A programme to celebrate and spotlight the communities of Meghalaya for their good work across various sectors of rural development and livelihood enhancement was held at the State Convention Centre, Shillong on 19 December 2022.

In his address, Chief Guest Dr. Vijay Kumar D., Commissioner & Secretary of the Government of Meghalaya, stated his delight at being able to participate in the mutual lesson-learning experience. He informed that when the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi visited Shillong the previous day, the State Government had shared a compilation of success stories of Meghalaya. The Prime Minister was observed to be very appreciative of these practices implemented in collaboration with the communities across various sectors.

In a moment of pride for Meghalaya, Aminda Simsanggre and Chambagre villages under West Garo Hills District placed second and third in the “Best Village Panchayat” category (North East Zone) at the 3rd National Water Awards. The formal awards distribution ceremony was held at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi on 29 March 2022 where both villages were spotlighted for spearheading the best community-led Natural Resource Management (NRM) practices.

Interventions

Interventions include the construction of water conservation structures such as cemented storage tanks and conservation dams at 4 different locations in the village, contour trenches at Rongka Chiring and Nepal Chiga to recharge the springshed area and make them perennial, a 12-bedded community nursery at Aminda Chiring where transplantation of local tree species to the forest reserve areas has already started, and the promotion of the Berkeley method of hot composting at Aminda Chiring to increase production and quality.

CHAMBAGRE

Background 

The community participated actively in the planning process for implementing sustainable approaches of NRM. Community-led interventions included the construction of two water tanks in the upper and lower regions of Chambagre with capacities of 14,000 and 17,000 liters and an irrigation canal that covers a 1-hectare land area. About 5000 forest trees have been planted on 10 hectares of community land to treat the catchment areas while a community nursery has been established. 

Impact