Residents of ATR tribal settlements exhorted to concentrate on socio-economic uplift, academic growth of future generation

Socio-economic uplift and educational progress of future generation were the oft-repeated terms by distinguished speakers during the day-long training programme for residents of three tribal settlements in Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR) conducted at Chinnar on Wednesday by ICAR-Sugarcane Breeding Institute (SBI), Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Coimbatore.

Launched under the auspices of DAPSTC (Development Action Plan for Scheduled Tribe Component) funded by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Government of India, the training programme exposed 290 residents of Porupparu, Attumalai and Manjampatti settlements, to the know-how on value-addition of millets, establishing household vegetable gardens, and technologies for millet cultivation.

Inaugurating the programme, V. Thirunavukkarasu, Principal, Central Academy for State Forest Service, CASFOS, Coimbatore, observed that the socio-economic backwardness of residents of tribal settlements in ATR was acute, and called upon the participants to decide on the educational future and career of the next generation by utilising available opportunities for free schooling. He urged the residents of tribal settlements to eradicate malnutrition in children, be cautious about incidence of ailments such as sickle cell anaemia among women, and to utilise opportunities for agricultural uplift with a sense of purpose.