The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued notices to Delhi Jal Board (DJB) and Delhi Development Authority (DDA) on a plea seeking clean water for animals and birds in the city. The court observed that animals and birds have been dying because of the polluted water in the capital.

According to a PIL filed by Tughlakabad resident Manoj Kumar, several illegal factories running in Tughlakabad and Tughlakabad Extension had turned the green area near the Tughlakabad Fort into an “artificial polluted lake”, which had damaged the entire forest area. “There is an artificial lake and the polluted water is spreading in the whole forest. The animals in the forest, such as nilgai, monkeys, peacocks, deer and birds drink the same water as they don’t have another option. Due to the polluted water, animals and birds are dying on a large scale,” the plea, filed through advocate Sushil Kumar Jain, said.

The plea, which was taken up by the bench of Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Jayant Nath, also alleged that a section of the forest was being used by a particular community as a burial ground, even though it was not notified as one, leading to further pollution of the soil.

The plea seeks directions to set up a committee to identify green areas getting damaged by illegal factories, and has also sought the setting up of water treatment plants in those areas to provide clean water for both humans and animals.

The plea, which alleged that old trees in the forests had “fallen due to the pollution”, has also sought directions to the government to plant 5,000 new trees.

The court has now issued notices to the government, DDA and DJB to respond to the plea by August 13. The petitioner has been directed to submit colour photos of the areas to identify the damage done to the green patch.

-The Indian Express, 1st May 2014

Two experts from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) will travel to Afghanistan on Friday to examine a large granite bowl known as Lord Buddha’s Begging Bowl, and explore the possibility of bringing it back to India.

The bheeksha patra (begging bowl), a black stone artefact 4.5 feet tall with a diameter of 1.75 metres and an 18 cm thick rim, is now at the National Museum of Afghanistan in Kabul. It weighs about 400 kg, and at least 12 people are needed to move it.

The ASI’s Nagpur-based director of Arabic and Persian epigraphy, G S Khwaja, and its regional director (East), P K Mishra will submit a report to the ASI director general and the Ministry of External Affairs. The intention is to bring the bowl to Vaishali in Bihar, its “original place”.

“Quranic verses are inscribed in Arabic and Persian in six lines on the outside of the bowl. It was kept at the Jamia Mosque in Kandahar, and used for storing water and wazu,” Khwaja told The Indian Express.

“When the Taliban started destroying Buddhist relics including the Bamiyan statues, the then Afghan president Najibullah had the bheeksha patra sent to Kabul museum. It was also saved probably because of the Quranic verses inscribed on it,” Khwaja said. It is believed that the Buddha left the begging bowl to the people of Vaishali before he died, where it became an object of worship. The Kushan king Kanishka took it to his capital Purushpura (modern Peshawar), and the Islamic inscriptions were added around the time of Mahmud of Ghazni, who ruled in the 11th century.

The RJD MP from Vaishali, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, raised the matter of the bowl in Parliament last year, and asked why India was not making an effort to bring it back. Haresh Kumar, a close aide of Singh, said bringing back “a relic of national importance” was top on the leader’s agenda.

-The Indian Express, 1st May 2014

The forest department is surveying 10 plots that have been identified to be encroachments in the Asola Bhatti sanctuary. First, it will survey these plots and then give a notice to its owners or caretakers. The proprietors whose property is going to be demolished may get a day's time to respond to the demolition drive. A lot of proprietors met the additional principal chief conservator of forests, GN Sinha on Tuesday and claimed that their properties were not encroachments.

-The Times of India, 1st May 2014

Amidst worrisome indications that human-induced climate change is affecting the monsoon over India, research just published adds to a body of evidence showing that extremes in rainfall are increasing.

“Our analyses indicate a shift in the recent period towards more intense wet spells and more frequent but less intense dry spells,” say a team of researchers from Stanford University in the U.S. in a Nature Climate Change paper.

The scientists examined daily rainfall data for the peak monsoon months of July and August over a large swathe across central India. This region gets heavy rains during those months and also has considerable day-to-day variability in rainfall. They evaluated how the characteristics of wet spells, with days of heavy rain, and dry spells, with little or no rain, had changed between two 30-year periods, 1951 to 1980 and 1981 to 2011.

The average daily rainfall for July and August taken together had declined over the region in the latter period. Day-to-day fluctuations in rain had increased, with days of light and heavy rain becoming more frequent.

The intensity

Morover, when compared to 1951-1980, the intensity of rainfall during wet spells was significantly higher during 1981-2011. At the same time, dry spells had become 27 per cent more frequent during the latter period, which had twice as many years with three or more dry spells as the former.

The changes seen in 1981-2011 were “outside the range of natural variability observed in 1951-1980, a period when there was relatively less warming,” noted Deepti Singh, a graduate student at Stanford University and first author of the paper, in an email. A continuation of those trends could “imply increased flooding risk in parts of [that] region and also can have substantial impacts on farmers that still primarily depend on rainfed agriculture.”

Several papers

Several papers in recent years have drawn attention to the increasing intensity of heavy rainfall events over central India, commented M. Rajeevan, an atmospheric scientist and adviser to the Ministry of Earth Sciences in Delhi, who has published work on extreme rainfall events in the country.

The Nature Climate Change paper showed that the frequency of dry spells too was going up, which had implications for agriculture and water resource management, he told this correspondent.

The paper’s findings were consistent with climate model simulations, which show that extreme events, with too much or too little rain during the monsoon, would increase as the climate warmed. However, more detailed studies will be needed to establish that the observed increases in extreme events were indeed due to climate change brought about by human action and not part of a multi-decadal cycle of natural variability, Dr. Rajeevan added.

“It is clear that the farmers have to start adjusting to changing wet and dry spells, and resort to rainwater harvesting to tide themselves through the increasing dry spells,” remarked Raghuram Murtugudde, a professor in the University of Maryland's Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences in the U.S.

More importantly, there should be greater emphasis on forecasting the wet and dry spells during a monsoon, not just the total seasonal rainfall, he said in an email. The seasonal totals were important for water resource management and also correlated with total food production.

But farmers cared about distribution of rainfall within the season after monsoon onset had occurred. “Subsistence farmers who don’t get irrigation water need the wet and dry spell information to survive,” added Prof. Murtugudde.

-The Hindu, 1st May 2014

Khan Market – one of the world’s costliest markets – is set to undergo a major facelift but traders are hopeful that the posh retail spot will avoid the nightmare of the Connaught Place (CP) redevelopment project. Home to top boutiques and designer cafes, the 63-year-old market is set to get a centralised AC plant and a common effluent treatment plant. To solve the perennial parking problem, an extensive underground parking with tunnel links to the nearest metro station has been planned.

Other additions include an emergency ramp, a multi-storied mall, a multiplex and an al fresco walking space.

But despite the large-scale makeover planned, retailers say the Connaught Place experience won’t be repeated this time around.

“The architect-cum-consultant appointed by the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) will make sure that things are done methodically and sequentially and see it through to the end. We have campaigned with various council chairpersons, who have assured us that the project will be completed in an orderly manner,” Arjun Kapoor, president of Khan Market Welfare Association, told HT.

The CP makeover bid was first conceived in 2004 and set in motion finally in 2008. What began as a two-year project missed the completion deadline five times and finally ended three years behind schedule and almost nine times over budget.

NDMC officials, however, are confident of avoiding the fiasco. “The CP project was done in piecemeal. The whole project was designed and the work was given out in pieces. The result was total confusion. In Khan Market, the consultant architect will oversee the entire venture till its completion,” a senior NDMC official said.

The idea for the Khan Market redevelopment project was conceived in March 2011 by the Union urban development ministry. “From then, we have been putting it in writing to the municipal council. We don’t need another CP here,” Kapoor said.

However, not everyone is as optimistic of avoiding a disaster. New Delhi Traders Association president Atul Bhargava, who is also a member of the Khan Market body and a shop owner in CP, said when work starts, business will be affected.

“Once lanes are dug up, it will be pandemonium. If they can do it faster and without hurting the business volume, it will be amazing. However, I have my doubts,” Bhargava said.

Khan Market, named in honour of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (Frontier Gandhi), started off as a grocery market in 1951. It is India’s most-expensive retail market with a worldwide ranking of 28.

-The Hindustan Times, 2nd May 2014

The Archeological Survey of India’s (ASI) Delhi Circle, after launching a mobile application on Delhi’s monuments, has now come up with a Facebook page to provide an interactive platform to Delhiites. People can post their suggestions and complaints regarding the monuments across the capital.

“We are trying to reach out to as many people as possible through this page for the upkeep of the monuments of Delhi. We will keep updating our activities on this page so that people can be informed about important events,” said Vasant Swarnkar, ASI chief of Delhi Circle.

Though the page was created on April 1 this year, it started functioning a couple of days ago. Since its inception, the page has already attracted 647 followers who have started posting their suggestions along with pictures and videos of neglected monuments. “Delhi has a rich cultural heritage and it can only be preserved if people realize its importance,” read a post by Vipin Mathur on ASI Delhi’s newly opened page.

Though the page is now being operated as a closed group, Swarnkar said that with expert assistance the page will soon be made an open forum to invite more interactions from the public.

Apart from taking suggestions, the page has been updated with latest news and archeological developments from across the world and aims at engaging the people in discussions about various monuments.

Needless to say, the new social networking initiative of ASI has already started garnering accolades.

“It is good to see such initiatives to promote awareness about our monuments,” posted one Sudheer Mehta on the page.

-The Hindustan Times, 2nd May 2014

The site belongs to the mature Harappan phase from 2600 BCE to 2000 BCE

A “beautifully made” granary, with walls of mud-bricks, which are still in a remarkably good condition, has been discovered in the just-concluded excavation at Rakhigarhi village, a Harappan civilisation site, in Haryana.

The granary has rectangular and squarish chambers. Its floor is made of ramped earth and plastered with mud.

Teachers and students of the Department of Archaeology, Deccan College Post-Graduate & Research Institute, Pune, and Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, Haryana, excavated at Rakhigarhi from January to April this year.

Vasant Shinde, Vice-Chancellor/Director, Deccan College, who was the Director of the excavation, said: “We excavated seven chambers in the granary. From the nature of the structure, it appears to be a big structure because it extends on all sides. We do not know whether it is a private or public granary. Considering that it extends on all sides, it could be a big public granary.” He called it “a beautifully-made structure.”

The excavating teams found several traces of lime and decomposed grass on the lower portion of the granary walls. “This is a significant indication that it is a storehouse for storing grains because lime acts as insecticide, and grass prevents moisture from entering the grains. This is a strong proof for understanding the function of the structure,” explained Dr. Shinde, a specialist in the Harappan civilisation.

The discovery of two more mounds in Rakhigarhi in January this year led to Dr. Shinde arguing that it is the biggest Harappan civilisation site. There are about 2,000 Harappan sites in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. With the discovery of two more mounds, in addition to the seven already discovered, he estimated that the total area of Rakhigarhi was 350 hectares. It thus overtook Mohenjo-daro with about 300 hectares, in Pakistan, in laying claim to be the biggest Harappan site, he said.

The Rakhigarhi site belongs to the mature Harappan phase, which lasted from 2600 BCE to 2000 BCE. The teams have also found artefacts, including a seal and potsherd, both inscribed with the Harappan script.

In Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, granaries were found in citadels, where the ruling elite lived. So mound number four in Rakhigarhi, where the granary was found, could have been the settlement’s citadel, Dr. Shinde said.

Rakhigarhi is situated in the confluence of Ghaggar and Chautang rivers and it was a fertile area. “So Rakhigarhi must have grown a lot of food grains. They could have been stored in the granary to pay for the artisans or other sections of society or to meet any crisis,” said Dr. Shinde.

-The Hindu, 2nd May 2014

The site belongs to the mature Harappan phase from 2600 BCE to 2000 BCE

Many problems of the mind and of society can be solved by walking. Walking briskly and while concentrating on the activity of walking, the mind empties itself of nagging worries and complex emotions. And this Himalayan town in Darjeeling district is a marvellous place for such welcome sadhana, says martin kämpchen WE all have places to which we feel attracted, not because of any beloved person who lives there or any comfort we get but because of the place itself — its “energy”, its sanctity, its particular qualities that resonate with us. For me, such a place is the Himalayan town of Kalimpong in Darjeeling district. I first visited it in 1973, a few months after I began my lifelong stay in India. It had been a gruelling summer. Month after month I had shuttled by bus between Narendrapur (where I lived) and Kolkata (where I taught), sandwiched between perspiring and swearing commuters. I was exhausted from the unaccustomed strain. So the offer to visit the Himalayas and stay in an ashram of the Ramakrishna Math was welcome. I got the requisite permission for foreigners and moved from the sweltering plains to the pristine heights. Oh, it was indeed an upward movement: my drooping spirits, my emotions and thoughts were released from the searing heat and humidity. I realised how viciously they had affected me.

I walked and walked in the fresh light of autumn from hilltop to valley and up another hill; I walked with an increasing delight and to heighten the pleasure I read a book about another mountain, Mount Athos in Greece, the Monks’ Republic which is inhabited by a few thousand monks.

After this felicitous week with the monks of the Ramakrishna Math, among Nepalis and Tibetan monks in their monasteries, I returned to Kalimpong only after the agitation in the 1980s for an independent hill state resulted in certain political concessions and after the restrictions for foreigners were lifted. Even after 40 years that excitement when the bus moves along the Teesta river and then takes a right turn to wind its way up, is still fresh.

The road passes through dense forests until the first settlements come into view and finally that ridge on whose two slopes Kalimpong is built makes an almost theatrical appearance on the left. The change of climate from New Jalpaiguri, where I arrive by night train, to Kalimpong is palpable, the relief from the cloying humidity that mutates to the freely flowing breeze is nothing short of a revelation.

-The Statesman, 4th May 2014

Three years after Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) got a grant of Rs 6.5 crore to conserve and maintain Fatehpuri Masjid in Chandni Chowk, few improvements are visible in the 17{+t}{+h}-century building. The main entrance remains shabby, damaged minarets are still held together with a tangle of wires, and cracks and peeling plaster mark many of its walls. All that the agency seems to have achieved after spending about Rs 2 crore is waterproofing of the terrace and repairs to the flooring.

Unlike Jama Masjid and Red Fort, its contemporaries, Fatehpuri Masjid is not under ASI's protection but a Wakf Board property. However, in 2011, the Swami Vivekananda Trust in Kolkata gave ASI a grant for restoring it. Shahi Imam, Dr Mufti M Mukarram Ahmed, who has spent 45 years at the mosque, says he's disappointed with the way ASI has been working. "They randomly pick up some repair work, and then move on to something else without completing it. They don't consult us and work on their own whims and fancies."

