Thomas is the founding secretary of Grassroute. He lives in Kochi, Kerala.
About 75 students participated in the Pokali Farming Workshop Chapter 3 designed with the intention of popularizing Pokkali farming. By covering this chapter, participants learned the transplantation of the Pokkali seedlings in uniform distance in straight rows.
Grassroute has assisted Sustera Foundation to plant about 100 Mangrove saplings at the boundaries of I.B. Manoj’s Fruit Forest located at Ayyampilly, Kerala. This is the first joint Mangrove planting project between both the organisations. Hopefully there are many other similar projects that are yet to be announced.
Chapter Two was more exciting than the One. All participants from three different colleges, really enjoyed it very much. All the participants have done the job under the leadership of four senior experienced farm workers.
The Computer Science students from Rajagiri college participated in the Pokkali Farming Workshop organized by Grassroute. The team includes 53 girls and 36 boys. Department heads, Associate Director and Assistant Director of the college were also present. Mr K.K. Reghuraj, Farm Superindent, KUFOS and mentor of Grassroute lead classes on Pokkali Farming.
It was this day Grassroute was waiting since its inception. The Biodiversity Workshop has been successfully done. The session was brief and informative. It gave a ray of light on BDA and how it designed to protect our biodiversity. But the general feeling was that, neither the Biodiversity Act 2002 nor the Annual Biodiversity Day protect our biodiversity; each one of us keep our vigil to save it.
Biodiversity is vital in the fight against climate change. Fortunately we have proper laws to conserve our biodiversity. But unfortunately, these laws are widely ignored. Grassroute plans to raise public awareness on how to use these laws effectively and force the authorities not to ignore it. Based on these objectives, Grassroute plans to organize a half-day workshop on Saturday, 21st May 2022 at Nayarambalam.
On the second week of April, the Ward Member, Nayarambalam Panchayath, Mrs Beena Jagadeeshan inaugurated the Grassroute Mangrove Nursery. Students from various schools and colleges were present to witness the event. Some native people also attended the ceremony. It was a pride moment for Team Grassroute fulfilling a dream job.
Mr Devadas Pulikkal, a native of Pallathamkulangara, took care of the turtle eggs which hatched early this morning. He was caring the eggs for more than a couple of months. According to him, the eggs need 50 days to hatch. In this batch, there were 74 babies sent to the Arabian Sea. These lovely beings are the babies of Olive Ridley Turtle (binominal/scientific name – Lepidochelys olivacea).
MHAT gives recovery-oriented mental health care to the poorest people with severe mental disorders. MHAT finds their patients based on a process of economic screening based on direct home visit. Grassroute has coordinated locally to find the suitable place to start their OP Clinic.
It was the work of Masanobu Fukuoka “The One-Straw Revolution” which lead Manoj into the life of nature. By profession, Manoj is an Electronics Engineer and he is an expert in Data Recovery from failed hard discs and other digital devices. He is a Free Software Activist too.