To celebrate 12 years of design thinking, the IVS School of Design, Preet Vihar, is organising a design fest titled Invictus 2020-Unconquered, free spirit. The daylong event with Being Responsible as its theme will bring together designers, innovators, ideators and learners on one platform.

IVS School of Design CEO Rupali Gaur says, “This event is for our students and is a celebration of design and our youth. This time our theme is being responsible towards the climate change and environment.

Everything is around this topic. The event has been divided into segments. The first half will be Industry Connect, where we will have people from design fraternity indulging in panel discussions and workshops.

The second half will be Student Connect that will have performances by students such as a fashion walk titled Heal the Earth. It will depict how pollution and other things have degraded our earth.

There will be a few skits and dance performances. The last segment is Cultural Connect in which stand-up comedian Raunaq Rajani and The Unplugged Project will perform.” There will be a panel discussion titled Design Innovation in Five Elements, where panellists such as Nirvana Being CEO Jai Dhar Gupta, Studio Douze principal Nitin Sharma, INTACH Heritage Academy principal director Navin Piplani, Cherry Hill Interiors Ltd Managing director Rahul Bhatt and others will discuss importance of eco-innovations, future of sustainable design, and innovative ways to stop, reverse or adapt to climate change.

The event will have stalls by different brands such as Jaguar and Hapley on sustainable products. Entrepreneur and writer Parthajeet Sarna will conduct a storytelling workshop, which will be followed by a discussion on Design for the New World. "The whole event has been conceptualised by the students. The costumes of the fashion walk have been designed by students. Apart from the cloth, they have used materials such as plastic glass, colourful balloons, face paints, and sunshades that pollute the environment when thrown in waste,” says Gaur.

Other attractions
The event will have stalls by different brands such as Jaguar and Hapley on sustainable products. Entrepreneur and writer Parthajeet Sarna will conduct a storytelling workshop, which will be followed by a discussion on Design for the New World.

On: March 7
Where: India Islamic Cultural Centre, Lodhi Road

https://www.newindianexpress.com/lifestyle/fashion/2020/mar/03/designing-responsibly-in-the-face-of-climate-change-2111344.html, March 3, 2020

The historic buildings of centuries-old Patna Collectorate and the iconic Golghar here were used as observation stations during the Great Trigonometrical Survey, a landmark project of the 19th century that aimed to measure the entire Indian subcontinent with scientific precision, according to archival documents. The Patna Collectorate complex, parts of which are over 250 years old, is situated on the banks of Ganga and endowed with high ceilings, huge doors and hanging skylights.

One of the last surviving signatures of Dutch architecture in the Bihar capital, its fate currently hangs in the balance. The Bihar government had in 2016 proposed to demolish the old collectorate for a new high-rise complex, triggering public outcry and appeals from various quarters in India and abroad to spare the demolition and preserve it as a "signpost of Patna''s history".

Subsequently, the Indian National Trust for Art and Culture (INTACH), the Patna High Court had last year filed two petitions challenging the demolition proposal. After hearing the two PILs, the Patna High Court had last September stayed the proposed demolition of the government complex while restraining the state authorities from "causing any harm to the collectorate building until further orders", bringing some relief to the heritage lovers. The next hearing is expected to be held soon. Historians, urban planners, conservation architects and other heritage experts have been appealing to the Nitish Kumar government to not dismantle the collectorate, saying it will "set a very bad precedent" and "jeopardise" the fate of other colonial-era buildings.

The INTACH Patna Chapter team, during the course of the litigation has found some interesting historical references in connection with the collectorate, which further heightens its heritage value and the need for preservation for posterity. J K Lall, veteran architect and convener of the INTACH''s Patna Chapter said, "A report has been found of early 1880s on the Great Trigonometrical Survey, which mentions that Patna Collectorate and Golghar and some other buildings in Patna were used in the survey." "This makes Patna Collectorate even more historic and worthy of preservation. The Bihar government and people of Patna should take pride in this building and not demolish it with a myopic vision of development. History once lost, is lost forever," he said. The 1883 report printed by the Survey of India''s Trigonometric Branch in Dehradun is titled – ''Synopsis of the results of the operations of the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India Volume XVIII – Descriptions and coordinates of the principal and secondary stations and other fixed points''.

In the nearly 130-page report appertaining it to the North-East Quadrilateral, it is mentioned along with coordinates, the landmarks and places used in the path-breaking exercise, and it includes "Patna Collectorate, Patna Gola (Golghar) -- on top of Gola or public granary at Bankipore, Jafar Khan''s Garden Cupola", among other places. While the Golghar built in 1786 by the British as a granary has now become the veritable symbol of Patna, no visible trace remains of Bagh Jafar Khan which was located in eastern extremity of the city then, and Patna Collectorate over the decades has not been maintained well, Lall said. The Great Trigonometrical Survey was a historic project which aimed to measure the entire Indian subcontinent with scientific precision. It was started in the early 1800s by infantry officer William Lambton, under the aegis of the East India Company. Under the leadership of his successor, George Everest, the project was made a responsibility of the Survey of India. Among the many accomplishments of the Great Trigonometrical Survey were the measurements of the height of the Mt Everest (earlier just called Peak XV) and other Himalayan giants. Fervently appealing to not demolish the Patna Collectorate, a group of heritage lovers from the city had on Saturday gathered in its campus, seeking to raise awareness about the historical and architectural value of the colonial-era buildings. The supporters had gathered under the aegis of ''Save Historic Patna Collectorate'', a civil society-led movement for historic preservation in Bihar, which has been striving for the past few years to save the collectorate from demolition. A heritage walk themed on history and heritage of Patna was also conducted by the organisers. In 2016, the Patna Chapter of INTACH had sent a strongly-worded petition to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to immediately scrap the impending demolition plan, saying it would set a "very bad precedent and further jeopardise the fate of other heritage buildings in the city and eventually in the state".

Soon after the proposed demolition in 2016, the then Dutch Ambassador Alphonsus Stoelinga and London-based Gandhi Foundation had appealed against the demolition of the Collectorate, where parts of the Oscar-winning film ''Gandhi'' were shot. Some iconic scenes in the Richard Attenborough movie were filmed at the Collectorate, whose Dutch-era Record Room was shown as Motihari jail while British-built DM Office building was shown as a court in the film. PTI KND AAR.

https://www.outlookindia.com/newsscroll/patna-collectorate-golghar-were-used-as-observation-stations-during-great-trigonometrical-survey/1750433, March 3, 2020

On the occasion of World Wildlife Day on Tuesday, Twitterati took to social media and highlighted the importance of saving life on earth. The World Wildlife Day 2020 theme ''Sustaining all life on Earth'' is aimed at ensuring sustainable use of resources and conservation of land and groundwater to stop biodiversity loss. All social media platforms were abuzz with the messages to save wildlife on this day and shared informative posts using the hashtag #WorldWildlifeDay.

Union Minister Prakash Javadekar tweeted, "India is proud to have 2,967 tigers, 30,000 elephants, 3,000 single horn rhinos and over 500 lions. This wildlife wealth is a testimony to India''s robust ecology & continued government policies for conservation under the leadership of PM @narendramodi." To mark the occasion of World Wildlife Day, India''s sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik created sand art at Odisha''s Puri beach to show his support.

He posted the picture of his sand art on Twitter and captioned, "On #WorldWildlifeDay 2020 ''Sustaining all Life on Earth'', encompassing all wild animals and plant species as key components of the world''s biodiversity. My Sand Art with message #SaveOurWildLife at Puri beach in india." Tina Ambani also took to social media to share a post and tweeted, "Some of our happiest moments have been spent in the wild, marvelling at the majesty of the animal kingdom.

This planet is theirs as much as ours. Let''s be the voice of the voiceless - speak out against cruelty, empower conservation." "On this #WorldWildlifeDay, let us strive for a more caring, thoughtful and sustainable relationship with nature," tweeted Kerala Tourism, sharing a photo of elephants in Mattupetty. MyGov Assam wrote, "A thriving wildlife is one of humanity''s greatest assets.

By making sustainable choices, we can help all lives co-exist on the earth. This #WorldWildlifeDay, let us celebrate the sublime beauty of the wild and raise awareness for its preservation."

https://www.outlookindia.com/newsscroll/world-wildlife-day-tweeple-urge-people-to-save-wild-animals/1750616, March 3, 2020

Spread over 200 acres, MAP is home to over 100 historical monuments, including the two baolis. Difficult it seems to believe but Delhi, at point in time, had over a 100 baolis (stepwells). Of these, only a handful remain. Others have either dried up or have been covered up.

Constructed thousands of years ago, these baolis served as a source of water and are a proof of exemplary engineering. A perfect example of rainwater harvesting. I remember one of my friends who works with the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) once mentioning about some baolis in the Mehrauli Archaeological Park (MAP).

So I called him to confirm and he obliged me with this information. “There are two baolis – Gandhak Ki Baoli and Rajon Ki Baoli – in MAP. A third one stands next to the dargah of Sufi mystic, saint and scholar of Chishti Order Bakhtiyar Kaki near Zafar Mahal, just outside the park complex. While Gandhak Ki Baoli and Rajon Ki Baoli are maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), the one in the dargah complex is taken care of by the Waqf Board,” he said. He invited me for a quick tour of these water bodies the coming Sunday and I quickly agreed.

Spread over 200 acres, MAP is home to over 100 historical monuments, including the two baolis. One of the best ways to reach here is to take Delhi Metro’s Yellow Line and alight at Qutub Minar.

The park is around 500m from the station, on your left. We started our tour with the Rajon Ki Baoli, the larger and the more ornamented of the two. It was used by masons (raj mistris) for drinking and cooking, hence the name. This four-level rectangular tank has steps at one end and a circular well at the other. The steps are in four stages, each in descending size with floors at every stage.

Rooms were constructed on every floor to provide a cool resting place for people then, they are still there. This one was constructed by Daulat Khan in 1516 during the reign of Sikander Lodhi. The next one is Gandhak Ki Baoli. The water here had curative value due to its rich sulphur content, thus the name gandhak. It was built by Iltutmish for Sufi saint Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki. Legend has it that on a trip to meet Kaki, Iltutmish was informed that the saint is unable to have daily baths due to acute water shortage in the area. So, he ordered the construction of this stepwell.

This one is a huge five-tiered stepwell, including a circular well on southern side and is devoid of any ornamentation. But I had also read about another baoli – Anangtal Baoli here. Constructed by Rajput king Anangpal II (great grandfather of Prithviraj Chauhan) of Tomar dynasty in 1060 AD, this one is considered to be the oldest in the city. When I asked my friend about it, he told me that this was a natural depression which was converted into a water body, hence cannot be called a baoli in true sense.

As we ended our baoli trip, I couldn’t help but admire the farsightedness of people of those ages who built these stepwells as a source of water to use in case famine struck. Why these can’t be revived, I wonder. It would solve most of the Delhi’s water scarcity problem.

https://www.newindianexpress.com/lifestyle/travel/2020/mar/04/a-step-into-the-stepwells-the-many-baolis-of-delhi-2111893.html, March 4, 2020

When Sarojini Naidu — the first woman governor of UP and independent India — came to Tagore Library and was asked to write her name and address in the visitors’ book, she just wrote ‘India’ as her address. Like Naidu, a number of eminent citizens recalled their fond association with LU in the historical register that has been successfully restored by INTACH as a gift to the university its centenary year.

“The register is a witness to the visits of British viceroy to India Lord Irwin (1926-1931) and socialist Ram Manohar Lohia,” said deputy librarian Jyoti Mishra. Mishra revealed that the visitors’ book has, among many gems, an emotional letter from former Punjab CM Surjit Singh Barnala who had recalled his university days at the time of Quit India. “I was a student of Lucknow University from 1940 to 1946. I passed my LLB during the Quit India Movement.

After some disturbance and student participation, the university was closed down for an indefinite period but the library remained open. I along with the other students attended the library and reading room very frequently,” Barnala’s letter reads.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/visitors-book-at-tagore-library-witness-to-british-legacy-freedom-movement/articleshow/74466437.cms, March 4, 2020

After much back and forth, the civic body has now decided to not extend its agreement with the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) to run the Bhau Daji Lad Museum in Byculla. Instead, it is set to initiate a new hiring process to find an agency to take care of the museum." Senior civic officials said they will begin a fresh process to rope in an agency to run the museum, while also ensuring that the civic administration has more control than it did before. The tripartite agreement between the BMC, INTACH and the Jamnalal Bajaj Museum ended in September last year.

Based on the previous agreement, INTACH, as part of the trust, managed the museum independently on a caretaker basis. After the agreement's expiry, the BMC began preparing an inventory of the artefacts stored at the museum in October.

It is expected to be complete by the end of this month. While INTACH had expressed interest to continue managing the museum, the civic body is not too keen. Civic chief Praveen Pardeshi said, "We will not be extending the previous agreement. We want a fair process and we are planning to invite a fresh tender." Pardeshi, however, had earlier stated that he was happy with INTACH's work and a senior civic official said that they will urge INTACH to apply as well.

"We need an agency that will run the museum. However, earlier, INTACH had autonomy and that has to be balanced. In the new arrangement, the agency's control over the museum will have to be restricted and the corporation's role will be extended, like in the case of the sports complexes in Andheri and Mulund," said a senior civic official. In the past, group leaders of political parties had raised objections about the events held at the museum terming them 'elitist'. The BMC had then decided to stop releasing funds without conducting an audit of those already used.

Mayor Kishori Pednekar, too, felt the previous arrangement wouldn't work and said, "I have had a discussion with the BMC chief and we will start working on it after the state budget." The civic body's stand, however, has not been received well by the museum staff who may lose their jobs. "We have been working amid uncertainty for the past few months, despite the agreement expiring five months ago.

It is unfair to put us in this position," said a museum employee, adding that in the current market, it would take them at least three months to find another job. The museum has four curatorial staff, five officials in the administration department, three in accounts, 15 gallery attendants and three full-time interns. Tasneem Mehta, INTACH's managing trustee, was not available for comment.

https://www.mid-day.com/articles/mumbai-no-extension-for-intach-to-run-bdl-museum-in-byculla/22656280.cms, March 5, 2020

These museums offer a glimpse into the fascinating culture of different tribes in the country Anshika Nagar, March 04 , 2020Add Bookmark 04 Min Read There are over 600 tribes in India, all vastly different from one another. They range across the expanse of our country, from Naga tribes in the northeast to the Kurumba tribe in the Nilgiris. They all have a rich history and unique traditions.

But our quest to understand them more, and to bring them into the so-called 'civilised' fold creates a flat understanding of their lives, a one-dimensional look into their heritage. And dabbling into tourism can become a gimmicky exercise that doesn’t help anyone.

Recently, genuine efforts are being made towards decolonising the approach to viewing their cultures, and gathering information that gives people a more layered understanding. Some museums across the country are doing just that. Here are five tribal museums that aim to showcase their culture beautifully, some with help from the tribals themselves. If nothing, they pique our interest in wanting to learn more.

Living and Learning Design Centre, Kutch
It was a series of drought in Gujarat and the will to empower locals that led to the creation of Shrujan Trust, and then, of the Living and Learning Design Centre (LLDC). The tribal women who were reluctant to accept charity began working on the traditional crafts to sustain themselves with the help of Shrujan Trust.

Belonging to over 12 different communities, these women bring with them around fifty styles of tribal embroidery styles such as rabari, ahir and meghwal. These are all showcased at the LLDC.

It is as much an education centre as it is a museum. Visitors can explore the many galleries that exhibit their unique work and spend time at the library or the studio where artists practice. On weekends, LLDC hosts workshops for visitors where they can try their hand at embroidery, and other crafts.

Tribal Museum, Bhopal
The Tribal Museum in Bhopal is one of a kind. At its inception, it was decided that the tribes from Madhya Pradesh will make this museum themselves. And so they did. This museum is not a mere display of artefacts and instruments; it is a living structure, an experience to be enjoyed.

It displays the traditions and aesthetics of seven indigenous tribes- Gond, Bhil, Baiga, Kol, Korku, Sahariya, and Bhariya. The museum has six galleries, full of vivid, life-size (and some larger than life) installations. The galleries weave a colourful narrative.

The life gallery shows the beautifully decorated dwellings of each tribe made in mud, plant parts and bamboo grills. The spiritual world gallery is more abstract, portrayed with huge mounds of skulls, or flags, lamps, tridents and pillars.

Each exhibition is sheathed in knowledge and art; from melting of iron to dyeing cloth, every tradition is incorporated by the communities themselves. The museum is definitely worth a visit, or two.

Odisha State Tribal Museum, Bhubaneswar
Located in Bhubaneswar, the Odisha State Tribal Museum is a reflection of the lives of the local communities in the state. Over 62 communities are represented through various digitised galleries. Conceptualised as the ‘Museum of Man’, it is home to five life-like tribal homes made by the tribals themselves, and a herbal garden.

The galleries showcase various themes of adornments, agricultural objects, art and dokra items.

The library at the museum documents their life. Perhaps one of the more unique endeavours of this museum is its food court. Not only does the museum talk about tribal food, but it also serves it. Expect simple, authentic thalis with delicious flavours.

Tribal Museum, Araku Valley
The Tribal Museum in Araku Valley is native in its build, using mud and metal and colours that are indigenous to the state. Inside too, it reflects the tribal lifestyle with ease, meandering through cultural norms and customs. The colourful dioramas display artwork, textiles, utensils and technology.

Structures stand out to show societal hierarchy and a separate section is reserved for music and dance. Interestingly, the museum is home to a fortune-teller who only speaks the local language, but people flock to him for his predictions, which many believe come true.

Nehru Centenary Tribal Museum
The building, painted in red and white, would be the first thing to draw any visitor’s attention. Inside the Nehru Centenary Tribal Museum in Hyderabad, one can glimpse into the lives of the various tribes of the state. Simple exhibition, literature, figurines and dioramas dot the galleries. In some places, it looks like a tribal village come to life, as human figurines go about their day in markets using local tools and techniques.

The museum is also home to an actual market setup where tribals come to sell their products and handicrafts, sometimes visitors can catch a glimpse of their traditional music and dance performances.

https://www.outlookindia.com/outlooktraveller/explore/story/70278/visit-these-five-tribal-museums-in-india, March 5, 2020

Earlier in January 2018, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) told local affiliates to double up efforts to find the list of ‘untraceable’ historic monuments and antiquities, from inscribed tablets to entire temples and tombs.

It was the latest push by the organization tasked with conserving India’s vast heritage and historic artifacts, no mean feat by any measure. India’s history is vast and challenging to navigate.

It has seen many empires rise and fall and with them their monuments. Natural disasters and wars have caused a lot of monuments to just disappear, and the ASI has been working on finding entries on its list of 24 untraceable monuments all these years. The untraceable protected monuments, like the ancient Kutumbari temple in Dwarahat that just up and disappeared from records and vanished entirely in the 1960s, have been a big focus for the ASI for decades.

The department’s new push was in response to growing calls by the government to locate the lost monuments. But the renewed efforts have cast new light on concerns over India’s precarious balancing act: managing economic development and preserving history. A push for infrastructure could threaten India’s ancient monuments, as suggested by Swapna Liddle of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage.

Speaking about the list of untraceable monuments, Swapna Liddle told that the list reflects a larger problem: that of neglected monuments that are not among India’s big tourist attractions. She added that many monuments are not labeled properly, because of which locals remain unaware of their importance. Unguarded monuments also turn into shelters and slums.

Devkinandan Dimri, the ASI Director, said that many protected monuments have been lost to urbanization or buried by time, and the list of 24 untraceables is not perfect. The list is derived from the British Raj era, and some of them may not have even existed. Meanwhile, villages and towns have changed names and land has changed hands over the last 70-odd years. Entire monuments have been moved elsewhere by locals, making it all the more difficult for ASI to conduct its duty.

https://www.india.com/travel/articles/india-on-the-trail-of-untraceable-historic-monuments-and-antiquities-3229738/, March 6, 2020

A Workshop on development of handloom heritage and innovation was today organized by Intach, J&K Jammu Chapter, here at Udyog Bhawan. Director Handloom, Babila Rakwal was the Chief Guest and Convener Intach J&K Chapter, Saleem Beg was the guest of honour, while Joint Director Information and Public Relations, Namrita Dogra was the guest Speaker.

In her address, Director Handloom highlighted the schemes of Handloom Development Department stating that GoI has sanctioned several projects under the National Handloom Development Programme.

She said that Handloom Sector is being promoted as a focus sector under new Industrial Investment Policy. Convener Intach J&K Chapter Saleem Beg, highlighted the fact that earlier Handloom Development Corporation was the primary supplier of the government departments, which enabled the handloom weavers to flourish in the State. This however, he said, has stopped breaking the assured supply chain of the Weavers.