Ahmed says he initially pressed ASI to take up essential work, especially in the more dilapidated and neglected portions, but has given up. "What's the point?'' He says ASI is fixated on flooring work. "We wanted them to start work wherever the building is in some danger. There are cracks on the ceiling, stonework has been dislodged, a minaret that collapsed over 10 years ago is still lying on the floor of the masjid and another one is tilting dangerously. But they seem to be blind to these requirements and are spending time and money on flooring work, which isn't even urgent.''

Pointing to one of the two large minarets over the main prayer area, Ahmed says, "So far, two of the smaller minarets were damaged, but of late we have noticed that one of the bigger minarets is also tilting because the foundation is cracking. ASI doesn't realize this''.

The LG is closely monitoring the project now and a committee of senior officers under the ASI director-general is supervising it. ASI officials admit that a lot of time was spent on waterproofing the terrace, but say this was important to stop seepage in the monsoon. They say the agency is making a new conservation plan, beginning with documentation of details and preparation of a conditional assessment report. The work will focus on restoring the main entrance where stones have been dislodged, removing later additions like the drainage and electrical systems, and repairing minarets and plaster work. "We are bringing in a conservation architect to look into the architectural aspects and phasing work based on priorities. We are confident of doing substantial work within the next 2-3 years,'' said the official.

-The Times of India, 4th May 2014

The presence of Bhai Mati Dass Museum in Chandni Chowk reinstates the fact that there is space for different museums serving different purposes

Quieter and quainter a museum, more interesting it turns out to be. And the Capital is full of them. Bhai Mati Dass Museum in Chandni Chowk, our focus this week, is one such space. Surrounded by the hustle bustle of Chandni Chowk, a stone’s throw from Sisganj Gurdwara which is thronged by thousands of devotees everyday and five minutes away from Chandni Chowk Metro station ensuring a continuous stream of people, the museum appears like an oasis.

The museum is named after Bhai Mati Dass — a disciple of Guru Tegh Bahadur — who was cut into two pieces right at this site. Despite the busy intersection (Bhai Mati Dass Chowk) drawing its name from the same historical figure after whom is named the museum, it still sounds news to many. That the chowk has the famous Victorian period fountain should have lent it even greater recall value but these factors didn’t integrate to produce the expected result. But the truth is that Bhai Mati Dass Museum has existed at the site, in the same structure since 2000. Before that the building was home to Majestic Cinema.

As I frequent the museums in the city, I realise accessibility is definitely not the issue for there are hardly any museum which are in the back of beyond. Couple of hours that I spent at the museum, it received five visitors. But the visitors weren’t there just for the museum. They were curious devotees who had come to the gurdwara and decided to just drop in. Engrossed, they carefully read the detailed captions in Gurmukhi (it has captions in Hindi and English too) and then engaged in short conversations about the same.

As experts across the globe mull over repositioning these institutions so as to fit them into altered worlds of today, there has emerged space for different kinds of museums to coexist. And it is in here that this museum belongs to.

The museum, managed by Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Committee, is opened 365 days. The visitors need to walk inside with their heads covered. And there is an inn right above the museum. While these aspects set it apart from other museums in the city, the 100-150 paintings dealing with Sikh history put it back within the traditionally known purview of museums. Realistically painted canvases construct the Sikh history narrative with much verve. Brightly painted works narrate the story of Sikhism and as it grew under the guidance of 10 gurus. Significant scenes — both known and unknown — drawn from guru’s lives capture the attention of the onlooker. The paintings not only focus on the gurus but have sections dedicated to other important figures like Baba Budha ji, Sain Mian Mir (a famous Sufi saint who laid the foundation stone of Hari Mandir Sahib), Mata Sundari Kaur (wife of Guru Gobind Singh) Rani Jindan (wife of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and mother of Maharaja Duleep Singh and various other women, who played important roles in Sikh history, important battles like Battle of Bhangani (battle fought by Guru Gobind Singh).

And not far from the entrance is the section dedicated to Bhai Mati Dass, Bhai Sati Dass, Bhai Dyal Dass depicted being martyred as their guru Tegh Bahadur watched on in custody right at the same spot where stands the museum. Guru Tegh Bahadur was then beheaded at the same spot.

“While some artists were commissioned to do these paintings by the committee, some like Sobha Singh ji donated their works,” says Iqbal Singh, a senior museum official. With bright colours, a stress on facial expressions and poignancy, the simplistic works immediately strike a chord with the viewer. “Sikhism doesn’t allow us to make films on our gurus. So how do we tell the youngsters about its origins and the history? Through literature and art. We have a library too and there is this museum. Now, we are planning to connect it to take it closer to the gurdwara so that it gets more visitors,” he adds

-The Hindu, 5th May 2014

If you spent a minute with each piece in the collection at the National Museum in Delhi, it would take three years, nine months and 23 days to view all of them. The authorities have thus launched a yellow-book, listing the highlights from over two lakh works of traditional arts — including sculptures, miniature paintings, coins, decorative arts, textiles, manuscripts, arms and armour — that are displayed at the museum.

Titled ‘The museum in 90 minutes’, the booklet is given to visitors free of cost. It gives the names, maps and short descriptions of 25 most unique pieces.

“The booklet was launched last month… We prepared a list of art works in consultation with the curators and included them in the book so that visitors, who have little time, can see our best, most unique works,” Jayati, head of Outreach department at National Museum, told Newsline.

At least three art works listed in the booklet are from the Harappan civilisation gallery, including the townplan of Dholavira, an archaeological site in Gujarat. Five other listed art works are from the Mauryan, Kushan and Gupta periods. “One of the most interesting pieces on the list is a sculpture of Ganga, which was built between the 4th and 6th centuries. Ganga is holding a pot of water, standing on the mythical makara — a creature with the body of a crocodile and tail of a fish. To her right stands Yamuna on a turtle. Similarly, a red sandstone figure of Lord Vishnu crafted in Mathura during the Gupta period is another interesting highlight,” an official at the museum said.

Romanian tourist Georghe Ionut (29), who is visiting India with his wife Dana, told Newsline that the National Museum is one of the most interesting places he has visited so far.

“The place is so rich in history. We were totally confused when we came in, but then, we got this book and reading through it has actually helped us see some really amazing things stored here. My favourite piece was the carved tusk that tells the life story of Buddha,” Ionut said.

Dana, who teaches history at a school in Bucharest, though liked Rama darbar — a Tanjore-style cloth painting from Tamil Nadu — the best.

-The Indian Express, 5th May 2014

Plant kani konna, hibiscus, arali or balsam in your garden and create a colourful flutter, suggests K. Jeshi.

If you want butterflies fluttering in your garden, grow the ornamental Aristolachia with its spectacular flowers. Or bright red hibiscus, mauve balsams, and pink aralis — they are favourites with them.

“To have butterflies such as the common birdwing, crimson rose, common rose, and common windmill butterflies for company, just grow Artisolachia bush near your compound wall,” says birder A. Sukumar. “The butterflies will come even if there are ficus, gulmohar or kani konna trees around,” he says.

Recalling a project her students did, teacher R. Selvi of Kadri Mills School says: “They spotted butterfly eggs on the leaves of nandyarvattam (crape jasmine) plant. That is how they learnt that this was the nourishment for the butterfly larva that emerged as daphni neeri moth. We also spotted eggs on the weed aaduthoda or aadu theenda paalai which turned out to be the host plant for the common rose butterfly. Some butterflies also devour arali leaves.”

While common coster (orange with stripes) can be often spotted on aamanakku weed, the danaid eggfly butterflies look for nectar on hibiscus flowers.

Conservationist Mohammed Saleem says while butterflies look for nectar on any flowering plant, their host plants where they lay their eggs are very specific. They choose the plant based on the food requirement of the larva.

“Milk weed, lantana, and aamanakku plants in your neighbourhood will also attract butterflies,” he says. Sukumar says one also has to grow trees that are host to ants, tree hoppers and neery bugs as some caterpillars depend on these for food.

-The Hindu, 5th May 2014

More than half a century after they were phased out to make way for automobiles, trams are likely to make a comeback on the busy streets of the Walled City. This is part of the Shahjehanabad Redevelopment Project, which seeks to restart trams along with non-motorised vehicles at Chandni Chowk and its neighbouring areas.

Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung gave in-principle approval to the project in March. It is now with the UTTIPEC, the agency that gives final approval to transport and infrastructure projects in the Capital, which is looking at its technical feasibility. While the PWD already has a detailed project plan prepared by a private consultant, sources said the DMRC may also prepare its own detailed project report once it is officially roped in by Delhi government to execute the project.

From 1908 to 1963, trams chugged amidst tongas, cycle-rickshaws and bicycles in Old Delhi, but will the old charm be able to provide a safe commute and reduce vehicular population is something that experts need to look at.

Thanks to the Delhi Metro, footfall at Chandni Chowk and other neighbouring markets has increased 60-70% in the past few years. With another metro station slated to open near Red Fort crossing by this yearend, traders fear there would no space left for people to move on streets.

“There is an urgent need to convert Chandni Chowk into a pedestrian area and restrict the movement of vehicles by constructing multi-level parking lot in the north of Town Hall. Tram is a good proposal,” said Sanjay Bhargava, general secretary, Chandni Chowk Sarvavyapar Mandal.

While the bigger plan is to have the same network of about 20-kilometers as the Walled City had in the first half of the 20th century, it will connect Esplanade Road with Sadar Bazar. Trams connected Asaf Ali Marg, Paharganj, Old Delhi Railway Station and Chandni Chowk between 1908 and 1963. PWD sources said INTACH has worked out the tram route.

The trams will run between 8am and 8pm. The project envisage a tram station every 300-350 metres.

While the high court is hearing arguments on making Chandni Chowk a non-motorised vehicle (NMV) zone by different groups, PWD officials said they are going to file an affidavit on running trams and the NMV together in the area. “The project is on a very nascent stage right now,” said a senior PWD official. Once the Court gives its go-ahead the PWD may rope in Delhi Metro Rail Corporation for technical expertise and operations. Transpor t exper t Nalin Sinha said slow speed of trams along with the availability of non-motorised vehicles and space for pedestrians will just be perfect for an area as congested as the walled city.

-The Hindustan Times, 5th May 2014

To look into the myriad facets of love, Dhwani, a cultural organisation seeking to preserve the rich cultural heritage of the country, has conceptualised a production which will be staged at Desraj Campus in East of Kailash here on May 7.

Having performed at a number of national and international festivals, Dhwani’s new production is basically a collaborative venture between Parvathy Baul and the Dhwani Repertory.

“Just like the depiction of love is an important aspect of Kathak, so does Ms. Baul’s philosophy seek to celebrate celestial love through earthly passions. Though their lyrics intertwine mysticism and a longing for the divine, their liberal interpretation of love transcends religion. These two art streams are deftly woven together in a performance that looks into the myriad facets of love, both earthly and spiritual,” said a spokesperson of the organisation.

-The Hindu, 6th May 2014

A major crackdown on unauthorised construction in protected forest land in Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary is expected to be resumed from Wednesday. Process of demarcation of encroachment on green land is presently underway, which is being conducted by the Forest Department of the Delhi Government. A senior official of the department said once the process is completed the department will return to bulldoze structures raised illegally in the region within two days.

“We are still surveying the areas notified as forest and wildlife sanctuary to reallocate rest encroached land and the full crackdown is likely to happen on May 7. Currently, there has been no demolition, except few fences. We have issued a notice to remove illegal encroachments and planning to start demolishing structures from May 7 onwards,” said additional principal conservator of forests GN Sinha.

Meanwhile, several inhabitants of the Asola village had recently pleaded before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to revisit the decision to demolish encroachments which was rejected by the bench. However, the bench has ordered the Forest Department to address the doubts of affected locals. Residents also claimed that the khasra numbers of their properties were different from those listed in the notices slapped by department and went on questioning if their homes are illegal, why was permission for construction given in the first place.

“This matter is under judicial consideration and therefore, I am strictly prohibited from any public discussion elsewhere,” Sinha said.

“Till now we have only demolished boundary walls, leaving out the lavish structures rise on illegal land on humanitarian grounds to give people sufficient time to clear their properties,” AK Shukla, Chief Conservator of Forests & Chief Wildlife Warden said. “Once we get guidelines from higher authorities, we will start to raze all constructions that have been built illegally on forest land to reclaim more land,” he said.

Why was forest land farmed out, ask farmhouse owners

New Delhi: The whip cracked by the Forest Department to reclaim forest land in Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary from encroaches has left owners of properties bewildered. Peeved over the demolition drive being carried out by them, they rued if their houses are built on illegal land then why was permission for construction given in the first place. They also alleged the notices served by the authorities also led to the confusion as khasra numbers of their properties were different from those listed in the notices slapped.

“We are living here from last 18 years in peace, unlike other citizens of India we are paying taxes, electricity bills and we have proper documents of our land,” Manoj Gupta, whose farmhouse was demolished on April 22. “Suddenly, we are been threatened and warned by the forest department that we are living on illegal land.”

Interestingly, Forest Department is also flattening boundaries they have constructed years ago. Meanwhile, there has been no plantation work as measures of afforestation, claimed by the department, except a few holes have been dug by the bulldozer. A senior official in forest department has said that the occupants of illegal land should remove their unauthorised encroachment as soon as possible.

-The Pioneer, 6th May 2014

The Delhi high court on Monday lashed out at South Delhi Municipal Corporation for glossing over illegal constructions mushrooming in Mehrauli .

Justice S K Mishra gave two days time to the SDMC to ensure unauthorized constructions in more than half a dozen properties in the area is razed immediately.

HC warned it will not tolerate "cosmetic makeup" by which the corporation attempts to portray it has taken action against illegal construction. The court was quick to discover that most of the claims of the SDMC were superficial as far as its assurance of taking action is concerned.

It pulled up the agency saying lack of action despite repeated orders smacked of collusion with the accused property owners and warned the agency of strict action in case it fails to honour court orders.

While hearing one such case where the corporation claimed it took action, Justice Misra pointed out how only cosmetic attempts have been made to remove illegal construction. The court observed sarcastically how corporation officials raze a few walls, click its photographs or have it video graphed and then come to court claiming full action against illegal construction has been taken.

HC reminded the corporation officials and the lawyers present that abiding with court orders in such a condition should mean rooting out illegal construction in an area. Directing the concerned commissioner to launch an enquiry against those officials of the corporation who allowed unauthorized construction and shielded wrong doers, the HC has sought a detailed report in this regard within two months.

The court is hearing a petition filed by a local resident of Mehrauli highlighting how several properties in the area have illegal constructions but despite repeated complaints the corporation officials have refused to budge.

Urging the court to order demolition, the petitioner complained the agency only indulges in cosmetic exercise and within no time the illegal structures crop up again.

-The Times of India, 6th May 2014

At a time when there is an uproar against Haryana government's move to allow more construction in unexplored regions including the Aravalis, the state has moved the Supreme Court aiming to free huge tracts of land declared as "forest" by the court in a mining related case in 2004.

