarding scientific fish rearing and economic benefits associated to fish farming.

Fish Nursery, a way to alternate livelihood

A half-day day workshop was conducted to sensitise CML employees on POSHA workshop on Sexual Harassment at Workplace was held at Hotel Shoolin Grand, Guwahati on 3rd of May 2018. Around thirty members participated in the day long program organised for the managers and the mid-level employees of Centre for Microfinance & Livelihood, An Initiative of Tata Trusts (CML-Tata Trusts). The objective of the program was to create an understanding on the various practical and legal aspect of the subject.

Ms Anurita Pathak Hazarika from North East Network, Ms Shahnaaz Rehma, Advocate-Member of State Police Accountability Commission and Ms Sangita Roy Barthakur, National Institute of Rural Development were the resource persons for the program.

CML employees from Guwahati, Boko, Gogamukh, Agartala and Imphal participated in the workshop.

Post workshop, attendees conducted similar sessions for other colleagues during the month in Agartala, Boko and Imphal.

“Sexual Harassment at Workplace is no more restricted to the traditional understanding of office but the meaning of a workplace is now an extended office”

~ Advocate Shahnaz Rahman, Member of State Police Accountability Commission, Assam.

Tata Trusts, through its associate organisation Centre of Microfinance & Livelihood, launched the first ever Baby league in Meghalaya on 19th May 2018.

The launch was formally inaugurated by the Honourable Sports & Youth Affairs Minister Shri Banteidor Lyngdoh at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Shillong, Meghalaya. Among the dignitaries who attended the event were Shri Kushal Das, All India Football Federation (AIFF) General Secretary; Shri Biswanath Sinha, Zonal Head - East & North East, Tata Trusts; Shri Larsing M Sawyan, Meghalaya Football Association, (MFA) President and AIFF Vice-President.

itise CML employees on POSH

o a

Launch of Meghalaya

Baby League,

Shillong, Meghalaya

“This is the first time that Tata Trusts is working with the All India Football Federation and the Meghalaya Football Association. My sincere request is to the parents that the boys and girls are brought to the training sessions regularly throughout the league.”

~ Biswanath Sinha, Zonal Head- East & North East

“This is a great initiative. It is a very good opportunity for children and I hope that someday we will see our players all over the country."

~ Shri Banteidor Lyngdoh, Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs, Meghalaya

Participation in the Stakeholders' Consultative Meet on Communication for DevelopmentRepresentatives from CML and eighteen other government and non-governmental institutions working in the development sector were present during the day long consultative meet on communication for development.

The meet was organised in the Department of Mass Communication & Journalism, Tezpur University on 31st May 2018. The program was organised with a special focus to mark the passing out of the first batch of students of the Communication for Development course launched in the year 2016.

The program served to be an opportunity to liaison with various organizations working in the development sector, for a mutual exchange of ideas and explore possibilities for long term partnerships.

The MA in Communication for Development (MA C4D) program was launched in July 2016, with support from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

A LPSS initiative- numerous products listed for online sale

Beautifully handcrafted Kauna products, made by local artisans of Manipur are now available for sale on e-commerce

platforms.Livelihood Propulsion

and Support Services (LPSS), incubated by Centre for Micro-

finance and Livelihood (CML) – an initiative of Tata Trusts, has listed a number of products made by the artisans for online

sale.Kauna is a type of water

reed extensively grown in the wetlands and marshland in Manipur

and other Northeast states.Various products like

bags, baskets and purses etc., made by local Kauna

artisans, are available on Amazon and habba.org, among others. The sale started a couple of weeks

back and has already received orders worth Rs 30,000.

“I have learned many new skills- to lead, manage and grow in personality. I am stitching bags for the first time and I like doing it. I am more confident now than before and will be able to support myself in future with the help of Priscilla Centre during this three years training.”

~ Balseme Ch. Sangma, Student of Dorcas Training Centre (DTC), Khaibung, Nagaland under the initiative of upgradation and Promotion of Weaving and tailoring Centres in Manipur and Nagaland

Fun facts about Fish

A fish can drown in water if there isn’t enough oxygen in the water.

Most fish cannot swim backwards. Those that can are mainly members of one of the eel families.

Fish would suffocate if they tried to chew because chewing would interfere with water passing over their gills.

The fish in the middle of a school control the school. The fish on the outside are guided by those in the middle. Only bony fish can swim in highly coordinated groups.

The fastest fish is the sailfish.

The slowest fish is a seahorse.

A fish does not add new scales as it grows, but the scales it has, increase in size. In this way, growth rings are formed and the rings reveal the age of a fish.

Remedial Support to grade 1 to 5 during Summer camp in Tulashikhar Block

Thirteen days of remedial support was provided to students from three villages in Tulashikar Block, of Khowai District in Tripura. The program was conducted among the primary school children of these villages, to bridge the learning gap disrupted by the political unrest during the month in the state. During the program the education team of Tripura state initiative provided support to around sixty-five students in language (Bengali and English), Math and science.

“If we can organize activities like this in our schools as many as possible our children won’t fall behind in their studies and they can go to upper primary with much more confidence.”

~ Kusha Santhal, Parent/ School Managing Committee Chairperson at

Gour Basti Junior Basic School

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COVERAGE OF THE MONTH