Maharashtra: Palghar farmer gets the universe home for poor tribal kids

A 39-year-old farmer from Kasa has taken Palghar's tribal children beyond books to teach them astronomy. He has developed a 200mm telescope after purchasing equipment and has set up an astronomy centre.

Chandrakant Ghatal (39), a resident of Bharatpada from Kasa village, was always curious about the stars and planets after he visited Nehru Planetarium during his college days. Ghatal is an Arts graduate and holds a Bachelor of Education degree. During his college years he learnt about astronomy and realised that this education was important for the tribal children in his poor village of Kasa in Palghar district, about 120km from Mumbai.

"The college in which I studied was close to Nehru Planetarium. I visited the centre often and studied the planetary system. I developed an interest in the subject", said Ghatal.

"I chose farming and simultaneously collected funds for the telescope through friends and family members. I set up the centre for the tribal children so that they could study the planets and stars," he added.

Ever since the centre was established over 2,000 students have visited.

"We don't charge the children as they are from a poor background. I first teach them about stars and then let them observe the skies through the telescope," said the 39-year-old farmer.

"We got the opportunity to learn about the stars only in our textbooks, but now we are happy that we can obeserve them,"said Jayshree Dhumal, a tribal student

"The only planetarium nearby is in Mumbai. We can't afford to take the children there. But now, through this initiative we can guide our tribal kids to understand more about the universe."