Heritage Alerts August 2013
Tanguru Majhi is normally reticent, but he spoke for 20 minutes in an emphatic speech before government officials last week. Clad in a lungi and a shirt torn at the armpits, his axe slung across his shoulder, he told the officials and Kalahandi additional district judge Pramod Kumar Jena, "We revere Niyamgiri as our god. Just as Lord Jagannath is God to you, so is Niyamraja to us."
Majhi, a Dongaria Kondh tribal in Kunakadu, a hard-to-access village on the Niyamgiri hill slopes, was the first of 21 speakers to tell the government officials why they didn't want bauxite to be mined from the hills.
It was the fourth of 12 pallisabhas organised by the Orissa government to determine whether the proposed mining by Vedanta Alumina for a 1-million-tonne alumina refinery would infringe on the religious rights of tribals and OBCs. The 12 villages have been selected along the 250-sq-km Niyamgiri mountain range in Kalahandi and Rayagada districts.
In August 2010, the Ministry of
Environment and Forest had denied final forest clearance
to the bauxite mining project. Following a petition by
the state-owned Orissa Mining Corporation challenging
the ministry's denial, the Supreme Court last April
ordered that pallisabhas be held in the villages to find
out whether mining can be allowed, and whether it would
hurt the religious rights of 8,000-odd Dongaria Kondh
tribals there. At the Kunakadu pallisabha, Majhi told
the officials, "You can write whatever you like, but we
are not going to leave Niyamgiri. If you mine Niyamgiri,
the streams there will dry up. We will then die." The
Kalahandi additional district judge, sent as an observer
by the Supreme Court, and the officials could only nod.
The 20 other speakers echoed Majhi in saying they would
rather die than leave Niyamgiri, their home for decades
if not centuries.
The Indian Express, 1st August 2013
The properties of Sir Harinder Singh Brar, the late Maharaja of Faridkot, have long been out of bounds to the public. Staff at Raj Mahal won't even disclose their names. A couple of kilometres away is Quila Mubarak, equally inaccessible. But Ram Milan, 58, remembers what it used to be like inside. "When the Maharaja was alive, I was given space on the outer verandah to run my dhaba," he says. "Inside, the chairs were of silver, the utensils of gold and silver. At the back were stables for horses and elephants."
Beyond the palace and the fort are thousands of acres of forest and agricultural land, properties elsewhere, and bank deposits, the total worth said to be Rs 20,000 crore. Now a Chandigarh court order has set the stage for sharing of the property between the maharaja's two surviving daughters, but it is likely to be challenged.
The inheritors
Sisters Amrit Kaur, who is based in Chandigarh, and
Deepinder Kaur, based in Burdwan, are on opposing sides
of the legal battle. Neither could be contacted; The
Indian Express spoke to the lawyers on both sides.
Amrit, the eldest, was left out of a 1982 will, which she challenged in court. Deepinder chairs the trust that was willed the property. Sources who have followed the proceedings said she is deeply involved in the trust.
The maharaja had four children,
including a third daughter, now dead. The only son, a
bachelor, died in 1981, and the maharaja in 1989. The
will, dated June 1, 1982, leaves all the property to
Maharawal Khawaji Trust, naming Deepinder as its
chairperson and the youngest daughter, Maheepinder Kaur,
as the vice-chairperson. Maheepinder, who wasn't
married, died in 2001. Since then, Deepinder's son
Jaichand has been vice-chairman. He is is currently
renovating of the palace. Amrit filed a civil suit
alleging the will was illegal. Ranjit Singh Vehnival,
the trust's lawyer, said the maharaja had disowned Amrit
after she married against his wishes.
The Indian Express, 2nd August 2013
Revenue loss to the exchequer is seemingly the only tangible cost of illegally mined sand, but the impact that it has on environment and ecology is far greater and far graver, caution environmentalists and water conservation experts.
From forcing the river to change its course, to affecting the groundwater tables and adversely impacting the habitat of micro-organisms, the ramifications of illegal sand mining are many.
“Sand is important for ground water recharge, on a riverbed it acts as a link between the flowing river and the water table and is part of the aquifer,” said Manoj Misra of the NGO Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan.
Illegally dredged sand, Mr. Misra said, is equivalent to robbing water. “Sand holds a lot of water, and when it is mindlessly mined and laden on to trucks, large quantities of water is lost in transit.”
The negative impact of illegal sand mining far outweighs the economic benefits, pointed out Himanshu Thakkar of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People. “There is a perception that sand and boulders are useless and rivers have a lot of sand. This is incorrect, because they are crucial for the sustained existence of the river and perform many functions.”
“We have seen the impact of tampering with the rivers and their resources in the recent Uttarakhand floods. When sand and boulders are removed in an unimpeded way using heavy machines, the erosion capacity of the river increases. Sand and boulders prevent the river from changing the course and act as a buffer for the riverbed.” Mr. Thakkar added: “In Vishnuprayag the boulders that came down with the river water damaged a side of the dam and the waters spread out across causing heavy damage.”
Unplanned and rampant removal of sand from riverbeds also amounts to destroying the habitat of biodiversity, Mr. Misra said. “There are a lot of micro-organisms that are not visible and widely known, but are critical to soil structure and fertility. When we dredge sand, we literally take away their habitat,” he said, adding: “It is estimated that in Noida and Greater Noida alone the loss to the exchequer is about Rs.1,000 crore, but the impact that sand mining, which is simply put theft on environment and ecology, cannot even be calculated.”
Despite a Supreme Court order that prohibits sand mining without the requisite clearance from the required authorities and places limits on the quantities that can be mined, thousands of tonnes of sand is being illegally mined to meet the rising demand of construction industry and for extraction of minerals.
Experts are also worried about the
methods used for mining, cautioning against the use of
intrusive techniques such as the use of explosives and
heavy excavator machines. “When we mine sand using
excavator machines and through blasting techniques the
results can be destructive. In the Himalayan areas
especially sand mining should be carried out manually.
Excessive in-stream sand mining causes degradation of
rivers, therefore, there has to be periodic assessment
of how much sand can be sustainably mined, as the
quantity can vary from a river to river and within a
river from stretch to stretch,” said Mr. Thakkar.
The Hindu, 2nd August 2013
The Supreme Court passed an order in February 2012 stating that all mining projects spread over an area of 5 hectares or more needed an environment clearance (EC). The ministry of environment and forest's website shows that between Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, ECs have been granted to only 10 projects since 2012, all of which are located in UP's Saharanpur district.
Meanwhile, sand mining in the Yamuna river bed is rampant across all three states. "Mining might not be taking place in the capital but it is rampant both upstream of Wazirabad and downstream of Okhla, including NCR. All of it is illegal as nobody has applied for an EC," said Manoj Mishra of Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan.
The Sc ruling came after a panel, formed by the Union environment ministry in 2010 to study the environmental impact of mining minor minerals, had laid down guidelines to be implemented by state governments.
TOI visited some spots from where reports of mining were received. At all such places, mining had been suspended since the past few days. Villagers said it was probably an outcome of the recent raids. At one point in Noida, tyre marks of trucks were visible along the banks, where large pits showed that sand had been recently scooped out.
There have been a few occasions when local administration has clamped down on mining but very often, because the river flows between two states, they cannot take action. "We need the states to work collectively. In 2009, we caught people mining sand ahead of Wazirabad which had changed the course of the Yamuna. Since it was on the UP side, we informed the UP administration but no action was taken. We had to wait for the culprits to move into Delhi before we could apprehend them," said a government official.
Since most of the mining takes place on the outskirts of the city, sources claim that police and administration do not pay much attention to it. An increase in construction activity in NCR has also spurred a massive demand for sand, leading to an increase in mining.
Himanshu Thakkar, coordinator of South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People, says there is a huge loophole in the policy mechanism to control sand mining. "The court set a limit of 5 hectares but this rule is often flouted. People will have several patches of 4.9 hectares. An assessment of what is sustainable mining for each river needs to be done since the nature of each river is different. The regulator should then monitor the total area under mining for each river to ensure that it is collectively not more than the sustainable limit and involve local communities in this effort," he said.
Thakkar says unchecked mining can
spell doom for a river. "It can potentially change the
course of the river. Sand forms a suitable bed for
groundwater recharge and should not be removed.
Boulders, which are also mined along with sand, provide
a suitable habitat for the river's biodiversity. Mining
increases the chances of erosion and makes the river
prone to disasters. The river carries silt during
monsoon which makes the river bed extremely fertile and
suitable for crop cultivation. Removal of sand takes
away this advantage," he said.
The Economic Times, 4th August 2013
A collection of Ustad Mansur’s natural history paintings is an invaluable addition to our knowledge of the miniaturist’s art.
The Emperor Babur, founder of the Mughal dynasty was, by any standards, an extraordinary man. An outstanding military strategist and statesman he was also a poet and memoirist, a calligrapher and naturalist. Jahangir inherited his powers of observation and his passion for flora and fauna. He kept a large menagerie and an aviary and nothing pleased him more than adding to them with gifts from his courtiers and neighbouring rulers. His approach was both aesthetic and scientific. Specimens were often dissected to examine their innards, while his artists were commissioned to depict rare birds, animals and flowering plants in the minutest detail.
Among them, the foremost was Mansur whose talents so impressed the Emperor that he honoured him with the title ‘Nadir ul-Asr’, the Wonder of the Age. His name first appears as ‘Naqqash’, calligrapher or designer and decorator of book covers and margins. Later he assisted his seniors in splendid collaborative paintings illustrating historical episodes from theBaburnama and Akbarnama, and soon he started to work independently, distinguishing himself as a natural history painter.
Mansur’s best-known animal studies are those of the blackbuck and nilgai, favoured targets of the royal hunt, though he personally preferred smaller creatures: a saltwater fish or a chameleon clutching a curving branch, its body taut with concentration. ‘Every pore, wrinkle, and toenail is recorded’ and its predatory nature is brought out in its stance as it prepares to pounce on a butterfly.
‘Squirrels in a Chinar Tree’ is a rarity in Mughal painting, a composite showing different species of flora and fauna together in an idyllic scene. Everything in this superb picture is three-dimensional, alive: the magnificent tree with autumn-tinted, star-shaped leaves, branching out to fill the top of the page; the hunter climbing upwards; lovable squirrels frolicking in the foliage; and deer browsing in the shade. Mansur’s genius for detail is particularly evident in the birds. No larger than two centimetres in the original painting, six different species have been clearly distinguished. Undoubtedly ‘Squirrels…’ is the greatest natural history miniature from Jahangir’s atelier.
The peacock appears frequently in Mughal painting, as do mynas and pigeons. Mansur painted falcons and hawks, vultures and cranes and even imaginary birds in a riot of fantastic shapes and colours. The Emperor was much taken by the strange appearance of the turkey-cock and the way it spread its tail feathers and changed colour ‘like a chameleon’ during its mating dance. He ordered Mansur to paint its likeness for inclusion in his memoirs, resulting in one of the artist’s most admired works.
The same delicate brushwork distinguishes the study of the Siberian Crane, which came as a revelation to Abanindranath Tagore three centuries later. He felt as if the live bird was in front of him, its wrinkled leg-skin and the tiny feathers sticking to its claws so minutely depicted that they were visible only through a magnifying glass. He was speechless, dizzy, he said, and so inspired that he stopped using oil paint on canvas and turned to gouache on paper, the traditional medium, starting a wave of revivalism in Indian art.
Jahangir’s passion for flora found expression in odd, sometimes comical, ways. Seeing red and pink oleanders in full bloom while on the march, he commanded his soldiers and cavalry men to wear bunches on their heads, thus producing ‘a wonderful moving flower bed’. On a visit to Kashmir, Mansur painted more than a hundred species, but sadly only five are left. The cover picture of the blue iris and a painting of the red tulip show the magic touch of the master. Both are composed with utmost care. The positioning of the blossoms and buds, the graceful swaying stems, and the satiny texture of the tulip leaves are outstanding examples in their genre.
In his Preface the author tells us how he pursued Mansur’s paintings with single-minded devotion for half a century, tracking them down in museums and private collections dispersed worldwide, relying on hearsay and inputs from friends and fellow scholars, and persisting through setbacks and delays.
Dr. Das’s commitment and erudition
are as admirable as his meticulousness. Each species of
bird, animal, or flower has been identified by experts
such as Harkirat Sangha, Dr. Salim Ali, and our famous
lion-cheetah man Divyabhanusinh. With superb
illustrations adorning almost every page, Wonders… is a
visual delight, and an invaluable addition to our
knowledge of the miniaturist’s art.
The Hindu, 4th august 2013
Peeved at the slow rate of progress by various tribunals
dealing with inter-state river water disputes, the
Centre has decided to form a single permanent body.
As per the Cabinet note moved by the Ministry of Water
Resources, the Inter-state River Water Disputes Act,
1956, will be amended to set up a standing tribunal to
resolve river water disputes between basin states and to
give the tribunal’s award the force of an order/decree
of the Supreme Court.
The proposed tribunal will have eight members, including
a chairperson and a vice-chairperson. Initially, members
of the existing tribunals who are below 70 years will
constitute the tribunal, sources in the ministry told
Deccan Herald.
The tribunal will comprise three benches and once a
dispute is referred, the chairman shall assign it to a
bench. In case of vacancies on a bench, a member from
another bench shall hear the matter till the vacancy is
filled to ensure that disputes are not pending and
allowed to go unresolved. The bench should deliver the
award within two years which may be extended by a year,
the sources said.
However, it was clarified that there is a clause to
provide two separate benches to oversee “balance work”
of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal and the Ravi-Beas
Water Tribunal.
Abolishing the existing multiple tribunal system and
constituting one standing tribunal will not only save
the ministry the time and effort of setting up separate
tribunals as and when water disputes erupt, but also
ensure uniformity in awards, the sources said.
“Each tribunal requires annual running expenses of Rs
1.5 crore to Rs 2 crore. If government accommodation is
not available, then expenditure will double. A permanent
dispute resolution mechanism will therefore make
economic sense too,” the sources said.
As all members of the tribunal prefer to function from
the national capital, the ministry was finding it
difficult to provide accommodation and other
infrastructure.
Each tribunal comprises nearly 30 people, including
three retired judges as members. In the proposed
tribunal, total staff strength will be less than 60,
including its members, the sources said.
Five tribunals
The Cauvery dispute between Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Kerala
Krishna dispute between Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh
Mahadayi dispute between Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra
Ravi-Beas dispute between Haryana, Rajasthan & Punjab
Vamsadhara dispute between Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.
When your introduction to a country is a stunning platinum blonde immigration agent, you know it's the start of a great holiday. The agent in question at Athens International Airport wasn't just a head turner, she was polite and efficient to boot—a great way to welcome us after a long flight. Despite severe personnel cuts due to a persistent economic slowdown, the agents welcome you warmly to the country — in sharp contrast to the scowls on display at Mumbai International Airport on our return. Greece, a country of some nine million people (to put that in perspective, Mumbai alone has 18 million), is battling a debilitating economic crisis, but it puts its best foot forward for tourists. Not the most predictable of destinations, Greece is attracting a large number of tourists — despite, or perhaps because of, a precarious economy. The country drew in around 20 million tourists in 2012; the UK attracted 10 million more in that year.
Greece is a relatively difficult destination to reach from India compared to the UK, since it usually involves a layover in either a West Asian hub such as Dubai or Doha or in Europe (Frankfurt or Brussels). As a tourist destination, Greece is a country for people looking beyond the hordes of tourists on the 12-countries-ina-fortnight packaged tours.
You're unlikely to meet an Indian at every street corner (we met only a handful on our holiday) and those you do are happy rather than weary for your company. It helped immeasurably that we dodged peak tourist season ( June to August) and instead went in early to mid-September, when the crowds had thinned. Perhaps as a result of the endemic slowdown — or maybe they're just friendly — Indian tourists are welcomed and courted.
Across our 10-day tour of Athens, Mykonos and Santorini, hotel owners and managers weren't just courteous as expected, they whipped out maps, pointed out Metro stations and tourist attractions and routes to reach them. While we opted for three-star hotels (clean bathrooms, sheets changed daily), tourists staying at cheaper digs too can expect a helping hand from staff.
For veggie Indian tourists to Greece, trying the local food remains a bit difficult. Dishes such as the gyros (meat with tomatoes, onion and the local tzatziki sauce, wrapped in pita bread), or moussaka (a dish of eggplant and lamb) contain meat. Cafe owners will go to great lengths to explain these and other dishes to curious tourists.. Salt and pepper are only lightly used and cheese is often added to dishes.