Joint Director Information and Public Relations, Namrita Dogra, in her address, highlighted that there is a niche market for handloom sector, which is getting destroyed due to flooding of fake products Dr. C. M Seth, noted Environmentalist and Co-Convener Intach, also spoke on the occasion. It was announced that process of GI tagging of Kishtwari blankets is in the final stage and government also intends to provide GI tag to Basohli Pashmina.

https://indiaeducationdiary.in/handloom-flagged-as-focus-sector-under-new-industrial-investment-policy/, March 6, 2020

‘Handloom Flagged As Focus Sector Under New Industrial Investment Policy

A Workshop on development of handloom heritage and innovation was today organized by Intach, J&K Jammu Chapter, here at Udyog Bhawan.Director Handloom, Babila Rakwal was the Chief Guest and Convener Intach J&K Chapter, Saleem Beg was the guest of honour, while Joint Director Information and Public Relations, Namrita Dogra was the guest Speaker.

In her address, Director Handloom highlighted the schemes of Handloom Development Department stating that GoI has sanctioned several projects under the National Handloom Development Programme.

She said that Handloom Sector is being promoted as a focus sector under new Industrial Investment Policy.Convener Intach J&K Chapter Saleem Beg, highlighted the fact that earlier Handloom Development Corporation was the primary supplier of the government departments, which enabled the handloom weavers to flourish in the State.

This however, he said, has stopped breaking the assured supply chain of the Weavers.Joint Director Information and Public Relations, Namrita Dogra, in her address, highlighted that there is a niche market for handloom sector, which is getting destroyed due to flooding of fake products. Dr. C. M Seth, noted Environmentalist and Co-Convener Intach, also spoke on the occasion.

It was announced that process of GI tagging of Kishtwari blankets is in the final stage and government also intends to provide GI tag to Basohli Pashmina.’

https://www.5dariyanews.com/news/287070-Workshop-on-development-of-handloom-held, March 6, 2020

Electric bicycling trips were launched for the first time in the Nilgiris on Saturday. Backed by the tourism department, ‘BLive’, India’s first electric bike tourism venture, which has already made its presence felt in six other States across the country, launched their guided electric bicycling tours at the Taj Savoy here. Speaking to reporters at the launch of the event, Samarth Kholkar, CEO and co-founder of ‘BLive’, said that the tours will operate from the Taj Savoy Hotel and the Club Mahindra, Derby Green. “Our aim with the tours is to ensure that tourists visiting the Nilgiris get an immersive experience of the district, its flora and fauna, its scenic beauty, culture and history, while also doing so in a manner that does not negatively impact the environment,” said Mr. Kholkar. Tourists hoping to experience a guided electric-bicycling tour will be taken on routes that showcase the colonial architecture of the district. Those taking the tour will also be taken to a eucalyptus distillery, while the tour will also take visitors through tea plantations and forests and to also an indigenous Toda village, where they will be educated on the local culture of the tribe. “The tours are open to everyone, regardless of whether they stay at the two hotels where the bike hubs have been installed,” said Mr. Kholkar, who added that people of any age, be they just children or people as old as 75, can use the electric bicycles. Geetha Srinivasan, Convenor of Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) in the Nilgiris, who was a special guest at the launch event, reminisced about the lost charm of the Nilgiris, with booming construction and increasing tourist numbers, leading to more traffic and pollution having an impact on the air quality of the district. “It is not enough to have quantitative tourism, but what’s more important is to have quality tourism,” said Ms. Srinivasan, who added that the district’s residents must band together to insist on the district administration to ban diesel and petrol engine vehicles from the town’s roads once a month, so that walkers, cyclists and electric vehicle users can enjoy the roads. Shobana Chandrasekar, one of the founding members of the “Make Ooty Beautiful Project,” which is partnering with BLive, said that it was apparent that “Ooty was serving a far larger population than it can handle… Choosing electric bikes instead of cars and two-wheelers that use fossil fuels can significantly reduce air pollution while encouraging more tourists to stop using road-hogging vehicles and to using bicycles to see the Nilgiris differently,” she said. Also present at the event was Assistant Tourism Officer, Nilgiris district, Durga Devi, who said that the department welcomed such initiatives which encourage more sustainable tourism in the district. “We will also actively encourage visiting tourists who come to us for information to take these tours,” she said. Anita Nanjappa, another founder of the Make Ooty Beautiful Project as well as M.R. Srinivasan, former chairman of Indian Atomic Energy Commission, were also present at the event.

https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Coimbatore/e-bicycling-tours-launched-in-the-nilgiris/article31011888.ece, March 8, 2020

Cracks, encroachments and garbage mark four Qutb Shahi-era tombs in Shaikpet. An RTI query revealed that since these structures have not been declared as ‘protected’, the state department has washed its hands of them. An RTI response from the Department of Heritage, Telangana states that ‘the four tombs and two masjids constructed during the Qutb Shahi dynasty at Vinayak Nagar in Shaikpet, Golconda are not protected monuments of the department’.

The letter further absolves the department of any responsibility stating: “The department will look after and maintains (sic) the protected monuments only.” The reply was to a query by activist Sami Ahmed. In Telangana, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) takes responsibility of six monuments and two sites. Only two of the monuments are located in the city, leaving a large number of heritage structures ‘unprotected’.

Milan Kumar Chauley, superintending archaeologist, ASI, said that most heritage structures are divided into three categories: those of national importance that are maintained by the ASI; those of state importance that are maintained by the state; and those which are part of neither, a grey area, that requires the contribution of citizens as well NGOs. “Rather than focusing on monuments that are already protected and have adequate funds, NGOs and heritage groups should step up to help with minor monuments,” said Chauley. He said the state can, however, help save these structures by declaring the land around them to be government land, thereby help in preventing encroachments. Activist Mohammed Habeebuddin, who has for long been demanding the restoration of the Shaikpet tombs, said, "These structures are in a completely run-down state. What is worse is that encroachment is rampant with residential spaces cropping up adjoining the heritage property.” About the loss of heritage over time, Anuradha Reddy, INTACH, Hyderabad, convenor said, “The Hyderabad state archaeology department was established in 1914 by Nizam VII. Its first director was Dr Ghulam Yazdani who did a lot to protect heritage structures. At that time Hyderabad state had over 600 protected monuments including temples, masjids and forts.

Today in Telangana, the 300 and odd state protected monuments are in miserable condition due to the lack of staff and funds. If this is the condition of protected monuments, what about the fate of heritage structures that are not protected or documented."

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/four-qutb-shahi-era-structures-left-to-decay/articleshow/74558379.cms, March 10, 2020

East Godavari district officials are clearing the 115 acres of land with mangroves to make house sites to be distributed to the poor, according to environmentalists. The land belongs to the Port Department.

In the past, the Port authorities had allotted the land to industrialists on lease for building warehouses and also do business. There is nearly 126 acres of land out of which 5 acres of land has been allotted to Railways. Remaining land has not been given to the industries as there is a salt creek.

Later the mangroves were grown in the land, but it was not notified by the Forest Department. According to environmentalists, as the mangroves are grown in the lands though it was not notified, it should not be destroyed. As per central government laws and several court judgments, the mangroves should not be destroyed.

Conservationists accused the officials of showing overenthusiasm in clearing the land of mangroves to make it as house sites to be distributed to the poor on Ugadi. The land is proposed to be distributed as house sites to the poor under the housing scheme. Well-known environmentalist T Pathanjali Sastry said mangroves play important role in protecting sea shores from erosion, high winds and cyclone.

They are strategically located between the land and sea. He recalled that the Mumbai High Court had ordered that constructions within 50 metres on all sides of mangroves be stopped. The court also directed the Maharashtra government to collect crorer of rupees of fine from the District Collector due to destruction of the mangroves. He said that the District Collector should play a key role in protecting biodiversity and he should stop the levelling the mangroves and creeks. Meanwhile, already INTACH of East Godavari Chapter expressed concern over the destruction of mangroves.

https://www.thehansindia.com/andhra-pradesh/kakinada-environmentalists-object-to-clearing-mangroves-for-houses-sites-610624, March 9, 2020

In August 2019, a team of history enthusiasts had identified three prehistoric menhirs, dating between 1500 to 500 BC, on a private land in Anjur near Muthur in Erode district. Although the state archaeology department was informed about it, there was no response. On Friday, when the team revisited the place, it found that one of the menhirs in Anjur has been reduced to pieces.

"The menhir is destroyed. We don’t know if someone has deliberately done it or it happened due to natural causes, ” said Sakthi Prakash, a member of the team that identified the menhirs seven months ago. It was while conducting a survey as part of their documentation project on hero stones and menhirs that a team comprising Sakthi Prakash, S Veludharan, K Srinivasan and John Peter of the Kongu region found the menhirs lying neglected. All the three menhirs, one at Thindal and two at Anjur, near Muthur were not offered worship.

A menhir is a single prehistoric standing stone commonly found near the ancient burial sites or chambers. The exact role of menhirs is yet to be identified by researchers. The word menhir is of Celtic origin men ‘stone’ and hir ‘long’. The menhirs in Erode attain significance as the sites lie near Kodumanal, a prehistoric site. The menhir located in Thindal was 14-foot-tall and 5-foot-wide, while the two menhirs found in Anjur were 9-foot-tall each.

"One of the menhirs found in Anjur has been destroyed, but the other one has not faced any threat so far. The local people don’t know the significance of menhirs and they think they are just remains of a huge rock. We have time to protect the two if the state archaeology department gets into action immediately,” she said. Archaeologists differ when it comes to the role of menhirs in the life of prehistoric human beings.

While some say they are closely related to the burial rituals as many are found with dolmens, others believe that menhirs were erected to protect the frontier. K T Gandhirajan, who discovered many prehistoric rock art paintings across Tamil Nadu, says the Kongu region of Tamil Nadu has a lot of menhirs. “The non-worshiping menhirs found in Tamil Nadu are under threat due to vandalism and urbanisation. Those under worship are safe at least. At some places people worship the menhir as ‘vedan samy’ (hunter god). If immediate care is not taken, the vandals or the real estate people may break them into pieces soon," he says. Even though one of the menhirs in Anjur has been reduced to pieces, Sakthi wants the state government to preserve at least the remains of it.

“The pieces of it should be preserved and if possible be displayed at a museum with the photographs taken before its destruction. It will create awareness about this prehistoric piece of art,” she said.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/prehistoric-menhir-found-destroyed-in-erode/articleshow/74558804.cms, March 10, 2020

Team of historical researchers have discovered a Vijayanagar period inscription at Baradakallu Bole in Kadali, near Mahalingeshwara Temple of Iduru-Kunjadi village in Kundapura taluk of Udupi. The inscription belongs to Sangama dynasty of Vijayanagar empire. Issued by Bukka I, it records epithets of Bukka II in glowing terms. During his tenure, his prime minister Goparasa Odeya was said to be ruling Barakuru as a governor.

The team led by T Murugeshi, associate professor, ancient history and archaeology, M S R S College, Shirva said the recorded date on the inscription is the Saka year 1290, Kilaka Samvat, which corresponds to 1368 AD. This date is supported by other records of Goparasa Odeya who was governing Barakuru between 1366 AD to 1373 AD, Murugeshi said. On historical significance of the record, Murugeshi said Kolluru is a great centre of Shakta cult and celebrated centre of Shakti worship in India. The epigraph under study records the seize of Kolluru fort.

It is said that 12 ‘yakkala’ (tenants) baliyavaru, Nada Nalvaru (four officials of Nadu) and Senabova (a village official) Tippa laid seize to the fort of Kollur and in that event a soldier named Kadada Mutta died in the fighting. To support the cause of deceased, Goparasa Odeya gave a kind of ‘Manya’ (grant).

At the end of the record, the place of record Kadali is mentioned as Kaduvali and in local dialect it has become Kadali. The record does not say anything about cause of seize, results of seize and against whom it was fought. But, an inscription from Uppunda mentions an independent king Katarasa, an associate of king Kolarasa and an official Anna Senabova who were ruling in and around Kolluru as contemporaries to Vijayanagar in 1377 AD.

Later in 1480 AD, Kolluru came under the control of Vijayanagar, Murugeshi said. He thanked Kadali Sridhara Udupa, Ramananda Madhyasta, Chandra Shetty of Hosur High School, Vandaballi Sudhakara Shetty and Kolluru Murulidhara Hegade for their support and his students Prajna, Rakshitha and Suraksha for their work.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mysuru/karnataka-vijayanagara-period-inscription-found-in-kundapura-taluk/articleshow/74564881.cms, March 10, 2020

A special heritage walk was held in the campus of the historic Patna Collectorate on Sunday, seeking to highlight its historical and architectural value and promote preservation of the built legacy in the city. A special heritage walk was held in the campus of the historic Patna Collectorate on Sunday, seeking to highlight its historical and architectural value and promote preservation of the built legacy in the city. The event 'Walk for Patna Collectorate' was attended by a group of students, professionals, photographers, lawyers and journalists. The walking trail began from Christ Church, a Gothic-design church built in 1852, and traversed through Dutch-era and British-built buildings of the collectorate before culminating at DM Office Building. The over two-hour-long event was organised by 'Save Historic Patna Collectorate', a people's movement to promote heritage preservation in Bihar, to mark the International Women's Day. "We wanted to highlight the historic values of the Patna Collectorate, and raise awareness among the people, seeking their support for its preservation, as its future currently hangs in the balance. At the same time, we wanted to highlight the plight of these buildings in urgent need of upkeep," said Patna-based lawyer Kumar Shanu, 26, a core member of the organising team. The US-educated advocate said even in New York such people-led movements have brought an ethos of historic preservation. The Bihar government had in 2016 proposed to demolish the old Patna Collectorate for a new high-rise complex, triggering public outcry and appeals from various quarters in India and abroad to spare the demolition and preserve it as a "signpost of Patna's history". Subsequently, the Indian National Trust for Art and Culture (INTACH) had last year filed two petitions in the Patna High Court challenging the demolition proposal and seeking constitution of a Bihar heritage commission. The Patna High Court on Thursday had fixed March 17 as the next date of hearing in the case of demolition of the collectorate. Situ Tiwari, a city-based journalist who works with a leading international media organisation, said, "My knowledge about Patna's modern history and Patna Collectorate's heritage increased manifold after the walk". "I felt very ashamed, and it was at two levels. First, the state government has largely failed in preserving the heritage using it for tourism and employment generation," Tiwari rued. "Secondly, we residents hardly know our own city. Crumbling old buildings, vintage road rollers dumped, and Burmese teak benches rotting in the open put us to shame that we have failed in preserving the historic fabric of the city," she said.

She was referring to the vintage seating benches dumped in the open in the premises of the Patna Collectorate. These benches were once kept in the iconic Meeting Hall of the Patna District Board building constructed in 1938. The Patna Collectorate complex, parts of which are over 250 years old, is situated on the banks of the Ganga and is endowed with high ceilings, huge doors and hanging skylights. The collectorate is one of the last surviving signatures of Dutch architecture in the Bihar capital, especially the Record Room and the old District Engineer's Office. Neel Madhav, a Patna native who studies at Delhi University was also among those who took part in the walk.

"If we youth do not take the lead role in preserving our own heritage, who else will. The government had allowed this historic building to decay and then proposed the demolition. Heritage does not belong to a person or government, it is for the future generations, and we must come forward to save it," he said. Anish Kumar Singh, 31, a photographer, who also attended the walk, said, the "event was an eye-opener". "We Patna people have become blind and insensitive towards our own heritage. These buildings should have been celebrated after restoring them as a cultural and recreational hub. A new collectorate building can be built elsewhere," he said. Historians, urban planners, conservation architects and other heritage experts have been appealing to the Nitish Kumar government to not dismantle the collectorate, saying it will "set a very bad precedent" and "jeopardise" the fate of other colonial-era buildings.

After hearing the two PILs filed by INTACH, the Patna High Court had last September stayed the proposed demolition of the government complex while restraining the state authorities from "causing any harm to the collectorate building until further orders", bringing some relief to the heritage lovers. Parts of Oscar-winning film 'Gandhi' was shot in the Dutch-era Record Room and British-era DM Office.

https://www.republicworld.com/india-news/city-news/heritage-walk-held-to-save-iconic-patna-collectorate.html, March 12, 2020

The iconic 19th century lighthouse, a Grade -I listed heritage building on the Beach Promenade, will soon regain its old glory with the Union Ministry of Finance giving the green light for its restoration. The Central Public Works Department (CPWD) will take up the work estimated to cost ₹3.32 crore. The renovated lighthouse is expected to be open to tourists by March 2021. The 184-year-old heritage structure is a landmark that cannot be missed by tourists along Goubert Avenue. It forms part of an ensemble of important buildings such as the Mairie, Customs House and the French Consulate.

“The restoration work includes replacement of rafters and beams and re-plastering of the structure. CPWD will be taking up landscaping with proper pathways and greenery. Once the restoration is complete, the structure is going to be the pride of Puducherry and will be an added attraction on the Boulevard. Anybody who visits Puducherry must make it a point to visit the lighthouse said G. Ravindranath, Commissioner of GST and Central Excise.

The old lighthouse is said to be the highest point in Puducherry and the Department of Customs and Central Excise (C&CE) — which controls the building and has offices in a portion of it, is studying the feasibility of keeping tripod mounted binoculars near the dome for an aerial view of the city.

Tourists will be allowed in small batches in intervals and we are planning to bring out souvenirs including small replicas, key chains and T-shirts of the structure, he said.

First on east coast
Built by the French in 1836 to guide the mariners coming to Puducherry, the old lighthouse is said to be the first lighthouse on the coromandel coast and one among the 21 heritage buildings notified by the government as protected and to be restored. “In March 1836, the lighthouse was erected by engineer L. Guerre. It started off with 12 oil lamps magnified by lenses and mirrors and the light was visible to a distance of 15 to 17 metres. The oil lamps were later replaced by a rotating battery-powered beam that could be seen 25 metres away. The lighthouse was last deactivated in 1979,” according to Ashok Panda, co-convenor of Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH). The lighthouse is a landmark that cannot be missed by tourists along Goubert Avenue. It is a load-bearing structure with Madras terrace and was built in brick and lime mortar with lime plaster. The fluted tapering tower standing tall about 29 metres was originally built on a square base with a room for a watchman and an inner staircase. The upper storey with 218 wooden steps leading to the tower was added during the 20th century, Mr. Panda said. Suggestions invited Mr. Ravindranath said locals could come up with innovative ideas and suggestions on how best we could improve the experience of tourists visiting the lighthouse. Once the restoration is complete, the structure will also be lit up with architectural lighting on special occasions to enhance its beauty.

https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/puducherry/old-lighthouse-to-be-renovated/article31028586.ece, March 12, 2020

A special heritage walk was held in the campus of the historic Patna Collectorate on Sunday, seeking to highlight its historical and architectural value and promote preservation of the built legacy in the city. The event ''Walk for Patna Collectorate'' was attended by a group of students, professionals, photographers, lawyers and journalists.

The walking trail began from Christ Church, a Gothic-design church built in 1852, and traversed through Dutch-era and British-built buildings of the collectorate before culminating at DM Office Building.

The over two-hour-long event was organised by ''Save Historic Patna Collectorate'', a people''s movement to promote heritage preservation in Bihar, to mark the International Women''s Day. "We wanted to highlight the historic values of the Patna Collectorate, and raise awareness among the people, seeking their support for its preservation, as its future currently hangs in the balance. At the same time, we wanted to highlight the plight of these buildings in urgent need of upkeep," said Patna-based lawyer Kumar Shanu, 26, a core member of the organising team. The US-educated advocate said even in New York such people-led movement have brought an ethos of historic preservation.

The Bihar government had in 2016 proposed to demolish the old Patna Collectorate for a new high-rise complex, triggering public outcry and appeals from various quarters in India and abroad to spare the demolition and preserve it as a "signpost of Patna''s history". Subsequently, the Indian National Trust for Art and Culture (INTACH) had last year filed two petitions in the Patna High Court challenging the demolition proposal and seeking constitution of a Bihar heritage commission. The Patna High Court on Thursday had fixed March 17 as the next date of hearing in the case of demolition of the collectorate. Situ Tiwari, a city-based journalist who works with a leading international media organisation, said, "My knowledge about Patna''s modern history and Patna Collectorate''s heritage increased manifold after the walk". "I felt very ashamed, and it was at two levels. First, the state government has largely failed in preserving the heritage using it for tourism and employment generation," Tiwari rued. "Secondly, we residents hardly know our own city.

