Tribal Affairs Minister V Kishore Chandra Deo’s repeated reminders to chief ministers to ensure the implementation of the Forest Rights Act in their states is hardly having the desired effect. But Deo is persisting in his effort.

This time, he has written to Orissa’s Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik citing a specific example of a tribal village in Kalahandi district.

Deo has brought up the case of Jamguda village the inhabitants of which are heavily dependent on forest and non-timber forest products (NTFPs) for their subsistence.

He has pointed out that the villagers were facing a lot of harassment by forest officials while collecting bamboo.

He has said that the forest department has refused to give transit permit to let the villagers sell the bamboo, worth more than Rs 1 lakh, in the market despite a decision to this effect by the gram sabha - an assembly of all adults of the village - which is the all empowered body in a forest and tribal village.

“In the absence of transit permits, buyers can’t transport bamboo from outside the gram sabha jurisdiction and there are also chances of losing bamboo worth Rs 1 lakh by the gram sabha of Jamguda,” Deo has written in his communication.

Only last month, Deo had written to all CMs to expedite the implementation of the Forest Rights Act, which, he said, was still to bring benefits to the majority of forest dwellers in the country. He had said that the slow and tardy implementation of the Act went “against our professed adherence to the law”.

In his latest letter to Patnaik, Deo has reiterated those points.

“As you are aware, in 2006, Parliament unanimously passed the historic ‘The Scheduled Tribes and Other Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act’. This watershed legislation has been enacted with the laudable objective to remedy the historical injustice done to the tribals/ adivasis and other forest dwelling citizens of our country. However, its implementation continues to suffer from many problems, as a result of which the majority of forest dwellers are not receiving their rights. This goes against our professed adherence to rule of law. Recognition of community rights, such as rights to minor forest produce, grazing areas, water bodies, habitats of primitive tribal groups/pre-agricultural communities, pastoralists’ routes etc and crucial right of the forest dwelling communities to protect and manage their forests has been recognised or respected (and in some cases illegal conditions have been imposed on this right). As a result, large numbers of forest dwellers are facing harassment by forest authorities,” he has written.

“Keeping in view the above facts, I request you to kindly issue necessary instructions to the concerned authorities to allow unfettered right of transit for sale of bamboo by gram panchayat to local buyers which is a right given to them under the FRA Act. If a clear signal is given to implementing authorities that all rights of forest dwellers must be adhered to and that the democratic process under this law must be respected, the forest dwellers of this country may finally find succour and could actually lay claim to their rights and earn livelihood,” Deo’s letter says.


The Indian Express, 2nd July 2012

After normalcy was restored in Kashmir Valley despite stray attempts to vitiate the atmosphere in the aftermath of burning down of a highly revered Muslim shrine, the Jammu and Kashmir Government on Sunday announced that the shrine in the old city would be restored in two-and-a-half years.

The revered shrine dedicated to Syed Abdul Qadir Jeelani, popularly known as Dastageer Sahib got mysteriously gutted on the morning of June 25, sending shock waves among millions of devotees. The fire, which is being probed by Kashmir’s top provincial bureaucrat Asghar Samoon, evoked prompt reaction from the people and angry youngsters brought out processions and pelted stones on police and paramilitaries. A one-day strike called by separatists against the incident triggered a chain of protests and shutdowns continuing for five days.

To maintain peace and tranquillity, authorities clamped curfew-like restrictions in sensitive parts of old city. Observers say that despite inconvenience to the common people during the restrictions, the clamp down prevented spill over of the violence and gradually calmed down the passions.

“The mishandling of situation in 2008 and 2010 summer agitations resulted in large scale bloodshed. This time, it appeared that the Government has learned a lesson. When bullets were not fired, the violence was kept at bay”, said Rafiq Ahmad, a senior Kashmir watcher.

On Sunday, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who is the chairman of Muslim Waqf Board that maintains and regulated valley’s prominent shrines and Waqf endowments, called up Imams, preachers and prominent citizens to announce that the Dastageer sahib shrine would be restored in accordance with its heritage characteristic within a period of 24 to 30 months.

Omar assured that the suggestions to extend the ambit of inquiry ordered to ascertain the reason of the fire would be actively considered. The separatists have demanded an impartial probe while a group of Sunni scholars has demanded inclusion of caretakers of the shrine and the religious scholars into the probe.

The Pioneer, 2nd July 2012

The eco-sensitive Western Ghats along the west coast of India have been included on the coveted list of the World Heritage Sites, at a meeting of the World Heritage Committee held in Russia Sunday evening, an official said here on Monday.

"It is indeed a matter of pride for the country and the concerned states. Now that the central government has taken a strong international posture on this issue, it must, along with the concerned state governments, take tangible ground-level measures to implement it," noted environmentalist Prof. Madhav Gadgil said from Pune.

At present, India has five other natural sites and 23 cultural sites on the Unesco World Heritage List.

Spread over nearly 8,000 sq km, spanning Gujarat, Maharashtra (known as the Sahyadris in the state), Karnataka, Goa, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the Western Ghats are between 60-160 km at the narrowest end points, harbouring a wealth of flora, fauna and more being discovered regularly.

Older than the Himalayas, the mountain chain of the Western Ghats represents geomorphic features of immense importance with unique biophysical and ecological processes.

"The site's high montane forest ecosystems influence the Indian monsoon weather pattern. Moderating the tropical climate of the region, it presents one of the best examples of the monsoon system in the planet," the Unesco said in a statement on late Sunday.

It added that the site also has an exceptionally high level of biological diversity and endemism. It is recognised as one of the world's eight "hottest hotspots" of biological diversity.

"The forests of the site include some of the best representatives of non-equatorial tropical evergreen forests anywhere and are home to at least 325 globally threatened flora, fauna, bird, amphibian, reptile and fish species."

However, Prof. Gadgil said that many of these are under threat and has suggested setting up of a statutory authority to protect the entire Western Ghats.

In 2010, Gagdil headed the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) which submitted a comprehensive report suggesting, among other things, measures to save and protect the Western Ghats.

The Hindu, 2nd July 2012

Mali’s Islamist rebels smashed the entrance of a 15th century Timbuktu mosque on Monday, escalating a campaign of destruction of the city’s cultural treasures despite threats of prosecution for war crimes.

Some residents sobbed as the Islamist militants broke down the “sacred door” of one of the northern Malian city’s three ancient mosques after they wrecked seven tombs of Muslim saints over the weekend.

Exclusive video footage obtained by AFP shows turbaned men chanting “Allahu Akbar” (God is great) while smashing a mausoleum with pick-axes in a cloud of dust, the mud-brick tomb showing gaping holes in the side with rubble piling up alongside it.

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation condemned the destruction, saying in a statement the sites were “part of the rich Islamic heritage of Mali and should not be allowed to be destroyed by ... bigoted extremist elements”Ansar Dine (Defenders of Faith) believes the shrines to be idolatrous and has threatened to destroy any mosque housing the remains of the ancient saints, prompting an outcry from government and the international community.

“The Islamists have just destroyed the door to the entrance of the Sidi Yahya mosque... they tore the sacred door off which we never open,” said a resident. The door on the south end of the mosque has been closed for centuries due to local beliefs that to open it will bring misfortune.It leads to a tomb of saints. However, the Islamists appeared unaware of this. A witness said if they had known “they would have broken everything”.According to the website of the U.N. cultural agency (UNESCO), Sidi Yahya is one of Timbuktu’s three great mosques and was built around 1400, dating back to the city’s golden age as a desert crossroads and centre for learning. - AFP

The Hindu, 3rd July 2012

In a bid to further insulate the Jarawa tribes, the Supreme Court on Monday imposed a ban on all commercial activities by private entities in the buffer zone comprising their habitat. The decision came in the wake of reports about Jarawas being exploited by tourists visiting the Andaman Islands.

After a private resort owner, who was denied permission to operate from the buffer zone chose to pursue litigation, the apex court decided to examine the relevant rules set out to establish shops, resorts and other commercial activities in the island, 80 per cent of which is declared forest land.

A bench of Justices GS Singhvi and SJ Mukhopadhaya held that no commercial venture would be permitted in the demarcated buffer zone as notified by the Centre. However, the convoy vehicles which ferry tourists from the north to the south side of the island through the buffer zone would continue to operate, the bench clarified.

In a set of proposed guidelines submitted earlier to the Court, the Centre had stated: “No tourist establishments such as resorts, restaurants, bars and paying guest accommodations except the government-run guest houses will be permitted within the buffer zone.”

As an added restriction, the Centre proposed to limit commercial activity within the buffer zone to persons or groups employing not more than 20 persons or who have an annual turnover of `1 crore.

Going a step further, the Court held that no commercial activity by private persons would be allowed inside the buffer area. In the event of any violation of its order, contempt of court action would be proceeded against the said individual, the judgement said.

As a long-term measure, the Centre had informed the Court of its intention to open a sea route extending from the north to the south if the island. Pending that, the Centre had proposed to allow tourist activity only to limestone caves and mud volcanoes existing on Baratang Island situated in the buffer zone during the day.


The Pioneer, 3rd July 2012

Western Ghats is now world heritage; save it

Now that the Western Ghats has been included in the coveted list of Unesco’s World Heritage List, there is finally hope for the beleaguered mountain range, recognised as one of the world’s eight “hottest hotspots” of biological diversity. The area is home to 5,000 species of flowering plants, 139 mammal species, 508 bird species and 179 amphibian species. Experts are of the opinion that it is likely that many undiscovered species live in the Western Ghats. No less than 325 ‘threatened species’ of the world are to be found here. The Ghats has faced ruthless erosion of its ecological identity over the past decades, a fact that is well-known and has been repeatedly documented. Sadly, all of it has failed to spur the Government into taking decisive measures to reverse the damage and restore the Ghats’ pristine identity. Unregulated logging, open-cast mining, large dams and the diversion of land to real estate barons have led to environmental degradation as well as social discontent. Nothing describes the Government’s lackadaisical attitude better than its strenuous efforts to gag the Madhav Gadgil-led Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel report.

The 13-member committee, which was instituted by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests to study the situation in the ghats, has submitted its report to the Government. Strangely, the Government has refused to make the report public and has gone to court against an order of the Central Information Commission to place the report in the public domain. The UPA regime believes that “scientific or economic interests” would be adversely affected if the report is made public. It must elaborate on that. At any rate, it’s for the Government to ensure that all such concerns are effectively addressed in the open and not suppressed.

Also, given that India had been energetically campaigning for the inclusion of Western Ghats in the World Heritage List since 2006, the Government cannot now suddenly start discovering ways to keep a report that can help preserve the mountain range’s biodiversity, under wraps. The Western Ghats is as important to the ecological and cultural life of the nation as the Himalayan range. Running from Maharashtra right down to Kerala, it gives rise to many important rivers and is home to numerous places of pilgrimage. The World Heritage Committee meeting at St Petersburg in Russia over the weekend, decided to inscribe 39 serial sites of the Western Ghats on the World Heritage List. “The positive decision on the Western Ghats is a reflection of India’s concerted efforts to inscribe the world’s hottest hotspot on the World Heritage List, thus plugging an important and long-standing gap on the list,” a senior official of Wildlife Institute of India gushed. It would be nice if the WII can now goad the Centre into positive action.

The Pioneer, 3rd July 2012

The Western Ghats have finally got the UNESCO world heritage site status. The tag came late on Sunday at the 36th session of the World Heritage Committee (WHC) which is meeting in St Petersburg in Russia. Altogether 39 sites that dot the Western Ghats landscape will be part of the region designated as WHS.

The WHC decision reportedly came after intense lobbying by the Indian government. The Western Ghats almost did not make it to the WHS list after the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which assesses proposals for sites of natural significance, asked UNESCO to defer granting the WHS tag to the Ghats in May.

Had the WHC abided by the IUCN’s recommendations, the Western Ghats would have had to wait for another three years before it could apply for the status again. Even last year, the proposal of the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) was almost shot down. India, however, managed to keep the proposal afloat.

When the Indian team went to St Petersburg, the WHS status for the Western Ghats was almost a lost cause. Given the backdrop, the Indian government has been able to pull off a coup of sorts.

Sunday’s development now puts the ball back in the court of the Indian government-it needs to act on the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel(WGEEP) report.

The IUCN, in fact, asked India to take into account the recommendations of the WGEEP since the panel had been specifically tasked to compile scientific data and define ecologically sensitive areas through consultation.

Among other things, the report of the WGEEP headed by eminent ecologist Madhav Gadgil had faulted the government on the virtual non-implementation of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act.

The Indian government, for now, has got the coveted status. India will have little option but to adhere to the Operation Guidelines if it wants to retain the tag.

The Hindustan Times, 3rd July 2012

The grant of World Heritage Site status to this hotspot of biodiversity should hopefully protect the ghats from being destroyed by incessant construction and so-called development activities in the name of tourism and enhanced civic amenities

It was a small story, buried in Page 7 or some such, regarding the cancellation of construction of an eco-resort in the Bababudangiri Hills of the Western Ghats, but it brought much cheer to conservationists, for it marked a significant victory in a persistent battle to halt commercial resorts in this landscape. The hills are adjacent to the Bhadra Tiger Reserve, forming an important corridor that connects the reserve with the rest of the forest landscape. It’s a well used passage for wildlife - leopard, gaur, sambar, elephants and tiger. Evidence of breeding tigers in the region has also come to light, tragically, when an orphaned cub (now in Mysore zoo) was found here in October 2010.

Chikmagalur is coffee country. Legend has it that Bababudangiri is where coffee was first grown in India, back in the 16th century. Plantations still clothe these slopes, and while they have fragmented the old growth forest, they still allow wildlife the right of passage.

Over time, this Malenadu landscape, has faced myriad onslaughts -subsistence pressures of local people, and worse, developmental activities like roads, highways, dams, power projects and mining. Some of these were successfully resisted due to their very damaging impact on this fragile landscape.

The hills are still verdant, throbbing with life. But there are worrying new challenges, ironically, from projects packaged and promoted as ‘environment friendly’: Green Energy and eco-tourism. With its natural beauty, the Malenadu region has always attracted visitors, but these visitors were largely restricted to homestays, which did not put much additional pressure on the landscape. That has rapidly changed in recent years with several commercial, self-proclaimed green resorts -some masquerading as ‘homestays’- coming up to cash in on an increasingly holidaying middle class. Ugly, monstrous structures mar the lush landscape, and more of these structures are in the pipeline, including a Rs 125 crore project right at the doorstep of Bhadra.

Tourism is a double-edged sword. It can be a powerful constituency for conservation or a death knell. In its present form, the wildlife tourism sector in India is largely ill-managed, intrusive and unsustainable, putting immense pressure on tiger reserves and blocking vital wildlife corridors. The impact of such ill-planned tourism has been well-documented in Corbett and some other tiger reserves.

Here, the problem is still nascent, but unless nipped in the bud Bhadra may soon be islanded, walled in by mushrooming resorts, rivers diverted, hills gouged out for roads and for construction.

The tourism boom has already taken a toll. Construction of numerous resorts have thrown open new areas -pristine shola forests were slashed, roads widened, power and pipe lines laid - destroying and fragmenting habitat, blocking corridors and leading to increased human-wildlife conflict. Another worry is that most of the resorts either block or divert the flow of fresh water streams which flow through Bhadra, on the higher reaches of the hills to meet their own requirements, impacting vegetation and niche micro-habitat while reducing water availability to agriculture and sustenance of local people.

Tourism is just one of the threats to the ghats. There are other, equally worrying attacks - also touted as eco-friendly: Green energy for one.

The Bababudangiri range spans 57 km and varies in altitude from 1,400-1,800 metres. The steep heights and strong winds have invited wind mill projects and turbines are proposed to come up along 42 km of its length. Erection and maintenance of the turbines will require a well-connected road system, destroying and fragmenting the habitat. The high altitude and windy conditions also make these hills an ideal environment for raptors and other birds, including the endemic White-bellied Shortwing. The ridge also forms a buffer to the Bhadra Tiger Reserve. The vegetation here is the typical shola combination of grassland and forest, supporting highly diverse wildlife, and protecting vital watersheds of River Bhadra.

The cumulative impact is catastrophic. But the good news is, consistent resistance by local conservation groups like the Bhadra Conservation Trust, Wild Cat-C and Kudremukh Wildlife Foundation has achieved some success in stalling some of these projects - such as the recent stay on the Satori Eco-Adventures resort. This gives little relief, though, with over a dozen new projects on the anvil. The wind farm too, has been halted, but there is a looming threat of other, bigger players taking up similar projects.

While the turbines slam the ridges, a slew of mini-hydel dams are poised to drown and pillage remote valleys. Though they have been currently stayed by the Karnataka High Court, the threat from these ‘little green monsters’, as dubbed by scientist, Wildlife Conservation Society, Ullas Karanth, in an article detailing the devastating ecological impacts of such projects, refuses to go away. In fact, not only have they been granted Government subsidies, such projects escape much of the forest and environmental regulatory scrutiny, which has encouraged large projects to be broken down into several smaller ones in order to avoid crucial environment filters.

In response to a petition filed in the Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee, Union Ministry of Environment and Forests- appointed expert panel submitted its inspection report to the CEC in April 2011. The report clearly recommends that “all projects in Western Ghats region involving tourism, wind power and hydropower on Government lands and currently under consideration by the State or Central Governments should be stayed” based on the ‘precautionary principle’. It urgently calls for assessing the carrying capacity of the area, and identifying highly sensitive areas from the biodiversity and wildlife perspective. The report recommends that until such areas are notified, an immediate and complete moratorium be imposed on fresh clearances.

This landmark report, which could clearly bring much relief, lies in cold storage awaiting the CEC’s nod. Meanwhile, the unique biodiversity of the Western Ghats lies vulnerable to further assault.

Postscript: On July 1, the Western Ghats, already recognised as a global biodiversity hotspot, was declared a World Heritage Site. Its importance - ecologically and culturally - has been well-documented. The Western Ghats harbours a variety of spectacular wildlife: Tigers, elephants, lion-tailed macaques, great hornbills, king cobras. It nurtures and nourishes several rivers that sustains humanity in peninsular India.

(The author is member, National Board of Wildlife.)

The Pioneer, 4th July 2012

Growing awareness about preserving the country’s rich heritage has opened up career options like museology for students who have a love for art and culture.SHIBAJI ROYCHOUDHURY tells you more about this interesting yet less pursued field

History is no longer confined to just reading about the past events. New career options emerge every year, the latest one making the headlines is Museology. We know that a museum houses and cares for a collection of artifacts of historical value. The skilled labour required today in order to maintain and preserve these items is fast becoming one of the most off-beat and popular career option.

“Museums have evolved over the last few decades and so has the sociological and educational roles of them. They have become more varied and imaginative. Today, there are different museums for art, history, archaeological items, science and technology as oppose to the early days when everything was compiled into one museum. We even have museums dedicated to military, maritime and wars,” says Ananda Bose, vice-chancellor, National Museum Institute, Delhi.

Scope

Museology is the study of organising and managing both museums and the collectibles in them. It is a wide field and has plenty of options. From administration, preservation to management, the stream is full of potential. “The field is not just confined to manage and maintain the collections, it also involves how to handle a collection. It is a profession where history is revealed not through books but through artifacts. It ensures that our precious heritage and culture are not only well-preserved but also made attractive and accessible to the people,” says Dr V Ravikrishnan, head of department, Tilkamanjhi Bhagalpur University.

Eligibility

Courses start at post-graduate level. Students who have successfully completed their graduation in science, history, art, fine arts and archaeology are eligible to pursue masters in museum studies. “Knowledge of classical or those under the threat of extinction such as Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic, Greek, Latin, German, French and Italian is always an advantage in this field of study,” says R Venkataramanujam, assistant professor, Madras Christian College.

Skills required

It is ideally suited for people who have an analytical bent of mind and an inclination to learn about history and heritage. The work requires a lot of patience and involves traveling to remote areas for field work. It is a demanding field which requires a lot of dedication. Students who aspire to make it big in this field must be able to recognise and appreciate true form of history. Museologists must be prepared to work in different cities.

“The course areas include collection management, documentation, presentation and interpretation, museum architecture, history and archaeology of India, history of art, folk art and culture of India, preservation of natural history specimens, and conservation of cultural properties. The training process in this field isn’t confined to a classrooms, rather they take the form of lecture courses, seminars, special lectures by guest speakers, field trips, laboratory and collection management training, practicum’s and internships,” Bose tells you.

Job prospects

Due to the growing awareness about the conservation of history and cultural heritage, there is a huge need for skilled professionals in this field. In India alone, there are more than 1,000 museums managed by Government and private organisations. “There are a variety of careers that exist within the discipline of museum studies, including museum director, curator, educator, exhibit designer, archivist and conservation specialist. With India alone itself having so many museums, the need for skilled staff is always on a high,” Bose states.

Remuneration

The initial pay packages in this field aren’t as attractive. Having said that, privately owned museums offer much better packages as compared to the ones maintained by Governments which pay between Rs 12,000 and Rs 15,000 at beginner’s level. The privately maintained museums offer between Rs 20,000 and Rs 30,000 depending on the qualification and skills of the applicant,” Dr Ravikrishnan says.

Where to study

Banaras Hindu University (Masters in Museology)

National Museum Institute (Masters in Museology), New Delhi

Dr BR Ambedkar University (PG diploma in Archival Studies & Museology), Agra

Aligarh Muslim University (diploma in Manuscriptology & Paleography)

University of Mysore (PG diploma in Museology, Tourism and Heritage)

Gauhati University (certificate course in Museology)

The Pioneer, 4th July 2012

In the night with each clap of thunder and raindrop

We lie half awake, listening to the echoes of our heart

Wondering what will be left of our land and our lives in the morning.

Sanjoy Ghose

In the mid-1990s, sitting on the embankment of the world’s largest riverine island - Majuli in Assam - Sanjoy Ghose, a visionary and committed development worker could sense the catastrophe the island was bowing out to. Today is 15 long years since he was abducted and murdered by the ULFA militants. The situation in Majuli has only worsened since, erasing not just the land but every effort invested by him and his team of seven committed colleagues at AVARD-NE (Association of Voluntary Agencies for Rural Development - North-East) who decided to work in this unique but utterly disadvantaged geographical region.

Travelling and researching extensively in the region, Sanjoy figured early on that the islanders, living within the furious Brahmaputra with no support from either government or nature, did not necessarily expect dusk to be followed by a dawn. Worse, seeing the fury of the floods this year, there is little predictability about when the sun will go down forever on Majuli and its inhabitants.

Majuli Island has been bearing the brunt of climate change, with every year seeing a paramount shift in the intensity with which the river takes revenge on the hapless islanders for constricting its voluminous silt load by engulfing the land. Every year there are floods in Majuli and large amounts of land are just disappearing under the river, never to surface again. Majuli had a total area of 1,250 sq km, but having lost significantly to erosion it had an area of merely 421.65 sq km in 2001.

Today, the threats of the past are transpiring to become real once again. The roaring waters this year have submerged around 70 villages, erasing 30 others from the records. The displaced population of over 75,000 islanders is estimated to be camping in makeshift shelters. Though, thankfully, there is little loss of life as people have come to understand and live with the phenomenon, there is great deal of loss of livelihoods as the land after the floods become infertile for agriculture - the main source of livelihood on Majuli. A major chunk of the workforce here is directly engaged in agriculture and only a few in services, fishing and livestock rearing.

Sanjoy was amazed to see that agriculture in these parts was a truly organic process. No fertilizer, no pesticides, just the natural warmth of the river, land, earth and the sun. Flooding, erosion and siltation impede the growth in agricultural output, affecting agri income.

During Sanjoy’s home stays on Majuli, farmers explained the intricacies to him, “Floods we’ve learned to live with, but the loss of the land which nurtured us made survival difficult. What we need is erosion control, not flood control.”

Sanjoy was aware that working here was going to be a tough task as the natural disadvantaged were exacerbated by the lack of infrastructure, with no interest shown by the government (which was satisfied with just providing one kilogram of rice per head) or the local politicians (who never seemed to take this as an issue in their campaigns). Sanjoy, with the experience of nine years of work in the rural and most backward villages of Rajasthan, believed the participation of the communities to be vital for any initiative directed towards bringing a change, for there was much to learn from their traditional wisdom and innovation. However, in a situation as impossible as Majuli’s, how could people be expected to generate the confidence to be innovative when their basic needs were not being met? Yet, the team was determined to bring them together and give them the platform to work towards their own benefit.

Seeing AVARD-NE’s relief work during the floods where they called for equal participation from the villagers (for the first time ever the communities were asked for their opinion), the team received the help, co-operation and love of the people. This was amply demonstrated through their voluntary participation in saving Majuli from river bank erosion when, in January 1996, more than a dozen voluntary organisations came together to try and work out an indigenous low cost solution to the problem of erosion.

Twenty one groups in all volunteered. AVARD-NE’s effort was not simply to stop erosion, but also generate a sense of local participation, and create a belief that something can be done, even if on a small scale.

This belief came true between February and April of that year, when approximately 30,000 man-days of labour were contributed by men, women and children, to save their island from erosion. A year later, most of the experimental area survived the monsoons, becoming a symbol of people’s co-operation.

Today, people have left their traditional livelihood in their fight for survival. Many have given up hope and migrated to other parts of Assam owing to lack of employment opportunities and acute poverty. Sanjoy wanted the communities to become independent and work for themselves. The reality today is far removed from this ideal. And yet, the optimism that Sanjoy infused keeps alive a belief.

(Charkha Features)

This day, 15 years ago, Sanjoy Ghose was abducted by ULFA while working closely with the community for the development of Majuli Islands, Assam. Once again today, the area faces an existential threat due to the ongoing floods...

The Hindu, 4th July 2012

As the cluster of 39 sites in the Western Ghats received the World Heritage Site tag on Monday, experts have questioned the logic behind listing the already-protected patches and not giving representation to some of the most sensitive areas like Konkan and Goa where mining and other development activities pose threat to the ecology.

The decision on tagging these 39 sites - including areas from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra - was taken at the ongoing World Heritage Committee meeting in Russia.

Kerala has the maximum tags as 20 of the sites are from the state, followed by Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra with 10, five and four sites, respectively.

Madhav Gadgil, chairman of the Western Ghats Ecology Experts Panel (WGEEP), said, “One of the most glaring aspects is that no representation has been given to Goa and Konkan that have very important national parks and wildlife sanctuaries. I have been speaking to people from Goa after this declaration. They told me of inclusion of sites from neighbouring Karnataka and Maharashtra but said there was no mention of parks in Goa. Same is the case with Konkan which has ecologically sensitive tiger corridors.” He added, “The number of tigers from Goa is never published. Both Konkan and Goa have extensive mining activity that have obscene profit levels. This definitely puts a question mark on what criteria of exclusion was used and whose interests were taken into consideration.”

He also pointed that while the dossier was being prepared for the second time to be submitted to WHC, the WGEEP was never consulted.

Mumbai-based activist Stalin Dayanad, who has been working against mining activity in Konkan and Goa, said, “I think this list needs a revision. Forests in Goa are no less important than neighbouring Anshi-Dandeli in Karnataka. Rather they need to be urgently protected on the backdrop increasing number of mining leases being granted in the area. Forty new mining leases have been granted in Sindhudurg district, which is one of the most important wildlife corridor in the Ghats.”

Suniti S R of National Alliance of People’s Movements, who have been fighting against the Lavasa Lake City project, says, “Questions must be asked about the new notifications from the governments about similar hill city projects, which will not only be bending environment related rules but also completely destroying the livelihood of the local farmers.”

The Indian Express, 4th July 2012

Pakistani authorities have put on hold plans to acq-uire Bollywood icon Dilip Kumar’s ancestral home in Peshawar and preserve it as a national heritage site after several persons laid claim to the property. The government of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province still intends to acquire the house but has adopted a “wait and watch” policy after several persons claimed the property on learning that authorities were willing to pay a sizeable amount for it, a provincial government official said on Tuesday. “The plan has not been abandoned but we are weighing our options as a lot of people are claiming they own the house simply in the hope of getting a portion of the money that will be paid by the government,” the official, who did not want to be named, said over the phone from Peshawar. Provincial culture director Pervez Khan was quoted by Dawn newspaper as saying that authorities had decided not to go ahead with buying the house after more than one person laid claim on the ownership of the property. “Now there are legal complications and till the time the rightful owner is not known, the directorate would not go ahead with the plan,” he said. Ikramullah Khan, the current owner of the property who uses the rundown building to store goods he sells at a nearby hosiery store, said that he was still holding discussions with the government though nothing had been finalised. “I am still talking to the government. I have documents to prove I bought the property,” Khan said. Once the provincial government said it would pay Rs. 30 million for Dilip Kumar’s home, several persons emerged to claim ownership of the property. Ikramullah Khan claimed he had bought the house six years ago for Rs. 5.1 million and that he had legal documents for the sale. The provincial culture directorate even contacted Dilip Kumar’s relatives in Peshawar and India and one of them, possessing an authority letter, informed authorities that he was not aware of any sale. It is suspected that an old servant of the family had sold the house without informing anyone, the Dawn reported. In December last year, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain announced plans to acquire the ancestral homes of Bollywood legends Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor in Peshawar so that they could be preserved as national heritage sites. At a later stage, officials included a proposal to also acquire the ancestral home of Shah Rukh Khan. The culture directorate had planned to bring Dilip Kumar’s personal belongings from India and put them on display at the house. It also planned to set up of a library of his films in the house located at Mohalla Khudadad near the historic Qissa Khwani Bazar.

The Asian Age, 4th July 2012

After mindlessly allowing visitors to trespass the habitat of highly endangered Kashmiri red deer - Hangul - for several months, the authorities have decided to give a breather to the animals in their fawning season.

From Wednesday, tourists would not be allowed to venture into the 100square kilometer Dachigam National Park, the lone habitat of the hangul.

The Hangul or Cervus elaphus hanglu is in danger of being wiped out, primarily due to indifference of the authorities and corruption-ridden State Wildlife Protection Department’s callousness. Sources said that each day more than a thousand people were allowed to go into the National Park following relaxation in entry formalities. The entry restrictions were relaxed to boost tourism but it threatened the vanishing population of the red deer.

Wildlife Warden Dachigam, Mohammad Sadiq confirmed that the Park will be closed for general public from July 4. “It is fawning period for hangul and human interference can have impact on it. Besides heavy rush inside the Park could disturb the ecological balance of the Sanctuary, he said.

Even as the Wildlife Protection Department has embarked on a massive plan to safeguard the endangered population with central assistance, the number of hangul is on a steady decline. Experts say that the number of Hanguls has receded from 5,000 (in early 1940s) to just a little more than a 100. “There is no credible census of the Hangul population but I can say with authority that the population is on the verge of extinction. I remember my childhood days when Hangul used to descend down to our house’s backyard. Now they are not even visible at the mountain peaks deep inside Dachigam”, said Mohiuddin Wani, an elderly resident of Harwan village in the vicinity of the National Park.

Worse, the Hangul breeding centre established with fanfare at Shikargah in south Kashmir’s Tral pocket has shown no positive results for the past two years. “The wildlife department invested money in fencing an enclave for captive breeding of Hangul but the project did not move beyond a photo opportunity on the inaugural day”, said Ishaq Ahmad, a wildlife enthusiast from Tral.

The Pioneer, 4th July 2012

Higher inflation did not deter domestic tourists from visiting their favourite destinations with the Government data showing that their growth continued to grow at a double digit rate in 2011 also. In contrast, though, the gloomy economy has started having its adverse impact on the travel plan of foreigners.

If, during 2011, the number of domestic tourist visits (DTV) to States/UTs registered an increase of 13.8% over 2010 as compared to increase of 11.8% in 2010 over 2009, the growth in foreign tourists’ visits (FTVs) moderated to 8.85% after an impressive growth of 24.6% in 2010.

If Maharashtra was a favourite hot spot among the foreign tourists, Uttar Pradesh found favour among the domestic tourists in 2011.

According to data available from the Union Tourist Ministry, the top nine States in terms of number of FTVs in millions during 2011 were Maharashtra (4.8), Tamil Nadu (3.4), Delhi (2.2), Uttar Pradesh (1.9), Rajasthan (1.4), West Bengal (1.2), Bihar (0.97), Kerala (0.73), Karnataka (0.57) and Himachal Pradesh (0.48).

The contribution of top 10 States was about 90.1% to the total number of FTVs in the country during 2011. The percentage shares of the top 5 States were: Maharashtra (24.7%), Tamil Nadu (17.3%), Delhi (11.1%), Uttar Pradesh (9.7%) and Rajasthan (6.9%).The number of domestic tourist visits (DTVs) to the States/ UTs during 2011 was 851 million as compared to 748 million in 2010 and 669 million in 2009.The top 10 states in terms of number of domestic tourist visits (in millions), during 2011, were Uttar Pradesh (155.4), Andhra Pradesh (153.1), Tamil Nadu (137.5), Karnataka (84.1), Maharashtra (55.3), Madhya Pradesh (44.1), Rajasthan (27.1), Uttarakhand (25.9), West Bengal (22.3) and Gujarat (21.0).The contribution of top 10 States was about 85.3% to the total number of domestic tourist visits during 2011, as per the Ministry.


The Hindu, 4th July 2012

For the new Nalanda University to flourish, it must move closer to a vibrant urban centre where it will have access to a wider intellectual community

The Indian and Bihar governments, with the support of the East Asian Summit, are resurrecting the Sixth century Nalanda University, near its original site in rural northern Bihar. Significant funds have been earmarked for the project, and planning is now under way. Impressive international linkages have already been made. The concept, of course, is wonderful — to recreate in modern garb a true cultural and intellectual treasure of ancient India. The plan for the university focuses on the humanities, social sciences, ecology, and business studies — not the usual engineering and technology emphasis. But some serious practical and conceptual questions need to be asked.

Location, location

The site of academic institutions is of key importance. For Nalanda International University, which wants to attract the best and brightest from India and the world, location is of special relevance. Are top students and faculty going to be attracted to rural Bihar? Perhaps, unfortunately, this option is not likely. The best minds want to be in the centre of intellectual, cultural, and political life. They want to be able to easily mingle with peers and value easy travel connections. The Internet assists scholarly communication, but it does not at all replace human interaction. They value amenities, not only good libraries and laboratories, but also art museums and even an array of attractive restaurants and coffeehouses.

The experience in India and elsewhere, in recent decades, is that it is difficult to build top institutions far from centres. Several of the original Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) were located near but not in major urban centre. Thus, there was room to build a campus, while at the same time permitting relatively easy access to a wider intellectual community and to urban centre. Some of the new central universities, as well as the new IITs, located away from cities and communities are finding it difficult to attract the best faculty and students.

There are some examples of recently established “green field” academic institutions. Without doubt the most expensive is the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), located near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Located near a large city, benefiting from a multibillion-dollar endowment and an unlimited construction budget and connections with top universities overseas, its success is not assured. Luring the best academics to Saudi Arabia is not an easy task. It is significant that King Abdullah, who established the university, kept it separate from the Saudi government, with its own budget and endowment. He did not want the new institution to get bogged down in governmental bureaucracy. This example may have some relevance for India.

POSTECH, the Pohang University of Science and Technology, on the other hand, seems to constitute a significant success, although located in a provincial city in South Korea. Just 20 years old, it is well ranked globally. A private institution, it has benefited from the deep pockets of the Pohang Steel Company. The Japanese government located a technological university on the island of Okinawa, far from the Japanese mainland, several decades ago and made a huge investment. Many claim that it is a success, but the jury seems to be out.

As “Development Projects”

Some of the great American public universities may also offer some insights. Most of the best of them were established in the 19th century in or close to urban centres - the University of California-Berkeley, for example, is near San Francisco and the University of Michigan is near Detroit, while the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is in the middle of corn fields. While the latter is a fine university, it is not as distinguished as Berkeley or Michigan - and it suffers when competing for top faculty.

Governments in many countries decide on the location of new universities for many reasons. Students in an area may not have access to a convenient place to study. A particular region may be in need of investment or development. Or local politicians may have a loud voice. There are often very good arguments for placing higher education institutions in locales where they can contribute to economic growth, student access, or other laudable social goals. India has often been quite successful with this tactic.

But it is always a mistake to try to locate a top-level research university to meet development goals. The initial investment is large, and the chances of success are limited. The fact is that the needs of a research university are quite specialised and not comparable to those of an academic institution focused mainly on teaching.

Can it work?

The new Nalanda’s location is dictated by the site of the original Nalanda and not by specific development goals. However, most likely, part of the motivation is to bring resources and modernisation to Bihar - there is even talk of moving the site of an airport. The challenges facing the new Nalanda, in its effort to become a world-class university, are daunting. As noted, location is a highly negative factor, perhaps even a determining one. Money may also be an issue - building a top-class university is extraordinarily expensive, especially in a rural and undeveloped location - even with assistance of foreign donors and the central government. Funding for the first stages of development is significant, and levels of financial support must be maintained over time to ensure success. Nalanda International University, as an institution that plans, quite rightly, to stress ecology, development, peace studies, and similar “soft subjects,” will find it difficult to obtain recognition in the global rankings, which largely measure the hard sciences. The best tactic here is to forget about the rankings, but this is not an easy thing to do. The involvement of many agencies, of both State and Central government, may create bottlenecks and bureaucracy - which often seems to be the case in India as well as elsewhere.

Perhaps the best course of action would be to keep the name and the spirit of Nalanda but move the university to a more practical location.

The Hindu, 5th July 2012

Karnataka today said the state was against UNESCO declaring 10 spots in Western Ghats as world heritage sites as it would affect development work.

Minister for Forest C P Yogeshwar told reporters here that though the state had opposed the proposal, the Centre has gone ahead with the notification.

Development efforts will be hit if these places were declared as world heritage spots and people living there would face hardship, he said.

Yogeshwar said he would discuss the issue with the Chief Minister later in the day.

BJP MLA D N Jeevaraj, who hails from Chikmagalur district, located in the Malnad region of the state, which passes through the western ghats, also opposed the UNESCO decision.

The state had last year written to the Centre that the spots falling in western ghats in Karnataka should not be declared as heritage centres.

UNESCO's World Heritage Committee included India's 1600-km Western Ghats mountain chain in its list of world heritage sites recently for being one of the eight "hottest hotspots" of biological diversity.

The Indian Express, 5th July 2012

The 147-year-old Town Hall could house a heritage hotel and a museum, officials of the North Municipal Corporation said.

The civic agency has decided to go for an integrated restoration plan for the Victorian-style historical building and its sprawling lawn, where facilities would be there for sound and light shows to showcase the structure’s history.

“We are preparing a fresh report on the restoration plan of Town Hall. It has been decided that one wing of the building will house a museum and the other a heritage hotel,” North Corporation’s Commissioner P K Gupta said.

Sources said a committee would consult historians and cultural experts. “The restoration plan will be executed with minimal changes to the historical structure,” the commissioner said.

The restoration plan of Town Hall - spread over 16 acres in Chandni Chowk - has been hanging fire for the past four years, with several agencies furnishing their suggestions.

ITDC wanted to take over the place in 2008 and transform it into a hotel. Two years later, the erstwhile MCD suggested that its former headquarters should be turned into a museum to display artefacts and pictures of the meetings and events held there.

North Corporation considered the suggestions and decided to have both. Sources said the heritage hotel would be leased out to a private company.

“The lawn at Town Hall will also be restored to reflect the building’s heritage,” an official said. Ornate poles bearing historical citations would also be put on the lawn.

The British built Town Hall in 1865 and called it Lawrence Institute of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Later, it was converted into civic headquarters of Delhi.

The Indian Express, 5th July 2012

Congress regime in Uttarakhand is bent upon executing projects that will harm the environment

The Congress, having seized power in Uttarakhand after five years, seems hell-bent on completing the controversial 330 MW Alakananda hydel project at the earliest. Work on the dam was suspended when the BJP was in power because it threatened the ancient Dhari Devi temple with submergence. Ignoring the mounting demand by conservationists and religious savants for free flow of the Ganga and its tributaries, much obstructed in the past two decades by the mushrooming of dams and diversion tunnels, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests, which gave environment clearance in 2008, quietly set up a committee, headed by Planning Commission member BK Chaturvedi, on June 15 to review issues related to ‘free Ganga'.

Activists were especially incensed by the secrecy that shrouded the exercise, and the fact that non-official members of the National Ganga River Basin Authority, termed expert members - Mr Veer Bhadra Mishra, Magsaysay Award winner Rajendra Singh and Centre for Science and Environment chief Sunita Narain - were also inducted into the committee. They want all three to quit, dismissing the inter-ministerial group as a sham, and its projected three-month survey as a dilatory tactic, geared to allow construction on the dam.

Meanwhile, Srinagar-based academic and activist Bharat Jhunjhunwala, who has been working closely with renowned environmental engineer GD Agarwal, now called Swami Gyanswaroop Sanand, to spike Himalayan dams, was threatened at his residence on June 22 by contractors and employees of the builder involved with the project to withdraw cases against the dam.

The consensus among opponents of Himalayan dams, mushrooming indiscriminately, is that the Srinagar dam should be scrapped. They are also upset that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who heads the Authority, seems to have defaulted from his commitment, given to Mr Agarwal, on ensuring uninterrupted flow of the river. They have further trashed the IIT Roorkee report, detailing the cumulative impact of hydropower projects in the Alaknanda and Bhagirathi basins. The study, undertaken at the behest of MoEF by the Alternate Hydro Energy Centre at IIT, Roorkee, has recommended minimum environmental flow for Alaknanda. This is because 69 projects in the basins are at stake:

The unsustainable approach to dams and hydro-power generation suggests that vested interests and big money, proffered by lending agencies, may be the driving force even if policy-makers cite energy and water needs as the rationale. Last year, the Uttarakhand Government stayed construction of the project beyond 200 MW. The new Congress Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna, following the precedent set by Mr ND Tiwari, Uttarakhand Chief Minister from 2002-2007, is aggressively pro-dams. Mr Tiwari is blamed by environmental activists for having pushed through the mammoth Tehri dam, located on the confluence of Bhagirathi and Bhilangana over a 43 sq km area. This project is condemned as having sharply reduced the Ganga's flow, the Bhagirathi merging downstream with Alakananda at Devprayag to form Ganga. Besides obstructing water flow, with a proliferation of dams on Himalayan rivers and their diversion via tunnels threatening their very survival, the principal factor weighing against the Alakananda project is the location of Dhari Devi temple. Hinduism being essentially a pantheistic faith, holy sites in the lap of nature is no coincidence.

The severely battered Himalayan terrain, with mountains stripped of green cover and rivers diverted through tunnels, cries out for redemption. En route to Kedarnath, BJP leader Uma Bharti - once at the forefront of the Ram Janmabhoomi temple movement - observed that if the Dhari Devi shrine at Srinagar in Garhwal, overlooking Alakananda, were to be sacrificed for a dam, then it would be difficult to save even Kedarnath temple. Or, other Himalayan pilgrimages along rivers which draw lakhs of pilgrims.

No place would be sacred any more, with supposed development imperatives reigning. Ms Bharti undertook a fast in May last year to press for review of hydel projects on Ganga, especially in the Himalayas. Her other demands included enactment of a law to protect Ganga; and saving the Dhari Devi temple from submergence. Then BJP Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ had induced her to call off her fast by giving an assurance that the shrine would not be harmed. An MoEF team that did a field study last June seemed to favour the dam. But a dissenting report was said to have been given by non-official member, Delhi University professor Nayanjot Lahiri, who advised against the team's proposal to ‘elevate' the shrine out of the site.

However, the Congress Government seems to be in a hurry to complete the project, and spur work on other hydro-power schemes. Mr Bahuguna even opposed the earlier declaration of the 135-km-long area between Gaumukh and Uttarkashi as an eco-sensitive zone at a meeting of the Authority in April. He cited the primacy of development needs, an approach that has ravaged the environment.

The Pioneer, 6th July 2012

The rebuilding of Srinagar’s Dastgeer Sahib must see the re-emergence of Kashmiri craft traditions

The images of two remarkable heritage Himalayan structures destroyed by fire - the 19th century Dastgeer Sahib shrine in Kashmir and the 400-year-old Wangdue Phodrang Dzong in Bhutan - have been devastating to all who have seen them. By a strange coincidence, the fires occurred within a span of 24 hours last week. Both structures have deep historical, cultural and religious significance.