However, as more Indian tourists have arrived, cafe owners have become more aware of peculiar needs — a couple of restaurants asked us if garlic and onion were permissible and another offered us a bottle of chilli flakes, admitting that Greek food was rather bland. Most restaurants offer free Wi-Fi, a boon if you're not connected on a global roaming number or Matrix SIM card, since you can use whatsapp to coordinate with friends and family. The Greek tourism industry is going out of its way to appease difficult-to-please visitors. For the keepers of Indian tourism, there may be many lessons to be learnt.
From the time you step out of your hotel and take a metro, cab, quad bike or even donkey ride around, the sheer range of merchandising is noteworthy. Greece doesn't just sell usual tourist curios at stores, every aspect of the country is mercilessly merchandised. Owls, donkeys, cats, horseshoes, windmills and even condoms are branded and hawked to tourists. What's more, store owners are happy letting you browse endlessly and serve you with a smile, even if you depart with a one euro pencil.
In Athens, a city full of history and monuments, we decided to take the Metro. It helps if you know where you want to go — the flea market of Monistriaki Square is a great place to hunt for bargains, and Ermou Street is the central shopping district with all the big ticket brands. The Metro can take you there quickly, cleanly and for a fraction of the taxi. In Santorini, an island famed for its beautiful sunsets (head to Oia and jostle with tourists for a great view), everyone takes a local bus — fares beginning from 1.60 — and they are frequent and clean.
As a smaller island, Mykonos has just 38 tourist taxis, so you need to book a cab in advance. But like in Goa, everyone is zipping across the island on quad bikes, bikes or in cars. And the hotel owner is happy finding you a ride of choice. Once you reach your destination, especially if you're a packaged tour junkie, the quality of Greek guides stands out. Our guide at Athens, Mikela, told us that she had to complete a twoyear course before she could be accredited.
The Indian Express, 5th August 2013
January 2, 2011 was a golden day in the second season of excavation at Khirsara village, 85 km from Bhuj town, Gujarat. Nearly 30 trenches had been dug that season, each 10 metres by 10 metres. One of them yielded two miniature pots, which a labourer rushed to S. Nandakumar, a site supervisor in his 20s. He took them to Jitendra Nath, Superintending Archaeologist, Excavation Branch, Vadodara, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). “They are gold beads,” announced Mr. Jitendra Nath after examining them. One of the pots contained 26 disc-shaped beads, micro beads and a ring, all made in gold, and steatite beads.
“Gold beads are not found in big quantities in the Harappan sites. Some disc-shaped gold beads had been found at Lothal, another famous Harappan site in Gujarat,” said Mr. Jitendra Nath on April 19, 2013 as he showed us the closed trench where the gold beads had been found.
“Exciting results” from four seasons of excavation with 120 trenches dug at Khirsara from December 2009 have established Khirsara as “a major industrial hub” that belonged to the mature Harappan period. It overlooks the Khari river and flourished for 400 years from circa 2600 to 2200 BCE.
Carbon dating at the Birbal Sahni Institute of Paleobotany, Lucknow, for the botanical remains collected from Khirsara’s trenches falls in the range of 2565 to 2235 BCE.
Khirsara has everything to be called a mature Harappan site: systematic town planning, a citadel complex where the ruling elite lived, a factory complex, habitation annexes, a warehouse, drainage system, and massive fortification walls. All the structures were built of sandstone blocks set in mud mortar. Excavations have yielded 11 bar, circular and square seals, standardised bricks in the ratio of 1:2:4 and a staggering variety of pottery including reserve slip ware. While the bar seals have only the Harappan script, others have carvings of unicorn and hump-less bulls with the Harappan signs.
Mr. Jitendra Nath asserted: “The seals, especially the circular seals, are the main characteristic by which Khirsara can be categorised as a mature Harappan site. Pottery and structures such as the citadel, the factory and the warehouse are the hallmarks by which this site could be said to belong to mature Harappan phase.”
More than 4,200 years ago, Khirsara was an important trading outpost in western Kutch in Gujarat on the way to Sind in present-day Pakistan. Its “factory” manufactured enormous quantities of beads from cornelian, agate, jasper, lapis lazuli, steatite and chalcedony; bangles and inlays from conch shells; copper artefacts such as bangles, rings, beads, knives, needles, fish-hooks, arrowheads and weights; and terracotta rattles, toy-carts and gamesmen. One trench alone threw up 25,000 exquisite beads made of steatite.
Trench after trench laid in Khirsara’s factory have yielded a bonanza of Harappan ceramics — painted pottery, the reserve slip ware used by the elite in society, sturdy storage jars, globular pots, perforated jars, basins, dishes, bowls, beakers, dish-on-stand and incense burners. The painted pottery with occasional animal motifs, have geometric designs of broad bands, crosses, spirals, loops, arches and zigzags. The profusion of miniature pots that the site has revealed is puzzling.
R.N. Kumaran, Assistant Archaeologist, ASI, said: “We have found furnaces and a tandoor. There is evidence of copper-working and ash. We have found huge quantities of steatite beads and some seals made of steatite. From all this, we have identified it as a factory site.”
An extraordinary feature about Khirsara’s Harappan settlement is that it not only had an outer fortification wall around it but every complex inside had its own fortification wall, be it the citadel, the warehouse, and the factory with its habitation annexe. The fortification walls for the warehouse and the factory had guard rooms and salients for mounting watch.
Even the potters’ kiln, which lay outside the outer fortification walls, had its own fortification wall. The outer fortification wall, 310 metres by 230 metres and more than 4,400 years old, still stands in several places.
“This is the first time in the Harappan context that we have found separation fortification walls for each complex on the site, and their purpose is to ensure the safety of its residents and the goods manufactured,” said Mr. Jitendra Nath, now Superintending Archaeologist, Mumbai Circle, ASI.
A massive warehouse, measuring 28 metres by 12 metres, excavated had 14 parallel walls, with an average length of 10.8 metres and 1.55 metres breadth. Its superstructure was made of wood and daub. The space between the parallel walls enabled circulation of fresh air to protect the stored goods. Mr. Jitendra Nath said: “It must have been multipurpose warehouse for storing goods for export or those that have been imported. Its proximity with river Khari is to support the maritime trading activities of the Khirsarans. A warehouse is a rare type of structure found in a few Harappan sites. It indicates a state of surplus economy.”
The houses in the citadel, where the elite lived, had
verandas, interconnected rooms, floors paved with
multicoloured bricks and a rock-cut well. A five-metre
paved lane separated the citadel from the factory. The
citadel was deliberately built adjacent to the warehouse
so that the rulers could keep a watch on the
manufacturing and trading activities, said Mr. Kumaran.
The Hindu, 6th August 2013
The environment and forests ministry Monday introduced in the Rajya Sabha major amendments to the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 that seek heavier penalties to check wildlife-related crimes and aim to make Indian laws consistent with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
The Wildlife Protection Amendment Bill, 2013 seeks to ban the use of animal traps, except under certain conditions, engage gram sabhas and gram panchayats in management of protected areas, and to grant hunting rights to hunter-gatherer Scheduled Tribes of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
The Bill proposes that hunting in national parks and sanctuaries or the alteration of their boundaries should be punished with 5 to 7 years in jail and fine of Rs 5 to 25 lakh, up from 3 to 7 years in jail and Rs 10,000 fine in the current law; the punishment would be 7 years in prison and Rs 30 lakh fine for repeat offenders, up from 3 to 7 years of imprisonment and Rs 25,000 fine now.
The amendments propose stricter deterrents for crimes
related to sale, purchase and transfer of animals, their
parts or products listed in various schedules.
The Indian Express, 6th May 2013
The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) wants the state to create a framework that will make it mandatory for all buildings to strictly adhere to safety norms laid down by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). The authority also wants these to be part of building bylaws; for this, DDMA wants to rope in state urban development department.
The move comes in the backdrop of the Uttarakhand disaster and due to Delhi's location in the 'high-risk' seismic zone IV. The Vulnerability Atlas of India (1997) says for shaking intensity eight, 6.5% houses in Delhi have high damage risk and 85.5% houses have moderate damage risk. "Most buildings may not meet codal requirements on seismic resistance. Disaster prevention involves engineering intervention in buildings and structures to make them strong enough to withstand the impact of natural hazard," said DDMA divisional commissioner Dharampal.
BIS codes for seismic safety spell out criteria for quake-resistant constructions. Senior officials said now, there is no proper monitoring of their implementation during construction nor is there any legal framework to ensure this.
DDMA has observed that ill-designed high-risk areas and highrises exist in Delhi without specific consideration of earthquake resistance. "Connaught Place, numerous district centres and sprouting highrise group housing schemes are high risk areas due to the vertical development and plan configurations," DDMA concedes. The Walled City, trans-Yamuna area, and scattered pockets of unplanned settlements also figure as high-risk zones due to their substandard structures and high density.
"Delhi's settlement pattern needs to be viewed in relation to location and geological characteristics. Systematic studies are needed on vulnerability of different types of constructions. Also there is need to develop a rational seismic retrofitting policy, first for the government-owned buildings and later for the private constructions. Besides, seismic code must be updated with regard to construction of bridges, flyovers and metro projects," Dharampal added.
Urban planners say that DDMA's condition can apply only to
fresh constructions in planned areas. Large parts of
Delhi are infested by populated illegal developments in
unauthorized colonies
The Times of India, 6th May 2013
With growing greens becoming a viable business
option, start-up helps NGO plant 300 saplings on a
1,000sq m plot in a city school
An NGO has decided to make the most of the heavy monsoon
this year. Instead of a regular plantation drive, they
commissioned a start-up to create a miniurban forest in
the backyard of a school in Dwarka. Tree plantations,
which are usually low input and fairly easy, are
undergoing a makeover. The NGO signed up the start-up
because they wanted to ensure thick foliage and
biodiversity value of a real forest on a small patch.
A small 1,000-sq metre land that would seem tiny even
for a lawn was used to plant 300 saplings of various
indigenous varieties in very close proximity to each
other. Swechha conducts a "monsoon wooding" plantation
drive every year around this time.
This year it got a unique Bangalore-based start-up
company, Afforestt, to give them technical expertise on
making an urban forest for a price of about Rs 1.5 lakh.
Afforestt has created 27 urban forests in eight cities.
But it is not a landscaping company; it creates patches
that mimic how nature would have created a forest, says
entrepreneur Shubhendu Sharma who founded the company.
Shubhendu, an industrial and production engineer who
worked with a leading automobile company, quit his job
in 2010 to become an urban forest entrepreneur. He had
assisted noted Japanese scientist and naturalist Akira
Miyawaki in developing a miniforest in Bangalore for the
automobile company he worked for.
The experience inspired Shubhendu so much that he
decided to make a living out of developing forests. It
took Shubhendu a couple of years to make the idea of
commissioning forests instead of gardens popular with
clients. But it did work eventually.
"Miyawaki's method is based on a theory called potential
natural vegetation. It basically means that when a piece
of land is deprived of human intervention, a forest will
grow. The trees that grow in forests are all native
varieties. So Miyawaki's method makes selfs u s t a i n
i n g miniature forests ," said Shubhendu , explaining
the six steps that he follows while growing a forest .
He also claims that the urban forests they create grow
ten times faster than regular plantations. The saplings
have a survival rate of about 92% through this method.
"The forest grows very fast because we create a
condition that is conducive to its growth. There is
enough organic matter in the soil and it's moist most of
the time because of the leaves, husk and coco peat that
is used. The saplings are planted in very close
proximity interspaced with 'light loving' species and
'shade loving species so that both can thrive After
about 12 months, you will notice that there is no light
reaching the floor of the forest," adds Shubhendu.
The most important aspect of the exercise is to source
native species . For the plot at St Mary's School in
Dwarka, native saplings were sourced with great
difficulty as they were not available at all nurseries.
Some of the tree species that were used are amaltas,
jamun, champa, goolar, maharookh, ber, sitaphal, karonda
, chandan (sandalwood), imli (tamarind) and kadamb.
The students and volunteers who helped are excited about
the new idea. "We are expecting the saplings to be one
feet high by January. It's amazing how these saplings
have already started growing so fast," says Karan Desai,
a Swechha volunteer . Shubhendu also clarifies that
landscaping involves design and aesthetics but a forest
doesn't so the clients cannot expect a manicured set of
trees.
On how he sold the idea of urban forests, Shubhendu says
that there was space to develop it as a business idea.
"People are slowly realizing the value of forests as
opposed to monocultures. I am providing them a service
like any other service," he says. The largest forest
that his firm has created is 5,000 square metres at a
cost of Rs 30 to 40 lakh in Indore, Madhya Pradesh.
The Times of India, 7th August 2013
Rampant illegal sand mining in the Yamuna bed has forced the river to change its course by about 500 metres in Noida over a period of 15 years, the Uttar Pradesh irrigation department said on Tuesday.
“We have written dozens of letters to the respective Gautam Budh Nagar district magistrates in this regard but they failed to take any substantial action due to pressure from the sand mafia. We can only tell the district administration about the prevailing condition of the Yamuna,” said an official of the irrigation department, requesting anonymity.
The department said it had sent a letter last month as well.
“If sand mining continues the same way, the day is not far when an Uttarakhand-like disaster will take place due to the receding floodplains. We do not have powers to curb illegal mining. This is the responsibility of the district administration and the police. But instead of taking action against them, they shelter the mafia under pressure from political bosses,” said the official.
On June 16, flood in the Yamuna had damaged the river bank near Noida’s Sector-168 where the river swelled up to 207 meters after heavy rain.
The department said soil up to 20 feet had been dug up illegally in the riverbed. The sand mining mafia controls the entire 60-km stretch along the Yamuna that falls in Gautam Budh Nagar district.
“We have lodged several FIRs against criminals in the past three years, but police have not taken any action so far,” the official said.
He said illegal mining was being carried out near Kambakshpur, Tilwara, Jhuppa, Belakala, Gulawali, Shahdra, Sectors 150, 135, 168, 167 and others areas right under the nose of the administration and police officials.
Noida and Greater Noida are already low-lying areas situated on the left side of the Yamuna and the entire region is badly affected by mining activities, say experts.
“Mining has lowered Yamuna’s bed towards Noida. And the base is so shallow that a flood can create havoc if mining continued unabated. Mining has led to soil erosion in the river, which is bound to affect the ecology of the river,” said Akash Vashishth of the Hindustan Environment Action Group.
However, the district administration has said that it has
taken measures to curb illegal sand mining in the
region.
The Hindustan Times, 7th August 2013
Petitioners told the National Commission for Minorities that they were being denied the right to pray at some mosques.
The Archaeological Survey of India has launched a survey to study 31 mosques in the Capital and to assess whether there is any damage to their structure. It will submit a comprehensive report to the Union Culture Ministry over the upkeep of these mosques within the next “15 to 20 days”.
A senior ASI official said the department is making a list of mosques where prayers are offered and those where they are not. “The entire exercise of identifying these mosques, which are maintained by us, has kicked off in right earnestness. We have succeeded in studying a couple of mosques so far. Our full-scale survey will start only after the conclusion of Ramzan this Friday,” the official said.
On the encroachment in mosques, the ASI official said some people have installed air-conditioners, speakers and microphones inside the premises.
What propelled the ASI, which comes under the Union Culture Ministry’s jurisdiction, to start this massive exercise was an order by Culture Minister Chandresh Kumari Katoch.
Two months ago, National Commission for Minorities (NCM) chairperson Wajahat Habibullah met Ms. Katoch and requested her to enable namazis to pray at mosques where so far prayers have not been offered.
“This move to allow adherents of Islam to offer prayers in mosques in the Capital where no namaz had been offered has compelled the ASI to start the survey,” the official said.
According to Mr. Habibullah, the NCM has received a number of complaints from residents of various colonies across the Capital on this issue.
“We want the local population to pray in mosques where namaz is not being offered so that they can become stakeholders in the mosque’s conservation. This move will also help in decongesting popular masjids where a multitude of namazis come. Also, some of the mosques which are cash-strapped can get funds for conservation efforts.”
The NCM chairman has received a petition from people of
all walks of life that they have repeatedly been denied
permission to pray at mosques. He wants the ASI to
expeditiously submit the report. He also wants illegal
storage of goods and even goats and other animals inside
the premises of mosques to be stopped.
The Hindu, 7th August 2013
In a rare decision, the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) of the environment ministry has rejected construction Tipaimukh hydel project, as it would have caused colossal loss of pristine forest and relocation of 12 villages in north-eastern state of Manipur.
The project for generation of 1,500 MW of power would have resulted in diversion of 24,300 hectares of forest land, which is one-fifth of the total forest diverted for hydro-power projects since 1980.
“The forest land for the project is more than 100 times the average rate of diversion of forestland for hydel projects, for which approval under the Forest Conservation Act has been accorded so far,” the environment ministry’s statutory committee said.
