Dhwani Ajay Shah

LA4007

Dahanu has one of the narrowest transect between the Northern western ghats and the Arabian sea. The Vahindra river passes through the transect catering to the diverse landscape & supporting the Warli and fishermen community. It was declared as an ecologically fragile area in 1991 and is today at the crossroads – ecologically, socially, and culturally. The aboriginal Warli tribe are native to northern western ghats. They are dependent on forest and their produces and also on agriculture for their day-to-day activities for sustenance. This knowledge of foraging and farming is diminishing over years due to migration and introduction to formal education amongst other reasons. Communities still practice their original practices, which can be seen in day-to-day life. These retained yet unacknowledged keepers add their practical skills and play a major role in continuing the traditions from one generation to other. Thus, these intermediate broken link needs to retained for continuing their practices. The project aims to bridge the gap between the formalized way of learning and a local way of learning. It emphasis on bringing back the value and knowledge of customary occupations and sustenance practices of the Warli tribe into main stream education. Agriculture is the effort of countless generations that hands down skills and practices that are indigenous to the place and its culture.