PROJECTS: Till Now

LIFKEY/ LIFDAT: The making of an illustrated manual on the fish species available in Bengal for the generation of a computer based programme to identify these species. It was done as part of the LIFKEY/LIFDAT project undertaken by Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and the Indian Academy of Sciences.

The Changing Landscape of Calcutta

For the last three years Khetro has undertaken the photo documentation of the rapid urban expansion taking place in the eastern part of Calcutta (mainly along the Eastern Metropolitan Bye-pass).

• Community Ecological Mapping: As a continuation of the Changing Landscape Documentation work, one of our members implemented a unique project of participatory bio-resource documentation led by a group of knowledgeable children from a semi urban locality in the Eastern part of Calcutta. The possibilities of using various media forms such as photographs, GPS data, audio recordings and sketches, to document biodiversity have been explored in this Community Ecological Mapping project. It was supported by a research grant from Sarai-CSDS, Delhi.
  

• Documenting the Industrial Landscape: A small group from Khetro has been monitoring and photo documenting closed and sick industries in and around Calcutta for quite some time. While documenting abandoned buildings and workshops, both demolished or soon to be demolished, this documentation team is also trying to document the status of the unemployed labour force that was very much a part of ‘the production’ once. This study documentation is also intended to understand their improvised ‘strategies of survival’ in the eroded industrial ambience of neo-Calcutta.