In the recently filed application, the Haryana government contested records of its own forest department which identify the land as "forests". It said, "Authentic records of any land, its ownership and use are maintained by the revenue department of the state, which have legal sanctity. The records created and/or maintained by any other department (forest department, in this case) has no legal sanctity."

It urged the apex court to modify/clarify its order of 2004 where it had banned non-forest activities in areas covered under Section 4&5 of Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA) without prior approval of the central government as per the Forest Conservation Act, 1980.

While green activists have been pushing for protecting forest areas, the state's move is aimed at bringing relief to owners of these "forest" land who had bought them at low rates. However, because of the forest tag, they are unable to use the land for building houses or other non-forest activity. Taking out land from the ambit of Section 4&5 of PLPA will pave the way for more construction in these areas, which are no-go zones.

The Haryana government has said that due to the "forest" tag, the landowners have "ceased to enjoy any rights" including its use even for agricultural purposes. "Thus, their proprietary rights have been taken away without any compensation," the government said.

While the forest department still maintains that 27,304.47 hectares falls under "forest" as per Section 4&5 of PLPA, the state has submitted that these notifications had expired in case of 20,344.9 hectares.

It has submitted that land covered under expired notification of PLPA should not be treated as "forest" in terms of its 2004 order. The state has also said that the areas covered under the said notifications are privately or community owned lands.

It has further argued that the PLPA permitted regulation of the areas is for temporary periods and not on permanent basis. However, the state forest department has recorded the lands in question as "forest" in its official documents.

-The Times of India, 6th May 2014

Due to an NGO, residents of Bamhani, a village in the Achanakmar Tiger Reserve, have moved on from days of sheer darkness. Now there are lit bulbs, charged mobile phones, refrigerators and working water-motors

In the deep and dark forests of the Achanakmar Tiger Reserve in Chhattisgarh, scattered over an expanse of 557.55 sq km, wild animals and humans co-exist. As dusk falls, it is time for the wild to emerge, forcing the humans to lock themselves in. What is common on both sides of the locked doors is darkness, for there is no electricity in the villages falling in the buffer zones of the reserve — or so it used to be.

Today, residents of Bamhani, a far flung village in the Achanakmar Tiger Reserve, have moved on from the days of sheer darkness, with lit bulbs, charged mobile phones, refrigerators and water-motors becoming increasingly common. The credit for this silent revolution transpiring in the dense jungles goes to the Government and non-governmental organisations — and the villages are now lit up and better still, using natural light.

Jan Swasthya Sahyog, an NGO with expertise in the field of healthcare, is one of the organisations that have distributed solar lights in the area in the last three years. Besides, the Government’s energy department has also provided power to these villages by installing solar plants. Most of the villages in this region have street lights as well as domestic lights through solar energy.

“From preparing food at night to a walk towards the farm, a minimum quantity of light is always required. Villages with no electricity or heavy power cuts face far more challenges in their day-to-day life. Electricity shortage also affects healthcare directly. Because, if there is a power cut during one’s dinner, one is unlikely to enjoy one’s meal.This was a major reason why cheap solar lights were provided in the area”, explains Sant Kumar, a Jan Swasthya Sahyog activist. For the last three years, Jan Swasthya Sahyog has assisted with making solar lights available in villages in Lormi region of Mungeli district and Kota region of Bilaspur district. Though the cost of one solar light is Rs 500, for health activists it is available for Rs 250 and for villagers, at a nominal rate of Rs 100.

The Government’s electricity department has its own solar plant in villages with no power supply. Unfortunately, it often remains switched off during the monsoon season as the sun is not visible for many days at a stretch. Ironically, it is that time of year when people actually need more power.Adivasis are used to sleeping on the ground without beds or cots (charpais) and hence often become victim to snake or scorpion bites. The presence of solar lights could easily prevent this hazard. Explains Sant Kumar, “The light we provide saves energy. Once the battery is recharged, it can work for two days. This light can also be charged in the cloudy season.”

Located amid lush green forests is the picturesque village of Chiraigoda, with wooden houses constructed far from one another. This village is home to the Uraon adivasis. “I have two solar lights, of which only one is in good condition. It helps my children to study after dark and in the preparation of food. It has also made our night trails easier, helping us keep a check on our fields. Paddy seeds can be threshed in the light of a solar bulb. Often, we hang the solar light on trees to keep the wild animals at bay”, shares Dhaniram Ekka, a local adivasi, with evident satisfaction. He adds, “Earlier, we would never receive adequate kerosene from the ration shop, only a litre a month. Those were difficult times.”

“The service provided by Government solar plants is not satisfactory as they remain inactive for want of repairs. Jan Swasthya Sahyog purchased the plant from a Mumbai-based company that has given one year’s guarantee and if it gets faulty during the year, the company will either replace it or repair it. In future, we wish to train a mechanic who can repair it locally”, shares Sant Ram. Indeed, as villagers become comfortable with the new eco-friendly technology, a brighter future lies ahead for them and the planet.

-The Hindu, 7th May 2014

In a novel initiative to protect wildlife and its habitat, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has joined hands with 12 Asian countries, including India, to establish a new trans-boundary Asian partnership on protected areas.

The new partnership will benefit the country’s network with 668 protected areas, covering an area of over 1,61,221.57 sq km.The other countries in the Asian partnership include Japan, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam. The partnership will be jointly chaired by IUCN and the Government of Japan, as the first country co-chair.

Meanwhile, the conservationists are rather enthused over the proposed partnership considering that India has one of the largest networks of Protected Areas, covering nearly 4.90 per cent of the total geographic area. It comprises 102 National Parks, 515 Wildlife Sanctuaries, 47 Conservation Reserves and four Community Reserves. According to them, the partnership comes at a time when the protected areas in the country are threatened by the pace of development.

“The establishment of this group represents a new commitment from the Governments across Asia to work together for protected area,” Aban Marker Kabraji, Regional Director, IUCN Asia, one of the co-chairs of the initiative. It demonstrates a growing recognition towards the protected areas in multiple realms which are critical to human survival and to the times we live in,” he added.

The sources in IUCN further opined that protected areas are vital in tackling development challenges in Asia -one of the world’s most dynamic regions. They also help to reduce the risk of natural disasters, besides providing clean water and air along with enhancing food security, medicines and carbon storage to help mitigate climate change. Protected areas, however, are getting increasingly affected by the growing economic development in Asia and their ongoing conservation has trans-boundary implications, they said.

The idea originated at the first-ever Asia Parks Congress, which took place in Japan in November, 2013. The Congress took a pledge there for stronger collaboration in the face of the current Asia boom to ensure that protected areas contribute to progress in the region while conserving its rich bio-diversity

-The Pioneer, 7th May 2014

An Indore-based RTI activist Rajendra Kumar Gupta has sought cancellation of the lease alleging misuse of public land which was leased out to self-styled godman Asaram Bapu's trust by the state government in 1998.

In a complaint addressed to Indore district collector and submitted at his office on Tuesday, the journalist-cum-RTI activist has alleged that 6.859 hectare land in and around the godman's Khandwa Road ashram, which was leased out to the Asaram Gurukul and Ashram and Dhyanyog Kendra by the government conditionally for horticultural, meditative and non-profitable purposes is being misused.

The complainant has alleged the Khandwa-ashram land is being used by the godman's trust for profitable purposes for manufacturing and selling products, ranging from medicines to books and hair shampoo to incense sticks without any official license.

The godman's trust has constructed permanent structure on the ashram land in violation of the lease agreement, the complaint said.

Gupta has alleged that the concerned ashram land is being used to mislead the city, state and entire country and economic benefits are being derived from the land by the godman's trust.

The 6.859 hectare ashram land was rendered to Asaram's trust on one rupee annual lease agreement.

The complaint pertains to the godman's sprawling ashram in Indore, from where he was arrested by a Jodhpur police team on August 31-September 1 night in the teenaged girl's sexual assault case.

When contacted on Wednesday, additional DM (ADM) Alok Singh said, "He has yet to receive the complaint, but once it comes to the officials, we'll look into the matter appropriately."

-The Times of India, 7th May 2014

But not on quarrying and sand mining

In its response to the Kasturirangan committee report on the Western Ghats, Karnataka has agreed to a “complete ban” on mining but not to a ban on quarrying and sand mining within the Eco-Sensitive Area (ESA).

“Quarrying and sand mining may be regulated for local development needs,” said a letter from the Department of Forest, Environment and Ecology of the State government, submitted on Monday, in response to the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests.

“A total ban will affect local development and livelihoods very adversely,” it said.

The State government was given two months to respond to the Centre’s draft notification (issued on March 10) based on the report of the high-level working group (HLWG) led by K. Kasturirangan, Planning Commission member. Karnataka has not agreed to the committee’s recommendation to prohibit construction projects exceeding 20,000 sq km.

Besides objections to certain curbs on economic activities within the proposed ESA, the State also asked for a reduction in the geographical extent of the ESA as conceived in the Kasturirangan report. The HLWG recommended that 60,000 sq km. of the natural landscape of the Western Ghats be declared as ESA, which includes more than 1,500 villages in Karnataka. Villages were brought in within the ESA if 20 per cent of their area were found to be eco-sensitive (according to satellite imagery analysis of their vegetation type and landscape). However, the State has recommended that only villages that have “50 per cent or more” area identified as ecologically sensitive be brought within the ESA compass.

The State has, however, agreed to ban thermal power projects and red-category industries.

It has also agreed to the recommendation that the contentious Gundia power project, “must be proceeded upon with extreme caution” and only after a reassessment of the ecological consequences downstream.

Karnataka submits response to Centre on Kasturirangan Committee report ‘A total ban will affect local development and livelihood very adversely’

-The Hindu, 7th May 2014

Ancient saree varieties of Tamil Nadu like Kandangi, Sungudi, Chinnalampatti and Koorai Nadu that were popular decades ago are all set for a comeback with state-run Cooptex set to launch a revival plan for the sarees of a bygone era.

The Tamil Nadu government has granted Rs 14 lakh to the Tamil Nadu Handloom Weavers' Co-operative Society, popularly known as "Co-optex," to go ahead with the plan to revive traditional sarees.

Weavers skilled in making traditional sarees are very few and efforts are on to identify such craftsmen so that they could be roped in for making the sarees for Cooptex.

"We have decided to provide incentives to member-societies and weavers under the revival package for making traditional sarees," U Sagayam, Managing Director, Cooptex told PTI.

The core features of ancient sarees would be retained, Sagayam said, adding interventions would be in the areas of design and colour to suit the needs and sensibilities of modern day working women.

Pointing out that decades ago, Sungudi, Kandangi, Chinnalampatti and Koorai Nadu saree varieties had a huge market, the senior official said sale of such varieties was now insignificant.

"The revival plan will also support the weavers, apart from bringing back colourful traditional Tamil Nadu sarees in its original form," the official said.

Chettinadu region [Karaikudi and its surroundings] is home to "Kandangi" variety. Made of cent per cent cotton, it is well known for its dark colours and check patterns.

"Sungudi" was traditionally made at Madurai and the cotton sarees are known for their rich colours and design craftsmanship.

"Chinnalampatti," noted for its shine like silk sarees is also the name of a town near Dindigul. It is made of "art silk." Sadly, Chinnalampatti does not produce such sarees anymore.

"Koorai Nadu" specialty is the mix of silk and cotton in both warp and weft and Mayiladuthurai region is home to this variety. If fast changing fashion trends led to the decline in demand for traditional sarees over the years, Cooptex hopes it could redefine fashion with the right intervention in design and colour.

Weavers who could not get a commensurate increase in price though the cost of processes and textile inputs for making traditional sarees kept rising can now have hope as the apex handloom weavers body has decided to incentives member-societies.

-The Indian Express, 8th May 2014

An effort by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to measure pollution in cities around the world has found New Delhi admits to having the dirtiest air, while Beijing’s measurements, like its skies, are far from clear.

The study of 1,600 cities found air pollution had worsened since a smaller survey in 2011, especially in poorer countries, putting city-dwellers at higher risk of cancer, stroke and heart disease.

Air pollution killed about 7 million people in 2012, making it the world’s single biggest environmental health risk, the WHO, a United Nations agency, said last month.

Thirteen of the dirtiest 20 cities were Indian, with New Delhi, Patna, Gwalior and Raipur in the top four spots. The Indian capital had an annual average of 153 micrograms of small particulates, known as PM2.5, per cubic metre.

Beijing, notorious for the smog that has prompted some Anglophone residents to dub it “Greyjing”, was in 77th place with a PM2.5 reading of 56, little over one-third of Delhi’s pollution level.

WHO experts said the Chinese data was from 2010, the most recent year made available to them by China. But Beijing’s city government began publishing hourly PM2.5 data in January 2012.

A year after it started publishing data, Beijing’s air quality hit the “worst on record” according to Greenpeace, with a PM2.5 reading as high as 900 on one occasion.

Beijing’s government said last month that PM2.5 concentrations stood at a daily average of 89.5 micrograms per cubic metre in 2013, 156 per cent higher than national standards. Such a reading would put Beijing 17th in the WHO database. The WHO says there is no safe level for PM2.5 pollution.

At the cleaner end of the table, 32 cities reported a PM2.5 reading of less than 5. Three-quarters of those were Canadian, including Vancouver, one was Hafnarfjordur in Iceland and the other seven were American.

WHO experts insisted the survey was not intended to name and shame the dirtiest cities, since the cities involved were volunteering the information to try to help themselves clean up.

Maria Neira, WHO Director for Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health, said the aim was to “challenge” cities and thought the survey would help them to become more open about their dirty air, which is often caused by burning coal, smokestack industries and heavy traffic.

-The Indian Express, 8th May 2014

Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) officials have procured impressions of Persian inscription from the so-called ‘Bhiksha Patra’( begging bowl) placed in the Kabul Museum claimed to have been used by Gautama Buddha in Vaishali.

“We have examined the bowl. There was a Persian inscription all around the big bowl in 6 lines. We have taken an impression of the Persian inscription made on a hand-made paper with black paper (estampage). We will now decipher the inscription,” GS Khwaja, director, in charge, epigraphy branch, (Arabic and Persian), Nagpur, one of the two officials who had gone to Afghanistan last week, told HT.

“This will help us conclude many vital facts about the bowl including the year the bowl was made. It will also give us evidence whether this is the bowl that was given by Buddha to the people of Vaishali,” he said. “There is, however, a vital question on how the bowl has Persian inscriptions on it.”

A strong demand for bringing back the begging bowl used by Gautama Buddha from the Kabul Museum and installing it at its original place at Vaishali in Bihar was made by RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh in Lok Sabha last year.

The bowl is a hemispherical vessel of greenish-grey granite with a diameter of 1.75 metres.

-The Hindustan Times, 8th May 2014

As many as 956 industrial units comprising chemical units, paper and pulp units, distilleries, dairies, sugar factories, dying units and tanneries have been found to be polluting Ganga and its tributaries, and will now be examined for their state of affairs.

