Siddharth Jain

LA4004

Halma: A tribal ritual of selflessly helping the members of their community in the times of need. The project is about calling Halma for mother nature. 
Site location: Jhabua, Madhya pradesh
Site area: 2500 Acres 
Jhabua village, the home of one of the biggest tribal communities of India, Bhils, now a barren scape, was once a biodiversity rich forest with Bhil community being a crucial part of its ecosystem. It used to be a forest where the Bhils existed in perfect harmony with the flora and fauna of the forests. They were shifting cultivators, ace archers, hunters, healers and their life was completely dependent on the forest and forest produce. 
The symbiotic relationship between forest and the community was disrupted drastically with the implementation of the forest laws in year 1927, regulating the movement of community inside the forests and restricting them from using the forest produce. Britishers deforested the land to generate the revenue and further on, Zamindars over-exploited the forests post independence before the forest lands were confiscated by the forest department. As a result of this, community lost its very base of survival. 
Extensive deforestation turned the once very dense forests into a barren landscape, now often termed as lunar landscape. As an implication of it, rapid loss of nutritious top soil and water scarcity became the major issues in the area. Loss of resources and economic opportunities forced the community to leave their pride aside and move out of the villages in order to find daily wages to eat a day’s meal. Even though seasonal, the migration lead to fragmentation of the community to a great extent. 
The project aims to find methods, create systems which lead towards a new setting where the tribal community and the forest flourish hand in hand again by generating alternate economic opportunities for tribal communities so that they are not forced to move out of their villages leaving behind their roots in search of jobs and re-establish their deep connection with the forests. In the process of establishing systems for alternate economic gains, forest regeneration measures of land stabilization, water conservation and planting are applied to cater to the demand of the community.