Nagpur Kids gave new slogan to India,"JUNGLE BACHAO, MAUSAM BACHAO"

On 16th Feb 2008, the kids from orange city of India gave a new slogan to India, "JUNGLE BADHAO-MAUSAM BACHAO". Every visitor who attended the fest said that the orange city has become the "Tiger City", when they saw kids painted their faces like Tigers.

This has happened through the Tiger Fest 2008 which could drew enthusiastic response at Nagpur, with participation from 18 schools in the various events. Around 350 students participated in the various events and around 2,000 people visited the venue. The Tiger Fest is an annual event and is part of the "Kids for Tigers" (KFT) Sanctuary programme, an environment education programme sponsored by Complan and envisioned by Sanctuary Asia. The KFT programme is in its seventh year in Nagpur and is implemented by Satpuda Foundation in the Orange City.

The Festival organized at the St Ursula Girls' High School ground was inaugurated by Shri B Majumdar, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (wildlife), Maharashtra and Shri Prakash Dubey, Editor of the Central India edition of Dainik Bhaskar. Both of them visited each of the stalls put up by the schools and interacted extensively with the students at the stalls. The enthusiasm and energy of the students impressed both the senior guests and in fact, Mr Dubey even said that there was little he could teach the students but he had, rather, learnt a lot from the event.

Shri Majumdar, who took time off from his busy schedule, was highly impressed by the event and congratulated Satpuda Foundation for organizing it well.

Other visitors to the event included Shri Shyam Dhond, noted Marathi journalist and writer, Kishor Mishrikotkar, Assistant Conservator of Forests (Wildlife), Nagpur, Kishor Rithe, Ashoka Fellow.

The students showed a fine awareness of current happenings and one school, Bhavan's BP Vidya Mandir, in fact conducted a skit/drama on the Brahmapuri tiger, which was shot late last year.

Other skits included themes such as the need to save trees, highlighting the Chipko movement, the need to save water and forests.

Events included slogan composing, face painting, stall decoration, dance/drama/skit and fancy dress. Twelve schools put up stall at the festival, based on themes related to nature and wildlife conservation. A total of 18 schools participated in the various events.

Satpuda Foundation put up a stall, which included an exhibition of wildlife photos from its members as well as award winning pictures from Sanctuary Asia, educational posters prepared by the Foundation and materials from the Forest Department. A notable feature of the stall was a display of drawings on nature and wildlife by school students of tribal villages of the Pench Tiger Reserve. The drawings drew good response from visitors who expressed appreciation for the talent and enthusiasm of children living in remote villages with relatively limited access to educational materials.

The event was a success thanks to the tireless efforts of Nandkishor Dudhe, the KFT coordinator for Nagpur and Education Officer for Satpuda Foundation and the team of Satpuda Foundation Anoop Awasthi, Niranjan Hinge, Bandu Uike, Dilip Lanjewar, Bandu Kumare, Nawed Khan, Anil Shelke, Sachin Ingole. Mr.Giri Venkatesan, Executive Director of SF personally monitored the entire event and made sure that the right message reach to Kids and achieve mass impact. The event was compered by Shri Jawed .The print media and electronic media of orange city appreciated the event and covered nicely to take the message to even larger audience.