Crumbling old buildings, vintage road rollers dumped, and Burmese teak benches rotting in the open put us to shame that we have failed in preserving the historic fabric of the city," she said. She was referring to the vintage seating benches dumped in the open in the premises of the Patna Collectorate. These benches were once kept in the iconic Meeting Hall of the Patna District Board building constructed in 1938. The Patna Collectorate complex, parts of which are over 250 years old, is situated on the banks of the Ganga and is endowed with high ceilings, huge doors and hanging skylights. The collectorate is one of the last surviving signatures of Dutch architecture in the Bihar capital, especially the Record Room and the old District Engineer''s Office. Neel Madhav, a Patna native who studies at Delhi University was also among those who took part in the walk. "If we youth do not take the lead role in preserving our own heritage, who else will.

The government had allowed this historic building to decay and then proposed the demolition. Heritage does not belong to a person or government, it is for the future generations, and we must come forward to save it," he said. Anish Kumar Singh, 31, a photographer, who also attended the walk, said, the "event was an eye-opener". "We Patna people have become blind and insensitive towards our own heritage. These buildings should have been celebrated after restoring them as a cultural and recreational hub. A new collectorate building can be built elsewhere," he said.

Historians, urban planners, conservation architects and other heritage experts have been appealing to the Nitish Kumar government to not dismantle the collectorate, saying it will "set a very bad precedent" and "jeopardise" the fate of other colonial-era buildings. After hearing the two PILs filed by INTACH, the Patna High Court had last September stayed the proposed demolition of the government complex while restraining the state authorities from "causing any harm to the collectorate building until further orders", bringing some relief to the heritage lovers.

Parts of Oscar-winning film ''Gandhi'' was shot in the Dutch-era Record Room and British-era DM Office. PTI KND ANB ANB ANB

https://www.outlookindia.com/newsscroll/heritage-walk-held-to-save-iconic-patna-collectorate/1756019, March 13, 2020

International Day of Action for Rivers is celebrated on 14 March to raise awareness about the importance of rivers and climate change. Let us read in detail International Day of Action for Rivers, 2020 theme, its history and some facts about international river projects. It is a day when diverse communities and individuals around the globe come together to raise voice against the destructive water development projects, health and sustainable management of the watersheds. The day was earlier known as International Day against Dams, for Rivers, Water, and Life. In India also several projects are started for the conservation of rivers or against dam construction. The Narmada Bachao Andolan was one of them.

International Day of Action for Rivers 2020: Theme
The International Day of Action for Rivers 2020 theme is “Women, Water, and Climate Change”. As last year around 100 women from 32 countries provided their efforts to protect and defend rivers. They gathered at the first Women and Rivers Congress with a message: "In this time of climate crisis, floods and droughts, and growing water scarcity, protecting rivers and people are ever more urgent. We honor the women who have given their lives in the struggle to save our rivers for all who depend on them.

We stand on the shoulders of women who have long been leaders in this movement. We join hands with local and indigenous communities who continue to face enormous peril in safeguarding their water and territories.

We commit to continuing our fight to protect free-flowing rivers and the lands, forests, and territories they sustain, to ensure women’s leadership in decision-making at all levels over freshwater resources, and to strengthen and build alliances and grow our movement – for the future of ourselves as women, our families and communities, our rivers and our planet."

International Day of Action for Rivers: History
The participants of the First International Meeting of People Affected by Dams held in March 1997 in Curitiba Brazil adopted the International Day of Action Against Dams and For Rivers, Water and Life. 20 countries representatives had decided that the International Day of Action would take place on 14 March Brazil's Day of Action Against Large Dams.

The main objective behind generating this day is to raise voices in unison against destructive water development projects, reclaim the health of watersheds and demand for equitable and sustainable management of our rivers. International Day of Action for Rivers 2020: Celebrations
On 14 March, 2020, 22nd International Day of Action for Rivers will be celebrated.

It is to be noted that the World Health Organisation (WHO) on 11 March, 2020 declared COVID-19, a global pandemic. Therefore, to keep communities safe, International Rivers advised to cancel in-person events and switched to online/at-home alternatives.

Ways to celebrate are as follows:
- To launch a photo campaign. Ask your friends, group supporters to post a photo of your favourite river with themselves or a photo of yours by holding a sign about a river, while using hashtags #DayofActionforRivers and #RiversUniteUs.

- To organise a "remote" phone banking party! That is to give a call to your network or group supporters targeting public officials with your events call-to-action.

- Invite your friend’s family members and throw a party to celebrate the importance of rivers.

- To honour the rivers, you can organise a personal prayer ceremony, ritual and any other grounding exercise that you feel to do, etc. International Rivers with time developed a series of regional and national networks of dam-affected people and their allies. Some of them are listed below:Africa: In Africa, the African Rivers Network (ARN) a network of dam affected peoples and NGOs are working on river and dam related issues.

The goal of ARN's is to promote solidarity among member groups; amplify the voices of participants, continent-wide discussions; and to promote the recommendations of the World Commission on Dams (WCD) mainly for more participatory methods of dam planning. The first meeting of ARN's was held in 2003 focused on illustrating the need for a grassroots river-issues network. Let us tell you that International Rivers is an active member of ARN.

Latin America: International Rivers is also a founding member of Redlar, the Latin American Network Against Dams and for Rivers, Communities and Water. Redlar consists of more than 250 indigenous, environmental, human rights and women's organizations from 19 countries in Latin America. Basically, it works to generate strategies to confront the threats of hydropower development across Latin America. International Rivers also works with several national and regional networks in Mexico, Mesoamerica, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador and other parts of Latin America.

Southeast Asia-Mekong: Several civil society organisations, academics, and community movements in Mekong region from Burma, Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam have built determined coalitions at the national level and worked towards defending the region's rivers. It is also supported at a global level.

International Rivers throughout the Mekong region works with groups and support their efforts to protect its life-giving rivers.

South Asia: HYPHEN comprises the Himalayan and Peninsular Hydro-Ecological Network. It was established in 2007 and its aim is to work on dam projects in countries including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burma, Bhutan, China, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

The work of Hyphen is to provide training, conducts research and campaigns for the conservation of Himalayan and Peninsular rivers, coasts and wetlands, and also addressed the problem of climate change.

North America: Since 1973, American Rivers has protected or restored more than 150,000 miles of rivers throughout the U.S. Therefore, the International Day of Action for Rivers is observed on 14 March to raise awareness about the importance of rivers and to raise voice to conserve rivers and work towards sustainable development.

https://www.jagranjosh.com/general-knowledge/international-day-of-action-for-rivers-1584084523-1, March 13, 2020

Over 320 instances of encroachments have been reported at centrally protected monuments in the country and 24 monuments remain untraceable, Union Minister of Culture Prahlad Singh Patel informed Lok Sabha on Monday. In reply to a query on whether the government has prepared a database of all monuments of national and international importance, the minister said the National Mission on Monuments and Antiquities has documented about 1,83,345 built heritage sites from various secondary sources in uniform format for its database, including the centrally protected and unprotected monuments. The state-wise monuments of national importance protected by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is 3,691, he said.

"There are instances of encroachments at 321 centrally protected monuments. Besides, the Archaeological Survey of India has a list of 24 monuments which remain untraceable," Patel informed the Lower House.

The Archaeological Survey of India has made efforts to locate and identify the untraceable monuments through field offices based on inspection, old records, revenue maps and published reports, he said. Meanwhile the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), has identified and documented till date about 70,000 heritage properties in approximately 500 towns.

The list not only includes ASI and state archaeology protected buildings (national and state importance), but also buildings and sites of regional and local significance, the minister added.

https://www.outlookindia.com/newsscroll/320-instances-of-encroachment-at-centrally-protected-sites-24-monuments-untraceable-govt/1763191, March 16, 2020

After the state government decided to raze Patna Collectorate in February 2016, the civil society and the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) opposed the move. Vidya Bhushan Mahto holds a bunch of 150-odd keys to different doors in the five majestic buildings at Patna Collectorate. Besides doors, these keys also unlock a 250-year-old history dating back to the Dutch rule.

A fourth grade staff at Patna Collectorate, Mahto, is among several staffers who now want to know if the buildings, built in Dutch and British architectural styles, face a demolition threat. Several offices have been shifted out of the buildings in the past one year. After the state government decided to raze Patna Collectorate in February 2016, the civil society and the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) opposed the move.

Also, the then Dutch ambassador Alphonsus Stoelinga wrote to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, urging him to preserve the “shared heritage”. The structure is associated with the Oscar-winning film Gandhi. In one scene, Mahatma Gandhi refuses to pay Rs 100 as fine to the court for allegedly disturbing peace and the judge still grants him bail. Gandhi walks out of the courtroom and waves to the crowd from the first-floor verandah.

That scene was shot in what is now the DM office hall. The front building, a structure with big pillars, was shown as Motihari jail in the film. Arvind Mandal (57), who has been selling tea at the collectorate since 1968, recalled that when artificial rain was used during the shooting, the film crew would give umbrellas to the people gathered to watch. Even though there was no move to raze the buildings following the uproar in 2016, the Patna administration kept shifting offices to other locations. When a signboard of “New Patna Collectorate” came up on the premises in 2018, apprehensions of an impending demolition loomed large. After meetings with government officials did not yield results, INTACH filed two PILs in August 2019.

While the state government told the Patna High Court that the building was neither a protected ASI monument nor on the list of state’s ancient buildings to be preserved, INTACH argued that it was only because the state government never pushed for its inclusion. The High Court will hear the matter on March 18. The collectorate building was built by Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, also known as Dutch East India Company. It used as an observation stations during the Great Trigonometrical Survey, a landmark project of the 19th century that aimed to measure the entire Indian subcontinent with scientific precision. The British got the trading post of Patna after the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of March 17, 1824. Earlier in 1620, the collectorate area had been under control of Dutch.

It later went to the British and again returned to Dutch till the treaty finally gave control to the British. The old collectorate buildings previously housed Court of Appeal and from late 1850s, it has been serving as the Patna Collectorate. Out of the five buildings, two are in Dutch architectural style, one is in Anglo-Dutch and two English. The Dutch-era record room has high ceilings and majestic colonnade of Tuscan pillars in the facade and eight pillars inside. This is the oldest building of the complex.

The Old District Engineer’s Office building is also from the Dutch-era and has high ceilings and hanging skylights. The DM Office building and the 1938-built District Board Patna building are of the British period. The meeting hall of the District Board Patna building has iconic flat Corinthian columns on its inside. The hall is surrounded by a circumambulating corridor. The ceiling of the hall was removed in 2018 after leakage. But its walls still look sturdy. Several employees working here say there is no need to demolish and reconstruct the building and a proper restoration would be enough.

Kunal Dutt, an independent researcher who has been associated with the campaign against the planned demolition, said, “Patna Collectorate with its rich history can be preserved and augmented as a part of Gandhi Circuit with Gandhi Maidan, Gandhi Sangrahalay, Bapu Sabhagar and Khadi Mall in a 1 km range. An Oscar corner could be developed in front of the building where the Gandhi film scene was shot.” INTACH’s Patna chapter convenor JK Lall said the Dutch history was “being presented in a non-serious way, labelling it just as a warehouse and a godown of opium to justify its razing”. Opium was the main traded commodity in Patna, a key port city in those days. Hence, the collectorate was an important part of the layers of the city’s history and the evolution of riverine trade. The two PILs filed by INTACH, which were later clubbed, the petitioner requests the court to direct state authorities to constitute a "Bihar Urban Arts and Heritage Commission” as per Section 77 of the Bihar Urban Planning and Development Act, 2012.

The second petition requests the court to direct authorities to earmark heritage buildings in the state and frame policies for their conservation and protection. The government has not refused to constitute the commission and has stated that necessary notification would be issued soon after the approval of competent authority.

https://indianexpress.com/article/india/campaign-against-bihar-govt-plan-to-raze-heritage-patna-collectorate-building-6317868/, March 16, 2020

Danthapuri village in Srikakulam district, believed to be once the capital of the Kalinga kings, faces the prospect of being taken over for development work. The site, over two millennia old, is also home to Buddha’s relic (tooth) and an important site in Buddhist history. A team of members from Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (Intach)-Visakhapatnam chapter and other heritage enthusiasts from Vizag were at the site as part of a recent visit to other historical locations in Srikakulam district. “The walls of the old fortification were being dug up.
In some places, these walls are almost eight metres wide. Though the Buddhist stupas situated within the fortification were not touched, the walls were being levelled to lay plots,” said P Prasad, Intach member. K Chitti Babu, former assistant director of the department of archaeology and museums, Visakhapatnam zone, said, “This is one of the most important Buddhist sites. It was here after the Kalinga war that Ashoka was introduced to the tenets of Buddhism.

The city was first mentioned in Buddhist Jataka tales (around fourth century BC) and was also the capital of ancient Kalinga, till the capital was shifted to Srimukhalingam by the Eastern Ganga. The entire site including the moat and fortifications are spread over 600 acres. The site was also identified in the 19th century by the founder of Archaeological Survey of India, Sir Alexander Cunningham. Ironically, it is not a protected site."

S Venkata Rao, assistant director of the department of archaeology and museums, added, “In the late-1990s, the AP archaeology and museums department conducted excavations, after which Buddhist stupas were found. Later, the department had written to the revenue department to hand over the site to the AP archaeology department for protection, but the site, which was under partly under private occupation (chiefly agriculture) and government occupation was never acquired.” When asked if the department had received any news of the development of housing sites by the government, Venkata Rao said, “Yes we did get information about it and have appealed to the district collector urging him to protect the fort walls. We are yet to get a reply.” When contacted, the district revenue officer, Srikakulam, Balivada Dayanidhi said, “As far as I know, work on the fort site has stopped.” Locals, however, claim that the sites have been readied and will be handed over by Ugadi. S Kiran Kumar, tehsildar of Saribujjilli mandal, said, “Roughly two acres of plots were made ready, however due to objections raised by the archaeology department, work has stopped.

The work was carried out adjacent to the wall. However, it must be noted that this was under occupation (though a government site). The collector has issued orders to stop the work till further clarification."

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/visakhapatnam/realty-check-for-once-kalinga-capital/articleshow/74662159.cms, March 16, 2020

The excavation at Konthagai near Keeladi at Thirupuvanam in Sivaganga district continues to strengthen the teheory that it was the burial site of the Keeladi civilization as eight burial urns have been found in a single trench by archaeologists. The state archaeology department has initiated excavation in Konthagai, Agaram and Manalur besides Keeladi.

Works had begun at Keeladi and Konthagai soon after chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami inaugurated the sixth phase of excavation on February 19. With archaeologists digging to a depth of about 4 feet in the past three weeks, interesting findings have started to emerge. Burial urns are being found at many places in Konthagai. The top portions of eight burial urns have surfaced in a cluster in one pit at Konthagai. Broken pieces of pottery and a cone-shaped lid-like pottery has also been discovered. Two trenches have been dug at this spot till date.

As ancient urns may be fragile, archaeologists are taking steps to ensure that they do not get damaged and erecting roof-like structures above the sites to protect them from direct sunlight. The smaller pots found near the urns seem to have a more sturdier and thicker mouth portion for better grip. Keeladi also continues to bring out interesting facts like a wall of bricks, first revealed during the second phase of excavation conducted by Archaeological Survey of India.

A similar structure was found by the state archaeology department in the fifth phase and the continuation of this structure is being revealed now. While brick structures in Keeladi were found many feet apart, Konthagai seems to bring out many urns in a smaller area. Archaeologists say it would be interesting when the entire two acre area is excavated. Ground breaking ceremony for the excavation at Agaram village was conducted two days ago while Manalur is to be taken up for excavation soon.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/madurai/more-burial-urns-unearthed-in-konthagai/articleshow/74632538.cms, March 16, 2020

The Portcullis House of Commons, British Parliament celebrated the Linguistic Diversity of India marking the 20th anniversary of the International Mother Language Day on March 13, 2020.

Hosted by MP Bob Blackman and organized by Sanskriti Centre for Cultural Excellence, poems of 17 Indian languages were presented at the event, including the recitations of Assamese and Bishnupriya Manipuri (BM) poems.

While Assamese poems were recited by Tonoya Choudhury Baruah, the recorded version of a Bishnupriya Manipuri poem of Dils Lakshmindra Sinha – Ima Thar (mother tongue) – was recited by Leina Jarina, a press statement issued by Anita Sinha, wife of poet Dils Lakshmindra Sinha, said. The Bishnupriya Manipuri language is one that has been listed as an endangered language by the UNESCO, and as such the thrust at the event was given on this language.

https://www.sentinelassam.com/guwahati-city/assamese-bishnupriya-manipuri-bm-poems-recited-in-british-house/, March 16, 2020

The collectorate building was built by Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, or the Dutch East India Company. (Photo by Ashok Sinha) Vidya Bhushan Mahto holds a bunch of 150-odd keys to different doors in the five majestic buildings at Patna Collectorate. Besides doors, these keys also unlock a 250-year-old history dating back to the Dutch rule. A fourth grade staff at Patna Collectorate, Mahto, is among several staffers who now want to know if the buildings, built in Dutch and British architectural styles, face a demolition threat. Several offices have been shifted out of the buildings in the past one year.

After the state government decided to raze Patna Collectorate in February 2016, the civil society and the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) opposed the move. Also, the then Dutch ambassador Alphonsus Stoelinga wrote to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, urging him to preserve the "shared heritage".

After the state government decided to raze Patna Collectorate in February 2016, the civil society and the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) opposed the move. (Photo by Ashok Sinha) The structure is associated with the Oscar-winning film Gandhi. In one scene, Mahatma Gandhi refuses to pay Rs 100 as fine to the court for allegedly disturbing peace and the judge still grants him bail. Gandhi walks out of the courtroom and waves to the crowd from the first-floor verandah. That scene was shot in what is now the DM office hall. The front building, a structure with big pillars, was shown as Motihari jail in the film. Arvind Mandal (57), who has been selling tea at the collectorate since 1968, recalled that when artificial rain was used during the shooting, the film crew would give umbrellas to the people gathered to watch. Even though there was no move to raze the buildings following the uproar in 2016, the Patna administration kept shifting offices to other locations.

When a signboard of "New Patna Collectorate" came up on the premises in 2018, apprehensions of an impending demolition loomed large. After meetings with government officials did not yield results, INTACH filed two PILs in August 2019. While the state government told the Patna High Court that the building was neither a protected ASI monument nor on the list of state's ancient buildings to be preserved, INTACH argued that it was only because the state government never pushed for its inclusion. The High Court will hear the matter on March 18.

https://in.news.yahoo.com/campaign-against-bihar-govt-plan-222041840.html, March 17, 2020

Foundations of a Chalukyan temple built in the seventh Century were noticed in and around Terala village under Veldurthi mandal in Guntur district on Tuesday. The historical remains were discovered by archaeologist and CEO, The Cultural Centre of Vijayawada and Amaravati (CCVA) Dr E Sivanagi Reddy conducted explorations in and around Terala village. He said he had spotted the remains of a foundation course of the Garbhagriha (Sanctum Sanctorium ) and the door Jams ofthe temple as part of the heritage awareness campaign taken up by the CCVA.

After close examination of the sculpture and based on the Telugu inscription of Jayasimha-1 (643– 672 AD), son of Kubja Vishnu Vardhana, the founder of the Vengi or Eastern Chalukyan dynasty at Terala and also on the Architectural features of Rupulamma temple located very close to the find spot, he said that the remains belonged to 7th century AD and felt the temple has both archaeological and historical significance and the remains must be preserved.

Dr Sivanagi Reddy exhorted villagers of Terala to preserve the historical remains for posterity and requested the officials of the State Department of Archaeology and Museums to conduct scientific excavations at the spot to expose the buried antiquarian remains to view and assess the nature of the temple structure.

He also appealed to the government to shi the Rupulamma temple built in Badami Chalukyan style of architecture, and the only example available in Palnadu region, which is buried up to the roof level in the silt of the local tank, to a higher contour and reconstruct it on modern foundations as part of salvage archaeological operations. Ch Srinivasachary, sculptor and Jaganadhacharyulu, Agama Pandit from Durgi participated in the exploration he added

https://www.thehansindia.com/andhra-pradesh/remains-of-7th-century-chalukyan-temple-found-in-guntur-district-612497, March 17, 2020

In the wake of the intensifying Covid-19 pandemic, many of the world’s most venerable art institutions have been forced to temporarily shut their doors. Luckily, that doesn’t mean that we’ve lost access to the countless treasures housed by these great museums. Thanks to the extensive Google Arts & Culture project, more than 2,500 spaces from around the world are accessible online, and many offer virtual tours of their holdings. Here are 14 of our favorites.