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has ordered that the 956 units be examined to find out which of them are seriously polluting the river. All these industries were issued notices by the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) few days ago after the NGT acted tough on the issue. Of the 956 polluting units, 39 are located in Ghaziabad and 16 in Noida.

“It is in order to determine which of the said industries are seriously polluting industries, which need to be dealt with on some priority, we direct that an officer of the Central Pollution Control Board [CPCB] accompanied by an officer of the UPPCB and one officer from the National Ganga Basin Authority shall examine the 956 notices and submit a report to the Tribunal,” NGT Bench said. It has directed that the units be examined to see which of them are “seriously polluting industries and have not installed anti-pollution devices.”

It will also be seen if the anti-pollution devices are functioning properly and how many seriously polluting industries are discharging their emissions and effluents within the prescribed parameters under Air Act and the Water Act respectively. The NGT has also sought a report on the water requirements, sources of water and polluting norms of the units.

As far as the M/s Simbhaoli Sugars Ltd. & Distillery are concerned, the NGT had termed them as “seriously polluting” since they were found to be discharging untreated waste in drains falling in Ganga and has now directed them to sit down with officers of CPCB, UPPCB and Uttar Pradesh Government to examine suggestions and measures to be taken to become non-polluting and compliant units.

The NGT is hearing a petition filed by Krishna Kant Singh and an organisation run by environmental activist Vikrant Tongad highlighting how industries are polluting Ganga and endangering aquatic life.

Of the 956 polluting units, 39 are located in Ghaziabad and 16 in Noida

-The Hindu, 8th May 2014

The mood was one of jubilation in Tamil Nadu with chief minister J Jayalalithaa terming the Supreme Court verdict permitting the state to raise water level in the 120-year-old Mullaperiyar dam to 142ft a "historic victory."

The state had waged an eightyear legal battle to get the contentious dam safety law passed by the Kerala assembly struck down, as it obstructed TN's efforts to increase the storage level. "I dedicate this historic victory to the people of Tamil Nadu," Jayalalithaa said in a statement from her Kodanad retreat. "With this, the livelihood of the people and farmers of southern districts has been protected."

She criticised her arch rival and DMK chief M Karunanidhi and the UPA government for ignoring the state's rights over the dam. Jayalalithaa said the DMK leader had even opposed the SC order in 2010 to nominate a state representative to the high-level empowered committee to check the dam safety, while she as an opposition leader, termed it "' improper" as it would affect the state's prospects. Later, the DMK government obliged and nominated former SC justice A R Lakshmanan. Armed with reports of various investigations and tests, the committee submitted its final report to the court in April last year, its findings suggesting the dam was safe.

On Wednesday, soon after the verdict was out, the mood in the AIADMK headquarters in Royappettah was upbeat, with cadres gathering to celebrate.

At the DMK headquarters, Karunanidhi told reporters he felt elated by the ruling. While justice was delayed, the SC ruling upheld Tamil Nadu's rights, said PMK leader S Ramadoss. CPM state secretary G Ramakrishnan welcomed the verdict, while MDMK chief Vaiko said the Centre should dismiss the Kerala government, if it made any attempts to pass a resolution against the ruling.

-Times of India, 8th May 2014

Delhi air is the most polluted in the world, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), but this "shocking reminder" does not seem to worry the country's political leadership as public health remains a low priority for both the government and lawmakers, say health and environmental experts.

"Every other day, I am suffering from cough and allergic reactions, thanks to this polluted air," sighs Rajani Malhotra, an asthma patient.

Malhotra, who hails from Ambala and is in Delhi for studies, told IANS: "While back home my problem was not very acute, after coming to Delhi, I suffer from breathing attacks frequently."

For Rakhi Mukhuty, it is a daily battle with severe allergic cough of her three-year-old daughter. "I spend sleepless nights just tending to my daughter as she frequently has coughing bouts".

"The doctors want us to save her from poisonous fumes, but that is not possible in Delhi," Mukhuty adds.

Sumit Sharma, Fellow and area convenor at Centre for Environmental Studies, Earth Science and Climate Change Division of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), said in India there was very little awareness about the dangers from air pollution.

"As a result of this, the government has also not taken any interest," he said. "Such an issue will be taken up by the political parties only when people feel affected."

According to a report of the World Health Organization released Wednesday, Delhi is the most polluted city of the world. Thirteen of the 20 most polluted cities of the world are in India, with Delhi, Patna, Gwalior and Raipur in the top four spots, it said.

The WHO statement noted: "High concentration of small and fine particulate pollution is particularly associated with high numbers of deaths from heart disease and stroke as well as respiratory illnesses and cancers."

Said Anumita Roy Chowdhary, Head of the Department of Air Pollution, Center for Science and Environment: The WHO report "comes as a shocking reminder on how things are getting worse. Air pollution is the biggest killer. We need very strong policy response on this".

"In other cities of the world, the government takes responsibility of informing people about air pollution levels and subsequent health alerts. We need such kind of systems in India as well," she added.

Asked about the kind of political response needed for this issue, Roy Chowdhary told IANS: "Public health has to be the top priority."

"Action plans must be implemented very aggressively. People are responding but the policy response is very weak. We need to build up public opinion and pressure," she added.

The WHO report contains results of outdoor air pollution monitoring from almost 1,600 cities in 91 countries. Last month the organization issued new information estimating that outdoor air pollution was responsible for the deaths of some 3.7 million people under the age of 60 in 2012.

Many factors contribute to the increase in air pollution, including reliance on fossil fuels such as coal-fired power plants, proliferation of private transport motor vehicles, inefficient use of energy in buildings, and the use of biomass for cooking and heating, the WHO said.

This is not the first time Indian cities have earned the dubious distinction of having extremely polluted air. In January, Yale University's Environmental Performance Index 2014 ranked India among the bottom five in a list of 178 countries for various parameters, including air pollution.

-Business Standard, 9th May 2014

Jal Board says it has done everything possible

Alarms are being set for unearthly hours, chaotic queues are being braved and hard-earned money is being spent by Delhiites on water. The annual summer water crisis is here.

While residents in some areas complain about scant supply through the Delhi Jal Board’s pipelines, large parts of the city have no piped connections and have to rely on tankers. The DJB claims it is meeting the water supply target set by its summer action plan, but the ground reality in places like South Delhi is that it is simply not enough.

“The water supply situation in large parts of the city, including posh areas in South Delhi as well as the unauthorised colonies, is pathetic,” said DJB member Sandeep Tanwar.

But, as far as the DJB is concerned it has done everything in its power. “By optimising all the resources, current production at the plants has been achieved as per the target, 830-833 MGD (million gallons per day), in peak summer,” DJB officials told Lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung at a review meeting on Thursday.

So why are Delhiites sweating it out over water?

If environmentalists are to be believed, there is enough supply but it is being mismanaged.

“Delhi is far better placed in terms of water supply than other cities in the country. The water shortage we cry about every summer is a man-made crisis due to distribution losses. The resources are being mismanaged by the DJB,” said Manoj Misra, convenor of the Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan.

According to the Centre for Science and Environment, leakages in the supply network are to blame for the shortage that becomes so acute in summer.

“The authorities are not doing enough. There should not be demand side management; it should be supply side management. The groundwater is not being recharged, stormwater is being neglected and 80 per cent of the water gets turned into waste water,” said Sushmita Sengupta, the deputy programme manager of CSE’s Water Programme Unit.

The DJB, however, denied the charge. Its summer action plan said “330 major leakages were repaired last year”. DJB spokesperson Sanjam Chima said: “We are doing the best we can”. The three municipal corporations of Delhi have also put up their hands. While the authorities appear clueless, Delhiites continue to suffer as water becomes scarce.

-The Hindu, 9th May 2014

Indian scientists have discovered new 14 species of dancing frogs in the world’s waning ecological hotspot — the Western Ghats.

The dancing name is courtesy the males, who employ unusual kicks to attract mates. This is a unique breeding behaviour called foot-flagging.

The males stretch, extend and whip their legs out to the side to draw the attention of females. Such displays come in handy because there is a possibility of mating croaks being drowned out by the sound of water flowing through perennial hill streams.

The bigger the frog, the more vigorous the dance. “They need to perform and prove, ‘Hey, I’m the best man for you,’” said SD Biju, a botanist-turned-herpetologist now celebrated as India’s “Frogman” for discovering dozens of new species in his four-decade career.

A study listing the new species was published on Thursday in the Ceylon Journal of Science. It brings the number of known Indian dancing frog species to 24.

The tiny amphibians of the genus Micrixalus trace their origin to 85 million years ago. Their habitat is drying because of excessive development and this has biologists worried. Amphibians are highly vulnerable to changes in local ecology.

“We have brought these beautiful frogs into public knowledge. But about 80% of them are outside protected areas and in some places, it is as if nature itself is crying,” Biju, the lead scientist of the Indian amphibian recovery project and a professor at Delhi University, said.

The Western Ghats — a lush mountain range spread across 1,600 km — is a global bio-diversity hotspot with high species richness. Over the last 15 years, 75 new amphibian species have been discovered from the Ghats. Biju and his team are credited with finding 50 of them.

-The Hindustan Times, 9th May 2014

Delhi being termed as “most polluted city in the world” by the recent WHO report poses a serious threat to wildlife in the Capital. Delhi is a safe haven to more than 250 species of migratory birds, 150 species of butterflies and 10 species each of animals comprising hyena, fox, jackal, Nilgai, mongoose, and porcupines etc. Wildlife experts fear climate change and break in food chain due to rising levels in pollution, will force these habitants to migrate to other parts of the world.

“In India, we have around 1,200 species of migratory birds and in Delhi alone we have more the 250 of them due to moderate temperatures in winter. With pollution on a stratospheric rise, we fear losing our birds and animals,” said TK Roy, ecologist and conservationist.

Reacting to the report by WHO, Abhishek Gupta, a Delhi-based veterinarian, said animals are exposed to air pollutants via inhalation of gases or small particles, ingestion of particles suspended in food or water and absorption of gases through skin.

“Air pollution is the largest killer in India. It poses a threat to flora and fauna as well. Wildlife too suffers. The small particles go deep inside our lungs and trigger respiratory and cardiac problems as well as lung cancer,” he said.

Wildlife officials said the city has already started feeling the pinch and the Greater Flamingo and Great White Pelican have stopped visiting the sanctuary two years ago due to rise in pollution. He added that Cotton Pygmy Goose too stopped visiting many years ago.

-The Pioneer, 9th May 2014

The 2,500 residents of Asola Housing Complex, a residential colony comprising 396 plots in the hilly forests of south Delhi, are having sleepless nights.

On Thursday, the forest department took possession of a sprawling plot the residents had earmarked as community space. This brought the forest boundary only 10 feet from a row of houses.

The approach road to the complex also narrowed because forest boundaries were redrawn. Now, residents fear their houses may be demolished.

RWA secretary Amit K Singh said, “We’re in complete shock. This colony was settled by the government in the early 1980s. Poor people got temporary lease for plots. There was no facility here. We have built everything on our own. Now some of our houses are being marked for demolition. This is complete injustice.”

The complex is situated two kilometers off Bhatti Mines road, towards the hilly south Delhi areas.

Settled under the government’s 20-point development programme, the colony is part of a big land parcel (khasra No 1,754). But latest forest records show 31 acres of this khasra is part of the Asola-Bhatti wildlife sanctuary. Another 26 acres are part of the ridge or reserve forests.

Chief conservator of forests AK Shukla said: “Our survey is on. If houses also fall within forest boundaries, they would certainly be demolished.”

Explaining the delayed action, he said: “Earlier we didn’t have advanced technology to demarcate forest boundaries. Now we’re locating encroachments and removing them.”

Forest department officials say the temporary lease had been given to poor people. One plot holder paid ` 54 for nine years. The lease was never revised. “Most of these plots were bought by outsiders, some of them builders. They have now built multistorey buildings. This cannot go on like this,” said an official.

“There are some who own more than one plot. They are also alleged to be in possession of land that doesn’t belong to them. They have wrongfully built their own lavish parks,” said a resident, requesting anonymity.

“But there are also really poor and landless people, who have invested their everything to build houses. They are under severe strain. The government must do something about them,” said another resident.

Some flats of the Asola residential complex that houses 2,500 people now faces demolition.

-www.groundtruths.com, 9th May 2014

Three little girls, dressed in the bright prints of the desert, their arms laden with bangles lean against a smooth mud wall and stare at something to the left of the photographer, their eyes almost as round as the ventilation holes above their heads; a group of children poses in front of a wall decorated with peacocks and hypnotic geometric designs; a woman prepares the family bullock to look its best for the Gordhan festival; another makes a pattern on the courtyard while a peacock perches on the roof of her home.

All of these spectacular vignettes of tribal life (48 in all) shot by artist and print maker Jyoti Bhatt between 1967 and 1995 are part of the exhibition, Jyoti Bhatt — Photographs from Rural India, at the Vadehra Art Gallery. Eighty-year-old Bhatt who lives and works in Vadodara and studied painting at the city’s Faculty of Fine Arts under NS Bendre, KG Subramanyan and Sankho Choudhuri began documenting tribal culture in 1967 after participating in a Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan seminar on the folk arts of Gujarat. His deep interest in tribal people and scenes from their lives prompted him to travel through the state and beyond, visiting areas he had never ventured to before. In the process, he created a remarkable body of work.

His pictures leave the viewer at once elated and saddened, wonder-struck and despondent. Elated because they are a window into a world that has disappeared, saddened because some of the children in the pictures have spindly legs, bloated bellies, and hair streaked by malnutrition. Like all the best pictures, these black and whites, coax the viewer to think about a wide range of subjects; everything from the value of decoration, the culture of poverty and the idea of high and low art, to the fragility of traditional ways of living and also, conversely, the need for modernity. They make her question the idea of progress while also being grateful for the things that the middle class city-bred take for granted — running water and access to good healthcare.

The intervening decades since Bhatt travelled through Gujrat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, West Bengal, Bihar and Haryana documenting tribal communities have perhaps made some of these folk prosperous enough to build homes with concrete walls, or displaced them and destroyed their idyllic lives entirely. Maybe their cattle now roam down highways untended and those little girls, if they didn’t die in childbirth, are women old before their time after years of labouring on a construction site.

Bhatt’s pictures function at various levels: they archive indigenous domestic and decorative arts; they dazzle with their perfect framing and symmetry of composition; they are surcharged with the mood of the subject — by turns contemplative, wondering, celebratory and coy; they invite the viewer to contemplate all that and to ruminate also on larger issues, on the abstract and the philosophical, on things that cannot be framed, on the ephemeral nature of Life.

