Halma is a Bhili tradition of coming together and helping a community member fighting his troubles. Whenever an individual from the community faces difficulty and calls for Halma, they all gather and solve it.
“Halma- Let’s connect with an effective and outstanding developmental movement”
Shivganga initiated a water conservation movement on Halma’s concept. It’s team visited tribal villages with the message of Halma. The tribals from all around gathered to solve water scarcity problem on their call. It was later developed as an yearly event of coming & working together for rain water harvesting. Halma started off with 1500 volunteers in 2010, has grown to 15000 volunteers in 2018.
“About Shivganga- Their work and causes they stand for”
Shivganga Samagra Gram Vikas Parishad, based in Jhabua, has been working on the holistic development of the tribal villages since last 17 years. The organization is an excellent example of development through community participation. Their development model for the village is “panchkoshiye vikaas”. The six main causes they work for are Jan(जन), Forest(जंगल), Water(जल), Land(जमीन), Animals(जानवर), Science(नवविज्ञान). They believe that we can lead to sustainable development by conserving and increasing all these components of nature. Their most of the interventions are inspired or based on the traditions and nature of the tribal community and witness large participation from the tribal people.
“The Leadership and the people behind”
Shivganga is run by Shri Harsh Chauhan, IIT Delhi, Batch 1983-84 and Shri Mahesh Sharma along with 14 other leaders from the tribal community itself. Apart from this, there is a team of volunteers from tribal communities with a reach in 800 tribal villages.
“Bhil- Brave bow men of India.”
The Jhabua and Alirajpur are most important districts of tribal belts of Central India. Jhabua district has a profound legacy of rich cultural heritage including social rituals, traditions, art & crafts and human values. There has been a systematic effort of neglecting, ignoring and even exploiting the innocent populations particularly during ‘British Raj’ which unfortunately continued even after independence. They have extreme reverence for mother nature. Their festivals and rituals are woven around worshipping ‘Matavan’ (mother forest from where they derive their livelihood), ‘Jalhan Devi’ (natural water resources), Jamimata (land where they cultivate crops). Jhabua and Alirajpur still preserve the natural diversity and tribals still live in harmony with the nature.
Itinerary:
16th Feb, 2018 (Day 1): Orientation Workshop and Interaction with fellow Yatris at Indore.
17th Feb, 2018 (Day 2): Interaction with Social Leaders and people behind this movement. Traveling from Indore to Jhabua.
18th Feb, 2018 (Day 3): Witnessing a change movement, its organization and execution. Rural stays and local cuisine.
19th Feb, 2018 (Day 4): Reaching back to Indore in the afternoon.
Gallery
Some of the amazing pictures from previous yatras.
Inviting for Halma
Getting ready for Halma
Shivganga Jal Abhiyaan
Heading for Halma
News story
Traditional silver ornaments
With Bow and Arrow
Bhil in Bhagoria
Paniye: The Local Cuisine
Preparing food for entire Halma
Listening, sharing and being one
Interaction with Social Leaders
Yatris with local Rangili Pagdi
Yatris ready to participate in Halma
IIM students with Shivganga Founders
Yatris doing Chhai-Chhappa-Chhai!
Yatris going for local exploration
Bhil’s Home: They live at farms
A serene evening
Jhabua in spring
What our Halma Yatris are saying!
Email: connect@empathyconnects.org
Call: +91 99307 48239
+91 78957 94177