MoMA, New York
Founded in 1929, the Museum of Modern Art was the first museum dedicated to collecting and presenting art from the modern era. The institution’s holdings showcase some of contemporary art history’s most famous paintings, from the likes of Van Gogh and Picasso. Google may only present 129 of those artworks, but they are some of the world’s most notable, including Henri Rousseau’s The Dream, Van Gogh’s The Starry Night, Cézanne’s The Bather.

Musée d’Orsay, Paris
A staple of Paris’s art scene, the Musée d’Orsay was built in 1900 in a former railway station and has since focused its collection on art from 1848 to 1914. Peruse the virtual exhibition and 278 other pieces on Google, which include Van Gogh’s Bedroom in Arles, Degas’s The Ballet Class and Millet’s Gleaners.

Uffizi Gallery, Florence
Designed by Giorgio Vasari in 1560 for a member of the powerful Medici family, the Uffizi Gallery is a standout even among Florence’s many storied institutions. Built over centuries, its holdings include some of Italy’s most important works from artists like Caravaggio (Medusa) and Raphael (Madonna of the Goldfinch). You can peruse 156 of them virtually.

The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Featuring works from the eighth through to the 21st century, The J. Paul Getty Museum houses its collection in one of Los Angeles’s most striking buildings, with sweeping views of the city. Though visitors may not be able to appreciate either of those features in person, Google allows you to view nearly 16,000 pieces from the museum’s extensive holdings, including Rembrandt’s Rembrandt Laughing, Renoir’s La Promenade and Van Gough’s Irises.

National Museum, New Delhi The National Museum has been India’s premier museum since opening its doors in 1949. Today, it is home to thousands of works of art spanning 5,000 years of history, including painting, sculpture, jewelry, ancient texts, armor and decorative arts. Over 600 of those items are documented for viewing online.

The Art Institute of Chicago
Home to one of the largest permanent collections of any museum in the United States, The Art Institute of Chicago houses 260,000 pieces of art from across the centuries. Nearly 600 of those works are made accessible digitally through the Arts & Culture initiative, including Mary Cassatt’s The Child’s Bath, Cézanne’s The Basket of Apples and Julia Margaret Cameron’s portrait of Julia Jackson.

Georgia O’Keefe Museum, Santa Fe
A singularly American artist, Georgia O’Keefe famously lived her later years in the New Mexico desert, where the museum dedicated to her remains. The organization behind the institution advocates for the advancement of her legacy and also cares for many of O’Keefe’s paintings, 30 of which are viewable online, including Above the Clouds 1, Autumn Trees-The Maple and Two Pink Shells.

Detroit Institute of Arts
One of the Midwest’s artistic crown jewels, the Detroit Institute of Arts houses an incredible collection––one of the top six in the United States––under its Beaux-Arts roof. Among its most notable holdings accessible online are Frida Kahlo’s Self-Portrait on the Borderline Between Mexico and the United States, Caravaggio’s Marth and Mary Magdalene, and Ruysch’s Flowers in a Glass Vase.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Arguably America’s premier museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art is a New York icon with one of the most celebrated collections anywhere in the world. Twenty-six virtual exhibits and over 200,000 documented works give digital viewers a taste of pretty much any art from nearly any era, from Pieter Bruegel The Elder’s The Harvesters to Chanel’s iconic suit.

Museo Frida Kahlo, Mexico City
La Casa Azul is where acclaimed artist Frida Kahlo lived and died. It is also home to the museum honoring her life and artistic legacy. Nearly 70 examples of Kahlo’s personal effects, artworks and attire are accessible digitally, including the body cast she famously painted while ill and Self-Portrait Wearing a Velvet Dress.

Tate Britain, London
One of the UK’s most respected museums, the Tate was opened in 1897 and has built perhaps the foremost collection of British art dating back to the the Tudor era and including a large holding of J.M.W. Turner’s work. Two-hundred and seventy works of arts––from Dante Gabriel Rosetti’s Proserpine to Millais’s Ophelia––are available through Google.

La Galleria Nazionale, Rome
With over 20,000 artworks, La Galleria Nazionale’s collection includes pieces from antiquity to more contemporary works belonging to the Futurism and Surrealism movements. Nearly 500 works from its collection are digitally documented, including Monet’s Ninfee Rosa, Antonio Canova’s Ercole e Lica and Boldini’s Ritratto di Mademoiselle Lanthèlme.

Rijks Museum, Amsterdam
If Vermeer or Rembrandt ranks among your favorite artists, Amsterdam’s Rijks Museum is a must. A whopping 164,511 pieces of artwork from the revered institution are available for viewing in high-definition via Google’s platform. Notable examples include Vermeer’s The milkmaid, Rembrandt’s Self Portrait and Verspronck’s Portrait of a Girl Dressed in Blue.

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
Founded in 1937, the Guggenheim is among the world’s foremost institutions dedicated to fostering an understanding of contemporary art and architecture. Over 200 works from its impressive holdings are viewable through Google’s portal, including Glenn Ligon’s Prisoner of Love #2 and Julieta Aranda’s Two shakes, a tick and a jiffy.

https://robbreport.com/lifestyle/news/14-virtual-museum-to-visit-during-social-distancing-and-quarantine-2905827/, March 17, 2020

PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry recently organised the 9th International Heritage Tourism Conclave with the theme ‘Achieving SDG 11.4: Strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the world’s cultural and natural heritage’. The programme was supported by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India. Sakir Ozkan Torunlar, Ambassador, Embassy of the Republic of Turkey; Radu Octavian Dobre, Ambassador, Embassy of Romania in the Republic of India; Dato Hidayat Abdul Hamid, High Commissioner, High Commission of Malaysia were present at the programme and shared the heritage tourism potential of their respective countries. PHD Chamber and its Knowledge Partner- Nielsen India jointly released a Knowledge Report titled ‘Heritage Tourism in India and SDG 11.4: Stakeholders’ Perspective’. The report gives a holistic view on heritage tourism across the world and in the country.

The report provides ample scope and opportunities towards preservation of world’s cultural and natural heritage. While setting the theme of the Conclave, Rajan Sehgal, Co-Chairman – Tourism Committee, PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry said, “We need forum like this to brainstorm what steps can be taken to correct the skewed balance of tourist traffic, where bulk of the foreign tourist arrival is limited to a few prominent destinations. Some basic factors that are immediately apparent are of course, improving connectivity, providing a better overall experience and greater outreach programmes overseas to attract more visitors.” Panel Discussion on ‘Positioning India as world’s top Heritage Tourism Destination’ had Aman Nath, Founder & Chairman, Neemrana Hotels as the Moderator and witnessed Sonia Meena, Additional Managing Director, Madhya Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation; D Venkatesan, Regional Director, India Tourism Mumbai; HB Maheshwari Jaisal, Convenor – Madhya Pradesh State Chapter, Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH); and PP Khanna, President, Association of Domestic Tour Operators of India (ADTOI). According to the UNWTO, 1.8 billion people are forecast to travel internationally in 2030 and much of this growth is being fuelled by the increasing desire and interest in discovering new and different cultures. Cultural heritage – both tangible and intangible are resources that need to be protected and carefully managed. It is fundamental that tourism authorities study how best to develop these cultural heritage sites while protecting and preserving them for the long-term.

Heritage tourism in India with 37 UNESCO World Heritage Sites and numerous other natural sites has immense potential that need repeat visits to cover all of them. The challenges are very demanding keeping in mind conservation and environmental protection. ‘Adopt a Heritage Scheme’ by Ministry of Tourism and Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is one of the best practices to showcase our monuments and drive sustainable growth. The panelists highlighted that the need of the hour is to have a clear vision and a well-defined execution plan with the goal of sustainable development that provides conservation and growth, clean air, water, energy and heritage at large. Technology, documentation, capacity building and regulation are the way to go for sustainable development of heritage tourism.

A Heritage Walk was also organised during the programme for all the delegates to enjoy the heritage of Gwalior, not only as past, but as a living tradition. The Conclave was attended by over 100 delegates.

https://www.traveltrendstoday.in/news/india-tourism/item/8197-phd-chamber-organises-9th-international-heritage-tourism-conclave, March 18, 2020

Engulfed in sheets of historical affluence and rich cultural heritage, Lucknow is a city which is acclaimed widely for its sophisticated tastes and plethora of structures to stand by the claim.

Ask any Lakhnawi and they'll tell you how the monuments of Lucknow easily outshine others that they've witnessed, given that they're all so distinct in nature. All of them are pieces of colossal efforts from various periods, stringing together bits and parts of Lucknow's history. On a similar note, the Husainabad Clock Tower is one such beauty which has been standing tall for many years now and has overseen the tides of change and how!

The History!
Designed by Roskell Payne, this clock tower was constructed during the period of 1881-1887. The construction of this monumental structure was flagged off by Nawab Nasir-ud-din as a gesture of welcome to Sir George Couper who was the first Lieutenant Governor of United Province of Avadh. This Husainabad Clock Tower is adjudged as the tallest clock tower in India and it is located just adjacent to the grand Rumi Darwaza, which is another fine example of English artistic brilliance.

Made of gunmetal which was sourced from Luigate Hill, London, this clock tower draws its inspirations from the Victorian Gothic architecture and is over 67 meters high with a huge pendulum at a length of 14 feet. The dial of the clock if designed in the shape of a 12-petalled flower with bells around it. Surrounding the clock tower, are lush green gardens and from here, you can even steal glimpses of the Bada Imambada.

Knock Knock
So if you're ever in and around Lucknow, visiting the ghanta ghar is a must for the sake of delving into the city's historical significance.Take a seat near it, maybe grab some munchies from the nearby thelewalas and soak in the effervescent charms that the city offers. Best visited during sunsets and late night drives, the Husainabad Clock Tower will always leave you in gawking in awe!

https://www.knocksense.com/lucknow/hailed-as-the-tallest-in-india-lucknows-husainabad-clock-tower-has-seen-times-change-how, March 18, 2020

Going by the statement that birds of the same feather flock together, sparrows find a home in every housing society in the satellite city. But the sparrow community had flown away with as the radiation from TV antennas was getting too much for them. World sparrow day is an occasion to create awareness of the house sparrow and other common birds to urban environments and of threats to their populations observed on March 20. However, greenery surrounding with bamboo bushes in housing societies can help out the cause and bring more birds and avoid the extinction of sparrow in the two decades. As a senior citizen, I am able to propagate the importance of preserving the endangered species and bring more sparrows to the bamboo garden in the vicinity.

The society provides enough greenery for the survival of this species of birds.World Sparrow Day is an international initiative by the Nature Forever Society of India in collaboration with the Eco-Sys Action Foundation and numerous other national and international organisations across the world. The Nature Forever Society was started by Mohammed Dilawar, an Indian conservationist who started his work helping the house sparrow in Nashik and who was named one of the “Heroes of the Environment” for 2008 by time for his efforts.

The idea of marking a World Sparrow Day came up during an informal discussion at the Nature Forever Society’s office. The idea was to earmark a day for the house sparrow to convey the message of conservation of the house sparrow and other common birds and also mark a day of celebration to appreciate the beauty of the common biodiversity which is taken so much for granted. The first World Sparrow Day was celebrated in 2010 in different regions of the world.

The day was celebrated by carrying out by various kinds of activities and events like art competitions, awareness campaigns and sparrow processions as well as interactions with the media. World Sparrow Day also has a broader vision to provide a platform where people who are working on the conservation of the house sparrow and other common birds can network, collaborate and exchange conservation ideas which will lead to better science and improved results.

It aims to provide a meeting ground for people from different parts of the world to come together and form a force that can play an important role in advocacy and in spreading the awareness on the need of conserving common biodiversity or species of lower conservation status.

As a resident of Sanpada, with a garden view in front of our flats, we are able to bring in more feathered birds including sparrows to have their nests among us. Both food and water is provided to them to help out the cause and bring the sparrow to come to our doorsteps.

https://www.afternoonvoice.com/welcoming-the-sparrow-on-world-sparrow-day.html, March 19, 2020

Little children loved hearing the same story and would even mindlessly repeat the catchy words as they skipped and hopped out of the class.Oral Storytelling is one of the oldest and most loved cultural traditions. A tradition that has been passed on from one generation to another. This oral art continues to be relevant, even today in our media-saturated society. I believe we are all storytellers and are made up of stories.

We have grown up listening to them. The stories can be folklore, mythology, fiction or stories of family and friends. These stories besides enriching us are the threads that weave our life and we inherit and leave these as a treasured legacy. We may not remember all the stories but we sure remember how we heard the stories from our family and friends.

My earliest memory that I recall listening to a story is from my Grandmom’s elder sister who would lie beside me and tell stories of mythology, tales of common man, folk tales, etc. She would gesticulate with her wrinkly hands and modulate her voice as the story changed the settings from a forest to a Kingdom to a faraway land.

The story I was told was a ‘Kozhakattai’ (modak) story in my mother tongue, Tamil. At that age, though storytelling was a bait to retire to bed, today when I look back, I am able to appreciate that art of storytelling in its purest form, oral tradition. My grandparents, parents, and extended family were all my family storytellers.

My parents would make up stories during my bedtime, which when narrated made me feel secure and comfortable. Stories involving the members of our family, our ancestors or some living memory, some amusing incident or something about how the ancestors owned an entire village, their contributions were retold in simple unpolished ways.

Listening to Family Stories
Many family stories like the ‘Dhanushkodi story’, a town on the east coast of India, which marooned when a killer cyclone with a high tidal wave blew away all structures and almost wiped the whole town. A few survived to tell the tale and one of the surviving family was my mom’s uncle. Another favourite – The ‘Burma story’ was about how my maternal grandfather walked from Burma to India through the forests with 3 bottles of Kim (a malted beverage) in his backpack during the war.

The other story from my paternal side was how the famous Saint Ramana Maharishi was saved from the thieves by my great grandfather, then Deputy Superintendent of Police. This story, although told to me by my grandfather, gave me greater joy to hear this from the then ashram president, Sri Ramanananda (grand nephew of the saint).

These family stories are like the blueprint for our family identities. I have inherited so many such powerful family stories as a valuable legacy.

Impact of traditional storytelling sessions
In early school days, we had an exclusive oral storytelling period. In English, we listened to fairy tales like Thumbelina, folk and mythological tales and; during Kannada class we heard stories of powerful women like Onakke Obavva, Rani Abbakka of Ullal, the poignant Punyakoti’s story. At the homefront, besides family stories, I was dragged to the traditional storytelling sessions in temples like pravachans, Harikathas and kathakalakshepam (stories and lectures on mythology) by Paati.

Our Sanskrit pandit would narrate stories from Malavikagnimitra, Abhignana Shakunthala, Kumarasambhavam, etc. So many oral story listening and hearing opportunities when mass and satellite communication was not popular.

The powerful influence of storytellers
My storytellers must have had a profound influence on me that even today wherever I see the word “Storytelling” in print or in e-media my eyes stop there and throw me back in time. The morals or values did not sink into my little brain then, it was more entertainment, but I guess I was besotted with the art of storytelling like gesticulations, the emotions, body language, expressions, the bonding, etc. I was educated for a career in electronics but these storytellers somewhere must have left such a deep influence on me that many years later my passion for stories lured me to take up a profession of a storyteller. When an opportunity came my way, I grabbed it.

I practiced voice diction, modulation, body language and with experience, I built my repertoire and slowly found what stories made an impact on young, evolving minds. Gradually I developed into a life-skills facilitator (visiting faculty) which involved teaching life skills through interactive stories, conducting theatre workshops for children.

My students taught me more than what I learned in my student life. I found the choice of the stories was important, while I chose simple interactive stories with repetitive lines for lower classes. Little children loved hearing the same story and would even mindlessly repeat the catchy words as they skipped and hopped out of the class. Middle school children were more interested in fun stories and stories of wisdom but honestly as a storyteller, I let the magic of the story unfold, I never put forth the moral or made it sound preachy, the moral was always brought out by the children and not all stories had to teach or have a moral.

They were inquisitive and were open to thinking out of the box. Teenagers in higher classes were interested in historical stories and real-life stories. They were able to empathize and understand the stories better. The stories I told them not just entertained, enchanted and delighted them but the ideas molded the young minds.

The children would embellish the sessions with their own experiences, thoughts, and ideas. The storytelling sessions in fact, turned into story listening sessions for me since the communication became two way. I believe stories have that power. Apart from teaching and enriching with tangibles like vocabulary, expression, modulation; they teach values like empathy, perseverance, to inspire, to dream, and to imagine possible worlds. We cannot evaluate them in grades but they add value to their living to raise them as empathetic and compassionate humans.

It is often said that today’s children rely more on visual mediums and refuse to sit and listen. From my experience, I have seen children and even elders to whom stories are told, sit and learn to listen. An invaluable skill that will see them through school, college, work, and life. Storytelling is all about communicating, listening, interacting which are important ingredients of a healthy family or community. Besides family and educational institutions, today storytelling is also part of organisations, corporates, associations. They improve social inclusion, people management, team building, leadership skills. Oral storytelling is a fascinating art to bring people together. I believe it enriches family life, fosters communities and fraternity. (Asha Balakrishnan is a storyteller by passion, with varied interests such as reading, blogging, traveling, yoga, art and craft, among other things. Views expressed are personal.)

https://www.financialexpress.com/lifestyle/world-storytelling-day-2020-a-treasured-legacy-how-stories-bring-people-together/1904281/, March 19, 2020

Intach Lucknow Chapter recently organised a unique programme titled ‘Nadi Mein Naad- sound of music in river Gomti’. The event had live musicians performing in a boat while the audience also sat in boats and enjoyed the performance.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/entertainment/events/lucknow/a-musical-boat-trail-on-river-gomti/videoshow/74731055.cms, March 20, 2020

Ancient Indian views of the universe and space are more subtle than the corresponding Western views. India’s civilization valued science and knowledge above all and some of the most extraordinary scientific advances took place there. The annual Indian Science Congress, which just concluded, had its usual share of controversies about the history of Indian science and I have been asked to weigh in.

It so turns out that I did precisely that in a brief account titled “Science” for Stanley Wolpert’s Encyclopedia of India(2005) and since that is freely available online, I shall be more selective of themes in this revision of the previous essay[1][2].

This account does not include the modern period for which many excellent histories exist. Indian archaeology and literature provide considerable layered evidence related to the development of science. The chronological time frame for this history is provided by the archaeological record that has been traced, in an unbroken tradition, to about 8000 BCE.

Prior to this date, there are records of rock paintings that are considerably older[3]. The earliest textual source is the Ṛigveda, which is a compilation of very ancient material. The astronomical references in the Vedic books recall events of the third or the fourth millennium BCE and earlier. The discovery that Sarasvati, the preeminent river of the Ṛigvedic times, went dry around 1900 BCE, if not earlier, suggests that portions of the Ṛigveda may be dated prior to this epoch.

The third-millennium urbanization is characterized by a very precise system of weights and monumental architecture using cardinal directions. Indian writing (the so-called Indus script) goes back to the beginning of the third millennium BCE, but it has not yet been deciphered. However, statistical analysis shows that the later historical script called Brahmi evolved from this writing.

[4] Laws and cosmology
The Vedic texts assert that the universe is governed by Rita (laws) and that consciousness transcends materiality. The universe is taken to be infinite in size and infinitely old. By the time of the Puraṇas, other worlds were postulated beyond our solar system. It is asserted that language (as a formal system) cannot describe reality completely and linguistic descriptions suffer from paradox. Because of this limitation, reality can only be experienced and never described fully.

Knowledge was classified in two ways: the lower or dual अपरा; and the higher or unified परा. The seemingly irreconcilable worlds of the material and the conscious were taken as aspects of the same transcendental reality. The texts present a tripartite and recursive view of the world[5].

The three regions of the earth, space, and sky are mirrored in the human being in the physical body, the breath (praṇa), and the mind. The processes in the sky, on earth, and within the mind are assumed to be connected. This connection is a consequence of a binding (Bandhu) between various inner and outer phenomena and it is because of this binding that it is possible to know the world.

[6] There is evidence of the knowledge of biological cycles and awareness that there exist two fundamental rhythms in the body: the 24 hours related to the sun, and the 24 hours and 50 minutes related to the period of the moon (the moon rises about 50 minutes later every day)[7].