Jyoti Bhatt - Photographs from Rural India, has been organised by Tasveer in collaboration with Vacheron Constant

-Hindustan Times, 10th May 2014

State Government’s draft water policy-2013 admits that inequitable distribution is a huge problem

Going by the amount of water flowing into the Capital’s supply network, there should be enough for all. But as the situation on the ground shows, that is far from the case.

As per the National Water Commission, the daily water requirement in sewered areas is 135 litres per capita per day (lpcd). But data from the Delhi Government’s statistical handbook for 2012-2013 says 222 lpcd is being supplied. By that standard, there should be sufficient water for everyone.

The State Government’s draft water policy in 2013 admits that inequitable distribution is a huge problem. For instance, the Delhi Cantonment gets 509 lpcd, the New Delhi Municipal Council area gets 440 lpcd, while residents of Outer Delhi get only 40 lpcd. “In fact, Lutyens’ Delhi gets between 1,400 and 1,500 lpcd, while Mehrauli in South Delhi gets less than 30 lpcd,” said Sushmita Sengupta, the deputy programme manager of the Centre for Science and Environment’s Water Programme Unit.

Being at the tail-end of the network, South and South-West Delhi residents are left to fend for themselves as the authorities shift blame. One of the worst affected areas, Sangam Vihar relies on private borewells. When asked why the Delhi Jal Board had not laid pipelines in the area, spokesperson Sanjam Chima said: “It is on forest land, which is under the Forest Department.”

She added that the demand goes up 15 per cent in summer. “People have installed online boosters, which affects our water pressure as the system works on hydraulics,” said Ms. Chima.

DJB member Sandeep Tanwar said the situation in some areas like Dwarka, Najafgarh, Mahavir Enclave and unauthorised colonies elsewhere was so bad that people were forced to pay hefty sums to the tanker mafia in the absence of DJB supply. “The tanker mafia charges Rs.3,500 per tanker in the areas where the DJB tankers don’t reach. Why can’t the DJB provide these areas with tankers at its fixed rate of Rs.1,100?” he asked.

The Capital sure has lot of water to waste

For a city that goes through a water shortage every summer, Delhi sure has a lot of water to waste. Environmentalists put the amount of water lost through leakages in the distribution system anywhere between 25 per cent and 50 per cent.

“It has been admitted by the Delhi Jal Board itself in a presentation to the Ministry of Environment and Forests that 52 per cent of water goes waste,” said Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan convenor Manoj Misra.

A study by the Centre for Science and Environment in 2012, called Excreta Matters, had put Delhi’s water wastage at 52 per cent as well. “Though we are yet to revise the data, that number has not changed much today,” said CSE’s deputy programme director for the water programme unit Sushmita Sengupta.

The DJB, however, refutes that number. It says that repairing 330 major leaks last year and improving infrastructure has made the amount of water lost through leakages negligible.

“While it’s true that a lot of water is wasted, it has come down from last year. We used to be told by the officials themselves that 50 per cent of water was being wasted, but after new pipelines were laid leakages have reduced,” said DJB member Sandeep Tanwar.

However, Mr. Tanwar added that the amount of water lost through leaking tankers was still a big problem. “New tankers with all the modern facilities have been introduced, but you will see tankers spilling water all over the streets,” he said.

-The Hindu, 10th May 2014

Candidates have no answer to people’s queries on submergence

Sankar Sahu might be voting for the last time on Ghoramara island in Sunderbans archipelago as the rising sea level owing to climate change threatens his mud house located on the river bank.

“In one year’s time, my house will be gobbled up by the rising water level,” Mr. Sahu (37), who had shifted his house three times over the last few decades, told The Hindu.

“Hundreds of families have left the island and taken shelter elsewhere. They have become refugees. But we have no place to go,” said S.K. Mubarak Ali, another resident of the island.

The question Mr. Ali, Mr. Sahu and about 3,500 other voters on the sinking island ask the candidates of Trinamool Congress and Communist Party of India (Marxist) is: what are the political parties doing to save Ghoramara? But they have got no answers so far.

Ghoramara, an island at the confluence of river Hooghly and Bay of Bengal in the State’s South 24 Parganas district with a population of about 5,000, is spread over 5,000 bighas of land. (Three bighas is equal to one acre) There is no electricity on the island and solar panels are fitted on the top of nearly every kutcha house here. A few trips by a motorised boat is the only means of transport here and 60 per cent of child births here are at home. Despite school and other infrastructure facilities, barring a few, most government officials are not keen on working on the island.

Sanjib Sagar, pradhan of Ghoramara Gram Panchayat, led by the Trinamool Congress, who was busy getting photocopies of electoral rolls a few days before elections, emphasised that the people of the island were becoming climate change refugees.

“The area of the island was about 22,000 bighas, and now it is reduced to 5,000 bighas. Many families from here have taken shelter on Sagar (another Island),” the gram pradhan said, adding many were not aware of the plight of the people here.

Climate change and the rising sea level, frequent storms threaten not only Ghoramara but also the entire Sunderbans that is spread across Mathurapur and Joynagar constituencies in the South 24 Parganas district and Basirhat in North 24 Parganas.

“Indian Sundarbans Delta: A Vision”, a report prepared by the School of Oceanographic Studies of Jadavpur University with World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF), estimates that nearly one million people would become climate change refugees by the year 2050. The report suggests a planned retreat from vulnerable areas and planting of mangroves in those areas.

Another report independently conducted by School of Oceanographic Studies had estimated that 15 per cent of Sunderbans would sink by 2020. Besides Ghoramara, other islands such as Mousuni, and even bigger ones like Sagar may disappear.

Anurag Danda, head climate change and adaptation, WWF India, said despite the development and the growth dialogue raging on, the issue of displacement because of accelerated erosion in the Sunderbans had not got any attention during the polls. Referring to a fifth assessment report of working group II of Inter-governmental panel of climate change, Mr. Danda said in the next 50 years Kolkata would become most vulnerable city to climate change in Asia.

Tarun Kanti Naskar, MLA from Joynagar in Sunderbans area, admitted that climate change and its ramifications “hardly become a poll issue” in any election in West Bengal.

Very little has been done after cyclone Aila hit the Sunderbans in May 2009 and left lakhs of people displaced there, he added.

-The Hindu, 10th May 2014

Names, they can be pretty misleading. For instance, we had a Mughal emperor — I use the words with a spirit of abiding generosity — called Shah Alam or the Emperor of the Universe. There was a small thing though: Shah’s alam extended to around half a kilometre around Mehrauli!

Or take Shahjahanabad, Shah Jahan’s capital. Again the Mughal emperor is given credit for founding the city that had, at one time, 14 gates. But look a little closer, parts of Shahjahanabad preceded the arrival of the Mughals in the country by some 300 years. The best proof comes from the dargah of Hazrat Shah Turkman Bayabani, the 13th Century sufi. The gate near the dargah was named after the sufi. There is a little legend as to why the sufi was called Bayabani. Bayaban translates to wilderness, and Delhi in the 13th Century was nothing but wilderness beyond Mehrauli on the one end, and a little stretch in and around what is now called Dilli 6. The sufi occupied a patch which led to the forests, hence the name Bayabani.

The thought of the sufi came back to my mind as I picked up Charles Lewis and Karoki Lewis’ Delhi’s Historic Villages, a book so rich in pictures that you could just click photos of the pages and come up with a collage of your own! Yet if you linger on, read the text, quietly you would be reminded of Khushwant Singh’s book on the Capital, Delhi: A Portrait. Of course, nobody can argue that Lewis Senior — the father has done the writing, the son the pictures — is blessed with the literary flourishes of the irrepressible Singh. But in his own way, Charles spins a surprise. Little known tales come laced with details stemming from sustained research. Quietly, slip out many gems. And before long you realise that the city you claimed to be born in, the city you call your home for many years, is actually quite foreign to you. For instance, the chapter on Khirki. No, I did not open it because of the controversy surrounding Somnath Bharti’s midnight visit to the urban village. I opened it because Khirki reminded me of my own days as a research scholar a few decades ago when I went monument hunting across the city and once found a faded newspaper clipping on Khirki masjid. Here though, there is nothing that is faded. Lewis uses the eye of a navigator as he leads the reader to the village that is a part of a sprawling metropolis yet in its own way a self contained world, a world that in many ways takes you back a couple of centuries. “Khirki can be reached from Begumpur and Sarvpriya Vihar by following the old winding Malviya Nagar Road, past the Lal Gumbad Tomb prominently situated in an open space on the left adjoining the Panchshila Rendezvous restaurant,” Lewis explains in detail, helped all along with Karoki’s photos of the city you see every now and then yet manage not to observe.

It is an approach that is consistently found in every chapter. If in the chapter on Chiragh Delhi — strangely not called Chiragh Dilli here — the author tells us that the village owes its name to Nasiruddin Mahmud Roshan Chiragh Dehli, a sufi who succeeded Nizamuddin Auliya as the head of the Chishti sect in 1324, in the section on Masjid Moth comes an interesting anecdote. “The mosque came by its unusual name (moth is a kind of dal) when Sikander Lodi and his wazir Miyan Bhoiya attended the Jami Mosque one day. A bird happened to drop a seed of the moth plant which the sultan inadvertently knelt on. ‘When he rose up, the Wazir saw the moth seed. He picked it up and said to himself, ‘A seed so honoured by His Majesty must not be thrown away, and must be used in the service of God’.”

The seed was sown, it multiplied, the money from its sale was used to build a mosque. Hence the name.

The book treads waters familiar and unusual with equal ease. The photos tell their own tales, the narrative takes you to the times gone by, and, in many cases, long forgotten. Worth picking up this Penguin publication, even if the expression “Delhi’s villages” seems odd to many, more so for those who feel Delhi is limited to Lutyens’ city, a generation that feels malls and multiplexes are what Delhi is all about! Think again guys. Names, as I said at the beginning, can be misleading. Bayaban, moth ki masjid, Khirki, bhuri bhatyari….they are as much a part of our Delhi as Connaught Place, Mehrauli or Rajpath. Time to take off your blinkers!

-The Hindu, 10th May 2014

The ASI has deployed around 80 workers at the excavation site where digging began in January.

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has decided to put excavations at Purana Qila on hold till next winter. Though fruitful, the current excavation work is yet to achieve its main target of unearthing the earliest deposits, the heritage conservation agency said.

Superintendent Archaeologist (Delhi circle) Vasant Kumar said excessive heat during the day and the spell of showers have made it difficult to work at the excavation site. “We will stop work in a few days. It’s too hot for the workers. The monsoon also poses a threat to antiquities. The weather has been very erratic in the last few days — excessive heat followed by rain,” he said.

The ASI has deployed around 80 workers at the excavation site where digging began in January. Kumar said the ASI will now cover the excavation site to protect it from any damage that may be caused by the weather and reopen it next year after the onset of winter. Maintaining that the excavation has been fruitful, Kumar said a rare ring well dating to the Mauryan period was discovered recently. In Mauryan times, terracotta ring wells were constructed around freshwater wells to work as soak pits.

“We have also found artifacts and antiquities from the Mauryan, Kushan, Gupta, late Gupta, Rajput and Sultanate periods. So, our objective of understanding and unearthing different cultural layers was fulfilled,” Kumar said. But the main target — to know the earliest deposits — is still to be achieved.

“In days from now, we will cover the structure as these pieces can be damaged. During the monsoon, since we cannot do much outdoor work, we will focus on research and documentation of antiquities at our research centres,” he said. The ASI also has tie-ups with several laboratories, including IITs and physical research labs, to ascertain the age of samples found. According to Kumar, carbon-dating techniques will be employed.

-The Indian Express, 11th May 2014

Sanskriti Museum on MG Road is a perfect amalgam of nature, culture and architecture

While some museums end up as just storehouses of priceless heritage, some of them become experiences, like the Sanskriti Museum on Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road. The quietude it acquires on account of its location amidst farmhouses helps its cause further. But for those who haven’t been there, or feel discouraged by its inaccessibility already, let us tell you that it is just 600 metres from Arjangarh metro station.

Museums are usually closed-door affairs but in accordance with the nature of its specialisation, at times the indoors and outdoors are woven together to serve as a display area.

In its character it comes closest to the crafts museum because after all, both are dealing with folk arts and crafts of our countries. The museum tries to recreate certain sites and in turn experiences to give an authentic feel to an urban viewer — like the Aiyanar shrine which is usually found at the periphery of a village in Tamil Nadu. At Sanskriti, the local deity’s shrine is replicated where it is accompanied by other terracotta figurines like horses, etc. But do take a moment to admire Kamadhenu, the sacred wish fulfilling cow depicted partly as woman, partly as cow and partly as bird. The towering wooden birdhouse sacred to the Jain community of Ahmedabad is another wonderful exhibit, displayed in the open area. The spatial lawns of the museum are dotted with many such artefacts that O.P. Jain, the man behind the Sanskriti Pratishthan, the umbrella organisation, has painstakingly amassed over the years. He keeps adding to it, Ravinder Dutt, Coordinator, Sanskriti Kendra, informs us as he takes us around the three museums.

Though there are detailed captions accompanying every exhibit, still the best way around this museum is through guided walks the museum organises. I find it interesting that Ravinder, who is also an artist, has been entrusted with the responsibility of conducting these walks, for an artist can easily convey the aesthetic nuances of the exhibits with the sensitivity required. Jain wasn’t seeking to create just a museum when he formed Sanskriti Foundation 35 years ago. It was to be a holistic cultural avenue for varied cultural activities with a view to promote heritage. In 1989, Jain came up with Sanskriti Kendra, a cultural hub of sorts. It was in 1993 that he established the museum “showcasing a reference collection for Indian craftsmanship and Indian way of life. I wanted to show how evolved it was,” says the octogenarian art connoisseur over the phone.

The complex houses three museums — one devoted to Everyday Art, one to Terracotta and the third to Indian Textiles. You start with the Museum of Indian Terracotta which begins with snapshots of the pre-historic objects from the Indus Valley Civilisation till the Gupta period and then moves on to present the terracotta traditions followed in later ages and periods. West Bengal’s Mansa ghats, the ritual pottery in terracotta, has been devoted one entire section, and so have the sun-baked figures of gods and goddesses from Bihar. “The USP of these figurines is that they aren’t fired but sun-baked because they believe gods and goddesses’ figures aren’t supposed to be fired,” says Munni Lal, manager, associated with the museum for 30 years. On the wall is painted the story of a woman who resolved to marry her muse from an upper caste community.

Coiled pots of Manipur, ancient Kolu figures of Tamil Nadu including the restored dasavatar figures, terracotta vessels of Kutch, typical courtyards of Odisha, Black pottery of Azamgarh (which looks strikingly similar to bidriwork of Andhra Pradesh) an elaborate phad painting (made by Sri Lal Joshi of Bhilwara, Rajasthan) with a terracotta shrine of a local deity embedded into it are some other exemplary works on display. Remembering the days when Kolu figures were restored seven-eight years ago, Munni Lal says, “The artist couple spent a month here restoring and retouching the idols. They were in really bad shape.”

