An Overview of The Nilachal Project
Our project at Choto jamera in the state of Assam is one of the most vibrant project. Thisproject is named as Nilachala Community project. Choto Jamera is located in deep forest,one has to walk 15 kms to reach there or can take 2 hours county boat ride whenever there iswater in river. ITCT started its activities about 4 to 5 years back. During these years a lot hasbeen achieved there for the well-being of tribal people.
All these are possible because of the kind help of tribal care supporters of Singapore.
ITCT takes pleasure in thanking our tribal care supporters in Singapore. Without their support,it would not be possible for this project to reach this stage. We are very very grateful to ourtribal care supporters of Singapore.
How To Reach
From Silchar drive to Kathlichera. From Kathlichera drive to Kathlitala. Take a small country boat and reach Nilachal Project, the is journey for two to three hours or walk for about 15 Kilometres through jungle and mountains.
A Temple and A Community Hall
The temple in Choto Jamera is a place of gathering andworship for the local tribal communities living in Choto Jameravillage. Here the deities are Jagannath, Baladev & SubhadraRani. Since the time the temple was built by ITCT in this remotevillage, during the time of arati the local tribal villagers gatherin the temple and worships the Lordships. During the Mangalarati when the beautiful kirtan and hari naam spreads acrossthe air of the village through the amplifier it creates a beautiful hallowed environment. The villagers are now attending the classes and sat sang and thishas brought lots of changes in the behavior and habits of the tribal. Most of them have nowstopped eating nonveg and intoxications. Now the temple premises has created an opportunityfor the community head to be used as a hall for community gathering and discussion on socialand spiritual developments.
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Bhakta-Niwas
Because of the distance and remoteness of the Choto Jamera village, ITCT has built a bhakta-niwas for the accommodation of the devotees who are travelling to the village for community development. The bhakta-niwas have all modern facilities for comfortable stay of 6-7 devotees and travelling guests at any time. Next time you plan to visit the Choto Jamera village you need not worry about your accommodation.
Prasadam Hall
Though we build a community hall but therewas no prasadam hall and during any festivals and events, we had to make a temporary make shift arrangement for cooking and serving devotees and villagers. Now we have build a proper prasadam hall and kitchen where devotees can cook feast and serve maha-prasadam to the visitors and villagers. Now we can have grand feast during festivals and also Tithi-Bhoj and tribal villagers from Choto Jamera village and nearby villages cancome and attend. In the new hall 200 devotees can sit and take prasadam at a time.
Farming in Tribal Area
ITCT is also helping the tribal farmers with their farming by introducing modern farming techniques which will help them to harvest more vegetables and crops. This will help the farmers generate more income. Also, some vegetables will be used to cook mid-day meals in our pathshalas. ITCT is also planning to set up a food processing unit so that more items like tomato sauce, jam and packed food items can be produced and marketed. This will help in creating employment and generate livelihood among the tribal.
Helping tribal family to build a new home
In Choto Jamera village we have a nice sincere devotee named Bishakha Mataji who is an aasha worker and came in touch with ISKCON and also following regulative principles. She lives in a cottage that is in very poor condition and due to her poor financial condition she was unable to construct a new house for her family. When she approached us with her problem, we decided to help her build a new home and ITCT provided some construction materials and bricks which will help her build a new home soon.
Patshalas
ITCT is running 5 pathshalas in 5 villages under Nilachal project in Choto Jamera, Hatimukh, Bangla Bhasa, Hatichera and Harinchera village. Out of these, the Harinchere is the new one. Around 230 students study in these pathshalas. In these pathshalas, we are providing the tribal children with primary school education as well as value education. At ITCT we believe every child has the right to quality education and a value education can help them to grow up as a good human being. Educated village youths are appointed as teacher in these pathshalas, this also creates employment among the local youths.
Choto Jamera School
One of the main focus area of ITCT is the education of tribal children and keeping that in mindITCT opened pathshalas in villages and has also built a school in Choto Jamera. At present,across the eastern states and north eastern states ITCT is running more than 100 pathshalas.ITCT has future plans to open the school and run it under the local state board and providequality education to the tribal children.
Construction of new Gurukul
India Tribal Care Trust is building a gurukul in Choto Jamera village. This gurukul will initially accommodate 20 tribal children and they would be provided by the Gurukul shiksha of ISKCON Mayapur. Experienced teachers will train the tribal students who will be studying vedas and scriptures and grow up a scholar in our sastras. The gurukul shiksha is the ancient form of education, where the students used to stay near the guru and learn the scriptures, vedas, maths and learn discipline and value of life. The gurukul building construction is going on with funds and support from Singapore devotees and we are expecting to complete it by the middle of this year.
Brickfield in Choto Jamera
The villages in Choto Jamera are far interiorfrom the city and the main mode ofcommunication is by boat or walking. Theconstruction materials that we get to thevillage are carried in boats which increasesthe costs of construction. Amal Gour Das theITCT coordinator for Hailakandi district with hisexpertise has set up a brickfield in the village.Now all bricks that are used in ourconstructions are made in the bricks field,which has reduced the additional cost oftransportation and thus the construction cost.
Medical Aid
Last year we lost one sincere devotee girl Sombi Reang who lived with her family next to our Choto Jamera center. She was suffering from some diseases which the village doctors couldn’t detect and when her condition deteriorated our ITCT volunteers stepped in and we took her to town for better treatment and got her admitted to a very good medical college hospital so that she gets the best treatment. Many devotees came forward to support her medical expenses.
We tried our best but we couldn’t save her and doctors said she was suffering from malaria which also affected her brain and nervous system but the failure of the village doctor in detecting the disease and delay in receiving proper medication took her to the point of no return.
Mid-day Meals in Patshalas
ITCT has introduced mid-day meals for the children coming to our pathshalas in Nilachalproject. In mid-day meals we generally serve khichudi, this dish which is cooked using localvegetables, rice and lentils not only fill their stomach but it also helps them get proper nutrition.Many children love this and this tasty and delicious meal also attracts them to regularly come toour pathshalas. Daily more than 200 children from 5 villages are benefitted from this mid-day meals.