This knowledge is not surprising since monthly rhythms, averaging 29.5 days, are reflected in the reproductive cycles of many marine plants and those of animals. The Ṛigveda 10.90 speaks of these connections by saying that the moon was born of the mind and the sun was born of the eyes of the cosmic self: candramā mana’so jātaḥ | cakṣoḥ sūryo’ ajāyata | RV 10.90.13 The connection between the outer and the inner cosmos is seen most strikingly in the use of the number 108 in Indian religious and artistic expression[8].

It was known that this number is the approximate distance from Earth to the sun and the moon, in sun and moon diameters, respectively. This number was probably obtained by taking a pole of a certain height to a distance 108 times its height and discovering that the angular size of the pole was the same as that of the sun or the moon. It is a curious fact that the diameter of the sun is also approximately 108 times the diameter of Earth. This number of dance poses (karaṇas) given in the Naṭya Sastra is 108, as is the number of beads in a Japa mala. The distance between the body and the inner sun is also taken to be 108, and thus there are 108 names of the gods and goddesses. The number of marmas (weak points) in Ayurveda is 107 because, in a chain 108 units long, the number of weak points would be one less. Ancient Indian views of the universe are more subtle than the corresponding Western views.[9]

Physical laws and motion
The history of Indian physics goes back to Kanada (कणाद) (600 BCE) who asserted that all that is knowable is based on motion, thus giving centrality to analysis in the understanding of the universe [10]. Kanada asserted that there are nine classes of substances: ether, space, and time, which are continuous, and four kinds of atoms two of which have mass and two that have little mass. A brilliant argument was given in support of this view. Let the basic atoms of Prithvi, Apas, Tejas, and Vayu be represented by P, Ap, T, and V, respectively. Every substance is composed of these four kinds of atoms.

Consider gold in its solid form; its mass derives principally from the P atoms. When it is heated, it becomes a liquid and therefore there should be another kind of an atom already in gold which makes it possible for it to take the liquid form and this is Ap. When heated further it burns and this is when the T atom gets manifested. When heated further, it loses its mass ever so slightly, and this is due to the loss of the V atoms.

The atoms are eternal only under normal conditions, and during creation and destruction, they arise in a sequence starting with akasa and are absorbed in the reverse sequence at the end of the world cycle. The sequence of evolution of the elements is given as V→T→Ap→P[11]. The V and T atoms have little mass (since they do not exist in a substantive form), whereas P and Ap atoms have mass. This sequence also hides within it the possibility of transformation from V and T atoms that are energetic to the more massive Ap and P atoms. Kanada also made a distinction between the mind and the self, or consciousness.

The conscious subject is separate from material reality but is, nevertheless, able to direct its evolution. He presented laws of motion and also spoke of invariants[10]. He saw the atom to be spherical since it should appear the same from all directions. The atoms combined to form different kinds of molecules that break up under the influence of heat. The molecules come to have different properties based on the influence of various potentials.

Indian chemistry developed many different alkalis, acids, and metallic salts by processes of calcination and distillation, often motivated by the need to formulate medicines. Metallurgists developed efficient techniques of extraction of metals from ore.

Astronomy
We know quite a bit about how astronomical science evolved in India[12]. The Yajurvedic sage Yajnavalkya knew of a ninety-five-year cycle to harmonize the motions of the sun and the moon, and he also knew that the sun’s circuit was asymmetric. The second millennium BCE text Vedanga Jyotiṣa of Lagadha went beyond the earlier calendrical astronomy to develop a theory for the mean motions of the sun and the moon[13]. An epicycle theory was used to explain planetary motions.

Given the different periods of the planets, it became necessary to assume yet longer periods to harmonize their cycles. This led to the notion of maha yugas and kalpas with periods of billions of years. The innovations of the division of the circle into 360 parts and the zodiac into 27 nakshatras and 12 Rashi’s took place first in India[14]. The schoolbook accounts of how these innovations first emerged in Mesopotamia in the 7th century BCE and then arrived in India centuries later are incorrect. The Satapatha Brahmana which was compiled soon after the Vedas says: “The sun strings these worlds [the earth, the planets, the atmosphere] to himself on a thread.

This thread is the same as the wind…” This suggests a central role to the sun in defining the motions of the planets and ideas such as these must have ultimately led to the theory of expanding and shrinking epicycles. Astronomical texts called Siddhanta’s begin appearing sometime in the first millennium BCE. According to the tradition, there were eighteen early Siddhanta’s, of which only a few have survived. Each Siddhanta is an astronomical system with its own constants. The Surya Siddhanta speaks of the motion of planets governed by “Cords of Air” that bind them, which is a conception like that of the field. The great astronomers and mathematicians include Aryabhata (BC. 476), who took Earth to spin on its own axis and who spoke of the relativity of motion and provided outer planet orbits with respect to the sun[15].

This work and that of Brahmagupta (BC. 598) and Bhaskara (BC. 1114) was passed on to Europe via the Arabs. The Kerala School with figures such as Madhava (c. 1340–1425) and Nilakantha (c. 1444–1545) came up with new innovations of analysis based on advanced mathematics.

Evolution of Life
The Sankhya system speaks of evolution both at the levels of the individual as well as the cosmos. The Mahabharata and the Puranas have material on the creation and the rise of humankind[16]. It is said that man arose at the end of a chain that began with plants and various kinds of animals. In Vedic evolution, the urge to evolve into higher forms is taken to be inherent in nature. A system of evolution from inanimate to progressively higher life is assumed to be a consequence of the different proportions of the three basic attributes of the guṇas (qualities): sattva (“Truth” or “Transparency”), rajas (activity), and tamas (“Darkness” or “Inertia”). In its undeveloped state, the cosmic matter has these qualities in equilibrium. As the world evolves, one or the other of these becomes preponderant in different objects or beings, giving specific character to each.

Geometry and mathematics
Indian geometry began very early in the Vedic period in altar problems, as in the one where the circular altar is to be made equal in area to a square altar. The historian of mathematics, Abraham Seidenberg, saw the birth of geometry and mathematics in the solution of such problems[17].

Two aspects of the “Pythagoras” theorem are described in the texts by Baudhayana and others[18]. Problems are often presented with their algebraic counterparts. The solution to planetary problems also led to the development of algebraic methods. Binary numbers were known at the time of Pingala’s Chandahsastra. Pingala, who might have lived as early as fourth century BCE used binary numbers to classify Vedic meters.

The knowledge of binary numbers indicates a deep understanding of arithmetic. The sign for zero within the place value decimal number system that was to revolutionize mathematics and facilitate the development of technology appears to have been devised around 50 BCE to 50 CE [19][20][21].

Indian numerals were introduced to Europe by Fibonacci (13th century) who is now known for a sequence that was described earlier by Virahanka (between 600 and 800), Gopāla (prior to 1135) and Hemacandra (1150 CE)[22]. Narayana Pandit (14th century) showed that these numbers were a special case of the multinomial coefficients. Bharata’s Natya Sastra has resulted in combinatorics and discrete mathematics, and Aryabhata has material on mathematics including methods to solve numerical problems effectively[23].

Later source materials include the works of Brahmagupta, Lalla (eighth century), Mahavira (ninth century), Jayadeva, Sripati (eleventh century), Bhaskara, and Madhava[24][25]. In particular, Madhava’s derivation and use of infinite series predated similar development in Europe, which is normally seen as the beginning of modern calculus. Some scholars believe these ideas were carried by Jesuits from India to Europe and they eventually set in motion the Scientific Revolution.[26][27] A noteworthy contribution was by the school of New Logic (Navya Nyaya) of Bengal and Bihar.

At its zenith during the time of Raghunatha (1475–1550), this school developed a methodology for a precise semantic analysis of language. Navya Nyaya foreshadowed mathematical logic and there is evidence that it influenced modern machine theory.[16]

Grammar Paṇini’s grammar Astadhyayi (Eight chapters) of the fifth century BCE provides four thousand rules that describe Sanskrit completely. This grammar is acknowledged to be one of the greatest intellectual achievements of all time. The great variety of language mirrors, in many ways, the complexity of nature and, therefore, success in describing a language is as impressive as a complete theory of physics. Scholars have shown that the grammar of Paṇini represents a universal grammatical and computing system[28]. From this perspective, it anticipates the logical framework of modern computers.

[29] Medicine Ayurveda, the Indian medicine system, is a holistic approach to health that builds upon the tripartite Vedic approach to the world. Health is maintained through a balance between three basic touches of humor (dosa) of wind (Vata), fire (pitta), and water (kapha). Each of these humor had five varieties.

Although literally meaning “Air,” “Bile,” and “Phlegm,” the dosas represented larger principles. Its division of states into three categories rather than two is more efficient than the binary division of other medical systems.[30] Caraka and Susruta are two famous early physicians. According to Caraka, health and disease are not predetermined, and life may be prolonged by human effort. Susruta defines the purpose of medicine to cure the diseases of the sick, to protect the health, and to prolong life.

The Samhitas speak of organisms that circulate in the blood, mucus, and phlegm. In particular, the organisms in the blood that cause disease are said to be invisible. It is suggested that physical contact and sharing the same air can cause such diseases to spread.

Inoculation was practiced for protection against smallpox.[31] In physical theory there is no place for the observer, computer science cannot explain how awareness arises in the brain-machine, and neuroscience has not found any neural correlate of consciousness. Indian surgery was quite advanced. The caesarian section was known, as was plastic surgery, and bone setting reached a high degree of skill. Susruta classified surgical operations into eight categories: incision, excision, scarification, puncturing, probing, extraction, evacuation, and drainage, and suturing. Susruta lists 101 blunt and 20 sharp instruments that were used in surgery. The medical system tells us much about the Indian approach to science. There was an emphasis on observation and experimentation.

Mind and consciousness
Vedic deities represent cognitive centers[32]. It is asserted that para-vidya or Atma-vidya (the science of consciousness) cannot be described in words or design. In the Sri-yantra, which is a representation of the cosmos, consciousness (Siva) is shown as an infinitesimal dot in the middle.[33] The interaction between matter and consciousness is postulated in terms of an observation process called Dristi-Sristi (creation through observation), which is consistent with a world governed by laws[34].

In the orthodox interpretation of the quantum theory, consciousness is a separate category as in Vedanta.[35] Modern scientific subjects like physics, computer science, and neuroscience have been unable to explain the phenomenon of consciousness. Philosophy cannot reconcile our sense of freedom and agency with the framework of machine-like laws. In physical theory there is no place for the observer, computer science cannot explain how awareness arises in the brain-machine, and neuroscience has not found any neural correlate of consciousness.[36] At the same time, the very association of information with physical systems as is done using entropy implies postulation of consciousness.

So the use of the reductionist method in the analysis of consciousness has hit a wall. Indian texts assert that the phenomenon of consciousness cannot be studied directly as a material property. Their analysis of consciousness using indirect methods may very well be relevant for further progress of this question in contemporary science.

Scientific speculations and more
Indian thought is unique in the breadth and scope of its scientific speculations that are scattered within its high literature. These range from airplanes (Ramayana) to weapons that can destroy the world (Mahabharata), and to the most astonishing abstract ideas in a text called Yoga-Vasistha.[37] Many texts speak of the relativity of time and space — abstract concepts that developed in the scientific context just a hundred years ago. The Puranas describe countless universes and time flowing at different rates for different observers. The Mahabharata has an account of an embryo divided into one hundred parts each becoming, after maturation in a separate pot, a healthy baby; this is how the Kaurava brothers are born.

There is also mention of conception in one womb transferred to another: this is how Balarama is a brother to Krishna although he was born to a different mother. This Epic has a major section on battle with a spaceship whose occupants wear airtight suits (Saubha Parva). Are these to be seen as an early form of science fiction? Universes defined recursively are described in the famous episode of Indra and the ants in Brahmavaivarta Purana.

Here Visnu in the guise of a boy, explains to Indra that the ants he sees walking on the ground have all been Indras in their own solar systems at different times. These flights of imagination are more than a straightforward generalization of the motions of the planets into a cyclic universe. The context of modern science fiction is clear: it is the liberation of the earlier modes of thought by the revolutionary developments of 20th-century science and technology. But how was science fiction integrated into the mainstream of Indian literary tradition over two thousand years ago? What was the intellectual ferment in which such sophisticated ideas arose? Concluding, India’s civilization valued science and knowledge above all and some of the most extraordinary scientific advances took place there.

These include the earliest astronomy, geometry, number theory, the Indian numeral system, the idea of physical laws and invariance, the earliest formal system to describe a complex natural phenomenon (as in Panini’s computer program-like grammar that was not rivaled for 2,500 years), a very subtle Yoga psychology, and the idea of immunization in medicine. This creativity did not end with the ancient period. For India’s continuing relevance in the world of science, see The Indian foundations of modern science.[16]

Note: 1. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.

References:
[1] Stanley Wolpert – Wikipedia.org
[2] ENCYCLOPEDIA OF India – Vedicilluminations.com
[3] Archaeoastronomy in India – Arxiv.org
[4] Indic Scripts: Palaeographic and Linguistic Perspectives – Amazon.com
[5] Astronomy of the vedic altars – Sciencedirect.com
[6] Knowledge of Planets in the Third Millennium BC – Harvard.edu
[7] From Vedic Science To Vedanta – lsu.edu
[8] ART AND COSMOLOGY IN INDIA – Sutrajournal.com
[9] Greek and Indian Cosmology: Review of Early History – Arxiv.org
[10] Kaṇāda, Great Physicist and Sage of Antiquity – Sep 26, 2018, Medium.com
[11] Tesla, wireless energy transmission and Vivekananda – Currentscience.ac.in
[12] Birth and Early Development of Indian Astronomy – Arxiv.org
[13] The Astronomy of the Age of Geometric Altars – Harvard.edu
[14] Babylonian and Indian Astronomy: Early Connections – Arxiv.org
[15] A Note on Aryabhata’s Principle of Relativity – Arxiv.org
[16] Indian Foundations of Modern Science – Jul 25, 2018, Medium.com
[17] The origin of mathematics – Springer.com
[18] Baudhayana – St-Andrews.ac.uk
[19] THE SIGN FOR ZERO – Unz.com
[20] India’s impressive concept about nothing – Aug 8, 2018, BBC.com
[21] Five ways ancient India changed the world – with maths – Sep 21, 2017, Theconversation.com
[22] The so-called fibonacci numbers in ancient and medieval India – Sciencedirect.com
[23] PĀṆINI AND BHARATA ON GRAMMAR AND ART – Sutrajournal.com
[24] An overview of Indian mathematics – Archive.org
[25] RATIONALE OF THE CHAKRAVALA PROCESS OF JAYADEVA AND BHASKARA II – Uky.edu
[26] The Crest of the Peacock – Uky.edu
[27] Indians predated Newton ‘discovery’ by 250 years – Aug 13, 2007, Phys.org
[28] Positional Value and Linguistic Recursion – Springer.com
[29] The Paninian approach to natural language processing – Sciencedirect.com
[30] On Ternary Coding and Three-Valued Logic – Arxiv.org
[31] How Ayurveda Pioneered Smallpox Inoculation – Oct 31, 2015, Swarajyamag.com
[32] The Gods Within on the vedic understanding of mind and neuroscience – lsu.edu
[33] The Great Goddess Lalita And The Sri Chakra – Oct 01, 2016, Swarajyamag.com
[34] Artificial Intelligence, Consciousness and the Self – Dec 11, 2018, Medium.com
[35] The Veda Of Physics: Reconciling The Observer And The Observed – Dec 12, 2015, Swarajyamag.com
[36] NeuroQuantology – Neuroquantology.com
[37] Concepts of Space, Time, and Consciousness in Ancient India – Feb 2, 2008, Arxiv.org

https://www.pgurus.com/a-very-brief-history-of-indian-science/, March 20, 2020

The International Day of Forests, World Forest Day is celebrated on March 21 every year to spread awareness about the environment. Here are some interesting forest quotes that will inspire you to appreciate the importance of nature. ith the out bust of Coronavirus, it has become very clear to mankind that nature is powerful and you can't control it.

Some people call nature 'Mother Nature' because she has the power to heal, nurture, or destroy with just one snap from she can kill or bring joy or happiness on life. Nature is mysterious; mountain ranges, sunsets, oceans, and forests are all nature's work of art. Nature has a lot of natural beauty that doesn't need makeup or nice clothes to look beautiful. While walking through a forest, you feel a sense of awe and power that can't be seen.

You can feel a certain "presence". People who are ill find themselves in health again after feeling the spirit of nature. Our existence relies on nature, Franklin D. Roosevelt once said "A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people." Nature not only keeps humans alive, but millions of other organisms depend on it as well. Conserving the forest will only help human survival, destroying it can potentially disturb the entire balance in a disastrous way.

If you destroy forest you are killing the humanity, "At first I thought I was fighting to save rubber trees, then I thought I was fighting to save the Amazon rainforest. Now I realize I am fighting for humanity," said Chico Mendes. Hence to spread awareness about the environment and the importance of forests International Day of Forests or the World Forest Day is celebrated on March 21 annually over the world.

On this day, the UN advises governments across the globe to promote their forests and to undertake activities such as tree planting and wildlife education. The theme for World Forest Day is different each year. Forests and woodlands are made up of over 60,000 tree species and they are the home of about 80% of the world's terrestrial biodiversity. More than a billion people depend directly on forests for food, shelter, energy and income. The theme of International Day of Forests 2020 or the World Forest Day 2020 is "Forests and Biodiversity."

Nature has a certain presence or spirit and to appreciate the most stunning parts of nature, here are some interesting forest quotes that will inspire you to take a walk outside and appreciate the importance of nature, have a look.

WORLD FOREST DAY 2020: HERE ARE SOME INTERESTING QUOTES ON FOREST
"By discovering nature, you discover yourself." -Maxime Lagacé "Adopt the pace of nature. Her secret is patience." -Ralph Waldo Emerson "Nature always wears the colors of the spirit." -Ralph Waldo Emerson "Nature is pleased with simplicity. And nature is no dummy." -Isaac Newton "And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul." -John Muir "Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better."

-Albert Einstein "The forest is not a resource for us, it is life itself. It is the only place for us to live." -Evaristo Nugkuag Ikanan "The most beautiful gift of nature is that it gives one pleasure to look around and try to comprehend what we see." -Albert Einstein "For in the true nature of things, if we rightly consider, every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold and silver." -Martin Luther King Jr.

"Nature is a temple in which living columns sometimes emit confused words. Man approaches it through forests of symbols, which observe him with familiar glances." -Charles Baudelaire

"The forest is a peculiar organism of unlimited kindness and benevolence that makes no demands for its sustenance and extends generously the products of its life activity; it affords protection to all beings, offering shade even to the axe-man who destroys it." -Gautama Buddha

International Day of Forests 2020: History The day was marked as the World Forest Day by The United Nations General Assembly way back in 2012. This day celebrates the different kinds of forests all over the world to raises awareness and to educate the public on issues of concern, to mobilize political will and resources to address global problems and to celebrate and reinforce achievements of humanity.

https://www.indiatoday.in/information/story/international-day-of-forests-2020-interesting-forest-quotes-to-help-you-appreciate-the-importance-of-nature-1658084-2020-03-21, March 20, 2020

Let us read more about World Sparrow Day, why is it celebrated, the theme of 2020 World Sparrow Day, and history of World Sparrow Day. Every year March 20 is observed as World Sparrow Day to raise awareness about the bird. The diminutive house sparrow (Passer domesticus) is perhaps one of the earliest birds you can remember from your childhood. Their nests dotted almost every house in the neighbourhood as well as public places like bus bays and railway stations, where they lived in colonies and survived on food grains and tiny worms. Many bird watchers and ornithologists recall with fondness how the house sparrow gave flight to their passion for observing birds.

The association between humans and the house sparrow dates back to several centuries and no other bird has been associated with humans on a daily basis like the house sparrow. It is a bird that evokes fond memories and has thus found mention in folklore and songs from time immemorial.Unfortunately, the house sparrow is now a disappearing species. But like all other plants and animals which were once abundant and are now facing an uncertain future, their numbers are also declining across their natural range.

The reasons? Certainly, there is no one single reason for the decline of house sparrow. Its slow but noticeable disappearance has been labeled as one of the biggest mysteries of recent times.

A leading newspaper in the United Kingdom - a country that has witnessed one of the biggest declines of the house sparrow population in recent times - declared a cash prize to anyone who could solve the mystery. Needless to add, the reward lies unclaimed. The house sparrow is believed to be declining for various reasons ranging from the destruction of its habitat to lack of insect food for the young and even the increasing microwave pollution from mobile phone towers. (Please read reasons of house sparrow decline for more information).

