Skill training to youth living near Melghat

The Maharashtra forest department has imparted skill development training to over 200 youth from 25 villages located near Melghat tiger reserve in Amravati to help them get jobs and have a sustainable livelihood, an official said.

Tribal communities living in buffer and core areas of such tiger reserves are directly or indirectly dependent on forests and forest products, Melghat tiger reserve's field director M S Reddy told PTI on Saturday.

Due to infrastructural limitations and location of these villages in remote areas poses a challenge in providing skilled education to youth, he said, adding poverty leads to higher rate of drop-outs from schools.

"This leads to unemployment among locals, which is the greatest bane of these forests. Unemployment among these people also affects the forest ecosystem through various anthropogenic activities," he said.