One photo from Srinagar, by Associated Press’ Dar Yasin, was particularly arresting: among the people clamouring in the ruins, a man stood balanced on a railing, knees bent, fist raised and mouth open in a shriek that recalled Edvard Munch’s painting, “The Scream”. His scream symbolised the fact that heritage structures are important to more than just an elite corps of conservationists and historians.

However, in a rapidly modernising world, it sometimes takes a tragedy like this to bring to public consciousness the importance of heritage structures. As I first witnessed in 1981, Srinagar was more than just the fabled Dal Lake. Its narrow streets and closely built, leaning buildings captured my deepest interest - eventually leading me to research the origins of their unique timber-laced masonry. When I moved to earthquake-prone California, it was the resistance of those Srinagar houses to temblors that became an inspiration for a research project that has, over 25 years, taken me around the world, and back to Kashmir following the 2005 earthquake. After that earthquake, the residents saw the resilience of traditional timber-laced houses even in the area near the epicentre of the quake in Pakistan, and built approximately 2,50,000 new houses using the traditional Kashmiri construction in place of their collapsed houses made of rubble stone and concrete.

The Dastgeer shrine fire has stripped the stucco off its masonry walls, revealing timber lacing even within its brick walls as well as heavy timber internal framing. Thus, this heritage building shared the kind of technology that makes most of the older buildings of Srinagar so remarkable and potentially influential on new construction, as well as worthy of preservation. Although charred, the heavy timber frame is still sound. In modern building codes, heavy timber has a better fire rating than unprotected steel, which would have collapsed completely. An internal reinforced concrete frame would have been damaged beyond repair by the expansion of the internal steel. Here the masonry walls and some parts of the surviving timber frame stand as an armature for the shrine’s future restoration - giving pause to those who may advocate that a reconstruction should not be a renewal of the traditions that are embodied in its 19th century form.

Such insights offer small consolation when one confronts the loss of the interior artistic finishes. Fires are indeed more frequent than earthquakes and leave little of value behind. Hopefully, the destruction of the two great Himalayan heritage monuments in India and Bhutan will stimulate national and international efforts to prevent fires and to reduce their rapid spread from one segment of a structure to another. In Srinagar, the volume and force of water cannons appears to have been woefully inadequate, and there were no fire tenders with extension ladders to allow hoses to be aimed inside the building and onto the burning roof. INTACH’s J&K convenor, Saleem Beg, has also observed that foam-based fire-extinguishers would have been far more effective than water in extinguishing the fire that spread across the oil-stained wood of the Dastgeer Sahib shrine.

In addition to the conspicuous need for on-site fire extinguishers and standpipes, there should be other effective, prevention efforts. Earlier, roofs were covered with soil in Kashmir; now almost all of them are clad with galvanised, corrugated steel sheets. Soil-covered roofs can possibly slow the opening of holes in the roof, while sheet metal quickly comes off, allowing the flames to rise high on the oxygen drawn up through the structure. Since soil-covered roofs are unlikely to be reinstated, other measures are necessary. The fires in Bhutan and Kashmir spread rapidly through interlocking roof structures which did not have any firewalls. The absence of masonry or traditional plaster firewalls in both complexes is what is most surprising, as firewalls are an old and well-proven technology in slowing the spread of fire.

The specifics here are not comprehensive, but serve to emphasise the need for a coordinated approach for improvements in both fire-fighting and fire protection. It is encouraging that Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has directed that the restoration of the shrine “be strictly based on its heritage characteristic”. But, ultimately, Srinagar as a historic city can only be saved if its residents come to understand the importance of all of its heritage structures, not just great monuments. It is necessary to understand the historical context in which a monument like the Dastgeer Sahib shrine exists, even when it is rebuilt. By good fortune and planning, INTACH J&K has extensively documented the now destroyed shrine with measured drawings and photographs.

Hopefully, the re-emergence of craft traditions that will be necessary to rebuild the shrine in the traditional way can lead to a renewed respect throughout Srinagar for traditional buildings, and a movement away from the identification of reinforced concrete construction as the requirement to be “modern”. That would indeed offer a kind of salvation from such a horrible loss.

Langenbach, emeritus professor of architecture and building conservation at University of California, Berkeley, is the author of ‘Don’t Tear It Down! Preserving the Earthquake Resistant Vernacular Architecture of Kashmir’

The Indian Express, 6th July 2012

An art show emphasising the beauty and uniqueness of watercolours will be mounted soon at Art Perspective gallery

While monsoons continue to play hide-and-seek with us, an assortment of colour-soaked watercolours evoking its spirit, as if praying for it to come soon and in abundance, will be soon mounted in a group show at Art Perspective gallery in Lado Sarai, New Delhi. Suruchi Saraf of recently opened Art Perspective has gathered artists from different parts of the country who have been working in the medium.

An exhibition of watercolours generates curiosity. Simply because we don’t get to see them so often - at least not such full-fledged shows dedicated to the medium. As Bangalore-based artist Prabal Mallick, who is participating in the show, says, watercolours aren’t even considered mainstream practice because that space is ruled by oils and acrylics. But is that a deterrent for somebody who paints for himself and not for the market? Once upon a time, Mallick too was in love with oils and one day he stopped painting. Four years ago, he got a calling again but this time he took to watercolours. A watercolourist since then, he swears by the impact the medium has not just on the viewer but even the artist himself. “It’s kind of seductive… I had to unlearn a lot of things about painting because I was doing oils all this while. I had to learn when to control it and when not to control it,” explains Mallick, who likes to do en plein air. His six paintings to be exhibited at the show include three landscapes and a set of three other works.

Mumbai-based senior artist Prafull Sawant also laments the fact that watercolours don’t enjoy as much popularity as oils and acrylics. Having recently been awarded by Washington-based Northwest Watercolour Society, Sawant says the medium is tougher than others. “It’s about control and speed and you have to work within these limitations. Though I do oils also, every year I try to get out of the city and go to a different place and paint outdoors. And those are usually watercolours. These works have come out of my Chittor trip. The luminosity and fluidity is difficult to achieve anywhere else.”

Mumbai-based Vasudeo Kamath is another one who is fascinated by the medium, and though he works with oils his love for watercolours hasn’t diminished one bit. Kamath portrays India’s ancient heritage by recreating the magic of dohas, abhangs and Marathi poetry by saints like Kabir, Tulsidas, Narsimh Mehta and Jana Bai.

Other participating artists are Vikrant Shitole, Vinayak Deshmukh, Ramesh Jhawar, Amit Kapoor, Sikander Singh, Anjani Reddy, Anurag Mehta, Raktim Chatterjee, Sanjay Kamble, Sachin Naik, Biju Mathew and Rajesh Sawant.

The Pioneer, 6th July 2012

Digging near the site of the planned underground Jama Masjid Metro station has led to the discovery of what are believed to be the remains of the 17th-century Akbarabadi Mosque, which was demolished by the British after the 1857 revolt.

A wall made of stone blocks was discovered in Subhash Park on Thursday, reinforcing claims that it is part of the foundation of the mosque that one of Shahjahan’s wives built.

Matia Mahal legislator Shoaib Iqbal, who has been leading the team of excavators, was convinced that the wall belongs to Akbarabadi Mosque.

“We have been digging at the site near Jama Masjid for the past three weeks. The foundation wall of the mosque was discovered on Thursday. Earlier, we found several ceramic and clay pots. Officials of the Archaeological Survey of India visited the site three days ago. They took photographs of the artefacts,” he said. “I have been paying from my pocket to meet the digging expenses. We will restore the site after completing the excavation in another week. The foundation is 15 feet below the ground. It measures 200 feet from the front and 700 from the back,” Iqbal said.

“I have been paying from my pocket to meet the digging expenses. We will restore the site after completing the excavation in another week. The foundation is 15 feet below the ground. It measures 200 feet from the front and 700 from the back,” Iqbal said.

Considered the twin of Fatehpuri Masjid in Chandni Chowk, Iqbal said: “This site has a lot of historical relevance because the Quran was translated into Urdu here. It has found mention in a letter written by the Delhi Urban Art Commission to the architect carrying out redevelopment of Jama Masjid.”

ASI’s Delhi Circle chief D N Dimri said: “I have not visited the site, but will do so in a day or two. As far as I know, the Railways were initially carrying out digging and discovered the artefacts. Whether the foundation discovered there is of Akbarabadi Mosque can be established only through evidence. Proof can be found by exploring the site.”

ASI officials claimed that Iqbal and his people took over the excavation site after the artefacts were discovered.

Delhi Metro said it has no role in the excavation in Subash Park. “Our work is 50 metres away from the site,” a DMRC official said.

INTACH convenor of Delhi chapter A G K Menon said: “People believe that the mosque was there, but it was never excavated after it was demolished in 1857. There are hundreds of ruins of this kind in the city. Though the mosque cannot be restored, the site can be explored.”

The Indian Express, 6th July 2012

Vault A, first of the six secret cellars of the Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple, Thiruvananthapuram holding treasures worth over Rs 1,00,000 crore, was opened on Thursday morning for evaluation and documentation of the invaluable artefacts, ornaments and other items kept in it..

An expert committee appointed by the Supreme Court for the evaluation and documentation of the six secret chambers in the temple has prepared detailed guidelines for the examination of Vault A. This vault is said to be holding 90 percent of the treasures which gave the Sri Padmanabha temple the status of the richest Hindu shrine in the world.

Vault A is holding a minimum of 300 pitchers made of solid gold, 2,500 Sarapoli Malas (gold chains studded with several diamonds and rubies), several stone-crowns and other items collected there over the centuries. According to the temple records, invaluable articles that had been given to the temple as offerings since fourteenth century are kept in this vault.

The cellar was opened once last year with the help of the Fire Force. Examinations were held after filling it with oxygen from outside to avoid accidents in the cellar. The vault is accessed after opening two doors - one made of metal and the other wooden - and removing a rock plate covering the entrance.

Preliminary assumption of the expert committee is that a minimum of four to six months would be required to document and evaluate the articles kept in Vault A. The decision to open the vault was taken by a joint meeting of the Supreme Court-appointed expert committee and the supervisory panel last week.

A committee the apex court had appointed earlier had estimated in July-August, 2011 that the six chambers in the shrine could be holding precious articles worth over Rs 100,000 crore. Vault A is also holding gold in several forms like nuggets and coins.

The vault was opened on Thursday as the scientific assessment of items in vaults C and D was over. Evaluation of the articles in Vault C was completed a month ago while that of Vault D was completed on Monday. Vault D used to be opened five times a year to take out items required for puja on auspicious occasions.

On Thursday morning, the Advocates Commission appointed by the Thiruvananthapuram District Court opened Vault A for the expert committee to start evaluation. The committee shifted the contents of the cellar to the specially arranged evaluation room within the temple. The items would be returned to the cellar in steel boxes after documentation and evaluation.

The Pioneer, 6th July 2012

November 1, 2000, a new state in central India came into existence and with that came into light a plethora of world-class tourist sights which were for the most part unheeded or rather overlooked.

With about 44 per cent of its area under forest cover and a centuries-old fabled history - Chhattisgarh has all what it takes to become a global tourism hotspot! Well connected to all the major cities by air and railway, the most convenient city to embark on during your journey is of course the state capital, Raipur. Just 83 kms. East of Raipur on the banks of the perennial River Mahanadi, Sirpur is a must go place for history buffs. Known as Shripur in the ancient times it used to be the capital of South Kosala province. The fame which this place had in those times was such that even the great Chinese traveller Hsuan-Tsang paid a visit to the city in 7th century AD and praised its prosperity. Now, Sirpur is known for its Laxman Temple - the oldest brick Temple of India and some of the largest Buddhist Viharas. There is a museum too, which houses all the historic sculptures found during excavations at the various sites near by. One can also plan a trip to Barnawapara Sanctuary (15 kms from Sirpur) and try their luck to spot some wildlife and get a wonderful safari experience with sublime green ambiance. The capital of the erstwhile princely state Bastar, Jagdalpur, some five hours drive on NH 43 from Raipur, definitely is the place to lodge if you want to unfurl some of the best what Mother Nature has bestowed upon Chhattisgarh. About 50 km west of Jagdalpur, river Indravati during its course blesses Chhattisgarh with the broadest waterfall of India, Chitrakote Falls. I was fortunate enough to visit this waterfall at the peak of monsoon when its breadth is maximum; and seriously, the very sight of it is majestic. It is one of those rare waterfalls where one can witness the formation of a rainbow on a sunny day. This 95 feet high single drop spectacle is aptly dubbed as the ‘Niagara Falls of India’. Thirty eight km south-west of Jagdalpur, on River Mugabahar, amidst the dense jungle of Kanger Ghati National Park, the Teerathgarh Falls are one of the most picturesque natural scenic spots of Chhattisgarh. Unlike the Chitrakote Falls, this waterfall has clear waters and it thus gives a milky white appearance while flowing from a height of about 300 ft. Best seen in the monsoon, one can even get a bird’s eye view of the waterfall from a watch tower in the National Park. A nearby attraction, in fact just on the other side of the road which connects to Teerathgarh, is the enigmatic Kutumsar Caves. Discovered in the late 1950s these caves are believed to be the longest natural caves of India. These limestone caves are the only place in India where one can literally touch the stalactites and stalagmites, which we once read in our Geography text books! In this exhilarating setting with 80 per cent less oxygen from the ground level, one can also be fortunate enough to perceive an evolutionary miracle - blind freshwater fish. Surviving in pitch dark for ages, these fish have evolved in such a way that they no longer need eyes and hence they are born blind! The caves are closed during the monsoon and the waterfall is best seen in the monsoon, so, be selective in your choice. Anyway, October seems to be a safe bet to enjoy both the spots together. With so much to explore and even more to absorb. Indeed, Chhattisgarh is full of surprises!

The Asian Age, 8th July 2012

To protect rivers from sand mafia, the country's top official legal aid institution on Saturday decided to move the Supreme Court with a PIL seeking to stop incessant digging of river beds that reduces the river's capacity to irrigate agricultural land.

National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) under the chairmanship of senior most Supreme Court Judge, Justice Altamas Kabir, took the decision to file a writ petition before the Green Bench of the apex court as it felt that the sand mafia operating in collusion with police and politicians were flouting norms and orders restricting extraction of sand from river beds..

Due to unregulated and excessive sand mining by the mafia, the river bed deepens allowing the water to flow at a depth to mar the prospects of irrigation, NALSA secretary general U Sarath Chandran said.

"Taking into account the needs of the construction industries and the need to protect the rivers in the country, a policy needs to be framed in tune with the principles of sustainable development, for regulating sand-mining activities to meet the present needs without jeopardizing the future generation's right over natural resources," Chandran said.

NALSA has also decided to gather extensive evidence of excessive extraction of sand from river beds by engaging law students to collect data and photographic evidence of the ecological menace caused by sand mafia.

The decision to file a PIL on sand mafia was an attempt by the legal aid authority to play a larger role in social justice litigation. Earlier, it had filed a petition in the SC seeking direction to governments for protection of widows of Vrindavan who live in pitiable conditions after being abandoned by their kith and kin.

In the Vrindaban widows' case, the apex court has already constituted a committee for an elaborate survey of the number of widows, their condition and the facilities extended to them by the government. NALSA also decided to file a PIL seeking to protect the legal rights of transgender community, Chandran added.

The Times of India, 8th July 2012

Delhi and Singapore have very little in common geographically. The only thing linking the two was their dependence on rivers running through their midst. Yamuna turned into a sewage carrying channel and continues to be one. Singapore's river was probably in a worse state till the 1970s. And that is where the similarity ends.

In a period of 10 years and at a cost of about Singapore $300 million, the city managed to clean up the river completely and turn it into a matter of pride. The water is sparkling clean and devoid of any stench. Where no fish existed earlier, over 200 aquatic species have been documented now. It has become the heart of the city's recreational pursuits while the land along the river has been put to commercial and residential use.

The river had been at the heart of Singapore's trade and commerce, providing an important transportation channel to and from the city, since the city was founded in 1819. "The main sources of water pollution in the river were squatter colonies, backyard industries, street hawkers and vegetable wholesalers, and pig and duck farms...waste water was discharged directly into the river...By 1977, the water in the Singapore river was black, foul smelling and devoid of aquatic life. The river was dead," says a report by the Asia-Pacific Forum for Environment and Development (APFED).

In 1977, prime minister Lee Kuan Yew had the environment ministry draw up an action plan. This included resettlement of more than 16,000 families living in squatter colonies in public housing estates and relocation of 2,800 polluting industries to industrial estates.

Till here, the story of the Yamuna and the Singapore river follow a similar trajectory. In the past decade or more, Delhi government has drawn up plan after plan to clean the Yamuna. In November 2000, the urban development ministry made a strong case for removal of slums from the river banks as they were a major cause of pollution. By 2004, thousands of families had been 'relocated' to remote corners. That, however, made little difference, and by 2006, the river was even more polluted.

While Singapore's resettlement plans included providing the relocated families with proper sewage networks, Delhi's slum-dwellers found themselves without even the most basic of facilities. "Some 610 pig farms and 500 duck farms were either phased out or relocated to other areas. Polluting industries and trades were also re-sited to other areas with proper pollution control facilities," says the APFED report.

Delhi, meanwhile, failed to take a comprehensive view of the problem. Singapore set itself a deadline of 10 years and met it; Delhi failed completely. "One agency or department should have been made responsible for overseeing the river cleaning work. In Delhi, there is Delhi Jal Board carrying out projects under the Yamuna Action Plan, DDA developing the city without any concern about water and sewage and the municipal corporation dealing with waste management. There is no co-ordination between the agencies. DJB has spent crores of rupees already and is now looking at the interceptor sewage system as a last resort. This too was to have been partially constructed by 2010 but will now not be ready before 2014," said Vinod Jain of NGO Tapas.

In Singapore, the project was launched under the environment ministry while a high-level working committee comprising various government ministries and statutory boards was set up to look into the implementation and monitoring of the various action programmes. The success of the project is also attributed to the involvement of grassroots and civic organizations, business community and NGOs.

Once the sources of pollution were eliminated, the government set down to develop the riverfront. The river was dredged, quay steps along the river waterfront repaired, the walkway along the river tiled and turfed and large-scale plantation carried out. To merge the riverfront with the cityscape, a 3-km stretch along the Kallang basin was given facilities like piers, shelters and benches.

The project to clean the river officially drew to a close in 1987. From then on, the government took up aggressive development of the riverside and conservation of the river. Before the start of the new decade, the riverside started getting dotted by what now defines Singapore's skyline. A central business district with modern skyscrapers, shopping centres, condominiums and hotels lined the waterway. The government also took up conservation of shophouses, buildings and bridges. In 2007, work on the Marina Barrage, a reservoir at the mouth of the river, drew to a close. Constructed at a cost of Singapore $226 million, Singapore's 15th barrage stores water for the city and acts as a flood control measure.

In April 2006, the Public Utilities Board launched the Active, Beautiful, Clean Waters programme. Under this, Singapore's massive network of drains, canals and reservoirs is being converted into clean waterscapes and being integrated with its parks and gardens to create new recreational spaces.

The Times of India, 8th July 2012

Google is trying to preserve endangered languages through its recent project. What is India's gameplan to protect 197 of its written and spoken dialects that are disappearing?

On January 26, 2010, when 85-year-old Boa Sr passed away at Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, many things died with her. The most important of the cultural heritage that faded into oblivion with her passing away was her language - Bo, of the Great Andamanese family of which she was the last speaker . And with that an endangered language had met its end.

Just a few months before the passing away of Boa Sr and Bo, the Unesco had released an atlas of the world's endangered languages, which India had topped with 196 languages in the category (Tulu was added to take the number to 197). The figure had set the alarm bells ringing in a linguistically wellendowed country like India. Though work has been going on to save the country's languages, the issue has come under the spotlight with Google announcing its Endangered Languages Project recently (its website, www.endangeredlanguages .com, lists 53 languages in India's account).

What after all is a dying language and how can it be saved? An endangered language is one that is likely to become extinct in near future. These are languages that are falling out of use with newer generations switching to other languages for various reasons.

S N Barman, director of the Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), Mysore, says, "A language's survival becomes threatened primarily if it is abandoned by its speakers. People may give up their language for various reasons -for better social identity, upward mobility or for economic reasons. Often, political reasons too play a part though no Indian language has become extinct due to imposition of a state policy."

As for saving these languages, the community's interest in safeguarding its linguistic heritage - which implies the language and other cultural symbols of the community enumerated through its language - is cited as the most vital factor by most scholars. A Krishna Murthy, secretary, Sahitya Akademi, says: "The primary issue is not that of the language but of its speakers. If a community and its way of life are preserved, its language will automatically survive. Sindhi, for instance, is a stateless language yet it thrives due to its speakers."

The Sahitya Akademi supports 24 Indian languages - 2 more than the number recognized by the Constitution - and Murthy adds that support is always available for work being done in any language even if it is unrecognized, or is only a dialect.

The CIIL's role in saving a language involves surveys to measure its state of endangerment. "If a language's extinction is imminent, then detailed documentation is undertaken. But if there is scope to save it, then after the documentation , efforts are made to introduce it at the primary level of education ," says Barman.

The CIIL is soon going to submit a new project to the government on saving endangered languages . Author/poet Ashok Vajpeyi had also suggested the institution of an independent national commission for languages to former prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpeyee with the latter announcing the same on September 14, 1999 but the idea was later shot down. Vajpeyi says that much more is needed to preserve India's rich linguistic diversity. "As languages are the repositories of the entire racial memory, the communities as well as the state will have to jointly save the languages. Unfortunately, language is not a top political or social issue in India today," he says.

A new stakeholder on the subject has taken birth with the Google project. Gregory D S Anderson, director of the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages, Oregon, USA, who has been working in India on tribal languages of the Munda and Tibeto-Burman families for two decades, says, "The internet develops an online presence and allows various communities a level playing field which was inconceivable until recently." Anderson adds that his organization has been working on various language projects with Indian communities such as the Bonda (Remo), Didey and Sora of Odisha, the Mundas of Jharkhand, the Khasis of Meghalaya and the Koro-Aka of Arunachal Pradesh among others.

According to Endangered languages .com, only 50% of the languages alive today would be spoken by the year 2100 - which means that despite efforts, some languages will eventually die. This also means that the threat of extinction for languages like the Great Andamanese , which has only 5 speakers, is real. After all, except for Hebrew in Israel, no other language in the world has made the enviable transition from being a dead entity to the first language of a large community . But with the world coming together both online and offline, there is hope that the languages would remain with us even when their speakers are gone.

Struggling for survival

The Great Andamanese, spoken in Middle and North Andaman has only 5 speakers while Jarawa in the South Andaman Island has 31 A few languages spoken in northeast India, like Ruga, Tai Nora, Tai Rong and Tangam - have just 100 speakers each

The Times of India, 8th July 2012

The new police commissioner of Delhi, it seems, loves India Gate. Just days after he joined, Neeraj Kumar visited India Gate and expressed concern over the haphazard movement of pedestrians and the presence of hawkers.

Kumar has directed local and traffic police to clean India Gate and to streamline pedestrian and vehicle movement there. Acting on his direction, the traffic police have created extra parking space. They will also depute extra staff to facilitate pedestrian movement.

"The new police chief visited India Gate and suggested a few changes. Traffic police have already made some changes. The local police will make sure that hawkers don't encroach upon the land," said a senior police officer..

Local police have deployed extra staff to make sure that hawkers and ice-cream vendors do not occupy road.

"A major problem at India Gate is that motorists often park their vehicle on the roadside. The area should look good and we are looking at creating more parking space," the officer added.

Traffic police have identified two spots where cars can be parked.

"In case paid parking is full, the motorist can park their cars here. Now the capacity of India Gate parking is 900 cars," Satyendra Garg, joint commissioner of police (traffic) said. To regulate the movement of pedestrians, traffic police will put up ropes. "We will put up ropes to ensure that those who want to cross the road should stand in a queue. We will also make sure that when pedestrians cross the road, vehicles should stop and give way to them. Our officers will ensure the smooth movement of both the people and vehicles," Garg added.
The Hindustan Times, 8th July 2012

Environmentalists have launched a campaign to protect around 300 narcondum hornbills, whose only home on the globe is a 6.5 sq km island in the Andamans.

The standing committee of the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) recently asked environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan to take a call on the Indian Coast Guard's proposal for installation of a coastal surveillance radar, laying of a two-km road through the virgin forest, and setting up of a power supply source in the Narcondam Island Sanctuary - where the birds have been living for centuries.

The coastal guard had proposed installation of the radar to keep an eye on ships passing through Indian waters, besides poachers and intruders.

However, independent members of the standing committee opposed the move.

Madhusudan of the Nature Foundation and Asad Rahmani of the Bombay Natural History Society were of the view that any such activity should be handled with the utmost caution.

They have asked the coast guard to install the radar device within the already-existing police outpost on the island, instead of finding a fresh location. The coast guards, however, insist on installing the system in the middle of the unique island sanctuary.

During the June meeting of the National Board for Wildlife, Natarajan was asked to take a final call on the issue. Wildlife activists across the country have urged her to reject the coast guard's proposal, claiming that it would cause irreparable damage to the narcondum hornbills' habitat.They said the coast guards have failed to provide a convincing reason for installing the radar system on this very island, and also refrained from providing any alternatives.

The Hindustan Times, 8th July 2012

As part of its Save Ganga campaign, a high-level delegation of the BJP on Saturday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking his intervention in saving the ancient Dhari Devi shrine in Uttarakhand that is facing threat of submergence in Srinagar Dam in Garhwal.

The leaders - including LK Advani, Nitin Gadkari, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and Uma Bharati - told the PM that the BJP was not opposed to the several hydro-electric and other development projects along the Ganga but was opposed to measures that lead to extinction of the river’s ecology and cultural-spiritual heritage along its banks.

In a memorandum submitted to the PM, the BJP also demanded that Uttarakhand be given 2,000 MW of free power from the Centre to cater to its needs as many hydel projects cannot be built on the river Ganga, which is considered as a national heritage. Further, it cited the proposal of the Ganga Action Plan (GAP) that the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) be given a “specific and time-bound mandate” to make Ganga ‘nirmal and aviral’ (clean and relentless). They also demanded that the Ganga be maintained as an international heritage site.

Following the meeting, Uttarakhand's former Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank told reporters that the Prime Minister has asked Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan to look into the matter and get a fresh detailed project report (DPR) prepared so that the Dhari Devi shrine is saved. Pokhriyal claimed that in the earlier DPR, the Dhari Devi shrine was not being submerged but it will get submerged in the dam as per the new report.

Dhari Devi is situated on the banks of river Alaknanda, at a distance of about 15 km from Srinagar (Pauri Garhwal) on the Srinagar-Badrinath highway. Perched atop a 20-metre-high rock, the temple attracts tens of thousands of devotees on their way to Badrinath. Pokhriyal pointed out that the shrine was visited by all devotees visiting Badrinath, Kedarnath and Hemkunth.

"The PM has assured us that Dhari Devi shrine will be protected and not be allowed to be submerged. The Srinagar Dam will also be made and Dhari Devi will also be saved," Pokhriyal maintained.

For her part, Uma Bharati later said under the Save Ganga campaign, she would undertake a yatra from August 24 to October 31 from Gangasagar to Gangotri

As part of the campaign, the BJP has been seeking review of hydropower projects especially in eco- sensitive Himalayan region and enactment of a law in Parliament declaring Ganga as national heritage. Former Uttarakhand Chief Ministers BC Khanduri and Bhagat Singh Koshiyari too were part of the delegation.

The Pioneer, 8th July 2012

Almost three weeks after Engineers India Limited (EIL) - consultant for CP Redevelopment Plan - claimed that procedural delays were responsible for the CP mess, traffic police have given a go-ahead to the company to start excavation on Minto Road.

EIL officials had said that the underground service utility corridor in the Middle Circle was stuck in red tape as they weren't getting permission from traffic police to begin digging. "The work will start from Tuesday. The corridor is almost ready. A small part of Minto Road has to be excavated to construct a room for the transformers which will be connected to the rest of the corridor," said an EIL official. The radial road between C and D block which connects Inner Circle with Outer Circle is now out of bounds for commuters for 200-odd days.

The three exit points have also been reduced to two. Commuters on their way out from the inner circle will have to exit from radial 7 or radial 3. The exit point from inner circle towards Sansad Marg has been closed due to the ongoing work.

"We will be placing soft barricades on the radial road and traffic will be diverted. However, we will review the situation on Monday if commuters face major problems," said Satyender Garg, Joint CP (traffic).

Though the move may help expedite CP's renovation, New Delhi Traders Association seems to be unhappy with the development. They feel the petrol pump on the stretch, owned by one of the traders, will run out of business due to closure of the road. The association held a meeting with EIL on% Saturday to discuss alternative ideas."Closure of the road will spell trouble for our business. We have asked the firm to provide us a loop connecting the road to the Middle Circle as an alternative. Traders have already suffered huge losses because of the ongoing redevelopment work," said Atul Bhargava, president of the association. Traders say pending work needs to be completed before fresh digging starts.

The Times of India, 8th July 2012

South Sikkim: Aakash Mehrotra soaks in the sights and sounds of a verdant valley surrounded by an army of ageing pine trees

Think of Sikkim and the images of snow clad peaks, terraced rice fields, lushly forested hills, misty clouds setting in the deep valleys, whispering falls and mesmerising cascades come before your eyes. Sikkim is a painter’s dream - a beautiful landscape sketched by the Creator. With these thoughts, we set out for this land of peace and tranquillity. All along our way, we are accompanied by the majestic River Teesta storming its way through the heavy boulders; its thunder cry adding to the noise of the traffic of NH 31 - the only road that connects Sikkim with the rest of the country. This first tryst with Sikkim is very much like treading between the familiar and the alien. We are yet to reach Gangtok, our destination, but we can already feel a connection with nature and the rhythm in the lives of people. Journey from Bagdogra to Gangtok covers a myriad of landscapes.

After five hours of being on wheels, we reach our hotel - Welcome Heritage Denzong Regency - a sprawling old heritage property. The old building displaying Sikkimese architecture glows as the clear blue sky shines over it. The feeling of tradition in the air adds to the priceless moment.

A quick shower later we go straight to the restaurant – Gyakho. The Sikkimese dishes like doku, sukamayo, peng and shang are as tasty as their names are difficult.

The next day entails a long trip to the capital of South Sikkim - Namchi. Before I set off, I get up early in the morning and soak in the beauty of the local guardian of the city, the Kanchenjunga, the third highest peak of the world, while sipping a cup of green tea procured from the tea estates of Tami, an area I am to visit during the day.

Soon, we take to winding roads etching into the steep mountain slope, the constant gurgling of River Rangeet, chirping of birds in the woods around us. The unspoilt mountain air is filled with the fragrance of flowers covering the deep valleys; every turn shows some unique colours of the unexplored South.

South Sikkim is quite new on the tourist road-map and is in news for some man-made marvels. Our first stop is the tea estates of Tami. Tami tea gardens were established way back in 1960s by the then Sikkimese Government under the last King, Chogyal Palden Thondup Namgyal. We learn from our driver that the tea produced here is a rare combination of liquor and flavour and fetches some of the highest rates in the international market.

Just a few turns ahead is Damthang Biodiversity Reserve a unique blend of village tours, soft treks, and bird watching trails - a small but complete package for an easy day out.

Little ahead is Namchi. Our first stop in this beautiful town is the ‘wish fulfilling hill’. This hill - Samdruptse - hosts the highest statue of Guru Padmasambhava, venerated as the second Buddha in the Tibetan culture. This 135 feet high statue has been considered a major cultural heritage of the State and is visited by a huge number of devotees. Samdruptse hill is a dormant volcano and the legend says that the Buddhist monks offer prayers to keep it calm. The hilltop offers a view of Namchi town, Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Kanchanjunga and eastern part of Nepal from different angles.

The statue is no doubt an engineering marvel but something more inviting awaits us. Namchi has recently been in news because of a very innovative cultural- cum-religious centre - Siddheshwar Dhaam. Called ‘Chaar Dhaams’, this is situated at a distance of just 5 kilometres from Sandruptse. A facsimile of the actual four dhams of the Hindu religion, this cultural site brings the four pilgrimage sites of India to a single destination. The dhaam also houses the 108 feet high deity of Lord Shiva with replicas of the 12 ‘jyotirlingas’ enclosing it that and an elegant mock structure of ‘Shirdi Dhaam’.

The site is a real eye-catcher with a grand gallery displaying Sikkimese art and a lush green garden festooned with fountains at different levels.

We soon head off for Gangtok. With cool breeze slapping our face, we yet again soak in the sights and sounds of nature. The place is like a hidden dream.

The Hindu, 9th July 2012

In one of the worst floods to hit Kaziranga,573 animals have been killed, and scores run over by speeding trucks while fleeing to the elevated ground. And shockingly, despite the magnitude of the deluge, helicopters havent been used to see where human intervention may help in reducing the scale of the unfolding tragedy. We found 14 more carcasses of hog deer and sambars in Kaziranga. Were still looking for more carcasses. Were using elephants to move inside the park as all roads are damaged, said park director S Bora. A large number of animals migrated to elevated grounds in the adjoining Karbi Anglong area when 80% of the park area was inundated on June 29,when,according to Assam environment and forest minister Rockybul Hussain, water level in Kaziranga touched 76.46m.This is 1.44m above the danger level.

Of 573 animals killed,14 are Assams famed onehorned rhinos which are on the endangered list, one elephant, one wild buffalo,483 hog deer,10 swamp deer,21 sambhars,31 wild boars, two hog badgers, two gaurs, one jackal and five porcupines.

While the water level dropped to 74.5m,its still too early to rule out more animal deaths. We are assessing the extent of damage to park infrastructure. It will take some time to complete the exercise, said Hussain. Despite the loss of wildlife during floods, Kazirangas ecology is intricately linked to it. Located on the southern banks of the Brahmaputra, the annual floods recharge the vast grassland and 200-odd wetlands dotting the park for the survival of carnivores and herbivores. In 2006 and 2009,when the state experienced a drought-like situation, animals in Kaziranga, especially rhinos, faced a lack of fresh vegetation.

KAZIRANGA TURNS WATERY GRAVE
1 - Animal death toll in the Kaziranga flood reached 573 on Sunday with the recovery of 14 more carcasses of hog deer and sambhar. Till Saturday, the number of dead animals was 559,which included 14 onehorned rhinos, one elephant,one wild buffalo,475 hog deer,10 swamp deer,18 sambhars,30 wild boars among others

2 - Most victims were diseased, old and new-born animals

3 - At least 20 deer were killed by speeding vehicles while crossing NH 37 on the southern boundary of Kaziranga in search of elevated grounds

4 - Around 100 deer were rescued by park officials, NGOs and villagers when 80% of the 430 sq km area of Kaziranga was flooded in June this year. On June 29,flood water level reached 76.46 metre,1.44 metre above the danger mark

5 - On Sunday,water level came down to 74.5 metre,while showing signs of further receding

6 - Park officials have launched a search for more carcasses and assessment of the damage caused to the infrastructure

7 - Nearly 16 out of 152 anti-poaching camps had to be shifted while many were damaged

8 - The June 2012 flood is one of the severest in 20 years.In the 1988 flood,a total of 1,203 animals died,while in the 1998 deluge,the number of animal casualties was 652

9 - Flood is indispensable to Kaziranga's ecology as it is located in Brahmaputra flood plains

The Times of India, 9th July 2012

In one of the worst floods to hit Kaziranga,573 animals have been killed,and scores run over by speeding trucks while fleeing to the elevated ground. And shockingly, despite the magnitude of the deluge, helicopters havent been used to see where human intervention may help in reducing the scale of the unfolding tragedy. We found 14 more carcasses of hog deer and sambars in Kaziranga. Were still looking for more carcasses. Were using elephants to move inside the park as all roads are damaged, said park director S Bora. A large number of animals migrated to elevated grounds in the adjoining Karbi Anglong area when 80% of the park area was inundated on June 29,when,according to Assam environment and forest minister Rockybul Hussain, water level in Kaziranga touched 76.46m.This is 1.44m above the danger level.

Of 573 animals killed,14 are Assams famed onehorned rhinos which are on the endangered list, one elephant, one wild buffalo,483 hog deer,10 swamp deer,21 sambhars,31 wild boars, two hog badgers, two gaurs, one jackal and five porcupines.

While the water level dropped to 74.5m,its still too early to rule out more animal deaths. We are assessing the extent of damage to park infrastructure. It will take some time to complete the exercise, said Hussain. Despite the loss of wildlife during floods, Kazirangas ecology is intricately linked to it. Located on the southern banks of the Brahmaputra, the annual floods recharge the vast grassland and 200-odd wetlands dotting the park for the survival of carnivores and herbivores. In 2006 and 2009,when the state experienced a drought-like situation, animals in Kaziranga, especially rhinos, faced a lack of fresh vegetation.

KAZIRANGA TURNS WATERY GRAVE

1

Animal death toll in the Kaziranga flood reached 573 on Sunday with the recovery of 14 more carcasses of hog deer and sambhar.Till Saturday,the number of dead animals was 559,which included 14 onehorned rhinos,one elephant,one wild buffalo,475 hog deer,10 swamp deer,18 sambhars,30 wild boars among others

2

Most victims were diseased,old and new-born animals

3

At least 20 deer were killed by speeding vehicles while crossing NH 37 on the southern boundary of Kaziranga in search of elevated grounds

4

Around 100 deer were rescued by park officials,NGOs and villagers when 80% of the 430 sq km area of Kaziranga was flooded in June this year.On June 29,flood water level reached 76.46 metre,1.44 metre above the danger mark

5

On Sunday,water level came down to 74.5 metre,while showing signs of further receding

6

Park officials have launched a search for more carcasses and assessment of the damage caused to the infrastructure

7

Nearly 16 out of 152 anti-poaching camps had to be shifted while many were damaged

8

The June 2012 flood is one of the severest in 20 years.In the 1988 flood,a total of 1,203 animals died,while in the 1998 deluge,the number of animal casualties was 652

9

Flood is indispensable to Kaziranga's ecology as it is located in Brahmaputra flood plains

The Times of India, 9th July 2012

Despite 40 ancient monuments being scattered in Nizamuddin Basti, many of them protected by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), there is no mechanism to keep a check on unauthorized constructions.

Earlier this week, ASI filed a police complaint over an unauthorized new building coming up adjacent to the Mughal-era Chausath Khamba monument, but so far no action has been taken. ASI sources said the latest construction is next to another new, five storey building that has come up on a vacant plot only in recent months.

ASI officials said that in the past six months, over a dozen complaints have been filed about new constructions in prohibited areas of protected monuments. These include Chausath Khamba, Atgah Khan's Tomb, Mirza Ghalib's tomb, Nizamuddin baoli as well as monuments like Do Siriya Gumbad.

"No action was taken despite repeated complaints. There are at least a dozen buildings that have been encroached in recent months. In Chausath Khamba, it is shocking that a five-storey building has already come up right on the boundary wall of the monument and another construction is happening next to it," said ASI officials.

Officials say that unless action is taken against the unauthorized constructions, more are likely to come up. "Considering the speed at which the construction is happening, it appears that the new building will be completed in a few weeks. Taking action after that will be more difficult," said a source. As per the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (Amendment and Validation) Act, 2010, no new construction is allowed within 100 metres of centrally protected monuments and is limited within 200 metres of the regulated zone. While ASI is the enforcement agency that should keep a check on such constructions, officials say that they can only file police complaints and after that it is the police and civic agencies that should take action. Nizamuddin basti is a difficult area to monitor as it is densely populated and locals are known to be hostile to ASI and other enforcement agencies.ASI officials are also worried about new constructions that have come up on the baoli itself and have lodged complaints about this. Portions of the baoli had collapsed in 2010 and officials are concerned that the extra weight of the new constructions could lead to a similar situation. Atgah Khan's Tomb is another encroached monument over which ASI is yet to take action. A family has been living in the crypt of the tomb for years and, so far, there have been no efforts by ASI to evict them.

The Times of India, 9th July 2012

The gems in Vault A, first of the six secret cellars of the Sri Padmanabha Swamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram holding invaluable treasures, have bound the gemologists engaged by a Supreme Court-appointed expert committee to evaluate them in a spell with their amazing shapes, shine, size, cut, variety and abundance, according to sources.

Vault A, also called the Sri Bhandara Nilavara thought to be holding over 90 percent of the gold, precious stones, artifacts, rare historical coins and other items found in the entire shrine, was opened by the expert committee and a supervisory panel, also appointed by the apex court, last Thursday for documenting and evaluating the treasures.

Gemologists are reportedly finding it extremely difficult to evaluate the gems, find out the peculiarities of the stones studded in the Sarapoli Malas (light-radiating necklaces) taken from the chamber and to document them properly, sources say. Equally amazing are the gold articles taken out from Vault A for evaluation and documentation by the expert committee.

The vault contains over 2,500 Sarapoli Malas and many stone-studded crowns making it almost impossible to count the gems stored in it. Most of these gold necklaces are said to contain the Navaratnas - the nine gems. It is also said that these gems keep their individuality and uniqueness due to their particular origin, cut, sheen and shape.

There are countless emeralds among the treasures. These peculiarities and the antique value make the process of evaluation of these gems and ornaments tough for the gemologists and other experts. Sources said that the experts could examine only four Sarapoli Malas in the first two days.

Sources said that the service of more experts would have to be called in for detailed documentation and evaluation of these ornaments and gems and the expert committee had earlier drawn up a panel for this. It is now said that a minimum of six months would be needed to complete the evaluation and documentation of the articles in Vault A.

The gems are seen mainly as fixed to the pendants of the Sarapoli Malas. There are pendants with only one gem each and those with all the Navaratnas. The experts are examining whether any stones have been lost or replaced and they are also trying to find out the mines where they had originated.

In July-August, 2011, an expert committee the Supreme Court appointed earlier had examined the vaults and came to the conclusion that they were holding treasures whose material value alone could come roughly to over Rs 100,000 crore, making the Sri Padmanabha Swamy temple the richest Hindu shrine in the world.

After this, the temple was brought under tight security with the Kerala Government deploying commandos from the Kerala Police in the premises. Controversies had arisen over the way the treasures were to be handled. While a section of the society wanted the treasures to be used for the people’s welfare, the devotees’ community wanted them to be kept in the temple itself.

There were also arguments that the treasures kept in the temple vaults should be housed in a museum so that researchers could study them. Experts and historians, however, have cautioned against quantifying the value of such a rare and antique wealth without considering their cultural and heritage value.

The magnificent granite temple complex was rebuilt in its present form in the 18th century by the Travancore Royalty who ruled southern Kerala and some adjoining parts of Tamil Nadu before the integration of the princely state into the Indian Union. The Travancore kings had dedicated the entire wealth of their kingdom to Sri Padmanabha, the deity of the temple.

The Pioneer, 9th July 2012

R.V. Smith weaves a yarn around the quirks of some elderly folk who added to the character of the Walled City

There are little folk, smart folk and poor folk but old folk have an aura of their own. Rai Bahadur Mitthan Lal was a rich businessman of Old Delhi in the pre-World War years but he was known for his stinginess. He would keep the letters he received, tear out the blank portion and keep it with the envelope on his table rack, where other such stationery was preserved. If he had to write a note, he would use these, saying that paper was too precious to be wasted.

Dr. Murarilal of Daryaganj was an early riser who, along with his friend, Hakim Abdul Sattar, would play hide-and-seek in Edward Park, flitting behind trees and bushes in the morning and perspiring and breathing hard in the process. The philosophy of the two was that this helped to correct blood circulation and toned up the body after a nightlong rest.

Khan Bahadur Akhtar Adil was a well-known man in the seven mohallahs he represented in the Municipality who had the habit of going to the park and after taking off his clothes get his body massaged for half an hour by any masseur who happened to pass by. It was rumoured that he was gay and had himself massaged even before falling off to sleep. No wonder a masseur made off with his wallet, gold chain, watch and ring one night. His friend, Lala Bishambhar Das, however, preferred an early-morning swim in Bakshi-ka-talab, after which he would teach youngsters the art of staying afloat in water with the help of toombas (big dry gourds). F. Z. Khan, addressed by one and all as Bade Mian, used to carry a cotton roll in his kurta pocket and if he found a balding man catching forty winks in Queen’s Garden, opposite Delhi Station, he would make a thin ward of cotton wool, put it on the snoozer’s forehead and set it alight. When the man got up, with a start, Bade Mian would laugh and say “fakta ur gayee” (the dove has flown). The person who was generally the butt of this joke was Pirji, whose real name was Pandit Narsingh Rao Dixit, but he was mistaken for a maulvi because of his beard and his habit of saying “Yah Allah” before almost every sentence he spoke.