WORLD SPARROW DAY BACKGROUND:
The idea of celebrating World Sparrow Day came up during an informal discussion over tea at the Nature Forever Society's office. This caught our fancy for its potential to make a positive difference to the fate of the House Sparrow and we started working upon it. The idea was to earmark a day for the House Sparrow to convey the message of conservation of the House Sparrow and other common birds and also mark a day of celebration to appreciate the beauty of the common biodiversity which we take so much for granted. Nature, we must understand, does not come with a lifetime guarantee.

World sparrow day 2020: Theme, history and significance World Sparrow Day also has a broader vision to provide a platform where people who are working on the conservation of the House Sparrow and other common birds can network, collaborate and exchange conservation ideas which will lead to better science and improved results. It aims to provide a meeting ground for people from different parts of the world to come together and form a force that can play an important role in advocacy and in spreading the awareness on the need of conserving common biodiversity or species of lower conservation status. With this simple idea we started working on the idea communicating with like-minded people and conservation partners. Since then we have communicated with several national and international organisations many of which have promised to promote the event in their part of the world. Through this website we are looking forward to many organizations and like-minded people to come forward and celebrate the event, wherever they may be.

World Sparrow Day is celebrated on 20 March every year in many countries around the world. Every year celebration is organised according to the theme. The theme for World Sparrow Day is "I LOVE Sparrows" and is pictured like " I Sparrows". It is a hope that with this theme more people will join several events and campaigns to protect the sparrows. We all have some kind of special bond with sparrows since our childhood. Theme I Love sparrow will remind people the love and bond with sparrows and encourage them to come forward.

https://www.indiatoday.in/information/story/world-sparrow-day-2020-theme-history-and-significance-1657720-2020-03-20, March 20, 2020

Let us read more about World Sparrow Day, why is it celebrated, the theme of 2020 World Sparrow Day, and history of World Sparrow Day. Every year March 20 is observed as World Sparrow Day to raise awareness about the bird. The diminutive house sparrow (Passer domesticus) is perhaps one of the earliest birds you can remember from your childhood. Their nests dotted almost every house in the neighbourhood as well as public places like bus bays and railway stations, where they lived in colonies and survived on food grains and tiny worms. Many bird watchers and ornithologists recall with fondness how the house sparrow gave flight to their passion for observing birds.

The association between humans and the house sparrow dates back to several centuries and no other bird has been associated with humans on a daily basis like the house sparrow. It is a bird that evokes fond memories and has thus found mention in folklore and songs from time immemorial.Unfortunately, the house sparrow is now a disappearing species. But like all other plants and animals which were once abundant and are now facing an uncertain future, their numbers are also declining across their natural range.

The reasons? Certainly, there is no one single reason for the decline of house sparrow. Its slow but noticeable disappearance has been labeled as one of the biggest mysteries of recent times.

A leading newspaper in the United Kingdom - a country that has witnessed one of the biggest declines of the house sparrow population in recent times - declared a cash prize to anyone who could solve the mystery. Needless to add, the reward lies unclaimed. The house sparrow is believed to be declining for various reasons ranging from the destruction of its habitat to lack of insect food for the young and even the increasing microwave pollution from mobile phone towers. (Please read reasons of house sparrow decline for more information).

WORLD SPARROW DAY BACKGROUND:
The idea of celebrating World Sparrow Day came up during an informal discussion over tea at the Nature Forever Society's office. This caught our fancy for its potential to make a positive difference to the fate of the House Sparrow and we started working upon it. The idea was to earmark a day for the House Sparrow to convey the message of conservation of the House Sparrow and other common birds and also mark a day of celebration to appreciate the beauty of the common biodiversity which we take so much for granted. Nature, we must understand, does not come with a lifetime guarantee.

World sparrow day 2020: Theme, history and significance World Sparrow Day also has a broader vision to provide a platform where people who are working on the conservation of the House Sparrow and other common birds can network, collaborate and exchange conservation ideas which will lead to better science and improved results. It aims to provide a meeting ground for people from different parts of the world to come together and form a force that can play an important role in advocacy and in spreading the awareness on the need of conserving common biodiversity or species of lower conservation status. With this simple idea we started working on the idea communicating with like-minded people and conservation partners. Since then we have communicated with several national and international organisations many of which have promised to promote the event in their part of the world. Through this website we are looking forward to many organizations and like-minded people to come forward and celebrate the event, wherever they may be.

World Sparrow Day is celebrated on 20 March every year in many countries around the world. Every year celebration is organised according to the theme. The theme for World Sparrow Day is "I LOVE Sparrows" and is pictured like " I Sparrows". It is a hope that with this theme more people will join several events and campaigns to protect the sparrows. We all have some kind of special bond with sparrows since our childhood. Theme I Love sparrow will remind people the love and bond with sparrows and encourage them to come forward.

https://www.indiatoday.in/information/story/world-sparrow-day-2020-theme-history-and-significance-1657720-2020-03-20, March 20, 2020

Talking of Kashmir, everyone heaps praise on its postcard-worthy scenery, its houseboats and apple trees, but not much is known about its syncretic traditions of sacred architecture. The region has long been a melting pot of cultural practices that include Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam. The 14th century, in particular, is considered a watershed in Kashmir’s history, when different traditions of art and architecture came together — this can be seen, for example, in the ubiquitous pagoda-style construction of mosques such as Khanqah-i-Maulla (Great Khanqah) or Madin Sahab.

A recent exhibition in New Delhi, put together by M. Saleem Beg, convener of INTACH’s J&K chapter and the former director-general of J&K’s Department of Tourism, tried to bring out these aspects. The khanqah, for instance, is one of the best examples of traditional Kashmiri wooden architectural forms. INTACH literature describes it as being made entirely of solid wooden blocks used as headers and stretchers with brick infill. The central space on the ground floor of this 14th-century shrine has a double-height hall with a series of seven small cloisters on both sides, meant for spiritual retreats. The layout resembles a Buddhist chaitya hall, while the ceiling of the central chamber is supported by four wooden columns — also seen in the temples of medieval Kashmir.

The whole structure is surmounted by a multi-tiered pyramidal roof with an open square pavilion (brangh) in the centre. The brangh is crowned by a spire, formally establishing the continuity of the Hindu and Buddhist building traditions. This architectural style can be seen in all the Sufi/ Reshi shrines that dot Kashmir’s cultural landscape.

Unique features
Or take the Jamia Masjid in Srinagar. While it was originally built in 1402, the mosque was damaged by fires in 1479, 1620 and 1674. The mosque, says INTACH, does not visually “resemble any of the great mosques of the larger Islamic world”. This is because the domes have been replaced by multi-tiered pyramidal roofs with a central pavilion and spire, a uniquely Kashmiri addition. The mausoleum-shrine complex of Shaikh Hamza Makhdum, who was a leading Suharwardi saint of Kashmir during the 16th century, is considered a unique combination of vernacular design with Mughal elements. It was commissioned during the reign of Akbar in 1600 and was renovated in 1703. The shrine incorporates building techniques like taq and ornamental devices like naqashi, and the main chamber is surmounted by a three-tiered pyramidal roof. However, in a clear Mughal borrowing, the roof is topped by a chhatri surmounted by a small open wooden dome. Former professor of history Narayani Gupta points out that art and architecture are expression of human creativity, and as such a creative enterprise. “Classifications such as Hindu architecture, Rajput architecture and Muslim architecture do not exist,” she says.

History of amalgamation
Beg talks of how the three-decade-long conflict in Kashmir has overshadowed everything else about the region, including its culture, heritage, art and architecture. Beg points to Kashmir’s long heritage of syncretic architecture that uses amalgamation and assimilation. Beg stresses the need to build on these traditions and practices so that the essence of this rich cultural past can be retained. “The continuity of the built form by each successive faith has been a way of appropriating the sacred space,” he says. And this provides a historical narrative away from textual readings, and preserves the unique identity of Kashmir. Beg also underlines the need to look at geography, and oral and literary traditions beyond the political contestations, and refers to the Sanskrit texts Nilamata Purana and Rajatarangini, in which Kashmir is imagined as a sacred space created by divine intervention. As he points out, this philosophical setting was carried forward in Persian by Muslim historians and poets in historical texts and literary works, in which they continued the idea of the Valley’s sacredness by describing the land as jannat (paradise) on earth.

Which is what Amir Khusrau recalled when he famously wrote: Gar firdaus bar roo-e zameen ast, hameen ast-o, hameen ast-o, hameen ast. (If there is a paradise on earth, it is here, it is here, it is here.)

https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/art/kashmirs-sacred-architecture-combines-hindu-buddhist-and-islamic-influences/article31110251.ece, March 23, 2020

The Department of Posts on Saturday released a special phila-numismatic cover here to mark International Day of Forests. Sudhir Gopal Jakhere, senior superintendent of posts, Coimbatore division, told The Hindu that the Department of Posts has come out with a pack that has special cover with a “Forestry for Development” commemorative 25 paise coin released in 1985. The cover also has a 600 mm mahogany veneer piece and a golden cancellation. The ₹5 stamp on the cover was designed by a student from Coimbatore in 2017. The pack also highlights “Gandhian Environmentalism” which is about minimalism, he said. The presentation pack is priced at ₹700. Just 30 of these packs are available for sale. The special covers, without the pack, are also available for sale at the philately bureau here. Apart from these, the Department has released packs of 10 cards that have pictures of some of the trees located in the Western Ghats. These cards come with a QR code that can be scanned to know the location of these tress in the Western Ghats. The INTACH Kodaikanal has given rights to the Department to use the photographs, he said. The cancelled cards are priced at ₹250 and the packs without cancellation at ₹150 a set. An elite pack is also available that gives details about the trees in the post cards. Coimbatore Division has so far released four phila-numismatic covers, he said. Releasing the covers and packs, Sheuli Burman, Postmaster General, Western Region, pointed out that it is the duty of every citizen to protect the environment and the forests. C Selvaraj, numismatist and philatelist, said the 1985 coin in the cover is a limited edition coin and is dedicated to forests.

https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Coimbatore/protect-environment-and-forests/article31131070.ece , March 23, 2020

The city postal division in collaboration with philatelist and numismatist C Selvaraj released a special cover to mark the International Day of Forests on Saturday. Priced at Rs 350, this numismatic cover comes with a commemorative coin, a golden cancellation, a real wood veneer and a philately cancellation of a stamp released on the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. The colourfully designed cover has the potential to become a rare philately collectible for more than one reason.

Sudhir Kumar Jakhere, senior superintendent of post offices, Coimbatore, said, “It contains an extremely rare 25 paisa commemorative coin that was released in 1985 with the lettering “forestry for development”. These coins are extremely rare and are sourced by Selvaraj. It also has real mahogany veneer of hardly 600-micron glued on to the cover, a golden cancellation of a postage stamp on the zoological survey of India and a cancelled stamp that was released on the 150th birth anniversary of Gandhiji.”The postal department has decided to print only 500 special covers for now and they will be available for sale at the philatelic bureau. While the cover alone is priced at Rs 350, the same is available in a special folder with Mahatma Gandhi’s quotes at Rs 700.

In addition, the postal department has also released a special pack of postcards with pictures of rare species of plants in the Western Ghats. The postcards are affixed with QR codes, which if scanned would tell us the exact location where the plant was photographed. “The postcards come in plain packs, cancelled packs and elite packs. The elite packs have a special green cancellation designed by INTACH,” Jakhere said. The Coimbatore division is the only division in the state to release special covers with coins within a short period.

“The concept behind this cover is Gandhian environmentalism, which focuses on minimalism, and not overexploitation of forests and natural resources. He advocated development with sustainable usage of natural resources, which was way ahead of his time,” Jakhere said.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/coimbatore/spl-postal-numismatic-cover-released/articleshow/74752618.cms, March 23, 2020

Every year, March 22 is celebrated throughout the world since 1993 as World Water Day with different themes. The theme for the current year is ‘Leaving No One Behind’. The pressure on the quantity of water has increased many folds because of population growth. There is a scarcity of water worldwide and on the other hand water quality has gone down. This necessitates awareness and cooperation all over the world among all. The day is meant for creating awareness that water is scarce now. The UNO recognizes water as a basic need for sustaining life on the earth.

In 2010 a resolution was taken which reads – “ the UNO recognizes right to safe and clean water as a human right – it entitles everyone without any discrimination to sufficient safe physically accessible and affordable water, for drinking, sanitation, washing, food preparation and other personal domestic hygiene’”.

Global water demand will increase by 50 per cent by 2030.The UNO has taken an ambitious programm to supply safe water to all people at working places, schools, hospitals, households factories and covering all marginalized people that otherwise means Leaving No One Behind, reducing the gap between advantageous and poor people without any kind of discrimination.

The target 2030 is to supply water in sufficient quantity and safe water to all sections of people taking special attention to marginalized groups –woman and children, refugees, indigenous people, disabled persons, aged groups by 2030. The achievable targets in brief are — equitable access to safe drinking water to all; to achieve adequate equitable sanitation and hygiene; and to end open defection; special need for children and woman; improvement of quality by reducing pollution; to improve water efficiency; to protect and reduce water-related eco-system including maintenance of forest and wetland; to expand integrated cooperation and capacity building support to developing countries in water and sanitation related activities; and most important is to support and strengthen the participation of local communities in improving water and sanitation management. These all are integrated and coordinated goals to achieve the fresh water required to cover all the people on the globe by 2030. These are known to be Sustainable Development Goal-6 for all-round development of all water resources through the UNO agenda.

As of now, the picture of water availability is very grim. Globally 663 million people still lack in access to safe drinking water. Nearly 4 billion people, 2/3rd of the world population face water scarcity at least once a month in a year. According to one statistics, 700 million people will be displaced because of water scarcity by 2030 if adequate measures are not taken. Yet another statistics reveal that 2.1 million people will live without safe water at home. One in four primary schools has no safe drinking water facility. 700 children below 5 years die every day for diarrhoea. Eight out of ten women go out to fetch household water to distance places covering several kilometres. Globally 159 million depend on surface water such as rivers, lakes and ponds.

Over 800 million women die from complication in pregnancy and childbirth. In eco-system, all are interconnected, forest, aquifer, soils, lakes and wetland provide natural water storage capacity, wetland and soil both purify water, rivers provide water and transportation and all these together contribute to water security. Globally, water is precious as only 2.5 per cent of the total water is fresh water and of this only 0.3 per cent is river and lake water, 30.8 per cent is groundwater and bulk of the available quantity is a glacier, the rest 97.5 per cent is salt water. India’s position is not much different from that of the world as a whole. Water Aid Report 2016 indicates that 76 million people have no access to safe drinking water.

The Asian Development Bank reports that there would be 50 per cent deficiency by 2050. But NC Hedge of the BAIF has stated that with the present river system, India is not a water scarce country in real sense of the term with average rainfall of 1170 mm. The real problem is that there are no adequate conservation measures. And the rivers are extremely polluted making their water unsuitable for drinking. Conservation is only 6 per cent whereas the conservation is 250 per cent in advanced countries. Sewage water to the tune of 500 million litres is dumped to the Ganga and Yumuna basin. Yet in another report, 800 million gallons of sewage water is dumped from Delhi. Worldwide 80 per cent sewage water is dumped to the river system without any treatment. Traditionally, rivers are considered sacred in India since time of Vedic Age. There are srtutas in praise of rivers in the Rig Veda. One struta in The Rig Ved reads as ‘O sacred Ganga ,Yamuna, Godavori, and Swaraswati, Normada, Sindhu, and Kaveri, Please be present in this water besides me and make it sacred”.

In modern age that sanctity has been completely lost by different human activities and rivers are polluted. India as a country has a special significance because it is home to 18 per cent population of the world but has only 4 per cent of the water reservoir of the world. India as a country is water-starved and 3,00,000 farmers committed suicide during 1995 to 2015 for crop failure due to non-availability of water. As the surface water is contaminated, thrust on ground water has increased both for drinking and agricultural purposes.

And groundwater is over exploited. The ground water is depleted fast in many states. Another inherent problem is water-laden with Arsenic has poised health problems to 900 million people in the Ganga – Brahmaputra basin. In India 45,053 villages only have access to piped water or hand pumps and 18,917 villages till now have no access to safe drinking water. Available water is contaminated by open defecation, 40 per cent population still defecate in open. India is falling behind the goal because of two reasons primarily, not being able to utilize the fund allocated due to faulty execution and management of the projects. Government, socio-cultural organizations, and individuals need to come forward to fund and in activities relating to rejuvenation of rivers and ponds. The Art of Living Society has already rejuvenated 33 dried up rivers and water-started flowing conservation of forest and eco-system are vital for water security. The rural and urban gap is reported by CAG report which shows that though Rs 82,000 crore has been spent between 2012 and 2017, additional coverer age is only 5.5 per cent of the rural habitations.

Similarly, all the gaps of the sustainable development goal 6 program mentioned at the beginning of the write up pertaining to marginalized groups of all sections of people may be identified, all-out efforts are to be made to make the programme a grand success.

https://www.thedispatch.in/leaving-no-one-behind-this-world-water-day/, March 23, 2020

Every year, March 22 is celebrated throughout the world since 1993 as World Water Day with different themes. The theme for the current year is ‘Leaving No One Behind’. The pressure on the quantity of water has increased many folds because of population growth.

There is a scarcity of water worldwide and on the other hand water quality has gone down. This necessitates awareness and cooperation all over the world among all. The day is meant for creating awareness that water is scarce now. The UNO recognizes water as a basic need for sustaining life on the earth.

In 2010 a resolution was taken which reads – “ the UNO recognizes right to safe and clean water as a human right – it entitles everyone without any discrimination to sufficient safe physically accessible and affordable water, for drinking, sanitation, washing, food preparation and other personal domestic hygiene’”. Global water demand will increase by 50 per cent by 2030.The UNO has taken an ambitious programm to supply safe water to all people at working places, schools, hospitals, households factories and covering all marginalized people that otherwise means Leaving No One Behind, reducing the gap between advantageous and poor people without any kind of discrimination. The target 2030 is to supply water in sufficient quantity and safe water to all sections of people taking special attention to marginalized groups –woman and children, refugees, indigenous people, disabled persons, aged groups by 2030.

The achievable targets in brief are — equitable access to safe drinking water to all; to achieve adequate equitable sanitation and hygiene; and to end open defection; special need for children and woman; improvement of quality by reducing pollution; to improve water efficiency; to protect and reduce water-related eco-system including maintenance of forest and wetland; to expand integrated cooperation and capacity building support to developing countries in water and sanitation related activities; and most important is to support and strengthen the participation of local communities in improving water and sanitation management. These all are integrated and coordinated goals to achieve the fresh water required to cover all the people on the globe by 2030. These are known to be Sustainable Development Goal-6 for all-round development of all water resources through the UNO agenda. As of now, the picture of water availability is very grim. Globally 663 million people still lack in access to safe drinking water. Nearly 4 billion people, 2/3rd of the world population face water scarcity at least once a month in a year.

According to one statistics, 700 million people will be displaced because of water scarcity by 2030 if adequate measures are not taken. Yet another statistics reveal that 2.1 million people will live without safe water at home. One in four primary schools has no safe drinking water facility. 700 children below 5 years die every day for diarrhoea. Eight out of ten women go out to fetch household water to distance places covering several kilometres. Globally 159 million depend on surface water such as rivers, lakes and ponds. Over 800 million women die from complication in pregnancy and childbirth. In eco-system, all are interconnected, forest, aquifer, soils, lakes and wetland provide natural water storage capacity, wetland and soil both purify water, rivers provide water and transportation and all these together contribute to water security. Globally, water is precious as only 2.5 per cent of the total water is fresh water and of this only 0.3 per cent is river and lake water, 30.8 per cent is groundwater and bulk of the available quantity is a glacier, the rest 97.5 per cent is salt water. India’s position is not much different from that of the world as a whole. Water Aid Report 2016 indicates that 76 million people have no access to safe drinking water. The Asian Development Bank reports that there would be 50 per cent deficiency by 2050. But NC Hedge of the BAIF has stated that with the present river system, India is not a water scarce country in real sense of the term with average rainfall of 1170 mm.

The real problem is that there are no adequate conservation measures. And the rivers are extremely polluted making their water unsuitable for drinking. Conservation is only 6 per cent whereas the conservation is 250 per cent in advanced countries. Sewage water to the tune of 500 million litres is dumped to the Ganga and Yumuna basin. Yet in another report, 800 million gallons of sewage water is dumped from Delhi. Worldwide 80 per cent sewage water is dumped to the river system without any treatment. Traditionally, rivers are considered sacred in India since time of Vedic Age. There are srtutas in praise of rivers in the Rig Veda. One struta in The Rig Ved reads as ‘O sacred Ganga ,Yamuna, Godavori, and Swaraswati, Normada, Sindhu, and Kaveri, Please be present in this water besides me and make it sacred”. In modern age that sanctity has been completely lost by different human activities and rivers are polluted.