“And you know why as compared to other pots, vessels of Kutch are smaller in size? In case these break, there is minimal water wastage because water is precious in a region like Kutch,” adds Ravinder.

Museum of Everyday Art

One of the major factors that sets it apart from Crafts Museum is its stress on utilitarian art. This museum is filled with such samples but before you step inside, take a look at the huge molela mural (in terracotta) depicting rural life and the changes modernisation has brought in. Once inside this treasure trove, it will be difficult to keep your eyes on one exhibit for long because the next item will steal away your glance quickly. It houses items like toys, hukkas, nutcrackers, kitchen items, stylers, account books, ornate inkwells, sevian maker, coconut grater, locks from Kerala region, etc. A vanity box of a local queen of Bikaner in the shape of tiger, a turban box, a sailor’s lamp are my personal favourites.

Museum of textiles

The recently installed touch screen kiosk makes it a highly interactive museum. Divided neatly into different sections, it quickly gives an overview to the visitor. Rare and elaborate Jain temple hangings, paithanis, ikats, patolas, bandhej, pichwais, parsi garas, Banarasis occupy this section, but lace pichwai acquired from a person in Europe is mind blowing.

MUSEUM FACTS

It is open from Tuesday to Sunday (10.30 a.m. to 5 p.m.)

Besides three museums, the complex houses an Enamel Centre, and a Ceramic Centre too where the Kendra runs regular workshops. To join visit the website www.sanskritifoundation.org

Though there are detailed captions accompanying every exhibit, still the best way around this museum is through guided walks the museum organises

-The Hindu, 12th May 2014

The people of Lambagar faced a difficult choice — fight for the environment or earn a livelihood. A job at the barrage site of the 400-MW Vishnuprayag hydroelectric power project could well make up the possible loss of income they earn during the Badrinath Yatra.

Last June, the Khiron Ganga gushed through the barrage site, around 15 km downstream of Badrinath, and the boulders brought by the river blocked its gates. The site and the downstream areas of Lambagar, Pandukeshwar and Govindghat suffered huge losses.

After the monsoon, repairs began at the barrage site. Tonnes of debris deposited there in the deluge was extracted and deposited alongside the Alaknanda river.

The riverbed rose by several metres after the deluge, and the people, especially those from Lambagar, which is one km ahead of the barrage, fear that in the next monsoon, the debris will flow into the river and raise it further.

“Our lives are in danger because the authorities dumped the debris on the riverside only to increase the chances of another disaster,” Rakesh Lal of Lambagar said.

In February, the people staged protests near the barrage site for almost a week. “After we protested, the dam authorities gave them a compensation of Rs. 1 lakh each. They also offered us jobs at the site,” Kuldeep Chauhan, a resident, said.

“We were in need of jobs because all of us have not received compensation after the deluge last year. Our houses have been ruined, and earnings from pilgrims who visit the Badrinath shrine — our only source of income — cannot be relied upon anymore.”

They have been dependent on the Badrinath Yatra to earn their livelihood by selling milk and doing odd jobs such as taking photographs of the pilgrims. The money they earned in six months of the ‘yatra season’ used to last a whole year, they said.

Debris extracted from the barrage site has now been deposited near the road beside Lambagar that leads to Badrinath.

“Some environmentalists recently asked us to protest against the dam authorities for dumping the debris near the river,” Narendra Chauhan, another resident, said.

“We didn’t show any interest in their appeal because many of us are now dependent on the job at the barrage site. If we don’t work at the barrage, what will we eat?”

-The Hindu, 12th May 2014

Red Fort's famed marble throne will soon be protected with a special glass case.

Considered one of the main attractions of the 16th century citadel, the throne, which is covered by a 'Bengal' roof and inlaid with semi-precious stones, was used by the royals during the Mughal era.

The throne is located inside Diwan-e-Aam or the Hall of Public Audience. For the last three decades, it has been safeguarded from bird activity by a net cover. But ASI will now remove the net cover and use a non-reflective toughened glass to create a four-wall shield around it.

According to officials, there has been increased bird activity around the marble throne despite the net cover, prompting them to come up with stronger protection. "We will set up wooden frames on the nearby arches and then use toughened glass for the covering. A window will be provided for cleaning purpose and LED lighting will be used inside the glass case so that reflection is not a problem,'' said an official.

Apart from pigeon menace, officials said the dust that accumulates in the monument will also be stopped by the new case. Tenders have been invited for supplying the glass material and search is on for an architect.

"The project has been approved by the director-general and work is expected to begin shortly," said an official. The estimated cost of the project is Rs 19 lakh.

Diwan-e-Aam was used by the ruling Mughal emperor to make his daily ceremonial appearance during which he heard petitions from his subjects, received visitors and conducted state affairs. It is the place where celebrations took place when Delhi was handed over by the governor of Panjal to the viceroy on December 23, 1912.

Diwan-e-Aam is a red sandstone pavilion, open on three sides, with three aisles of cusped and pillared arches once covered with polished white plaster. The throne is situated at the rear of the hall. It is an ornate structure in white marble carved with floral patterns and a curved marble canopy decorated with Pietra Dura work. In front of it is a low bench on which the ministers sat. On the wall of the niche behind the throne are Italian inlaid Pietra Dura panels, depicting flowers, birds and lions.

-The Times of India, 12th May 2014

Swimming, dancing and taekwondo are passe. Schoolchildren today have far more unconventional options to choose from when picking a summer workshop during vacations. In the capital, they can go for culinary classes, animation, robotics workshops, indigenous art classes taught by rural artisans, and even learn the rudiments of management from a crash course.

Of the several cooking classes for children, one is temptingly titled, "Chocolate camp". The five-day camp at Lajpat Nagar's Young Chef's Academy comprises classes on making cookies, brownies, chocolate puddings and more. The same academy offers another camp where children as young as five (but no older than eight), are taught how to make calzones, ice-cream sandwiches and mocktails. Both will set you back by Rs 3,500 and Rs 4,000 respectively. "We try to teach children science and geometry through cooking. We tell them the effect of temperature on different ingredients. We try to teach shapes through cookies," says Jyoti Jain of the academy. Reality shows such as Masterchef have inspired these classes. "Such shows have created interest in both parents and children. We even prepare children to participate in such contests," she says.

While art has long been one of the favourites when it comes to children pursuing hobbies in summer, there's an off-beat alternative as well. Rural artists coming in from across the country will be holding workshops for adults and children alike. Organized by Intach (Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage) and a Delhi-based NGO called Happy Hands Foundation, the workshops will be on traditional calligraphy, Gond art, Soara tribal art, molela clay relief tile making and more. There will be eight such art forms in this program, with fees for each intensive three-hour classes spread over two days ranging from Rs 1,200 to Rs 2,500.

Medhavi Gandhi, founder of Happy Hands Foundation, says that though it is mostly adults who have shown interest so far, anyone over seven years old can apply before May 16: "We've called rural artisans who are state awardees from places like Karnataka, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. People can take their artworks back home with them after the workshop is over."

Hobbies and fun skills apart, the more academically-minded have the option of adding to their scholarly pursuits. Era Business School in Dwarka has introduced a six weeklong "mini MBA" for children as young as 13. The program, that costs Rs 9,600, will have students doing case studies, presentations and even assignments. Program convener Anuj Verma says that he has already received applications in excess of the available seats for the course, and has had to turn away some parents trying to convince him to include their 12-year olds. With an MBA being a sought after degree for graduates, parents are keen to have their wards get a head start, says Verma. "Some parents also say their child lacks confidence, and perhaps a management course will help them be more social," says Verma, who adds the inspiration for this programme came from a US university offering a similar course.

The National Science Center is hosting several weeklong workshops including those on robotics and biotechnology from May 19. Meant for students of Class XI and XII, each batch will have 25 students. "We'll teach them about micro-controllers and embedded systems, using which they can build a small robot. The biotechnology classes will have an introduction to the discipline and students can perform experiments where they can isolate proteins," says N Ramdas Iyer, senior curator and head of education at the National Science Center. For students of Class VIII to X, there's a scientific toy-making workshop where they can make kits on Bernoulli's principle or construct a mechanical microphone.

-The Times of India, 12th May 2014

Revisiting the half-forgotten episodes of 1857 when we almost embraced freedom

Today is May 12, the day in 1867 when the British fugitives from Delhi were hurrying on their way to Karnal or some other nearby town. “The four children of Captain William Wallace were spirited away by a faithful khansama and found their way to Meerut. The merchant James Morley, whose family had been killed in his house in the Kashmiri Bazaar, put on a petticoat and veil belonging to the wife of his old dhobi, and following the dhobi, as he drove a bullock laden with old clothes through one of the city gates, managed to reach Kurnaul road,” says Christopher Hibbert in his book “The Great Mutiny of 1857”. A lady, said a fellow-survivor, put on a pagri and, dressed as a villager, with a small hookah in hand, made her way out of town but was recognised by her ex-cook who wanted to make the amply-built memsahib his second wife. But she gave him the slip at night and somehow reached Flagstaff Tower on the Ridge. A girl, who had been disguised as a rustic boy was kidnapped on her way to Sonepat by a group of eunuchs who planned to sell the youngster to a gay zamindar. When the man discovered that the “boy” was actually a girl, he told his sister to take care of her until such time as he could secure ransom for her release. All this happened 157 years ago but still comes to mind as one wanders over Delhi to piece together quaint events of which the nikaah of a sepoy with the wife of a “sahib” he had killed is an amazing one, indeed. The cannonading marks on the walls of the Kashmere Gate and the fierce attack on Mori Gate, where the Maulvi of Faizabad, Ahmedullah Shah stayed before the outbreak on his arrival from Agra, are vivid memories. It is said that the tall, gaunt long-bearded Maulvi “with coarse hair falling on his naked shoulders” and the same hypnotic gaze as that of the latter-day Mehdi of Sudan, however, did not stay here for long and moved to the denser locality of Bara Hindu Rao and finally the Jama Masjid where, according to old-timers, he was seen in the evenings; vehemently trying to convince namazis to throw off the British yoke.

In Ballimaran the haveli of Hakim Ahsanullah Khan can still be seen with its old ambience preserved. The hakim was not only the personal doctor of Bahadur Shah Zafar but also his closest adviser. Some distance away at Lal Kuan is the Zeenat Mahal, ancestral home of the emperor’s youngest wife now turned into a school, and not far from it Mubarak Masjid built by the Bibi of Gen Ochterlony. An ex-dancing girl she later married a Mughal soldier, Wilayat Khan and took active part in the First War of Independence.

In Karol Bagh, Rao Tula Ram School is a reminder of the brave ruler of Rewari whose ancestor, Rao Tej Singh sided with Scindia at the Battle of Patparganj in 1803, which Lord Lake won for the British. After Tula Ram’s defeat at the battle of Narnaul in November 1857, the gallant ruler joined Tantya Tope and in 1862 escaped to Russia. Another hero of the Revolt was Raja Nahar Singh of Ballabgarh who blocked the road to Delhi. This “Barrier of Delhi”, admitted Sir John Lawrance to the Governor-General Lord Canning, was very difficult to break unless “we receive reinforcements from China or England”.

According to Purushottam Salvi’s book, “A Long Drawn War of Freedom”, Nahar Singh tried to persuade Bahadur Shah to take refuge in Ballabhgarh but the emperor refused and was captured at Humayun’s tomb. However, Nahar Singh avenged the death of Zafar’s sons and grandson at the hands of Hodson by killing a large number of firangi soldiers. Eventually Nahar Singh was captured and hanged on his 35th birthday, September 21, 1858.

One prince who escaped the vengeful British was Feroz Shah, who had been away on Haj when the Revolt broke out. On his way to Delhi on August 26, 1857, the troops in Gwalior pleaded with him to lead them. The prince agreed and captured Dhar but was later defeated and, after joining Tope, managed to escape to Nepal. His not so fortunate younger brother was Mirza Nasir-ul-Mulk who became a cripple and was reduced to begging. Besides the more famous events of 1857, these remain half-forgotten episodes of those tumultuous times when Independence was almost achieved by the rebel sepoys.

-The Hindu, 12th May 2014

In its fight to save Delhi trees, NGT issues contempt of court notice to the Delhi Jal Board

Quick on the heels of contempt of court notices issued to the Engineer-in-Chief of the Public Works Department (PWD) and the Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (APCCF) of the Forest Department last Thursday, the Principal Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Monday issued contempt of court notice to the Chief Executive Officer of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB). The notices were issued citing violation of its April 2013 orders to public authorities to avoid construction and repair within one metre radius of tree trunks.

A complaint to the National Green Tribunal had pointed out that trees were damaged while the Delhi Jal Board was digging trenches and laying pipelines in a green area – opposite Essex Farms on Aurobindo Marg – owned and maintained by the PWD. The complainant, Aditya N. Prasad, alleged that an earth excavator had been used in the project. This had led to felling of many trees and had damaged the roots of several other trees. The complaint said that DJB’s work “resulted in felling of at least one Indian Siris (Albizia lebbeck) near B-33 Sarvodaya Enclave, and damaged the roots of several other trees. A tree census by NGO “Compassionate Living” in 2012 had recorded it as tree no 144 with a girth of 242 cm.”

Damage to tree roots is not always obvious. The decline could manifest after three to five years and could even result in the death of the tree, it added.

“We can lay pipelines only where we are given space. We require dedicated corridors for ensuring essential services,” said a Delhi Jal Board official on condition of anonymity.

“The Delhi Preservation of Trees Act 1994 says trees in Delhi are protected and cannot be felled without the permission of Forest Department. But this is not followed. Public authorities commonly resort to digging trenches which damage tree roots instead of using methods such as tunnelling which will minimise the damage. In the work at Aurbindo Marg, they have removed the soil entirely from underneath the trees and the trees will fall,” said Mr. Prasad, a Law student and the complainant in the case.

In April 2013, the National Green Tribunal had issued orders prohibiting excavation work within one meter radius of trees and to ensure removal of any concrete structure surrounding trees within a meter. It had directed public authorities including Municipal Corporation of Delhi, Delhi Development Authority, Delhi Transport Corporation, National Highways Authority of India that signboards, advertisements, boards and nails be removed from trees. In a subsequent order in July 2013, it directed that provisions ensuring the compliance of these directions be included in contracts of roads and pavements.

“These precautions are not taken, and the government’s own audits show that compensatory forestation, under which 10 trees must be planted for every one tree felled is not being done,” said Mr Prasad.

-The Hindu, 20th May 2014

The images featured in Long Exposure–The Camera at Udaipur, 1857-1957describe the evolution of photography and reflect the changing tastes of patrons and practitioners in that era. Author Mrinalini Venkateswaran shared details with Karan Bhardwaj

With great pride Maharana Fateh Singh of Udaipur poses along with his companions and a dead tiger. The photograph dates back to 1884 and was clicked by an unidentified photographer. It is now a part of a coffee table book featuring rare photographs of the maharanas of Udaipur, its majestic landscape and architecture. The book throws light on different photography processes used to preserve a century of heritage from 1857 to 1957.