Dilliwallah (few knew his real name, Fida Mohmmad) used to take contracts for weddings at which his men cooked the most delicious food. Dilliwallah had a French-cut beard, dyed with henna, which he was in the habit of stroking while his men were busy making pulao, zarda, sheermal and korma. A fair, big-built man, he smoked the hookah until evening, when he would start drinking from the two bottles the person, who had engaged his team, had to supply along with the hefty amount for the work. Dilliwallah was active until 1947, after which he disappeared, (probably migrating to Pakistan) but people still remember him as the best bawarchi the Walled City had in those days.

Alamgir Sahib, with his long nose, bent neck and white beard, reminded one of Aurangzeb. He was a freedom fighter who is said to have drawn Mir Mushtaq Ahmed into the independence struggle. The stately man was highly respected but behind his back people made fun of his penchant for mispronouncing park. “Parikh gaye thhe” (I had been to the park) he would say, swinging his walking stick. Alamgir went away to Karachi, where he died, complaining, like the poet Seemab Akbarabadi, that the bad air of the place had killed him (Karachi ki hawa ne mar dala). His body was flown to India and buried at Fatehpur Sikri as he was a devotee of Sheikh Salim Chisti, from whom he claimed descent.

Cyril Ireland was the English and maths teacher in a reputed local school. He always carried a cane to class which he sometimes used on errant students. But in the evening he would take out his tum-tum, whip the horse into a fast trot, and drive to the club where he had three pegs of whisky and dinner before driving back. One fine day Ireland just disappeared and it was later learnt that he had enlisted for World War II. He was wounded at Flanders and came back a cripple to his native Bettiah in Bihar. A fellow-teacher was Joseph E, whose wife ran away with his khansama as he used her the wrong way.

Jailor Sahib and his friend Naine Joseph spent hours sitting under a neem tree and drinking black tea as sugar and milk had become expensive during the war, along with matches and salt. Joseph’s wife, Looni was a thin whisp of a woman who outlived both the Jailor and her husband. At the age of 90 one found her picking twigs below the trees in the church compound to light her sighri. Once a man named Illias came to exorcise a girl, who disclosed that she had been possessed by a chudail, who lived on the peepul tree. The exorcist told the spirit to go to Looni. Believe it or not, Looni died the same night aged 98 and the girl, Sheila recovered and went back to school. Such were the old folk 75 years ago.

The Hindu, 9th July 2012

The walk was organised by the Shahjahanabad Redevelopment Corporation which organises walks like this for free almost every Sunday.

“Lodhi Gardens” - garden beautiful to the citizens of this city and immortalised by Kushwant Singh in several of his personal memoirs was also home to other forgotten denizens from another Delhi at another time. This Sunday morning, pleasant enough for the average citizen used to the searing heat, was the perfect occasion to walk along the much-used pathways and learn about the massive old stone structures that once may have housed the Delhiites of yore.

“Tughlaq, Lodhi, and Syed – these Afghan dynasties were here before the famous Mughul, Babur of the house of Timur,” says Heritage consultant Navina Jafa, before the start of the heritage walk titled, “Afghan Tombs in a British Garden.” Afghan because of the pre-dominantly Afghani architecture, courtesy its Afghani residents, and British Gardens because the park came about as “Lady Wellington Park” much before Independence, sometime around the founding of Luteyns’ Delhi.

The first stop is the tomb of Syed Mohammed Shah made up of quartzite stone and with its pillars slightly slanted. “He was not very rich; therefore the tomb lacks grandeur, although the tomb built on raised platform indicates high nobility.” The earlier Islamic rulers before the Mughuls did not have the resources to afford grandeur. They also had a reputation for intolerance, but could not help but be affected by local Hindu influences, at least in the field of architecture.

“The pillars have the Hindu pot of prosperity mixed in with the Islamic arches and domes. Also visible is an embellishment of leaves, usually seen in entrances to Hindu temples and wedding houses.”

After that, the walk gets more fast-paced with early morning joggers and the odd picnicking couple joining in, curious about the familiar buildings that they mostly know nothing about.

“Why are there metal hooks here?” asks a white-bearded gentleman. “Well, this could have been used to tie cloth fans as there were public gatherings here,” says Dr. Jafa at the massive Bada Gumbaz . The buildings could have been used as a place of learning as one side of the central courtyard have cupboard shelves and shelves to keep oil lamps for the resident student or travelling scholar. The other side of the courtyard houses a mosque-like structure with inscriptions of the Quran.

A little distance away is the Sheesh Gumbaz. “There is no Sheesh or mirror here…it has been named that because of the blue ceramic tiles that sparkle in the sun,” explains Dr. Jafa before making one last stop before the much-fortified tomb of Shikandar Lodhi, dilapidated but with some remnants of magnificence. “His mother was not Muslim and like may children of mixed religions; he too, tried to make up for the lack of a Muslim mother by being more intolerant of other religions.”

Unfortunately, the many graves in each tomb have unknown histories, they might or might not have belonged to the families of the emperors past but would have definitely walked the same grounds that are treaded by the citizens of this city, every time the weather is fine.

The walk was organised by the Shahjahanabad Redevelopment Corporation which organises walks like this for free almost every Sunday. They have a Facebook page which keeps the avid history seeker informed. Next on the cards is a story-telling series where each monument will be subject of a story or several stories. The series will begin once the rains are over and pleasant breezes start to define our days again.

The Hindu, 9th July 2012

Meena Varma, Director of Arts Of The Earth gallery, tells Ila Sankrityayan about their ongoing show featuring Pinguli Chitragathi and folk paintings of Rajasthan

Traditional folk art is integral to Indian culture and tradition. But over time, it has either vanished, or become extinct. The case is similar with Pinguli Chitragathi and Rajasthan folk paintings. Particularly the Mewar School. Arts of The Earth gallery in Lado Sarai is currently exhibiting both.

Meena Varma, director of the gallery, remarked, “I was always interested in folk art. I collected it over twenty years from private collectors. But it was never displayed, because I lacked the space.”

Varma said its tough finding artists practicing this art form. “Owing to dwindling patronage for folk art, its practitioners have been compelled to take up alternative means of livelihood, like farming and, fishing. So you usually locate such works in museums, or personal collections,” she said.

The Chitragathi paintings depicts tales from Ramayana, like Ravana kidnapping Sita. Ram and Lakshman’s search for Sita. Or Jatayu slashed by Ravana while trying to save Sita.“Most of the characters are depicted in side-profile, using natural dyes, with simple lines on paper and bright colours,” explained Meena.

She added, “Pinguli is a small village near Kudal in Maharashtra, home to traditional folk arts of the Thakar adivasi. It’s handed down through generations, both verbally and informally. The tribals used to receive patronage from Raja Khemsawant Bhosale of Sawantwadi state. The original nomadic puppeteers, who used their skills to bring myths and legends to life, were appointed by royalty, particularly Sivaji Maharaja as they travelled from village to village down the Konkan coast till they reached Karwar, now part of coastal Karnataka.”

Varma continued, “The Pinguli Chitragathis were unaffected by outside influences. The style has been consistent for ages, mainly depicting battle scenes and episodes from Indian epics.”

She added, “Like Bengal’s storytellers and their scroll paintings, Chitragathi is an innovative audio-visual medium. The artist holds a hand-made paper painting depicting scenes from the epics, and plays the role of the dramatic narrator. He is backed by vocalists and musical instruments.”

While referring to the prominent form of Rajasthani folk art, the Mewar School of painting, Meena explained that, “It flourished in Udaipur, during the 16th century, and reached high standards as the artists became famous. The themes were from epics Ramayana and heroic Rajput tales. Close in style to other folk art, yet retaining their originality over centuries.”

“The Mewar School of paintings concentrated on its conservative style, trying to avoid Mughal domination. They were characterised by sharp features, vigorous figures and, bright colours in bold lines depicting stories of people being tortured by demons,” she added. But owing to the lack of financial support, they too declined, Though the style revived at the end of the 17th and early 18th century.

“It was high quality work dealing with court scenes, religious subjects and portraitures. This school declined during the late 18th century,” Meena concluded. The Pinguli Chitragathi paintings range between RS 15,000 - RS 20,000, while the Rajasthani folk art costs from RS 25,000 - RS 28,000. The exhibition is on till July 16, 2012.

The Pioneer, 9th July 2012

Can tribal systems of governance be integrated with state institutions to remove a sense of alienation among STs? Can there be a common approach to administration of tribal areas, fragmented under various laws? Could governors lose their powers for direct administration of tribal areas for inactivity since independence?

The Centre plans to order a comprehensive review of tribal-related issues through a Tribal Commission under Article 339, the third since independence. The move on 'Commission for Administration of Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes' is dictated by mounting concern to address tribal grievances that are seen to push them towards naxalism.

Union tribal affairs minister Kishore Chandra Deo is thinking of a new commission with the objective of reviewing the recommendations of Bhuria Commission which was set up in 2002.
Sources said the terms of reference could involve checking the possibility of recognizing traditional systems of governance in tribal areas and drawing up actionable points from the Bhuria panel for targeted action.

It is felt that imposition of state institutions like panchayats in tribal areas lead to a sense of alienation among the locals who are used to age-old indigenous systems. The unacceptability leads to tribals continuing with parallel structures of governance while government bodies languish without local support.

Officials argue that recognizing tribal systems would remove the sense of being ruled from Delhi and bring about a smoother interface between government and local institutions.

The commission may be asked to probe a common approach to administration of tribal areas. Presently, they are divided between fifth schedule, sixth schedule for some north-east states and Article 371 in Manipur.

The Centre is also rankled by governors' indifference to special constitutional powers to directly administer the tribal areas and review or stop the implementation of legislations if they are seen as inimical to the interest of tribals. Despite special powers, the governors have not invoked them to check malgovernance in tribal pockets.

The Centre recently received legal opinion which clarified that governor's role in tribal areas was not contingent on the advice of the Cabinet. A harried Centre has impressed upon governors for more active oversight on tribal areas, with Deo making it a key point of his address during the last governors' conference.

Sources said the commission could be asked to look into this crucial aspect of tribal governance - if governors' powers could be delegated to some other institution or the existing system is to be made sharper.

The Hindustan Times, 9th July 2012

The endangered Narcondam Hornbill with a population of 300-350 in the Andamans - its only habitat in the world - is facing threat from a proposal of the Indian Coast Guard to build a RADAR installation and a diesel-run power generation station.

The proposal also includes new construction of a wide 2-km road and helipad that will require considerable tree felling, additional human presence, and high potential for chronic and increased disturbance to the lush forested island and its small hornbill population.

The proposal tabled before the Standing Committee of National Board For Wildlife meeting at the last Standing Committee meeting held on 13 June 2012 stated that the installation will involve only 0.6736 ha of Narcondam Wildlife Sanctuary. It has been turned down by the independent members. The issue is presently pending before the Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan for the final call.

The bird derives its name from Narcondam - a volcanic island in Andamans with ash beds loose rocks and soil. “Road construction is likely to lead to great instability, need for constant maintenance that will lead to further disturbances, erosion, and spread of invasive alien species. This is serious habitat destruction on a fragile island”, felt the wildlife experts.

Ornithologist Dr. Asad R Rahmani, Director, Bombay Natural History Society, who made a site visit in February this year on behalf of the Standing Committee, has strongly recommended rejection of this proposal. On the basis of his site-inspection report, the members further argued that much larger area would be affected due to extreme disturbances and threats from road construction and installations than indicated in proposal:

Dr Rahmani has further mentioned that the site is on top of a hillock in dense forest and a 2km approach road will be cleared through the forest, involving cutting of an unspecified number of trees and direct destruction of habitat. “The total area to be directly damaged thus is likely to be much higher if we include additional area to be cleared and affected due to edge effects which are known to result from such intrusions”, the report points out.

However, the proposal is still pending with the Environment Minister for her final decision. Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF), a Member Standing Committee, has written a letter to the Minister explaining why the project must not be given the go ahead. The letter also signed by wildlife experts have appealed to the Minister “to heed scientific advice and take a far-sighted decision to reject the proposal and safeguard this fragile island and its wildlife”.

The letter points out that construction of structures and access roads will have a negative effect on the population and breeding of Narcondam Hornbill. The species like other forest hornbills, have highly specialised breeding habits, dependent on specific tall nesting trees with suitable cavities. The hornbill is a sensitive slow-breeding species, with no scope for population expansion beyond the island.

These nest trees may be re-used year after year, and The proposed project does not even mention the number of trees to be cut, and there is no clearly marked trace of the access roads/trails. There will be loss of feeding, nesting, and roosting trees due to the proposed project.

The Pioneer, 10th July 2012

New Delhi In a move to make the India Gate and its premises clutter-free and more visitor-friendly, vendors and autorickshaws have been denied entry on its radials after 7 pm. The arrangement came into force on Friday, following orders from Neeraj Kumar who took over as the Delhi Police Commissioner recently.

The Traffic police has stationed special teams to enforce traffic rules on C-hexagon along with streamlining traffic flow.

According to the new arrangement, the India Gate C-hexagon will now be a ‘no stopping’, ‘no parking’ zone after 7 pm, so that the entire carriageway is available for free and smooth traffic flow. No vehicle will now be allowed to halt on the radials, said Traffic police.

Following the Commissioner’s orders, Traffic police identified major elements which was making the area look cluttered. “More than 1,000 people visit India Gate every day during this weather. As there is limited parking space, there is a spill-over on C-hexagon making the area look cluttered. Now, we have arranged space for parking over 900 vehicles along with extra parking space along the water channels of Rajpath,” said Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Satyendra Garg. Arrangements for parking have been made along radial roads too including Shahjahan Road, Kasturba Gandhi Marg, Zakir Hussain Marg and Tilak Marg.

A crane has been stationed at C-hexagon to tow away vehicles parked on the roadside. Autorickshaw drivers have also been ordered not to park their vehicles on the stretch. The police have allotted special TSR parking on all six radials. “We have created an additional parking space for autos on all six radials. Visitors will not have to go to the main road to board an auto anymore,” said Garg.

In order to check problem of encroachment by street vendors and hawkers, they have been ordered to vacate the area after 7 pm. Three to four teams of Traffic personnel - four members in each team - have been deployed to enforce the order.

“It was also noticed that many pedestrians do not stop at pedestrian signals. They do not wait for their turn to cross the road because of which vehicles have to halt and it leads to obstructed movement of traffic. We have deployed two officials each on every signal to help pedestrians,” a Traffic police officer said.

The Indian Express, 10th July 2012

Union Environment Ministry officials are of the opinion that the wildlife death toll at Kaziranga Tiger Reserve in Assam could be much higher than what has been reported from local authorities so far. The National Tiger Conservation Authority has now decided to send a team of senior officials on a fact-finding mission to the state for evaluation of the situation and submit a report for the next course of action.

“The number of deaths could be more and we will find out once the water recedes,” said a senior official.

In what came as a relief to the establishment, the wildlife mortality list does not include any tigers and officials say that the big cat’s ability to adapt to adverse conditions has probably come to its rescue even in the devastating flood.

So far, the state has reported 595 deaths, including that of 17 rhinos and 512 hog deer and others. The park management has deployed patrolling staff for the protection of wild animals along the highways by creating barriers alongwith round the clock surveillance.

To protect wild animals from drowning in floods, artificial mounds / bunds have been created at various places. Wild animals are being rescued by patrolling parties on boats. Project Tiger has given Rs 4.27 crore in the last financial year to Kaziranga for initiating protection measures during floods, which are a recurring feature. “An alternate alignment has been agreed upon for diverting / widening the NH-37. However, since the said highway is in use, the NHAI would be approached for providing flyovers at vantage points for the traffic. This would prevent road hits, while providing safe passage for wild animals from beneath,” the ministry said in a statement.

The Indian Express, 10th July 2012

Akbarabadi Mosque has become the centre of the neighbourhood’s attention Having hung around the excavation site for the past few days, 15-year-old Mohammad Afnan is a guide in the making.

“There are three gates here and three on the other side,” he tells his friends, pointing at the gaping holes in the earth and mimicking what he has heard several times from elders.

The three boys had dropped their school bags off at home after their first day at school and rushed to the site - believed to be the remains of the 17{+t}{+h}Century Akbarabadi Masjid - which has caught the attention of everyone in the neighbourhood.

The archaeological remains of the mosque, built in 1650 AD by one of Shahjahan’s wives Bibi Akbarabadi, were found at Subhas Park, a site Delhi Metro had identified for the upcoming new Jama Masjid railway station as part of Phase III’s “heritage corridor” covering Central Secretariat-ITO-Delhi Gate-Kashmere Gate.

Digging in this area has led to the discovery of an almost 200-foot-long stone wall buried 10 to 12 feet underground.

The Archaeological Survey of India, which examined the structure in detail on Sunday, is yet to confirm what the actual use of the structure was.

“At this point in time, it is difficult to determine what the structure was used for,” says Superintending Archaeologist D. N. Dimri. “Looking at all the masonry and material that was excavated, it can be said with certainty that it belongs to the Mughal period and is a contemporary of the Red Fort and the Jama Masjid,” he added.

But to determine the actual use of the structure will require more evidence, said Mr. Dimri, adding that the team that inspected the structure will prepare a detailed report and submit it to the ASI Director-General.

Matia Mahal MLA Shoaib Iqbal said he has been writing to various organisations such as the ASI and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi for years now to look into the matter of excavating the remains.

Mr. Iqbal and residents of the nearby locality have since excavated and unearthed structures of the mosque, stone utensils, pieces of pillars, finials and engravings at the site.

“Since the authorities concerned have not taken the excavation seriously, we the local residents have decided to do it ourselves by pooling in funds. We also plan to set up a museum in this locality to display all the artefacts that will be unearthed,” said Mr. Iqbal.

However, the ASI is the only body that is allowed to conduct excavations and all others have to take the permission of the Central Advisory Board of Archaeology.

It remains unclear whether the Delhi Metro will change its alignment for the proposed Jama Masjid station in the light of the excavation of the remains.

“Even if they change the alignment, it will also have to be cleared by the National Monuments Authority,” said Mr. Dimri.

Last week, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation officials said they were yet to receive any communication from the ASI and the National Monuments Authority with regard to the remains of the “mosque” that has been discovered and that the location of the Jama Masjid metro station was about 50 metres away from the site of the remains.

The Hindu, 10th July 2012

The Capital is an ideal setting for the scientifically inclined, or those who have the burning zeal to do something for the environment. Go birdwatching in the biodiversity parks, get introduced to the 70 fish species found in the Yamuna river, check out what’s being done to protect and save the river... The science centres in the city, too, have a wealth of information to those who are interested.

Yamuna Biodiversity Park, Near Wazirabad village

Spanning about 457 acres near Wazirabad village, the Yamuna Biodiversity Park has two major zones. One is for visitors and the other is a nature reserve zone. It features a conservatory for fruit-bearing trees such as guava, sapota, pomegranate and lemon; a herbal garden; a butterfly conservatory, a sacred grove (growing plants of religious significance), a Bambusetum with a variety of bamboo species, and wetlands which attract 5,000-6000 migratory birds. “All species of fishes - 70 - found in the Yamuna now exist in the water bodies of the park as well,” says CR Babu, prof emeritus at the Centre for Environmental Management of Degraded Ecosystems, Delhi University, and also the project in-charge for the Delhi Development Authority’s biodiversity parks. Wild boars which inhabited the area 100 years ago can be spotted here again, so can wildcats, he adds. Some of the bird species that have nested and bred here are the darter, pond heron, white eye, and purple sunbird.

The park also has a nature interpretation centre to promote nature education among students.

Situated 15km north-east of Connaught Place and 4km north of ISBT, the park can be reached from:

• East Delhi through Bhajanpura
• South and central Delhi through ISBT
• North Delhi through Burari

Visitors should come in groups who are then taken around by a guide or a forest officer.

Ticket: Entry free
Timings: 10am-5pm; Sunday closed

Nehru Planetarium, Teen Murti Bhawan, Teen Murti Marg www.nehruplanetarium.org

A wing of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, Nehru Planetarium aims at promoting astronomy among school and college students. It engages amateur astronomers as well. It hosts live interactions and programmes for visitors, students and amateur astronomers. Recently, during the transit of Venus, “Observations were conducted in collaboration with the Amateur Astronomers Association, Delhi (AAAD), and support from Vigyan Prasar for the construction of the special dark room for projection.” The planetrium’s sky theatre screens English and Hindi shows about astronomy. The planetrium is the meeting ground for AAAD.

Ticket: Rs. 50 (for visitors above 12 years)
Timings: 11.30am and 3pm (English shows); 1.30pm and 4pm (Hindi shows); (special shows for school children at 9.30am and 10.30 am). Closed on Monday and national holidays

National Science Centre, Near Gate No.1, Bhairon Road, Pragati Maidan www.nscdelhi.org/contact-us.php

The National Science Centre (NSC) has galleries with models and other exhibits on themes such as water, our science and technology heritage, human biology, pre-historic life, fun science, information revolution, and emerging technologies. “There are three galleries I’d specifically recommend for undergraduate and postgraduate students,” says Anurag Kumar, senior curator, NSC. “One is on science and technology heritage, which may interest even history students. The other is on information technology which gives a brief account of the entire development information technology starting from cave paintings which were the first communication man used, then verbal communication, coded communication, printing, telegraph, telephone, and finally the internet. The third gallery is on emerging technologies where we show biotechnology, nanotechnology, communication technology, space technology, transportation and ocean technology,” he says. “We are also coming up with a gallery on nuclear power in cooperation with Nuclear Power Corporation of India. It’ll come up in about a year and a half.”

Ticket: Rs. 20 (for adults); Rs. 10 (for college-organised trips) Timings: 10am-5.30pm, all days (except Holi and Diwali)

Delhi Greens, 9873124937, delhigreens.org

Delhi Greens, a Delhi-based non-governmental organisation, organises trips and excursions as well as events such as workshops. It also keeps members posted (through its blog) on environmental news and activities in the city. One of its major initiatives is urban eco-tourism. In the half-day eco-tour, undertaken every third Sunday of the month (except in summers), participants are shown Delhi’s physical and natural heritage. “We show them the Delhi ridge, the baolis (water bodies), the river, forests (like Rajokri), the Asola wildlife sanctuary,” says Govind Singh, director (honorary), Delhi Greens. Their other programme is Discover Delhi, which involves going on nature trails at places like Ferozeshah Kotla “to understand the heritage as well as its ecological significance,” explains Singh.

Besides, the NGO holds workshops on ‘kabaad se jugaad’ where you learn to turn waste into useable items such as necklaces and invites. The venues include Delhi University and Teen Murti Bhawan. Delhi Greens gives new members a gift, which these days is a cloth bag. To register, contact the NGO through the website.

Annual membership fee: Rs. 200
Timings: Usually Sundays (for eco-tours and Discover Delhi)

Amateur Astronomers Association Delhi,
www.aaadelhi.org

The Amateur Astronomers Association Delhi’s (AAAD’s) activities include public interactions on astronomy-related events like eclipses, transits of planets over the sun, meteor showers, etc. “We also at times participate in camps where we teach astronomy to people,” says Raghu Kalra of AAAD. Members meet at the Nehru Planetarium every Sunday. Membership is open to people of all ages. The membership form, available at www.aaadelhi.org, can be submitted to AAAD at the meeting point on Sunday.

Annual membership fee: Rs. 600,
Timings: Noon (every Sunday)

The Hindustan Times, 11th July 2012

If you find history boring, dull and textbookish, then it’s time to go for a Dilli Darshan! With a rich cultural heritage that is exhibited through its forts, monuments, parks and havelis, to name a few, the city has seen several historical events unfold across centuries. The Red Fort,
that formidable symbol of the Mughal era; India Gate, located in the heart of the Capital; the soaring Qutab Minar and Rashtrapati Bhavan, home to the president of the largest democracy in the world, are places you must visit, especially if your are visiting Delhi for the first time.

Most of these monuments and buildings are architectural marvels, designed and built by some of the great emperors and leading architects of the bygone era.

Other than these monuments, the city also houses offices of several institutes of history, conservation and museology, museums and libraries. Some of these institutions also give you a chance to get closer and familiar to the history of the city and also work towards heritage conservation and archaeological research through workshops, seminars, and some exciting courses!

10 great places to visit

1 Red fort
The Red sandstone walls of the massive Red Fort add grandeur and remain an awe-inspiring symbol of Old Delhi. The main gate, Lahore Gate, is one of the focal points of modern India and attracts a major crowd on each Independence Day. Within the monument is a treasure trove of buildings, including the Drum House, the Hall of Public Audiences, and the White Marble Hall of Private Audiences

Location: Netaji Subhash Marg
Open: Tuesday to Sunday
Nearest Metro station: Chandni Chowk
Entry fee: Rs. 10 (Indians), Rs. 250 (foreigners)

2 Safdarjung’s tomb
Built in 1753-54, as mausoleum of Safdarjung, the viceroy of Awadh under the Mughal Emperor, Mohammed Shah, Safdarjung’s Tomb is the last enclosed garden tomb in Delhi in the tradition of Humayun’s Tomb. It has several smaller pavilions with evocative names such as Jangli Mahal, (palace in the woods), Moti Mahal (pearl palace) and Badshah Pasand (king’s favourite). The complex also has a madarsa

Location: Intersection of Safdarjung Road and Aurobindo Marg
Open: Daily
Nearest Metro station: Jor Bagh
Entry fee: Rs. 5 (Indians)

3 India gate
Located in the heart of the Capital, India Gate commemorates the 70,000 Indian soldiers who lost their lives fighting for the British Army during the World War I. The memorial bears the names of more than 13,516 British and Indian soldiers killed in the Northwestern Frontier in the Afghan war of 1919. Another memorial, Amar Jawan Jyoti was added much later, after India got her independence. It attracts huge crowds during the day

Location: Near Rajpath
Open: Daily
Nearest Metro station: Pragati Maidan
Entry fee: Free

4 Qutab Minar
It is a soaring, 73 m-high tower of victory, built in 1193 by Qutab-ud-din Aibak immediately after the defeat of Delhi’s last Hindu kingdom. The minar is a five-storey building with a height of 72.5 metres and each storey is marked by a projecting balcony. A 7 metre-high iron pillar stands in the courtyard of the mosque. It is listed among the World Heritage Monuments

Location: Mehrauli
Open: Daily
Nearest Metro station: Qutab Minar
Entry fee: Rs. 10 (Indians), Rs. 250 (foreigners)

5 Rashtrapati bhavan
Home to the President of the largest democracy in the world, the Rashtrapati Bhavan is a vast mansion and its architecture is breathtaking. The present day Rashtrapati Bhavan was the erstwhile residence of the British Viceroy. Its architect was Edwin Landseer Lutyens. The decision to build a residence in New Delhi for the British Viceroy was taken after it was decided that the capital of India would be shifted from Calcutta to Delhi

Location: Raisina Hills
Nearest Metro station: Central Secretariat

6 Lodhi tomb
The old Lady Willington Park, now known as Lodhi Garden, is dotted with monuments of Sayyid and Lodhi eras, which include tombs mosques, and bridges. The tombs of Muhammad Shah and Sikandar Lodhi are the good examples of octagonal tombs. Shish and Bara Gumbad are square tombs with imposing dome, turrets on corners and facades giving the impression of being double storeyed. The tomb is situated amid the Lodhi Gardens

Location: Main Lodi Road
Open: Daily
Nearest Metro station: JLN Stadium
Entry fee: Free

7 Parliament house
Parliament House is one of the most magnificent buildings in the Caiptal which has one of the brightest clusters of architectural gems possessed by any country. Visitors to Delhi invariably pay a visit to this building as the two Houses of Parliament - the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha are located within its walls. The building was designed by two famous architects - Sir Edwin Lutyens and Sir Herbert Baker

Location: Sansad Marg
Nearest Metro station: Patel Chowkk

8 Purana quila
Built on the site of the most ancient of the numerous cities of Delhi, Indraprastha, Purana Quila is roughly rectangular in shape having a circuit of nearly two kilometre. The massive gateway and walls of Purana Quila were built by Humayun and the foundation laid for the new capital, Dinpanah. The work was carried forward by Sher Shah Suri, who displaced Humayun

Location: Mathura Road
Nearest Metro station: Pragati Maidan
Open: All days
Entry fee: Rs. 10 (Indians), Rs. 100 (foreigners)

9 Humayun’s tomb
This is the final resting place of the Mughal emperor Humayun. It was commissioned by Humayun’s wife Hamida Banu Begum in 1562 AD. This garden-tomb is located in Nizamuddin East, close to the Purana Qila. The tomb has undergone extensive restoration work, which is still underway. Mirak Mirza Ghiyath, a Persian, was the architect employed by his wife for this tomb

Location: Nizamuddin East
Nearest Metro station: JLN Stadium
Open: Daily
Entry fee: Rs. 10 (Indians), Rs. 250 (foreigners)

10 Jantar mantar
Jantar Mantar was constructed in 1724. Maharaja Jai Singh of Jaipur, who built this observatory, went on to build other observatories in Ujjain, Varanasi and Mathura. Jai Singh had found the existing astronomical instruments too small to take correct measurements and so he built these larger and more accurate instruments. The structure is a great masterpiece of Indian architecture which shows the scientific acumen of ancient India. It consists of geometric devices used for measuring time, forecasting weather changes, predicting behaviour of planets and finding extraterrestrial altitude.

Location: Parliament Street
Nearest Metro station: Patel Chowk
Nearest Bus Stop: Janpath
Open: Daily
Entry fee: Rs. 10 (Indians), Rs. 100 (foreigners)

Off the beaten track

Mutiny memorial
Rani Jhansi Road It was built in memory of British soldiers killed during the First War of Indian Independence (Sepoy Mutiny) in 1857. Its architecture has a Gothic influence

Mirza ghalib ki haveli

Ballimaran
This is the place where the legendary poet spent hours lost in thoughts - penning down verses that changed the world of Urdu poetry forever

Old Secretariat

Civil Lines
It was the seat of the legislative council after the capital shifted from Calcutta to Delhi about a century ago. The building has been given several face-lifts

Coronation Park

Burari Road
The park was the venue of the Delhi Durbar of 1877 when Queen Victoria was proclaimed the Empress of India. The site has witnessed three coronation durbars

Take the HOHO bus

The Hop On Hop Off Dilli Dekho Bus takes you across 19 destinations including Red Fort, Jantar Mantar, Safdarjung's Tomb, India Gate, Purana Quila, Qutub Minar and Humayun’s Tomb Buses every 30 minutes at each attraction.

Ticket price: Rs. 300

Get involved

National Museum Institute of History of Art, Conservation and Museology

Address: National Museum, Janpath

Courses/activities: Offers three short-term courses of five months duration viz.

India: Art & Culture, Art Appreciation and Bhartiya Kalanidhi (Hindi medium).

Each of these courses consists of 20 lectures (each lecture of two hours duration). No minimum qualifications other than age (candidates should not be below 19 years of age) are prescribed for admission to these certificate courses
Website: http://nmi.gov.in

India National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (Intach)

Address: 71, Lodi Estate

Courses/activities: INTACH Delhi Chapter conducts heritage walks for students on a regular basis. The frequency of walks increases after September/ October.

Lectures/presentations to propogate the concept of Delhi- A World Heritage City. The Heritage Education and Communication Services of INTACH conducts programmes/workshops for students all over India. INTACH has also recently set-up a division for training interested people under conservation training and capacity building. It will design and run training courses and capacity building programmes on issues in heritage conservation.
Website: www.intach.org

Archaeological Survey of India

Address: Janpath

Courses/activities: Conducts heritage walks, visit to monuments, exhibitions and lectures regularly. The ASI, under the department of culture, ministry of tourism and culture, is a leading organisation for the archaeological researches and protection of our cultural heritage.
Website: http://asi.nic.in/

National Archives of India

Address: School of Archival Studies, Janpath

Courses/activities:Archives management Duration: 6 weeks (session: February – March) Course fee: Rs. 300 for Indian trainees n Records management Duration: 4 weeks (May and September) Course fee: Rs. 200 for Indian trainees n Reprography Duration: 6 weeks (April-May and September-October) Course fee: Rs. 300 for Indian trainees n Care and Conservation of Books, Manuscripts and Archives Duration: 8 weeks (July-August and November-December) Course fee: Rs. 300 for Indian trainees n Servicing and Repair of Records Duration: 6 weeks, (May-June and September-October) Course fee: Rs. 300 for Indian trainees

Website: nationalarchives.nic.in

The Hindustan Times, 11th July 2012

Link to the past
Find out more about the city’s top historical spots, sign up for some great courses Forts, tombs, museums and havelis... these are a reflection of the Capital's rich history. Starting from the well-known landmarks like the Red Fort, Qutab Minar and India Gate, we also list some of the not-so-known places of historical and architectural importance whcih have their own gripping tales to tell. Also, find out more about the organisations where you could pick some skills in conserving and preserving the great heritage that gives Delhi its character.

Go green, learn more
Nature parks, bird watching, science museums... there’s plenty you can do here Delhi is not just about bumper-to-bumper traffic, pollution, and overwhelming crowds. There are lush pockets where you could treat your senses to some amazing sights and sounds of nature. Different associations and organisations help you connect with nature and explore the universe.

Dance and act
Is buying a theatre ticket enough? Why not become a part of Delhi’s happening culture scene?

Get a feel of the vibrant and pulsating art and culture scene of the country while studying in the national capital. You will definitely learn to understand and appreciate the finer things of life by attending various cultural shows and frequenting the city’s hubs of art and culture.

Delhicacy central
More on kebabs, biryani centres, chaat shops and everything that gets the gastronomic juices flowing.

“Places to eat are really much more than mere eateries in Delhi,” writes retired JNU professor and cookbook author Pushpesh Pant. The columnist guides the newcomer outstation/ international student in Delhi through a gastronimic roller-coaster. He takes one through old establishments near Jama Masjid dishing out Moghul delicacies, Bengali Market for chaat, and Yashwant Place for momos.

Websites that take you places
Know more about the city, its history, geography and culture from organisations involved in the different facets of Delhi. These are some websites that give you comprehensive information about language courses, how to access the monuments, places of interest, art and culture academies, biodiversity parks, museums and other relevant details on how you can go about exploring the city. Go on, get rolling.

Ministry of Tourism,, Government of India
http://www.tourism.gov.in/

Delhi Tourism, Government of Delhi
http://www.delhitourism.gov.in/delhitourism/index.jsp

Hop On Hop Off bus service
http://www.hohodelhi.com/

National Museum Institute of History of Art, Conservation and Museology
http://nmi.gov.in

India National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (Intach)
www.intach.org

Archaeological Survey of India
http://asi.nic.in/

National Archives of India
www.nationalarchives.nic.in/

Yamuna Biodiversity Park
http://dda.org.in/greens/biodiv/yamuna-biodiversity-park.html

Aravalli Biodiversity Park
http://www.dda.org.in/greens/biodiv/aravalli-biodiversity-park.html

Nehru Planetarium
www.nehruplanetarium.org

National Science Centre
www.nscdelhi.org/contact-us.php

National School of Drama
www.nsd.gov.in/

National Gallery of Modern Art
www.ngmaindia.gov.in/

Shri Ram Centre for Performing Arts
www.shriramcenterart.org/

Lalit Kala Akademi
www.lalitkala.gov.in/

Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan
www.sanskrit.nic.in

Shri Shankaracharya Mahavidyalaya, Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan
www.bvbdelhi.org

Indira Gandhi Open University
www.ignou.ac.in

National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language
www.urducouncil.nic.in

Faculty of Arts
www.du.ac.in

The Hindustan Times, 11th July 2012

Assam is no stranger to floods. But this deluge is the worst it has seen in many years. The first wave of floods-from April to Juneclaimed 126 lives. More than 700 animals in Kaziranga National Park and elsewhere have died. Fears of a second wave hitting soon loom large.

The annual devastation comes in multiple waves in Assam-three to four-starting from April. According to the state disaster management authority, the floods in June affected almost 24 lakh as 4,540 villages came under water. While the flood fury has abated somewhat, more than 3 lakh are still affected as 550 villages continue to be flooded. The state government has pegged the damage at Rs 11,316 crore.

The current wave was declared by the state government as the worst since 2004: 201 human lives and over 100 animals were lost in the four waves that year. Government spokesman and agriculture minister Nilamoni Sen Deka said this year's wave of floods has turned out to be even bigger. "And we are witnessing just the first wave. We fear the next wave, which is expected very soon."

The minister said 40% of the state's area stands affected, including 2.5lakh ha of crop area. "The loss to farmers is about Rs 900 crore. Also, there is silt cover in areas where the waters have receded; this has to be cleared before the sowing season in August," Deka said.

The southwest monsoonfed flood first hit Karimganj district in Barak valley in April and later Lakhimpur district on the north bank of Brahmaputra valley in May. The devastating phase started on June 24 when incessant rains in the catchment areas of Brahmaputra, particularly in China and Arunachal, led to the river and its tributaries flowing above the danger mark. The monsoon also triggered landslides, which have so far claimed 16 lives, including 10 in the city.

The flood has destroyed infrastructure, breaching embankments in the Brahmaputra valley, washing away bridges and damaging seven national highways and roads. PM Manmohan Singh, on his visit to the state on July 2, announced an ad hoc assistance of Rs 500 crore to help the state till the final assistance is announced after the damage is assessed by a central team. The seven-member team arrived here on Tuesday. "The central team has been divided into three groups for three sectors , NC Hills and Karbi Anglong hill districts, upper Assam and lower Assam," an official said.

The state will pay ex-gratia of Rs 1.5 lakh to the next of kin of each of the dead while the PMO and the CM will give exgratia of Rs 1 lakh each.

Times View
Floods that render millions homeless and kill hundreds or thousands of people and animals are depressingly repetitive in India. So are droughts. True, there are limits to how much man can do to protect himself from the vagaries of nature. But, a country that boasts of being an emerging economic superpower can do a better job on this. Managing water resources better is a part of the solution and nowhere near enough has been done on this. The other is dealing with calamities. Here again, there is little evidence of having imbibed the best global practices. It is hard to escape the conclusion that human life is simply not valued enough.

Govt to plant 12,500 saplings at Millennium bus depot
Facing the Delhi High Court’s ire for making the Delhi Transport Corporation’s (DTC) Millennium bus depot on the banks of the Yamuna a permanent structure, the Delhi government has promised to plant over 12,000 trees in the area to make up for the damage to the environment in the eco-sensitive zone.

The high court had criticised the state government on a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by environmentalists Manoj Mishra and V K Jain, who had sought the demolition of the bus depot. They contended that the depot was intended to be a temporary structure constructed in the run-up to the Commonwealth Games. They said the structure violated the Master Plan and zonal plan for the Yamuna. The PIL claimed that concrete structures on the river bed will affect the water recharge capacity of the area.

The petitioners’ counsel Jayant Bhushan argued that the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) had in March 2011 admitted the depot was built on the river bed, declared zone O where only green/recreational development is permitted.

“DTC is informed that aiming environmental improvement, the government is in the process of planting 7,000 plants near the depot. Additional 5,500 plants are being planted by the Garden and Park Society at an estimated cost of Rs. 23.79 lakh,” DTC deputy chief general manager AK Chawla said in his affidavit submitted to the court.

Seeking to allay the fears of the environmentalists, the affidavit said: “The bus depot will have a sewage treatment plant and effluent treatment plan to ensure that no waste water is dumped into the river.” Urging the court to allow it to use the depot till an alternative site was allotted, the DTC said DDA was required to provide adequate land for bus depots.

The Hindustan Times, 11th July 2012

British soldiers sent back a host of treasures belonging to Tipu Sultan, including three hunting cheetahs, after the fall of Seringapatam in May 1799.

The details of the spoils seized by the East India Company and sent back for King George III and other senior royals were listed in eight memoranda written by Captain Benjamin Sydenham, who was present during the Siege of Seringapatam and the death of Tipu Sultan.

He was appointed aide-de-camp to the Governor-General Marquis Wellesley after the siege and he produced these detailed memoranda about treasures from the palace that were sent back to London..

The memoranda were auctioned in London on Tuesday afternoon by Sotheby’s for £15,000. They had been estimated to sell for £15,000-£20,000.

The papers had left the archive of the East India Company in 1814, and were then lost from view for nearly 200 years. The current consignor, who is of Indian heritage, discovered the papers about 20 years ago in a second-hand shop in England. “He immediately recognised the name of Tipu Sultan on the cover,” Sotheby’s said.

The eight memoranda had been sent in duplicate with the details of the looted treasures and the three cheetahs.

The Asian Age, 11th July 2012

The controversy regarding the discovery of Mughal-era relics near Jama Masjid Metro Station seems to have turned into a turf war between Delhi Metro andArcheological Survey of India (ASI). While the latter has recommended a further investigation of the site, DMRC is playing down the heritage tag of the findings.

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) sources say that till the discovered structure is listed as a heritage monument, Metro will not stop work at the site.

"The location of the station box has already been changed once as the ASI felt it was too close to Sunehri Masjid. Since it is yet to be determined whether the Akbarabadi mosque was located at the site in question, Delhi Metro will continue with construction work till we are advised to do otherwise," a spokesperson for the agency said. The site is part of the original station box location.

The new station is located 30-odd metre away from the previous location. Earlier, the Jama Masjid Metro Station was 103m away from Sunehri Masjid and 300m from Jama Masjid. Now, it is located at a distance of 130m from Sunehri Masjid and 200m from Jama Masjid. "Preliminary work is already underway. Digging for surveys, and soil and water table testing up to 18-20m is going on. Piling will start soon," added the official.

Meanwhile, ASI officials said the site has "huge potential for excavations that could unearth new archaeological discoveries". The ASI team that visited the site last week and confirmed that the findings were from the Mughal-era, has submitted a report to director-general Gautam Sengupta, said sources. ASI is still unclear whether the relics belong to the Akbarabadi mosque.

"Even before the ruins were found, we had served a notice to Delhi Metro asking them to stop work in that area as it falls in the regulated zone of Sunehri Masjid. This prompted them to change the alignment of the station. Till we complete investigation into the recent findings, Metro has been asked to halt construction work," said an ASI official.

National Monuments Authority(NMA) member-secretary Praveen Srivastava said irrespective of any archaeological findings, DMRC still is not allowed to carry out construction work within 300m of protected monuments like Sunehri Masjid without getting an NOC. "DMRC's request is still pending with NMA," Srivastava said.

Conservationists say that ideally DMRC should integrate the findings with the Metro station. "The design of the station has to be altered and a new strategy needs to be adopted. The process will take much longer but the archeological remains can be integrated with the station. Many countries have done this," said an archaeologist.

Experts say that ASI has the power under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (Amendment and Validation) Act, 2010 to take over any site which has confirmed evidence of historical remains. Further action will be initiated by ASI only after studying the recommendations of the Delhi circle team, added officials.

Officials said that as the matter had already been brought to chief minister Sheila Dikshit's notice, there was a strong possibility that the area could be taken over by the department of archeology under the Delhi government.

The Times of India, 11th July 2012

The government has warded off pressure from Unesco to implement the controversialWestern Ghats report as a pre-condition to the 'World Heritage' tag. Western Ghats sites have been declared as World Heritage but without any additional restrictions on development as suggested by the Western Ghats Ecology Experts Panel - something states such as Karnataka and Kerala have been complaining about unaware of the Centre's intervention in the UN.

With a day to go before the Unesco meeting was to decide on the Western Ghats heritage tag proposal - which was pending fire since 2002 - the UN panel recommended that the decision be again deferred until the Indian government explained how it had integrated the recommendations of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel into its plans for the region.

The Unesco panel on heritage list recommended that India should "review the scope and composition of the current serial nomination to take account of any recommendations of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel or other relevant information, in order to reflect the full spectrum of ecological and biodiversity values of the Western Ghats, and to further enhance the protection of the values of the nominated property". But the officers of environment ministry reacted quickly to intervene officially. They pointed out that though the report had been submitted, it was still under process within the government and a fait accompli could not be imposed. The Indian intervention noted that even while putting out the report for public comments, the central government had noted that the panel's recommendations had not been accepted so far.