The committee also said requirement of forestland for generation of per megawatt of power is also much higher than the average per mega watt requirement of forestland for hydel projects in the country.
The Manipur government had proposed to cut 78,16,931 trees
and 27,000 bamboo clums — almost equal to Delhi’s green
cover — to build a dam. It would have also resulted in
endangering some rare wildlife species in the area, and
the adverse impact of the project could not have been
mitigated.
The Hindu, 8th August 2013
Panic gripped the people living in the downstream areas of the 117-year-old Mullaperiyar dam in Kerala’s mountainous Idukki district as water level in the 8,000-acre reservoir kept rising rapidly on Tuesday even as heavy rain pounding the State since Sunday abated a bit after wreaking havoc and leaving 16 dead in the district alone on a single day, Monday.
Water level in the Mullaperiyar reservoir situated on Kerala’s border with Tamil Nadu rose to 134.7 feet by Tuesday evening from Monday’s level of 133.8 feet while the maximum allowable level was 136 feet. Tamil Nadu is drawing the entire water from the reservoir to irrigate its farmlands as per a 127-year-old pact which is currently under the scrutiny of the Supreme Court.
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who visited Cheeyappara in Idukki district where a massive landslide killed six persons on Monday, said the death toll due to rain disasters in the district could go up further while personnel from the NDRF and the armed forces carried out searches in the mud deposit in the ravine to see if anybody had been trapped in it.
The mud deposited on the road at Cheeyappara between Neryamangalam and Adimali on the Kochi-Dhanushkodi route was removed and traffic was partially restored by Tuesday morning. Rain abated a bit by late Tuesday morning but all the low-lying areas in Idukki district remained submerged as shutters of several dams were still open.
Reports from Munnar, famous hill resort, said that life was yet to return to normal though water had started receding in Old Munnar which had remained cut off for over 48 hours. Revenue and police authorities said that they were yet to learn about the situation in several far-flung places in the district including Idamalakkudi, the remote tribal region.
Officials said it would take several days for the situation in the district to return to normal. A landslide occurred at Kulamavu, lying adjacent to the giant Idukki hydel reservoir, on Monday night but no loss of life had been reported. However, this was no reason for relief to the people there as the reservoir had already been filled almost up to capacity.
Elsewhere in Kerala, water level in rivers showed signs of receding on Monday but low-lying areas were still under water. The runway of the Kochi International airport, closed on Monday morning following water-logging, opened on Tuesday afternoon. However, people living in low-lying areas were not feeling relieved due to forecast of heavy rains till Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Chief Minister, who said that the situation could deteriorate further if the rain continued, told an all-party meeting that primary warning had already been sounded to the people living in the downstream reaches of the 117-year-old surki concrete dam at Mullaperiyar which had already developed cracks and leaks at many spots.
The flow of water into the Mullaperiyar reservoir on Tuesday was put at 4,000 cubic feet per second but Tamil Nadu was unable to draw more than 1,400 cubic feet a second. “At this rate, it may not take many hours for the water level to reach the maximum level mark of 136 feet,” said a top official of the Kerala Water Resources Department.
When water in the Mullaperiyar reservoir rises above the 136-feet level, it will start flowing through the shutters to river Periyar to rush to the Idukki hydel reservoir in which water was presently staying at just 14 feet below the maximum capacity level of 2,408.5 feet.
“This dam is a curse on us. We are condemned to live in
its shadow. We don’t know whether it may break but those
who know tell us it won’t hold for long,” said Kuriechen,
a 52-year-old settler farmer living in Vallakkadavu, a
small town situated below the Mullaperiyar dam. “As the
water level in the dam rises by a millimeter our hearts
tend to miss a beat,” he said.
The Pioneer, 8th August 2013
Through its varied initiatives, Dastkar has been trying to improve the economic status of traditional craftspeople across the country. Now it has decided to expand its benevolence by focusing on marginalised craftspersons of South Asia at its 10-day-long bazaar at Nature Bazaar in Andheria More in Delhi beginning August 23.
“Dastkar South Asian Bazaar” will showcase the cultural
diversity of crafts manufactured in South Asian
countries - Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal and Bhutan.
According to Dastkar founder Laila Tyabji, the event
will focus on South Asian countries for the first time.
Ms. Tyabji said craft is unique to Asian countries as
they centuries-old common cultural heritage of
extraordinary weaving, embroidery, block printing,
leather and metal work, wood carving, basketry, and
terracotta traditions.
“However, even in our country, there is diversity in crafts produced in different States and districts. Every State specialises in its unique craft which needs to be patronised.”
She is keeping her fingers crossed hoping that the event proceeds and concludes without hiccups. Even though the border skirmish has cast a shadow over the peace initiative, the peacenik is confident that the bazaar will be a success.
“We need to go ahead and promote such people-to-people contact. This is an ideal venue as Pakistani and Afghani craftspersons will interact with Indian consumers and most importantly rub shoulders with their Indian counterparts, who like them earn their livelihood through traditional skills and hard work.”
Ms. Tyabji said 40 artisans will participate from the host
country and an equal number from the South Asian
nations. “The Indian craftspersons will include national
awardees, but this is not the criteria for selection. We
also must remember that no product is made by only one
artisan but manufactured by the whole community as the
product passes through different stages before it enters
the market.” Organised by the Dastkar South Asian Bazaar
in association with Delhi Tourism, the event will be a
celebration of the skills and traditions of the
craftspersons. The products on display will include
Pakistani ajrakh block prints and leatherwork,
phulkari from Punjab and Barmer, indigo dying from
Bangladesh and intricate weaving of Bhutan.
The Hindu, 9th August 2013
Taking cognisance of a Hindustan Times report, the National Green Tribunal on Thursday ordered government agencies to cure the trees they had damaged while removing concrete from around their trunks.
The tribunal ruled that those found causing such damage again will have to pay the fine from their pockets.
HT on Thursday had reported how civic and land-owning were using earth-moving machines – normally used for heavy-duty demolition – for digging. In the process, they damaged trunks and roots, causing trees to tilt.
NGT chairperson justice Swatanter Kumar said, “Those operating machines for de-concretisation shall ensure that no damage is caused to the trees… If there is any further damage… those operating such machines and executive engineers concerned would pay the fine personally.”
The vice-chairman of Delhi Development Authority (DDA) will be responsible for coordinating with all other land-owning agencies and ensuring no trees are damaged in future when concrete is removed from around their trunks.
HT’s report “Tree-saving exercise has an opposite effect” had highlighted how JCB scoops had damaged many trees in RK Puram Sector 1 on August 1.
“The idea was to save trees and not cause more damage,”
said tree enthusiast RL Mahunta.
The Hindustan Times, 9th August 2013
Robert Swan, the first man to walk on both poles, will on Saturday launch a renewable energy charged third pole education base (E-Base) in Ladakh, where a cloudburst had washed away several villages in 2011.
It will be the third such base in the world after the first one in Antarctic and second one coming up in the Pench tiger reserve in Central India. The fourth one will come up at the Arctic next year, Swan told Hindustan Times.
Mahabodhi, a village in Ladakh, was devastated in a 2011 cloud burst. The base will act as a bridge between Ladakhi people and the outside world as it has internet facility and a digital library running on sustainable ecology.
The base in Ladakh was an idea of four young professionals who quit their lucrative corporate jobs to do something different.
"It has taken us almost a year to build the concept to reality," said Paras Loomba, who quit his posh job to take up something which is close to his heart - trekking in Himalayas. Others, his friends, also chipped in to do something different.
Ladakh was selected as it is far away from modern knowledge tools and is a place where people still live in ecologically sustainable manner. Despite that, the 2011 cloudburst devastated the area.
"We want to educate locals through an education base about adverse impacts of climate change from across the world and to test renewable options in harsh climatic conditions," Swan, who set up first E-Base in the Antarctic.
Setting up of the E-Base would also result in launch of
11-day Great Himalayan Expedition. Groups from six
continents including cycle for water team, which
travelled 30,000kms from Alaska in United States to
Antarctica to raise awareness about global water crises,
are participating in the expedition, which includes trek
and exploring the roof of the world.
The Hindustan Times, 10th August 2013
Mandu, the capital of the ancient Malwa region, in the
heart of India, with an astounding 48 small and large
monuments, remains largely unknown to the rest of the
world. Mandu, with many ‘gems’ located in its midst, is
in Dhar district, western Madhya Pradesh. Some of the
ones that glitter to this day are described here.
Rani Roopmati’s Pavilion:
Legend has it that Baz Bahadur, the last Sultan of Malwa
(1555-1562 A.D), who was once out hunting, was so
awestruck by the beauty and singing prowess of a
shepherdess, Roopmati, that he urged her to marry him.
Roopmati had taken a vow of abstinence from food until
she could see the River Narmada. She agreed to marry Baz
on the condition that a pavilion be built on a hilltop
overlooking the Nimar valley and the Narmada. This
pavilion offers a glorious view of both the valley and
river: it’s perhaps the jewel in Mandu’s crown.
Jami Mosque:
The construction of this mosque was started by Sultan
Hoshang Shah Ghori and completed by Mahmud Shah Khilji
in 1454 AD. Being one of the largest mosques in India,
the building style was modelled upon a grand mosque in
Damascus. Lovely jaali work, painted enamel and a fine
panorama of domes are its most noteworthy features.
Jahaz Mahal:
Built during the reign of Mahmud Shah Khilji (1436-1469)
and surrounded by two artificial lakes, Munj Talao on
the left and Kapoor Talao to the right, this palace
looks like it is a ship floating on water — hence, the
name ‘Jahaz Mahal’, or marine palace.
The lakes served a dual purpose: they look spectacular
from the palace and they were also an integral part of
an intricate air cooling system for the premises
throughout the year. Jahaz Mahal is definitely one of
the best surviving examples of innovative Mughal
architecture in India, having been extolled even by the
great Mughal Emperor Jehangir for its romantic ambience.
He has written in his memoir of the wonderful time he
spent there with his beloved wife, Nur Jahan, during a
trip.
Among other attractions worth visiting Mandu for are:
Hindola Mahal, Baz Bahadur’s Palace, Rewa Kund, Hoshang
Shah’s Tomb and Neelkanth Mahal.
One can also plan an excursion to the nearby town of
Maheshwar and see the immensely popular Shiva Temple and
Royal Palace of the Holkars on the banks of the River
Narmada.
Mandu is a must-visit for its history, easy
accessibility and great food. Indore is the nearest
airport and the railway station is about 90 km away from
Mandu and is well connected to all the metros and state
capitals.
The writer is a travel enthusiast
The Deccan Herald, 11th August 2013
Rocks are protected as a natural heritage only in
Hyderabad
“Rocks are not just barren and lifeless monoliths with
only an aesthetic or sentimental value, but a plethora
of life forms,” said Siraj Taher, former president of
Birdwatcher’s Society of Andhra Pradesh.
The picturesque rocky hillocks of Hyderabad and the
surrounding enviro¬ns have been subjected to intense
urbanisation, damaging the environment of the living
biota and non-living rocks as they have inter-related
biodiversity sustena¬nce systems. Banjara and Jubilee
Hills are the latest testimony to urbanisation activity
that affected the equilibrium in these surrounding
areas.
Although the government is taking care of some monuments
of historical importance, the adjoining areas have been
subjected to severe anthropogenic activities, including
quarrying. A number of locations call for attention of
the planners of the urban development in their
conservation and protection programmes in Hyderabad.
The rock formations in Hyderabad come in many different
shapes and sizes. While a heavy rock stands precariously
over a smaller football-sized boulder, the other looks
like a puppy and yet another looks like a burger with
many layers. These granite rocks of the Deccan Plateau,
in which Hyderabad is a part, are amongst the oldest in
the world.
Geologists date these rocks to 2,500 million years back.
That is the time when the earth’s crust solidified.
Molten magma then pushed upwards from the interior and
hardened under the crust into domes and sheets of
granite.
Horizontal and vertical cracks developed. When, slowly,
the top layers of the crust eroded, and these very hard
granites were expo¬sed, they weathered over millions of
years into their present forms. This happened along
their horizontal and vertical cracks during “onion peel
weathering” (or spheroidal weathering), rounding the
stones and leading to bizarre formations.
In all, 25 different rocks and rock formations in and
around the City of Nizams are now protected under the
heritage tag of the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development
Authority, which seeks a report from an NGO “Society to
Save Rocks,” a group of around 300 artists,
photographers and environmentalists determined to save
the rocks.
The society aims to preserve and protect the spectacular
ancient granite formations of the Deccan Plateau.
“We try to impress upon people and authorities that one
need not destroy rocks for development but can live with
them,” says society secretary Frauke Quader. The
society, formed in 1992, succeeded in impressing upon
landowners, developers and the government that beautiful
granite boulders could be preserved in houses, gardens,
colonies and park areas.
Hillocks around Durgam Cheruvu, a lake situated between
Jubilee Hills and Hitec city, Rock Park Hillock on Old
Bombay Road, near Gachibowli; Bear’s Nose, a formation
behind Cyber Tower, Hitec City and Pathar Dil Rock,
Gachibowli are among the 25 Heritage rocks protected by
the government.
A few rocks were saved from destruction by some
concerned citizens by building their houses, hotels and
guest houses around these rocks. Senior IAS officer
Narendra Luther’s Wall of Rock in his house in Banjara
Hills and the magnifice¬nt atrium of Taj Deccan hotel
come under this category. Mahakali Temple in Golco¬nda
Fort and Pahadi Sheriff Darga are a few places of
worship built in the rocks.
“The criterion of selection is that they should not be
artificially carved. Should have aesthetic and balanced
look,” Quader says. The society saved Fakruddingutta, a
wonderful rock formation from going to a SEZ, by
objecting to the prop¬osal. “Then came the proposal for
construction of a colony for IAS officers. Due to our
fight they agreed to shift to another place. We have
proposed a rock park, a breathing space for the common
man at the hillock,” she added.
“On my very first visit to the site, the rocks beckoned
me to dialogue with them. I requested my clients to
acquire more land to make the rocks an integral part of
the design. Making the rocks the focal point was my way
of paying homage to the million-year-old natural
heritage,” says Shirish R Beri, architect who desig¬ned
LaCONES, an annexe of CCMB set up by Government of India
at Attapur.
The AP government has taken the first step by including
rock areas in Regulation No 13 of the Hyderabad Urban
Development Authority (HUDA) for the protection of
Heritage Buildings and Precincts. Hyderabad is the only
city in India where rocks are protected as a
natural heritage. HMDA, the municipal corporation and
the Tourism Department have already started developing
rock gardens in the city. The first nine formations
proposed by the society in 1997 are now protected under
Regulation 13 of the Hyderabad Urban Development
Authority Zoning Regulations 1981.
The friends of rocks organise “Rock Walks” to create
awareness that rocks are fun to be around. These walks
are treks to different rocky areas in and around
Hyderabad. The walks are on the third Sunday of every
month.
The Deccan Herald, 11th august 20
An ancient city invaded by dynasties from around the
world, Casablanca is a place where tradition and
modernity co-exist in a beautiful union that is
reflected in its culture and architecture, writes
Vaasanti Sundaram.
It is the day of Id and the pretty young woman seated
next to me travelling from Doha to Casablanca is deep in
her endless prayers, a black veil covering her bent
head. I gather from her later to my astonishment that
she is an air hostess in the same airlines, and is on
her way to Casablanca on a holiday to be with her family
for Id.
When the plane touches Casablanca, Meryam, who speaks
excellent English and fluent French smiles and says,
“Welcome to Casablanca. It is a beautiful city.”
It may not be as exotic as other Moroccan cities, but it
is the country’s economic and cultural capital. It
represents Morocco on the move while not forgetting its
roots. Casablanca is where the money is being made —
where the industry is, where art galleries show the best
contemporary art, and where fashion designers have a
window on the world.
All young people want to move to Casablanca desiring to
make their future.
Well, wasn’t it also notorious as a pirate lair so often
depicted in Hollywood movies? “Not anymore, it is now
looking towards its future, showing off its wealth and
achievements. Come see it for yourself. And do not miss
Hassan II Mosque,” she adds, smiling.
Surviving invasions
Considering its turbulent history, it is amazing how
Casablanca — a name given by the Spanish, meaning ‘white
house’, has retained its unique traditional
characteristic at once independent and also
synchronising with modernity. With its skyscrapers,
broad thoroughfares, beautiful avenues, wide boulevards,
well-kept public parks, fountains and stunning colonial
architecture, Casablanca resonates a charming narrative
of its journey towards the 21st century Morocco.
