SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, Oct 28: A team from the Department of Management Studies and Industrial Engineering, IIT Indian School of Mines (ISM) today visited Gopalpur village of Karmatand block of Jamtara district to transform the lives of tribal people of remote areas of the state.
The team under Dr Rashmi Singh, assistant professor of the Department of Studies and Industrial Engineering took stock of the living conditions and lifestyle of the tribal populace of the village and held meetings with local representatives of people to apprise them about the various government schemes.
The visit was part of a series of workshops being conducted since July last year under the Department of Science and Technology sponsored project worth Rs 60.75 lakh for, ‘Improving the Economic Well-being of Scheduled Tribe Communities (ST) using Game Theoretic and Operations Research Techniques in the Jamtara district of Jharkhand State’.
“ The focus of the project is on the agricultural sector which is the main source of income for the people of the Jamtara district,” said Prof Rashmi who is also the principal investigator of the project and was accompanied by Prof Niladri Das, co-principal investigator of the project.
Dr Singh said that during a formal interaction with the local people, they found that irrigation facilities were not up to the mark.
Prof Niladri Das, on the other hand, observed that despite possessing the skill of making Dona Patta plates (Dry Leaf-made plates) which can serve as a source of a sustainable environment the local people lack machines and equipment to meet the demand.
“Lack of initial capital and fund crunch is the main hurdle for the local people to start economic activities,” said Prof Das and added that the team apprised villagers about the government schemes through which the fund can be procured for starting the agriculture-based economic activities.
“The government schemes and programs are not delivering the desired results due to lack of customized Interventions for tribal,” observed Prof Rashmi Singh and added that the Didi Cafe run by women of Gopalpur panchayat as SHG in the Jamtara DC office is a classic example of innovative idea run by the tribal women.
