Our Founder's Story

For the last 30 years Keshav Tulashiram Gurnule, affectionately called Keshav Bhau by everyone, has dedicated his life to issues of tribal rights and livelihood in the Chandrapur-Ghadichiroli-Rajnandaon area.
He is an expert and master trainer on Agroforestry, Forest Rights Act, and related issues. Over the past 20 years, he has been instrumental in facilitating community claims under Forest Rights Act 2006 in over 200 villages that resulted in transferring control of over 1.5 lakh hectares of forest land to respective panchayats for management.
He has been closely associated with the formation and strengthening, of Maha Gramsabha, a network of CFR granted gram sabhas, for sustainable management of forest resources and to establish auction systems and marketing systems for different NTFPs like bamboo, tendu leaves, honey, gum, etc.
He has received multiple awards for his work both on tribal rights as well as on issues of livelihood.
He has been associated with SRISHTI from the beginning as its founder and convenor.