The intervention by the environment ministry ensured that the objections to the Indian proposal for tagging Western Ghats sites as World Heritage were removed and the listing approved.

State governments have been up in arms against the proposal just as several other stakeholders including industry and forest dwellers groups are wary of any new legal regime being imposed in the name of conservation of forests. While the industry is wary that the tag could bring greater scrutiny on industrial projects in the mine-rich area, tribal activists are concerned that the conservation agenda would mean another attempt to divest the poor of their yet to be recorded rights in the forests.

By keeping the Western Ghats report disentangled from the World Heritage tag, the Centre has ensured that even if it implements the report later, in complete or in parts, the strong recommendations of the expert panel do not become binding even before it processes it.
The Times of India, 11th July 2012

An exhibition of Mr. Behl’s photographs titled "Islamic Monuments of India" was inaugurated by Union Culture Minister Kumari Selja at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in Delhi on Tuesday

As a melting pot of many cultures, the country offers a wide range of architectural designs, each reflecting an era and a civilisation associated with it. While some Islamic monuments such as the Taj Mahal stand out on the popularity meter across the globe, the canvas is both large and largely unexplored, according to film-maker, art historian and photographer Benoy K. Behl.

An exhibition of Mr. Behl’s photographs titled “Islamic Monuments of India” was inaugurated by Union Culture Minister Kumari Selja at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan here on Tuesday.

The exhibition, a part of Mr. Behl’s project of the photography of the Islamic heritage monuments of the world covering 42 countries, features mosques, tombs, madrassas, palaces and fortresses – each having a history that resonates with local architectural talent which was inspired by designs from far off lands such as Iran, Arabia and Central Asia.

The exhibition provides a glimpse of what the organisers describe as “…a vast, rich and varied heritage of Islamic architecture”. The photographs reflect not only the impact that the Islamic empire had since the 12th Century onwards but also the links that the major dynasties had with other countries.

While most major monuments from the Mughal era – the crème de la crème of Islamic empire and architecture – feature in the exhibition, this offers variety in the form of mosques and dargahs of places as far and wide as Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Kashmir and other parts of India. Some monuments from the Southern parts of the country exhibit the confluence of cultures which took place here.

The iconic Taj Mahal at Agra, the Humayun's Tomb built in the 16 Century, the Bidar Fort in Karnataka and the Jama Masjid, Junagarh, on the foothills of the Girnar Hills in Gujarat are among the many monuments being showcased at the exhibition.

Mr. Behl has travelled extensively within and outside the country and taken over 35,000 photographs of Asian monuments and art heritage. He has also made documentaries on art history. His work has been well received in 28 countries across the globe.

The Hindu, 11th July 2012

The bridge is being constructed under the overall supervision of the Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation.

The much awaited Signature Bridge across the Yamuna which is coming up at an estimated cost of Rs.1,131 crore will for the first time provide graphics on a bridge structure in the country. The word “Yamuna” will be emblazoned on it in Hindi.

Coming up at Wazirabad in North-East Delhi, the aesthetic bridge will have four lanes in each of the two carriageways. It will come up as an unsymmetrical-cable-stayed bridge that will have a main span of 251 metres and possess a steel tower rising to a height of 150 metres: to put matters in perspective, it will be more than twice the height of Qutub Minar.

Following a visit to the construction site, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said while the main bridge being constructed downstream and south of the existing Wazirabad bridge is scheduled to be completed in December 2013, the main flyover on its western approach would be thrown open to traffic later this month.

Ms. Dikshit, who visited both the eastern and western sides of the bridge, said it would emerge as a landmark structure in the Capital. She called upon officials to ensure that there is no delay in the construction and warned that delays will not be tolerated in commissioning of the project as it was crucial for improving the flow of traffic between North Delhi and North-East Delhi across the Yamuna.

For the residents of North-East Delhi, it has been a real long wait for another bridge across the river as the project was announced by the Sheila Dikshit Government way back in 2004 and is expected to take nearly a decade to complete.

The bridge is being constructed under the overall supervision of the Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation. It will connect the marginal bund road near Khazuri Khas intersection on the eastern side with Outer Ring Road on the western side.

The project comprises the western approach main flyover, western approach loops, eastern approach main flyover, eastern approach embankment and main bridge.

Noting that people of North-East Delhi have for long waited for this structure to come up, the Chief Minister also told the officials of the construction company to monitor the progress on a daily basis to ensure its commissioning as per their contractual obligation.

While the right and left carriageways of the 1.4 km western approach main flyover will be opened to traffic later this month, the loops on western approach are likely to be opened in November this year.

The Chief Minister was told by engineers that between 65 and 90 per cent work on the loops has been completed.

As for dual carriageway eastern approach main flyover, which has a length of 683 metres, the Chief Minister was told that it would be commissioned by this December. About 70 per cent work on the carriageways of this flyover has been completed.

As far as work on the eastern approach embankment is concerned, it was noted that the main embankment, guide bund and launching apron were due to be completed by June 2013.

The Hindu, 12th July 2012

Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Wednesday inspected Signature Bridge sites that are under construction on both sides of the river Yamuna. Dikshit instructed the construction company to monitor the progress on daily basis in order to ensure its completion by December 2013.

However, sources from Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation Limited TTDC), who has been entrusted the project said, ‘It is difficult to construct before 2013, may be in June 2014 we would be able to complete the bridge’.

The project was announced in 2004 by the Delhi government, which includes two parts approaches and main bridge and would cost the exchequer Rs 1,131 crore.

The new bridge would connect marginal bund road near Khazuri Khas intersection on the eastern side and Outer Ring Road, Road No 45, on the western side.

Dikshit was accompanied by DTTDC chairman Manish Chatrath, DTTDC director Rajesh Lilothia, TDC

MD and chief engineer, DTTDC engineers and engineers belonging to the construction company.

After the inspection, Dikshit said, ‘The company is facing some technical problems. The project has been delayed, but I have made it crystal clear that no delay will be tolerated in the commissioning of the project as the new bridge will be crucial for smooth flow of traffic across river Yamuna and other major roads on both sides of the river’.

Sources said that two big pillars, which were about to be completed last year are yet to be completed by the construction company. And with monsoon season approaching, the task would be more difficult for the company to finish in their stipulated deadline. This bridge is vital as it would ensure the much awaited relief to the commuters of north-east Delhi resulting in huge savings in travel time and fuel consumption.

Sources said, the company has been told to make up for the delay. The work on the approaches started in June 2008. The right and left carriage way of 1.4 km length each on western approach main flyover would be opened to traffic by the end of this month. As far as loops on western approach are concerned, three would be opened by November 2012 whereas other three are likely to be opened by June 2013.

The work between 65 per cent to 90 per cent has been completed on these loops. The right and left carriage way on eastern approach main flyover measuring length of 683 meter each would be completed by December 2012. As far as work on eastern approach embankment is concerned, the main embankment, guide bund and launching apron is due to be completed by June 2013. Meanwhile, sources also said that the project was initiated with a plan of making this a landmark bridge and the surrounding areas are to be developed as tourist destinations.

The Millennium Post, 12th July 2012

Among other things, “Ghalib Nama” brings out the poet’s association with Agra Mirza Ghalib has been monopolised so much by Delhiwallahs that the people of his home-town, Agra think that the poet’s association with their city has been overlooked and his Kala Mahal residence and Red Stone horse icon confined to oblivion. To make up for this lapse, Syed Ikhtiyar Jafri, head of the Ghalib Research Academy, Agra has compiled a book, Yaad-e-Ghalib in Urdu, Hindi and English. The contributors are from various places, including Delhi, Agra, Lucknow, Kanpur and Patiala. Gulzar says he wouldn’t have been a poet but for Ghalib. The Vice-President, Mohammad Hamid Ansari has congratulated the publishers for their enterprise. It is surely a treasure mine of information for both the researcher and the casual reader looking for literary gems.

Included in the collection are articles like ‘Ghalib’s Agra’, ‘Ghalib as chronicler’, ‘Ghalib in a hundred moods’, ‘the poetic approach of Ghalib and Keats’, ‘Ghalib’s sense of humour’, his concept of paradise, need for a Ghalib memorial in Agra, his disciples and his letters, Ghalib’s Agra house, Ghalib, Shelley and Keats as romantic poets, the poet’s universal appeal, legal jargon in Ghalib’s poetry, the candle burns in variegated moods till dawn - a panorama of the poet’s life whose mastery even an Ustad like Seemab acknowledged.

The Hindi and Urdu sections of the 460-page book are even more exhaustive with articles by littérateurs like Maikash Akbarabadi, Kaifi Azmi, Malik Ram, Hari Mohan, Nasreen Begum, Raza Haider, Rashmi Jafri, Kanhaiyalal Kapoor, Shashi Tandon and Tahir Mahmood. The poems like those by Asrar Akbarabadi and Duniya hai ek khilona (The world is a toy), translated by Sarwat Rehman are illuminating. For those who are never tired of admiring Mirza Ghalib, this collection is a unique tribute to a poet whose genius has only now been recognized the world over – and a befitting reply to the monopolists in Delhi.
The Times of India, 12th July 2012

Counsel drew the Court’s ire after he submitted that unlike other agencies the MCD has no role to play in the de-pollution drive.

Terming the Municipal Corporation of Delhi “the biggest polluter” of the Yamuna, the Supreme Court on Wednesday rebuked the civic body for saying that it has nothing to do with the pollution of the river and warned it that all its three Commissioners will have to appear before the court if it persists with its stand.

“You (MCD) are the biggest polluter. You allow all domestic and industrial effluents into the river. Yet you take the stand that the MCD has no role to play!” observed a Bench of Justices A. K. Patnaik and Swatanter Kumar.

The Court told counsel to take a clear stand on the efforts being made by the MCD along with other civic agencies to clean the river.

“You have been polluting the river and still being cool about it. If you continue to take the stand then all your three Commissioners will have to be present here at the next hearing and explain,” the Bench told MCD counsel Sanjib Sen.

Counsel drew the Court’s ire after he submitted that unlike other agencies the MCD has no role to play in the de-pollution drive.

On February 27, the Court had asked the Centre and the Governments of Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh to furnish information on expenditure incurred by them for cleaning the Yamuna.

It had asked the Central Water Pollution Control Board to take samples of water of the river and submit a report on its cleanliness.

“The Central Water Pollution Control Board shall take samples of water of river Yamuna from the States of Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh till Agra and submit their report within four weeks,” the Bench had said.

It directed all the authorities related to the work of controlling the river’s pollution to give details of the steps taken by them in this regard. The Court had issued the direction taking suo motu cognisance of an article on pollution in the Yamuna published in a national daily in 1994.

The Hindu, 12th July 2012

Amid debates over conservation of Western Ghats, which have been added to UNESCO’s list of iconic places, a World Heritage advisory body has recommended international monitoring to ensure that the 39 bio-diversity hot-spots in the region are properly preserved.

The demand from International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) came after India refused to accept demand from the World Heritage Committee that recommendations of the Madhav Gadgil-led Western Ghats Ecology Experts Panel should be implemented as a pre-condition to get the heritage tag for the mountains which are home to precious biosphere reserves.

“We welcome these sites to the World Heritage List, but note the conservation challenges that they face will need additional monitoring by the World Heritage Committee to ensure that these sites meet the requirements that accompany listing as flagships for global conservation,” Tim Badman, Head of IUCN’s World Heritage Programme, said.

Badman also said IUCN, the world’s largest conservation organisation, had reservations in giving heritage tag to Western Ghats - though it holds “spectacular natural values” - as its “evaluations considered that more work was needed on these nominations to meet the standards the Convention has set in its Operational Guidelines.”

“As the number of natural wonders on the World Heritage List continues to grow, too many sites are left with little resources to manage them properly and conserve the very values they were inscribed for,” the IUCN said.

The Pioneer, 12th July 2012

Benoy K Behl’s recent exhibition brings the Islamic monuments of India together under one roof. Ektaa Malik travels through the photographs

It can easily double up as a travelogue with a fixed itinerary. When we talk of Islamic architecture, most of the times the image of the Red Fort, Jama Masjid and the Char Minar comes to mind. Maybe the Agra Fort too. But the ongoing exhibition - Islamic Monuments of India - of photographs by Benoy Behl, focusses on the lesser-known historical monuments that have the unmistakable stamp of Islamic architecture. He explains how this particular project came about. “I have been documenting Indian art for many years. Over time I have had the pleasure of photographing many beautiful Islamic monuments. By 2010-2011, I again travelled to the parts of India which have these marvels. The pictures are a result of those travels.”

The project was a labour of love for Benoy. He travelled to all corners of India, from the Kashmir Valley, Kerala to Tamil Nadu; from the western-most town of Lakhpat in Kutch to Tripura in the east.

The exhibition has the choicest views of the Islamic monuments of the country. It beautifully captures the lone minaret of the Jama Masjid through a far off window, the exquisite carvings on Humayun’s Tomb and the Bidar Fort in Karnataka.

We wonder why he is focussing on just architecture? “Architecture is one of the most important manifestations of a culture. It opens a door for us to come through and then look beyond at other aspects of heritage”, he says. He further adds “These are only a few of my photographs of Islamic monuments. In the course of this work, I have photographed several hundred such structures across the country.”

The exhibition is not just a display of forts and towering structures, it includes dargah’s, masjidsand also tombs. The Hazrat Nizamuddin dargah of Delhi, Bibi ka Maqbara and Akbar’s tomb in Sikandra are also featured prominently. Architectural marvels from Gujarat are also showcased.

You ask his favourite monument and he quick to answer, “It’s the Rouza of Ibrahim Adil Shah II, contemporary of Akbar. He was a great patron of the art and some of the finest miniature paintings were made in India under him. He was a great Sufi and a cosmopolitan, compassionate man. In his autobiography, Kitab-e-Nauras, he mentions that he is the son of Ganesha. He wrote poems about his favourite elephant, his tanbura, and the beauty of his wife. For me going to his tomb and photographing it was like a pilgrimage”, he shares. In today’s time when everyone with a cell phone will be able to capture the Taj Mahal, Benoy maintains that when he started out, no one was seriously working to document Islamic architecture. Benoy is now working on a project to document the Islamic heritage monuments of the world. “It will be spread across 44 countries,” he concludes.


The Pioneer, 12th July 2012

Today Himachal means much more than just those two places. The booming travel industry has contributed substantially to the inflow of tourists.

This Northern state of India is sub-divided into 12 districts namely, Kangra, Mandi, Hamirpur, Kinnaur, Kullu, Solan, Una, Lahaul and Spiti, Chamba, Sirmaur, Bilaspur and Shimla and each district has breathtaking views for nature lovers.

Out of these, the district that caught my eye and interest instantly was Lahaul and Spiti. What I find most interesting is the fact that Spiti shares its Eastern border with the Tibet Autonomous Region and is believed to have been a part of lesser Tibet in the 10th century. It is largely a Buddhist region and is famous for some of the oldest monasteries in the world. Due to harsh travelling and climatic conditions, Spiti has largely remained unexplored and hence its cultural heritage remains unaffected by external influences.

I took the road that enters Kinnaur via Shimla and heads towards Spiti. I did not have a set itinerary in mind, but had a detailed road map of Himachal with me and a little research of the region before embarking on the journey. I took an overnight sleeper bus from Delhi to Shimla, which dropped me at Shimla around 7 am.

I would have liked to head straight to Spiti, but it’s very important to take a few breaks to acclimatise oneself to the climate change. A sudden shift in the altitude can cause altitude sickness and apart from ruining the adventure, it can lead to some serious health hazards.

Shimla was not on my list as I was eager to get on the Buddhist trail so my first stop was at Kalpa, a small town which is of much religious significance to Hindus and Buddhists.

So, from Shimla I took a connecting bus to Reckong Peo, which is the capital of Kinnaur district and is located on the old Hindustan- Tibet trade route. From the town of Jeori the road turns into a mud trail running parallel to the Sutlej river. Landslides are common and at some points, the mud road becomes dangerously narrow. So if one has little experience of driving in the mountains, it’s advisable to either hire an experienced driver or rely on public transport, which I found very reliable.
The bus enters Kinnaur and you can see the Himachali topis everywhere like green heads floating in the air. The famous Himachali caps are adorned by both men and women. As the bus crossed the Shong Tong Bridge I got the first glimpse of upper Himalayas, the Kinnaur Kailash.

Kinnaur Kailash (locally referred to as Kinner Kailash), a 21,300 feet high mountain in the Kinnaur district which is covered by snow throughout the year, is famous for the more than 100 feet high, natural rock shivling that rests on it. Kalpa is an hour’s walk away from Peo (the local name for Reckong Peo) and some 20 minutes away on bus. On the way to Spiti, the last ATM is in Peo so it is important to withdraw some money from here if need be as the next ATM is available at Kaza which is miles and many stops ahead. I took a bus from Peo and after a constant 22-hour journey reached my first stop - Kalpa. Kalpa is located at an altitude of 9,711 feet and is believed to be the winter abode of Lord Shiva.

Kalpa is a small quiet town and apart from the breathtaking view of the Kinnaur Kailash, is also known for a 100-year-old Buddhist monastery and a Hindu Temple. Accommodation is available at economic rates and the main hotel is run by the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation. The main occupation here is apple farming. People are friendly and helpful. I decided to stay in Kalpa for a day. I ate dinner at a small Tibetan restaurant run by an old woman and her son, who runs buses between Reckong Peo and Kaza. He told me stories about the old monastery which was burnt by invaders many years back and was recently rebuilt and suggested that I explore Kinnaur a little more before heading off to Spiti. My stay in Kalpa was short but memorable. Next day was divided between visiting the monastery, the temple and relishing thukpa and momos. A local told me about the three- day trek that begins from the town Powari and takes one to the Shivling on the Kinner Kailash Mountain. It was tempting but meant going from an elevation of 9,700 feet to 18,000 feet in three days and I wasn’t ready for it so I decided to leave it for my next visit and packed my bags to head to my next stop - The Baspa Valley.

The Asian Age, 13th July 2012

As dismal as their condition has been, the ponds in Delhi could soon get a new lease of life - in the form of fish culture. Delhi government’s ambitious plan to allow fish culture in water bodies is finally taking off.

According to officials, around 24 water bodies in Northwest Delhi have been identified for the purpose. These ponds will be auctioned after the monsoon. The water bodies will be used to promote fish culture, fishing, production of fish and fish seeds (fertilised fish eggs).

The water bodies have been identified in villages such as Auchandi, Boodhanpur Majra, Bawana, Qutub Garh, Khera Kalan, Naya Bhans, Ibrahimpur, Karala, etc. These ponds have an area of about 1 acre to 3.5 acres each. “We plan to auction ponds in Northwest Delhi after monsoon. A proper survey was done to ensure that these ponds were fit for fish culture. A committee has also been formed to auction off these ponds. Either it will be an open auction or sealed bids will be invited,’’ said a senior government official.

The committee comprises deputy commissioners of respective districts, director of animal husbandry unit (Development department), a fish culture expert, a water quality expert of Delhi Pollution Control Committee, area deputy conservator of forests, director (Panchayat) and divisional commissioner.

A total of 477 water bodies were initially identified across the city for the fish culture project. The project will be implemented in other water bodies depending on how successful it is in the ponds in Northwest Delhi, said officials.

Officials said the move is aimed at creating a means of livelihood for villagers, ensuring proper maintenance of ponds and also preventing encroachment on groundwater recharge structures. The Revenue department, which owns the 24 water bodies, said fish culture was part of a series of projects to be taken up for restoring water bodies. The move follows a Delhi High Court directive, in 2000, to augment Delhi’s groundwater sources.

The Forest department and Horticulture unit of Development department will have the task of ensuring sufficient greenery around the water bodies. The greenery is essential to ensure that there is enough oxygen and plankton for fish to feed on. The Delhi Jal Board will have to ensure that there is no sewage flow into these ponds from adjoining villages, said officials. This project has got the approval from the L-G’s office.

“Once the ponds are auctioned, the licensee will be authorised to use the water bodies only for fish culture, fishing, production of fish and fish seeds of culturable varieties. Culture of African magur (Clarias gariepinus) is prohibited, as they are carnivorous and will feed on other fish varieties,’’ said an official.

“The bidder will have to deposit an amount of Rs 10,000 or 5 per cent of the estimated value - whichever is higher - as earnest money. As per the guidelines, fishing can be done by net or rod and line only. Precaution should be taken for timely removal of weeds, maintenance of water pH, optimum nutrition to fish and that fish is caught without resorting to blasts or use of chemicals,’’ said the official.

The licence will be issued for a year and the fish farmer cannot prevent domestic animals from drinking water from of the pond. No modification in the existing structure of the water body would be made, and any activity not in conformity with the existing/future laws of environment would not be permitted.

The Indian Express, 13th July 2012

Langa and Manganiar folk musicians in Rajasthan fear their art might get lost in the face of poverty and illiteracy

They are the voice of Rajasthan; they adorn all major cultural fiestas in India and abroad and their lilting melodies leave the audiences spellbound. Be itKesaria Balam or Nimbuda or Manganiar Seduction, their performances are simply unforgettable.

But away from the limelight, majority of the Langas and the Manganiars, the folk musicians from western Rajasthan, do not have such a rosy background. The gifted singers, who have carried forward the oral tradition of music for several generations, yearn for ways to secure their future. Mostly poor, uneducated and devoid of any substantial organized means of sustenance, their progeny may soon have to leave music aside to tread a different path to earn a livelihood.

Belonging to the Muslim community, the Langas and the Manganiars mostly live in border districts of Barmer and Jaisalmer. Interestingly, their folk music flourished under the patronage of their Hindu yajmans (patrons) over the years. While the Manganiars are patronised by the Bhati Rajputs, the Langas have the Sindhi Sipahis as yajman. They still sing for their Hindu yajmans on Holi, Diwali and other auspicious occasions like weddings. They can invoke Lord Krishna with the same intensity as they would render a mystical number. They have a matchless ingenuity, too. They can compose numbers to suit the occasion, be it a wedding or sending best wishes to our cricket team for the World Cup.

They would have remained inconspicuous to the outside world had not Komal Kothari, a great connoisseur of folk arts, discovered their talent. Realising that this oral tradition might go extinct if no steps were taken to preserve it, he documented the art and the artists and thanks to his efforts, a group of artists rose to fame and the melodious voices of the Thar began to enthral audiences far and wide. For the first time, the Langas and the Manganiars stepped out of the boundaries of their villages to sail across the globe.

“We are grateful to Komal Kothariji who introduced us to the world of name and fame,” Padma Shri Sakir Khan of Hamira village said. At 75, Sakir Khan is a highly unassuming personality. He has an equally gifted successor in his 31-year-old son Darre Khan. Both of them play kamaicha - a string instrument and Javed, the toddler in the family, is already getting the taste of music sitting on the lap of his grandfather.

The village is full of artists - vocalists as well as instrumentalists - who master the art of playing shehnai, khadtal, sindhi sarangi or dholak. But most of them are uneducated. How do they then manage to interact with the western audience? Sakir Khan replied: “Surile log to har jagah hote hain aur sur to har jagah sur hi hota hai.” (Music-lovers are spread across the globe and understand the language of music)

Veteran musicians like Sakir Khan and other fellow artists like Pepe Khan, Imamuddin Akbar Khan and Bhungar Khan lament the fact that some of their folk instruments might become extinct since there are few makers available. Kamaicha is a difficult instrument to play on since it does not have any scale. That is also the reason for many youngsters to feel attracted to the harmonium, an upset Sakir Khan added.

They are grateful to their yajmans and would not think twice rejecting a concert contract to attend an invitation of their yajman, according to young Darre Khan who recently underwent a kidney transplant surgery. He was lucky to receive financial support but not everyone in their community would have the same luck.

Other than Komal Kothari, some organisations like Marudhar Lok Kala Mandal and individuals like Magraj Jain have been making efforts to help the folk musicians preserve their rich tradition. The efforts can get further boost with government intervention. In this regard, the musicians await the implementation of the Barmer Charter, prepared after a conference held to study the plight of the Langas and the Manganiars in 2008.

Congress MP from Barmer, Harish Choudhury, recently met the Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot asking him to look into the speedy implementation of the charter. “We have great hopes from the Chief Minister who hails from western Rajasthan,” said Bhuwanesh Jain, who is supporting the claim of the folk artists. He was appreciative of the initiative of current Chief Secretary C.K. Matthew, who during his posting as Barmer’s Collector in 1982, had included folk music training under TRYSEM (Training of Rural Youth for Self-Employment).

The success of Roysten Abel’s Manganiar Seduction has further popularised the Langas and Manganiars, who have carved out a niche for themselves as the quintessential icons of Rajasthani folk music. Alas, it is not true of the whole community which still dwells in rudimentary dwellings and yearns for access to good education, health and social security.

In addition, a greater threat hangs over their head. When the song Nimbuda, composed and set to tune by Gazi Khan Manganiar, was used in a Bollywood film, allegedly without acknowledging the source, Komal Kothari had felt the urge for copyright of folk and indigenous art forms. “Since they come from illiterate and mostly socially backward groups, they will lose their right to various traditional creations before they even become aware of it,” he had cautioned.

The Hindu, 13th July 2012

International philanthropic organisation Aga Khan Trust for Culture, in collaboration with the Urdu Academy, is hosting a play of historical significance in Delhi next month

The play seeks to highlight how masons succeeded in constructing the baoli for revered Sufi saint Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya.

Boasting of a 700-year-long living culture Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti seems to have forgotten, the children of this area are trying to revive its historic importance through this play. Forty children from the basti will perform and Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit will be invited to the event.

According to director Nadeem Khan, the play will propagate the Sufi message of love, tolerance, pluralism. It will basically tell how masons, who were building the fort at Tughlaqabad for Tughlaq king Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq during the daytime, worked at night to construct the baoli for Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya.

“During the inspection, the King found that the masons were not working with the same enthusiasm anymore in completing his fort. Therefore, he asked for the reason. On finding out that they were working at night for the baoli and were sapped of energy, he was furious. He wanted them to concentrate on his fort, but since Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya was a revered soul, the King could not ask the masons to discontinue the noble project. In order to put a spanner in the works, the King purchased oil from all the sellers in Delhi. The masons could not work in the dark for lack of oil. The Sufi saint advised the masons to use grass and sprinkle water on it. He said chirag khud par khud jal jayega. It lit up and the masons succeeded in completing the baoli!”

The baoli still holds water. In fact, the water levels have increased significantly following the recent restoration work by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. “Earlier, the locals used to dump garbage but the Agha Khan Trust for Culture intervened and built jalees. So now the place is spic and span,” says Nadeem.

Over the past two years, employees of the Agha Khan Trust for Culture and the Urdu Academy have worked as a cohesive team to impart training to children and youth of the basti in achieving theatrical excellence. This has also resulted in a significant increase in confidence and overall development of the children.

At present, the Aga Khan Trust for Culture is implementing a major urban renewal project in the Hazrat Nizamuddin basti which seeks to improve the quality of life of the people living in the area. In addition to the cultural revival of the whole area, the project has distinct conservation, health, education, vocational training, sanitation and urban improvement components.

Water from the baoli is considered holy by millions of pilgrims from different religious denominations who visit the basti every year to pay their respects at the dargah. The baoli is a step well which has underground springs and pure water.

The Hindu, 13th July 2012

The expansion of the Metro network is though adding to the Capital’s pride, the price of urbanisation will have to be paid by the environment. Over 16,000 trees, which are falling in the way of the upcoming Metro corridors, will have to be cut down, depleting the city’s green cover further.

Delhi Metro is exerting pressure on the Government to get the requisite approvals for the same. Of these, 446 trees are located in the ridge area where deforestation is prohibited under the SC’s guideline.

Though the Forest department is ready to give its nod for the benefit of the Delhiites, it has asked for a substitute land, where ten times the total number of felled trees could be planted. After the approval is granted, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) will have to pay Rs 28,000 per tree to Forest department as per the norms laid down by the State Government.

The construction of the three Corridors - Central Secretariat to Kashmere Gate, Yamuna Vihar to Mukundpur and Janakpuri to Botanical Garden - requires chopping down of 16,000 trees, which are blocking the routes. DMRC had sought permissions to cut 15,836 trees based on its survey, an inspection by the forest department found the actual number to be over 16,000. Being the ambitious project of Delhi Metro, the Government is ready to grant the approvals. However, the technical issues are yet to be sorted out. In order to control the damage caused to the environment by cutting down such a large number of trees, the forest department has asked DMRC for a substitute land where ten times the number of trees felled can be planted.

According to the Delhi Metro sources, the DDA has sanctioned 70 hectares of land at Tilpat Valley for planting the required number of trees. The department has, however, rejected the land as rocky. “As per the norms, the DMRC will have to compensate the loss of a single tree by paying Rs 28,000. According to this, DMRC will have to pay Rs 50 crore to compensate the loss of trees. The forest department on the other hand will agree to plant the required number of trees on another land only,” said a highly-placed source.

A total of 8,030 trees will be cut down for the construction of Yamuna Vihar to Mukundpur Corridor, 6,338 trees for the construction of Janakpuri to Botanical Garden line and the rest 1,468 trees for the Central Secretariat to Kashmere Gate line. For the construction of Janakpuri to Botanical Garden line, a total of 6,338 trees will have to be felled. “The RK Puram to Kalkaji area in South Delhi will have to fell 2,942 trees, 446 trees between Vasant Vihar and RK Puram, 57 at RSS and RK Puram, 1,386 between Janakpuri and NH-8, 234 at the Kalkaji depot and 623 between Kalkaji and Delhi border,” added the source.

The highest number of trees will have to be cut for the construction of Yamuna Vihar to Mukundpur Corridor. “For this 376 trees will have to be felled between Mukundpur and Shalimar Bagh, 2,301 between Shalimar Bagh and Bhikaji Cama Place, 1,340 between Bhikaji Cama Place and Hazrat Nizamuddin, 1,758 at the Vinod Nagar depot and another 2,151 between Hazrat Nizamuddin and Yamuna Vihar,” concluded the source. Apart from this, for the construction of Central Secretariat to Kashmere Gate, a total of 977 trees will be chopped at ITO, Delhi Gate, Jama Masjid and Red Fort, 219 at Kashmere Gate, 115 at the Kashmere Gate ESS, 32 at the Mandi House shaft, 112 at Delhi Gate traffic junction and 13 at Janpath station.

The Pioneer, 13th July 2012

The fourth book in the ‘Empire of the Moghul’ series focuses on Akbar’s son, Jahangir, and brings alive a battle-scarred time in history, writes M K Chandra bose

The Moghul era in Indian history has no dearth of spine-chilling episodes of savagery, intrigues and betrayal. It is a saga of a deadly cycle of sons plotting against fathers, brothers murdering brothers and empresses and concubines plotting, scheming and seducing.
Succession was never smooth and eliminating any potential threat from the siblings was an overriding priority for an emperor. In the Moghul warrior code, might was always right, with the strongest taking all. ‘Throne or coffin’ was their motto, handed down from generation to generation. This legacy of bloodshed and passionate interludes could be an ideal backdrop for any fast-paced thriller.

The Empire of the Moghul series recreate the milieu with all the drama associated with a dynasty ruling over one-sixth of humanity, endless struggle for power, machinations and jealousy, insecurity amidst opulence and splendour and loneliness of power. Alex Rutherford is the pen name of the British husband-wife team of Michael and Diana Preston. The Moghul series is their first work of historical fiction. It was while researching on Taj Mahal that the duo got interested in the period.

Exhaustive research for the work took them from many Moghul monuments in the sub-continent to Central Asia, Iran and Afghanistan. The wealth of chronicles on the era and letters from foreign visitors proved handy. The result is a quintet of fascinating novels covering over two centuries.

The first in the series, Raiders from the North, tells the story of the nomadic warrior Babur, the first Moghul Emperor. The second novel, Brothers at War, is about Babur’s son Humayun. The third one, Ruler of the World, covers the epochal reign of Akbar the great. The fourth novel, The Tainted Throne, is about Akbar’s son Jahangir. The fifth and final one covering the Shah Jahan era is in the pipeline.

The Tainted Throne brings alive 17th century India with its many fratricidal battles involving vast armies, hurtling the empire down the path of self-destruction. It is a story of filial betrayal, jealousy, distrust and conspiracy in full play. At the outset, readers come face to face with the battle between Jahangir’s troops and his son Khusrao, who has revolted against him. Jahangir ruthlessly puts down the revolt, meting out brutal punishments to his son and his cohorts. Soon, he begins grooming his favourite son Khurram (Shah Jahan) as his successor. However, everything changes as Mehrunisa (Nur Jahan) enters Jahangir’s life.

He brings Nur Jahan to his harem after getting her husband murdered, to wed her later. She uses her enticing assets with deadly, effect making the mighty Moghul emperor dance to her tunes. She revels in encouraging jealousies and rivalries among Jahangir’s sons to extend her influence. After encouraging Jahangir’s addiction to wine and opium, Nur Jahan takes control of the matters of state, much to the chagrin of the elders. She also gets her daughter Ladli, from her first marriage, to marry Jahangir’s youngest son, and plots to crown him the next emperor. She engineers a rift between Shah Jahan and Jahangir, forcing the prince to flee.

Though all major characters are historical figures, and the main events and battles depicted are real, the authors fill the gaps with their fertile imagination. Rather than great historical figures, they are depicted as plain human beings with raw emotions. The fall of Jahangir from glory after his finding refuge in opium and wine, feeling of loneliness and vacillation in the face of a power-hungry wife’s prodding are vividly presented. He emerges as an impulsive ruler who relishes the sight of men being skinned alive or crushed beneath the feet of elephants. Nur Jahan’s transformation from a loving wife to an omnipotent power behind the throne, dabbling in everything that matters, makes her an unforgettable figure. Gender is no handicap to her. Some of the intimate scenes involving her are salacious.

The hallmark of the novel is its deft characterisation. The behaviour of Moghul courtiers is not different from modern day sycophants surrounding seats of power. The battle scenes, presented in graphic detail, have a touch of authenticity, obviously the result of painstaking research. The horrors of the war, and unspeakable cruelty shown to the vanquished, epitomise a reign that began in blood. We also have a glimpse of the crafty British trying to get a foothold in India with proposals of trade to Jahangir.

The reader never loses interest in the narrative as each event and episode unfolds methodically and evocatively. The grand spectacle of Moghul wealth, the glitzy court, palaces built in milk-white marbles and red sandstones, the rustle of silk and the glitter of gold and diamonds, the exquisite cuisine of the era, the shenanigans in the harem all flit before us. The passionate episodes and action scenes together make the novel all the more riveting. A handy book for anyone interested in the Moghul era.

The Deccan Herald, 15th July 2012

Greens see red as govt gives permission for resort, hotel in Mullayyanagiri The State government has gone to town with its opposition to the biodiversity heritage tag given to the Western Ghats, saying it has enough laws to protect the environment.
But, alarmingly, there has been a rampant increase in the number of private resorts and homestays coming up in the eco-sensitive region and the government has been quietly giving permission.

One such is an international resort being constructed by a private company at the foot of Mullayyanagiri, the tallest peak in the State, spending several crores of rupees.

The district administration is being criticised by environment organisations for the permission given to the company. This, when the economically backward classes need to approach officers of about a dozen departments to be allowed to build a mere hut.

The new resort is coming up on seven acres and 10 guntas on survey numbers 344 and 216 at Channagondanahalli-Pandavarahalli in the Mullayyanagiri hill ranges. Eight villas have already been constructed, with 12 more in the pipeline.

The company has also laid the foundation for a multi-storey hotel there. The place selected for the project is a source for many rivers and is very near to the Bhadra Tiger Reserve.

Religious shrines like Mullayyanagiri, Seethalayyanagiri and Rudragiri too are in the vicinity of the place.

It is said the officials of the revenue department have recommended to the deputy commissioner the sanction of permission without considering any of these factors.

Greens complain that the tahsildar had given a report that there was no temple, church and mosque in the vicinity.

The Talihalla Gram Panchayat too had given a no objection certificate, saying the villagers were not opposed to the project, say the greens. The district administration has failed to provide details on the use of water, waste management on the resort site and the map to the environmentalists, the greens said.

District officer of the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB), Sunil Kumar, told Deccan Herald that the project proponents had submitted the application for constructing 30 villas at a cost of Rs 4.36 crore and they had only given a no objection certificate. But the permission for the resort project was given by the central office of the KSPCB under the single window clearance system.

“When land conversion applications for resorts or homestays are submitted, it should be brought to the notice of the forest department by the district administration. Only then can we conduct a spot inspection and stop work if there are violations. We have no information on the Channagondanahalli project. We will act if there are complaints,” said Venkateshan, Deputy Conservator of Forests.

Environmentalists cite instances from the past of the district administration stalling resort projects causing harm to the ecology. It should do so in the project in question too, environmentalists D V Girish and Sridev Hulikere said.

Meanwhile, T L Ashok, convenor of the Karnataka Janashakti Sanghatane, said a ‘save Mullayyanagiri’ campaign would soon be launched on the lines of the ‘save Bababudangiri’ campaign.

He said resorts would be detrimental to local culture and the highly eco-sensitive zone on the State’s tallest mountain peak. Locals would be forced to do menial jobs in the resort, he feared.

He warned of a Statewide agitation if the decision to allow the resort was not reversed.

The Deccan Herald, 15th July 2012

GDalit women in Bundelkhand struggle to salvage both dying water resources in the semi-arid region and their dignity

Societal prejudices and coercive rules had sentenced them to an obscure existence till recently with no room to exercise their democratic rights and have their voices heard. But Dalit women in Uttar Pradesh’s Bundelkhand region has come a long way since — turning into water warriors and working their way up the patriarchal order to conserve water resources in this semi-arid region and also exert their right to water as a basic human right.

The Bundelkhand region suffers from erratic rainfall and experiences drought every alternate year. The conspicuousness of prolonged droughts, doubled up with environmental changes and lack of government policies in the last decade, has resulted in farmer suicides, hunger deaths, unemployment and migration. Traditional methods of water conservation and management have also come to a naught with water resources either disappearing or drying up.

In 2007, when a severe drought struck this region, a non-profit outfit Parmarth made an effort to mobilise rural Dalit women by initiating an informal structure of Pani Panchayats and Jal Sahelis to address the unaddressed issue of water crisis. The aim of Pani Panchayats was to organise themselves to protect and preserve traditional water bodies, and to create models of sustainable water security plans in the districts of Lalitpur, Jaulan and Hamirpur.

The programme helped the Dalit women break free of their stereotypical social role as they now brushed shoulders with men from upper castes at gram sabhas, panchayati raj institutions and also interacted with the local administration to ensure equitable distribution of water in the villages.
Speaking of the resistance faced from the local feudal class in their struggle for right to water at the community level, Mamata says that the feudal class fails to appreciate that Dalit women’s collective voices and actions could result in a bringing a social change and mitigate the water issue through a sustainable security plan since the latter view it as a threat to the existing power equation. She describes how the village headman initially objected to the women using the village pond and later tried to instigate the women against the non-profit outfit.

At present, the network is spread in 60 gram panchayats in three districts with a membership of over 2,000 women. “We are planning to revive all dried up water bodies and build new water structures with the help of panchayat funds,” the members say, adding that the initiative is being supported by the European Union.

The women say that their vision is to increase Dalit women’s participation in the decision making process at all levels by voicing their demands in democratic institutions and seeking entitlements and dignity. Clarifying that they do not nurture any political ambition, they say that their only demand is to establish women’s ‘first right to water’ and reduce water conflicts, increase access to safe drinking water, improve sanitation facilities, facilitating sustainable agriculture, food security and prepare social security safety nets.

Sunita, while sharing her experience of the Jal Saheli and Pani Panchayatinitiatives, said: “There are erratic water pipelines in the village which is dry almost throughout the year. Government officials visit the villages, makes promises to fix the pipelines and then they disappear…we collectively repaired a few of the pipelines and the dried-up hand pumps...The perpetual apathy of the State administration underlie the under-performance of the famous Bunelkhand package and several other water schemes for the region.”

The Hindu, 17th July 2012

The Punjab and Haryana high court on Monday restrained theHaryana Urban Development Authority(HUDA) from issuing new licences for developers in Gurgaon unless they give an undertaking that groundwater would not be consumed for construction work.

In a potent, environment-friendly verdict, which underlines the acute water crisis in Gurgaon, a division bench comprising Chief Justice (acting) Jasbir Singh and Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain passed the order while hearing a bunch of petitions filed by Qutub Enclave Residents Welfare Association and others.

The HC directed the secretaries of HUDA, the department of town and country planning (DTCP) and state irrigation department to appear in person on July 31 to respond to the court on the issue.

The officers have been asked to furnish exact details about the total population, water demand, number of water connections, number of tubewells, etc. The court directed the officials to submit a workable policy and plan to recharge groundwater which is depleting at the worrisome rate of 1.5 metres per year.

"The court has not only barred licences for new constructions, but renewal of licences for old projects has been stayed. Ongoing constructions are also under the scanner. This strengthens the ambit of similar strictures issued earlier by the Supreme Court," said Nivedita Sharma, the petitioners' lawyer. The city sees six new launch announcements a month on average.

The petitioners said the verdict would go a long way in saving the environment in the region.

According to our estimates, builders in Gurgaon illegally extract as much as 50 million gallons per day (MGD) for construction. This at a time when citizens are forced to buy water from private tankers, which is another mafia of sorts," said R S Rathee, a leading petitioner, and president of Gurgaon Citizens' Council (GCC).

According to petitioners, for a population of 20 lakh, the city's daily water demand is 200 million gallons per day (MGD). While 50MGD flows from civic taps, the remaining 150MGD is extracted from the ground by frantic digging of borewells. According to one estimate, there are over 30,000 borewells in the district of Gurgaon.

The builders, on their part, said they were worried that an already sluggish realty market would further slow down in the wake of the court order. There are more than 100 mid- and large-size construction projects in the Gurgaon-Manesar region.

With the master plans for Sohna and a draft master plan for Pataudi ready, these figures are expected to double in the near future. The HC order is likely to put a brake on that almost reckless growth in which realty far outpaces infrastructural development.

The flip side of the order is that the consumer may have to bear the escalation in cost. Transporting huge quantities of water from distant locations for construction activities means astronomical amounts. Unlike neighboring Delhi which was built from Yamuna waters, Gurgaon doesn't have a river. Said a builder, "That means we buy water from elsewhere. Someone has to pay for that, and no builder in his senses would pick up the tab."

Petitioners say for a population of 20 lakh, the city's daily water demand is 200 MGD. While 50MGD flows from civic taps, the remaining 150MGD is extracted from the ground

Times View
This ban may come as a jolt to many but the real issue at stake is larger than just construction in Gurgaon. It goes to the very heart of what kind of urbanisation we want in India. Should urbanisation proceed heedless of basic issues like where the water is going to come from and where the sewage will flow to? Clearly not. Urbanisation of this kind might seem like development in the short run but is obviously not sustainable since it puts an unbearable strain on natural resources. Our urban planning bodies need to put their heads down and think the matter through seriously. If not, we could be looking at a very grim future for our towns and cities.

The Times of India, 17th July 2012

Jit Kumar talks about his ongoing photo exhibition Mysteries and Meditations with Ila Sankrityayan. The show explores Indian culture through the lanes of Delhi and Kolkata Streets bustling with activity and people jostling for space in narrow adjoining lanes, have constantly captured the imagination of photographers. Jit Kumar spent long hours looking for the perfect shot in Delhi and Kolkata streets. Nineteen frames displayed at Galaxy Hotel in Gurgaon, capture the spirit of people there. “Kolkata is the home town of my idols — film-maker Satyajit Ray and Prof P Lal, founder of the Indo-Anglian Literary Movement and Writers Workshop in 1958.

He went on, “When Lal passed away on Nov 2010, I made a visit to his house and bookshop in Lake Gardens, to pay homage and clicked the image. Delhi is my birthplace. I was born in Subhash Nagar and have a studio at the residence.

He believed that Delhi’s heart doesn’t lie in elite ‘fancy’ zones like Khan Market or DLF Emporio, but in its oldest residential colony markets. Like Rajouri Garden and Karol Bagh, “where people enjoy chaat and kulfi while shopping for affordable, yet beautiful items.”

Srimati Lal, curator of the show commented, “Jit is not among those who believes in artificiality and digital technique. His works are realistic and use little photoshop.”

