Nilgiris artisans receive prestigious Mark Shand award from King and Queen of England
Both Ramesh and Vishnu were honoured on behalf of all the indigenous artisans crafting life-size elephants from Lantana camara (a highly invasive plant species). Britain's King Charles III and Queen Camilla presents the members of the The Real Elephant Collective, with their Mark Shand Award and Kartiki Gonsalves with the Tara Award. CHENNAI: Two youths from the Nilgiris district, Ramesh Maran (32) and Vishnu Varadhan (29), who belong to the Bettakurumba community have received the prestigious Mark Shand award from the King and Queen of England on Wednesday. Both Ramesh and Vishnu were honoured on behalf of all the indigenous artisans crafting life-size elephants from Lantana camara (a highly invasive plant species). In addition to removing invasive species from the environment, these installations also provide livelihoods to communities dependent on the forest and foster human-wildlife co-existence. The models of the ‘Lantana Elephants’ were made by The Real Elephant Collecti...