The forest, and the people who keep it
Alapalli sits deep in Gadchiroli, the most forested district in Maharashtra and one of the most remote in India. This is Madia and Gond country — and it is home.
Alapalli, Gadchiroli
Gadchiroli lies in the south-eastern corner of Maharashtra, bordered by Chhattisgarh and Telangana. Forest covers 68.81% of the district — the highest of any district in the state — and its 1,675 villages are scattered through hills and river valleys where a road may be open for only part of the year. More than a third of its people belong to Scheduled Tribes, chiefly the Madia and the Gond. Seven languages are spoken here: Gondi, Madia, Marathi, Hindi, Telugu, Bengali and Chhattisgarhi.
What the numbers say
68.81%
of Gadchiroli is forest — the highest cover of any district in Maharashtra
More than half
of all of Maharashtra's malaria cases occur in Gadchiroli alone
12%
of teachers in Maharashtra's tribal schools come from tribal communities — most children are taught by staff who do not speak Gondi or Madia
Sources: Forest Survey of India, ISFR 2021 · Gadchiroli malaria mass-surveillance study, 2021 · Centre for Budget and Policy Studies, 2017
What stands in the way
Health that is far away
Clinics are few and distant, and health awareness is low. Anaemia among women here is the highest in Maharashtra, and malaria returns every monsoon.
Schools that speak another language
Children arrive speaking Gondi or Madia and are taught in Marathi. Few teachers come from tribal communities themselves. Tests, grades and comparison do the rest.
Rights on paper
The communities that have guarded these forests for generations still live far below the national standard, and too often must ask for what is already theirs.
This district has shown what local care can do
Gadchiroli is also where community health work proved it could change everything. In the villages where Dr. Abhay and Dr. Rani Bang's SEARCH trained local women to care for newborns, infant deaths fell from 121 per thousand births in 1988 to 30 by 2003. Dr. Kishor's years of walking to Binagunda belong to that same tradition — and it is the tradition the Foundation intends to continue.
The Lancet, 2011.
Villages that write their own destiny
To empower the tribal communities who have guarded our waters, forests and lands for generations — to live self-respecting, independent, fulfilled and happy lives in an ever-changing world. This is KNF's unwavering purpose.
Self-sustaining, environment-friendly, peaceful and awakened — this is the future we walk toward, one village at a time.
Want to be part of this?
Get Involved