Kumar talked about his interest in photography: “In 1984 when I was a 13 years old, living in Columbus, Ohio, my father bought me my first Canon camera. So a passion for photography began. I studied at Columbus State Community College; I learnt essential technical features, and black and white darkroom print-making. I set up my own darkroom at home in Ohio and my own photographic prints from teen years. I was documenting my life and travels, learning lots on the way."

In his photograph, Fairytale Cow, he captures a white, decorated cow with a boy sitting on it. “I clicked this in Gurgaon. I saw the cow outside my office. The lack of fear on the boy’s face was what captured my interest.”

Cowl, Chessboard, Cycle, shows a house painted like a chessboard. On other side he saw “a poor man shivering with cold. A general view for many. But I found everything magic.”

His photographs are simple and unplanned like the one of a dry leaf and a hibiscus.

“I like random photography. I saw the dry leaf on a terrace with the petals of red flowers. It seemed as if it was protecting them like a mother.” Hence the name, Protection.

Kumar’s Summertime Mirror is an example of his fascination for people and his surroundings. “I am an early riser who loves morning walks. Due to rain, water had collected along the road and I saw the reflection of women walking.”

Jit said his favourite photograph was, Childhood Fairyland, conveying the deep mystery of nature. “Boys sitting in the park beneath the trees remind me of my childhood.”

He shared, “In 2007 I visited Hemkunt Sahib, known for Gurudwara Sri Hemkunt Sahib Ji. It is surrounded by Hemkunt Lake, and is a pilgrimage site for Sikhs in Chamoli district, Uttrakhand. It is believed to have existed from the time of Pandavas. It was not easy to reach. Either you go on foot, or on a donkey. When I reached my destination, I felt so spiritually moved, I decided not to go to USA.”

He added, “I went to America when I was ten. I find Indian more colourful and richer in history than the USA. And has far more multifaceted people — rural and urban pockets, vibrant festivals, art, flora and fauna, have all inspired me to capture India. I have not explored USA much.”

Jit tried his luck in Bollywood — he did theatre in America, “I performed in plays in USA. While living in Delhi during the 1970s, my father took us to the movies every Saturday, at the Ajanta hall in Rajouri Garden. Amar Akbar Anthony enthralled me as boy. I was lucky to get to work in Bollywood in 1991-92. The film was directed by Lekh Tandon, with Prosenjit, star of Bengali cinema.”

He concluded, “I played his friend. We hung out a lot for a year in Mumbai, and I got the Bollywood experience. Due to inexperienced producers, the film never released. This experience taught me to educate myself further in film-making and cinema.” He next plans to shoot a documentary.

The exhibition is on till July 31.

The Pioneer, 17th July 2012

Fearing a disruption in law and order, the Delhi Police and the Delhi government have asked Matia Mahal MLA Shoaib Iqbal not to offer prayers or carry out construction in the area where remains of a Mughal era-structure were found during Metro construction work, a few days ago.

In a meeting at the chief minister's office, which was also attended by Delhi police commissioner Neeraj Kumar, Iqbal was told to practice restraint.

"The meeting was called on the insistence of the police commissioner. Hundreds of people had come together at the site on Friday and offered prayers. Traffic had to be diverted and force had to be stationed. It could have led to a law and order issue," said a Delhi government official.

While Dikshit refused to comment on the issue saying that she could not reveal everything to the media, Iqbal just said that he had been told "not to do anything at the site".

The remains of a historical structure were found during Metro construction work at Subhash Park near Jama Masjid, a few days ago.

Taking initiative, Iqbal had carried out digging and found a historical wall, which he claimed was part of the Akbarabadi Mosque, built in 1650.

In a report submitted to the director general of the Archaeological Survey of India last Tuesday, its Delhi circle had suggested that the site "needs further investigations".

The Hindustan Times, 17th July 2012

The wanton and horrifying destruction of a World Heritage site — the Sidi Yahia mosque — and several ancient tombs at Timbuktu by radical Islamist insurgents in Mali is another grim reminder of growing intolerance towards cultural symbols in conflict areas. Eleven years after the Bamiyan Buddhas were pulversised by the Taliban and 19 years on from the demolition of the Babri Masjid by Hindutva fanatics, it is clear that existing international conventions and the protective measures they offer to heritage structures are ineffective. Timbuktu is not, as the English-speaking world conditioned by Orientalist imagination conjures, an insignificant place located in the back of beyond. Rather, it is a historic city of captivating beauty. Saddled between the desert and the irrigated areas of the river Niger in north Mali, Timbuktu, founded by Tuaregs in the 11th century, flourished as a trading city during the 15th and 16th centuries, and also as a centre of learning. The mosques of Djingareyber, Sankore and Sidi Yahia, built more than 400 years ago, attest to its great past. These exquisite examples of earthen architecture along with 16 cemeteries are World Heritage sites. Ansar Dine — the radical Islamist militia which has taken control of the area — considers the mosques dedicated to Sufi saints and structures over graves as idolatrous, and has barbarically ravaged them with pickaxes.

What Malians fear more is the condition of about 300,000 ancient manuscripts. In the past, Timbuktu hosted thousands of students who came to learn about Islam. Books on religious and other subjects were written, copied and traded. Libraries and institutions there such as the Ahmed Baba Institute of Higher Learning and Islamic Research still preserve and use many of them. If these precious documents meet the same fate as the monuments, the loss would be irreplaceable. Sadly, the World Heritage Convention and the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and its two protocols have turned out to be toothless. They could not bind the radical militia. Hope now lies in two places. The statute of the International Criminal Court includes as war crimes the deliberate destruction of cultural properties. Such legal provisions could be improved in scope to become effective deterrents. A proactive empowerment of local communities to care for and guard their heritage during conflict is another avenue to explore. UNESCO’s assistance to local guards in Congo during the time of conflict (2001) to save the world natural heritage sites there was reassuring. Timbuktu needs more of such support and it needs this urgently.

The Hindu, 17th July 2012

Hundreds flock there to offer the Friday namaz , the traffic comes to a standstill and locals take time off to peer at what is believed to be the remains of the 17th Century Akbarabadi Masjid in Subhas Park here. But what has caught the attention of everyone in the neighbourhood, oddly, does not seem to have impressed the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

“Since the structure is not an ASI-protected monument, the ASI has no authority on the matter,” said Director-General Gautam Sengupta, who received a detailed report on the remains from Superintending Archaeologist D.N. Dimri, on Monday.

Mr. Dimri and his team had inspected the structure and the material unearthed at the site more than a week ago.

The Superintending Archaeologist had said that further investigation would be required to determine the actual use of the structure.

Asked why the survey of the remains was conducted if the ASI was not planning to take over the site, Mr. Sengupta said: “Wherever there is an interesting archaeological site, the ASI will survey the findings. In this case, only the base of the structure remains.”

Digging at the site, identified for the Delhi Metro’s upcoming Jama Masjid metro station, led to the discovery of an almost 200-foot-long stone wall buried 10 feet to 12 feet underground.

Matia Mahal MLA Shoaib Iqbal and residents of nearby localities had earlier excavated and unearthed structures of the mosque, stone utensils, and pieces of pillars, finials and engravings.

Mr. Iqbal said he has been writing to the ASI and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi for years, but the authorities never took the excavation seriously.

The Hindu, 17th July 2012

In an era when careers in management are dominant, working in the Forestry may not appear attractive. But environment preservation has become the need of the hour & corporates have opened their doors in this field making it a lucrative option, says Tanushree Bhasin

For those inclined towards nature, flora and fauna, forestry is an interesting area to choose a career in. Given India’s size and diversity, our natural reserves are also varied. Consequently, their proper care and management becomes important. Trained professionals undertake the management and conservation of forests. Recently, the relevance of this field has increased manifold. With numerous environmental problems such as global warming, depleting forest reserves, deforestation, natural disasters and water scarcity becoming immediate concerns, the work to be done by forest officers becomes even more important.

Eligibility
Forestry can be studied at graduate and post graduate levels with the possibility of further study up to PhD level. Many institutions also offer diplomas in forestry. The basic requirements for a BSc in Forestry is Class XII pass with science stream. Masters in forestry offers specialisations like forest management, commercial forestry, forest economics, wood science and technology and wildlife science.

Applicants who wish to sit for the Indian Forest Services (IFS) must possess a bachelor's degree with at least one of the following subjects — Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science, Botany, Chemistry, Geology, Mathematics, Physics, Statistics and Zoology. They must also be between 21-30 years of age. Selected candidates then undergo a training period at Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussourie followed by a course at the Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy at Dehra Dun. State forest officials are recruited by State Public Service Commissions of the respective States where the same procedure for recruitment is employed.

Skills
Candidates are involved in work related to maintaining and regenerating the forest cover and other forest resources. It is their responsibility to protect trees from indiscriminate felling, fire pests, and encroachment. Personality wise, people who are active, nature lovers, adventurous, physically fit, with a working knowledge of the environment and a genuine interest in nature and conservation work. “In order to succeed in this profession, one needs to have a natural inclination towards wildlife and love for nature. That is first and foremost. But apart from that its important to have a good theoretical grounding in biology,” says B Prabhakar, district forest official, Noida.

Job Prospects
Forestry graduates can work within Department of Forest and Wildlife as a forester (protecting and regenerating forests), dendrologist (researcher of trees), ethnologist (researcher of organisms in their natural habitat), entomologist (researcher of diseases spread through pests), siviculturist (growth of plantations), forest range officer (caretakers of forests, sanctuaries and botanical gardens), or a zoo curator.

Other than this one may also work for Non-Governmental Organisations like Wildlife Trust of India and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals that work in the field of conservation and protection of forests and animals. Many corporate houses that deal in timbre also employ forestry graduates. Many also find employment in National Parks, Sanctuaries, and Botanical Gardens. Civil Servants have to go through a year-long on the job training before they are posted as Assistant Conservators of Forests. They may then move on to positions like Deputy Conservators of Forests or Divisional Forest Officers.

Remuneration
Those employed within the Government sector can expect a starting salary between Rs 8,000 and Rs 13,000 per month. As one climbs the professional ladder, one also becomes entitled to accommodation, official vehicle, and other Government allowances. The pay scale for junior positions in the IFS is between Rs 15,000 to Rs 30,000. Deputy Conservators earn between Rs 37,400 to Rs 67,000 while the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests may earn between Rs 75,000 and Rs 80,000.

Where to Study
There are many universities and colleges from where one can graduate in Forestry.

• Birsa Agricultural University, Dehra Dun.
• IIFM, Bhopal.
• Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, Orissa.
• Wildlife Institute of India, Dehra Dun.
• College of Horticulture And Forestry, Solan.
• UAS, Bangalore.
• Kerala Agricultural University, Vellanikkara.
• NEHU, Shillong.
• Agricultural College And Research Institute, Coimbatore.
• College of Agriculture and Regional Research Station, Dharwad, Karnataka.

The Pioneer, 18th July 2012

Sustainia is a safe, prosperous and exciting destination. The quality of life is probably even better than where you come from. All it takes are the right choices. This is not an advertisement in a glossy property supplement enticing you to buy an over-priced luxury home. Nor is it a dreamy picture of utopia. Sustainia, a vision of the sustainable city in 2020, was an idea first propagated by Monday Morning , Scandinavia's largest independent think-tank and weekly magazine. Some of the world's largest corporates , organizations like the UN and the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger have thrown their lot behind Sustainia, a global platform for bouncing ideas on sustainable cities.

There is no dearth of arguments for why India should join the global discussion on sustainable cities. The country , which once dreamt of a double digit growth rate, ranked a low 134 out of 187 countries in the latest UN Human Development Index. The 2011 census showed that for the first time in 90 years the increase in India's urban population was more than the increase in its rural population over the last 10 years. With Delhi witnessing the largest stream of urban migration over the last decade, it may be a good time for the country and its capital to learn a thing or two about sustainable cities. Creating sustainable cities is not rocket science. Transforming cities can sometimes be very simple. Like artist Ruganzu Bruno Tusingwire's dream of creating a movable amusement park for children in the slums of Kampala (Uganda) using thousands of plastic bottles. His 'big idea' won him the City 2.0 award at the Technology Entertainment Design (TED)X Summit in Doha. City 2.0 is now one amongst several global platforms on creating sustainable cities. While reams have been written on noise pollution, Australian sound artist Jason Sweeney wants a crowdsourced map of quiet places in a city where introverts and people with disabilities can take refuge. His idea is amongst several others shared by City 2.0. Sustainia, too, has drawn inspiration from innovative experiments across the urban landscape.

These include the 4,000 outdoor gyms in Beijing that provide a free-of-cost opportunity to exercise, 2,000-odd vegetable gardens on rooftops across London and the fast lanes on Oslo's streets reserved for electric vehicles. The 'Guide to Sustainia' points to the fact that cities make up less than 2% of the world's surface area, produce 80% of its economic output, are responsible for over 70% of global greenhouse gas emissions and account for 60-80 % of the world's energy consumption. Sustainia's map of a livable city is one in which roofs are painted white to reflect sunlight, solar water heaters are fitted on all buildings and beaches are clean enough to swim in. It also looks at attractive public transport and easy recycling facilities. The idea envisions a reduction of unsustainable fossil fuel which will be replaced by renewable energy. It looks at a time-bound approach to achieving this goal, with a view of reducing global CO2 emissions by 50-85 % in 2050. Sustainia is working towards a society where entrepreneurs , corporates and investors race each other to come up with low carbon solutions to global problems.

The Times of India, 18th July 2012

The ground beneath Gurgaon is being milked dry and the only potential way to replenish the ground water has flopped miserably.

In a city where borewells are becoming the main source of water supply, 250 to 300 mm rain water goes waste every rainy season. Indiscriminate exploitation of ground water had led the Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) to prohibit extraction of ground water in the entire Gurgaon district.

It had also said that the implementation of rain water harvesting schemes must be made a mandatory condition for the issuance of licence to developers. But it took the Punjab and Haryana high court verdict to shake the administration out of its deep slumber.

The authorities, which did not have any data on the status of borewells in the Millennium City, were rapped by the Haryana government on Monday over their indifference to rain water harvesting.

"The government has asked the administration to implement rain water harvesting strictly and seriously," said a spokesperson for the Haryana chief minister BS Hooda.

According to CGWA, ground water will be completely exhausted in Gurgaon by 2017 if the extraction continues at the same pace. However, the urban authority, Huda, has done little to bridge the 50 MGD gap in demand and supply. For the 20 lakh population of Gurgaon and over a thousand housing developers, dismal ground water replenishment measures bring more bad tidings.

"The government was never serious about rain water harvesting which is why more than half of the annual rain fall goes waste every rainy season," said a senior CGWA official, adding that it had conducted a survey of the entire district in 2010 and submitted a report to the administration suggesting strict implementation of rain water harvesting.

Gurgaon receives an average rainfall of 595 mm with the maximum number of rainfall catchment areas falling under Huda and District Town Planning (DTP) authority areas.

"Rain water harvesting was mandatory for issuing completion certificate to any property built on a plot of 250 square yard and above. But not a single house has put in place any such measure," said KS Yadav, a resident of Sector 14.

The situation is no different in the areas falling under the DTP. The Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon, which had got 270 rain water harvesting structures designed by Jamia Millia Islamia experts, has implemented only 50 of them.

The Hindustan Times, 18th July 2012

There is no dearth of committees set up by the Environment Ministry for the Western Ghats. First it was the Madhav Gadgil committee to study the ecology of the world heritage site — then another was decided upon to review the recommendations of the committee and now there is a third which would collate the comments received for the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) report, put up on the Ministry website.

The report has elicited 1,500 comments during the period of one and half months in which the Ministry had invited comments with the deadline ending on July 5. The ultimate decision by the Ministry to accept or reject the report that has been hanging fire for the past nine months would now depend on the results of collation by the latest committee.

According to sources in the Ministry, the committee will also look into the views of the State Governments, including Kerala. No decision has yet been taken on the structure or head of the committee. Neither has there been a deadline fixed for submission of the report.

Meanwhile, Madhav Gadgil, who had headed the WGEEP along with VS Vijayan, a member, has criticised the manner in which the comments to the report were sought. He suggested that the report should be made accessible to the people of the Western Ghats region for eliciting their views.

The panel felt that those who responded represent a small section of elites who can read and understand English with access to the internet. Their opinions may be biased as they are not from amongst those who actually represent society of the Ghats. Hence, he reiterated the translation of the panel report into local languages by the Ministry.

Earlier, shortly after the Western Ghats bagged the UNESCO World Heritage site tag, early this month, there was much opposition from States such as Kerala and Karnataka against following the recommendations of WGEEP, for the ecological management of the Ghats in keeping with the IUCN guidelines.

The Ministry was quick to set up another committee to review the recommendations of the WGEEP. It clarified its necessity due to the growing oppositions by the Western Ghats States stating following IUCN recommendations in this regard and accepting the WGEEP report are two different issues and should not be interlinked.

The Pioneer, 18th July 2012

For nearly a hundred years, these papers lay forgotten in a corner of Shahdara police station. Then an inspector happened to take a look at the brittle and half-torn collection. What he saw was an untouched piece of Delhi’s past — police records and inspection reports concerning the capital from 1914 to 1944, including many written in his own hand by Delhi’s first chief of police, D S Hadow.

Dealing with subjects as varied as licence to grow opium to the spread of Quit India movement protests, the papers give a peek into what was a period of much upheaval in India, especially Delhi.
At the time, the police station from where the papers have been found had under its jurisdiction the trans-Yamuna area, which made up one-fourth of Delhi. In 1912, Delhi Police had been set up as a unit separate from Punjab Police. Hadow took charge as superintendent (equivalent to present-day police commissioner) and remained in the post until 1917.

The papers are now in the custody of Delhi Police Museum and will be sent for chemical treatment for preservation. These are unlikely to be handed over to the National Archives as the Delhi Police has earlier too argued that papers concerning it are classified files of history and should be retained by it. The inspector who first realised the worth of the documents is currently posted at the police museum.

The contents indicate that while very few FIRs were registered in the early years of the 20th Century, as time passed and the Independence movement gathered strength, people were increasingly booked for defying government orders and under the Defence of India Rules. A Superintendent of Police recorded in 1930 the arrest of a group of Congress workers for shouting ‘Inquilab Zindabad’ slogans and for refusing to pay taxes. This was the time of the Civil Disobedience Movement.

In 1942, the policemen were struggling to contain the Quit India protests despite imposition of Section 144, which prohibits people from gathering in large numbers. One noting talks of 23 persons being convicted, while another mentions the arrest of a former teacher of “Tilak High School”. Three men were shot by the police for trying to “sabotage” a railway line.

A month after the movement started in 1942, people were also arrested for giving “objectionable speeches” in villages. A report contains the names of all those arrested for this.

A file noting of 1943 talks of a constable being prevented from arresting a British military officer charged with killing a vendor. He later absconded.

There is one revelation that has left even policemen of Shahdara police station stumped. The papers show that there were separate Hindu and Muslim kitchens inside the police station once. Senior police officials said they had only heard of the same, they never thought it was real.
The Indian Express, 18th July 201

Builders seem to be fudging data related to water consumption while seeking green clearance for their projects , according to a recent report by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). A review of about 900 projects for environmental clearance in Haryana between 2008 and 2011 showed that only 2% of them had actually planned for the stipulated 135 lpcd (litres per capita per day) consumption while close to 50% of the projects had per capita water consumption between 50 to 100 lpcd. However,22% had put the consumption estimates at 150 lpcd.

The estimates given by builders about wastewater generation and recycling were also found to be inconsistent. According to the report, several projects granted environment clearance on the MoEF website do not even have environmental conditions and grant letter. "The information that is supposed to be in the public domain is not even available for several projects on the MoEF website... It is important that environment clearance process is based on effective monitorable approaches and benchmarks," states the CSE report.

Also, big projects have been given a go-ahead in villages notified by CGWA as deficient in groundwater. Residential projects in Hyatpur, Wazirpur, Nawada Fatepur and Moeka villages in Gurgaon are examples of such violations . Some commercial malls in Sectors 47 and 74A in Gurgaon and Sector 8 in Sonipat have been approved as "water-stressed areas" .

There have been instances, according to the report, of projects with varied built-up areas having suspiciously similar water and wastewater estimations. In some cases, the environment conditions are identical for projects with built-up areas that are seven times as big, the report stated.

What is also surprising is that sanctions for new buildings have been granted mostly in water-deficient areas. All project proponents are required to obtain no objection certificates from HUDA, and Central Ground Water Board. The report blames monitoring as the weakest link with just six site offices of the MoEF in the state. Regional offices are also not adequately empowered, and have no authority to take punitive action even when violations are reported .

Also, fewer members of the State Environmental Appraisal Committee are burdened with project clearance applications and EIA (Environment Impact Assessment) process. They are required to meet at least once a month when the average number of projects applying for EC is 15-20 every month .

"Therefore, generally, the discussions may not reflect the real issues and leave little or no time for detailed appraisal on the key project components," points out the report.
The Times of India, 18th July 2012

As the CBI continues to probe into the captive coal block allotment scam, Orissa forest department has recommended that nine coal mines of Mahanadi Coalfields Limited be closed for operating without the approval under the Forest Conservation Act. The nine mines should have been closed in May 2011, but the state mining and forest department officials found them operating without any impunity.

CBI is investigating the selection process for captive coal mines allocated between 2005 and 2009 following a reference from the Central Vigilance Commission. The agency has sent two teams to Jharkhand and Orissa.

Incidentally, the Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee which probed into the allegation of forest law violations in the multi-crore mining scam in Orissa, had said in its April 2010 report that mining activities were going on in a large number of mines in Orissa without the requisite approvals under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, Environmental Clearances, and the Air and Water Acts.

The committee had noted that nine coal mines belonging to the Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd, a subsidiary of the Coal India Ltd (CIL), were operating without obtaining approval under the Forest Conservation Act. It had recommended that provisions of the Forest Conservation Act are equally applicable to such forest areas and are required to be complied with.The nine mines are Hingir-Rampur Colliery, Gand-ghora Colliery, NW Block Gandghora Colliery, Orient (III) Colliery, New Gand-ghora Colliery, Orient Colliery Underground, Ib block 5th Colliery, Ib River Colliery and Ib Property Colliery.

The Indian Express, 18th July 2012

British era heritage hotel in Shimla, Oberoi Clarkes, was shut down on Monday as a landslide nearby — resulting from the construction of lawyers’ chambers — posed a threat to the century-old building overlooking the old Shimla town and the Ridge.

The company took the decision late Sunday evening after its consultants reported there was a threat to the entire hotel complex following a sudden landslide that took place two months ago. There have been three major landslides at the site after the public works department and a private constructor deployed heavy machinery to restore the road leading to the Himachal Pradesh High Court — located behind the hotel.

“Use of heavy machinery to rebuild the road and the hotel retaining wall, coupled with heavy rain, were posing a threat to the hotel. We have decided not to put our staff and guests at risk. Sunday evening, we shut the hotel and evacuated the staff and guests,” said an Oberoi official. All guests staying in the hotel were shifted to Cecil, another luxury hotel of the Oberoi’s. Clarkes has decided not to make any fresh booking.

The problem started in May when the construction of the lawyers’ chambers in the Himachal Pradesh High Court building began in the hotel’s vicinity. At that time, huge cracks appeared on the boundary walls of the hotel and on the road.

The road leading to the High Court had been shut since May and is unlikely to be restored in the next three to four months. Work on the lawyers’ chambers has also been suspended.

Shimla Municipal Commissioner M P Sood said the government has already commissioned a study by IIT-Roorkee and sufficient precautions were being taken to avoid further damage to the hotel.

The Indian Express, 18th July 2012

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal Tuesday sought the personal intervention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for conservation of Maharaja Ranjit Singh's ancestral house in Pakistan.

Badal urged the prime minister to direct the external affairs ministry to take up with the Pakistan government the issue of the dilapidated condition of Maharaja Ranjit Singh's ancestral haveli at Gujaranwala and "baradri" of Maharaja Sher Singh at Lahore to ensure prompt action for proper upkeep and conservation of these historic monuments, said a spokesman of the chief minister's office.

In a letter to the prime minister, Badal noted that "Sher-e-Punjab" Maharaja Ranjit Singh was the founder of the Sikh empire which extended from the Khyber Pass in the west, to Kashmir in the north, Sindh in the south, and Tibet in the east.

"Henceforth, it is the bounden duty of the Government of India to immediately take up this issue with the Pakistan government for the proper upkeep and maintenance of these two great historic monuments, which are now in a state of sheer neglect, as a befitting tribute to the great warriors of Sikhs," Badal said.

He said that the state government was also ready to offer necessary support, if need be, for the preservation of these monuments for future generations. The historical religious sentiments of people of Punjab were linked to these monuments, Badal added.

The Pioneer, 18th July 2012

Days after digging in Subhash Park led to the discovery of remains believed to be the Mughal-era Akbarabadi Masjid, Matia Mahal MLA Shoaib Iqbal and his supporters have started reconstruction of the mosque.

A wall has already come up at the Walled City site, close to the proposed Jama Masjid station of the Delhi Metro.

The workers were seen holding illustrations of the mosque and said the new structure will have the same layout.

The Akbarabadi mosque was built in 1650 by one of Shahjahan’s wives, Begum Akbarabadi. It was demolished by the British after the 1857 revolt.

“We want to see a replica of the old Akbarabadi mosque at the site. But at present, we have only constructed a shed here so people can offer namaz during Ramzan. We will work with the ASI and the civic agency to build a proper mosque here,” said Iqbal

A high-level meeting was called by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit to stop construction. The meeting was attended by the Director General of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Police Commissioner and officials from the Ministry of Urban Development.

“I have spoken to Shoaibji, and conveyed to him our concern that no one should precipitate the issue. The land belongs to Municipal Corporation of Delhi, and the agency can take action if it feels fit. The government has spoken to ASI and requested it to decide the identity of the structure, but we understand it might take time to do so,” Dikshit said.

Until Wednesday evening, workers and residents had constructed the outer wall of the mosque — around 100 metres in length. Two minarets and the spot for the imam to offer namaz have also come up.

“There are around 50 workers hired by our MLA Shoaib Iqbal. We have the support of people here,” said Uslamiddin Nadeem, a resident supervising the work.

Subhash Park falls within the restricted zone of two protected heritage sites — Sunehri Masjid and Red Fort. Any construction in the area requires permission from National Monument Authority.

The Delhi Metro plans to shift the location of the upcoming station 50 metres away from the site. “The land is no longer under our jurisdiction as it has been returned to the North Municipal Corporation,” said a Metro official.

Additional Director General of ASI Dr B R Mani said measures are being taken to stop unauthorised construction.

Police have been asked to cordon the area and stop further construction.

The Indian Express, 19th July 2012

Dr. Rajesh Gopal, Member-Secretary, National Tiger Conservation Authority, updates his work on wildlife management for field professionals who are facing new challenges on the job

India’s wilderness is crucial for its survival. A country that destroys its wildlife works to its own disadvantage. As Al Gore, Nobel Prize winner and chair of the Alliance on Climate Change, pointed out in 2006, “What we do to nature, we do to ourselves. The magnitude of environmental destruction is now on a scale few ever foresaw; the wounds no longer simply heal themselves. We have to act affirmatively to stop the harm.”

Picking up on this wisdom, Dr. Rajesh Gopal, Member-Secretary of the National Tiger Conservation Authority, has written what could be called the Bible for wildlife management in the country. Called Fundamentals of Wildlife Management, the nearly 1300 pages tome delves into the values of wildlife, the study of signs and symptoms, basic animal biology and ecology, wildlife habitat, basic statistics, habitat analysis and evaluation. It gives insights into animal behaviour, wildlife population and interactions, population estimates, habitat requirements and attributes of some animal species. It deals with the use of radio telemetry for protection of animals, wildlife policy and legislation, human-wildlife conflict, health care and above all, the in-situ and ex-situ conservation practices in the Indian context.

The book has been revised and updated 20 years after the first edition came out and is a unique combination of a textbook and a manual. Written by a professional, who is also a qualified scientist with years of field experience, it is for field professionals, young researchers and academics eager to take up the cudgels for India’s green spaces and its wildlife.

There have been significant changes since the first book — the increased challenges of protecting wildlife in human dominated landscapes, the new threat of poaching owing to demand for body parts of big cats in illegal foreign markets, mushrooming of ecologically unsustainable land uses in a landscape beyond a tiger reserve or a protected area thereby affecting the corridor, need for actively addressing human-wildlife conflicts, and above all, balancing conservation and development. However, proactive and professional management would ensure an assured future for our wildlife in protected areas, says Dr. Gopal.

Though India’s land mass of 32.87 lakh sq km is just 2. per cent of the world’s geographical area, it has tremendous biodiversity with almost 8 per cent of the world’s diverse life forms. More than 350 species of mammals, 1224 species of birds, 197 species of amphibians, 2546 species of fishes, 57548 species of insects and 46286 species of plants have been recorded in the country, making India one of the 12 mega biodiversity countries of the world.

Five per cent of the country’s geographical area contains 668 protected areas — 102 national parks, 515 wildlife sanctuaries, 47 conservation reserves and four community reserves. Forty of the protected areas are Tiger Reserves.

The challenges of course are “securing inviolate space in the form of core areas for wild animals like tigers to breed, managing forested corridors for the spill-over of animals from such source areas to other viable habitats and protected areas, ensuring ecologically compatible land uses in a tiger landscape, stepped up protection, reducing the resource dependency of local people on forests, besides providing them a viable livelihood option, ensuring conservation as well as development. ‘Better’ growth is always better than ‘more’ growth at the cost of our wilderness,” says Dr. Gopal.

The 2010 assessment of tigers and their habitat shows the protected areas are satisfactory but require handholding. However, the quality of forest habitat outside such areas is too poor to support wildlife. Therefore, wild animals are turning into ‘ecological dislocates’ by entering into conflicts with local people (livestock depredation, crop raiding, human mortality etc.). “Due to Project Tiger, India has the maximum number of tiger areas and tigers amongst the 13 tiger range countries. I am confident our tigers have an assured future,” says the Tiger Man.

However, there are several species of plants and animals that are still endangered — the snow leopard, the Asiatic lion, the barasingha, the hangul deer and many species of insects and orchids. Due to human pressure and varied land use, the man-animal conflict needs to be addressed in an ongoing manner. Among the conflict prone areas are Corbett, Ranthambhore, Sunderbans, Dudhwa-Pilibhit and Tadoba-Andhari among others.

Since India has a forest climate a bit of protection can do wonders for the forests. However, Dr. Gopal feels that the general forest areas are “rights burdened” and prone to disturbances resulting in loss of productivity. Flagship programmes like JFM, Green India have been launched to address this situation. The book has guidelines for foresters to protect our wilderness areas.

There have been several memorable moments in the author’s life, especially during his long field postings at Kanha and Bandhavgarh. Over 23 years, he has seen tigers in all their moods and idiosyncrasies. He has seen a resident male decapitating and killing two young tiger cubs at Mukki; a large resident male at Churi in Kanha that specialised in stalking only adult gaurs. He was witness to a terrible fight between a tigress with two cubs and a sloth bear and a lethal combat between a tigress and a leopard. But the most unforgettable experience was when a python swallowed a cheetal fawn in Bandhavgarh and within minutes the python was slit open by a tigress to feed on the swallowed fawn!

Based on his innate experience as a manager of wilderness and wildlife, Dr. Gopal favours a second home for the Asiatic lions, currently confined to Gir. The lion population has grown from a small group — genetically representing one individual and diseases like feline enteritis can wipe out a whole population. So there is urgent need to put some of the lions in a geographically isolated alternate habitat like the Kuno-Palpur sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh. Dr Gopal also supports the move to bring back the cheetah, one of the swiftest animals on the planet, to India.

Thanks to the print and electronic media, there is a lot of awareness among the general public about nature, wildlife and related issues. However, Dr. Gopal feels there is scope for fostering awareness in the rural and semi-urban areas as well. “Then we can depend on our younger generation to save our wildlife.”

For Dr. Gopal, the book is a labour of love. He has tried to put together whatever he learnt from his field colleagues. The1700 references in the book can be sources for gleaning more knowledge and understanding of wildlife issues. There are numerous books on Indian wildlife, but this one brings synergy between wildlife academics and field management.

The Hindu, 19th July 2012

It’s not just the future realty projects that will take a hit in the wake of the high court order on groundwater extraction. More than 100 under-construction projects in the city will also be affected as developers fear that borewells being used at construction sites will be sealed.

The Punjab and Haryana high court had on Monday ordered the state government not to allow construction activities unless builders give a written undertaking not to draw groundwater.

The state government is required to file its reply to the court on the usage of groundwater for construction purposes on July 31.

The developers feel there is a possibility that the court might ask the government to seal all the borewells currently being used at construction sites.

If this happens, under-construction projects in newly-developed sectors (from 58-111) under the Gurgaon-Manesar Urban Complex 2025 plans may get affected.

The Haryana Urban Development Authority (Huda) has not yet laid water supply lines, forcing the developers to extract groundwater using borewells. If they are sealed, construction activity could temporarily come to a halt and developers would have to source water from neighbouring towns, thus escalating the construction cost.

According to sources In the town planning department, licence applications from developers like DLF, Ansal, MGF, IREO, among others, will remain pending till the next court hearing.

The state government can suffer revenue loss to the tune of Rs. 400 crore on account of licence fee and other charges such as external development charge (EDC), internal development charges (IDC), bank guarantee and conversion fee.

According to town planning sources (Chandigarh), there are 57 pending applications, which include proposals for expansion of various existing projects.

“Since the applications of licences are pending, our plan to expand our existing project in Sector 67 has also been impacted,” said NK Sehgal, consultant, Ansal group.

The Hindustan Times, 19th July 2012

In a bid to save dying languages of the world, Internet giant Google has unveiled an online information swap platform where people can find, share and stockpile information about the dialects that face the crisis of disappearing.

The website namely endangeredlanguages.com is planned in such a way to allow users to upload video, audio, or text files of more than 3,000 endangered languages. The website will also persuade the users to remember recordings of rare dialects.

Miguel Alba, Google's Mexico marketing chief was quoted saying to an agency that “It is an open, on-line platform where anybody can get on and start sharing materials in those languages which are in danger of being lost”.

According to an Endangered Languages video posted at Google-owned video-sharing venue YouTube, only half of the approximately 7,000 languages spoken today are expected to survive past the end of this century.

The Asian Age, 19th July 2012

A book compiling some of the best writings by M. Krishnan, a natural historian par excellence, reveals why there can’t be anybody like him

Irrespective of your understanding of the rich avian life of this country, you will enjoy of Birds and Birdsong (Aleph Book Company) by M. Krishnan and edited by Shanthi and Ashish Chandola. Written by Krishnan, a man consumed by his love for the wildlife during his career that spanned many decades and then compiled into a book by Chandolas, the book is replete with information but wrapped in anecdotal delights. “He wrote for the common man. He always had general public in mind because he always wrote what he saw around himself,” says Shanthi Chandola, a wildlife filmmaker based in Bangalore.

M. Krishnan was several things rolled into one — a photographer, a naturalist and an artist. He was also a prolific writer, who wrote on a variety of issues in several newspapers, most famous being “The Country Notebook” that ran in The Statesman without a break for 46 long years. Vocal about his concerns for wildlife and government’s indifference towards it, Krishnan wrote with passion about it.

The articles that make up this book have been taken from not just one but different newspapers and journals in which they were published. And needless to say they differ in nature and objective. “There are about six-seven articles which are very short and educative in nature,” explains Shanthi referring to chapters like ‘The Sarus’, ‘The Pintail’ and others. The writing is crisp but not without interesting details like “Sarus is usually seen in a pair, and mates for life...this call is always made with the beak pointing skyward, and is invariably taken up by the mate of the calling bird within a split second, so that it is termed a unison call.”

The chapters included in another section ‘Those were the days’, however are detailed. In ‘Vedanthangal: Oldest Bird Sanctuary in India’, the writer delves into the history of the bird sanctuary. He writes in the book. “Vedan in Tamil means ‘hunter’ and ‘thangal’ is an old Tamil word that has two relevant meanings in this context, viz. ‘tank’ and the act of protecting or guarding. Those who construe the place name to mean ‘fowlers tank’ must surely realise that they have hit on a singularly inapposite rendering. Vedanthangal having been a bird sanctuary for so long, it seems reasonable to presume it was named so because its birds were protected against fowlers.”

Redolent with wit, Shanthi says his writing is not just about the avian life but is also as much about himself for it gives an idea of what kind of person Krishnan was.

In this wide spectrum of topics, the editors have taken care to also include narratives that are extremely personal. ‘Forty Days S.I.’ which happens to be the favourite story of Shanthi is about an injured parakeet he finds in his compound and tends to for 40 days after which it flies away.

The sketches add value to the book but they are not done by Krishnan. Shanthi informs us that since they couldn’t locate the original sketches done by Krishnan, they got artist Soumen Chakravorty to reproduce the originals. “And I think they come pretty close to the originals. Hats off to the artist,” says the filmmaker and author, who along with Ashish Chandola and T.N.A. Perumal had done another book on the expert on natural history M. Krishnan: Eye in the Jungle, Photographs and Writings.

The Hindu. 19th July 2012

The annual rate of shrinkage is 48.2 metres in terms of length and 0.57 % in terms of area
A majority of glaciers in the Tibetan Plateau and the surrounding regions are retreating, according to a study published recently in Nature Climate Change. The Tibetan Plateau and surrounding regions contain most of the world’s glaciers outside the polar region. The total glacier area in this region is 100,000 square kilometres.

The authors found that the Tibetan Plateau and surrounding regions exhibited systematic differences in glacial shrinkage. The most intensive shrinkage is found in the Himalayas (excluding the Karakoram). Here the reduction is greatest both in terms of length and area, and also the difference between ice accumulation and loss (mass balance). In contrast, the least reduction is seen in the Pamir Plateau.

CONTRADICTORY RESULTS
The latest results contradict the Tibetan Plateau glacier loss results provided by the GRACE satellite. The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment satellite measurements found the glaciers in the Tibetan Plateau were actually growing, and Asian glaciers, in general, were losing ice much slowly than previously suggested.

According to the Nature Climate Change paper, the rate of shrinkage of Himalayan glaciers (southeastern Tibetan Plateau) in terms of length was 48.2 metres per year and the rate of area reduction was 0.57 per cent per year during the study period (1970s to 2000s). The mass balance was negative (meaning more ice loss), and it ranged from “-1,100 mm per year to -760 mm per year with an average of -930 mm per year.”

In the case of the Pamir Plateau, the rate of retreat was just 0.9 metres per year and area reduction rate was 0.07 per cent per year. What is really significant is that the Muztag Ata Glacier in the eastern Pamir region had a positive mass balance for four of the five years of observation.

“Mass balance is a direct and reliable indicator of glacier status,” they write. The mass balance of 15 glaciers was measured for three consecutive years.

The Indian monsoon in summer and westerlies (prevailing winds from Europe) in the winter are the two important atmospheric circulation patterns found here. The East Asian monsoon also influences glaciers, particularly those in the eastern margin. The interior of the Tibetan Plateau is dominated more by continental conditions.

There is a direct link between atmospheric circulation, and in turn precipitation, and glacier shrinkage.

THE REASON
The reason for intensive glacier shrinkage in the Himalayas can be traced back to the circulation pattern, and in turn the amount of precipitation.

The Himalayas gets its precipitation from the Indian monsoon, while the Pamir Plateau gets it from the westerlies.

Records confirm that the precipitation during the period 1979 to 2010 decreased in the Himalayas while it increased in the case of eastern Pamir Plateau.

“Recent studies found that the Indian monsoon is weakening and the westerlies are strengthening and this influences the precipitation patterns,” they write.

This has resulted in greater shrinkage of glaciers in the Himalayas, while the Pamir Plateau shows the “least reduction in length and area, and positive mass balance (meaning increased ice accumulation).

EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE
Temperature rise also affects glacier shrinkage. “An increasing warming trend at higher elevations has been observed over the Tibetan Plateau and the warming rate increases with elevation,” they write. They found the warming to be “highest between 4,800 metres and 6,200 metres above mean sea level.”

“In places dominated by the westerlies, such as the Karakoram and the Pamir plateau, glaciers gain their mass mostly from winter snow, and so are less affected by warming because temperatures in winter are still below zero,”Nature notes. “In the eastern and central Himalayas, however, it snows mainly during monsoon season, and a slight increase in summer temperatures can affect glaciers drastically.”

Many glaciers were studied for three main factors — glacial retreat, area reduction, and mass balance.

The Hindu, 19th July 2012

There comes a saturation point in eveyone’s life, where one gets tired of monotony. When I was going through a similar phase, I decided to head to a peaceful place amidst the woods. I asked two of my friends to come along, and even though the trek sounded a “little” more strenuous than usual, we packed our bags and left the city to discover the remote and tranquil town of Kilbury.

Kilbury is a small town in the district of Nainital, and is located at an altitude of 2528 mts above sea level. It is 14 kms away from the main town and since the distance can also be covered on foot, many trekkers love to explore the adventurous path.

When we entered the Kumaon and Nainital region we were amazed to see the thick green forests on both sides. Small tea stalls at every alternate curve, a quick drizzle and mist in the air made our journey even more exciting.

We first did a small trek from mall road to our base at Cheena Peak, after resting there for half-a-day we left for Kilbury. We stuffed our bags with necessities like water, food, rain-sheets, first aid and of course a camera to capture the beautiful landscape.

Ruled by lush oak, pine trees, rhododendron forests and filled with panoramic views of magnificent snow-capped peaks in the distance, Kilbury is a perfect place to go for a short trek. Here you can enjoy the beauty of the splendid forests and varied species of birds like Brown Wood-Owls, Collared Grosbeaks, White-throated Laughing Thrushes, Forktails and many other birds.

Even though it is roughly 14 km trek, you can also choose to cover half the distance by jeep or local taxis that you can easily find at the end of the mall road.

Kilbury is a well known birding route, and according to the latest surveys more than 590 species of birds have been found in this area. We also managed to get a glimpse of Himalayas on our way to Kilbury and got a chance to stroll among the dense forests of Tarai region.

As we trekked the terraced fields and small villages scattered over the mountains we thoroughly enjoyed the long trail in the lap of nature.

This green belt supports an enormous variety of Himalayan flora and fauna. If you get lucky, you may even get to witness mushrooms and cup-shaped lichen sprouted all over the hills. After a euphoric experience through the hills we reached Kilbury.

For lunch, we decided to walk down to a small eatery in Pangot, a small village nearby. We relished our all time mountain favorite menu — the scrumptious vegetable noodles, pakodas and the hot masala chai. It had just rained and the whole village was engulfed in mist and chilly breeze, and our platter was just apt for that gorgeous weather.

After enjoying a wonderful day in the town, we strolled down to our base near Cheena Peak. There are enough small hotels around Kilbury, but if you happen to own or rent a tent, then nothing like it.

After two days of fun and frolic in the quite town, we headed back to Delhi with some beautiful memories of our awe-inspiring weekend trip to Kilbury.

The Asian Age, 20th July 2012

Himalayan rivers are being made to pay a price for the mindless urbanisation sanctioned by policy-makers

The framers of India's Constitution, displaying remarkable foresight and perhaps anticipating murderous assaults on nature as part of development policy, enshrined the following under fundamental duties, Article 51A(g):

“It shall be the duty of every citizen of India to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers and wild life and to have compassion for living creatures.”

But with protectors turning into exploiters, Punjab and Haryana High Court's restraint order on Haryana Urban Develop- ment Authority, prohibiting it from issuing new licences to developers in Gurgaon, unless they give an undertaking that groundwater would not be extracted for building work, should serve as a reality check. This direction was given when the court was hearing pleas filed by residents' bodies. While promoters, land mafia and their political patrons — drawing inspiration from miners circumventing the Supreme Court ban on mining in large swathes of the Aravallis — may still covertly use groundwater, it is a timely intervention. Foreign direct investment, up to 100 per cent, in the real estate sector may have been instrumental in turning erstwhile boondocks into prime residential and office space, but the construction boom has put ecology out of joint. In addition to tackling the water crisis, planners must pre-empt leak of the magnifying sewage into water.