The assimilation of various cultures was inevitable, as
the pages of history tell us that Casablanca was under
the Portuguese and Spanish alternately, during the 16th
and 17th centuries. The Europeans abandoned the area in
1755 when there was a terrible earthquake. Then the
Arabs arrived and Casablanca was reconstructed and came
under the sultanate of Mohammed ben Abdulla.
It grew fast as an important port, attracting consuls
from England, Spain and France. A modern port on the
Atlantic was constructed and then it became a base for
French penetration in Morocco. The massacre of nine port
workers in 1907, and the blockade of the French
consulate provided the pretext for military intervention
by the French. Morocco came under the French
protectorate when the sultan accepted defeat.
Nonetheless, Casablanca saw rapid progress under the
French, as an industrial town and principal port of
Morocco, and still attracts droves of the rural poor
dreaming of a better lifestyle. Morocco gained
independence in 1956, but French is still in vogue and
our guide says that those who know French have a better
opportunity in the job market.
With a population of more than three million today,
Casablanca reflects the cosmopolitan nature of the
people; more open to western ways than other towns of
the Arab world. You can see that in their dress, and in
the way men and women hang out together in restaurants
and beaches. It is the time of Id, the month-long
penance is over and now the mood is for festivity.
We are all geared up to visit Casablanca’s modernist
landmark, Hassan II Mosque, but to our disappointment,
we are informed that since it is Id, the mosque is open
only to the locals and closed for visitors. And yet, a
visit instead to the medina, the old city, is an
excitingly vibrant experience.
Situated in the vicinity of the port, which surrounds
the ramparts, the architecture of its houses and the
labyrinth of lanes offer an interesting contrast with
the modern part of the city. Life is a celebration,
buzzing with activity; vendors, hawkers spreading their
colourful wares along the roadside shops; carpets from
Rabat, embroidery from Fez and Azemour; pottery from
Safid; woodwork and silver from Tatouan and Tangiers.
Morrocan lads seeing us cry out in mirth, “Shah Rukh
Khan! Amitabh Bachchan!”
The next day, it is pouring from morning, but we have to
keep our date with the Hasan II Mosque. Perhaps King
Hasan wished to compensate for the absence of historical
monuments in Casablanca .
The mosque was his brainchild and crowning achievement
built to commemorate his 60th birthday and opened in
1993, giving Casablanca the heart and landmark it so
sorely missed. Wading through the wet slippery marble
floors that seemed to stretch for miles during incessant
rains was no joke. But once you are lucky to cross over
to the dry interior, you are in for a stunning
spectacle. You are already aware of the astonishing
structural details.
Architectural magnificence
The mosque rises above the ocean on a rocky outcrop
reclaimed from the sea; taking literally the verse from
the Quran that states that God’s throne was built upon
water. The mosque was designed by the French architect
Michel Pinseau, and is topped by a soaring
210-metre-tall minaret, which shines a laser beam
towards Mecca in the night. In addition to the high-tech
call to prayer, the mosque also has a centrally-heated
floor, electrical doors, a retractable roof and a
section of glass flooring allowing the faithful to see
the Atlantic washing the mosque below.
It is absolutely amazing. As you enter, it is the vast
size of the prayer hall (enough to hold 25,000
worshippers at a time) and elaborate decoration that is
most striking. And, hold on, a further 80,000 devotees
can be accommodated in the courtyards and squares around
the mosque. We are told that over 6,000 traditional
artisans worked over the building during the course of
its construction.
The project cost more than half a billion dollars and
was paid for largely by public subscription. The guide
is candid enough to admit that though most Moroccans are
proud of the magnificent structure, there is a feeling
among some that the money could have been better spent.
There is still some resentment among the slum dwellers
who were made to evacuate the place without compensation
when the construction began.
But as you wander around the magnificent ornate arches
and columns and are awestruck by the very idea of the
Atlantic under the glass floor, nothing else remains in
your memory. It is something more than mere grandeur.
“You will not find such a mosque anywhere in the world,”
said Meryam, before disappearing in the crowd with her
head scarf well in place. “It is like a bridge between
the old and the new.”That, in essence, is indeed what
Casablanca and Meryam so charmingly personify.
The Deccan Herald, 11th August 2013
The landlocked state of Chhattisgarh, carved out of
Madhya Pradesh, has a rich cultural heritage of the
adivasis who form a majority of the population of the
Bastar district. A sojourn in the district gives a
glimpse into the rich culture of tribals.
Nature has showered its blessings on this district with
rivers, waterfalls, mountains and forests. What better
way to explore the district than by a visit to the
spectacular Chitrakoot Falls where River Indravati leaps
96 feet down a horseshoe-shaped cliff. Because of the
shape of the falls, it is known as the Niagara of
Chhattisgarh, though it is much smaller in terms of
volume.
Another must-visit place is the Kanger National Park.
Kanger river snakes through the park and cascades into a
waterfall known as the Thirathgarh Falls where the water
rushes forth like a silvery sheet over the rocks.
A vantage point for viewing is the watchtower nearby
that gives a spectacular view of the entire falls as
well as the dense forests that extend for miles over the
valley and the hills. The park also has nature trails
and a butterfly zone. Other attractions in the park are
the Kutumsar and Kailash caves, which have beautiful
displays of stalactites and stalagmites. The park is a
rich biosphere reserve and has a spectacular collection
of flora and fauna.
Apart from the beautiful landscapes, Bastar is also home
to some temples. Ma Danteswari Temple in Dantewadi
receives a steady flow of devotees. Those who cherish
adivasi culture should visit Bastar during Dussehra when
all the deities from the villages congregate at the
temple of Danteswari in Dantewadi. Dussehra is primarily
for the worship of Ma Danteswari.
Apart from this major festival, adivasi calendar is full
of festivals. Most important of these tribes include
Bhatra, Madia, Mundas, Muria, Nahar and so on. They all
lead a pastoral life with agriculture, fishing, hunting
and handicraft as their primary occupations. Tribal art
emphasises on woodcraft, weaving, bell metal art and
wrought iron handicraft. Display of tribal art on stone
pillars can be seen on the roadside.
Located close by is the iron-ore mining centre of
Kirandul, where the ore is mined from the hills and
transported by wagons to the port city of Viaskhapatnam.
The train journey from Kirandul to Visakhapatnam is a
memorable one with 50 tunnels to be negotiated and with
a view of the Eastern Ghats.
The Deccan Herald, 11th August 2013
The number of tourists, both domestic and international,
heading for the northeast has gone up dramatically in
the past year. Manipur, Tripura andNagaland have notched
20%-29% more foreign tourist arrivals while Arunachal
Pradesh and Nagaland are celebrating 36%-41% increase in
domestic travellers.
Till recently, these states, beautiful and unexplored as
they were, rated low on tourist options. Concerned about
security issues, the need for permits and limited flight
options, travellers preferred to pick more tourist savvy
destinations like Goa and Kerala. But effective
initiatives by local governments, travel companies and
airlines have changed all that.
Today, there are some attractive travel packages to the
area in the market. The government has eased, over the
last few years, the protected area permit (PAP) that was
required of foreign tourists heading for Manipur,
Nagaland and Mizoram. All states show an impressive rise
in the inflow of travellers. Manipur and Tripura
registered a 39% increase in foreign tourists inflow
last year while Nagaland saw a whopping 41% rise in the
number of domestic travellers. The tourism industry
traces the imbalance between the figures for the seven
northeastern states to the effectiveness of promotional
drives.
Yatra.com president Sharat Dhall attributes this trend
to the fact that the northeast is still virgin territory
for most travellers. There is also the popular
perception that these destinations are now safer and
more affordable as well. "The north-eastern states may
be sparse on luxury accommodation but they offer a lot
of budget accommodation, which is an important draw,"
says Dhall.
According to an industry watcher government sponsored
concessions — leave travel allowance (LTA) for those
travelling to the northeast for example — has
contributed to the growing number of domestic travellers
in the region. Government officials are entitled to
flight tickets if they travel to the NE, J&K and
Andamans & Nicobar Islands.
A tourism ministry official added that cultural
festivals and events in the northeast are pulling a lot
of foreign and Indian travellers. "The Hornbill Festival
in Nagaland is very popular and draws people from across
the country and overseas. Similarly the northeast states
are known for western music festivals and events," says
Dhall.
The Times of India, 11th August 2013
With the process of preparing heritage bylaws taking longer than anticipated, the National Monuments Authority is still waiting to hear from the culture ministry to notify more organizations as expert heritage bodies. Senior officials have sought clarifications from some organizations and asked them to respond at the earliest so they can push the proposal forward.
A senior official said: "We need to first clarify whether these organizations can be notified under the ASI Act or not. For this, we have asked organizations to send details on where they are registered and simultaneously wait to hear from the ministry on whether they can be registered as expert bodies under the Act.''
The ASI has invited organizations who wanted to be
involved in the preparation of heritage bylaws and have
already identified some organizations like School of
Planning and Architecture, Reach Foundation, Aga Khan
Trust for Culture and Indian Archaeological Society.
At present, only Intach has been notified in the Act as
an expert body. The Act says Intach be involved in
framing heritage bylaws, but it also has a provision to
involve more such expert agencies. There are hundreds of
centrally-protected monuments and it might become a
mammoth task for Intach alone," said a senior official.
The Times of India, 11th August 2013
Conservation of early Mughal-era monument Nila Gumbad has
hit a wall withNorthern Railway using part of the
earmarked land to store material. While work inside the
monument continues, that on the exterior settings has
been stopped till the land is cleared. ASI
director-general Praveen Srivastava has written to the
railways.
The project is being undertaken by Aga Khan Trust for
Culture (AKTC) with co-funding from the Sir Dorabji Tata
Trust. Officials said the railways continued to dump
material at the site of the monument owned by ASI, so
the exterior settings cannot be worked upon. "Removal of
of pink plaster layers, applied here as recently as
2003, has revealed original ornamental patterns that are
being carefully restored by art conservators trained
during the Humayun's tomb conservation,'' said an AKTC
official.
The Nila Gumbad is named after the turquoise blue tiles
used by the Mughal builders to cover the dome. Many of
the tiles have fallen due to vibrations caused by
trains. As part of the project, efforts will be made to
insulate the monument from the jerks caused by poorly
maintained railway tracks. "The restoration will make
sense only if the road bifurcating Nila Gumbad from
Humayun's tomb is shifted, as agreed upon by the
railways in a 2010 MoU with the ASI. This will allow
millions of annual visitors at the tomb to visit this
marvel and to avoid sanctions from Unesco,which were
imposed on the Hampi world heritage site over a bridge
bifurcating the site,'' said an official.
Srivastava wrote to the DRM northern railways requesting
that a 2010 agreement be adhered to and AKTC be allowed
to continue works as planned. In response, say ASI
sources, the railways have requested recently re-built
enclosure walls be demolished. ``This while the railways
have built ugly, tall concrete fencing within the
prohibitied zone of Humayun's tomb without any
permissions,'' said officials. "The determined effort of
the Railways to continue to vandalize a world heritage
site is shocking. Especially since in lieu of the
proposed development, alternate structures have already
been built for the railways,'' said project director,
AKTC Ratish Nanda.
Conservationists are hoping the issue is resolved soon.
With the blue tiles already being prepared in kilns at
Humayun's tomb, Nila Gumbad will hopefully soon stand
proud once again in all it's Mughal grandeur, claimed
ASI officials.
The Times of India, 12th August 2013
When even the pauper princes of the late Mughal era were forced to depend on charity, how can one blame the common beggar who relied on his wits, asks R.V. SMITH
Jasjeet Singh is dead. He used to leave the MIG colony, where he resided, early in the morning with a briefcase to give the impression that he was going to office. But the chap just went and stood at various bus stops to “seek the fare home,” on the pretext of having lost his wallet, from gullible commuters before walking away to some gurudwara where food was being served free at the langar. Later he would visit chhole-bhature shops at which he got a plate out of charity. One often wondered how a slim man like him could be eating all the time without gaining weight. Belonging to a good family, it was hard to understand his fixation. Perhaps he had lost his job and, staying with a terminally ill old father as a bachelor and no one else to call his own, he had got a bit unhinged, obsessed only with fulfilling his basic needs.
One was reminded of Abul Fazl, Akbar’s illustrious courtier, one of the biggest eaters in history. It is said that he had a hundred maunds of khichri (some, more realistically, say 100 seers) cooked every day at a langar where anybody could walk in and have his fill. Abdul Fazl, of course ate in his mahal. Starting with Chhota Hazari, he would have his breakfast after an hour or so and then three hours later lunch, preceded by some tiffin. After a nap, he would get up and have snacks. In the evening he had some more refreshments, followed by a hearty dinner. At night when he slept, he had two utensils filled with biryani or pulao kept on either side of the bed, from which he helped himself generously whenever he woke up, before falling asleep again. Seeing his wide girth in the paintings of those days, one is convinced that he must have had an enormous appetite.
The imperial Romans were also known to eat whenever their nightly slumber was disturbed. On the side of their couch they had fruit and other savouries, like roast chicken and grilled meat, kept in trays and, while still lying down, ate and got up again to eat. In course of time they became so slothful and obese that they were unfit for military service and died the death of a glutton. No wonder when Christianity came to Rome it declared gluttony as one of the Seven Deadly Sins, along with sloth. Abul Fazl, however, did not lose his poise as statesman-cum-general and intellectual par excellence who helped Akbar to govern a wide kingdom, along with the other eight of the ‘Nine Jewels’ — including his father, Sheikh Mubarak, and brother, Faizi.
But coming back to the likes of Jasjeet Singh (name changed) of our own age, it needs to be pointed out that he was not alone in wangling free meals. There was Parak-ka-Lumboo, a tall, thin man who lived near a park and hence got his nickname. In the morning he would start from home, wearing a lungi and kurta, to meet friends who would share information with him about the weddings or other parties being held in the Walled City. A nawabzada once confessed that on a number of occasions he had walked into some party or the other when delayed by a long evening at the Roshanara Club. He knew that his wife and mother would get annoyed if he went home and woke them and the servants up to have dinner served. Since he was always well dressed and had a good personality, no one questioned his presence, thinking that he must have been invited by someone or the other. For Parak-ka-Lumboo and his friend, Aziz, it was a bit difficult at times since they were not well-dressed. But in such cases they would pretend to be the servers or kitchen staff, though once or twice they were beaten up and thrown out as trespassers. That was at Punjabi weddings, but Jasjeet Singh merged in that sort of ambience very well, and also at Hindu functions. As for the Muslim and Christian ones, he attracted attention as a curiosity who had to be willy-nilly treated with courtesy.
Going back into history, when the Mughal Empire was in its
twilight years, the hungry children of the women living
in Sohagpura (widows’ quarters in the Red Fort) were
often at the mercy of Bahadur Shah Zafar’s eldest son,
Mirza Fakru, nicknamed Mirza Chappati since he was in
charge of distributing food to the Fort’s inmates. But
more often than not, the dissatisfied pauper princes (salatin)
would escape to Chandni Chowk or the Jama Masjid area to
eat at the dhabas and then fly kites along with the
local urchins, as Bidar Bakht did even after Ghulam
Qadir Rohilla had blinded Shah Alam and appointed him as
his successor. When his absence was discovered, Qadir
ousted him with a box on the ear. Incidentally,
Delhiwallahs passing by the Red Fort after Nadir Shah’s
1739 invasion used to throw bread from the riverside to
appease the hungry princesses, whose cries were recorded
by the poet Mir Taqi Mir. So can one castigate poor,
eventually orphaned, Jasjeet Singh who fell ill and
probably died of hunger in his untidy room while
everybody else was enjoying the balmy sleep of a Sawan
night?
The Hindu, 12th August 2013
A portion of the building housing the 119-year-old Bengali
Club collapsed on Satuday night. The building, adjacent
to Kashmere Gate, was being repaired when a section of
the first floor gave way around 8.30pm.
According to the members of Bengali Club, which is
situated on the first floor, they did not receive any
intimation from the owner on the repair work. "The
construction is being carried out illegally, threatening
the safety of not only our part of the building but also
all other portions, besides putting everybody in it at
risk," said Samarendra Bose, the arts and cultural
director of the club.
The owner of the building, Kamal Kant, claimed that all
necessary clearances had been obtained before starting
the work.
"We got the possession of the property from the tenants
only six months ago. It was in a bad shape. That is why
we are getting it repaired and we did warn every member
of the club well in advance," said Kant.
The Times of India, 12th August 2013
Over 100 fully-grown trees along the 25-feet high wall on the eastern side of the Taj Mahal not only threaten to cause structural damages but also pose security threat to the monument of love.
This input provided recently by the UP Government in the aftermath of the bomb blast in Bodh Gaya in Bihar has pushed panic button in Archeological Survey of India (ASI), which is likely to seek the permission of the Supreme Court to bring down the trees ‘endangering’ the UNESCO listed monument.
