Protecting Deer by LEADer Mahalinga KS

LEADer Mahalinga KS from Veershaiva College Bellary realized that in his region, there was a critical situation of deer being killed.

First, he and his team collected data through qualitative measures such as asking neighbouring people, exploring the areas where deer are found, and speaking with forest officials. They also collected any quantitative measures they could find, such as population numbers. It was a challenge collecting the first-hand data, as this involved going to the forested areas when the deers live in the hot summer months.

They then took all this data and compiled it, and gave it to the forest office, local government, and local police so they would better understand the situation of deers being killed. They also wanted to make sure that not only the authorities knew, but the people knew about the issues as well. They went around to villagers to distribute information and pamphlets, attempting to change the village mindset about deer killing.

The team got a good response from the villagers and authorities when they shared the information. They feel positive that their project has had a positive impact in changing how the villagers think about the deers, thus reducing the amount of deer killed in the region.

New Agricultural Techniques Awareness with LEADer Harish D

LEADer Harish D from Veershaiva College Bellary realized that there were many new agricultural machines, innovations, and subsidy programs, but without awareness, farmers were unable to take advantage of them. Harish took it upon himself to share this information with the farmers, and inspired his fellow leaders to join him in his awareness campaign.

Media coverage of the project

Harish conducting information
sessions for farmers

Harish and his team held information sessions in villages, 

spreading awareness to over 600 farmers in total. Not only did the team inform the farmers of the new techniques and programs, but encouraged and helped them to take advantage. With the help of Harish and his team, 7 farmers (with help from 45 others) received a commercial loan to purchase new innovative farming equipment, in which the farmers received a discount of 14 lacs on the equipment. In total, 50 farmers benefitted from this new equipment. Another farmer, with information from Harish, purchased 2 buffalo and one cow to improve his farming. 

One challenge for the group was to gather the farmers in one place to do the information session. They know it would take significant time to share the information door-to-door, so with the help of a few local people, the team went around to invite the farmers to a central location. Harish also found it challenging to convince the bank to offer low-interest loans to the farmers. Many of the farmers had limited history with banking, and therefore both the banks and farmers were hesitant.

Harish and team receiving award at
 Yuva Summit 2016

For this project, Harish won a Best Leader Award at Yuva Summit 2016, receiving it onstage in front of a crowd of over 4000 from Nobel Laureate Prof. Muhammad Yunus. John Deere Bellary also appreciated Harish for his work getting their innovative equipment to the farmers who need it most.