Southern Haryana is a prime example of indiscriminate development, driven byad hoc planning. Lakes are drying up and the groundwater table has plummeted, falling 1.5 metres per year. The concerned authorities have to submit a feasible plan for recharging groundwater to the court. A failed monsoon, an eventuality that looms in this arid region, would underline the fact that Gurgaon and adjoining places such as Sohna and Pataudi, also slated to hit big time as multinational companies and residential hubs, are teetering on the brink of a precipice. This is because they are dependent entirely on seasonal rain, groundwater, lakes that are fast disappearing and Yamuna supply from the Hathnikund barrage.

The court ruling acknowledges the seriousness of the situation, with renewal of licences for some old projects also being stayed. On-going ones are under scrutiny. But FDI in real estate — viewed as a convenient means for converting black money into white — has to be parked somewhere, and satellite towns are the most attractive.

The State Govern- ment's knee-jerk reaction is symptomatic of the very ad hocplanning that has also landed Delhi in such a mess. The demand for building Renuka Dam on the Giri river, Yamuna tributary in Himachal Pradesh — stalled by National Green Tribunal — Lakhwar Dam on Yamuna and Kesao Dam on Tons, has been raised by politicos and builders alike as the panacea for the water ills plaguing Delhi and Southern Haryana. These are old schemes that have failed to take off. Building Renuka Dam would entail submerging an estimated 385 hectares area, including part of the Renuka Wildlife Sanctuary and orchards and farmland. About 37 villages would be affected. As for the other two projects, they are meant to benefit Delhi and its vicinity, and will do no good to the people of Uttarakhand. Nitya Nand and Kamlesh Kumar's The Holy Himalaya: AGeographical Interpretation of Garhwal, dated 1989 says:

“The Kishau Dam on the Tons, Lakhwar Dam on the Yamuna, Tehri Dam on the Bhagirathi, Utyasu on the Alakananda, Nayar Dam on the Nayar and Kotli Behl Dam on the Ganga will have a total storage capacity of 9,988 million mgd and will have an irrigation potential of 2.5 million hectares. But they will not irrigate a single hectare of land in Garhwal though they will submerge hundreds of sq km of land in Garhwal and render lakhs of its people homeless.”

This, then, is the heavy price to be paid for myopic growth. Himanshu Thakkar, coordinator for South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers & People, observes that these projects will submerge huge tracts of land and forests, displace people in tens of thousands, and destroy livelihoods. He recommends rainwater harvesting, protection of local water bodies, forests and flood plains, recycling of water through proper sewage treatment, and reducing transmission and distribution losses. He advises Haryana farmers, in fact, all basin States to switch to organic farming and practice water saving techniques. He cites the redone Draft National Water Policy 2012, which states:

“Given the limits on enhancing the availability of utilisable water resources and increased variability in supplies due to climate change, meeting the future needs will depend more on demand management, and hence, this needs to be given priority, especially through (a) evolving an agricultural system which economises on water use and maximises value from water, and (b) bringing in maximum efficiency in use of water and avoiding wastages.”

Similarly, Matu Jan Sangathan's Vimal Bhai trashes the dam proposal, advising sustainable development, water harvesting and revival of lakes and ponds. The consensus among conservationists is that it is time pampered areas stopped riding piggy-back on Himayalan States and their rivers.

The Pioneer, 20th July 2012

A four-storeyed under-construction building in Walled City was declared 'dangerous' by North Delhi Municipal Corporation on Tuesday after it tilted towards left. Other than declaring it unsafe, the civic agency has done little to ensure the safety of residents. Instead of deploying staff to raze the structure, the civic agency had asked the owner to demolish it.

Nine months after the Chandni Mahal building collapse — Chandni Mahal is just 300 metre away from this building — the civic agency is yet to get serious about unauthorized constructions.

A portion of the building's wall — on the fourth floor — collapsed on Tuesday. "Luckily, no one was injured in the accident. We immediately informed police and the entire area was barricaded and neighbouring houses were evacuated. However, civic agency officials are yet to visit the area,'' said Sameer, a resident.

According to Sameer, the building has tilted towards the left and might collapse anytime. "Construction work had been going on for the past few months. We had informed the city zone of North corporation but the agency didn't take any action. Even now the agency is doing little to ensure the safety of residents," he added.

When TOI visited the site at Fasil Road (behind Delite Cinema) on Thursday, the owner informed that no further demolition was required. "A small portion of the wall had collapsed. But we are repairing the damaged portion. The civic agency has not asked us to carry out any further demolition,'' said Mohd Amir, the owner's son. Amir also admitted that he had not taken permission from civic agency for the construction. "We don't need permission from civic agency as this land belongs to slum board,'' said Amir. According to police officials deployed at the site, the civic agency had carried out demolition on Wednesday but they didn't come on Thursday.

According to Yogender Chandolia, chairman standing committee, North Corporation, "Our officials couldn't take action as they were busy with Akbarabadi Masjid issue. Action will be taken on Friday." Interestingly, the building department of the city zone carried out demolition at Hauz Khazi in the Walled City.

Nine months after Chandni Mahal building collapse, the civic agency has done little to check unauthorized construction in the area. The civic agency had formed a dangerous building cell after the collapse, but residents claim that despite several complaints, officials do not take action. "We don't want another Chandni Mahal-like incident again. The zonal office is doing little to check on unauthorized construction in the area," the official added.

The Times of India, 20th July 2012

Melanism can be seen more in the evergreen habitat of the Western Ghats where the interiors of the forests are dark

Melanism found in some animals at the Parambikulam forests in Palakkad district of Kerala has caught the imagination of wildlife enthusiasts.

Recently, managers of the Parambikulam Tiger Reserve obtained photographic evidence of a pseudo-melanistic leopard. Earlier, a melanistic spotted deer was photographed. Though no photographic evidence has been obtained, black panthers too are said to have been spotted.

While the leopard was caught on cameras installed for monitoring the tiger, the deer was photographed by a forest official.

The black spots on the leopard were found closely packed to give it a designer coat. In the case of the deer, the white spots on its reddish fawn coat were overshadowed by the black pigmentation, giving the animal a blackish appearance.

Sanjayankumar, former Wildlife Warden of the sanctuary who photographed the deer, says the primary DNA analysis of excreta (pellet) proved that it was a male spotted deer. Detailed genetic analysis could not be held as fresh pellet samples were unavailable and the animal was lost in the wild, he says.

The tiger reserve is in the southern part of the Western Ghats, down the Palakkad Gap.

It is located between the Anamalai hills and the Nelliampathy hills and the natural vegetation of the area includes tropical evergreen, semi-evergreen, moist mixed deciduous and dry mixed deciduous forests and moist bamboo brakes and reed brakes.

A.J.T. Johnsingh, former Dean of the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, says melanism can be seen more in the evergreen habitat of the Western Ghats where the interiors of the forests are dark.
In such habitats, melanism should be considered an adaptation technique of the animals as they can stay unnoticed in the dark interior forests. Melanism is caused by a recessive gene and the ecology of the habitat does not have any influence on it. They should be considered genetic freaks.
Melanistic leopards are fairly common in many parts of the Western Ghats, but chital of that type is rare, Dr. Johnsingh says.

Ajith Kumar, course director of the postgraduate programme in wildlife biology and conservation at the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore, says there exists an increased possibility of melanism in dense and closed forest systems. Animals use it to merge themselves into the dark forest environments. Melanism has been reported from evergreen, moist and deciduous forests, he adds.

P.A. Easa, wildlife expert, sees these as genetic freaks unless proved otherwise. Presence of melanistic tigers has been reported from the Simlipal National Park, Odisha.

Genetic studies should be conducted to ascertain how these animals are different from the normal ones, Dr. Easa says.

P.O. Nameer, Head of the Centre for Wildlife Studies, College of Forestry, Kerala Agricultural University, observes that melanism will work to the advantage of preys and predators alike in a closed forest system. While it will help deer camouflage itself from predators, leopards can stay unnoticed from its possible prey. Genetic and ecological studies should be held in the Parambikulam landscape to know more about the animals, Dr. Nameer suggests.

The Parambikulam Tiger Reserve authorities are planning to install more camera traps in the sanctuary following the sighting of the melanistic leopard from deciduous forests.

Vijayanandan, Wildlife Warden of the reserve, says the survey will cover the evergreen forest areas shortly.

More such interesting information is expected to emerge from the survey, he adds.

The Hindu, 20th July 2012

Lieutenant-Governor Tejendra Khanna on Thursday ordered the North corporation and police to stall construction of a mosque at Subhash Park in the Walled City. The mosque was being built over the remains of a structure believed to be the Mughal-era Akbarabadi Masjid.

Khanna has also directed the area Sub Divisional Magistrate to invoke Section 145 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) on the disputed land. Section 145 is invoked when disputes concerning land or water are likely to cause a ‘breach of peace’.

“The facts of the structure are yet to be established. We also have to keep in mind Supreme Court guidelines on removal, relocation and regularisation of unauthorised religious constructions. The L-G has also directed Delhi Police to ensure all action is taken as per law,” a senior official said.

Matia Mahal MLA Shoaib Iqbal had had ordered the construction of the mosque. Workers and activists have been building the structure for the past two days.

North corporation Commissioner P K Gupta inspected the site on Thursday evening. Although the civic agency has dismissed the idea of immediate demolition, people will not be allowed to enter the premises or offer namaz there. “Delhi Metro has returned the land to the corporation. We have taken control of the property. Construction work has been stopped and building material will be removed so that work is not resumed,” said Gupta.

Over 100 civic officials and 70 policemen visited the area to confiscate construction material on Thursday afternoon. Initially, the team could not confiscate the material as many residents gathered and protested. On its second visit in the evening, the team managed to stop construction and seal off the area. “We have deployed six policemen inside the park and around 40 outside. Barricades have also been put up outside the park,” said a senior police officer.

“Building a mosque is the right of residents. I do not understand why authorities to object to it. Ramzan is likely to start from Friday evening. People will continue to gather at the place. But we are ready to cooperate with authorities,” said Iqbal.

However, Standing Committee Chairman Yogendra Chandolia said the mosque should be demolished immediately.

“The L-G office has directed to stall the work. We demand that the structure be razed at the earliest,” he said.

Officials said the dispute would now be decided by the magistrate, and the order to demolish the structure would take at least a month.

“No digging will take place till the matter is sub judice. The MCD stays in possession of the land. The final title would be decided by the magistrate after proper fact-finding,” a senior Delhi government official said.

The Indian Express, 20th July 2012

A massive iceberg — twice the size of Manhattan — has broken off of a glacier in Greenland, according to NASA satellite imagery, in what could be the latest indication of global warming.

The images released on Wednesday show the massive chunk of ice breaking off of the Petermann Glacier on the north-western coast of Greenland. The glacier produced a similar ice island twice as large in 2010.

NASA said the crack in the glacier had been visible since 2001, and that its polar-orbiting Aqua satellite had observed the break on July 16-17.

Oceanographer Andreas Muenchow said while the icebergs seem large, most of the glacial melting takes place 1,800 feet below the surface, where the glacier meets bedrock and the ocean water is much warmer than at the surface. “The dominant mass loss is via ocean melting from below. This dominant process is not visible, it is not possible to capture it with eye-catching images,” he wrote on his blog at icyseas.org.

“Furthermore, and this appears counter-intuitive, the loss of area will have little direct effect on the ocean melting, because the 100-150 [-metre] thick floating ice shelf is bathed in ocean water near the freezing point.”

Mr. Muenchow said the Atlantic waters melting the glacier appear to be warming, but that records only go back to 2003.

“Some changes are dramatically visible, such as the discharge of large ice islands,” he wrote. “Some changes, perhaps more important, are not.” — AFP

The Hindustan Times, 20th July 2012

Public feelings in Assam might be very much against the Bangladeshis, but they are the ones who may just save its flagging tourism industry. At least, that is what Lonely Planet India seems to think. The string of goof-ups by the world's tourist bible has put to shame Delhi's own fauxpas: using photos of the two-horned African rhino to promote its one-horned Assam cousins in the "Incredible India" campaign.

In a recent edition, Lonely Planet India has called, Tezpur, 174 km north-east of Guwahati, as "probably Assam's most attractive city".

If the element of doubt ruffles feathers in Tezpur — an ancient centre of art and literature and Assam's "cultural capital" — there's more. "Its large Bangladeshi population" apparently forms the entirety of Tezpur's tourist attraction.

If that's not enough to shock you, wait for the guidebook's take on the state's wildlife.

Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary, 40 km east of Guwahati, has been hailed as the "world's rhinoceros capital". And since a "rhinoceros capital" just cannot be a simple sanctuary, the guidebook has elevated it to the eminence of a "national park".

The 860sq km Kaziranga National Park, the domain of the one-horn rhino, has been forgotten altogether in this context. The travel guide has even tried to improve on the map of Assam, shifting the Manas National Park from the Assam-Bhutan border to the route to Shillong.

"This is ridiculous. One does not expect a reputed guidebook to print such mistakes," said Assam tourism secretary Dhruva Hazarika. Tourism officer Samir Tanti said a letter would be sent to New Delhi to ensure facts are checked before publications come up with tour guides.

The Hindustan Times, 20th July 2012

Wildlife activists have raised the red flag over four of the five key projects mooted by the defence ministry, stating that they would upset the country’s fragile wildlife population.

Irked by this, the defence ministry is planning to approach the Supreme Court for seeking exemption of defence projects from the mandatory environment approval process.

The BSF had strongly pitched for a route through the Dampa tiger reserve in Mizoram, and another road through the Kutch Desert Wildlife Sanctuary.

Speaking on the Dampa proposal at a meeting with of the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) standing committee, BSF officials said international regulations do not allow the construction of a border post and road outside the fence — as per the suggestion of MK Ranjitsinh, a non-official panel member.

The BSF said that the road in Kutch would cut down the distance between various border posts from 300 km to 25 km. However, the non-official members of the committee said the project may affect the sanctuary, which is the only nesting site for flamingos in Asia.

The other two projects of strategic importance were mooted for the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. While the Indian Navy wants to construct a structure within the Tillanchang Sanctuary, the Coast Guard intends to install a radar system at the Narcondam Island Sanctuary.

However, they were shot down because Tillanchang Sanctuary is the ideal habitat for the nicobar megapode, and Narcondam is the only home for 300 narcondam hornbills that exist in the world today.

The only proposal that was accepted — a road through Galathea National Park — came with five conditions.

The Hindustan Times, 20th July 2012

The Central Public Works Department announced that the Parliament House will be closed for ten years and Lok Sabha shifted to Shopper’s Paradise, a new mall in Gurgaon. The old colonial structure will be officially leased to MacDonald’s for ten years and handed over within the month.” Three years ago, this piece of satire in a Delhi paper was dismissed as a mocking view of an unshakable institution and its architecture. How could a structure designed, quite literally, to display the pillars of Indian democracy, be equated with commercial trash?

Today, however, there is talk in government circles of plans to construct a new Parliament building. The old structure, says Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, is “silently weeping” for all the cracks, encroachments and lack of emergency measures that make it uninhabitable.

Of the many landmarks of iconic value, few can match the regal feel of Lutyens’ or Baker’s buildings. Whatever the tragedy of colonial rule, colonial architecture still epitomises for most an urban monumentality and a symbolic vision missing in the structures of free India. The Lutyens legacy surpasses the anonymous history of the more recent city: the smudged lines of government housing blocks that lend a ramshackle air of industrial sameness to the skyline.

Where does the iconic nature of public building end and prosaic usefulness take over? Throughout the world, there are examples of landmarks retrofitted with all the gadgetry and conveniences of modern life — shored up against earthquakes, equipped with electronic security, fire alarms and emergency escapes — all made to guard against manmade and natural threats. The original White House, for example, was commissioned by George Washington in 1792. Porticoes were added by different presidents 30 years later for ceremonial reasons. Subsequently, both Teddy Roosevelt and Harry Truman renovated the building to suit changing requirements. Security and nuclear threats during the Cold War meant more construction, even the addition of a nuclear bunker. However, throughout its 200-year history, the alterations firmly retained the architectural character of the original. Similar upgrades were carried out on the Capitol building, home of the US Congress. Closer home, derelict forts and palaces in Rajasthan have been recast as luxury hotels — fine-tuned and renovated with air-conditioning, plumbing, security.

In the overall structure of public space, Rajpath is an arena of great urban significance, equal to the Mall in Washington DC and the Champs Elysees in Paris. In the 85-year history of the site, there have been many additions, as would be expected of any important public arena. Most of the ministry structures, built along the adjacent flanks, date back to the 1950s and ’60s. Without exception, each is a poor cousin of its antecedent on Raisina Hill, each a step away from the monumental tradition of design quality and construction workmanship set up by Lutyens.

To say that the government’s approach to public architecture around the central vista is lackadaisical and indifferent is nothing new. The 20-year-old Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts is open but incomplete, the classical National Gallery of Modern Art is undeniably shabby with open-faced wiring and a new addition that took 25 years of deliberation.

However, architectural alterations continue to be made freely. How many of the princely houses around India Gate still retain anything of their original design? How many ministers have radically altered their bungalows in the Lutyens zone? Ironically, many parts of the colonial city still retain large sections of “hutments”, classified by the pre-Independence CPWD as temporary structures, which were meant to be demolished after 1947.

How then could the 85-year-old red sandstone masonry of Parliament House be on the verge of crumbling? Part of the problem in not investing value in the old Baker structure lies in the current preference for an international feel to architecture — the glassy malls and offices that suggest a country on the rise.

The fate of Parliament House is unfortunately in mediocre hands, with people whose singular anxiety for personal security, comfort and familiarity far outweighs the larger concerns of architectural and national symbolism. No new structure, however laudable in design, can compete with the old image etched firmly in Indian memory. The proposal to make afresh is, sadly, a serious blow to an iconic landmark that has stood as the visible symbol of Indian democracy.

The writer is a Delhi-based architect, [email protected]

The Indian Express, 20th July 2012

Around 25,000 people offered namaaz at the purported site of the 17th Century Akbarabadi Masjid on Friday as police did not enforce North Delhi Municipal Corporation's order against religious activity at the venue. As the Subhash Park grounds, where the Mughal-era site is situated, filled up, hundreds spilled over into the adjoining roads to pray. There was heavy police deployment between Delhi Gate and the Chandni Chowk intersection, and traffic headed towards Jama Masjid was diverted.

North corporation officials accused the police of inaction. "We had asked police to ensure that no party is allowed to carry out religious rituals at the disputed site, but they took no action," said mayor Mira Aggarwal. Delhi Police, however, said it would follow the high court's directions.

In the morning, a tense situation was averted when police detained around 300 Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) supporters outside Gauri Shankar temple in Chandni Chowk, foiling their plan to march to the namaaz site and chant the Hanuman Chalisa. "We detained them under Section 65 of Delhi Police Act after they courted arrest, and took them to Maurice Nagar police station. They were let off later," said an officer, adding, "Mild force was used to restrain some of the workers who tried to break the barricades and march on. They were claiming that the excavated ruin was a Pandava-era relic".

VHP's Delhi unit spokesperson, Vinod Bansal, said, "The new mosque walls have been illegally constructed and they should be demolished to make way for a temple. But before we could start our procession, police stopped us saying the law and order may be disturbed. We did not want any unrest, so we courted arrest.''

Prayers were offered peacefully at the site under police supervision. "For 155 years, our ancestors could not pray here but now we have got this opportunity. We will not let it go waste. Special prayers will be offered for the next 10 days during Ramzan. All of you who have come from neighbouring states like Uttar Pradesh and Haryana should stay back," said local councillor, Khurram Iqbal, addressing the crowd from the stage. Iqbal told the crowd: "The British demolished Akbarabadi Masjid on the pretext that it was a meeting ground for the 1857 mutineers. We are reclaiming our land. The government should rethink its stand on construction of a mosque here".

There was much sloganeering in support of Matia Mahal MLA Shoaib Iqbal during the proceedings. "Iqbal bhai has been MLA from this area for 18 years. Your vote hasn't gone waste and the Akbarabadi Masjid is his gift. Our next target is to rebuild the Babri Masjid," one of his supporters announced to wild cheering. The namaaz started at 1.30pm and ended at 2pm. Many of the worshippers from outside Delhi had camped at the site since Thursday evening.

North Corporation had taken possession of the site on Thursday and prohibited any further construction. It had also issued orders against religious activity, but this was defied by the locals led by Shoaib Iqbal. The MLA had reportedly deployed workers to carry out digging work at the site to build a mosque on the Mughal-era base, even as ASI ordered stoppage of work as the area falls in the regulated zone of Red Fort.

The Times of India, 21st July 2012

Parliament Building, a heritage edifice that is considered a touchstone of India’s democracy and diversity, is getting old. The signs of ageing are competing with the telltale marks of neglect — a stone tile that has come undone, a fragment broken off the roof, lingering foul smell in some corners, a cable curled around a piece of history, and blatant occupation of space.

And when the occupants of the building need more room, they create it. The men in uniform who should protect it, inadvertently damage it. As for the common man, whose fate is partially decided within the fortified sandstone building, the edifice remains an enigma that can only be marvelled at from afar.

The building itself stands as a timekeeper, carefully shielding history. As age catches up with the monument, there is a clamour for resuscitating and restoring this remnant of India’s historic past. There’s unanimity on that count, but will Parliament continue to function out of the building that Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker designed, or will there be a new address for our Members of Parliament?

“We badly need a new parliament building. This one simply isn’t functional and is outdated,” says Jairam Ramesh, Union Minister for Rural Development and the MP from Andhra Pradesh.

Biju Janata Dal MP from Kendrapara, Odisha, Baijayant Panda, too agrees that there is a need for creating more space. “The needs and requirements have changed dramatically. The present structure was built in the pre-Independence period, when there was no real democracy, and representatives weren’t fully empowered. Today’s representatives need offices and staff (as is the case in any country), for which new facilities must be built,” he says.

The first priority should be to have Parliament function in a building that’s safe, Mr. Panda says, but affirms that efforts must be made to conserve the existing structure. “The existing structure must, of course, be preserved properly, and there’s no harm in using it as a museum; that is widely accepted as a means of protecting and conserving heritage structures.”

However, the proposal to shift the seat of democracy doesn’t seem to go down well with many people. They are interested in continuing their alliance with the building, where the nation, at the stroke of midnight, announced its tryst with destiny.

“The Parliament building is one of the classics of Indian architecture, and in my view, should be preserved for use as our Parliament. If structural strengthening is necessary, such work can easily be undertaken during parliamentary recesses. The enormous value of our architectural heritage — of feeling one is sitting in the very chambers graced by giants like Jawaharlal Nehru, B. R. Ambedkar and Sardar Patel — is an indispensable part of our parliamentary traditions, and shouldn’t be discarded lightly,” says Dr. Shashi Tharoor, Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram.

The Central Public Works Department, which looks after the maintenance of Parliament building, recently undertook an inspection, and drew up a list of unauthorised constructions, additions to the original design, and a host of alterations that are threatening its structural stability.

The CPWD gave the owner of the building, the Lok Sabha Secretariat, a list of corrections that should be made. “We have been cautioning against encroachments. During the years, there has been rampant occupation of space, offices have been built where there should have been open spaces, staircases have nooks that are being occupied by office staff, and a canteen was being run till recently, which caused a lot of damage, and even exposed the building to the threat of fire,” said an official.

The deteriorating condition of the heritage building has sounded an alarm bell. But most MPs believe there is reason enough to allow Parliament to function from the existing building. To meet the growing demand for space, there are alternatives.

“We don’t really need another Parliament building. The people who are suggesting that we need a new building are mistaken. How old are Parliament buildings in Britain and the United States? Our building has been persistently misused. This is part of our tradition and history, and as the oldest member of Parliament, I will protest and oppose any move to bring it down or shift its seat,” says CPI’s Gurudas Dasgupta, MP from Ghatal in West Bengal.

The need for more space can be met by moving out offices to new buildings, says Ajay Maken, MP from New Delhi and the current Sports Minister. “We already have an annexe. We can expand that. Some offices can move there. As far as the seat of Parliament is concerned, however, we should continue to use the existing building. It is a heritage marvel, and hence needs to be protected. The feeling that envelops you when you step inside is incredible. You cannot recreate that feeling in a brand new building.”

And with the House seemingly divided on the issue of a new address, the old, but magnificent Parliament building awaits a revival.

The Hindu, 21st July 2012

Amar Chitra Katha releasing a graphic biography of Jim Corbett on his 137 birth anniversary

To mark Jim Corbett’s 137 birth anniversary, Amar Chitra Katha is releasing a graphic biography on the conservationist in bookstores across the country on July 25.

The comic is a tribute to Corbett who was aware of his role of a conservationist and went out of his way to spread the message of protecting wildlife. The message succeeded in creating awareness among the people of his generation, especially children, to do their bit for conservation.

The new title portrays Corbett’s life as a hunter, photographer, conservationist and author.

Handled his first gun at the age of six
“Jim Corbett – Friend of the Wild” traces the life of Corbett from the time he was six-year-old and handled his first gun till his demise in 1955. It focuses on the famous personality who discovered the real world of animals and birds and also highlights his extraordinary success as a big game hunter of man-eating tigers and leopards.

The graphic biography was completed in a year. The research and scripting was done by Tripti Nainwal, who went through all biographies of Corbett.

Interestingly, Tripti belongs to Nainital and her familiarity with the Kumaon region helped her in scripting the comic.

According to Tripti, reading about Corbett was an “eye-opener” as one tends to know him only as a hunter.

“Though I belong to the same region as Jim Corbett himself, I had no idea that he was much more than just a talented hunter. He believed in conservation and started working towards it in his own mild manner long before it became the buzz word. It was a pleasure to discover the man behind all the tales.”

Artist Ghanshyam Bochgeri worked closely with Tripti to get the illustrations right, particularly the panels where Jim confronts man-eaters.

Visualising Corbett
Since no photograph of Corbett as a child was available, the most challenging part was visualising him.

“Finally after many rough sketches a look was finally approved. I had frequent discussions with the writer, wherever I had a doubt or got stuck in the middle of a page. The most interesting aspect of this comic was that all the incidents were real and had actually happened, especially the confrontations with the man-eaters. It was a great experience illustrating Jim Corbett,” says Ghanshyam.

Before the country-wide launch, the 48-page “Jim Corbett - Friend of the Wild” was released at the famous Gurney House in Nainital on Friday where Corbett lived many years of his life.
According to Amar Chitra Katha Editor Reena Puri, the launch has been organised with Nilanjana Dalmia whose grandfather bought the house from Corbett when he left for Africa on the eve of India’s Independence.

A mark of respect
“We chose the house as a mark of respect for the man who worked tirelessly for conservation in the Kumaon region. And what better way than to release his graphic biography at the house where he lived. The house has been well preserved. We are organising the launch on July 21 because people, especially children, at Nainital are free on weekends. Corbett belonged to Nainital and there are a number of stories which people in the region are familiar.”

Noting that Corbett was much ahead of his times, Ms. Kapoor says he realised that something urgently needs to be done to protect our environment. “It is now that the world is waking up to the realities of climate change. When it came to saving villages of Kumaon and Garhwal, he killed man-eating tigers and leopards who were harassing the locals. His fearlessness and amazing success rate made him a hero of the locals.”

The Hindu, 21st July 2012

Orchids are rampantly smuggled as wildlife trophies across international borders in large numbers. Now several of the species are on the verge of extinction

In the last week of June, an orchid house was set up in Mizoram to preserve 87 species of orchids found in the State’s jungles and also to check their plunder. So far, 54 species have been preserved. It is one of the many baby steps taken by the government to preserve disappearing orchids which exhibit an incredible range of diversity in our country.

Orchids are the most bewitching flower species, being the most exotic and quixotic members of the plant kingdom. They come in speckled shades of scarlet, range of yellows; in moody indigos, blues and purples; in pastel pinks and greens; strange shapes and sizes. There are around 25,000 to 30,000 species of orchids across the globe but some of those are on the brink of extinction. In earlier days, fascinated by these beautiful flowers, many wealthy and powerful men spent fortunes to collect and maintain them in their backyard. It is precisely for this reason that orchids are rampantly smuggled as wildlife trophies across international borders in large numbers.

A bag full of wild orchids was recently confiscated on the Indo-Nepal border by the local police — a proof that smuggling continues despite a ban. To stop such pillage, an Orchidarium was set up in Shillong in 1956 and at Yercaud near Coimbatore in 1963 by the Botanical Survey of India (BSI).

The National Research Centre for Orchids (NRCO) established in 1996 near Gangtok, Sikkim, is also involved in documentation, conservation, development of orchid hybrids and mass multiplication by tissue culture. While some scientists suggest that India is home to over 1,200 species, the NRCO website indicates 1,700 species of orchids, of which 50 per cent are found in the north-eastern part of India.

The Himalayan belt of the seven sisters is not only rich in orchid species, but many of them rank at the top of the ‘ornamentally important’ list. The Western Ghats also harbour endemic orchids, many of these, once abundant, are threatened or might have already disappeared.

“Natural and man-made disasters like landslides, road-making and other anthropological interventions have profoundly contributed to their extermination,” says Dr. D. Burman, principal scientist of NRCO. He adds: “Thanks to modern propagation and production technologies, orchids are accessible to the common man.” Horticulturists worldwide today grow orchids not only because they are mysterious and magical but they are simply beautiful and long-lasting. Cultivation and sale of orchids occupy over 10 per cent of the global floricultural trade and is growing.

In 320 B.C., Greek philosopher Theophrastus, who is also known as the father of botany, had meticulously studied diverse plants and gave the name ‘orchids’ to these fascinating group of herbs. Since ancient times, orchids were in huge demand and illegally traded due to the belief that the tubers have aphrodisiac qualities. The evolution of orchid culture from hobby to commercial growing was slow but steady as they needed a certain controlled moist atmosphere, specific pollination and germinating conditions.

With contemporary techniques of propagation, numerous man-made hybrids are being produced. In 1913, the Sun Kee Nursery of Singapore started the first cut flower production of orchid hybrids. Today orchids are grown on assembly-line methodology in expensive and extensive glasshouses. International exhibitions are held exclusively on orchids, with countries competing with each other for bigger and better fusion of petals and colours. This has substantially boosted the sale of orchids into a million dollar global industry. Yet the quest for rare and wild orchids thrives relentlessly.

According to Dr. Pankaj Kumar at KFBG Botanic Garden, Hong Kong, the basic reason for interest in orchids is its status symbol. In China, India and many western countries, orchids are the symbol of wealth since traditionally affluent people usually kept orchids for their ornamental value. Orchids also have high medicinal value as they contain several alkaloids which are used against various ailments; hence, they are copiously used in ayurvedic and Chinese medicine. Vanilla, used as a flavouring agent worldwide, is also extracted from a particular species.

Being a profitable business, orchid floriculture flourishes in countries like Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia. In India, too, private business of orchids is increasing at a brisk pace in Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and parts of the Northeast.

The Hindu, 22nd July 2012

Archaeological Survey of India is celebrating its 150th year by showcasing its accomplishments outside India

In its 150 years of existence, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has worked on some of the most historic sites in India and around the world. The organisation has restored monuments of great importance: Taj Mahal in Agra, Humayun’s Tomb in Delhi and Elephanta Caves near Mumbai. Some of these, including the Red Fort in Delhi and a few churches in Goa, were so decrepit that the entire structure resembled one big mass of concrete with debris all over. The ASI has also carried out excavations in various parts of the world and established a number of museums around the country to house artefacts collected over the years. Yet what remains comparatively lesser-known is the work the ASI has done outside of India — in countries such as Egypt, Cambodia, Vietnam, Bhutan, Myanmar, Afghanistan and Bahrain — and the extent to which it has been involved in these projects.

In celebration of its 150th year, the organisation has scheduled a number of activities and events, one of which is an exhibition showcasing the work they have done outside India since 1947. At present, the exhibition, titled “Archaeological Survey of India Outside India”, is on display at the National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, following which it will travel to Trivandrum, Kolkata, Shillong, Lucknow, Chandigarh and finally, Delhi. “We need to make people more aware of India’s expertise in this field (archaeology) and of the culture in and outside the country,” says AK Sinha, Director (CEP, NCF, Publication), ASI. He adds that even fewer people know of the work conducted outside the country by the ASI, which is why this exhibition focusses solely on these locations.

At the gallery, groups of large, vertical boards stand in all corners, each dedicated to a different site. Besides a number of ‘before’ and ‘after’ photographs, the boards provide details about the site, the particular parts of the sites that were worked on, when the ASI began work and when it finished.

Among the sites represented in this exhibition are the famous Angkor Wat Temple in Siem Reap, Cambodia, Vat Phou Temple in Lao PDR, Laos, and Ananda Temple in Bagan, Myanmar. In 1960, an ASI team travelled to Egypt to begin excavations in the areas around Afyeh and Tumus after the Government of Egypt proposed a dam around the area. The area explored included a cemetery, which when excavated, revealed that a number of graves had been plundered and the team studied the method of disposal.

It is, however, interesting to note that the ASI doesn’t choose these locations to work at itself. The governments of the two countries discuss the matter among themselves, following which the ASI is brought in.

“The Ministry of External Affairs comes out with a proposal for the site and if it is viable, we depute people to go and begin work there,” explains Sinha, who has been with the ASI for more than 30 years. Following that, however, all work on the site is conducted solely by the ASI without any assistance from local organisations.

The Indian Express, 22nd July 2012

A tall building with two storeys, a book by William Shakespeare, a throne and a nicely decorated vase. These are all toilets in fancy shapes at the Sulabh International Toilet Museum, located at Mahavir Enclave, Palam Dabri Road in New Delhi.

Being the only toilet museum of the world, it has a rare collection of facts, pictures and objects detailing the evolution of toilets from 2,500 BC to modern technologies from around the world. The museum has a chronology of developments relating to toilet related technology, social customs, etiquette and sanitary conditions of various eras.

One of the museum’s prize exhibits is a replica of the throne of Louis XVI of France with a concealed commode which enabled the monarch to hold court while doing his daily chores! John Harington, a court poet of Queen Elizabeth I, is credited with the invention of the first flush toilet in 1596, which, except the queen and the inventor, no third person used.

“All that is there in this museum, it is because of some importance,” says Ijaaz Khan, the caretaker. The most interesting ones are the European-style table-top, sofa-seater and book-shaped toilets. The sofa seater and table top were used to avoid inconvenience of leaving one’s work to use the toilet while the book-shaped toilet was constructed by the French to demean English books such as those of Shakespeare. Then there are pictures of urinals engraved and decorated with expensive gems in the Victorian era.

The cutest is a small toilet-shaped piggy bank from Japan which makes a flush-like sound when pulled. Set up on the campus of Sulabh International Social Service Organisation at Mahavir Enclave, the museum is the brainchild of Dr Bindeshwar Pathak, who has been working in the field of sanitation for over four decades.

Dr Pathak is known to have taken up sanitation in India. But why a toilet museum? Dr Pathak recalls when he was visiting London and was asked to go to Madame Tussaud’s. “I have been to London many times but when finally I made it to Madame Tussaud’s, it came to me to create something that will be exclusive in India. Since I have been working in the field of sanitation, a toilet museum made sense.”

“Dr Pathak mixed humour with history in building Sulabh International Toilet museum,” says Ijaaz.

The purpose of this museum is to educate students and general public about the historical trends in the development of toilets, to help sanitation experts learn from the past and solve problems in the sanitation sector and also to help manufacturers of toilet equipment and accessories improve products.

The museum also displays the toilets and sanitation practices in ancient Egypt, Babylonia, Greece, Jerusalem and Rome.

And if you thought that the museum doesn’t get its share of visitors, you couldn’t be more wrong. It keeps brimming with tourists from around the world.

This unique toilet museum is a place that showcases some interesting innovations. It also showcases society’s progress with regard to sanitation and personal needs.

The Indian Express, 22nd July 2012

Gujarat's capital - Gandhinagar - could well be India's tree capital. The latest figures of a census conducted by the state government show that 53.9% of its 5,700-hectare area is covered with trees.
Effectively, there are 416 trees for every 100 people in the city. This is more than any other city in the country. The census was conducted by the social forestry department along with various municipal
Drive 35 km out of Gandhinagar and the scenario changes drastically in Ahmedabad where there are just 11 trees for every 100 people. While there are as many as 8.66 lakh trees in the state capital, the population is just 2.08 lakh people. At this rate, there is 15 sq m land of trees for every person. The smaller municipal corporations in the state like Vadodara, Junagadh and Bhavnagar have better average than Ahmedabad.

According to Forest Survey of India, Bangalore, Chandigarh and Delhi have a green cover of 18.9%, 14.9% and 11.9%, respectively.

H S Singh, additional principal chief conservator of forests, social forestry, said, "Gandhinagar's tree cover is comparable with the best in the world. Atlanta in the US, for instance, is considered among the greenest cities globally and has exactly the same percentage of land under tree cover as Gandhinagar's."

"Gandhinagar was just a barren piece of land when work first started to turn it into a state capital in 1965," Singh added. "The social forestry division was given the task of greening the area. Ever since, more than 35 lakh trees have been planted and their survival rate has been very high. Also, in 1991 land reserved for development was used for plantation, making the city one of the greenest." The eight municipal corporations in Gujarat have 33.01 lakh trees over an area of 1.33 lakh hectares. The overall tree density in the municipal corporations was just 22 trees for every 100 persons on an average.

The Times of India, 22nd July 2012

Over the last three days, I’ve been watching a house being torn down. The right term for what’s being done to it would actually be ‘deconstruction’. There are no bulldozers, no massive attacks on the building, no roaring sound of machinery on the roll.... yet. It’s more like a structure being chipped away. Except, the house shows signs of much more than just chisel and hammer wounds. Once you look carefully, you realise that the building is first being disembowelled.

On the third day of my visit to the deconstruction site on Friday, I learn that Humayun Ahmed, the great and prolific Bangladeshi writer, has died. Ahmed died the night before at the age of 64 in a New York hospital after battling colon cancer for a year. Which, I guess, is a kind of disembowelment.

As I stand next to a cement pipe in front of the stretched-out horizon of the house’s facade, I recall the working principle of Ahmed’s protagonist and master of counter-intuition Misir Ali, “Close your eyes and try to see.”

A decrepit building is not a liveable house. It has no purpose. And yet, even in the humid afternoon, with a block tower of apartments that houses a spanking new Adidas store and a Hyundai showroom on the ground floor next to it, the old mansion is humming with a Gothic beauty. The roots of decapitated trees falling down the building’s front could have been made of stone like some fantastical creation by Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi. The green clumps of foliage underline the chance of it being haunted.

Ahmed’s writings have been very popular, especially in his native Bangladesh and with a growing fan base in India’s Bengali-speaking West Bengal. “Did you know he made so much money that he bought an island?” I overhear a Jadavpur University student tell another. And yet, most of his writings over the last 30 years are anomalous, quite contrary to the reigning fare that has been consumed not only in Bengali, but also in other regional languages and English across the subcontinent. If you haven’t heard of Ahmed, it’s not because he didn’t exist. It’s because he hasn’t been translated into English yet, that link-cum-power language that makes ‘unknown’ writers ‘known’ and their books seem, by magic, worth reading.

The more than 100-year-old building at Chiriamore near Shyambazar is forgotten, even by most Calcuttans familiar with the almost never-changing landscape of north Calcutta. Being forgotten is the kissing cousin of being unknown. This mansion, the Paikpara Rajbari on its last legs, belonged to the Sinha family, zamindars of Kandi in Murshidabad in central Bengal and Paikpara in north Calcutta. Half of it had been demolished earlier, with the aforementioned (and relatively tasteful) apartment block now standing in its place. The time for the other half, a 19th century-style structure standing in a mid-20th century landscape, is up. But for some time, it’ll still be there as an anti-building, a structure that has no purpose but is defiantly magnificent to behold anyway.

Ahmed’s Misir Ali is a psychologist who solves mysteries by observing human behaviour. There’s always an underlying current of the laconic-comic running through his stories. When Ali confronts a psychopathic killer bragging about his crime in the novel Ami Ebong Amra (I and We), he tells the man as if tut-tutting his smoking habit, “You’ve killed two. You’ll kill a third. Go ahead. What do I have to say? It’s not as if you need my permission.”

The Paikpara Rajbari is beyond renovation. There are scores of other old and not-so-old wonderful buildings in disrepair in north Calcutta that can be — and are probably being — renovated. This is not one of them.

Subcontinental fiction (and culture in general) hasn’t really spawned any popular anti-heroes. But Himu, another of Ahmed’s iconic creations who features in another series, is that rare anti-hero. The fiercely intelligent Himu is decidedly eccentric, bereft of social graces, is constantly waging little wars against good behaviour and, with no occupation or vocation, serves no visible purpose. He reminds me of the heroes of the 40s-50s crime writer Jim Thompson and those glorious sociopaths conjured up by Dostoyevsky.

The Paikpara mansion and Humayun Ahmed’s massive body of writing do not need ‘saving’. The first had its fair share of glory days, and the latter leaves behind a legion of admirers and readers. To take a look at the building, just take a taxi in the next few weeks to Shyambazar in Calcutta, cross the Tala bridge and ask for the Hyundai showroom. And to get a taste of Ahmed’s work, read a translation of Ahmed’s ‘science fiction’ story ‘Ohnhok, Or The Kindly Ones’ that’s up on my Facebook ([email protected]) and wait for more translations to appear. Trust me, both will be worth your while.

The Hindustan Times, 22nd July 2012

The inauguration ceremony of the President should move closer to the people

A bumpy RAF plane from Calcutta brought to Delhi the first Indian to take the oaths of office in India’s Government House, as Rashtrapati Bhavan was then called.

Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, Governor of West Bengal, had been pressed by Prime Minister Nehru and Deputy Prime Minister Patel to accept the appointment of Governor General of India, succeeding Lord Mountbatten. On April 11, 1948, Nehru wrote to Rajaji: “I do hope you will not disappoint us. We want you here to help us in many ways…”

He was met on landing at the Safdarjang airport by Governor General Mountbatten, Nehru and Patel. Within seconds, the radiant young Admiral did a disappearing act to take his position at the head of the red-carpeted grand staircase of Government House to receive its brooding new occupant. Nehru drove with Rajaji to the foot of the stairs lined on both sides by statuesque guards. The swearing-in took place the following morning in the Durbar Hall just beneath the building’s great dome. Rajaji wore what he had always worn – a white khadi jubba and dhoti. His white angavastram resting over his left shoulder, he moved up to the heavily brocaded red throne to take his oaths and say a few words to his people. “I pray” he said, that he would “steer clear of error” in his service to an India “unchangeably committed to…making everyone within her borders find pride and joy in citizenship.”

During his days in that house, Rajaji ennobled the Durbar Hall with a new acquisition. This was a standing 4th century figure from Mathura of Gautama the Buddha. The Sakyamuni, he felt, will help the first citizen cherish the beauty of relinquishment.

Before two years were out, time came for Rajaji himself to face that noble truth. Rajendra Prasad, as loved as he was respected was to be his successor. The ceremony of inducting Rajen Babu was preceded by a quaint transaction. General Cariappa took it upon himself to advise Rajen Babu that he wear anachkan with a blue or grey sash emblazoned with the chakra. Rajen Babu consulted the Prime Minister Nehru. To the relief of good taste and the comfort of sartorial wisdom, Nehru advised against the embellishment. A photograph — the gift of pure chance — has captured Rajaji turning his head towards the statue of the abnegating Buddha, as an un-sashed Rajen Babu draws the colours of office from his predecessor into his own person.

Once again on a plane, this time bound for his hometown of Madras, Rajaji penned a letter: “My dear Rajen Babu…I go out with joy in my heart at the beautiful manner in which the little change-over has taken place. There was nothing to mar the beauty of it. God bless you all…”

Eleven Presidents have been through the “little change-over” since that day.

Have the ceremonies been “beautiful”?

Durbar Hall to Central Hall
It would be truer to call them spectacular rather than beautiful. And they have certainly not been “little” in size. For one thing the venue for the changeover was shifted from the Durbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan to the Central Hall of the Parliament of India. This was a handsome Republican gesture to the electors of the President.

President Radhakrishnan’s inauguration in 1962 was accompanied by an additional ceremony in which the President’s first official act was to decorate outgoing President Prasad with the Bharat Ratna. A photograph of the two of them framed in a door of Parliament House shows the strikingly handsome new President saluting as to the manner born and the outgoing one, wearied with age and wearing, almost like a weight, the country’s highest decoration round his neck.