Sources said that the trees have grown up to the height of the 25-feet of the wall near the Mehman Khana (guesthouse to the east of the mausoleum) while some have come up on the edge of the brick pavements of the medieval age at the site with their roots spread out, causing possible structural damage to the foundation of the monument.
“The alluvial soil of Yamuna River is fertile for the trees which are growing at a rapid pace. While just the structural threats due to them were being assessed, the observation by a review meeting by the UP Government on the security aspect has alarmed the authorities,” said the sources.
The officials at the meeting which is held every three months to review the security of the monument noted that these Eucalyptus (Safeda) and Papri trees offers an easy access to the trespassers to the Taj.
With the State Forest Department expressing its inability to take action in the matter in view of a PIL already filed in the Supreme Court in another matter, the ASI has decided to move ahead to seek permission to fell trees.
The sources said that the ASI has already chalked out plans to transplant the felled trees at a nearby land acquired by it for the residential purpose for the personnel from Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) which guard the innermost security rings around the monument. The meeting of the security committee took place after two-three days of the bomb blast in Bodh Gaya.
Soon after the blast, barricading came up at the three gates and police and PAC jawans were deployed all over Mehtab Bagh behind the Taj which provides an easy access to the monument. The State Government has also sanctioned 300 more police personnel exclusively for the security of the Taj. The authorities have issued orders for round the clock power supply around the Taj to ensure uninterrupted functioning of electronic gadgets forming the part of security blanket.
Police and PAC jawans have been deployed at all strategic
points in these locations and visitors are being
screened through hand-held (HHMD) and door-frame metal
detectors (DFMD) on the Taj’s premises by CISF
contingent.
The Hindustan Times, 12th August 2013
A part of the 88-year-old Bengali Club — a heritage building — located next to the Kashmere Gate wall on Boulevard Road collapsed on Saturday night.
No one was injured in the incident but the collapse proved right the fears of club members who had been running to various authorities to get the rickety structure renovated.
“The Lieutenant-Governor’s office has already sanctioned funds for the renovation and restoration work of the building. Why is Delhi Development Authority (DDA) not releasing any funds?” questioned SP Mitra, president of the club. He said they were promised that the renovation would take place in three phases.
The club was founded in 1925 and is a heritage institution. It is a part of the gazette notification listing 746 heritage buildings and structures under the jurisdiction of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).
The collapsed part of the building was home to the building’s caretaker, Pradeep Sen, and his family of five. His mother Archana Sen is relieved that none of her family members were hurt during the incident.
“Sometime between 8.30 and 9 pm, we felt the floor of the
building was shaking. We immediately rushed out and
within five minutes, my house collapsed. We have lost
all our household belongings, including a refrigerator,
two television sets and two coolers,” said Sen.
The club’s original entrance has been blocked due to the
collapse. A second entry to the premises has also
started developing cracks. The verandah of the club has
also developed several cracks. There are constant
complaints about leakage from the roof, making it
difficult for the club to function.
“Due to such difficult conditions we have stopped our cultural activities for the last three years or so,” said Samarendra Bose, senior member of the club.
AGK Menon, convenor of the Delhi chapter of Indian National Trust for Arts and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), said that they had already submitted their observations to DDA. “We cannot take any action unless we are directed by DDA. We are waiting for further instructions by them,” he said.
Despite repeated attempts, DDA officials could not be
contacted for a comment.
The Hindustan Times, 12th August 2013
The flavours of Rajasthan are simply irresistible. Be it its tasty cuisine, the sandy dessert-dunes, ethnic culture, colourful clothes, folk art and music or the Ranthambore National Park which is a major wildlife tourist attraction with its famous tiger reserve — this eastern province never lets down its periodic visitors trickling in its fold. Rather, it deftly paints a kaleidoscopic canvas from where it isn’t easy to take an awestruck gazer’s eyes off.
Another such rare, interesting gem from its hidden treasure-trove rears its head out in the name of mashak, which is a traditional musical instrument made of complete goat-hide. The air-chamber of the device is fully formed of a goat’s body with the animal-skin and the limbs shaping up the quaint blowing instrument. One of the openings in the leather-pouch is fitted with a short piece of bamboo with a valve through which the wind is blown in. Another opening is provided with two bamboo pipes with reeds. One of these pipes works as a drone while the other with six holes on one side, precisely on the lower end, is applied to generate the harmonious tunes. By the description, it is well-understood that mashak basically functions as a wind-instrument. The player first blows air into the chamber and the inflated goat-skin is kept under one arm to exert a light amount of pressure so that the air is expelled out of the reed-pipes. Incidentally, after blowing and inflating the bag, the player gets an interval to sing. It’s painstaking and requires a long enough time-span to hold the breath. Historically, it can be traced that the Naths and Jogis in Alwar, Bharatpur and Sawai Madhopur districts of Rajasthan, where the Ranthambore sanctuary is located, play the mashak to produce a recital of ritualistic and devotional music. While Khanjari (tambourine) with its tinkling sound of bells comes as an accompanying instrument to the mashak.
Other than creating music, mashak can double up both as a water-carrier or an air-container for purposes of drinking as well as forming a floating support to cross rivers, also known as bhishti. In fact, mashak is a Persian word, meaning a skin bag. 60-year-old mashak instrumentalist Sugannathji travelled to Kolkata from Ajmer after enthralling a select audience in Agra. “We boarded the train and reached here last evening. We have been invited as a guest performer and our entire tour is being sponsored by event organisers,” proudly shares the moustachioed man sporting a dab of vermilion tilak on his forehead and carrying a chimta in his hand. “You know, what I play today, was actually played by Meerabai, centuries ago,” he says beamingly. To the uninitiated, Meerabai was a Hindu mystical princess and a devotee of Lord Krishna from Rajasthan. She was one of the most significant saintly figures of the Vaishnava cult of the Bhakti movement.
With his son-in-law Pratapnathji, who’s a skilled mashak player-cum-singer and a teenage grandson Semandar Yogi, effortlessly shaking the Khanjari in tow, the Rajasthani old man seems to be in great mood to showcase his regional craft and music. “Yeh kala bahut puraani hai. (This is an eons-old craft.) Yeh satyayug se chala aa raha hai, jab Bhagwan Ramji iss dharti par jiveet the. (It has been in practice since the era of Satyayug during the reign of Rama, the king of Ayodhya),” informs Pratapnathji, resting a while in between his non-stop renditions. He confidently confirms to play the mashak for five hours at a stretch without a break. The lean figure standing in one corner of a crowded book-launch event at Kolkata’s ICCR, continues to play and sing, despite the chatter of people, clicking of the cameras and the clinking of crockery in a high-tea session. The world flows by in its own rhythm, while the mashak player oblivious of its constant buzz and noise, perpetually blows his pipe and renders his bhajans in between. When this correspondent requests for a brief conversation, he politely obliges. Taking a few moments’ respite from his music, he sits down to talk. Even if the convention of playing mashak is old enough to call it a vintage instrument, yet the Rajasthani visitors ascertain its prevalence as an important feature in every elaborate soiree. “We get regular programmes and tour around frequently,” volunteers Sugannathji. His eyes have turned turbid with age but his spirit hasn’t rusted yet. Attending recurrent public functions and ceremonial dos in aristocratic households, plus repeatedly responding to encores forwarded by an assembly of avid listeners and discreet patrons keep their calendar busy all the year. “Yeh kala viraasat mein humko mila hai. Dada, pardada bhi yehi karte the. Chaar pidhiyon se chali aa rahi hai. (This craft is a familial legacy handed down to us by our forefathers. We are the fourth-generation descendants to have embraced this unique craft and are also teaching our children to keep the art alive and kicking forever),” reveals Pratapnathji. Although many pristine art and crafts from the past have ebbed away in time, owing to social apathy, lack of archiving and pervasive promotion, the current tribe of few and far between mashak players reflects otherwise. “It isn’t true that we are fading into a forsaken zone. I can still vouch for the fact that even today’s youngsters are receptive to our community music and enjoy its indigenous strains. Aajke naujawano ko bhi yeh lok sangeet behad pasand hai. Unko bhi hamari kala lubhaati hai. We are witness to their regalement,” insists the hoary-haired patriarch, Sugannathji. Within the state of Rajasthan alone, the mashak-music persists to be in great demand. From Alwar, Sawai Madhopur, Bikaner, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Chittorgarh to even as far as Punjab pradesh up in the north and the capital city of Delhi, the mashak-magic has penetrated different borders and touched a million hearts. The local folklore, myths and unknown accounts seep through an array of songs, which a vocalist at ease beads on a single string. “Maharaj Bhartrihari ki kahaani, Raja Gopi Chand ki kahaani, Shivkatha, Bheru baba ke bhajan, Devnarayanji ki katha aur srishti ke vichitra rachna, sabhi kuchh yahan paayi jaati hai. (From Maharaj Bhartrihari — who was the ruler of Ujjain in the 1st century BC before he renounced the mundane pleasures and abdicated the same in favour of his younger brother Vikramaditya and went onto become a faithful disciple of Guru Gorakhnath — to his nephew King Gopi Chand of Bengal to Lord Shiva’s miraculous tales to Baba Bherunath’s bhajans, the temple of which is situated in the Jakhera village of Nagaur district in Rajasthan to the martial epic-narrative of Devnarayan — an ancient Gurjar warrior from Rajasthan, who is believed to have been an incarnation of Lord Vishnu and worshipped as a folk deity — and the wonderful creations of God — everything is chanted like a holy hymn to droves of engrossed onlookers),” enlists the folk artiste in a breath, fixing his pagdi (head-dress).
But the relevant question which pops up, keeping the frowning concerns of the conservationists of endangered species in mind is the procurement of animal leather for musical reasons. “Yeh koi aparadh maana nahin jaata, itna hum keh sakte hai. Iss par koi paabandi laagu nahin hai. (See, the custom of playing a mashak is not legally prohibited here. So, the question of abandoning the craft doesn’t arise at all),” they announce in chorus. Earning a decent `25,000 per contract, the mashak-artistes sound overly satisfied with their source of income and an encouraging shower of praise that they gain as a bonus in exchange of their music.
Though they haven’t yet heard about the bauls (wandering minstrels) of Bengal, who travel in the trains with an ektaara (one-stringed instrument) in hand, strumming up folk tunes and singing melodies of the soil, yet Sugannathji expresses his desire to meet a baul on one of his train-journeys to the culture-capital. “Yatayat mein mulaqat kabhi bhi ho jaayegi. (If God is willing, we’ll definitely get to meet each other someday or the other),” he hopes before parting. We wish to be all ears for that scarce, soulful yugalbandi.
The Asian Age, 13th August 2013
Buildings deemed “dangerous” by the city’s municipal corporations as part of their monsoon action plans are supposed to be torn down after evacuation, but such on-paper exercises rarely yield results, causing the tottering structures to collapse, mostly during the wet season.
In a span of mere 10 days, two buildings have collapsed in the Capital — a 100-year-old building housing offices and shops came down in Old Delhi’s Chandni Chowk area a few days ago and the Bengali Club, situated close to the Kashmere Gate wall on Boulevard Road, collapsed on Saturday night. Yet, the civic bodies claim that action is being taken.
South Delhi Municipal Corporation commissioner Manish Gupta said all its junior engineers and superintendent engineers were trained in rapid visual survey by the National Disaster Management Authority. “Our officials are well-equipped. We identify and give notices of vacation or demolition to dangerous buildings,” Gupta said.East Delhi has many unsafe buildings that can fall like a pack of cards if a major earthquake strikes the Capital (the city is in the high-risk seismic Zone IV). It also has the highest number of unauthorised colonies where houses have been constructed on weak foundations.
According to East Delhi Municipal Corporation commissioner S Kumaraswamy, the civic body takes all possible precautions. “Even last week, two buildings in Shahdara North were earmarked. One was demolished by the corporation while the other was razed by the owner,” Kumaraswamy told Hindustan Times. “Our ground level is low and, therefore, we have to be more prompt,” he said.
The Walled City, too, is full of dilapidated buildings with the civic agency turning a blind eye rather than demolishing them. North Delhi Municipal Corporation commissioner PK Gupta said the structures of the buildings of Old Delhi are not very strong. “Most of them are over 200 years old. We do surveys of dangerous buildings and also act on residents’ complaints,” Gupta said.
The civic bodies need to go beyond mere surveys’ claims and trainings if the threat of collapsing buildings is to be tackled.
The Hindustan Times, 13th August 2013
Over the last half century, 220 languages were lost. But India still speaks in many tongues
In India, it is said, the water changes every two miles — and the dialect, every four. The idea of the infinite diversity of culture is introduced in schools, and its reality is reinforced through myriad life experiences. Most of all, it is there in the many tongues we use to express ourselves. Now, through the efforts of the Bhasha Research and Publication Centre, comes another attempt to put a number to the diversity. The Vadodara-based NGO, engaged in what may be called the largest-ever survey of languages in the world, spread over four years, found that in 2013, India spoke some 780 languages — well over the 122 listed in the 2001 Census. The survey took into account languages spoken by less than 10,000 people. So, it includes Majhi, spoken by only four people, and Mehali, spoken by 130.
The survey captures the sheer breadth of diversity in India, but it also finds evidence of a creeping homogenisation: 220 languages have died in the past 50 years. More tongues will disappear with their last guardians. For a country that has been the site of so many language-based insecurities, from linguistically motivated statehood demands to the pursuit of cultural superiority in claims of "classical" status for certain languages, it seems odd that so many are dead, or dying.
What do we lose when a language dies? The death of a language is more than an aesthetic loss. It marks the disappearance of a living codex of a culture. But change is constant, and as cultures mesh and people become more connected to each other, it is natural that they would seek to interact in languages other than those they grew up speaking. India is not yet flat — there is life yet in the primary regional languages like Tamil and Bengali.
The Indian Express, 13th August 2013
On July 28, a task force threw out around 70 Gond adivasis from a nursery of fruit trees in a reserve forest in Madhya Pradesh
Gond adivasis wiped the wrinkled face of the late Bishan Dhurve with turmeric water, washing away the bits of coagulated blood on his forehead. The wound, his son Dikchand said, was inflicted by the Forest Department, which evicted around 70 tribal people who had created a nursery of fruit trees in a reserve forest in Madhya Pradesh’s Betul district, around 300km south of Bhopal.
The first wave of the Task Force — a team of more than 200 forest, police and revenue officials — swept the illegal nursery on July 28. “NGOs in the tribal belt have misguided them to encroach on forest land saying that they will eventually get pattas. They identify land irrigated by rivers and stage a drama of planting fruit trees. Eventually they clear the bushes and start farming,” Divisional Forest Officer (West Betul) P.S. Champawat told The Hindu.
Tehsildar Alka Ekka was part of the first wave. “They had been asked to move back. We only held hands of those with weapons like sickles. Two men creating nuisance were handed over to the police. Their plantation is illegal. If you give a child a toffee and then take it back because it is bad for his teeth, he will cry.”
At Dhurve’s funeral procession, Shambhu Dhurve sat silently. He shivered as tears rolled down his cheeks. He looked at the ground when asked what the matter was. “They shoved a lathi into him,” said his kinsman Sankal Lal Dhurve, pointing at his rear. “That day the foresters were mad. They even killed a dog and a cat.” Shambhu slowly limped away behind the funeral march as organisers of the Shramik Adivasi Sanghatan (SAS) chanted slogans hailing 60-year-old Bishan’s “martyrdom.”
The SAS has been organising the Hariyali Satyagraha for eight years now. Tribal people in Betul go into the forest and collect saplings of wild mangoes, jamuns, jackfruits, mahua and lemon in the monsoon and cultivate them in nurseries. By 2011 the movement had become popular enough to be noticed by the Forest Department.
“Minor forest production is a fourth of what it was a decade ago. Construction and agriculture are both getting mechanised. The only way for adivasis to survive was to cultivate the fruits of the forest,” said Anurag Modi of the SAS.
The SAS and residents of Bhattidhana village claim they were thrashed and their poultry and goats were seized during the raid. The district administration, which videographed the raid, denies there was any violence. On July 29, the tribal people left Bishan and six others to guard what was left of the nursery while they went to Betul to complain against the eviction at the Scheduled Castes and Tribes Welfare Police Station.
Santri Dhurve, who was there said: “They suddenly charged. There were many of them in khaki clothes. There were even young policewomen who looked like schoolgirls. They caught our arms and hit us and used bad words. Some of us escaped. I said ‘please don’t kill the saplings.’”
