Page 23 - Social Impact

Initiatives taken up by IIMB: provide sustainable livelihood opportunities, the following
The following are the initiatives taken up so far: initiatives have been taken up:
• Identifying possible job markets and skill development centres
Agriculture • Connecting aspiring entrepreneurs to appropriate agriculture
IIMB has taken up some initiatives which are mentioned below: entrepreneur training centres
• Creating a WhatsApp group for job related information
1. Networking with the institutions: sharing
The IIMB team contacted government agencies relevant for the
agriculture sector development such as the department of agri- We have been working with the Mahatma Gandhi National Fel-
culture, department of horticulture, and department of animal low of IIMB located in Tumkur to identify possible job markets
husbandry to understand their schemes and how they could and skill development centres that can help the unemployed
be implemented effectively in the adopted Gram Panchayats. youth. As a first step, efforts were made to connect the unem-
Research, Education and Extension institutions such as Indian ployed youth with the skill development training partners as
Institute of Horticultural Research, Indian Council of Agricul- part of the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana. These train-
tural Research and Agricultural Universities have been request- ing centres have a demand-driven approach which makes the
ed to provide help in terms of information on technologies and process effective. We have created a WhatsApp group and added
Infrastructure in few schools best practices. We have connected them to the farmers through the unemployed youth to it and the group is constantly updated
the social media platform – WhatsApp. Four such groups have with job opportunities in and around Tumkur district.
been formed and scientist have been providing technology
and best practices information specific to location, crops and Along the same lines, encouraging youth towards agriculture
season. Information on issues such as crop variety, input appli- and allied entrepreneurship activities are being planned. We
cation, disease and pest control, weather based advisory, market plan to connect interested young people to appropriate agricul-
prices, training programmes and general agricultural practices ture entrepreneur training centres.
are shared by agricultural scientists through this platform. A
quick survey to assess the impact of WhatsApp groups showed Drinking water
that the information has been useful, particularly that of market From the test reports of the drinking water department, we
prices. found the contamination levels of fluoride in a few water sourc-
es in Madhugiri to be high (refer Picture 5). Apart from the
Realizing that market linkage is crucial for higher price reali- contamination problem, the water testing seems to be sporadic
zation, we contacted enterprises operating in the nearby area and test result information is not being shared with the stake-
and had multiple meetings with them to explore how they holders properly. We are developing a framework for periodic
could be networked with the farmers. Most of the enterprises testing of water and effective dissemination of test results in the
have shown keen interest in collaborating. However, due to the rural regions.
second wave of COVID such efforts were paused until recently,
Condition of community water filter and were resumed after the second wave restrictions were eased. Apart from the water quality, general water availability in
We have initiated discussion with the local Farmer Producer Madhugiri is low. On this front, NRSC is consulted for help in
Organizations based in Nonavinakere in Tiptur and Badavana- identifying underground water reserves in the region which
halli in Madhugiri taluk to take up further steps. will be useful to the local governments to drill bores with more
precise knowledge of water availability. Steps are being taken to
The National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) of Indian Space encourage people to practice rainwater harvesting by creating
Research Organisation (ISRO) has been contacted to provide rainwater collecting ponds so that they can augment groundwa-
their expertise in panchayat planning, asset mapping, water ter reserve.
resources identification, and soil and water conservation. NRSC
has readily agreed and two workshops for Gram Panchayat offi- Health
cials have already been conducted during which Panchayat De- In the wake of the alarming second wave of COVID 19 and
velopment Officers and other panchayat officials were trained to its rapid spread in the rural areas of Karnataka, we have been
use Bhuvan Panchayat application (refer Picture 4). In addition working extensively to ensure the containment of the spread of
to ISRO’s NSRC, we are collaborating with Hitachi to develop infection. We have collaborated with healthcare experts, doc-
appropriate application to connect the existing institutions with tors, Pharm D experts, etc. to spread the knowledge of COVID
the farmers as well as provide farmer specific advisory services. appropriate behavior among the villagers and to an extent the
healthcare providers too. We worked intensely to upscale efforts
2. Assisting Farmer Producer Organizations to further enhance the understanding of healthcare providers
ISRO’s NSRC and IIMB team conducting a workshop The IIMB team has identified two existing Farmer Produce and villagers to deal with the pandemic, to prevent them from
Organizations, to strengthen their operations in the agriculture a potential third wave. In addition to it, we have conducted
sector, one in Nonavinakare GP of Tiptur taluk and the other a large-scale training programme for the frontline workers
in Badavanhalli in Madhugiri taluk. The FPO management has including ASHA workers, Anganwadi workers, etc., wherein we
welcomed the proposal and expressed their interest in working connected a few public healthcare experts to frontline work-
with the team. The IIMB team is working with them to help ers for training to help handle the pandemic (refer Picture 6).
develop and execute a business plan. This training was imperative because it was observed from the
intense one-on-one interviews with the frontline workers that
Employment they lack basic information. We have already conducted this
To address the unemployment issue across the GPs and to training programme in two PHCs of Madhugiri taluk for which

20 | Faculty and Research Faculty and Research | 21