Over the years, the ceremony of the President’s induction has become a rite of repetitive passage where courtesy is apparent but zest missing, regard is patent but enthusiasm deficient. Regalia is one thing, rapture another. Splendour is one thing, spirit another. A piece of skilful choreography is one thing, a soulful ceremony quite another.

The fainting of an invitee on account of stifling heat and a strangulatingbandgala during President Venkataraman’s swearing-in, and the clear absence of enthusiasm at President Patil’s historic inaugural 20 years later only underscored the staleness of orchestrated panoply.

This is not a failing of the physical arrangements for our Presidential inaugurations. It is a reflection of the essential hollowness of all ritual where its inner meaning remains un-understood. One cannot expect the remote fruit of an indirect election to enthuse, much less inspire a billion people. The election and swearing-in of President K.R. Narayanan was a refreshing exception.

Presidential elections now see appeals to the political mind. They are all about the political mind, not about the political heart, if such a thing is left in our body politic, not to speak of political ‘soul’. They are about the give and take of support, assurances and collaboration. With the President’s electors seated on rows upon rows before the President-elect, his inaugural accurately reflects India’s political geography, its abacus, or the counting-frame of power. It does not represent India’s aspirational astronomy, the scattered arrangement of its stellar hopes.

The inauguration ceremony moved, as we have seen, from the Durbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan to the Central Hall of Parliament. This was a democratic shift. The time has perhaps now come for it to make another tectonic shift, nearer the people. Why should the ceremony take place not just before the President’s electors but before the electors’ electors? Can it not be held at the Lal Qila and, if that spot is exclusively identified with the Prime Minister, then, at the Purana Qila?

India deserves a Presidential inaugural where the bugle sounds but the spoken word echoes as well. Where, if hands clap in rhythmic unison, hearts miss a beat or two as well. And above all, where we see in the chosen one a detachment about the office being entered, not a nervous restlessness to enter it.

The Hindu, 23rd July 2012

Not for the man-animal conflicts or tragic incidents of train hit, the jumbos of North Bengal are in the news this time for different reasons. They have become the lifeline for flood-hit villages near Gorumara National Park under Jalpaiguri Forest Division.

One such village, Gairkata, has been reduced to a watery island following the collapse of the bridge by the onrush of water from the nearby stream. But not to worry. Surya and Phulmati, two captive elephants from the National Park, have taken charge of the situation.

They are not only transporting children to and fro on their backs to schools, but have even saved the life of Pinki Oraon, an expectant mother. They reached her to the hospital in time by crossing the 500 metre swollen river. The State Forest Department has decided to award the two heroic jumbos during the occasion of wildlife week.

The area is flanked by the hills in Bhutan where a number of streams and rivulets flow down to the villages. With incessant rains the past few days, the bridge across the local Kuchi Diana river, that connects the villages to the nearest township of Jalpaiguri, collapsed on July 17.

“The villagers, particularly those from Gairkata, were in dire straits, but the jumbos have come as a saviour,” said Sumita Ghatak, DFO, Wildlife II, Jalpaiguri forest division.

“Realising their plight, particularly those of students caught in the middle of exam season, we decided to deploy the captive elephants for the first time in such a kind of work,” she said.

Local resident Dibyendu Deb hails the “tremendous service” rendered by the two pachyderms, saying, “Everyday nearly 50-60 children are ferried by these jumbos in turns. The river is in spate, the tides are strong and it is incredible to see how they carry them on their backs so gingerly.”

Talking about the efforts of Surya and Phulmati in saving the life of Pinki Oraon, a local villager, Deb said, “She was in labour when Phulmati carried her to the nearest hospital in time which saved her life. We were amazed to see the coordination between the two elephants. While Phulmati made sure that the patient was safe on her back, Surya moved ahead of his mate taking the tide in his stride making safe passage for Phulmati.”

The credit for training the two captive elephants goes to mahout Dinbandhu Burman. Surya was brought from the jungles of Medinipur in 1995 as a baby that got separated from its herd. Phulmati, on the other hand, was rescued from Assam. Burman had been specially brought in from Tamil Nadu for the Gorumara Elephant Camp.

The Pioneer, 23rd July 2012

Gently, the gurgling sound of the hookah ebbs. From amid a cloud of smoke that follows, then clears, Parveena Jehan`s face emerges. She`s better known as `Jani apa` (older sister) in her old-Lucknow circuits, and she`s just settling down to her daily routine; of a wholesome drag from the family`s heirloom hookah. Then, she mutters, "For us, smoking the hookah was a social activity; men and women did it over long-winded conversations over family matters and world affairs. Cigarette smoking may be its new avatar, but it doesn`t have half the charm of the hookah.``

Sitting in the quaint eight-by-eight square feet room in his Nazirabad-based Bharat Khamira store in Hukke Wali Gali, Fareed Ahmed agrees. People would smoke khamira — a mixture of ripened fresh fruit, tobacco, rose petals, and a host of other condiments — to keep their bowel movements in order. "The trick was smoke the hookah, filled with Khamira, at night; by morning, its therapeutic effects would be apparent, and your digestive system would be in perfect order,`` smiles Ahmed.

At the same time, Ahmed acknowledges that the colourful array of bottlenecked bases, sataks (long pipes) and chillums, however, are losing their charm. From an average, double-digit sale everyday, Ahmed now sells only two to four pieces, daily. Though hookah bars, many of which have sprung up along the city`s skylines, have resulted in a light spike in sales, it is not enough to match up with the way sales were a decade, or two, ago. "You may find many old families in Lucknow where a hookah or two are still tucked away along with a lot of older knick-knacks. Few, however, will still be in use. It`s only the older generation that will be seen hanging on to this tradition,`` Altaf Alam, a resident of old Lucknow, said.

It may still not be a habit, but as a fad hookah smoking appears to be gaining in popularity among youngsters in the city. "My friends and I visited a hookah bar for the first time about a year ago. Initially, we went because it was a novel concept. Over a period of time, though, the frequency of our visits dipped,`` a student of Lucknow University said.

The inability to hold a captive audience, like they could in yesteryears, is what has become a worrying trend for many like Ahmed, whose family has been in the business of manufacturing and retailing hookahs for nearly a century. Much of the manufacturing process is still labour intensive; a result of fine craftsmanship. First, the base is made of coloured glass, metal, earth, or in its latest avatar, from a coconut shell. The satak or pipe, is made of rubber and decorated in gota and zari to give the hookah an attractive appearance. There`s also the hose, a vertical metal tube that connects the base to the `chillum`, also gaudily embellished, and finally, the coal trays that get the hookah fired up and smoking. Ahmed said: "The cheapest hookah is available for about Rs 30, while the more expensive pieces, with pure metal bases, can cost up to Rs 1,500. Some old homes still have hookahs made of pure silver; but there are certainly no fresh orders being placed for more, now.``

In Lucknow, old-timers say it`s the last batch hookah lovers pulling in the smoke. Maybe, the hookah smoke will clear, as they breathe their last.

The Times of India, 23rd July 2012

The Centre and the state government will now work together to give a major boost to tourism in Uttar Pradesh.

Union minister for tourism Subodh Kant Sahay met UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow on Saturday and later the two addressed a joint press conference to announce the initiative.

“We are going to bring tourism on the political and economic agenda because it is the biggest employment generating sector. However to encourage tourism, we will need to collaborate with other departments and I am glad that the chief minister has also put tourism high on his priority list,” Mr Sahay said.

He disclosed that during his meeting with the chief minister, the Centre and the state governments had decided to fast track tourism and a detailed action plan for improving infrastructure, road network, aviation facilities and hotel industry had been discussed. “For the revenue generating infrastructure, we will opt for the PPP mode,” he added.

The Union minister for tourism disclosed that a theme park like the Sentosa Park in Singapore would be set up in Uttar Pradesh to attract tourists.

He said that the Buddhist circuit, Sufi circuit and the Hindu circuit would be further developed since these had immense tourist potential. The minister said that an important factor for foreign tourists remained hygiene and sanitation and for this, he proposed to involve the private sector.
The Asian Age, 23rd July 2012

In a bid to curb the exploitation of groundwater by posh colonies and shopping malls, the Delhi Government has decided to rein in those drawing potable water from illegal borewells. Delhi Government’s revenue department has asked deputy commissioners of four revenue districts to conduct a survey to find out numbers of borewells in their areas. The revenue department has also directed its deputy commissioners to check sources of water being used in shopping malls. The issue is likely to be discussed at a weekly-meeting of deputy commissioners of all nine districts on Monday. The meeting will be chaired by Divisional Commissioner (Revenue) Vijay Dev.

According to Dev, deputy commissioners of four revenue districts have been asked to conduct a survey on illegal borewell in the city. The survey will be conducted in South, South West, East and North West districts in the city. The officials have also been told to check the source of the water being used in shopping malls and farm houses in South and South West districts. “According to a rough estimate, there are over 300 borewells in North West district and most of them are illegal. That is why the deputy commissioners have been directed to conduct a survey and submit a detailed report on borewells,” said the Divisional Commissioner (Revenue).

There are over two dozens shopping malls and over 1,000 farmhouses in Delhi. A large number of complaints have been received by the department regarding misuse of groundwater by shopping malls and farmhouses.

The latest report of Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) has painted a depressing picture on the availability of groundwater in Delhi. The report which was put on its websites recently following an extensive compilation of data for about two years, divided Delhi into 27 tehsils. The groundwater situation in five of them was kept in semi-critical zone and 20 of them in over-exploited zone. South Delhi’s posh colonies like Chankyapuri, Defence Colony, Hauz Khas, Vasant Vihar, Vasant Kunj, Sainik Farm, Anant Ram Dairy, Freedom Fighter colony are among the 20 over-exploited tehsils.

The Pioneer, 23rd July 2012

Hunter-turned-conservationist and author Jim Corbett's 137th birth anniversary tomorrow ushers in a graphic novel on his life launched at a nostalgic event at his Nainital house

One early winter morning in 1947, siblings Jim and Maggie Corbett left their beloved home in Nainital. Jim kept their departure quiet because he did not want to upset the locals--he was someone they held in high regard, owed their lives to. A man who had braved the wild jungles of Kumaon and hunted down 33 man-eating tigers, risking his own life to save theirs.

65 years after the Corbetts bid adieu, Jim's 137 th birth anniversary on 25 th of July will be celebrated with a 48 page graphic novel based on his life. Titled Jim Corbett – Friend of the Wild pby Amar Chitra Katha, the book was launched last Saturday at Gurney House in Nainital- Jim and Maggie's residence for many years. Gurney House is now a private house owned by Nilanjana Dalmia, who belongs to a well known business family in Delhi and runs a school in Gurgaon.

Built in 1870, the colonial Gurney House stands on Ayarpatta hill with its estate spread over nearly 1.7 acres of land. The Corbetts sold it to Dalmia's grandparents Sharda Prasad and his wife, Kalavati Varma in 1947 for a sum of Rs 55,000. In 2006, Dalmia chose to preserve the prime estate instead of converting it to a modern cottage or selling it off to the government, like most other owners in the area. To add to her commitment to it, for the last few years she has been celebrating Corbett's birthday at Gurney House as a literary event. It began in 2008 when actor Tom Alter visited Gurney House and read from Corbett's books. A slew of interested authors like Namita Gokhale, Rana Dasgupta and Namita Devidayal followed suit. "This year, I went a step further and teamed up with Amar Chitra Katha. I heard they were planning to come up with a comic book based on Corbett and thought if a graphic novel on Corbett's life had to be launched, what better place than his own house?" she says.

Jim's graphic biography traces his life during his hunting years from the time he held his first gun when he was six years old to his demise in Kenya ( when?) . "It brings out the dichotomies in Corbett's personality- he was a hunter who loved animals," says script writer Tripti Nainwal, who researched him intensively for a year. The book bring out some unheard aspects of Corbett's life- how he started going into the jungles with a cushion instead of a gun in his later years when he realised that it was wrong to kill animals. "A forgotten aspect of Jim's personality is that he was a celebrated writer – whose works our children must read," said Reena Puri, editor of Amar Chitra Katha at the launch event where renowned author and journalist Mrinal Pande was Guest of Honour. A number of school children from Nainital thronged the event.

Gurney House is indeed a memorial of a place. For instance, the moment you cross over the threshold, you step upon the skin of a leopard Jim shot many years ago. Numerous reminders of Jim and Maggie linger in every nook and cranny of this English cottage--in the deer antlers adorning the drawing room walls or the crockery lining the shelves, even in Maggie's hand embroidered upholstery on chairs. "I have tried to restore this home of a legend but without spoiling its charm. It is an amar katha alright with many pictorial memories," says Dalmia.

The Indian Express, 24th July 2012

The North Delhi Municipal Corporation is mulling legal recourse against Delhi Metro for allowing illegal construction at the site where ruins of so-called Akbarabadi Mosque were discovered. The civic body on Monday blamed the DMRC for keeping it in dark about the illegal construction activities while the land was in possession of the Delhi Metro.

The north corporation alleged that the Delhi Metro returned the land only after the illegal structure was erected on the site. “There was complete non-cooperation on part of DMRC. It returned the land only after the illegal construction was carried out. Being the land owning agency, the matter should have been brought to our notice. We are going through the DMC Act and exploring legal options against Delhi Metro for allowing illegal construction on the civic body’s land,” said Yogendra Chandolia, Chairman of the Standing Committee in North Delhi Corporation.

“The Commissioner of the North Delhi Corporation has been asked to take the entire land in Subhash Park area back from Delhi Metro and no cooperation will be extended to the agency pertaining to such matters,” Chandolia said and alleged that non-cooperation of DMRC was the main cause of the dispute.

“Even as Delhi Metro shifted the alignment of the under-construction Metro corridor from the site, it kept the land under its possession. The land where ruins of so-called mosque were discovered was returned on July 18 night when the structure had already been erected. The delay in returning the land is beyond understanding,” alleged Mahender Nagpal, Leader of the House in North Delhi Municipal Corporation.

The Delhi Metro, on the other hand, said it was in holding regular meetings with the Delhi Government and the Union Urban Development Ministry over the issue and every minute development was brought to their notice. However, the land owning agency - the North MCD - was not kept in the loop.

According to officials, the decision to return the land to the civic body was taken only after consultation with the Government and the Delhi Metro had ‘no role’ in delaying the matter during which illegal structure was erected on the site.

“We had a series of meetings with the Delhi Chief Minister’s Office and the Union Urban Development Ministry. They were apprised of every minute development. The land was handed over back to the land owning agency with government’s consent,” a Delhi Metro official said. He further clarified that the decision to change the alignment of the corridor had nothing to do with the discovery of ruins at Subhash Park as the location had been shifted due to objections arising out of construction near Sunehri Masjid.

Uneasy calm prevails in fortified Wall City area

Uneasy calm prevailed in Jama Masjid area of the Walled City on Monday, as Delhi Police has deployed a tight security cordon in and around of the ‘Akbarabadi Mosque’ site. Armed Delhi policemen and officers assisted by the jawans of Rapid Action Force (RAF) have been keeping a close vigil over the developments. Monday remained incident free and those coming to the site were kept at bay.

“We are keeping vigil on the situation. The situation is under control but the force will continue to guard the place. Our priority is to maintain peace and communal harmony,” said Devesh Srivastava, Additional Commissioner of Police (Central). Over 500 personnel of Delhi police, CRPF and Rapid Action Force was deployed around the Subhash Park.

Central district police on Sunday had registered a case of rioting, arson and damaging public property against certain people who were allegedly involved in Saturday night clashes. Police as per High Court order did not allow people to enter premises of Akbarabadi mosque and also removed copies of holy Quran and other religious material from the site.

Two people have been arrested by the police and around 15 others have been detained. Police has been cast its net far and wide to identify the trouble makers and also those who have the capacity to fan sentiments in the walled city area. Delhi Police top brasses are in regular touch with the local heads to maintain law and order situation in the region.

The Pioneer, 24th July 2012

The controversy over construction at Subhash Park, where remains of what is claimed to be a Mughal-era mosque were dug up recently, is threatening to throw the Shahjahanabad redevelopment off track.

The Shahjahanabad redevelopment plans took five years to finalise and the entry point for the project lies close to the site where Matia Mahal MLA Shoaib Iqbal claims to have found the remains of Akbarabadi Masjid.

“The redevelopment of Jama Masjid precinct will suffer if the (newly constructed) structure remains at the entry point. The experts, in consultation with the local residents, had decided to widen the Kasturba Hospital road till Urdu Bazaar road. For tourists, Subhash Park bus stand was the main point from where they would have been escorted for a trip to the monument (Jama Masjid). The entire peripheral stretch around Jama Masjid is the lifeline for this redevelopment plan. We have earmarked green spaces and open space for community use, pedestrian entry to the masjid. All these planned areas would take a hit if the entry is tampered with. A good access road to the monument will make others see the monument in a different light,” said an official of North Municipal Corporation.

If the plan has to be altered, the residents wait for redevelopment will get longer, affecting them economically as well.

“The project can be sustained only if it involves local people. Without a spacious and easy entry point to Jama Masjid, the whole plan of redevelopment would fall flat,” the official said.

In 2004, the High Court had asked the government to conserve and restore Jama Masjid through redevelopment of its precincts in a time-bound manner.

The Indian Express, 25th July 2012

In view of the acute water shortage in Gurgaon, the city administration has made it mandatory for all new houses and commercial establishments to have rainwater harvesting system.

According to officials, all residential units with a covered area of 100 square metre or above will have to harvest rainwater. The directions in this regard have been issued by Gurgaon district Magistrate PC Meena. This assumes significance since the town has been facing acute water shortage for the last couple of months and the recent order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court prohibited builders from using groundwater for construction activities.

Twenty teams of officers have been constituted for implementing the new orders. "Supervisory officers will be held responsible for non-implementation of orders or any other violation of the prescribed norms. Superintending Engineer of HUDA and Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon (MCG) have been appointed for overall execution of the plan in their respective zones," Meena said.

According to him, the panchayats have been appointed in-charge for all villages in Gurgaon. Similarly, the joint director of District Industries Centre (DIC) will be the overall in-charge for constructions in industrial areas in the city. A committee comprising hydrologists will compile their progress report and will submit the consolidated report to the Deputy Commissioner's office for discussion in the meeting of District Advisory Committee every first week of the month. "For speedy disposal of the applications, the teams will have to grant permission within 10 days for rainwater harvesting system. They will ensure that the system is exclusively used for only recharging groundwater aquifers and not for abstracting groundwater or any other purpose. The applicants will have to give an undertaking along with the application showing the complete address of registered owner of boring machine or agency before starting the boring of injection tubewell for the system," he added.

The Pioneer, 25th July 2012

A day before the Delhi high court hearing on the Akbarabadi Masjid controversy, North Delhi Municipal Corporation and Archaeological Survey of India have come to a deadlock.

ASI wrote to North Corporation on Tuesday, saying that it will not take possession of the disputed land till the fresh constructions that have come up last week over the Mughal-era ruins are razed. ASI has given North Corporation 15 days to demolish the new constructions. The court had directed ASI to investigate the ruins discovered over a month ago

North Delhi mayor Mira Aggarwal confirmed, "The corporation received a letter on Tuesday from ASI which was marked to the commissioner, the chief engineer and the mayor. ASI is demanding that the corporation demolish the fresh construction before handing over the land. But it is not possible as we have to maintain the status quo as per the high court order. We are open to hand over the land any day and for this we will get in touch with ASI and clarify the matter with it."

ASI sources added if the heritage body demolishes the constructions, the costs would have to be borne by the civic body. Despite several attempts, no ASI official could be contacted though a team of senior officials had visited the site at Subhash Park in the afternoon.

North Corporation officials have already said they were in favour of razing the constructions and the corporation would file an affidavit in the high court on Wednesday seeking permission to do so. North Corporation on Tuesday demanded a CBI inquiry into the unauthorized construction. Chairman, standing committee, Yogender Chandolia also said that while chief minister Sheila Dikshit had blamed North Corporation and Delhi Police for not taking any action against the construction, she had not hold anyone responsible for the illegal construction.

He added that North Corporation had given the land to Delhi Metro till April 10, 2016, for Metro's Phase III construction and it was "the legal responsibility of DMRC to not allow any person or organization to construct anything unauthorized".

The Times of India, 25th July 2012

There are no two views on the imperative to protect the tiger. However, the Supreme Court’s ban on tourism in core areas of tiger reserves raises questions on how it should be done, and whether a draconian clampdown on tourism is the best way to protect the big cat. The interim order, which is in force till the court finalises guidelines for protected areas, could in effect see an entire reserve being cordoned off from the people.

The order is of a piece with the guidelines drafted by the Union ministry of environment and forests that seek to phase out tourism in critical wildlife habitat in five years. Last year, in an affidavit in the apex court, the National Tiger Conservation Authority too said that core critical tiger habitats should be kept “inviolate” and “only management interventions” be allowed. While the court and the ministry have the tiger’s interest at heart - and it should be so, considering the number of big cats has come down from 100,000 at the turn of the 20th century to a mere 1,700 now - they are holding the wrong end of the stick. And beating the public with it. Tourism is not guilty of whittling down the number of tigers, poaching is. There is certainly a crying need to tone down the aggressive tiger tourism prevalent in certain parks. The number of tourists and the accompanying commercial activities that have sprouted in and around the area too should be regulated and managed. It is the abdication of responsibilities and the lax enforcement of regulations by the government that have forced the court to step in. Things should not have come to this pass.

But conservation does not exist in splendid isolation. The people are and should be made stakeholders in the process. They should be sensitised on everything, from light and sound pollution to waste disposal in tiger habitats; not driven away. They could be the eyes and ears to seek out what is going wrong in these areas. In fact, it was the world outside the Sariska Tiger Reserve that sounded the alarm that the big cat, even a pug mark, had not been spotted in six months. What is needed is a workable balance between the demands of conservation and the pleasure and the edification that nature tourism provides to people. An outright ban is certainly not the glimmer of hope that is needed to break the bleakness of the story so far of tiger conservation in India.

The Tiger Myths, 26th July 2012

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) on Wednesday asked the Delhi High Court not to allow any activity or construction at the Subhash Park site near Jama Masjid, where remains believed to be that of the Mughal-era Akbarabadi Masjid have been excavated.

It also submitted that the protection of the site should be the Delhi Police’s responsibility.

A full bench of the High Court, headed by Acting Chief Justice

A K Sikri, reserved its order on the matter and asked all parties concerned to maintain peace and harmony in the area till the ASI finished its investigation and filed its report.

The ASI counsel told the bench that there was no controversy about the agency taking over the site and that it was ready to start preliminary investigations. However, he said full-scale excavation could only start after the monsoon, as there was a possible threat of water-logging.

Last week, the court banned construction at the site and asked the ASI to investigate whether the excavated remains are that of Akbarabadi Masjid.

During the hearing, police told the court that Matia Mahal MLA Shoaib Iqbal, who started construction of a mosque on the site, should be directed to desist from raising people’s passion.

Pawan Sharma, the standing counsel (criminal) appearing for police, said: “We are complying with the High Court order. But Shoaib Iqbal be directed not to create any tension in the area.”

Iqbal, on the other hand, filed an application and sought the court’s direction to police to allow people to offer prayers near the site during Ramzan. The bench, however, declined the plea. It said the court couldn’t interfere if police have cordoned off the area to maintain law and order.

The court also heard a petition by the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha (ABHM), which had earlier filed an intervention application in the case asking the court to remove the recently constructed structure from the site.

A representative from ABHM asked the court to appoint a sitting or retired judge of the High Court to supervise the ASI’s investigation and set a deadline to finish its probe.

The special bench said the ASI could excavate more areas if it felt the need as part of its investigation.

However, the court made it clear that till the agency filed its report it was binding for all parties to adhere to the agreement to maintain peace and harmony, as agreed at a meeting with the Lieutenant-Governor.

The Indian Express, 26th July 2012

The excitement of a trip usually multiplies when it involves a group of close friends. A few months back, when we were saying goodbye to our college life, we planned one last trip to Shivpuri near Rishikesh. Once the destination was finalised, we inquired about the night buses for Rishikesh, which is approximately eight hours away from the hustle bustle of the capital.

After reaching Rishikesh the next morning, we headed towards Shivpuri, the base point for rafting. Shivpuri is 16 kms from Rishikesh and easily connected by local transport. Also, this is one scenic route (Rishikesh to Shivpuri) that one must travel to experience the drive alongside river Ganga. On the way to Shivpuri one can find many places that offer various rafting and camping facilities. Depending on the budget, we settled for a reasonable option for the night.

After depositing our luggage at the tents in the camp, we directly headed to beach number 13. Once we neared the raft, we got a 15-minute brief about the do’s and don’t, and took our respective places on the raft. The excitement began when we were handed life jackets and head gears with oars. Usually, one raft accommodates 10-12 people along with an instructor to maintain the balance.

Scared of the rapids and not trusting myself on being able to row the raft, I took the onsider’s position. This position is towards the head of the boat, and the one who sits here is supposed to bend low on the head of the raft when rapids approach and push it with all the weight. This helps the raft sail straight and prevents it from over-turning. Meanwhile, others in the raft row it with all their might to survive the current.

After the first rapid, we were thrown in the water to know how to survive if the boat overturns. We headed for the next rapids and soon we finished our three-hour rafting, which was 16 kms away from our starting point. Next morning we left our cosy camp and headed to the bus station. Fully charged.

The Asian Age, 27th July 2012

In 2000, Ashok Kaickar of Defence Colony’s D-block agreed to get a mobile phone tower installed on the terrace of his two-storey house. And it’s been nearly 12 years of living in regret.

“Back then, I did not know about the possible health hazards of radiation from mobile towers,” says Kaickar, 55, who runs a chain of gymnasiums in the city. “I got the tower erected after getting all the necessary permissions. Now I want it removed, but can’t. I have a 20-year contract with the company,” he said. A desperate Kaickar has approached the cellular operator Reliance and also written to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to allow him to remove the tower.

He fears that mobile phone towers can cause problems such as headaches, anxiety, insomnia and cancer. Kaickar is even ready to take cellular operators to court. “I’ll be consulting my lawyer. We can’t risk our health for the money we get as rent,” he added.

For erecting a cellular tower, a one-time permission is needed from the civic body. “We give one-time permission and there’s no provision for renewal. After that, if an individual wants to get the tower removed from his property, it is between him and the telecom company. We can’t do anything,” said Yogender Singh Mann, director (press and information), civic bodies.

Fashion designer Jyoti Bhatia, 36, works from home and was diagnosed with breast cancer in the first week of May this year. “I have no genetic history of cancer and fear it is due to radiation from a mobile phone tower, which is hardly 50m from our home,” said Bhatia, a resident of B-block in Lajpat Nagar-1.

Her husband Harpreet, who works for an event management company, also gets nausea and headache when he’s home. “The radiation from these towers kills slowly. You don’t realise it initially, but in the long run, they affect your health adversely,” Harpreet said.

In Jaipur’s Dev Nagar colony on Tonk Road, 50-year-old Madhu Modi owns a house with two mobile phone towers. But she turned off their power supply after residents protested the death of two women from cancer within six months. The cellular companies came the next day and disconnected the towers themselves when faced with protests.

But the companies returned the very next day with police and connected the towers again. “We are exposed to high-level radiation, which was proved by the radiation measuring instrument,” says Modi, showing the high radiation levels on a measuring device.

The residents of the colony sent an application to the municipal corporation in the last week of May this year, but no action has been taken so far.

Just last week, in Mumbai’s Shiv Prabha Society on the Andheri-Ghatkopar link road, residents took the decision of removing mobile towers from its terrace even though it meant giving up on R6 lakh every year. “After reports in newspapers about the ill-effects of radiation, all of us decided to get the towers removed immediately. We will send a notice to the cell phone companies soon,” said Manoj Bhor, one of the committee members of the society.

After complaints such as sleeplessness, dizziness and other health problems from residents, the committee decided to keep itself away from these towers. The mobile phone towers were erected nearly 10 years ago, and their lease will expire in a few months. Not only do the residents not want to renew the contract, but they are also unwilling to wait till it expires.

“We are ready to pay extra for maintenance, but we don’t want health problems. We will refund the companies the money and even pay them for removing the towers two months before the lease expires. It is better to remove them as early as possible,” said Prashant Ankushrao, a resident of the building.

Case studies Sent her grandson away

Priti Kapur Bought a radiation detector Priti Kapur, a resident of B-block Defence Colony, has become the most sought-after person in her neighbourhood ever since she bought a hand-held radiation detection device. Now she is frequently invited by her friends and neighbours to measure the radiation levels in their homes.

After two mobile phone towers were installed on the rooftop of a building opposite her house, she started getting migraines. She even sent her six-month-old grandson to Dehradun with his mother to keep him away from radiation.

“I recently got this radiation detector for Rs. 6,000 and found that radiation levels were very high in my bedroom. Now, I have ordered radiation-proof curtains, at the cost of Rs. 5,000 per meter online from a US-based company,” says Kapur.

“I recently got this radiation detector for Rs. 6,000 and found that radiation levels were very high in my bedroom. Now, I have ordered radiation-proof curtains, at the cost of Rs. 5,000 per meter online from a US-based company,” says Kapur.

Pets bear radiation brunt

Devina Jaina Her dog died of tumour Even pets seem to be at the receiving end of cell phone tower radiation. “I have a cell phone tower next to my bedroom. Last month, one of my dogs died of tumour. The other one has developed rashes,” says homemaker Devika

Jaina, a resident of C-block, Defence Colony. Others in the area too have similar stories to share. “A cell phone tower was installed on the rooftop of a house opposite mine around 15 days ago. Since then, my dog has become depressed and has stopped moving around. I’ve also developed a constant severe headache,” says Anjali Dewan, another Defence Colony resident.

With P Srinivasan in Jaipur and Vaishnavi Vasudevan in Mumbai.

The Hindustan Times, 27th July 2012

A restoration project carried out by arch i, a Delhi-based architecture platform, at a heritage site in Afghanistan has been shortlisted as one of the six best projects of 2011 by the Prince Claus Fund.

“One can say that there is historical continuity, as the Archaeological Survey of India has been working on the Bamiyan Buddhas for decades. Then in the ’70s, Indian Bulbul Singh (who recently restored Humayun’s Tomb) and Afghan engineer Sharif worked together on the Bamiyan Buddhas. More recently, Delhi-based conservation architect Ratish Nanda did a fantastic job, restoring the Babur Garden, the lush Moghul gardens around the final resting place of emperor Babur in Kabul,” replies architect Anne Feenstra on e-mail when asked about the community-based heritage project carried out by his design teams of not just Afghanistan but India as well.

Dutch architect Feenstra spends much of his time in Afghanistan and India where he is on the visiting faculty at the School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi. He led two architects from Delhi - Himanshu Lal and Tanvi Maheshwari of arch i, the Architecture and Urban Design Platform based in Delhi, to work on the restoration of Darwaza Khona at Kholm along with Afghan architects. Quite a significant development, but even more crucial is the fact that the project has been shortlisted as one of the six best projects of 2011 by the Prince Claus Fund, The Netherlands.

Darwaza Khona is a unique mud structure built during the reign of Mir Qilich Ali Beg (1786-1817). Kholm, where the building is located, became the trans-shipment point where caravans from India and Bokhara met. The traders from Persia and Chinese Turkestan rested in the caravan sarais. When arch i along with the Afghan team of architects began to work on the site, it discovered “that the eastern part of the gate, including the 200-year old mud brick decorative pattern, was in such a good shape that we could just clean up the eroded parts, while the western part of the gate was in a very bad shape,” Feenstra informs us.

The need for restoration was felt after the 18th Century toll gate to the city of Kholm suffered extensively due to the two earthquakes that hit northern Afghanistan (5.9 Richter on 14 May, 2011 and 5.7 Richter on 21 March, 2011) and heavy rainfall in 2010. The natural calamities had weakened the monument and urgently beckoned repair to prevent pieces of material from collapsing onto passers-by using the road. Since the Prince Claus Fund supports cultural initiatives and provides first aid to heritage projects, it stepped in to support the restoration.

“The real challenge was how to make the structure relevant in today’s context because it used to be a toll gate where the taxes collected from the passing caravans were deposited. The toll system is abundant now. There used to be a shop and we have revived it,” says Himanshu Lal. Interestingly, Lal is also involved in another project in Mazar-i-Sharif which is 60 kms away from this site.

“The solution did not come from the gate itself but from the two spaces behind the gate. These two rooms were used earlier for the collection of the tax from the passing caravans. They counted the camels of the trader’s caravans, inspected the goods and only when the tax was paid the caravan could continue to the famous trading bazaar of the city. Today, one space has been transformed into an open public seating area. The local community can sit together. The other room has been made into a water distribution point-cum-shop. The owner of the shop has been made responsible to keep the gate area clear,” adds Feenstra.

While the Afghan team had more knowledge about the mud structures, Indian architects had an edge over the technical aspects, says Lal. Involving the local communities and sustainability is what sets Feenstra’s practice apart from the rest.

One 84-year-old Ghulam Sachi, a descendent of Mir Qilich Ali Beg who ruled the North of Afghanistan, took personal interest and gave us lots of fruitful leads and support. “By involving the communities from the very start, we spend more time and create real ownership. So with the design work, with the search for contemporary functions for the spaces, for the reconstruction itself, in each step local people are deeply involved in the project and the decision making process. We sit down with them on one of those beautifully hand-woven carpets and discuss over a cup of tea what the origin of the idea is, what the starting points could be, what are the local values, local crafts available, etc. At the end of the day, it is their city, it is their gate, it is their heritage. Architects move on, to the next town, to the next project.”

The Hindu, 27th July 2012

Stiff laws needed to check antique smugglers

A single column space in newspapers on the recovery of two antique idols of Lord Mahavir, stolen from a south Indian temple and worth almost Rs 15 crore in the international market, would have escaped notice but for a few glaring facts. The stolen idols were being openly peddled outside the premises of a well-known temple in a posh south Delhi neighbourhood. The audacity with which these small-time thieves were operating while cocking a snook at the law is shocking. In this case, the thief was nabbed and the 16th century idols recovered but it is still only one among the frequent incidents of artefact looting and smuggling. In March, a priceless ashtdhatu (eight-metal alloy) idol of Buddha was retrieved from a gang of inter-State smugglers in Lakhimpur Kheri. These, and the recent extradition and arrest of jet-setting antiques dealer and smuggler Subhash Chandra Kapoor from Germany has brought the spotlight on the murky world of the smugglers, and the ruthless ways they employ to deplete the nation of its rich heritage and circumvent the law. The Uttar Pradesh-born US citizen Kapoor is said to be a vital link in an international idol-smuggling racket. He reportedly owned a flourishing antique shop-cum-gallery in New York. Apart from purloining centuries-old idols from temples in South India, which made him richer by more than Rs 60 crore, Kapoor is also said to have smuggled Buddha idols from Kandahar in Afghanistan and Pakistan as well. It is a fact that idols, sculptures, manuscripts, antiques and artefacts in many ancient temples across central and south Indian States are being systematically plundered by organised gangs. But many such cases of theft are not reported as there is no comprehensive national database on antique objects. In some instances, the smuggled antiques were recovered because they were documented. But, often, it is difficult to do so for those that have not been documented - the reason why smuggling of antiques flourishes.

There is apparently no system of registration and identification of antiques. According to the Antiques and Art Treasures Act, enacted in 1972 under which all.artefacts, antiques, idols in India are protected, no art object over 100 years old can leave the country's shores. But in the past few decades, antiques from several temples and heritage sites across India have ended up at auction houses in New York and London. A BBC programme too highlighted the shocking fact of stolen Indian antiques being auctioned at Sotheby's and other European markets. The Government reportedly directed the Archaeological Survey of India to draft news laws to protect ancient heritage. Those provisions have been drafted, but the Government has merely sat over them. Meanwhile, the well-oiled racket of antique smugglers continues to prosper.

The Pioneer, 27th July 2012

SC, authorities must tackle rampant poaching

Although guided by the need to protect and promote the country's endangered tiger population, the Supreme Court's directive on Tuesday banning tourism from core tiger areas appears to be an unnecessarily harsh measure. The apex court's order tends to give the impression that the tourists who swarm to have a glimpse of the big cat are a threat to the very survival of the tigers, and that once these onlookers are blocked from entering the tigers' sanctum sanctorum, the big cats can lead a normal life and grow in number. That is of course the wrong way at looking at the issue. The real threat to tigers is from the poachers who have either been dodging the forest security personnel or working in tandem with them to kill tigers and trade their body parts for hefty profits. Neither the apex court nor the Government is unaware of this reality. Between the poachers and the buyers in the international market exists a battery of unscrupulous dealers that facilitates the movement of the body parts of the dead tiger from the forest to the seller and eventually the buyer. How will a ban on tourism check this illegal trade which is the single biggest cause of the depletion in the population of tigers in the country? After all, tigers did not disappear from Kanha and a few other reserves because of the arrival of tourists but due to the unchecked activities of poachers and the callous negligence of forest officials. In fact, the flow of tourists in core tiger areas and the resultant chain of human activity including the enhanced presence of forest staff can actually be an impediment to the poachers who cannot then conduct their nefarious business in peace. Moreover, if the idea is to promote love and appreciation among the people for these dashing big cats, then perhaps the best way is to allow a connect between them and the tigers. But how will that connect happen if the visitors are not allowed to see and admire the tigers in their natural habitat? Besides, tourism generates precious revenue which the authorities can use to improve facilities in the tiger reserves and parks. This does not of course mean that hysterical and garbage-generating tourists can just swamp the core tiger areas with their presence and become a nuisance. There is a strong case for a regulated and a more disciplined form of tourism in tiger reserves. A limit should be placed on the number of tourists that can visit a particular tiger park or reserve in a day. It is to be hoped that the apex court during its next hearing on August 22 will consider the suggestion by the National Tiger Conservation Authority that a judicious balance must be struck between the imperatives of tourism and the need to protect core tiger areas.

But the Supreme Court has done well to pull up State Governments that have been shoddy in earmarking core tiger areas and buffer zones, although the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, mandates the creation of the two. According to reports, there are as many as 10 tiger reserves across the country where the core area has not been identified, thus allowing all sorts of unscrupulous activities, including illegal constructions, to flourish in places where they have no business to exist. States that do not adhere to the stated guidelines must be severely penalised. The Centre can even partly link the availability of financial assistance to the States with the latter’s performance in this regard.

The Pioneer, 27th July 2012

The efforts of Rajasthan Government have finally paid results as World Heritage Site Committee of UNESCO has removed the name of the world-famous bird sanctuary - Keoladeo National Park (KNP) - near Bharatpur from its list of heritage sites in danger of losing their status for want of proper care.

The committee, which met at Saint Petersburg recently, recognised the efforts of the Government of India, State Government and administration of the Park to permanently solve the shortage of water in the Park, the abode of migratory birds, who arrived here during winter season in search of food and nesting.

Owing to poor monsoon and non-availability of water from its traditional source - Panchana Dam in Karauli - the Park, spread over in about 28 sq. km area, was not receiving sufficient water since 2004. This had resulted in a sharp fall in the arrival migratory birds.

Way back in 2008, after visiting the Park, UNESCO Committee had sent a warning notice to the Indian Government and the State Government stating that if the situation was not improved, it would be forced to put the name of the Park on its list of endangered sites. The warning was repeated in 2010 and 2011. Committee had given the Word Heritage Site status to the Park in 1985.

As the height of Panchana was increased, the water from the canal stopped reaching in the Park. Owing to excessive rains in 2010, the Park received nearly 300 MCF water against its requirement of about 500 MCF. Previous Government had chalked out a plan to bring Yamuna water through a pipeline to the Park. But the project was delayed inordinately.

Last year, water from Bharatpur-Chambal Lift Project was brought here. About 400 MCF water was released to the Park. Water from this project is meant to provide drinking water to Bharatpur. But owing to insufficient infrastructure, this could not be supplied to the city.

According to official sources, the situation is the same this year. Water is again being released to the Park. About 450 MCF water would be released, it is estimated.

According to Khyati Mathur, director, KNP, authorities have received a formal letter from UNESCO informing about the decision to take the name of the Park off its endangered site list. “Chambal water has given a new lease to the life to the Park. We hope it would soon start getting Yamuna water, which would permanently solve the Park’s water crisis,” she said.

The Pioneer, 27th July 2012

The Supreme Court’s ban on tourism in core wildlife areas has jolted the very idea of tiger conservation. If it is implemented, all of India’s tiger sanctuaries will become the preserve of a few government servants, who have an extremely poor record of accountability. In one stroke, the SC judgment has robbed tourism of one of its most valued attractions. It is sad that those whose tax remittances have funded conservation will be deprived of the right to see the tiger where it has the greatest probability of being sighted.

Ironically, the ban is least guaranteed to achieve what it aims to - saving the tiger. The animal will lose the human eyes and ears that serve as its most conscientious monitors. The attention it gets from tourists has also forced the country’s generally lackadaisical tiger conservation establishment to do its bit. If the ban comes to pass, it will not be long before the people of India lose interest in the tiger - there is no grief for what one can’t see. It would be the most unforgivable folly to rob the tiger of its most ardent and vociferous supporters.

The SC judgment is apparently in tune with the new tiger protection regime, but the idea and philosophy of banning tourism in core areas is both fallacious and self-defeating.

If the situation is so alarming that tourism must be banned to protect the tiger, then people must know what data the SC has been provided with to buttress its ruling. The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has made no bones about the fact that it supports the idea of taking tourists out of core areas. However, of late, it is believed to have grudgingly agreed to keep some of those areas open. The SC will consider that on August 28, when the next hearing takes place. So the jury is still out on the people’s right to see tiger in core areas. In any case, does the tiger protection establishment now accept that it has failed in conservation efforts all these years and wants to try banning tourists in a desperate, last-ditch effort to save the big cat?

The NTCA’s tiger philosophy has often been a bundle of contradictions. Along with a few tiger experts, it has always advocated the source-sink theory. According to advocates of this theory, tiger habitat is divided into two water-tight compartments - source and sink. The source is the core area where their numbers are stable (since they are well-protected) and where more of them can be accommodated. The sink is the area outside the core, where they are unlikely to survive. Many tiger watchers on the ground have ridiculed this theory, citing many viable, self-sustaining tiger populations in non-protected areas outside the core. Here are two questions for the NTCA and its advisors: first, if you think that the core has a stable tiger population despite decades of tourism then why this alarm now? Second, if there are no viable tiger populations in the outlying areas - now called the buffers - what purpose will these areas serve for tourism?

Many conservationists shudder at the thought of what will happen to the tiger reserves in the absence of tourists. Forest departments across the country have always been low on credibility. There is evidence of how reserve managers - from the top to the bottom of the official hierarchy - have been negligent and connived with poachers to rob India of hundreds of its tigers. There are also examples of viable wildlife populations outside these so-called protected areas, in spite of there being no protection regime in place there. So, if we don’t need tourism, do we need the forest establishment?

Let’s not forget that it was criminal neglect by the forest department, and not tourism, that was responsible for the disappearance of tigers from Sariska, Ranthambore and Panna. If the department could be so lax in spite of so many eyes watching them, it is anybody’s guess what will happen now that those eyes have been forced shut.

We may now see the annual ritual of the tiger census conducted in total isolation by an establishment low on credibility. It even discourages NGOs from participating in the new, scientifically rigorous mark recapture and line transect method of conducting the census. Only the forest department staff and “experts” will now conduct it and the general tax-payer will not be able to verify those claims on the ground. So next year, don’t be surprised on being told that your being made persona non-grata in India’s protected wildlife reserves has led to a robust addition to its tiger population.

The Times of India, 27th July 2012

It’s a chance to look back in time and witness a slice of history while staying in the present. “Haryana - The Highway of History” is an artistic effort by the state’s Department of Archaeology and Museums to showcase its rich past that has stood the test of invasions, battles and adversity. “The character of a civilisation is encased and enshrined in its monuments, and this calendar strives to showcase the secular and inclusive architecture of Haryana,” says Vijai Vardhan, as he flips through the first copy of the calendar. Vardhan, the Principal Secretary of the state, has conceptualised and designed the calendar and written the brief history of each monument that finds place in it.

It gives a pictorial view of the rich tapestry of ancient, medieval and modern eras. “The state bears the footprints of prophets, poets, saints, warriors as Haryana housed 80 per cent of the Indus Valley Civilisation,” adds Vardhan. The calendar showcases the relics and monuments of the state, with a hope to revive people’s interest in their history and also make them aware of their heritage, while also promoting these tourist sites.