The saplings have been ruined and the Forest’s Department’s teak saplings now dot the grounds in Savligarh range, which even have a natural spring. Bishan was taken into custody. “He had already been hit on the spine on July 28. On July 30, I went to Ranger Ghar (the residence of Deputy Forest Ranger Hariprasad Pal in Chuna Hazuri panchayat). My father was bleeding from his head. His said his chest is paining,” said Dikchand.
Ekka and Champawat say that Bishan was handed over to the Chicholi Police after his medical tests on July 29. Dikchand and the villagers say that Bishan stayed at Pal’s residence on the intervening night of July 29 and 30. Pal could not be contacted.
Bishan got bail on July 30 from a Betul Court. Dikchand says his health steadily deteriorated and he was struggling to breath. “I spent around Rs. 2000 taking medicines from the hakims and injections from the pharmacies. He was scared to go to hospital for fear of the police.”
On Sunday morning Bishan asked for a doctor, a day after the SAS began picketing the Bijadehi Police Station for refusing to register a case against the administration for violence and violating the Forest Rights Act. “I had already begun going to the moneylenders. They gave me Rs. 2000 at the rate of Rs. 200 interest per month till I repaid. We carried my father on a cot and walked towards the health centre (almost 20km away). He died at the entrance of our village (500 metres away) at around 7am,” Dikchand said.
The Hindu, 13th August 2013
A day after portions of the historic Bengali Club building collapsed , a team of ASI officials rushed to the spot to assess damage to the adjacent Kashmere Gate. Meanwhile, DDA officials blamed unresolved ownership issues for the delay in release of funds for the building's restoration . They could not comment on when the funds would be released.
According to sources, the lieutenant governor's office has sanctioned Rs 15 lakh to be released by Delhi Urban Heritage Foundation (DUSF) under DDA during the tenure of Tejendra Khanna. Work was to be carried out in three phases. The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage had drawn out conservation plans and had emphasized on emergency restoration in which cracks on the facade, a missing pillar and seepage on the walls would be addressed. But the funds were never released till date.
DDA spokesperson Neemo Dhar said, "The Bengali Club is under private ownership and the heritage aspect is being taken care of by Intach. Due to the nature of the ownership, there were procedural requisites to be addressed. This has led to the delay in release of funds." Committee members said the delay in fund release would lead to further deterioration of the building.
ASI officials who arrived at the spot on Monday morning confirmed that there was no damage to Kashmere Gate in the collapse and stopped construction of a wall next to the monument. "The collapse took place close to the monument and so our team came to inspect the site. They found a wall being constructed in the prohibited area and asked the owners of Bengali Club to stop work immediately ," said an official.
The Times of India, 13th August 2013
Bhutan has sent an SOS to India to help restore its centuries-old fortress, Trongsa Dzong, which is threatened by mining activities carried out for the construction of 750 MW Mangdechhu hydroelectric project in its vicinity. The project is a collaboration between the two neighbouring Governments.
The project to be commissioned by 2017 includes the construction of a 56-metre-high and 141.28-metre-wide concrete gravity dam, a 13,661-metre-long head race tunnel, and an underground powerhouse with four units of 180 MW Pelton-turbine-driven generator set.
However, the construction work, which kicked off last year, is having adverse impacts on the monument, and its walls seem to be the first casualty. Sources in the Union Culture Ministry said that Bhutan had sent a letter last month through its Embassy to the Government, saying that soon after the project took off, observations indicated that the historical fortress was experiencing “distress” in the walls and one of the probable reasons may be the blasting activity being carried out in the dam area of the power project.
“The ASI is studying the proposal and soon a team is likely to be send to the neighbouring country to assess the damage and prepare a report, including estimated funds needed in this regard,” said sources in the Ministry.
Trongsa Dzong, an exemplary of Dzong architecture, is an extensive complex — the largest in all of Bhutan — and is set on many different levels. It consists of a maze of courtyards, passageways and corridors and the complex contains as many as 25 temples — the first one built way back in 1543.
The most important temples are those dedicated to the Tantric deities of Yamantaka, Hevajra, Cakrasamvara and Kalacakra. The Maitreya (Jampa) temple was erected in 1771 and today contains a clay statue of the Buddha of the Future, donated by King Ugyen Wangchuck in the early 20th century while the temple of Chortens is located on the spot where the original 1543 temple had stood. In 2008, a museum was added to this complex, following Austrian donations. It is also a major monastic complex, with around 200 monks.
Built in 1648, it was the seat of power over central and eastern Bhutan. Both the first and second kings of Bhutan ruled the country from this ancient seat. All four kings were invested as Trongsa Penlop (“governor”) prior to ascending the throne.
The dzong is a massive structure with many levels, sloping down the contours of the ridge on which it is built. Due to the dzong’s highly strategic position, on the only connecting route between east and west, the Trongsa Penlop was able to control effectively the whole of the central and eastern regions of the country from here.
If given approval, it would be the second project of the ASI being undertaken in the neighbouring country. Between 1987-88, two missions were sent to Bhutan for the preservation of murals of Nekhang-Lhakhange, Mithrape-Lhakhang of Tongza D Zong and Do de Drak monasteries and for the chemical preservation of murals.
The Mangdechhu project for which NHPC Ltd, an Indian public sector undertaking, is the design and engineering consultant, is one among the ten hydro electric projects planned under the 10,000 MW hydropower development by the year 2020 programme of the Royal Kingdom supported by India.
The Pioneer, 14th August 2013
For the first time, Ramayana-themed miniatures will be on display at a two-month-long exhibition which opens at the National Museum here beginning this Wednesday.
Made by Indian artists from the 17th to the 19th Century, the paintings offer a glimpse into the country’s rich and unique heritage. Some of the outstanding miniature paintings on display areThe Portrait of Rama , (Basohli style, Pahari, 1730 A.D.) and Sage Narada requesting Valmiki to write the story of Rama, (Kangra style, Pahari, early 19th Century).
The uniqueness of ‘Rama Katha – The Story of Rama Through Indian Miniatures’ can be judged from the fact that all the 101 exhibits will travel to the Royal Museum of Art and History at Brussels in Belgium this November.
The exhibition depicting the enchanting tales of Valmiki’s celebrated epic will be on display for six months. According to National Museum Director-General Venu V., the show in the Capital will throw light on varied interpretations of the same story across stylistic genres.
“The Ramayana has been a tremendous source of inspiration for artists from across the country and abroad. The exhibition is close-to-modern interpretation of an ancient scripture. Seventy exhibits – all from National Museum’s collection – include Pahari style from the mountains, Rajasthani, Malwa style of Central India, Provincial Mughal style from Bundelkhand, Deccani style from Bijapur of present-day Karnataka and the classical folk style of Kalighat (from around Kolkata).”
Dr. Venu said: “The National Museum is the biggest repository of miniature paintings numbering more than 17,000 of which only 300-400 are on display in the exhibition. The exhibition is one way of exposing part of the reserve collection curated on the basis of a particular theme.”
According to Museum Curator (Education) V.K. Mathur, sage-poet Valmiki’s Ramayana, which is the earliest source of the epic story, is believed to have been created around the 5th to 4th Century B.C. “The text of Ramayana has undergone many revisions and modifications, and the earliest surviving manuscript of the work is less than 1,000 years old. Even today, it is one of the most popular themes in the religious literature of India.”
The Times of India, 14th August 2013
Following an order of the National Green Tribunal for removal of concrete from the base of trees in the city, civic bodies seem to be doing more damage than saving the trees. While de-concretizing trees in Chittaranjan Park, South corporation staff was seen leaving the base dug up, thereby exposing the roots of the trees.
Residents fear that this will endanger the trees, which could eventually topple over. "The trees were being de-concretized using heavy machinery and JCB earth removers. It seems that the NGT orders are being carried out without putting any thought into the work. The officials need sensitization as they are mindlessly removing the concrete. This way they are damaging trees instead of saving them," said Suhas Borker, founder, Green Circle of Delhi.
Residents fear the trees will fall after one heavy shower. "The officials are leaving the roots exposed and the trees will eventually tilt and fall. They should put soil at the base," said Keshav Aggarwal, a resident.
The green tribunal had ordered the officials to leave six feet by six feet space around the trees. To achieve that, officials are breaking the roads and pavements with heavy machinery and JCB earth movers. "We are removing the concrete at present and will repair the roads later. All officials have been instructed to carry out the work now and the repair work will follow," said Manish Gupta, commissioner, South corporation, adding he had instructed officials to take care of the trees while carrying out the work.
"The people on the ground are completely untrained. We will look into the matter and ensure this does not happen again. We plan to sensitize the officials as they are unaware about such work," said Borker.
The Times of India, 14th August 2013
The August 15, 1947 edition of TOI proudly declared a "Nation wakes to new life" in bold print. Celebrating the momentous occasion, it described how Delhi stayed awake to witness the historic event of ushering in freedom at the midnight hour.
"Unprecedented scenes of enthusiasm were witnessed both inside and outside theConstituent Assembly Chamber, where seething and swaying humanity wildly cheered the momentous event, heralded with blowing of conches," TOI reported.
Quoting Pandit Nehru's stirring address to the Assembly, the report commented it matched "the height of the occasion". It was "at once notable and a masterpiece of literature".
"Years ago we made a tryst with destiny," TOI quoted the country's first Prime Minister. "And now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom."
With becoming humility, Pandit Nehru reminded the House that freedom and power bring responsibility and "that the future is not one of ease or resting but of incessant striving, so that we may fulfilthe pledges we have so often taken and the one we shall take today,"TOI reported.
Choudhury Kaliquzzaman, leader of the Muslim league group, in a warm speech, wholeheartedly supported the motion moved by Pandit Nehru for the adoption of the pledge and assured faithful and loyal cooperation of the Muslims of India in implementing the pledge of dedication.
Dr S Radhakrishnan, noted philosopher, supporting Pandit Nehru's motion pointed out the sores in the Indian body politic and urged that every Indian at this hour should pledge himself to purge the society of corruption and intolerance and took the occasion to pay tribute to the rule of the British.
A day earlier, the paper had reported how Delhi was bursting with excitement and preparing for celebrations. A report said: "Delhi, witness to the glories of seven empires, is once again bedecking itself to usher in another chapter in its hoary history. Today, hours before the assumption of power for the governance of India, this ancient capital presents the appearance of the interior of a theatre on the eve of the fi rst night - in a state of glorious disarray."
Detailing the feverish preparations, TOI said: "Scaffoldings are disfi guring the faces of public buildings and shopfronts, with workmen repainting walls and fi xing up bunting, banners and arches across roads and laying extra wiring over fences and trees in preparation for the illuminations."
Painting a picture of Connaught Place in words, the report said: "In Connaught Place, New Delhi's fashion shopping centre, artists are rearranging and refurbishing shop-windows, generally decorated in the national Tricolour. There is a roaring trade in national flags, sold in all sizes and by all shops, from booksellers to drapers."
Shop windows displayed expensive silk saris in the national colours, the demand for sherwanis was enormous. "Men would do anything to buy, borrow or steal a sherwani to wear onIndependence Day. An Indian dressed in a western suit is already beginning to feel self-conscious at the innumerable social functions which New Delhi is at present witnessing."
SPECIAL HOTEL MENU:
The report narrated how restaurants were advertising special I-Day menus, doubling the charges for the special occasion. Cinemas were running special free shows for students and children. "In Old Delhi, halwais are working overtime to cope with orders for sweetmeats from local bodies, clubs, schools and public and private institutions. Sugar being as scarce as ever, the blackmarketer is having the time of his life combining patriotism with business. "Electricians too are reaping a rich harvest", what with the demand for extensions for wiring and supplies of coloured bulbs, particularly in hues representing the national tricolor going sky high.
A Bombay report talked of similar scenes of frenzied enthusiasm in that city. "The national flag was hoisted over the 74-year-old Bombay Civil Secretariat at midnight when the citizens of Bombay greeted the dawn of Independence with solemn invocation and frenzied rejoicing." It narrated how hundreds of thousands marched through the illuminated streets, shouting slogans in a "multitude of tongues", which turned the city at midnight "into a Babel".
Bombay, the report said, "in the early hours of Friday morning was a pedestrians' paradise. Cars either drove on the pavements, if they got the right of way, or were marooned there. Rejoicing crowds held the streets and all traffic rules were ignored. Trams and buses were not only packed to doors, but carried passengers on their roofs, Everyone cheered as the spirit of the occasion spread infectiously through the city. And few slept as bands blared and trumpets sounded in wild cacophony throughout the memorable night."
The ceremony of raising the Tricolour at the secretariat took the form of a service of dedication to the new India. "The auxiliary bishop of Bombay, His grace Dr Valerian Gracias, a high priest of the Parsis, a Moulvi and a Shastri said appropriate prayers", after which the national flag ablaze in lights was hoisted over the secretariat dome.
The Times of India, 15th August 2013
The team of experts from Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) that visited the Kedarnath Temple to assess the damage found the structure in a fair state of conservation.
According to the experts, only some portions of the temple on the northern, eastern and western side indicate moderate signs of damage in the form of dislodged stones on the eastern and western façade, damage to the entrance doorways, bulge in western façade and settlement on the southern side.
“No signs of physical damages to the interior of the temple were visible”.
The ASI team had visited the temple early this month to assess the damage to the temple due to the flash floods in Uttarakhand. However, since the temple is not a protected monument of the ASI, the ASI will provide only necessary technical advice for conservation of the 11th century temple.
The Asian Age, 15th August 2013
Ministry of Environment and Forests directed to constitute an expert body to make detailed study
The Supreme Court has directed the Ministry of Environment and Forests as well as the State of Uttarakhand not to grant any further environmental clearance or forest clearance for any hydroelectric power projects in Uttarakhand until further orders.
A Bench of Justices K.S. Radhakrishnan and Dipak Misra gave this direction while expressing serious concern over the mushrooming of large number of hydroelectric projects in Uttarakhand and its impact on Alaknanda and Bhagirathi river basins.
Writing the judgment Mr. Justice Radhakrishnan said “We are also deeply concerned with the recent tragedy, which has affected the Char Dham area of Uttarakhand. Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIG) recorded 350 mm of rain on June 15-16, 2013. Snowfall ahead of the cloudburst also has contributed to the floods resulting in the burst on the banks of Chorabari Lake near Kedarnath, leading to large scale calamity leading to loss of human lives and property. The adverse effect of the existing projects, projects under construction and proposed, on the environment and ecology calls for a detailed scientific study. Proper Disaster Management Plan, it is seen, is also not in place, resulting in loss of lives and property.”
The Bench quoting a study said “69 hydropower projects with a capacity of 9,020.30 MW are proposed in Bhagirathi and Alaknanda basins. This includes 17 projects which are operational with a capacity of 2,295.2 MW. In addition, 26 projects with a capacity of 3,261.3 MW (including 600 MW Lohari Nagpala hydropower project, work on which has been suspended by the Government decision) which were under construction, 11 projects with a capacity of 2,350 MW CEA/TEC clearances and 16 projects with a capacity of 1,673.8 MW under development. The implementation of the above 69 hydropower projects has extensive implications for other needs of this society and the river itself. It is noticed that the implementation of all the above projects will lead to 81 per cent of Bhagirathi and 65 per cent of Alaknanda getting affected.”
The Bench said “The cumulative impact of those project components like dams, tunnels, blasting, powerhouse, muck disposal, mining, deforestation etc. on eco-system, is yet to be scientifically examined.” Hence the Court issued a series of directions, viz. direction to the MoEF and to the State of Uttarakhand not to grant any further environmental clearance or forest clearance for any hydroelectric power project in the State until further orders; “MoEF is directed to constitute an expert body consisting of representatives of the State Government, WII, Central Electricity Authority, Central Water Commission and other expert bodies to make a detailed study as to whether Hydroelectric Power Projects existing and under construction have contributed to the environmental degradation, if so, to what extent and also whether it has contributed to the present tragedy occurred at Uttarakhand in June 2013; MoEF is directed to examine as to whether the proposed 24 projects are causing significant impact on the biodiversity of Alaknanda and Bhagirath river basins.
The Bench asked the Disaster Management Authority, Uttarakhand to submit a report to this Court as to whether they had any Disaster Management Plan in place and how effective that plan was for combating the present unprecedented tragedy in Uttarakhand.
The Hindu, 16th August 2013
In its latest judgment on hydropower projects in Uttarakhand, the Supreme Court has restrained the Union and the state governments from giving further environmental or forest clearances to hydroelectric projects until further orders.
The court has also directed the ministry to assess the scale of environmental degradation due to existing and under-construction hydropower projects on the Ganga. Even though the order is welcomed, it is bit late in the day and also insufficient. Much could have been saved in the Kedar Ghat area in June had the decision-makers listened to the warnings of environmentalists.