India as a country has a special significance because it is home to 18 per cent population of the world but has only 4 per cent of the water reservoir of the world. India as a country is water-starved and 3,00,000 farmers committed suicide during 1995 to 2015 for crop failure due to non-availability of water. As the surface water is contaminated, thrust on ground water has increased both for drinking and agricultural purposes. And groundwater is over exploited. The ground water is depleted fast in many states. Another inherent problem is water-laden with Arsenic has poised health problems to 900 million people in the Ganga – Brahmaputra basin. In India 45,053 villages only have access to piped water or hand pumps and 18,917 villages till now have no access to safe drinking water. Available water is contaminated by open defecation, 40 per cent population still defecate in open. India is falling behind the goal because of two reasons primarily, not being able to utilize the fund allocated due to faulty execution and management of the projects. Government, socio-cultural organizations, and individuals need to come forward to fund and in activities relating to rejuvenation of rivers and ponds.

The Art of Living Society has already rejuvenated 33 dried up rivers and water-started flowing conservation of forest and eco-system are vital for water security. The rural and urban gap is reported by CAG report which shows that though Rs 82,000 crore has been spent between 2012 and 2017, additional coverer age is only 5.5 per cent of the rural habitations. Similarly, all the gaps of the sustainable development goal 6 program mentioned at the beginning of the write up pertaining to marginalized groups of all sections of people may be identified, all-out efforts are to be made to make the programme a grand success.

https://www.thedispatch.in/leaving-no-one-behind-this-world-water-day/, March 23, 2020

Forests are fast dwindling around the world. They not only play an important role in our daily lives, but the sustainable management and use of its resources could also go a long way in combating climate change. With a view of raising awareness on the importance of all types of forests and celebrating the flora and fauna within it, 21 March is celebrated as International Day of Forests.

History of International day of Forests 21 March was proclaimed by the United National General Assembly to be the International Day of Forests in 2012. The International Day of Forests is organised by the United Nations Forum on Forests and the Food and Agricultural Organization, in collaboration with governments and other relevant organizations from around the world.

International Day of Forests 2020 theme
Collaborative Partnership on Forests, a grouping of 14 forest-related international organizations, institutions and convention secretariats, decide upon the theme for each International Day of Forests. For 2020, the theme that has been chosen is Forests and Biodiversity.

As per UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, 2020 has been termed as a ‘Nature Super Year’ and must be the year where "we turn the tide on deforestation and forestry loss." On International Day of Forests, the UN Secretary General urged all governments, businesses and civil society to take urgent action to halt deforestation and restore degraded forests "so future generations can enjoy a greener, healthier future."

How is the day celebrated Tree plantation drives, symposiums, art exhibitions, photo competitions and debates are organized across the world. People can also join in on the conversation regarding forests and their conservation on social media using the #IntlForestDay.

https://www.firstpost.com/india/international-forests-day-today-un-terms-year-2020-nature-super-year-urges-world-to-turn-the-tide-on-deforestation-8174511.html, March 23, 2020

The skeletal remains of an ancient human being, believed to be inhabited Keeladi in Sivaganga district, have started surfacing at Konthagai, which is believed to be the burial site of the civilization. It is two kilometers away from Keeladi. Keeladi has revealed that an ancient civilization thrived on the banks of the Vaigai more than 2,600 years ago.

It has long been believed that the habitation at Keeladi may have extended to the neighbouring areas of Konthagai, Manalur and Agaram, as ancient artefacts have also been found there. Burial urns were discovered at Konthagai even before the excavation began at Keeladi. It is believed that Konthagai was the burial site of Keeladi, where first level and second level burials could have been conducted. Sources at the state archaeology department said that people could have either been directly buried there or those who died elsewhere could have been brought and laid to rest here in the urns.

Madurai Kamaraj University has signed an MoU with the archaeology department to conduct research on the remains, especially bones and other artefacts at the site. The bones were discovered on Saturday. A team from MKU led by vice-chancellor M Krishnan, professor K Balakrishnan from the department of immunology, retired professor Pitchaiappan, deputy director of archaeology Sivanandam, and archaeologists B Asaithambi and Baskaran inspected the site, when the top portion of the skeleton was revealed.

It is believed that the remains are of a person who was buried in a seated position. What has been revealed are two hands. The vice-chancellor said that it would take about three days for the archaeologists to bring out the entire skeleton, which may reveal more details. This is supposed to be the remains of the first level burial. It may be recalled that nearly eight burial urns of various sizes and smaller pots have been discovered at Konthagai, since the excavation started on February 19 this year.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/madurai/human-skeletal-remains-unearthed-in-konthagai/articleshow/74765250.cms, March 23, 2020

COVID-19, the coronavirus disease, might stop you from traveling, but you can still visit historical sites online using Google Earth. The tech company put together a list of 30 UNESCO World Heritage sites, with historical context and pins for each one. The worldwide death toll of the novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19, is now more than 9,700, and the virus has infected more than 235,000 people. On Wednesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared it a pandemic. The virus has disrupted travel worldwide, leading to flight cancellations, quarantines, and other breakdowns in movement. On Tuesday, residents in the San Francisco Bay Area were ordered to "shelter in place" until April 7, meaning that they must remain in their homes except for essential travel for groceries and medicine. On Friday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo ordered all employees at nonessential businesses to work from home. Whether you're sheltering in place or simply minimising travel and social distancing, Google Earth can let you pretend to see the world. 1. The Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt is the only wonder of the ancient world that remains intact today. 2. The Taj Mahal in Agra, India is a lasting example of 17th century Mughal architecture.
3. The Sagrada Familia Catholic church in Barcelona, Spain was never actually completed, but it's a stunning combination of Gothic and Art Nouveau architecture.
4. The Towers of Angkor Wat in Cambodia are meant to recreate the universe in stone.
5. The Seville Cathedral, or Cathedral of Saint Mary of the See, is the largest Gothic cathedral in the world.
6. The Dolomites are a mountain range in northeastern Italy.
7. Borobudur Temple in Java, Indonesia, is an eighth-century Buddhist temple that was restored in the 1970s.
8. The Prambanan Temple in Indonesia has detailed carvings from the epic of Ramayana.
9. The Hiroshima Peace Memorial was the structure left standing after the atomic bomb was dropped on the city in 1945, and it's been preserved exactly as it was on that day.
10. Itsukushima Shrine in Japan was designed to look like it's floating above the water.
11. Nijo-jo Castle in Kyoto, Japan was home to Japan's rulers from 1603 to 1868.
12. Tenryuji Temple from the 14th century is one of the Five Great Zen temples of Kyoto.
13. Nishi Honganji Temple in Kyoto was at one point the head temple in the country.
14. Himeji Jo Castle near Kobe, Japan is the most-visited castle in the country.
15. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in London has the largest collection collection of living plants in the world.
16. The Great Sphinx of Giza stands along the Nile River.
17. The Palace of Versailles was home to French monarchs including Louis XIV.
18. Pompei shows a Roman colony preserved in ash by an eruption from Mount Vesuvius in 79 BCE.
19. Mill Network at Kinderdijk Elshout in the Netherlands has been in use since the Middle Ages.
20. Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England is home to a prehistoric structure that historians are still debating the meaning of.
21. La Alhambra is a palace and fortress in Andalusia, Spain originally built in the ninth century and renovated in the 11th century under Moorish rule.
22. The Pawon Temple is one of two temples in the Borobudur Temple Compound in Java, Indonesia.
23. The Church of Peace in Swidnica, Poland, was named after the Peace of Westphalia in 1648.
24. St. Michael's Archangel Church in Binarowa, Poland, is one of the region's historic wooden churches.
25. The Monastery of San Millán de Yuso in Spain is considered the birthplace of modern Spanish.
26. Jasovská Cave in Slovakia has been the source of archeological discoveries from the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods.
27. Sangiran Early Man Site in Java, Indonesia is the source of more than half of all known hominid fossils.
28. The Holy Trinity St. Sergius Lavra in Sergiyev Posad, Russia is the spiritual center of the Russian Orthodox Church.
29. Domica Cave in Jasov, Slovakia, was discovered in 1926, and evidence of humans living in the cave dates back to the Paleolithic era.
30. The Centennial Hall in Wroclaw, Poland, was started in 1911 and is an early example of reinforced concrete architecture.

https://www.businessinsider.co.za/google-earth-visit-historical-world-heritage-sites-while-social-distancing-2020-3, March 25, 2020

Over a hundred and seventy years old and still as popular as ever…the St Aloysius’ Anglo-Indian High School in Vizag is a unique blend of the glories of the past and conveniences of the present day.

The imposing grand north-facing structure by the seashore is a heritage building with influences of the Gothic style of architecture. The school recently received an award from the INTACH for the best-preserved heritage building.The oldest missionary school on the Coromandel Coast between Kolkata and Chennai, this school was founded by Fr.

Tissor, a priest from the Missionaries of St. Francis De Sales (MSFS) in 1847 in a small two-room house jutting the sea in the Old Town Area; in fact, those rooms are still a part of the main school building on the eastern side. Over the years the school expanded, and today, the stone cast three-storeyed U-shaped building with a spacious quadrangle in the centre is host to almost 2000 students from all over Vizag. The Gothic architecture of the Structure is another special attraction at St Aloysius’ Anglo-Indian High School. The school follows the I.C.S.E stream of the syllabus, The only hassle they face is in the months of November to January, when the northern winds blow coal dust towards the school. In fact, the port authorities are after the management to shift out, but a sentimental attachment to the school, the heritage value of the structure and the fact that so many of the alumni scattered all over the world come back to visit the school has enthused the management to defer any plans of shifting.

The first English medium school, the first to offer boarding facilities, the first to start an industrial school for the poor under the aegis of M.S.F.S. in 1890 (the Brother’s Workshop) … with so many firsts, the institution is truly an exclusive asset to Vizag.

https://www.yovizag.com/st-aloysius-anglo-indian-high-vizag/, March 27, 2020

A vessel in virunthus and a healer of wounds, with an ubiquitous presence in every south Indian’s life — Naaz Ghani wraps the myriad hues of the vazhai elai in all its glory.Large banana leaves loomed over the dirt pathway that wove through the three-acre plantation. Each plant had little shoots called suckers, erupting at the base. Some had already begun sprouting leaves.

My father had chosen to grow bananas in our farm for the sheer excitement of picnicking under the canopy on a lazy day, much like this one. Of course, the perennial herb is also great for business with approximately three to four harvests a year. But the leaves have always fascinated me for their varied uses.

The banana folk
If I were to superlatively divide the people of Tamil Nadu — on food terms, I’d go with mukkanigal (Three fruits) — maa (mango), pala (jackfruit) and vazhai (Banana). While the seasonal mango has its ever-faithful fan base and the humble jackfruit is steadily growing more exotic (think pulled jackfruit burgers, think vegan), the banana folk are likely to make the largest subset. You do not have to look beyond the fruit’s ubiquitous presence in the average Tamilian’s life — from vaazhakai poriyal and vaazhaipoo vadai to banana desserts and banana leaf cutlery, we have it all.

When given the option to eat off a plate or a banana leaf, most south Indians are likely to choose the leaf. “It adds flavour” is the excuse that translates into “the banana leaf is huge and can support more food than a plate”. Many will even claim that eating off of the leaf even makes the food tastier. I remember stopping at a little roadside joint in Vellore while travelling from Chennai to Bengaluru. Our attendant had run out of banana leaves for the meal and asked if he could serve it to us on a plate.

We being city folk, didn’t flinch at the idea. However, a customer seated at the table next to ours made sure to clarify if the quantity of food served on plates would be the same as that on the leaf. The man had his priorities in place.

An antioxidant
As much as its parent, the banana leaf too, is rather omnipresent in our everyday lives. We humans, being a curious lot, were quick to deduce that the leaf is an antiseptic and can be used to heal wounds. We also found out that it is a great antioxidant, which led to the practice of rubbing minced banana leaves on our skin and hair with the hope that we’d be glowing in the dark and our hair would be strong enough to strangle someone. We didn’t stop there! Banking on the astringent properties of the leaf, we also came up with banana leaf tea. I can’t say I have tried this particular version but just for the sake of this narrative, I’m willing to bet that it would give Earl Grey a run for his money.

Customs & traditions
The banana leaf comes with its own sets of customs and traditions. Nowhere do these customs show up more and elicit strict compliance as when dining on the leaf. It is customary to fold the leaf in half at the end of the meal. That’s the easy part but do you know which direction to pick? When in Tamil Nadu or Andhra Pradesh, you would be expected to fold it to yourself — to signify a full stomach and as a promise to the host to return on such good terms (of course!). Unless you are at a funeral; then you fold it away — because we certainly do not want to return for these reasons (assuming there isn’t an uncle that you secretly wish were dead).

Were you in Kerala, things get much simpler — you fold it away from yourself, always, for the simple logic of not wanting the leftovers spilling on you. If this is too much information to carry around for an average mealtime, just remember to look up and copy the person right in front of you; you will be fine. Also, guests at a feast are never served just three helpings of rice — it is always more or less than three. This, they say, is because three rice balls are placed on a banana leaf during a funeral to signify the presence of three ancestors escorting the spirit of the dead to the Preta Loka (home of the spirits).

Rituals and rites
While there has rarely been a mention of it in Indian religious texts, banana leaves have been used in rituals and rites that most often involve offerings to the gods. The waxy coating on one side of the leaf allows it to be cleaned easily, making it a sanitary device to serve food on. We wouldn’t want to anger the gods with unhygienic cutlery, do we? Banana leaves are also placed at the entrance of the alter in Hindu weddings to recreate Lord Ram’s wedding to Sita, which is believed to have taken place in Mithila — home of the sweetest bananas.

Staying true to our early ancestors’ cause of making complete use of the banana leaf’s many potentials, we have explored enough of its uses in cooking and storage. If you are not already thinking of fish fried in the folds of the leaf or rice steamed in it, you need to eat out more. Dried banana leaves have long since been used as cutlery. With Tamil Nadu embracing the ban on single-use plastic, we’re looking at this heavyweight entering the arena of food packaging. I wouldn’t be surprised if I, one day, order pazhampori from the neighbourhood Mallu joint and it comes packaged in banana leaf. For now, I can only wait for coronavirus to exit this planet so that I can have the rasam rice and payasam to drink off the leaf.

So, bon appétit! (Inputs from Kannalmozhi Kabilan; Sriram Venkatakrishnan, historian; S Suresh, INTACH Tamil Nadu State Convener; Walter Clint Fernando, owns a banana farm in Tirunelveli) Did you know?

When it comes to what’s being served on the leaf, where and how, there are many more rules to be followed. According to one from the Ramayana, Ram invited Hanuman over to eat from the same banana leaf as himself. Hanuman sat in front of Rama and shared half of the leaf.

When the monkey god began picking through the rice for the vegetables, Rama separated them and placed the vegetables on Hanuman’s side of the leaf. The practice holds good even today. And you thought the placement was all for practicality!

https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/chennai/2020/mar/26/all-hail-the-banana-leaf-2121549.html, March 27, 2020

For over a decade, monuments, historical buildings and landmarks across the country have celebrated Earth Hour by switching off non-essential lights for an hour on the last Saturday of March. Earth Hour and Lights Out became the global symbol of a binding resolve to protect and conserve our planet. As world grapples with Covid19 pandemic, forcing nationwide lockdowns across the globe, Earth Hour 2020 is set to be celebrated digitally. From social media challenges to adding Voice for the Planet, Earth Hour 2020 is urging people to come together to pledge to protect the planet and it’s amazing and varied biodiversity.

We live in a connected world and here social distancing is not social isolation. Even in this time of social distancing we can join millions of fellow citizens, celebrities and icons to celebrate EARTH HOUR and take a pledge to save our planet. From the confines of your home participate in the interesting melange of activities that WWF India has put together. From being Voice for the Planet to switching off non-essential lights, the Earth Hour Kit at www.earthhour.in will provide you with many options of what can be done this Earth Hour while being at home:

1. Be the Voice for the Planet: Inspired individuals can take their GIVEUP pledge and lend their voice for the planet by recording and sharing their video message. Tell us what you will GIVEUP to give back to nature and people this Earth Hour.

2. Take the Step Up for the Planet Challenge: Grammy award composer, Ricky Kej has specially created a music score for this Earth Hour. We are using this score and asking you to do innovative dance moves for the planet. At the time of lockdown, this will not only provide a window for physical exercise but will also bring out the creative juice in you. Click here to see how to participate in the StepUpForThePlanet Challenge

https://www.earthhour.wwfindia.org/step-up-for-the-planet.php 3. Discover the GIVEUP Warrior in you: Each one of us can do simple things in our daily lives to be GIVEUP Warriors and we have created special GIVEUP characters for Earth Hour 2020. who have taken it upon themselves to inspire a better planet. Check them out and discover the planet superhero in you!

4. Earth Hour Quiz: Take the Earth Hour Quiz and brag about your score on social media. At the end of it, if you didn’t already know them all, you’ll learn a little more about the planet and share the knowledge with others.

5. Switch Off: And yes don’t forget to Switch Off! Yes, on the 28th March 2020 between 8:30 pm – 9:30 pm and share with us what you did during the hour as a family. Remember to share your switch off pictures and preferably videos and we shall tell the world how India came together to switch off and switch on for the planet. Share your pictures and videos on social media tagging us @wwfindia.

The Earth Hour campaign, the largest grassroot global campaign on conservation by the WWF network, has always endeavoured to bring conservation issues to the forefront by engaging governments, leaders, businesses and civil society. The simple act of switching off lights for an hour has led to bigger changes around policy at a global level. In India, the campaign takes forward the GiveUp to Give Back initiative through Earth Hour 2020, in an effort to build awareness and engagement around the need to give up excessive consumption and move towards a more sustainable lifestyle for the planet and its people.

Speaking about Earth Hour 2020, Mr. Ravi Singh, Secretary General and CEO, WWF India, said, “These are challenging times and WWF India stands united with the country and the world in our resolve to fight the spread of the Covid19 virus and protect our planet and people. We believe this is the time when the importance and linkage of Nature and biodiversity to our existence and well-being reaffirms itself.

Let us use this time to reflect on how we can GIVEUP wasteful consumption to give back to nature and people. We urge you to observe Earth Hour from the safety of your homes and stay safe!” Going digital with Earth Hour will bring out the creativity in us. Creativity in times of a lockdown. We at WWF India also hope that it will make people think. Think about the future and the choices they will make to preserve the future for generations to come.

https://indiaeducationdiary.in/stayhomestaysafe-and-celebrate-earth-hour-2020-digitally/, March 27, 2020

Battling environmental challenges and protests, ecotourism operators in several parts of India, have called for building community resilience as they take stock of losses amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. And even as they learn to adapt to government-imposed temporary lockdowns that have hit their livelihood, a section of ecotourism operators and grassroots conservation workers involved in ecotourism have risen up to the challenge of stopping further spread of the viral disease by conducting awareness campaigns for their local communities. More than 375,400 cases worldwide have been reported positive for the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2, since its occurrence was first reported from Wuhan in China late last year (2019). In India, as of March 25, there are 512 active COVID-19 cases reported and 9 deaths, as per the ministry of health and family welfare. In the Sundarbans mangroves in West Bengal, poacher-turned-conservationist Anil Mistry has curtailed nature camps and other associated activities linked to ecotourism. Instead, he is actively involved in ensuring the flow of correct information to the island communities of the Sundarbans archipelago. Sundarbans mangroves, the largest contiguous mangrove ecosystem in the world, stretches along the coast of Bangladesh (where 60 percent of the forest lies) and India (West Bengal). Natural resource-based livelihoods such as agriculture and fishing predominate in the Sundarbans that is home to 4.5 million people. Mistry, a mangrove ecosystem conservationist who helps local communities in the Sundarbans adopt alternative livelihoods, including ecotourism, to ease pressure on forest resources and reduce human-wildlife conflicts, said communicating the correct information on the pandemic to the public in the remote islands is the major challenge. The Sundarbans is home to the royal Bengal tiger that drives the tourism industry. According to a report, the revenue earned from Sundarban Tiger Reserve-centric ecotourism increased from Rs. 15.08 lakhs in the year 2003-04 to Rs. 183 lakhs in 2014-2015. But tourist footfall and revenues dipped to Rs. 34 lakhs during 2009-10 from Rs. 41.39 lakhs in 2008-09 after the occurrence of cyclone Aila in May, 2009. Mistry, involved in the capture and release of 70 royal Bengal tigers in the last two decades, has restricted his movements to a bare minimum within his native Bali island, one of the 103 islands in the Indian Sundarbans. “We are no longer holding meetings with local communities to discuss conservation efforts. We are discussing everything over the phone. If we receive information on tiger sightings in villages, we will attend to those urgent calls but we are avoiding anything non-essential,” said Mistry, founder of Bali Nature and Wildlife Conservation Society, an NGO that works for the protection of the mangrove ecosystem. According to Bengal government officials contacted by Mongabay-India, all entry points to the mangrove islands, are under vigilance, to deal with the influx of people (migrant returnees) who are returning to the delta as their work in other states halted temporarily post government-initiated lockdowns. Mistry, who is also the principal field officer of the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI) in the Sundarbans, said community workers associated with conservation actions are calling up the island inhabitants and encouraging them to adopt hand wash regimen, stay indoors and practice social distancing. “We do send text messages but calls are more effective because sometimes people ignore messages,” added Mistry. Mistry believes that the local communities, on account of their weathering environmental stresses, including extreme weather events (the most recent one being tropical cyclonic storm Bulbul in November 2019), are quite resilient. “But they do not help to deal with the pandemic which no one saw coming. While the local authorities have stepped up vigilance and are carrying out public announcements, we are bolstering the ongoing efforts in communication,” he added, welcoming the lockdown decision taken by the central and state governments. Mistry informed that one of the immediate tasks on hand that they have taken up is to help out local authorities in identifying migrant returnees who may show symptoms of the infection. “As of March 22, we saw several migrant workers return from COVID-19-hit states such as Kerala and Maharashtra. We don’t want the disease to spread among the rest of the community in the Sundarbans which is why we are stressing on self-quarantine for the returnees,” said Mistry. In the Bay of Bengal delta, one in five households now has at least one family member who has migrated, a study has said. Environmental stresses, such as sea-level rise and erosion, indirectly disrupt livelihood security and can contribute to economic circumstances that necessitate migration.