Starting from August 2012 to January 2014, the historic journey begins with the Kunal Seal (District Fatehabad) from the early Harappan settlement, 3500-2500 BC, with the seal now becoming the logo of the department. There are also well-known monuments like the recently restored historic Yadavindra Gardens in Pinjore that was built in 1669; the Mata Mansa Devi Temple in Panchkula; Bhima Devi Temple in Pinjore; Nada Sahib in Panchkula.

When asked about selecting such an unusual time period for the special calendar - August 2012 (instead of January) to January 2014 (instead of ending it at December 2013), Vardhan explains, “We wanted it to be special. So, instead of one year, it has covered three years, and at the same time, made space for a new calendar in 2014.”

“There is a treasure trove here waiting to be discovered by people, students, and history lovers. We will distribute this calendar all over India in the hope of making people aware of the beauty and architecture of the state,” he concludes.

The Indian Express, 27th July 2012

Good books, like a bird photograph showing everything in perfect focus, are precious. Great books, elevating the experience to a joyous avian ode to eye-glint, frozen movement and individual character, are priceless. Of Birds and Birdsong, a painstakingly compiled, immaculately edited collection of the writings of eminent naturalist Madhaviah Krishnan, belongs to the latter category. It is not just a good “bird book”, for like Krishnan, it cannot be exactly categorised. But it is among the finest collections of prose I have ever read on birds, birdsong and the natural world.

Krishnan writes about birds with laconic wit, as one would about intimate companions. Echoing Gerald Durrell (and Kenneth Anderson), he writes of growing up in the open spaces of Mylapore: “…I used to wander around with a catapult in my hand and a jackknife in my hip pocket, feeling every inch a settler in a new land.” His meticulous description of birds, specifically quails and rain quails, echoes Salim Ali. And yet he is much more - a pioneer in a largely unsupervised, peerless league of his own.

Krishnan’s prose is lucidly innocent of the stilted vocabulary of his diverse careers at Associated Printers, the Madras School of Arts, All India Radio and in the princely kingdom of Sandur - in modern Bellary - where he served as schoolteacher, judge, publicity officer and political secretary. Nor is it detached and jargonised, or journalistic, though he wrote a popular column in the Statesman. Shanthi and Ashish Chandola note in their introduction, “His work stands out as uniquely original, combining acute and systematic observation, depth of knowledge and understanding of nature.”

Most of his pen portraits and sketches of birds, splendidly reproduced here by Soumen Chakravorty, are so vividly detailed they could belong in the finest field guides. About the spot-billed duck, he writes: “Seen at hand, the dark bill which is a bright chrome yellow over a third of its length (at the tip-end) and with an orange-vermilion spot on top of the upper mandible on either side of its median

line, the grey body patterned in scale-like plumage, and the orange legs are wholly distinctive and unmistakable.”

This was written in the 1950s when there were no digital cameras or the internet. All that Krishnan had was binoculars, half-a-dozen expensive and rare books on birds, and hours and hours spent in the field, day after day. His pioneering nature photographs were taken “often with a camera that he had constructed himself using bits and parts brought for him by friends, or picked up from some obscure shop in Madras....”

As someone who had a brief and failed affair shooting birds with film and nowadays spends a lot of time peering at them through a DSLR’s viewfinder, I could only marvel at the effort (and heartbreak) Krishnan must have endured. Yet, the only time he talks about it is when he recounts (very self-deprecatingly, in keeping with his times) how, in spite of painstakingly setting amidst “waist-deep and singularly filthy” water, he couldn’t make much of an “opportunity, to be seized by forelock, mane or tail, for a truly unique photograph”.

Wildlife (and bird) photography is an exacting, error-prone, time-consuming, back-breaking line, even these days, with the best camera gear. Imagine what it must have been like more than half a century ago. In awe of Krishnan’s exploits, I can only quote Blake: “Did he who made the lamb make thee?”

Krishnan was widely read. He quoted Coleridge, Wordsworth and Keats, and their Tamil and Indian peers to illustrate his points, puzzle out the etymology (and onomatopoeia) of bird names and muse on the prominence of birds and birdsong in Indian and English cultures. His keen mind and naturalist’s eye (and ear) are at work when he explains why the parakeet is classified as a songbird in spite of its unpleasant calls: “…but the hen calling its nestlings has a different voice altogether, a long, low, sweet trill, tremulous with tenderness and affection.”

Krishnan writes about all kinds of birds - common urban varieties (like Satyajit Ray and Ruskin Bond, he is fascinated by crows), common but elusive owlets and shikras, and the wild exotics like coppersmiths, peregrines, white-bellied sea eagles, goldenbacked woodpeckers and shamas - which many would give an arm and a leg to sight and photograph. No matter how “common”, birds become in Krishnan’s hands as special as protagonists in a grand novel, with writerly regard for anthropomorphism. “The Indian robin hunts efficiently, but with an airiness that, alas, so rarely goes with efficiency. It is beautifully balanced in every movement, betraying no hint of the jerky, fidgety energy of most small birds. Only, its tail keeps fanning out, and closing, and wagging, like a thing endowed with independent animation. Give me creatures that wag their tails – they have joyous hearts.”

Elsewhere, he writes of the wagtail: “It is all a matter of tails. If it could jerk its tail right over its head, and fan it out as the magpie robin does, no doubt it would sing as wildly and wonderfully, but being only a wagtail, it is content with its modest, sweet little song.” And of the hoopoe: “I used to know a Mahratta head-mali, with decided ideas on seemliness. He would come to work in a crisply starched khaki coat and a magnificent tiger-striped mull and was superior to messy digging or work on rough shrubs — such things he left to underlings. Each day he would spend hours on the lawn, quartering it systematically to locate weeds, inspecting each blade of grass with a dignified, critical decline of his beturbaned head. I have never seen a man look and behave more like a hoopoe.”

Krishnan praises Salim Ali (with whom, according to Zafar Futehally’s foreword, he disagreed a lot) by comparing him to a king crow that fiercely guards the tree where it nests, allowing other birds to nest and prosper in safety there. Krishnan was fiercely patriotic about the uniqueness of India’s natural history. He championed the safe-keeping of Indian species and disliked exotic imports that shrank bird habitats. If we had had more like him, our “forests” wouldn’t be eucalyptus and our shrubbery just clumps of lantana!

Brought out on Krishnan’s birth centenary, Of Birds and Birdsong will be as welcome as birdsong’s lilt to many - to the birdwatcher laden with field guides and binoculars, the bird photographer lugging a tripod and heavy lens, the nature lover and the connoisseur of natural history.

Anand Vishwanadha is a poet, indie publisher, bird photographer and naturalist

The Indian Express, 28th July 2012

It’s a chance to look back in time and witness a slice of history while staying in the present. “Haryana - The Highway of History” is an artistic effort by the state’s Department of Archaeology and Museums to showcase its rich past that has stood the test of invasions, battles and adversity. “The character of a civilisation is encased and enshrined in its monuments, and this calendar strives to showcase the secular and inclusive architecture of Haryana,” says Vijai Vardhan, as he flips through the first copy of the calendar. Vardhan, the Principal Secretary of the state, has conceptualised and designed the calendar and written the brief history of each monument that finds place in it.

It gives a pictorial view of the rich tapestry of ancient, medieval and modern eras. “The state bears the footprints of prophets, poets, saints, warriors as Haryana housed 80 per cent of the Indus Valley Civilisation,” adds Vardhan. The calendar showcases the relics and monuments of the state, with a hope to revive people’s interest in their history and also make them aware of their heritage, while also promoting these tourist sites.

Starting from August 2012 to January 2014, the historic journey begins with the Kunal Seal (District Fatehabad) from the early Harappan settlement, 3500-2500 BC, with the seal now becoming the logo of the department. There are also well-known monuments like the recently restored historic Yadavindra Gardens in Pinjore that was built in 1669; the Mata Mansa Devi Temple in Panchkula; Bhima Devi Temple in Pinjore; Nada Sahib in Panchkula.

When asked about selecting such an unusual time period for the special calendar - August 2012 (instead of January) to January 2014 (instead of ending it at December 2013), Vardhan explains, “We wanted it to be special. So, instead of one year, it has covered three years, and at the same time, made space for a new calendar in 2014.”

“There is a treasure trove here waiting to be discovered by people, students, and history lovers. We will distribute this calendar all over India in the hope of making people aware of the beauty and architecture of the state,” he concludes.

The Indian Express, 27th July 2012

Recoveries made from Kapoor’s storage facilities include significant collection of antiques from Asia

Thursday’s recovery in New York by American investigating officers of a significant collection of antiques from Asia, including bronzes of Siva and Parvati valued around $ 8.5 million, has created fresh excitement here as the international trail of stolen antiquities gets hotter.

Among the idols stolen from Suthamalli and Sripuranthan villages in Tamil Nadu are those of Siva and Parvati, which are datable to the Chola period. Those who have been mourning their disappearance hope that among the material recovered would be the idols which disappeared in 2008 and 2006 from the two villages, located in Ariyalur district.

The seizures were made from the storage facilities of Subhash Chandra Kapoor, accused of trafficking in ancient idols from India over an extended period. Arrested in Germany and brought to India on July 13, he is in judicial custody, lodged in the Puzhal prison here.

Earlier, his bail plea was rejected and he was remanded in police custody on July 18 for seven days.The stolen idols include two of Nataraja, one of Siva in the form of Sundaresvara, and of Parvati and Sivakamasundari, Siva’s consorts. Idols of Saivite saints and of Murugan were also stolen.

The hope that the recovery in Manhattan could turn out to be good news in Tamil Nadu stems from the fact that some time ago, Interpol confirmed that the Nataraja idol stolen form Suthamalli visually matched the one found with Kapoor.

The Tamil Nadu police, after studying their images, spotted an inscription at the base of the idol, which they thought would turn out to be important evidence helping to recover the Nataraja idol.

Police sources say they have extracted crucial information from Kapoor and would investigate his role in other thefts also.

On their website, the police say the idols stolen from Sripuranthan were sent out through the Chennai port to ‘Nimbus imports, Exports inc at New York as directed by Subash Kapoor’ in 2006.

Writing on his blog, Rick St. Hilaire, an attorney and adjunct professor who specialises in cultural property law, mentions that “Kapoor is the owner of the Art of the Past, Inc. gallery in Manhattan as well as Nimbus Import Export, a corporation formed on August 17, 2005 and bearing the same address as Art of the Past according to New York Department of State records.”

Rick St. Hilaire says the Art of the Past website, now shut, once claimed that the gallery “has sold to some of the most celebrated public and private collections in the world.”

He lists 44 Indian art objects gifted to the Toledo Museum of Art by Kapoor, including a 5th century, Gupta period terracotta figure of Seated Mother, and a 2000-year-old Mithuna Plaque. The annual report of the museum for 2007-2008 confirms this.

“It is unknown if any museums are currently examining the provenances of their collections,” he says on his blog.

CLOSED FOR NON-PAYMENT OF RENT

Art of the Past is now closed. When contacted, Kingston Jerold, counsel for Kapoor, said Kapoor was not able to pay the rent for the premises.

For quite some time, no business transaction had happened from his gallery, he added.

The Hindu, 28th July 2012

Supreme Court’s interim order banning tourism in core tiger areas raises debate whether there are any guidelines for it and how harmful it can be to the wildlife and its habitat in protected areas.

What exactly constitutes ecotourism is the question thrown up by the Supreme Court’s interim order banning tourism in core tiger areas. Critical to the debate is whether there are any guidelines for it and how harmful it can be to the wildlife and its habitat in protected areas.

A month ago, some conservationists travelled in a jeep to Upper Bhavani in The Nilgiris district. With the hill on one side and a row of wattle trees on the other, on the narrow drive, they came face to face with two Indian Gaurs.

While one Gaur was able to push its way through the wattle trees, an exotic species, through the slope to the valley, the other could not find its way through the densely planted trees and the jeep had to be reversed until the next opening in the thicket. It took nearly 45 minutes for the Gaur to leave the road, and it was quite agitated by the disturbance in its prime habitat. On the way back, the Gaurs were again on the road and the visitors had to wait in silence for another 30 minutes till they found their path to the higher slopes.

A little later in the day, a procession of SUVs carrying 10 to 12 tourists each to one of the most scenic spots in The Nilgiris Biosphere started. It was part of the State Forest Department’s ecotourism initiative, but the department does not get even a rupee in return.

The logbook at the forest office shows that on an average, 12 SUVs, all private ones, are allowed to ply on the ghat road till the catchment area and back. “On weekends, we allow up to two dozen vehicles,” said the forester posted there.

While 70 per cent of the revenue from each trip that costs Rs. 1,100 goes to the tour operators, the rest is spent on the welfare of tribal families in traditional settlements in the area.

“It is regulated between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. but the honking and speeding are scary at times,” said a guard who accompanies tourists during the trips.

“The concept of ecotourism is to rationalise tourist activities in prime wildlife habitats and biodiversity hot spots and is not about throwing open fresh locations for commercial purposes,” says K. Kalidas, founder, OSAI, a Coimbatore-based NGO.

Incidentally, the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) draft policy on ecotourism, released in June 2011, has recommended the setting up of a State-level committee, local advisory committees, levy of local conservation cess and each protected area to develop its own eco tourism plan to be notified by 2011 end and put in public, including in the local language.

Laying out stipulations for tiger reserves, the policy states that 20 per cent could be permitted for ecotourism access for reserves larger than 500 sq.km. but with the condition that 30 per cent of the surrounding buffer area should be restored as wildlife habitat in five years. For reserves smaller than 500 sq.km., ecotourism is permitted in 15 per cent of the area with the condition that 20 per cent of the buffer should be restored as a wildlife habitat in five years. It also has given out a formula for the number of vehicles to be allowed in each protected area.

Senior forest officials said the State has a draft policy formulated by the Forest Department and handed over to the Tourism Department, which the government notified in 2010 itself.

This 50-page document is more about community-based approach to ecotourism.

The Forest Department, as such, has no ecotourism policy based on MoEF guidelines, officials admitted.

The MoEF draft guidelines is available at http://www.toftigers.org/ Documents/DraftEcotourism Guidelines2June.pdf

The Hindu, 28th July 2012

Old Delhi area was fraught with tension on Friday, as radical Hindu groups gathered to protest against the building of a mosque at the purported site of 17th-century Akbarabadi Masjid in Subhash Park. They shouted slogans demanding that the "illegal structure" built by locals be razed. Muslims from the area were barred from entering the Subhash Park ground, which has been sealed in accordance with orders by Delhi high court. Heavy police presence on the streets and traffic restrictions prevented any untoward incident.

"The building of the mosque at Subhash Park is encroachment of public land, and the government cannot look the other way. They will have to punish those who have dared to do so. Otherwise, we will also take over the Red Fort premises and build our own temple there," said Surendra Nath Avadhut, president, All India Saints' Committee. He added, "People have said saints should not get on autos and rickshaws, like we did during last week protests, but we will do whatever it takes to register our protest if a mosque is allowed to come up on the site." About 1,000 people, mostly saints from Haridwar and Haryana, had gathered for the protest.

There was tension in the area when several thousands of Muslims from different parts of the city gathered at Jama Masjid to offer Friday prayers. Five companies of Rapid Action Force and Delhi Police officers had been deployed on the main road and streets in the Walled City. Netaji Subhash Chandra Marg, which connects Old Delhi with the rest of the city, was closed for about two hours - from 12pm to 2pm - causing inconvenience to locals

The Times of India, 28th July 2012

Late reaction of the authorities in Delhi on the Akabarabadi Masjid controversy has only led to whipped up religious passions, soiling of historical artefacts and unwanted media intrusion

The news of the discovery of the foundations of a large medieval structure near Jama Masjid has led to quite a commotion in the media and on the ground. The Archaeological Society of India (ASI) has been asked by the Delhi High Court to take over the now much talked-about site. The ASI, conservationists and historians have always been aware of the fact that the present site of the Subhas Park - till the early 1960s known as Edward Park - was the location of a mosque built by one of the wives of Emperor Shahjahan.

The mosque was demolished by the British in early 1858, in the aftermath of the 1857 riots, as part of a scheme to clear an area of 500 yards from the Fort walls. The British were feared another rebellion and thought they would be more secure if no one could approach the Fort unseen.

One of the suggestions for the proposed redevelopment plan of Shahjahanabad was to expose the foundations of the demolished mosque and to put in place markers for visitors to educate them about the history of the site. The suggestion was initially made by Professor Narayani Gupta of the Delhi Urban Arts Commission as part of a redevelopment plan for the Jama Masjid Area.

When the Akbarabadi Masjid controversy began to raise the temperature in Delhi, I asked Professor Gupta if any drawing of the original mosque exists and she said that it is in the book Aasaar-us-Sanadeed. A photograph of the same is being reproduced in these columns.

Accompanying the drawing there is also a text that describes the mosque. From the text we learn that the Akbarabadi Mosque was located in the Faiz Bazaar, now.

Darya Ganj area, inside Shahjahanabad. It was built in 1060 A.H (1650 CE) by Nawab Aizaz-un-Nisa Begum, one of the wives of Shahjahan, also known as Akbarabadi Begum because she belonged to Akbarabad (Agra).

The mosque was built with red sandstone; the main prayer hall, topped with three domes and seven arches, was 63-yard-long and 70-yard-wide; the central arch that projected forward was made of marble and was intricately carved. In front of the arched pavilion was a platform - 63-yard-long, 57-yard-wide and three-metre-high. A red sandstone water tank was located in front of the platform. The mosque was enclosed within a courtyard 154 metres X 104 yards, with rooms for students built along the periphery. A black stone tablet, placed above the main gate, gave the name of the builder and the year of construction.

When the proposal to lay the Connaught Place-Kashmiri Gate line via Red Fort was recently mooted and the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation began to finalise the alignment of the tunnel, the ASI had suggested a realignment as it came too close to the Jama Masjid and was likely to cause damage to medieval monuments and buried remains.

The proposal to connect the Commonwealth Games Village and the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium through a tunnel that was to pass close to the Humayun’s Tomb was dropped when similar concerns were raised by conservationists. This time, however, the DMRC went ahead and the inevitable happened - the foundations of a large structure that many believe to be the foundations of the demolished mosque were revealed.

This has led to religious passions being whipped up; a rather ungainly structure has come up on encroached land; the ASI is yet to inspect the remains - many of the pottery shards and vases, full or broken and other artefacts that were excavated have been exposed, handled by countless people and photographed extensively, rendering them useless for purposes of carbon dating. The moment pottery shards were discovered, digging should have been stopped and the area should have been cordoned off and the ASI called in to take over the excavation.

None of this was done, mischief makers began talking of a miracle on the eve of Ramazan, counter claims of this being a Pandava palace began to be bandied about, self-appointed archaeologists took over and our 24X7 media always thirsting for breaking news jumped in with their intrusive microphones and cameras.

Those who should have prevented this broad daylight encroachment on public property did nothing and now there is a makeshift mosque, a terrible caricature of the grand mosque and madrasa that once stood here and now, after so much sewage has passed under the Jamuna Bridge, the matter is sub judice. Echoes of the Babri Masjid incident? Will we never learn? Will hoodlums, law breakers and encroachers continue to ride rough shod on our heritage while the keepers of law and law makers continue to prevaricate?

The Hindu, 28th July 2012

What is today the Capital's favourite joggers' park, a place frequented by the rich and famous as well as the common folk, was not so long ago a village by the name of Khairpur.

Not many of the frequent visitors know the name when they visit Lodi Gardens. Inside it is a 16th century surprise.

Khairpur sat on the banks of a tributary of the Yamuna river. A sturdy bridge over the tributary was called the Athpula - literally, a bridge with eight piers. It has seven arches with parapet walls sloping from the centre towards both ends.

It was built in the 16th century during Mughal ruler Akbar's reign by Nawab Bahadur, one of his noblemen.

Not much has changed in the structure of the bridge itself but its surroundings have undergone a sea change over the past 100 years.

The British, it is said, repaired the bridge in 1913-14 when the village was taken over for incorporation into Delhi, the country's new Capital.

It could possibly have been a stopover on one of the roads taking travellers from Walled City areas to Mehrauli.

In the vicinity are the Nizamuddin Dargah to the east and Safdarjung's Tomb to the west.

"The stream must have been wide enough with much water throughout the year. Hence, this bridge came up at the narrowest possible spot to cross it. Unfortunately, the British have left no trace of the river, not even the name is known till date," says Anupam Mishra, an environmentalist.

The Hindustan Times, 29th July 2012

A former ISRO scientist and three researchers have found the ruins of a pentagon-shaped fort near the Indo-Pak border that probably sank in a powerful 19th century earthquake. This discovery is likely to shed new light on how the quake of 1819 formed the western borders of one of the most inhospitable terrains on the planet - the Great Rann of Kutch.

In February 2010, P S Thakker, who has since retired from ISRO’s Space Applications Centre in Ahmedabad, peered over Google Earth images as was his habit, and detected what looked like the ruins of a fort a few kilometres from the international border.

“I discussed it with many people, but they did not believe me at first,” Thakker told The Sunday Express. But he did not give up. He spoke to other academics he knew, and they approached the Border Security Force (BSF) for permission to visit the area. It was granted.

The fort of Basta Bandar was briefly mentioned by Englishman T G Carless in his “Memoir to accompany the survey of the Delta of the Indus,” in 1837, published after the quake of 1819. The “ruined fort... which formerly belonged to the Raos (princes or chieftains) of Kachchh... was destroyed by the Sindians during their wars with those princes,” Carless recorded.

Accompanied by BSF Crocodile Commandos on speedboats, Thakker and three others - N Juyal of the Physical Research Laboratory, M G Thakkar and Mamata Ngangom of Kutch University - reached Basta Bandar on February 4, 2011.

“We spent two to three hours at the site, examining it and taking photographs. We also took some samples,” said M G Thakkar, Dean of Sciences and Head of Department of Earth and Environmental Science at Kutch University.

The find has been made public in a paper published in the latest issue of Current Science (July 25) where Thakkar describes the “pentagonal walls protruding 20-40 cm above tidal mud flats... which get flooded during spring tide... The dimensions of the bastions and gate, thickness of the wall suggest that it was a robust structure compared to its modern counterpart at Lakhpat.”

He told The Sunday Express that it is unlikely the fort’s wall were flooded by silt from the many creeks there because the walls of most forts in this part of the country are at least 20 feet tall.

“That 15 to 18 feet can be buried by silting in less than 200 years is unlikely, so the fort and nearby areas must have been sunk by an earthquake,” he said, adding that thermoluminescence dating of potsherd samples recovered from the fort are 214 years old.

This small piece of information has thrown light on a much larger phenomena. The 7.9-magnitude quake of 1819 not only created the Allah Bund, an 80 km-long, 16 km-wide strip of Rann sediments, but also buckled the landmass that lies to the bund’s southwest.

West to east, the terrain is like a table cloth pushed from one side - a depression in the west where the sunk Basta Bandar lies, rising at a place called Sunda Uplift further north-east, then somewhat plain for about 20 km till it dips at Sindri Depression, only to rise again at Allah Bund.

This had large consequences for the region’s rivers. Once connected to the Indus and reaching the Arabian Sea, they were used for trade between Kutch and Sindh. The Allah Bund blocked the waters of Nara, an Indus tributary, and a “juvenile” drainage network was formed. According to Thakkar, the relatively small network means the region is young since the waters have not yet made incisions to change the landscape. It remains separated from the Kori Creek in the west whose waters enter the Sindri Depression during tidal fluctuations in the Arabian Sea.

“With the Allah Bund restricting flow, freshwater stopped flowing into western Kutch. The greatest example of this is that Lakhpat used to have vast rice fields. That stopped,” Thakkar said.

The Indian Express, 29th July 2012

There are signs of devastation everywhere and vandalism too. Still, the sights at the Ta Prohm Buddhist monastic complex, built by Cambodian king Jayavarman VII around 1181 CE in Siem Reap province can leave visitors benumbed. Massive silk cotton trees have grown on the vimanas of shrines and uprooted many other structures, including galleries, shrines, pillars, and lintel beams. Corbelled roofs have caved in and pillars with beautiful carvings have broken into two. The gopuras on the east and west look forlorn with the sand-stone blocks that form the visage of Avalokitisvara dislodged from their places. Amid the ruins are the 48 pillars of the Hall of Dancers. Bas reliefs of Apsaras and Bodhisatvas have been gauged out of shrines and their niches are barren.

Every morning at this complex, there is a scrimmage of international tourists. “At 9 a.m. itself, there are long queues to see the trees that have grown over vimanas. Some of the trees are more than 40 metres tall,” said D.S. Sood, Deputy Superintending Archaeological Engineer, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and team leader of the Ta Prohm Temple Project. Tourists come from all over the world but mainly from South Korea, Japan, France, Germany, Singapore and India.

“We are a team of five from the ASI, restoring the Ta Prohm complex from December 2004,” Mr. Sood said as he hosted a team of visiting Indians, led by T. Satyamurthy, former Superintending Archaeologist, ASI, on June 24. “It is a challenging work because of the environmental and site conditions. Safeguarding the authenticity of the monuments is of utmost importance. UNESCO has said we cannot cut any tree because it wants the people to see here how the trees and the complex coexist,” said Mr. Sood.

Jayavarman VII dedicated this temple to his mother. He called it a “Rajavihara” (the royal temple). The word “Ta” means ancestors and “Prohm” originates from Brahma, Hindu god of creation. The main image in the sandstone complex is that of Pragnya Paramita, goddess of wisdom. The complex - 1,150 metres long and 663 metres wide - has concentric enclosures that house 39 shrines with small vimanas, galleries, the Hall of Dancers, a causeway connecting the third and fourth enclosures etc.

Dr. Satyamurthy called Ta Prohm “an outstanding monument” built of interlocked sandstone blocks without any binding material. It was different from the monuments in India because it had a single core. Jayavarman VII, a Buddhist, was succeeded by Jayavarman VIII, a Hindu. Jayavarman VIII systematically destroyed the Buddha images at Ta Prohm, Angkor Thom, Prea Khan and Banteay Kdei. The shifting of the capital from Siem Reap and invasions, internal disputes and neglect led to the ruin of the monuments.

UNESCO inscribed Ta Prohm on the World Heritage List in 1992. Today, it is one of the most visited complexes in Cambodia’s Angkor region. The conservation and restoration of Ta Prohm is a partnership project of the ASI and the APSARA (Authority for the Protection and Management of Angkor and the Region of Siem Reap).

When the ASI team arrived at Ta Prohm in 2004, everything was in ruins: there was very little standing other than the gigantic trees.

Mr. Sood, senior conservation assistants T.K. Ganju and A.K. Soni, and senior draftsmen E.P. Biswas and H. Raghavendra assessed the challenge. Mr. Sood said, “We studied the monument, its behaviour and tendency, how the structures were built, their methodology and technology, their stability, the materials used in their construction, why conservation was necessary and the quantum of conservation to be done. We analysed the causes of neglect.”

The first structure that the ASI restored to its glory was a completely collapsed gallery in the third enclosure. It was rectangular in shape. Its corridor, corbelled roof and two parallel rows of pillars had fallen. Only the corridor’s rear wall, once decorated with bas reliefs of mythical figures, stood. The ASI team restored the gallery and the causeway with balustrades, connecting the third and fourth enclosures.

Mr. Sood said, “After proper documentation, we removed the gallery’s fallen stones, using a crane. We documented all parts of the gallery. The stones were numbered and measured for their length, breadth and height, and weighed. It was a jigsaw puzzle to find out to which part of the gallery the stones belonged. We were clear that we could not use broken stone blocks without joining them. If the broken parts of a block were available, we joined them by inserting steel rods inside after drilling holes in the blocks. We used the same kind of material. We did not use mortar or any binding material. We started the gallery restoration in 2007 and completed it in 2010.”

It was an equally big challenge to restore the Hall of Dancers. “The roof had caved in. There was no access to go inside,” Mr. Ganju said. The ASI team meticulously restored the hall, block by block. Where the sandstone blocks were missing, it used stones from the original source: the Kulen Mountain. A massive tree stands inside the hall on one side.

“We will keep the tree as it is, because UNESCO wants people to understand how it looked before the restoration. On the right side, we will restore the roof,” Mr. Sood said.

During the hall’s restoration, the ASI found the lower half of a beautiful golden crown. The hall was not meant for performing dances. Monks used it for meditation. The gopuras on the entrances on the east and west are being restored.

Dr. Satyamurthy called the restoration work “a remarkable achievement in the context of the enormity of the challenges involved.”

The ASI took the help of the Forest Research Institute, Dehra Dun, to prop up the trees that had grown on the structures. Water and Power Consultancy Service Limited, New Delhi, did hydrological and ground-penetrating radar studies to understand the movement of the roots below the soil. The Indian Institute of Technology — Madras helped the ASI in resolving the structural stability of the monument.

About 200 Cambodian workers, skilled and semi-skilled, are assisting the ASI team. If the magnitude of work at Ta Prohm is any indication, the ASI team has its hands full till at least 2014.

The Hindu, 30th July 2012

The critically endangered species of Great Indian Bustards (GIB) is at last on the radar of the Ministry of Environment and forests. Under the Species Recovery component of the Centrally Sponsored Scheme-Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats (CSS-IDWH), the Ministry has sought detailed action plan for their conservation in the home range States - Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka - of these birds. This apart, the other three species of bustards, the Lesser Florican, Bengal Florican and Houbara Bustard are also to be included in the plan.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has identified the highest level of threats on these birds with about 300 of them left and no known breeding population outside India.

The onus of conserving the birds is perhaps the highest on Rajasthan that has accorded the species the status of State bird. However, the last count of the bird at mere 89 came as a shock. “It is a mere shadow of the pride that the state once held being the home of more than half of its entire population in the country”. said noted ornithologist and bustard conservationist Dr. Asad Rahmani. The major reasons for the drastic decline in the population of these species according to him are habitat loss and degradation, poaching and overgrasing of grasslands.

Maharashtra with a population count of 30 will now prepare a site-specific action plan for the protection and conservation of these birds, said Dr Pramod Patil, Director, the Great Indian Bustard Foundation. The population of the species in the Vidarbha should be given maximum priority as the region has breeding bird population.

Meanwhile, the States would have to frame a long term action plan extending for a period of 5-10 years, spelling out the details of its year wise activities. To begin with, the concerned states would have to constitute a Bustard Conservation

Committee (BCC). This would have officials from the forest department, NGOs and local village communities.

The committee will help in preparing and executing the plan for a whole habitat landscape. It would survey areas for identifying breeding, nesting, roosting and non-breeding areas, major land-use pattern in these areas, and list of specific area-wise threats to the species.

A trained workforce would be set up for undertaking specialised breeding programmes and preparing bustard gene banks. According to the guidelines, the critical bustard sites will be declared as inviolate and no activities permitted, especially during the breeding seasons. An area of five km radius around such sites will also be declared as “minimal infrastructure zone”.

The conservation techniques also propose the use of satellite telemetry program and micro-chips to monitor the seasonal movement patterns and life history of the species.

The Pioneer, 30th July 2012

Gopal Samantray tells Divya Kaushik that his canvases are based on conservation of natural resources He was hardly equipped with material on how natural habitats are surviving due to global warming. But a few things he watched on TV and read in the papers, touched Gopal Samantray deeply.

They reminded him of lush green parts of Odisha, where he had spent two years in a government job. The area today, famous as a Naxalite region, is a beautiful section of Odisha.

“But it is suffering, because humans have not been kind, and take natural treasures for granted,” said Gopal.

The artist, who struggled to enter art galleries, has a second solo at Art Konsult.

His works, describing lots of green wide space and featuring animals, are based on global warming and how natural habitat is suffering, because of diminishing green cover. The exhibition is titled, Fragmented Earth–The Last Call.

“From 1994-96, I was in a government technical job, which drew me to Nature. It provided peace. And the green surroundings can be your best friend, when dear ones are not around.”

He recalled, “After the connect with Nature was established, news of it losing glory, according to media accounts, hurt me deeply. I used to wonder, how come we know so much, but do so little to help. So I decided to paint.” Some of his works features tigers and elephants.

“These animals are facing the brunt of human actions. We must have read about a cheetah or tiger that sneaked into a village and killed a child.

“None of us realise fear prompted these poor creatures to leave their natural habitat. We are taking away their homes. Why shouldn’t they respond to the torment?”

The artist said he might sound preachy, but knows even sermons make no impact, unless they understand how severe the problem is. “So I think what is required is, are continuous reminders through different mediums.”

As a boy, Samantray said he was keen on painting, “But the family’s financial state made buying a canvas difficult. My family opposed my desire to paint and suggested I take some technical job and support them. I did just that. After two years in the job, I completed my education in arts.”

He tried settling in Mumbai, but due to personal problems could not spend time there. “I moved to Delhi and participated in group shows. My first solo was in 2010 at Triveni,” said Gopal, who experiments with textures.

“I want the essence of Nature to reflect in my work through bright colours and detailing. So I experiment. Completing a single piece is time-consuming.” The exhibition at Art Konsult is from August 3-September 5.

The Pioneer, 30th July 2012

The Forest Research Institute in Dehra Dun is an interesting place. With six museums to visit, there can never be a dull moment.

The Forest Research Institute was established in 1906 as the erstwhile Imperial Forest Research Institute, in Dehra Dun. It was around this time that scientific forestry began to develop in the Indian subcontinent. Today this Institute is responsible for the forestry research needs of most of the states of Northern India. “Apart from being a research and educational institution, the FRI has a herbarium, an arboreta, printing press and a well stocked library. There are six museums within the main building, which are open to visitors through the week. These museums highlight the various uses of forests and how we benefit from them,” says Dr Veena Chandra, Head of the Botany Department, FRI.

On show

In the Social Forestry museum pictures and models emphasising the role of trees in meeting the economic needs of people is highlighted. The disastrous consequences of soil erosion, floods and famine are exhibited here. At the Silviculture museum are logging tools, machines used for extraction and transportation of timber and cultural operations adopted for maintaining forest crop. The Pathology museum highlights the various diseases that are found in forest trees.

Did you know that there is huge wealth that forests offer apart from timber? On display at FRI are non-wood forest products such as essential oils, fatty oils, gums and resins, drugs and spices, bamboo and cane, tans and dyes, edible products, fibres and flosses, animal products and minerals, housed in a separate section. The Entomology museum contains more than 3,000 exhibits of forest insects and the various stages of damage to trees by forest insect pests. The most impressive is the Timber Museum. Exhibits have been collected and developed here for over half a century. Along the wall polished and unpolished panels of 126 commercially important species of wood are displayed, along with a picture of the tree and a map of India showing the distribution of the species in India.

Closed on Sundays and National holidays, one can visit the museums on any working day of the week.

The old deodar tree

The centre of attraction in the Timber museum is the transverse section of a 700 years old deodar tree (Cedrus deodara). “This tree was felled in 1919 from the hills of UP. The annual rings clearly show the natural and climatic events during the lifetime of the tree,” says Ms. Santosh, in charge of the printing and photography section at the FRI. There is also on display, a transverse section of a 300 year old teak (Tectona grandis).

How to…

In the early times, man made pencils using Cyprus wood. The method of making these pencils has been displayed.

The Hindu, 31th July 2012

King Cobra faces threat to its survival

Why is it that that we must hunt down animals that we have traditionally respected and even added to our pantheon of revered figures? First it was the elephant, whose shrinking population compelled the Government to declare it the National Heritage Animal and launch schemes for its protection. It's now the turn of the King Cobra to face an uncertain future. The fact that the International Union for Conservation of Nature has put the majestic reptile in its Red List and declared it as “vulnerable” shows how serious the threat is to the existence of this creature. A large majority of the King Cobras in the country is to be found in the Western Ghats, which was only recently given the World Heritage Site status with a view to ensuring the preservation of the rich biodiversity found in the region. It should then be hoped that the UN status to the Western Ghats will help the King Cobras (and other inhabitants) there to get on with their lives without being threatened by human population which is constantly invading their habitats and displacing them. Unfortunately, some States have opposed the new status to the ghats on the specious premise that it will harm development activities since the ghats are a rich repository of resources. While the region may be abundant with mineral and other material, development cannot be so skewed as to destroy our natural heritage. While the IUCN does not have the exact number of the population of King Cobras in the country, it has enough material to have concluded that at least 10 per cent of the snakes endemic to the Western Ghats face extinction. This, of course, is the extreme danger. The King Cobras are now ‘vulnerable'; if steps are not taken to help them flourish, they will become ‘endangered', then ‘critically endangered', and finally ‘extinct'. What will be left for our generations to come will be photographs and some video clippings of this reptile. That would be indeed shameful for a country whose people have for generations treated the King Cobra as a deity - even having a festival, the Nag Panchami, dedicated to it. Apart from the strong cultural links that it has with Indians, the King Cobra is special also because it belongs to its own genus and is not part of the Naja genus. In popular perception, though, it is a Nag. The King Cobra, therefore, is unique.

Although the King Cobras are protected under Schedule II of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, the fact that they are being hunted down clearly shows that either the provisions of the law are not strong enough or that they are not being implemented effectively enough. Perhaps it's a combination of both. Snakes are being killed all the time for medicinal purposes and for their skin that fetches a tidy amount in the international markets, but there is little to suggest that the killers of these reptiles are being adequately punished.

The Pioneer, 31th July 2012

Creating inviolate spaces to help the tiger recover from perilous decline is a recognised goal of conservation policy today. Considering that the habitat of the charismatic cat has shrunk drastically to about one per cent of legally protected land, the Supreme Court order banning tourism in core forest areas is welcome, as it gives the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) pause for thought. The prospect of watching tigers in the wild brings thousands of visitors to nature reserves and generates massive revenues. Such tourists, the majority of them from within the country, are potential ambassadors for conservation. What is not so obvious is the complex interaction involving multiple stakeholders - the park management, the communities living in and around forests and the tourists. Studies conducted between 2002 and 2008, when many new tourist facilities were built, show distinct trends. Notable among these is the alienation of many local residents from touristic activity due to poor income transfers, and loss of tourist interest when tiger numbers dwindle. These important lessons make it imperative for the MoEF, the State governments and the industry to review their approach to tiger tourism. Measures such as identifying viable cores in each reserve, reducing human pressure on better-preserved forests, and creating new buffer lands for tigers to move into, hold the key to healthy cat densities.

Tourism that is primarily dependent on tigers should naturally be anxious about preserving core forests - which hold source populations of the cat. It should be borne in mind that with rising affluence, the number of tourists arriving at sanctuaries and natural parks is on the increase, and sustaining this growth needs innovative strategies. Active protection of buffer forests and even newly-added farm land, and fostering of greater densities of deer, wild pig, bison and other prey will lead to a rise in tiger numbers - and increased opportunities for viewing. Such an approach is essential to absorb more visitors. The experience in high-profile tiger havens such as Nagarahole, Kanha and Ranthambhore shows that support of local residents is vital to successful wildlife tourism. But generally speaking, the number of local people employed and earnings shared by tourism ventures are both low, generating resentment among the communities. The record is better in neighbouring Nepal. Now that the Supreme Court has taken a view, the roadmap for conservation-friendly tourism is clear: the laggard States - Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra - must notify the buffer areas, and the MoEF must draw up a good plan for sustainable tourism in the peripheral forests and reforested contiguous lands.

The Hindu, 31th July 2012

Everywhere you looked, there were faces looking back at you. Some looked straight in the eye and some had their faces turned away as if to cut themselves off from rest of the world. Crafted in wood, these art pieces were all ready to strike up a conversation if only they could speak.
The three-day-long art exhibition “Return from the Gdansk Museum” by Naresh Kapuria had 26 such wooden reliefs including four paintings in acrylic. Inaugurated in the capital recently, the exhibition that engrossed viewers in Poland under the name “Untold Stories” attracted many artists and art lovers in the city.

And as one of the viewers puts it, Kapuria had put in both his creativity and sweat in carving out the faces that either looked like us or reminded us of someone. “Like a book, I wanted to bring in various chapters and characters in my artwork. I have portrayed human faces that have treaded through the journey of life and have experienced unending emotions through this roller coaster ride of life,” says Kapuria. Kapuria’s creative and innovative mind is also fond of beauty, even better if it comes with some glitters. So he has enwrapped his wooden reliefs with gold and copper leafs. Known as a trendsetter in creating installations and even stage designs for the performing arts, Kapuria says he breathes his environment. As the technological civilisation grows more complicated and difficult he tries to invent and innovate fresh synthesis of difficult experience. Ranging from Rs 75,000 to Rs 2,00,000, some of the artworks from “Return from the Gdansk Museum” will be displayed in Ahmedabad and Kolkata next month.

The Asian Age, 31th July 2012

The Delhi High Court on Monday permitted the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) to demolish an “illegal construction” at a controversial site near Subhash Park where the local MLA claims to have found the remains of the Mughal-era Akbarabadi mosque. The court directed the ASI to take possession of the site and begin “in right earnest” its technical investigation into whether such a structure ever existed, and submit its status report to the court by October 11.

The bench said no congregation would be allowed at the site, declining a plea by MLA Shoaib Iqbal to let people offer namaz at the site and a counter plea by the Akhil Bharti Hindu Mahasabha, which sought permission for puja claiming that the remains were those of a temple.

In an interim order on Monday, a full bench headed by Acting Chief Justice A K Sikri asked the ASI to implement its July 19 notice, in which it had asked the North corporation to remove the unauthorised construction within 15 days as it fell in the regulated area of protected monuments Red Fort and Sunehri Masjid.

“The stand of the ASI is unequivocally reflected in its notice dated July 19, 2012, with which MCD (now NDMC) is in agreement. The two authorities with the assistance of police should implement the statutory mandate without fail,” the bench said.

The bench had earlier stayed construction at the site, taking cognisance of the allegation that a structure was being built illegally at the site at the instance of MLA Shoaib Iqbal. The court, in its order on Monday, took a stern view of the MLA’s actions, saying that the endeavour was misplaced.

“We have no hesitation in saying that the endeavour to construct anything at site was misplaced as it was without any sanction/permission... At least, an elected member of the Assembly... a part of the State, should not have resorted to illegal construction,” the bench said.

The Indian Express, 31th July 2012

The Delhi high court on Monday asked Archaeological Survey of India and North Delhi Municipal Corporation to "implement" their decision to remove illegal construction raised at a site in Subhash Park near Jama Masjid.

Citing a July 19 letter written by ASI to North Delhi Municipal Corporation where ASI asked the civic agency to immediately remove unauthorized construction from public land, a full bench of acting Chief Justice A K Sikri and Justices S K Kaul and Rajiv Shakdher said both agencies must "implement the statutory mandate" with police assistance.

ASI had asked the corporation to remove the unauthorized construction within 15 days of the receipt of the notice, failing which the heritage body would remove it. In response, the corporation indicated its willingness to remove the construction as it fell within the regulated area of Red Fort.

The full bench also pulled up MLA Shoaib Iqbal and his conduct, reminding him that the State is not supposed to advance the cause of one religion to the detriment of another. "At least, an elected member of the Assembly, who belongs to the ruling government, and, thus, a part of the State, should not have resorted to illegal construction. The State has no religion," the bench said, asking police to immediately book miscreants who damaged public property and attempted to create a communal atmosphere at the site. "It is high time that such a group is made accountable both in civil law and criminal law," the court said.

The bench added it is for ASI to decide how it wants to carry out its task and said it has full authority to undertake further digging at the site if required. HC also made it clear even if some pre-existing religious structure is unearthed at the site by ASI, the land will still be a public land and ASI will be the sole authority to decide to what use it puts the site to.

Asking ASI to submit its first report in a sealed cover by October 11, the court said, "ASI should begin its task in right earnest with all technical assistance."

Extending its order restraining construction at the site, the court directed the corporation and police to assist ASI and ensure that the area is cordoned off. HC also asked police to prevent rumour mongering so that any endeavour to give communal overtones is stopped. "All measures as are necessary to do so will be taken," the judges said and declined a plea to allow people to offer prayers for Ramzan or perform puja at the site.

Following the purported discovery of the remains of the Mughal era Akbarabadi Mosque during digging by Delhi Metro, local people led had begun building a mosque there earlier this month.

"We'll plan the demolition drive in consultation with police. We will soon write to Delhi Police to provide us adequate security," said PK Gupta, commissioner, North Delhi Municipal Corporation.

The Times of India, 31th July 2012