Over the years, green groups and locals have been opposing rampant construction in the valley. Their view was considered radical and anti-development. It is important to remember that in 2009, the Ganga was declared our ‘national river’ and yet, till now, there are no laws for the conservation and protection of this national heritage.
In 2010, the Uttarakhand Disaster Management Authority submitted a report after the flash floods in Asi-Ganga and Rudraprayag to the state government. The report said that construction all along the river was the main reasons for such a disaster. Yet no action was taken.
In all, 69 hydropower projects have been cleared in the valley. Many of them (on the Dhauli Ganga, the Alaknanda and the Mandakini) were washed away in the recent disaster in Uttarakhand.
It has taken just four projects (Maneri Bhali 1&2, Tehri and Koteshwar) to destroy 120 kms of the Bhagirathi. It will take only five projects (Kotlibhel-1&2, Srinagar, Vishnugad-Pippalkoti, Tapovan Vishnugad and Alkananda hydroprojects) to destroy the Alaknanda and three (Ram-bhada, Singoli-Bhatwadi, Phata Byung) to destroy the Mandakini.
The projects that are functioning have caused devastation in the area. Dried water sources, cracks in houses, land-sinking at Chai Gaon, etc, have become common occurrences. Every monsoon the rising water level in the Tehri dam poses a threat of floods downstream. It is not just the existence of dams that is destructive for the valley, but the process of construction irreversibly damages the fragile ecosystem.
Unfortunately, even committees constituted by the government talk of ‘development’ and not about conservation of the environment. The cumulative impact assessment done by the Alternative Hydro Energy Centre in 2011 was opposed by environmentalists but their comments were brushed aside as the report paved way for several projects. Now, post the June disaster, the apex court has agreed that it was not a competent authority.
The BK Chaturvedi committee also agreed that the biodiversity of the Himalayas has been compromised because of the projects and stated that a few of the tributaries of the Ganga must be left untouched. But there are already projects under-construction on these and for a pristine river-path, they must be stopped. Strangely, the panel doesn’t agree with this idea, thus contradicting its own recommendation.
Thanks to the state’s development agenda, little has been done to conserve the region and even the smallest attempts made by the Centre are opposed by the State: About 130 kms of the Ganga was declared as an eco-sensitive zone in 2010 but it was notified only in December 2012. The State, however, refuses to implement it.
The ministry of environment and forests agrees that the June disaster was man-made. It is heart-warming to note that the ministry has instructed to set up a committee to review the situation in Uttarakhand.
To prevent it from being another futile exercise, it is important to do more: recommend more eco-zones in the valley, cancel all projects that have not started or have been washed away in the June disaster, consider alternate means of generating power and preserve the sanctity of the Ganga and the Himalayas.
Mallika Bhanot is a member of Ganga Ahvaan. The views expressed by the author are personal.
The Hindustan Times, 16th August 2013
The Delhi government has been promising a Bio Diversity Park at Neela Hauz near Sanjay Van. They would do well to visit the Gurgaon Bio Diversity Park and learn a few lessons
In this column last year I had written about ‘The last forest standing’ (11.08.2012). The piece was on the unique Mangar Bani forest fighting a battle of survival against the onslaught of the rapacious builder-leader-developer lobby. A dedicated band of environmentalists supported by the residents of neighbouring villages is involved in the struggle and just about managing to keep the excavators and earth movers at bay.
I came to know of Mangar Bani through the writings of environmentalist and author Pradip Krishen and visited the forest that would be at its most beautiful right now, with the help of Malvika Kaul, herself a keen environmentalist. It was through her that I met Vijay Dhasmana who showed us around. Vijay had been working on the issue of wildlife protection for years and made a move to protect natural habitats through his interactions with Pradip Krishen. Vijay got involved in the movement to protect Mangar Bani and has spent a lot of his time over the last six or seven years studying the plants and working with the dedicated band of people trying to save the forest.
I am recalling all this because just a fortnight ago I got a call from Vijay, inviting me to visit the Gurgaon Bio Diversity Park. I reached there on August 10, exactly one year to the day when I had written about Mangar Bani. We were again talking of reviving and saving a forest, standing merely a few kilometres away from Mangar Bani.
The best method of reaching the Bio Diversity Park from Delhi is to cross the Ghitorni Metro Station and take the first U-turn to your right. The turn is just a few metres short of the right turn into DLF Phase III. You will see a ‘No Parking’ sign to your left, drive towards and beyond the sign, you will come across a large sloping space covered by rough gravel -- this is where visitors to the Bio Diversity Park are required to leave their vehicles. The gravel is embedded within a plastic mesh and the parking lot doubles up as a fairly large rain water harvesting pit. The same kind of surface will greet you at the Amphitheatre.
Spread across more than 400 acres of land, that was till as late as 2008 the site for illegal mining and rock crushing, are a range of creative interventions, all of them part of an eco-friendly plan. Two of the largest mining pits have been turned into water bodies; a shallow depression is fast turning into a small grassland and has begun attracting a large variety of birds. Seeds of more than 200 species of trees, shrubs, bushes and climbers, all native to the Arravalis, have been gathered not only from Delhi but also from Haryana and Rajasthan. Teams have searched through crags and crannies and have trained and enthused others to search, collect, preserve and send seeds. Two nurseries have been set up and they are producing thousands of saplings of trees that belong to this natural habitat.
Last year activists of IAMGURGAON mobilised corporate houses to sponsor plantation on a large scale. More than 32,000, saplings were planted by those working with these corporate entities and by hundreds of school children mobilised by IAMGURGAON. The saplings represented more than 50 species of trees and plants that are native to the Arravalis but had almost disappeared from this area. Simultaneously, with the planting of this large number of species, the invasive Juliflora Prosopis is being gradually rooted out, very soon at least one part of the Arravalis will return to a state that was the natural state of the Arravalis just about a hundred years ago.
All it has taken is the determination of a handful of young people who took it upon themselves to do something about improving the standards of cleanliness and hygiene in their neighbourhood. Their engagement expanded to include issues of environment and very rapidly the initiative taken by Latika, a former banker, Swanzal an architect and Ambika Agarwal grew into IAMGURGAON and expanded from their immediate neighbourhood to embrace all of Gurgaon, drawing in a large number of corporate houses, who are funding and supporting the initiative in diverse ways.
All this would not have happened without the active participation of several succeeding commissioners of Gurgaon Corporation who facilitated the granting of all kinds of permissions. The Gurgaon Bio Diversity Park, inaugurated in 2009, is a joint venture of Gurgaon Municipal Corporation and IAMGURGAON.
IAMGURGAON approached Pradip Krishen for help in reviving the Bio Diversity of this badly damaged region and he suggested that they contact Vijay Dhasmana. Vijay began consulting with the project in 2011 and today you can’t pull him out of the place. Of the thousands of saplings that have been planted he knows the location of each of them and 75 per cent have survived. This monsoon another 12000 would be planted.
Another five years and the natural habitat would return to what the Arravali should be like.
The Delhi government has been promising a Bio Diversity Park at Neela Hauz near Sanjay Van at Vasant Kunj - Kishangarh. They would do well to visit the Gurgaon Bio Diversity Park and to learn a few lessons from IAMGURGAON, Gurgaon Municipal Corporation and from Vijay Dhasmana. Believe me they have a lot to learn from them.
The Hindu, 17th August 2013
The 2000-year-old Qila Mubarak in Bathinda is considered to have a shared legacy. Built by Raja Dab during 90-110 AD, the fort was ‘visited’ by Guru Gobind Singh in 1705. To mark this event, a small shrine was built inside the fort by the Maharaja of Patiala in 1835.
Built originally of mud bricks, the fort has a square plan with 32 small and four large bastions placed at the corners that stand witness to the history of its capture by warring luminaries like Mahmud Ghazni, Mohammed Ghouri and Prithvi Raj Chauhan. Being located enroute from the northwest, it was once called Tabar-e-Hind (gateway to India). It was here that Razia Sultan, the first and only woman emperor who ruled from Delhi, was incarcerated on her defeat at the hands of Malik Altunia, the then governor of Bathinda.
Immortalised on-screen by Bollywood director Kamal Amrohi, Razia Sultan has remained a subject of many legends. Not only does she feature in an online comic strip, a piece of historical fiction entitledRazia: Queen of India has been in circulation, too. Since the location of her grave has remained a contested subject amongst historians and archaeologists, Qila Mubarak remains the only historical landmark reminding future generations of the heroics of this legendary emperor.
Subsequent to the collapse of one of the fort’s bastions, atop which the gurudwara built in 1835 was located, permission for temporarily shifting the shrine to a sprawling open space inside the fort was granted in the early 1990s. Though the bastion has since then been restored, the temporary structures have continued to persist in the inner precinct of the fort.
The fort’s boundary wall has collapsed at several places exposing the neglect it has been subjected to; there were even attempts of encroachment close to the fort’s peripheral wall in the recent past. Though restoration is currently under way, its pace is rather slow considering the extent of damage left by the passage of time and neglect.
For India’s only woman emperor, who ruled between 1236 and 1240 AD, the spirit of religion was more important than its parts. For being tolerant of other religions, Razia Sultan had run into opposition from the nobles. Should her legacy be made to face the same fate? Qila Mubarak surely deserves a better deal.
(The writer is with Delhi-based The Ecological Foundation)
The Hindu, 17th August 2013
The textile tradition of our country, dating back to the Indus Valley Civilisation, is known for its rich and assorted variety. Brinda Suri gets into the warp and weft of the textile world to offer us a glimpse of the same.
There’s a delightful folktale from Arunachal’s Mishmi tribe which speaks about the origin of weaving. It’s titled Hambrumai and tells the story of a beautiful fish called Hambru. One day, Hambru gets caught in the fish trap placed by Kowonsa, a fisherman. Hambru’s radiance takes his breath away, and Kowonsa decides to hide her in a gourd. The next day, when he returns from fishing, he finds his hut overflowing with dazzling cloth embellished with a fish-scale pattern. This episode repeats itself day after day.
Curiosity gets the better of Kowonsa and he decides to skip work and stay at home. He stealthily hides in a corner, and to his astonishment, he watches as Hambru emerges from the gourd and transforms into a charming girl with flowing tresses. She carries a loom, and on it, weaves the stunning pieces of cloth that Kowonsa had seen everyday.
Hambru was under an evil magician’s spell which could only be broken if another person saw her as a girl. Unaware of the curse, Kowonsa comes out of hiding and holds Hambru’s hand. She is released from the spell and marries Kowonsa. She begins teaching the women of the village how to weave. One day, Kowonsa unwittingly keeps Hambru’s loom out in the courtyard, and a gust of wind blows it away, breaking it. The legend follows that wherever broken pieces of the loom had landed, the people of the region learnt how to weave. The Mishmi also believe the designs Hambru wove turned into butterflies, and her patterns can still be seen on their wings.
Perhaps Hambru did teach the world how to weave, for the art of making cloth is as old as civilisation itself. Undoubtedly, the Indian subcontinent has a rich textile legacy. Mehrgarh, the earliest known village of the Indus Valley Civilisation, dating back to 6000 BC, shows evidence of cotton seeds as well as fibre. At Mohenjo-daro, the woven cotton cloth discovered has been dated to 4000 BC. Archaeologists agree that most of the trade which made the city grow was based on its cotton export.
Innumerable varieties
Handloom has always enjoyed a pride of place in the country. Every region in India boasts of a particular style of weaving on a variety of handmade looms (fly-shuttle, pit, backstrap, loin loom etc) and a subsequent dressing of textile. Incidentally, handloom has become a much misused word. Today almost everything gets tagged as a ‘handloom’ product so as to increase its craft-quotient. In reality, only fabric that is handwoven has the right to be labelled a ‘handloom’ product. Khadi, on the other hand, is a fabric that is hand-spun as well as handwoven. As an aside, just in case you thought ‘handloom’ solely meant the block-printed cotton kurta you purchased from the neighbourhood ethnic-apparel shop, you are yet to discover the weft and warp of the textile world!
It is important to first touch upon the country’s handwoven illustrations. While Kashmir weaves the pashmina, the tribes of the north-east transform yarn into an extraordinary range of woven textiles. The villages of Orissa and Andhra have ikkat to show-off, while Gujarat has patola, mashru and tanchoi. Tamil Nadu is famous for the Madras checks, Madhya Pradesh for Chanderi, and Uttar Pradesh for brocade. In almost every state, a tremendous range of sarees and shawls (both cotton and wool) are woven.
Indeed, the act of weaving is considered almost spiritual in India. Textile lexicon is metaphorically powerful, often being used to express a philosophical thought. For instance, sutra originating from the word sut (thread), means stringing together a guru’s teaching. Tantra is from tant (warp), and denotes that which can go beyond limits. Yantra (loom) is the creation of a form for meditation. It looks easy and effortless. It’s not. And here comes into play the skill of the Indian weaver who more often than not is unlettered, but weaves yarn into the most brilliant fabric.
Weaving apart, there are numerous surface treatments given to textile. Rajasthan does tie-and-dye and block-printing, Kashmir has aari and sozni embroidery, Bengal is home to kantha and batik, Bihar’s quilting technique is called sujani, Punjab has phulkari stitch-art, the Kutch region of Gujarat offers incredible styles ranging from Rabari embroidery to ajrak (a form of resist printing), Madhya Pradesh’s famous export is bagh block-printing, Karnataka is known for kasuti and the lambani embroidery, while Uttar Pradesh has chikankari and zardozi. The styles mentioned here form a mere framework of the variety found in the country. It’s no wonder then that India is considered a temple of textiles.
Though agriculture is the backbone of our village economy, the handloom has ably assisted farm income. The hum of the loom is heard across the country; along with providing cloth for domestic use, these looms produce cloth for the market as well. At present, about 12 crore from among a population of 121 crore are engaged in the textile sector, making it the largest employer after agriculture in rural India. This cottage industry, however, has continuously faced hard times. Out-of-step government policies and the twin advantages of the powerloom - rapid production, lower cost — has dealt a double blow. Despite the sway towards ethnic apparel in both prêt and haute couture segments, the handloom industry is gasping for breath.
Malkha magic
In a scenario such as this, it is small handloom initiatives that are leaving a mark. Enterprising and dedicated individuals are leading the way, and it’s ventures like theirs that need constant encouragement to grow into bigger movements.
Malkha is one such commendable effort. The brain behind the project is Uzramma, who founded the Decentralised Cotton Yarn Trust in 2005 and the Malkha Marketing Trust in 2008 with an aim to promote, “village-based cotton textile production from field to fabric, linking cotton farming to handloom weaving and reviving village spinning.”
History tells us of India’s flourishing cotton industry. It’s a known fact that its reasons for decay lay in the East India Company’s centralisation policy for cotton growers and weavers. Apart from forcing mechanisation on them, they demanded farmers grow a particular type of cotton for yarn which was suitable for their spinning jennies. This cotton was alien to Indian growing conditions and wiped out thriving indigenous varieties. The cotton processing techniques introduced by the Company killed Indian cotton’s inherent lustre and suppleness. Unfortunately, years after Independence, this policy of cotton centralisation and the growing of non-indigenous variety of cotton is still being followed. It has contributed much towards destroying rural India’s original cotton culture.
The Deccan Herald, 18th August 2013
One of the boundary walls of the Jammu city’s tallest sentinel - Bahu-Fort - crumbled on Saturday, exposing the quality of the preservation and renovation work carried out by the Department of State Archives, Archeology and Museum.
Strategically located on a hillock on the southern bank of River Tawi Bahu Fort isconsidered the oldest edifice in Jammu and houses a famous temple of Mahakali inside its four walls. It is a State protected monument and attracts large number of tourists and local disciples during the day. According to reports, the boundary wall of the fort originally built by Raja Bahulochan crumbled around 10.10 am on Saturday.
Bahu Fort was later modified by the Dogra rulers in the State and its strong walls were used by the army of Maharaja Gulab Singh and others to fire cannons at regular intervals to indicate time of the day. The tradition continued till after few months of August 1947. Local residents in the area assembled near the fort and staged a protest demonstration against the authorities for neglecting the maintenance of the heritage property and demanded strict action against the laxity of the concerned authorities.
The Pioneer, 18th August 2013
As one walks past the curio shops of Meena Bazaar, a popular tourist haunt at Delhi's Red Fort complex, it is easy to miss a side-lane that leads to Salimgarh Fort - home to the haunted of the imposing fortress within. While many jostle for space at the ubiquitous Diwan-e-Aam, few venture into Salimgarh. Even the plaques dotting the stretch do not quite give away its location.
However, as one negotiates this less-taken stretch, recesses of the monument resound with tales of the dead held captive for decades. The most striking among them is the story of a group of soldiers of the Indian National Army, who were subjected to torture for days on end within the fort's seamless walls by the British Empire.
