The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has launched a programme called Unnat Bharat Abhiyan with an aim to connect institutions of higher education with local communities to address the development challenges through appropriate technologies.
Through this scheme the registered institutes through their faculty and students will carry out studies of living conditions in adopted villages, assess local problems and needs workout possibilities of leveraging technological interventions and need to improve processes in implementation of various government schemes, prepare workable action plans for the selected villages.
Our institution being part of the scheme different villages in Ernakulam district is divided among different departments of college for carrying outreach programs. Department of computer Applications in association with Department of Commerce, Bharatanatyam and French is assigned Kuzhupilly Panchayat.
KUZHUPILLY PANCHAYAT
Kuzhuppilly is a suburb of Kochi city and a tourist destination in Vypin Island Kerala India. The areas in Kuzhuppilly village are Pallathamkulangara, Cheruvaipu, Thundippuram, Manappally, and Ayyampilly.
We contacted the Panchayat officials and enquired about the requirements of the panchayat residents. Since Kuzhupilly is a beach area and a tourist destination, the main concern they raised is regarding the plastic waste. Since it is a flood affected area, the main pollutant is plastic carry bags. The discarded plastic bags and bottles is seen everywhere. When a person makes an everyday purchases in a grocery or retail store, they often walk out of the store with one or more plastic bags in hand.The one way to reduce this plastic waste is to take reusable carry bags to shop. The main Consumers of this carry bag is housewives of the family. So we decided to train them to make their own paper bags.
PAPER BAG MAKING WORKSHOP
Our Second year students Sr.Remya (BSc.), VarshaNagesh (B.Voc), Rusaina T A (B.Voc) along with the students of other peer departments conducted the paper bag making workshop at kuzhupilly panchayat office on March 12 th 2019.
The target audience was housewives, ASHA workers, ayalkoottam and Kudumbasree members of the panchayat. Around 55 participants attended the workshop.Sr.Remya of second year BSc. Computer Applications (Triple Main) gave an interesting awareness speech about the deadly impact of plastic waste in human and animal kind.
SURVEY AT KUZHUPILLY PANCHAYAT
The students also conducted survey on living conditions of villages, their agriculture habits, the source of income of each family, availability of basic amenities including electricity ,water etc,local problems including drainage, and the awareness and availability of various government schemes. They have covered 40 houses of the panchayat and collected information.