Read more on migration in the Sundarbans delta
“The travel restrictions have impacted the ecotourism business and activities such as nature and wildlife camps, such as those centred around the Sundarban Tiger Reserve. But the benefits of the lockdown to control the spread of infection far outweigh the temporary financial losses,” Mistry added. Mangrove tour operator Sanjoy Mondal, who arranges tours to the tiger reserve for both international and domestic visitors, echoes Anil Mistry.

Mondal faced a temporary but brief disruption in services when Bulbul, a very severe cyclonic storm, swept through the Sundarbans mangrove, barely six months ago, in November 2019. Despite a partial hit, business resumed in the winter months through December to February of the new year (2020). With natural disasters frequent in the Sundarbans we know to some extent what to anticipate and how to weather it by now as far as our tourism activities are concerned. The impacts of COVID-19 have been unprecedented even before the temporary shutdown began,” Mondal, who has been running Sundarban Safari for seven years, told Mongabay-India.

While the peak tourist season stretches from December to February, Mondal said tour operators in the Sundarbans still receive bookings in March. “The fallout of the pandemic is that we have had massive cancellations at a time (in March and mid-April) when we are usually running at 70 percent of our capacity,” said Mondal. He fears the impacts of the COVID-19 associated restrictions, that are necessary, will add on to the existing stress that his staff is under. He said many of them make a large share of their living during the peak tourist season and then go back to tending to their agricultural work with the onset of the monsoon season. “Due to the delayed onset of the monsoon in 2019, we could only grow paddy and most of the winter farming such as vegetables, pulses, mustard crops were severely impacted. The cyclonic storm Bulbul also laid waste to whatever we could manage to grow,” Mondal explained.

“Nature has hit us in every possible way this time. But we in the Sundarbans are resilient given our past experiences with natural disasters, we will bounce back,” he said. But a return to normalcy will not be easy even if the world comes out of the grip of the pandemic in the coming weeks, said Geetha Sreenivasan, eco-tourism promoter and convenor of Nilgiris chapter of Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage. For two consecutive years, floods had crippled Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu, badly affecting ecotourism, its mainstay. For instance, forest-dwelling tribals and those who live on the fringes of the Mudumalai National Park, who serve as travel guides, are now jobless as no one took their services following a spate of landslides resulting in the loss of ecotourism infrastructure such as roads, said Sreenivasan. Wayanad in Kerala has seen a similar situation. Other than the two floods (2018, 2019), that threw ecotourism out of gear, the Nipah virus outbreak in neighbouring Kozhikode district in 2018 and 2019 has also dealt a blow.

Operators warn that without the local community’s support, ecotourism will not be sustainable and for their backing, resilience is needed. “Without tribals and other forest dwellers, no ecotourism is possible. Making them a resilient would contribute much to ecotourism. Along with fighting the viral disease threat, governments have the obligation to support families of tribal guides and ecotourism workers financially at least for the next six months,” said Gopinath Parayil, who co-founded responsible tourism initiative The Blue Yonder. Saurabh Kumar Dixit, associate professor, and head, department of tourism and hotel management, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, agrees. “The decision to temporarily bar entry of visitors to protected areas will negatively impact the livelihoods of the indigenous communities involved in ecotourism and wildlife tourism-related activities, but it is a necessary step that will ensure they are fit for the long-term. Governments should also think sympathetically to compensate their financial losses after handling this disaster,” Dixit told Mongabay-India discussing the sector in northeast India. “Most people in the business in Assam are from indigenous communities. The disruption in the tourism business will stress those who had invested in the business with loans from banks as they will have to pay interest and capital. I would suggest that the government relaxes capital and interest payment for a few days to months based on how this pandemic takes shape,” wildlife researcher Firoz Ahmed of Aaranyak added.

Though Sikram Barman, president of the Manas Ever Welfare Society (MEWS) that runs tourist cottages in and around the Manas National Park, in Assam, is worried for his small staff, he is using the downtime from the temporary suspension of his ecotourism business to generate awareness among fringe communities in villages around the park. MEWS is constituted by youth from the fringe villages around the park. “We have returned all advance payments made by tourists for reservations. We would have taken steps to scale down business even if restrictions were not officially announced but now it is beyond our control.

Before the pandemic stoked fears among potential tourists, we also suffered losses from the protests associated with the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests,” Barman said. However, Barman takes solace in the fact that most of his staff is not totally dependent on ecotourism for livelihood. “Most go back to their villages to do agricultural work,” Barman said. “For the staff who rely only on ecotourism, it would mean a substantial financial loss. It depends on how the pandemic evolves. We still hope to target local tourists once the park opens and if conditions are okay,” Barman added. Barman and his staff are communicating with farmers in fringe villages to drill them on safety measures such as social distancing. “There is not much awareness about the disease among the farming community in the fringe villages at the moment and as the situation is rapidly evolving we are also doing our bit to disseminate the correct information and ensure misinformation does not take hold,” he added. In Assam’s Kaziranga National Park, home to the world’s largest population of one-horned rhinoceros, ecotourism activities run by the indigenous communities, took a major hit early this year with the anti-CAA protests during the peak visitor season, said park’s field director P. Sivakumar. “We have a six month season because the monsoons flood the park and we close the park from May and reopen in November every year.

So this six-month window is when the local communities earn from ecotourism,” said Sivakumar. At Silent Valley National Park in Kerala, the eco-development committees were about to introduce innovative ecotourism plans when COVID-19 put a spanner in their works. Worst affected by last year’s (2019) flood, the park was out of bounds for the visitors until recently when basic infrastructure was restored. At Periyar Tiger Reserve and Parambikulam Tiger Reserve, tribal tourist guides have been deployed for conservation actions. Punati Sridhar, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife), Karnataka, hopes the local communities employed in ecotourism in the state will not lose their livelihoods because tourism activities linked to the forests are managed by Jungle Lodges and Resort (JLR), a unit of the state’s department of tourism, managed by Indian Forest Service officers.

“Most importantly, the animals will get some respite from the visitors. They can take a break now,” Sridhar added. “In the face of calamities and virus outbreaks, there is a shift in the preference of tourists from urban conglomerates, beaches and historical places to the seclusion and tranquillity of forest fringe locations. There is a global trend in favour of eco-tourism. Making the local communities empowered and resilient must be the first step in promoting eco-tourism,” said Gopinath Parayil. Jose Dominic, one of the pioneers of sustainable tourism in south India said, “Eradication of the coronavirus pandemic is the larger and common goal and I hope the world would achieve it soon.

But climate change-related threats are crippling the ecotourism scene for long. A focused intervention is needed to overcome the floods and droughts we are expecting in the coming years.’’

https://india.mongabay.com/2020/03/caught-between-floods-protests-and-a-pandemic-ecotourism-operators-bat-for-resilience/, March 30, 2020

Submissions are now being accepted for the 2020 UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation. In the upcoming cycle, UNESCO introduces the “Special Recognition for Sustainable Development” and an updated set of Awards criteria to acknowledge more prominently the role and contribution of cultural heritage to sustainable development within the broader framework of Agenda 2030.

The UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation recognizes exemplary efforts by individuals and organizations to restore or conserve structures, places and properties of heritage value in the region. It encourages other property owners to undertake conservation projects within their communities, either independently or by seeking public-private partnerships.

Since 2000, the Awards have recognized 249 winners from 22 countries for their thorough understanding of the places, sound technical achievements, and significant social and policy impacts at the local, national and regional levels. By recognizing these practices, the Awards have contributed to meaningful achievements in changing the conversation about what constitutes cultural heritage, who has a stake in its stewardship, and how cultural heritage can contribute to the sustainable well-being of cities, societies and the environment.

In 2019, UNESCO celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Awards programme through a regional event involving the conservation community in the Asia-Pacific region, including past winners, Jury members, heritage practitioners, academics, local governments and stakeholders. The event reflected on the Awards programme’s 20 years of experience and provided an opportunity for the conservation community and wider public to envision the future together with a shared responsibility for cultural heritage conservation.

It was agreed during this event the importance of addressing the future issues facing heritage and sustainability, particularly with connection to the Sustainable Development Goals and the New Urban Agenda. Deadline The deadline for the receipt of materials is 30 June 2020. To Apply for the 2020 Awards and for relevant resources, please visit the announcment

https://indiaeducationdiary.in/call-for-entries-2020-unesco-asia-pacific-awards-for-cultural-heritage-conservation/, March 30, 2020

Baolis or step-wells are monuments with rich past. They in fact resonate with an era of fused architectural traditions and faiths. Traversing through the labyrinths of antiquity of yesteryear, a sublime whiff of nostalgia of Indo Islamic architecture can be seen with prominence in Mughal monuments. The timeless treasures of ruins recount numerous tales many still untold. The arrival of the Mughals in India left an indelible impact on the indigenous manifestation of life, culture and tradition of that era which loudly speaks for its varied majestic expressions.

The architecture, a perfect blend of many rulers’ artistic excellence marks the history that rarely repeats itself. Flipping through the pages of history one sometimes, comes across a part of fairyland where the likes of Sheik Chillis became rich after meeting fairies and lived happily ever after. Baolis or step-wells are such monuments with rich past; in fact they reflect an era seeped and submerged deep down in history of India. Water played a significant role in architectural heritage of India. Baolis gained prominence during the Sultanate period and during the Mughal’s reign. The baolis, however, were constructed with a view to providing bathing space to the people of Delhi. Babur in 1526, fused the traditional native Indian art with the architectural aesthetics of his land. The trend was carried by his son Humayun for almost 15 years from 1530 – 1555 and later was followed by his son Akbar who remained in power from 1556-1605. Akbar introduced the fusion of Hindu and Persian techniques and was immensely fond of Mughal style paintings. Jahangir (Salim) (1605-1627) played a significant role in its maintenance of the monuments and baolis his forefathers had built and erected many new buildings (monuments) with miniature paintings. After Jahangir's death in 1627 Shahjahan took the charge and gave an impetus and lofty heights to his inherited architecture.

Among other architectural pieces like minarets, mosques, forts and mausoleums, Baolis, step-wells, have their own majestic significance. They are believed to be a water reservoir with both natural water and the underground one. That water was used for multiple purposes like quenching thirst and bathing. More importantly water of some baolis were believed to have magical powers thus was used for a healing touch. More than ten baolis in Delhi have distinct majesty, splendor and stories attached to them. Baolis at Hazarat Nizamuddin Dargah, Mehrauli, Tughlaqabad , Feroz Shah Kotla, Vikaspuri, Bara Hindu Rao and Mahraja Agarsen at Hailey Road are the prominent ones.

Baoli at Hazrat Nizamuddin Shrine
The 13 century Sufi shrine of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya also known as Mehboob-e-llahi has an 800 year old baoli. The backpackers visit the step-well and find it more amusing at the sight of locals diving into this 100 plus feet deep baoli to chill out on a summer afternoon. This baoli was constructed in 1321 AD, by Nizamuddin Auliya, during the reign of Ghiyasuddin Tuglaq. The baoli is situated very close to the Yamuna bed, so till date, it remains filled with water. This step-well has only one level as the water always stays high due to its proximity to the river Yamuna. This majestic baoli with springs underneath is believed to have magical powers. The followers of the Hazrat cure themselves by taking a dip into it.

This ASI protected monument is fed by underground streams. Aga Khan Trust which takes care of it, cleaned it for the first time after hundreds of years in 2009. This is considered sacred by the followers of the Sufi saint Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya. It is said that the Baoli was under construction at the same time when the ruler Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq was engaged in building Tuglaqabad fort and the latter had prohibited workers from working anywhere else.

The devoted laborers worked at baoli at night. When the emperor forbade the sale of oil so that they could not work during the nights they used the water of baoli for oil and this really worked. "We at the Aga Khan Trust for Culture are undertaking an urban conservation project in the Humayun’s Tomb – Sunder Nursery zone. Within this area, we have undertaken conservation of 50+ monuments including the Nizamuddin baoli; we are not involved in any other initiative in Delhi. In 2008, the Hazrat Nizamuddin Baoli collapsed; a long term project was undertaken to reconstruct the collapsed portions of the baoli,. During this time 40 feet of accumulated rubbish was removed from the Baoli. The Baoli has about 50 feet of standing water at present," the CEO of Agha Khan Trust Ratish Nanda explains.

Sookhi Baoli
It is in south Delhi's Mehrauli and its architecture based on Indo-Saracenic, is a subtle blend of Hindu, Muslim and gothic architecture. This baoli was built in 1506, and is also called the Rajon ki Baoli as it was primarily built for the workers who were involved in construction in the surrounding area, during the Lodhi reign. There are several step wells built with rubble stone in and around Mehrauli.

Gandhak ki Baoli
It is named for the smell of sulphur (gandhak) in its water; it is believed to have been built in the reign of Iltutmish 1211-36, the Sultan of Delhi. It has five tiers with a circular well at its southern end, is also known as the diving well. More often than not, divers jump into it from the upper tiers for the amusement of the visitors. Further 400 meter south is another four-tiered step well known as Rajaon-ki- Bain, built during the reign of Sikander Lodhi (1489-1517). Gandak Ki Baoli Just a few kilometers away from the Sookhi Baoli, is one of the oldest baolis in Delhi.

It was built in 1210 by Iltutmish. It has the presence of sulphur in the water which gives this baoli a distinct fragrance. The most likely explanation of drying up of this baoli is that perhaps the underground river system—the aquifers, must have changed its course—leading this baoli to dry up. Also, there’s an underground water pump right outside this baoli, which further deteriorates the water level at present. Agrasen Ki Baoli
It is situated at Connaught Place’s Hailey Road, the actual date of construction of this baoli is not yet known. It architectural looks recount that it was built during the Tughlaq period. It is one of the most regal seeming baolis with a huge courtyard. This almost 600 year old baoli has four flight of steps with one hundred steps leading down to the well. It has five arches; there is also a small mosque built by Humayun which is not publicly open to offering namaaz.

The structure has an old lush neem tree, which is more than 100 year old. There is also a hidden well behind the baoli, which is covered with an iron grill. Agarsen Ki Baoli’s water level is receding with coming up of many high rise buildings.

Ferozshah Kotla
This baoli was built in 1354 AD by Ferozshah Tughlaq. It is one of the most well maintained baolis in Delhi. It has just one level and is circular in shape. The baoli is built inside a huge enclosed garden, which might have served as a sub-city in Delhi during Tuglaq’s reign. This water body served as a platform where people could sit, bathe and chat in a cool place.

https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/culture/baolis-water-conservation-through-intermingled-traditions-and-faiths, March 30, 2020

Cave paintings are a type of parietal art (which category also includes petroglyphs, or engravings), found on the wall or ceilings of caves. 1 – Magura Cave
Magura Cave is located in the northwest of Bulgaria and contains a collection of cave paintings, painted with bat excrement that date from 8000-4000 years ago. An excess of 700 paintings has been discovered in the large cave, depicting people dancing and hunting as well as a wide range of animals.

2 – Cueva de las Manos
Cueva de las Manos is located in Patagonia in the southern part of Argentina and contains cave paintings that were created between 13,000 and 9,000 years ago. The cave’s name literally means ‘Cave of hands’ and was presented that name because of the hundreds of stenciled hands painted on the cave walls. The age of the paintings was calculated from the remains of bone-made pipes used for spraying the paint.

3 – Bhimbetka Rock Shelters
Bhimbetka is a collection of rock shelters, located in central India and contains over 600 paintings that span the prehistoric paleolithic and mesolithic periods, the oldest of which dates from at least 12,000 years. The paintings depict the lives of the people who resided in the caves, as well as an array of animals that include tigers, lions, and crocodiles.

4 – Serra da Capivara
Serra da Capivara is a national park in Brazil which has the largest and the oldest concentration of prehistoric paintings in the Americas. Rock shelters within the park were found to contain ancient paintings depicting animals and hunting. Whilst Stone tools found at Serra da Capivara date to as early as 22,000 years ago.

5 – Laas Gaal
Laas Geel are cave formations on the rural outskirts of Hargeisa, Somaliland, situated in the Woqooyi Galbeed region of the country. They contain some of the earliest known cave paintings in the Horn of Africa. The paintings are very well preserved and show images of cows in ceremonial robes, humans, domesticated dogs and giraffes. Laas Geel’s rock art is estimated to date to somewhere between  5,000 and 7,000 years ago.

6 – Tadrart Acacus
Tadrart Acacus is a mountain range, located in the Sahara Desert of Western Libya that contains rock art dating from 14,000 years ago. There are paintings and carvings of animals such as giraffes, elephants, ostriches and camels, but also of men and horses.

7 – Chauvet Cave
The Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc Cave in the Ardèche department of southern France is a cave that contains some of the best-preserved figurative cave paintings in the world. The dates have been a matter of dispute but a study published in 2012 supports placing the art in the Aurignacian period, approximately 32,000–30,000 years BP. Hundreds of animal paintings have been cataloged, depicting at least 13 different species, including some rarely or never found in other ice age paintings.

Rather than depicting only the familiar herbivores that predominate in Paleolithic cave art, i.e. horses, aurochs, mammoths, etc. The walls of the Chauvet Cave feature many predatory animals, e.g., cave lions, leopards, bears, and cave hyenas.

8 – Ubir
Ubirr is a group of rock outcrops in the Kakadu National Park, a protected area in the Northern Territory of Australia. There several large rock overhangs that would have provided excellent shelter to Aboriginal people over thousands of years. Some of the paintings are up to 20,000 years old and depict e barramundi, catfish, mullet, goanna, snake-necked turtle, pig-nosed turtle, rock-haunting ringtail possum, and wallaby and thylacine (Tasmanian tiger). The Kakudu National Park contains a vast amount of Aboriginal rock paintings; over 5000 art sites have been discovered there.

The Aboriginals not only painted the exterior of their subjects, but also the skeletons of some animals.

9 – Altamira Cave
The Cave of Altamira is located near the historic town of Santillana del Mar in Cantabria, Spain. It is renowned for prehistoric parietal cave art featuring charcoal drawings and polychrome paintings of contemporary local fauna and human hands. The earliest paintings were applied during the Upper Paleolithic, around 36,000 years ago. The site was only discovered in 1868 by Modesto Cubillas.

10 – Lascaux Paintings
Lascaux is the setting of a complex of caves near the village of Montignac, in the department of Dordogne in southwestern France. Over 600 parietal wall paintings cover the interior walls and ceilings of the cave. The paintings represent primarily large animals, typical local and contemporary fauna that correspond with the fossil record of the Upper Paleolithic time. The drawings are the combined effort of many generations, and with continued debate, the age of the paintings is estimated at around 17,000 years (early Magdalenian).

https://www.heritagedaily.com/2020/03/10-prehistoric-cave-paintings/126971, March 31, 2020