"We have heard tales about freedom fighters being imprisoned at the fort during India's struggle for independence. Many of them were tortured to death. People believe that they haunt the fort still. I haven't had any supernatural experience," says S S Khan, a CISF personnel whose camp is in the Salimgarh Fort area.
Portions of the monument predate the Red Fort by nearly a century. It was built in mid-sixteenth century by Sher Shah Suri's son, Salim Shah. Following the Revolt of 1857, the last Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar also stayed at the Salimgarh Fort before being exiled to Rangoon. When the Indian National Army trials took place in 1944-46, the soldiers of INA were put away in the jails at Salimgarh.
Thus, a handful of those familiar with the story say that the fort's rocky facade echoes the voices of these imprisoned soldiers being dragged by chains. "People have told us stories about hearing strange voices late at night. When they have followed the sound and tried to found its source, most have not found anything, while some claim to have seen some kind of apparitions," said a jewellery shop assistant at Meena Bazaar.
The Indian Express, 18th August 2013
Efforts by environmentalists and the courts to save the Yamuna will come to naught if the Delhi Development Authority goes ahead with its plan of re-defining Zone 'O', the ecologically sensitive river bed area, to give a legal tag to hundreds of unauthorized constructions on the flood plain.
The 'O' zone proposal will come up for approval at a DDA meeting on Monday and environmentalists have criticized it as politically motivated in the light of the government's move to regularize 1,600 unauthorized colonies.
Zone 'O' covers an area of about 9,700 hectares from north Delhi to the south. Environmentalists say the move endangers the river and also does not serve the interests of those on the flood plain since the river is prone to rising and any construction on the river bed will be structurally suspect.
The Lalita Park building collapse in 2010 that claimed 71 lives is a reminder of this. The colony has come up on the flood plain and is protected by an embankment, yet groundwater levels here went up so much during the 2010 floods that the foundations of several buildings became weak leading to the collapse of one.
The portions carved out from Zone 'O' will be included in Zone 'D' under the Master Plan 2021. The latter mainly comprises Lutyens' Garden City and extensions, and is situated between the Yamuna on one side and the Ridge on the other. The area is located in the south and lies adjacent to the historical city of Shahjahanabad, extending up to the Ring Road.
Former LG Tejendra Khanna had issued a moratorium in 2008 prohibiting construction on the river bed, barring a few projects like the Metro depot that had already been cleared. Despite that, constructions have continued on the flood plain, including several by the government.
The Times of India, 18th August 2013
Hunting of the finest birds such as Japanese quails and Edible-nest swiftlets would not be a crime soon.
The government is considering removing these birds from the endangered list of the Wildlife Protection Act on the ground that their population was increasing at an alarming rate.
The animal committee of the environment ministry has finalised a proposal to de-list them, meaning that selling of quail or swiftlet meat would become legal. This has been done as private quail farms are increasing in India and there is a market for their domestic consumption.
Wildlife experts are, however, are against the move saying it will endanger other quails as it would legalise quail meat. “It will not be possible to identify the meat of captive raised quail from that of the wild ones once the feathers have been removed,” said MK Ranjitsinh, member of the national board for wildlife.
At a recent meeting of the standing committee of the board, wildlife experts Asad Rahmani and ATS Johnsingh said the farm-bred Japanese Quails could be de-listed, but the wild variety could be retained.
Other members such as Divyabhanusinh Chavda, Prerna Singh Bindra and Madhusudan were of the opinion that there should be no delisting, but the farming in its present form could continue, with no further expansion or new facilities being set up as in the case of domestic chicken.
On de-listing of swiftlets, some of the members wanted the animal committee to be cautious, asking the government to get its “exact status” before taking them out of the protection list.
The committee, however, recommended its de-listing.
The committee also decided to list Tokey Gecko, described as a million-rupee reptile, as an endangered species to protect it from increased poaching.
Tokey Gecko is one of the largest geckos in the world, with males being as much as 15 inches long.
Apart from India, geckos are found in Nepal, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Indonesia and New Guinea.
Another animal coming on the critically endangered list is the hog deer.
While running, its head is hung low, which helps it in ducking the obstacles in its way, rather than leaping over them.
The committee has also decided to retain sloth bear in schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act.
The Hindustan Times, 18th August 2013
It is a ‘beautiful’ colony and a ‘beautiful’ green precinct on a high-traffic road, yet quite separated from the madness.
With Purana Qila and the Humayun’s Tomb complex on its north and south sides, the plush leafy residential area -Sundar Nagar - barely a kilometre away from the India Gate C-Hexagon, is in a way sitting on a historical site. And what commuters’ dread during peak hours, the Mathura Road, is aligned almost on the historic Grand Trunk Road.
The Purana Qila and the Humayun’s Tomb, a World Heritage Site, are fairly well-known.
But Sundar Nagar has two other neighbours that are not known as well as these.
Azimganj Sarai, located on the Delhi zoo premises, lies just next to Sundar Nagar. The other is Sunderwala Burj, a 16th-century mausoleum, then situated in Azim Bagh. This Azim Bagh is now known as Sunder Nursery, believed to have come up in the 1920s when the British needed to grow plants for the garden city, Lutyen’s Delhi.
Sundar Nagar was formed in the 1950s by the Land and Development Office (L&DO) as a plotted colony.
Curious Delhiites taking the Mathura Road might have wondered the Sundar Nagar’s connection with either Sunder Nursery or the Sunderwala Burj.
But interestingly, none of these lend its name to this tony colony.
“Sundar Nagar is named after Sundar Bawa Singh, who was the first person to buy a plot here and start a colony,” said Sanjeev Desai from the Sundar Nagar Association.
The Hindustan Times, 18th August 2013
Pondering over numerous frames on the walls of Delhi's National Museum, visitors are marveling at the intricacy with which various schools of art have depicted the Ramayana. Familiar with the epic, they recognise most characters, however, what they do not recall are some of the episodes of the well-known tale.
But curator VK Mathur reassures them. He notes that there is slight variation in the numerous adaptations of the epic across various continents and sects. He walks towards an intricate Datia-style miniature depicting the reception of Rama hosted by Sita and her female companions at her palace. The 18th-century work from Bundelkhand, Mathur notes, depicts kunwar-kaleva, a tradition in Madhya Pradesh where bridesmaids hosted a party for the groom after marriage. "This will not be found in other schools depicting the Ramayana," says the curator.
Flipping through the museum's collection of over 500 miniatures depicting the Ramayana, it took Mathur close to four months to select 101 for the exhibition "Rama-Katha". This depicts the tale of the Ramayana - right from the birth of Lord Rama to Sita's descent back into the earth — through frames painted over centuries by different schools of art, including the Pahari style from the mountains to Rajasthani from the desert expanse, Malwa of Central India, provincial Mughal-style from Bundelkhand (eastern Uttar Pradesh), Deccani from Bijapur (Karnataka) and the classical folk style of Kalighat (West Bengal). The oldest work in the collection is an early 17th-century provincial Mughal style work from Orchha. The crowded court of King Janaka has the blue-skinned Rama breaking the bow of Shiva during the swayamvara of Sita.
While to relive the tale through miniature art was one of the objectives of the exhibition, another was to showcase the distinct features of these schools. "The Kangra school has more elongated features with soft faces, Mewar has more oval faces and Krishangarh has lotus-shaped eyes," notes Mathur. The disparities are evident when different schools depict the same scene. So while the 17th-century provincial Mughal portrayal from Orchha has a slender Rama chasing a petite deer in a lush green forest, the 18th-century Mandi style Pahari depiction is far more sparse, and in the Kalighat style, a bulky Rama stands in a deep red backdrop with borders typical of the school.
The Indian Express, 19th August 2013
several real estate developers in Noida continue to extract groundwater despite a blanket ban imposed on it by the National Green Tribunal as well as the Supreme Court. Developers have installed long pipelines to empty groundwater, which is extracted from their sites, at other locations. Environmentalists are up in arms against this blatant violation of norms and have blamed the Noida and Greater Noida authorities for allowing developers in getting away with this.
TOI visited sites of many developers in various sectors along the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway and Sector 94, near the Okhla bird sanctuary, and found the pipelines used for abstracting water. At some locations, pipes were buried beneath the earth so that the de-watering could not be seen. The pipelines are attached to heavy pumps to draw out groundwater.
When the contractor and labourers in Sector 94 were asked the reason for installing the long pipelines and pumps, they said that they have been instructed to draw groundwater as soon as possible. "We have just been directed to work overtime and extract groundwater as soon as possible," said Ahmad, a labourer.
Noida Authority officials chose to remain silent on the issue. "I know a few developers are extracting groundwater, but we cannot do anything about it," said a senior Authority official.
Environmentalists say there are several projects along the floodplains where developers have dug up to 9 metres for making double basements for their high-rise projects. "It is impossible to dig a double basement or more without groundwater extraction. Developers, in connivance with the Noida and Greater Noida authorities, are making mockery of orders," said Nandita Dhar, an environmentalist.
"A realtor extracts and throws away 2.5 crore litres of water every day to lay a building's foundation. Nobody bothers to follow the ban by the NGT. Besides realtors, illegal water packaging companies are also extracting groundwater. As per submission of a water packaging company to NGT, it extracts about 55,000 litres of groundwater every day. On an average, 100 companies in the district extract one crore litres of water. For a litre of mineral water, they waste 5 litres of groundwater," Dhar alleged.
The green brigade has also alleged that, under pressure from the strong builders' lobby, the UP government punished an administrative official for cracking down on groundwater extraction. The official had sealed a construction site on June 10 along the Yamuna Expressway for violating the NGT order. On June 17, he took action against another prominent builder in Greater Noida. On June 19, in Sector 94 he again pulled up a Noida-based realtor for letting groundwater go down the drains.
"The developers are not allowing us to check if they are extracting groundwater so that we can bring the real picture before the apex court and the NGT. When we visited the sites of some developers, the staff misbehaved with us. We will put forth out concerns before the NGT and Supreme Court in the next hearings on August 22 and September 2, respectively," said Vikrant Tongad, another environmentalist.
The Times of India, 19th August 2013
More nests of residential birds have been sighted at Bhitarkanika National Park in this ongoing monsoon season than last year, DFO of Rajnagar Mangrove forest and wildlife division Manoj Kumar Mohapatra said, He said the forest officials have this year sighted 17550 nests in Bagagahan and Mathadia under Bhitarkanika National Park where as last year 15,422 nests were sighted in the same area.
While 6831 nests were sighted in Mathadia as many as 10719 nests were spotted at Bagagahan, Mr Mohapatra said
The Pioneer, 19th August 2013
Every Sunday, as the sixteenth-century Humayun's Tomb girds up to receive thousands of noisy visitors, its contemporary, Sunderwala Burj, sleeps undisturbed behind the tall gates of Sunder Nursery just across the road. Few know the nursery as anything more than a seedbed for the trees and flowers in Lutyens' Delhi, but that is set to change soon.
Quietly, the sprawling property is being transformed into an authentic Mughal garden laid around a central axis with monuments, fountains, water bodies and a large variety of tree and bird species. The project's landscape planner, Mohammed Shaheer, says the aim is to conserve the environment and create a "major landscaped space" aligning nature and utility in a garden.
The Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC), which is partnering Archaeological Survey of India and the site owner, Central Public Works Department , in the project has already laid out such gardens in Cairo (Al-Azhar Park), Kabul (Bagh-e Babur and Central Park), Zanzibar (Forodhani Park and Seafront ), Mali (National Park of Mali), Alleppo (Bab Qinessrine Park) and Khorog (Khorog City Park).
The project was conceived while AKTC was restoring the gardens of Humayun's Tomb during 1997-2003 . When they are completed in 2015, the Sunder Nursery gardens will cover 100 acres across the nursery and the adjoining Batashewala complex. Shaheer says the gardens will have a microhabitat zone for plants found on Delhi's ridge, river banks, plains and other zones.
Edged by nine mounds, the microhabitat zone will replicate Delhi's original landscape to increase environmental awareness among the 3 lakh schoolchildren who visit Humayun's Tomb every year. AKTC has recorded 1,800 mature trees of more than 200 species at the nursery on a geographic information system (GIS) and planted another 100-odd species. "Biodiversity studies in 2012 documented 54 species of resident birds and 24 species of butterflies,'' said an official.
Besides the Sunderwala Burj, the nursery also has eight early-Mughal era monuments that have been restored after years of neglect. Three of themâ€"Sunderwala Burj, Lakkarwala Burj and Sunderwala Mahalhave been declared monuments of national importance by the ASI. However, other structures, including ancient wells, a Mughal pavilion, a mosque and several graveyards are unprotected but equally striking. Two monuments in the adjunct Bateshewala complex are also with ASI.
For the complex as a whole, the changes mark a return to past glory. Before the British turned it into a nursery in 1913, it was called Azim Bagh. "Historically, the entire area from Humayun's Tomb to Millennium Park (along the Yamuna) was a Mughal garden ," says Ashok Khurana, retired director general of CPWD in whose tenure the project was conceived.
AKTC has offered to manage Sunder Nursery until it becomes financially sustainable. "Discussions for postproject management of the park are now in an advanced state with AKTC underwriting all management and maintenance costs for 10 years,'' said Ratish Nanda, project director of AKTC. Already, parallels are being drawn between the gardens and New York's iconic Central Park.
-The Times of India, 31st August 2013
One of the oldest churches in Kolkata and a national monument, St. John's Church is set to get a fresh lease of life through restoration
His role as the founder of the city of Calcutta can be widely disputed, but the English tradesman and East India Company administrator Job Charnock's association with the city can hardly be questioned.
It is this close association that seems to have prompted the authorities at St. John's Church, one of the oldest churches in Kolkata, to consider installing his statue inside the church compound. The church already houses Charnock's mausoleum.
According to Reverend Pradeep Kumar Nanda, Presbyter in-charge of St. John's Church, plans are also afoot to renovate both the exterior and interior façade of the church, install fountains inside the compound, make new pathways, develop car parking area and repair and paint the bishops' bungalow among others.
This is part of the renovation and restoration task likely to be taken up by the West Bengal Tourism Department in association with the Public Works Department (PWD), Rev. Nanda said.
"Since this is a national monument, we have already initiated measures to restore some of the collections kept here. Recently, the State government and the PWD came forward to fund the external and internal renovation of the church," he added.
According to him, the project, which is likely to commence before the Durga Puja festivities in October this year, might take about seven to eight months for completion. The government is likely to incur expenditure of Rs. four crore for the restoration project.
The PWD has already engaged an architect as consultant for the project. "The architect is likely to submit his report in the next 15-20 days. We will then firm up our plan and give it to the church for its approval before embarking on the task of restoration and beautification," a senior PWD official said. The primary focus would be on water-proofing and ensuring structural stability before embarking on the task of landscaping and beautifying the internal facade, he added.
Established in 1787, St. John's Church was originally believed to have been a cathedral. It is one of the oldest churches in Kolkata and has been declared as "a protected monument" by the Archaeological Survey of India. The church houses several historic monuments including the Black Hole of Calcutta and the Second Rohilla War Memorial among others.
Restored artworks
Meanwhile, the church authorities in association with the INTACH (The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage) Kolkata Chapter have already initiated the task of restoring some of the paintings and photographs kept at the church. The trust had earlier helped restoring a portion of the church exterior and a wooden spiral staircase inside.
In 2010, the church got the 10x12 feet canvas depicting "The Last Supper" by the German neoclassical painter Johann Zoffany restored. The painting, acknowledged to be among the finest representations of the Biblical scene in India, was presented to the St. John's parish on June 24, 1787, for the consecration of the first church built by the British.
This project, costing around Rs. 15 lakh, was funded partly by the church and partly by INTACH and Max Mueller Bhavan in Kolkata, said G.M. Kapur, convenor, West Bengal and Kolkata Regional Chapter of INTACH.
This apart, a group of 12 oil paintings, mostly of the erstwhile bishops and vicars of the church and that of a painting of Jesus on a cross; 28 photographs (including the photograph of a portrait of Warren Hastings and a certified copy of Zoffany's self-portrait); three lithographs and two sketches were recently given a new lease of life by INTACH. The project, which is the result of a partnership between INTACH, the church and Rotary Club of Calcutta Chowringhee, cost Rs. 4.5 lakh.
Challenges
The humid climate, high presence of suspended particulate matter and budgetary constraints are some of the key challenges in the preservation of art objects in West Bengal.
"The humid and damp weather makes these paintings prone to fungal attack and also makes it a breeding ground for insects," Mr. Kapur said. Budget is also a major obstacle. "There are a number of old zamindar families which have paintings worth preserving but they are unable to do so due to lack of funds."
-The Hindu, 31st August 2013