“The book is based on the exhibition that we did in 2009. We put on display an array of images which showed the history of Udaipur and its royal legacy. In the book, we focussed not only on the way how camera technology changed but also how visuals were perceived and presented in the 19th century. We would also recognise the changing dynamics of ‘photojournalism’ in those 100 years,” said Mrinalini Venkateswaran, author of the book. “There’s a chapter on the process of documentation, primarily to teach students about the process. We have lots of publications of photography but not too many explain the technical aspect of the images,” she added.

Historical studies reveal that as early as 1818, over 20 years before the coming of camera to India in 1840, its precursor the camera obscura, an optical device used to draw visual exactitudes, was in use at Udaipur palaces. Colonel James Tod, the British political agent to the court of Mewar, wrote in Travels In Western India about how he explained the functions of this device to amuse the heir apparent of Udaipur, Maharaj Kumar Amar Singh, the elder son of Maharana Bhim Singh.

The collection in the book is a vast repository of photographic materials ranging from cartes-de-visite, glass-plate negatives, card photographs, albumen and silver gelatin prints, panoramas, stevengraphs, stereographs, platinum prints, painted photographs, photomontages and collages, dating from the 1850s to the early 20th century.

“People who did paintings were miniature painters, and they were quite specific about the details. They would also play with the background. For instance, artist Thakkar Singh took enlarged photographs of maharanas or when they went out on shikars (hunt), so he would put tense background to the images. In a way, they would create a piece of art with the original portraits and scenes,” shared Mrinalini.

The archive is significant in showcasing a range of early Indian photography techniques and many examples of the melding of these technologies with native and indigenous forms of art. Painted photographs, collages and photomontages modified and appropriated by local artists both at Udaipur and at the nearby temple town of Nathdwara, contributed enormously to the emergence of a new hybrid visual vocabulary that was, in time, seen all over India. “Proscenium stage-like backdrops, Western furniture and other accoutrements, were soon to create a distinct photographic idiom that was to influence and be influenced by a whole generation of other studios and photographers across the length and breadth of the country,” said the author. The process of identifying the subjects of these photographs has been facilitated to a large extent by handwritten inscriptions in the local language of Mewar.

On sourcing the timeline of the images, Mrinalini said, “The processes used, combined with the cards on which prints are mounted, often help identify the age of photographs in the collection. Textual sources which have aided the cataloguing process include the Haqeeqat Bahida or the daily accounts of the maharanas, together with manuscripts maintained at the Maharana Mewar Research Institute (MMRI) and its library.”

-The Pioneer, 20th May 2014

If New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) goes ahead with it plan, Delhiites would soon throng the lush green parks in New Delhi area in the evening to entertain themselves watching the multi-hued cultural images of the city and movies on innovative water screens.

From animated movies for children to short films on Delhi’s cultural heritage, NDMC will have something or the other to offer to its visitors to the parks. In a bid to promote its parks, the civic body has decided to keep the parks open till late night. It will also install lights at all footpaths and pathways.A water screen is a high-resolution rear-projection screen created entirely on a cascade of free-falling water. The civic agency has proposed to install its first ‘water screen’ at Talkatora Garden, where movies would be screened only in the evening. The show will be ticketed.

“We have planned to install a water screen at Talkatora garden and have received proposals from several interested parties for the same. It is going to be a big attraction for children. This is a technology which has been very remotely adopted in India. I guess, it is going to be the first one in Delhi,” said Jalaj Shrivastava, Chairperson, NDMC. Water screen shows are a major tourist attraction in countries like China, Singapore and the US.

In addition to this, the council has also decided to extend the closing time at three of its most frequented parks - Nehru Park, Talkatora Garden and Lodhi Garden. With this, city dwellers would be able to take a post-dinner stroll in these parks as they are set to remain open till 11 pm during summers. In winters, they shall remain open till 10 pm as against the current closing time of 6 pm. The present closing time during summers is 7 pm. “In a place like Lutyens’ Delhi, people have to hit the streets to take a stroll in the evening. There are scores of people who prefer to walk or jog or just be at a peaceful place after dinner, but can’t. Hence, we have decided to keep three parks open till late night,” said Shrivastava.

To realise this aim, various departments in the NDMC have been directed to upgrade the parks. The agency will deploy extra security guards in the three gardens and has asked its Chief Security Officer to make the necessary arrangements.“There are a lot of people who have been regularised recently under the muster roll system. We will utilise this excess manpower by training them and deploying them for security,” said an official.However, the chairperson has clearly directed its officials not to use floodlights or any bright light in these parks in order to keep the natural habitat intact.

“No kind of bright lights shall be permitted over trees as we do not want to disturb birds and other creatures inhabiting the area,” said Shrivastava.

-The Pioneer, 21th May 2014

The Yamuna may not be a lost cause after all. A heronry that has recently developed inside the Yamuna Biodiversity Park gives an inkling of what its floodplains could be-if sustained in their natural glory. There are about 600-1,000 nests currently on Tamarix trees, also known as laal jhau or salt cedar. This part of the park has wetlands surrounded by dense laal jhau and common reed or Phragmites forest.

These forests are common to any riparian ecosystem but in case of Yamuna they had degraded and disappeared long ago. After scientists started developing Tamarix and Phragmites plantations to recreate the floodplain ecology, this is the first time they are seeing such a large number of nests. One can hear the call of hundreds of chicks from a distance; the trail leading to this dense patch is particularly narrow and difficult but gives a view of nests on almost every single Tamarix tree. The adult birds are seen protecting the chicks by partially opening their huge wings over them. Scientists said they have not seen adults feeding the chicks yet. Surprisingly, many seem to be feeding on their own.

"There are no Tamarix forests in the 52km stretch of Yamuna bank. So there is no suitable habitat for these birds. We created marshes in the park where Tamarix trees can grow. They are fast growing and salt-loving. It took us about five years to create a micro-environment for these birds to breed," said Prof. C R Babu of Centre for Environmental Management of Degraded Ecosystems and the brain behind the biodiversity park.

"This heronry also shows that the natural Yamuna ecosystem can be recreated and that we don't need food courts or large structures on the floodplains for recreation," Babu trenchantly said. A committee appointed by National Green Tribunal and headed by Prof. Babu had recently recommended Delhi Development Authority's riverfront development project which includes food courts, parking lots and other concrete structures be scrapped. Instead a 52km stretch of Yamuna in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh be declared a 'conservation zone'.

Scientists at the park are documenting various aspects of the breeding process at the heronry so that it can be compared with previous records to understand if there is a change in trends. "We have collected an egg from an abandoned nest to measure its size. Their phenology can give us clues into climate change impacts. The data will be very useful in the long run," said Faiyaz A Khudsar, scientist-in-charge at Yamuna Biodiversity Park.

The park, which is a favourite haunt for bird lovers, has become even more important to birders now. Ranjit Lal, environmentalist and bird watcher who visited the heronry on Tuesday, said that the same patch of land used to be deserted in 2002. "It's amazing how the forests have developed. I used to see these birds while walking from Rajghat to Salimgarh only in the early 1980s," he said.

Other flora developed in the park includes mitragyna, adina, thorn forests, ravine thorn forests and acacia woodlands. The park is not open to the general public because it would disturb the fauna there.

-The Times of India, 21th May 2014

The Delhi Metro’s Central Secretariat-Mandi House stretch which was slated to be made operational by early April, six months ahead of schedule, may be delayed further owing to pending work. This stretch is part of the much awaited ‘Heritage Line’ of the Delhi Metro that will connect Central Secretariat to Kashmere Gate.

While a Delhi Metro Rail Corporation spokesperson said the stretch was awaiting confirmation of inspection from the Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety (CMRS), sources in the Railways said that inspection has not started as work is still to be completed.

“Work is still pending on the line and the inspection will take place only after the work is completed,” said a senior Railway official. The inspection of the line by the CMRS is the last leg before the new stretch connecting Janpath and Mandi House will be thrown open to commuters. The 3-km-long Mandi House- Central Secretariat corridor will reduce the rush at the Rajiv Chowk station by giving interchange facilities to commuters on the Violet Line. Currently, commuters coming from Badarpur have to change trains twice, at Central Secretariat and Rajiv Chowk, to take the Blue Line (Dwarka-Noida). The new Mandi House station will enable them to change to the Blue Line directly.

At the new Mandi House station, artwork inside the station will showcase the area’s transformation “from brick kilns to a culture circle”.

The station’s facade, with its jaali work, blends in with the surroundings, which house theatres, galleries and other cultural institutes.

Between the new station and the existing one, there will be two large backlit panels of 37 feet by 6 feet showcasing interesting facts and photographs from the Capital’s history. The panels, covered with protective sheets, have been provided by the Indian Council for Historical Research.

-The Hindu, 22nd May 2014

The National Green Tribunal has directed the Haryana government to submit a schedule for demolition of illegal constructions in the Aravalis. The government had recently submitted that more than 566 constructions adjacent to Delhi violated the Aravali notification of 1992.

Raj Panjwani, the amicus curiae on ridge-related cases, said the constructions, most of which are located in Raisina Hill, Sohna, Gwalpahari, Sokandarpur and Wazirabad, identified by the Haryana government were confined to a portion of the Aravalis. "They have been told to look at violations in the rest of the Aravalis. The Rajasthan government has not identified any violations yet. They too will have to act," said Panjwani. About 16 constructions out of the 566 came up before the notification, so they might be spared.

"We asked them to list the violations in Rajasthan's Aravalis. That is equally important. Why should they be overlooked?" added Panjwani.

The Haryana notification prohibits activities like setting up new industries; mining; felling trees; construction of residential clusters, farmhouses, sheds, community centres, and building roads and infrastructure projects. For any such activity, permission is supposed to be taken from the ministry of environment and forests, and an environment impact assessment of the project has to be submitted. Not all constructions in the list have been completed-some are just boundary walls right now.

NGT had taken up this matter suo motu on January 7, 2013 after a TOI story highlighted privatization of forest land in Haryana's Aravalis. As the Haryana pollution control board is supposed to implement the notification, the court had asked for the status of prosecutions. Rajasthan was also made a party in the case, especially because of violations in Alwar.

On Wednesday, the bench suggested that mining cases also be identified in the two states.

-The Times of India, 22nd May 2014

The royal house of Mewar churns out a book delving into the fascinating photographic history of Udaipur.

Nostalgia never fails to charm and if it is evoked through sepia-tinted images, its effect increases manifold. The recent years record a sustained engagement with the pictorial archives of princely states and their being re-read in a new context. So there have emerged exhibitions around Lala Deen Dayal, who was attached to the court of the sixth Nizam of Hyderabad Mir Mahboob Ali Khan, Alkazi Foundation For the Arts’ book The Waterhouse Albums: Central Indian Provinces and Dawn Upon Delhi chronicling the Capital of the late 19th and mid-20th century belonging to the category partially.

Long Exposure – The Camera at Udaipur, 1857-1957, the latest addition, becomes a window to the lives of Mewar’s Maharanas by delving into the photographic history of the region. Published by the Maharana Mewar Historical Publications Trust, under the aegis of Maharana of Mewar Charitable Foundation in Udaipur, the book has been co-authored by Pramod Kumar KG, Mrinalini Venkateswaran with contributions by S. Girikumar and Lauren Power.

The authors retrace the history of Mewar Royals and their fascination for the discipline through 235 photographs selected from a mammoth archive. Interestingly, it doesn’t end at being nostalgic (which is also for the purpose of reaching out to the community of students and scholars and the larger public); it presents the archiving process and subsequent study of the collection.

Thirty thousand individual objects constitute the photographic collections of the House of Mewar, which are a part of the Pictorial Archives of the Maharanas of Mewar (PAMM), Udaipur. Selections from the Archive were first showcased during the exhibition, Long Exposure – The Camera at Udaipur, 1857-1957 which opened in 2009 at Bhagwat Prakash Gallery, in a previously unused wing of the Zenana Mahal.

“Materials preserved in our archives are now being shared with Indian and global audiences. It is an ongoing process of channelling the power of our heritage and making it relevant, meaningful to contemporary times. Another thing these photographs convey is the way those people in those times took to a new medium. They embraced it whole-heartedly,” says Shriji Arvind Singh Mewar of Udaipur, who is the current head of the Mewar dynasty.

The book was born while the collection was being digitised, studied and preserved. Stressing the significance of the photographic history of Udaipur, Pramod Kumar KG states, “Historical studies have revealed as early as 1818, over 20 years before the coming of the camera to India in 1840, its precursor the camera obscura, an optical device used to draw visual exactitudes, was in use at Udaipur. Colonel James Tod (1782-1835), the British Political Agent to the Court of Mewar, writes in “Travels in Western India” of how he explained the functions of this device to amuse the Heir Apparent of Udaipur, Maharaj Kumar Amar Singh, the elder son of Maharana Bhim Singh (1778-1828).”

Elaborating on the process, co-author Mrinalini Venkateswaran, says “The first task, then, was to document the archive: easily said but laboriously accomplished, partly because it is first important to understand exactly what is meant to be achieved by such an exercise. A decision was taken to phase the exercise and first focus on the photographic material, as that was the collection that the least was known about. Photography is a relatively new medium, with a history in Mewar dating back only to the mid-19th Century, and historic photographs are only now emerging as a valuable and fascinating arena for research, unlike the celebrated paintings of Mewar for instance, which have been extensively researched and published.”

The book includes a vast range of material like cartes-de-visite, glass-plate negatives, albumen and silver gelatin prints, panoramas, stevengraphs, stereographs, platinum prints, painted photographs and collages depicting formal portraits of rulers, durbars, weddings, religious festivals, rituals and customs. There is a chapter dedicated to cartes-de-visite (card photographs made by taking a number of photographs on a single photographic plate), which form the earliest photographs in the archives. Other sections are devoted to significant rulers like Maharaja Sajjan Singh, Maharana Bhupal Singh, painted photographs, landscapes, architecture and Indian Independence.

-The Hindu, 23rd May 2014

The capital celebrated International Biodiversity Day in unique ways. While National Zoological Park staff spent the day inside the elephant enclosure highlighting the plight of the pachyderms due to global warming, Aravali Biodiversity Park staff took slum dwellers and other locals of Vasant Vihar on a nature walk to make them aware of the need to protect flora, fauna and the environment.

Riaz Khan, curator (education) at the zoo, was accompanied by 30 school students and zoo keepers when he gave the elephants-Rajlakshmi and Hiragaj-a bath. The theme for the day was '350'. This stands for 350 parts per million-the safe ratio of carbon dioxide molecules to other molecules in the atmosphere. The planet crossed 400ppm last year which, according to scientists, is the threshold level after which climate change impacts can become severe. Zoo staff used '350' to communicate about and campaign against global warming.

"Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that traps heat in the atmosphere and contributes to climate change. The atmosphere contains over 400ppm of CO2 and it's increasing every year. We are already experiencing problems due to climate change like melting of ice in the North Pole," Khan said.

At Aravali Biodiversity Park, about 50 students, locals and slum dwellers from Kusumpur Pahari and Bhanwar Singh Camp adjacent to the park, were taken on a nature trail walk through the butterfly park, the orchidarium, medicinal plant nursery and other places.

"This year's theme for International Biodiversity Day is island biodiversity. Delhi may not be an island but forests or biodiversity parks are like islands in the vast concrete jungle. We want people to understand the relevance of such islands and the species that thrive here. They also act as a carbon sink that cleanses the city's polluted air," M Shah Hussain, scientist in charge at Aravali Biodiversity Park, said.

The park has had a number of new sightings recently. These include pheasant-tailed jacana, knob-billed duck, grey heron and the greater spotted eagle. The Indian pitta, a small and colourful bird which is mainly seen in closed-canopy forests, was also spotted after almost 60 years. More than 900 species of plants, 104 species of butterflies, 195 avian species, 26 species of reptiles and four species of amphibians have been documented in the park.

-The Times of India, 23rd May 2014

The highly endangered cheer pheasant birds, bred in captivity in Himachal Pradesh, are set to take wing in the wild for the first time in the country in the next four-five months, officials said Thursday. They say they are genetically fit and mature enough to survive in the wild on their own. "Around 20 cheer pheasants bred in captivity at the Chail pheasantry would be released by September-October," chief wildlife warden Lalit Mohan told IANS. The cheer pheasant, native to the western Himalayas from north Pakistan to Nepal, is listed in the Red Data Book of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), a compendium of species facing extinction. It's included in Schedule-1 of protected species under the Wildlife Protection Act. And that's why their release is such good news. Mohan, who evolved the 'parent rearing technique' for breeding the cheer pheasant in captivity, said "The aim to reintroduce the pheasants in the wild is to increase their number in their natural habitat." In Himachal Pradesh, the cheer pheasant is found in isolated pockets of the Majathal and Chail Wildlife sanctuaries in Solan district, Great Himalayan National Park in Kullu district and the Sarahan sanctuary area in Shimla district. As per the 2005 census conducted by the state wildlife wing, the state supports around 5,000 cheer pheasants in the wild. Wildlife experts attribute their downfall to habitat degradation, hunting and extensive grazing of the forest by livestock. Sandeep Rattan, wildlife wing's senior veterinary officer, said the Wildlife Trust of India is currently conducting a survey of the habitat where these pheasants will be released. "Each bird will be tagged with a radio collar and will be tracked with the global positioning system (GPS) to ascertain the success rate of the re-introduction project," he added. The wildlife wing's Cheer Pheasant Conservation Breeding Project at Chail, some 35 km from the state capital, was started in 2008 with financial assistance from the Central Zoo Authority. The cheer pheasants are shy. Each pair needs isolation and mutual affinity for successful breeding. Mohan said all birds that would be released are 'parent-reared' and their chances of survival in the wild are higher. John Corder, a conservation-breeding expert from Britain, was also involved in the breeding of cheer pheasants. He also appreciated the 'parent rearing technique' for rearing the endangered species in captivity. Rattan said earlier the experiment to release the cheer pheasants bred in captivity in the wild failed in Pakistan. "We are taking all precautions, their DNA profiling indicates they are very sound genetically and there is no inbred stock." Himachal Pradesh is known as a storehouse of bio-diversity. Its lush green valleys and snow-capped mountains are home to 36 percent of India's bird species. Of the 1,228 species of birds that have been reported in India, 447 have been recorded in the hill state alone by the Himachal State Council for Science, Technology and Environment in its biodiversity report. This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.

-The Firstpost, 23rd May 2014

Gautam Buddh Nagar district has no database of its wildlife

Though the region is home to over a hundred species of birds and mammals, the forest division of Gautam Buddh Nagar district has no database of its wildlife. The most astonishing fact is that the department was created 20 years ago and it is mandatory to conduct survey for counting of wildlife after every two years, the official of the unit is unaware of its responsibility. Environmentalists claim that the region was natural habitat of over 320 species of birds and 10 species of mammals earlier but the authorities have no idea that up to what extent their numbers have decreased. They fear that numbers of species are decreasing due to urbanisation but authorities are not making effort to protect.

“To initiate conservation scheme, the authority must have adequate data. Surprisingly, the forest division is unaware of the fact that it is their job to undertake a survey and make proper record of their count,” said a wildlife enthusiast of the Noida. Environment activists of the area claims that massive urbanisation and use of pesticides have decreased not only number of birds and animals but have decreased number of species also. Talking about importance of survey, activists say that the move will not only provide actual data but will help in finding actual position of biodiversity. It will also reveal exact position of critically endangered (CG) species, vulnerable species, near threatened (NT) species and migratory species. “Once data will be available, we could initiate process to save types of animals and birds which are on verge of collapse. It will help in maintaining biodiversity status of the region. We have written authorities several times in this regard but no effort has been made yet,” said Abhishek Kumar, member of Society for Protection of Environment and Biodiversity, an NGO.

When contacted forest officials for baseline data, they said that they have not conducted survey and counting. “We do not have the actual data. It is not the Forest Department but Asian Bird Societies counts only birds by conducting surveys on regular intervals. If any such move will be taken, it will be announced properly,” said KK Singh, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Gautam Buddh Nagar

-The Pioneer, 23rd May 2014

A far corner of Devrukh in the Konkan region of Maharashtra has become home to precious paintings of the Bombay School of Art. What’s more remarkable is how these works of art from the British era — now valued at Rs.4 crore — got retrieved and exhibited in the newly inaugurated fine arts museum.

Valuable works of Pestonji Bomanji, Lal Bahadur Dhurandhar, Abalal Rahiman and Baburao Painter depicting life during the British era would have been lost to fungus and apathy.

Today, they adorn the sprawling Lakshmibai Pitre Kalasangrahalaya thanks to a struggle, at whose forefront was 88-year-old resident Vasant Pitre.

The seed for the museum was sown more than six decades ago. In order that the work of talented artists from the Konkan, Sindhudurg, Raigad, Ratnagiri belt be preserved, art teacher Yashwant Mule, artist V.S. Gurjar and art connoisseur Arun Athaley started collecting the paintings. But the dream was not to be fulfilled anytime during their lifetime. The paintings were donated to the Devrukh Shikshan Prasarak Mandal (DSPM) Trust.

“The paintings had gathered dust and were in a shambles. Around six years ago, a member of the committee illegally sold them. The process to retrieve them was lengthy and tedious,” said Shrinivas Virkar, council member of the Trust.

It was then that Mr. Pitre, chairman of the Trust, got down to the job. “I decided that the paintings had to be brought to our care again. I tried to coax the buyers into believing in our cause. Once the paintings came back, we decided that it was time to revive them and give them the place they deserve,” he said. From spending from his pocket, to raising donations, the new venture became an obsession. The museum is named after his mother.

Work on the museum began about five years ago. Architect Arvind Sardal designed the building which stands on 6,000 sq.ft. of land. Mumbai-based curator Mrudula Mane was roped in. Under the guidance of museologist Sadashiv Gorakshkar, the restoration began. It was decided that the ground floor would be devoted to the Bombay School of Art painters. The second made space for contemporary artists.

Every painting offers a a slice of history. Now you see a beautiful landscape of Kolhapur of the time, painted by Mr. Rahiman. Now you marvel at the earliest painting in the museum — a realistic portrait by Bomanji. Numerous, detailed human figures come alive in a small painting called “Devasthan” in the trademark style of L.N. Taskar.

“All the paintings on the ground floor have a strong western influence. It was just the beginning of realism in the country, where painters were moving away from depicting mythology. Their brush strokes, the use of water colour were borrowed from the West. But the core subject remained Indian,” said Ms. Mane.

-The Hindu, 24th May 2014

Over 500 rare manuscripts, including original letters by Mirza Ghalib, rare sketches called Murraq-e-Chughtai by famous Pakistani poet Abdur Rahman, the original collection of Ghalib’s verses called Diwan-e-Ghalib, Diwan-e-Meer and much more constitute the historic Fakhruddin Ali Ahmad Library at Ghalib Institute in Mata Sundari Lane. Most of Ghalib’s collections were burnt by the British during the 1857 Mutiny. Among the ones left, one of his writings in the library reads, “Allah Allah Dilli Na Rahi, Chavni Hai, Na qila, na shaher, na bazar, na nahar; Qissa mukhtasar – shahar Sahra ho gaya...” (Oh Lord! Delhi turns into a cantonment, devoid of cities, markets, rivers and forts).

The library was founded with the institute in 1969 by Fakhruddin Ali Ahmad, the fifth President of Independent India along with former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Dr. Zakir Hussain. Over 25,000 rare books and research materials on Ghalib and his contemporaries overlook rare paintings and photographs. Mr. Ahmad was its first secretary while Indira Gandhi was the first chairperson.

“It is not a public library, but a research library where students from India, Pakistan, Central Asia, the U.S. and England come. It has been a favourite hub for poets like Majrooh Sultanpuri, Amrita Pritam, Qurratulain Haider, Sardar Ali Jafri and so on. It came into being on the eve of the 100 death anniversary of Mirza Ghalib in 1969. It has the richest classical collection of the history and cultural heritage of the world from the 17, 18 and 19 Centuries in Urdu and Persian, including 1,500 books only on Ghalib in Persian, Urdu, Hindi, and English,” said Syed Raza Haider, director of the Ghalib Institute. At 11 a.m. on Saturday, the library will see the Fakhruddin Ali Ahmad Memorial Lecture by eminent historian Professor Irfan Habib on the “Interpretations of the History of the Indian National Movement”.

-The Hindu, 24th May 2014

A United Nations report has ranked India’s water quality as 120th among 122 nations. If that was not damning enough, a world resources report has warned that 70 per cent of India’s water supply is polluted by untreated sewage. UN agencies further warn about rising ground water pollution that are destroying precious acquifers. Already salinity, iron, fluoride and arsenic have adversely affected groundwater resources across 200 districts.

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) confirms that there are major polluted stretches on 18 major rivers in India. As water activist Rajinder Singh said, “The Ganga and Yamuna combined provide water to 700 million Indians all of whom are reconciled to inadequate and incompetent management of our water resources.”

Household effluents are presently adding to this pollution levels. The result is that India is losing around four per cent of its GDP due to ill effects of water pollution and poor sanitation. Conservative estimates show that 1.5 million children under 5 die each year due to water related diseases, 200 million person days of work are lost while the country loses about `366 billion each year due to water related diseases.

On March 14, a UN report further released a warning that India would be at the centre of future water conflicts in water challenged river basin including the Ganges-Brahmaputra river, the Indus river and the Mekong river basins.

The ministry of water resources admits that while India has 18 per cent of the world’s population. It currently has only 4 per cent of the usable water resources.

Even these amounts are plunging according to the world resource report, the annual per capita availability of water has decreased from 1816 cubic metres in 2001 to 1545 cubic metre in 2011 and is set to fall even further

-The Asian Age, 24th May 2014

Raj Rewal’s oeuvre embodies ideas of sustainability and the cultural significance of buildings. The writer talks to the well-known architect whose exceptional works are on show at the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, till June 15.br>
An art gallery exhibiting evocative architectural works should not surprise one. But when the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), Delhi, decided to showcase the works of India’s well known and prolific architect Raj Rewal, it was a surprise because the NGMA had seriously considered architecture for the first time. Given the historical, aesthetic, and philosophical affinities between the two — art and architecture — this neglect is disconcerting.

The indifference is not difficult to explain, said A.G. Krishna Menon, one of the two curators of the exhibition. Look around, he urged. “The damages caused by non-reflective architecture are evidenced in the degraded habitat. Design, understandably, is missing in the public imagination. The purpose of this retrospective is to initiate a public discussion on architects and architecture in India by displaying the exceptional works of Raj Rewal,” he said.

Raj Rewal, 80, was educated in Delhi and London. He worked in Paris for a few years, before returning to India to set up practice in Delhi in 1962. Since then, he has been busy: the Asian Games Village (1982), the National Institute of Immunology (1990) and the Library for the Indian Parliament (2003) are among his notable buildings. Overseas, he has built the Lisbon Ismaili Centre, Portugal (2000) and the Indian Embassy in Beijing (2011). Though his design for the Olympic village in Paris was chosen, it was not built because Paris did not succeed in its bid to stage the Olympics in 2008.

In his writing, Suha Ozkan, former president of the International Union of Architects Congress, described Rewal as one of the most distinguished pioneers of sublime and distilled architecture rooted in regional contexts. He meant that Rewal does not blindly adopt universal and standardised design ideas, but responds sensitively to climate, context and materials.

Rewal often draws from historical building precedents to ‘invest his designs with meaning’. “My extensive travel and study of traditional Indian cities and teaching history for many years have deeply impacted me,” he said Such experiences and approach are not unique to him. A few other designers have also taken to reinventing historical motifs and forms. This tricky method, as Finnish architect and theorist Juhani Pallasamaa, cautioned could slip into ‘sentimental scenography’. Rewal cleverly avoids that and focuses on sound design principles that have generated interesting spatial layouts in Indian cities such as Fatehpur Sikri, and Jaisalmer.

Rewal conceptualises his institutions and housing projects as miniature cities. He arranges buildings in the form of interlocking blocks, organises them around multiple courtyards, and links them with shaded paths highlighted by gateways. At times, the buildings look monumental and monolithic like citadels. Some are like structures in terraced gardens. In either case, they are well crafted. The creative use of stone, particularly sandstone, is impressive and produces a visual similarity among his buildings.

Architects are a divided lot and their buildings are as diverse as their opinions. Some think buildings are only about experiences while others look at it as expressions of abstract intellectual ideas. For some others, the emphasis has to be on change, inventing new design processes and creating novel forms. On the contrary, Rewal and those like him look at what they think are continuities in the built environment. To borrow Pallasma’s words, they emphasise cultural significance of buildings using material, memory, and metaphor.

Some may argue that Rewal’s design values, which emerged largely under the patronage of government clientele, are inapplicable to the commercially-driven building world. On the contrary, it appears that his reflective practices have acquired greater importance in the current context where architecture has been reduced to a mere tool in a real estate venture.

Rahoul Singh, the other curator of this exhibition, drew attention to another equally important aspect of Rewal’s work: structural expression. “Rewal is predisposed towards finding an articulate structural solution for his buildings. His works are not only about poetics but also about making. Ably assisted by engineers and craftsmen, he has ingeniously used structural elements such as vierendeel girders and light weight fero-cement domes,” said Singh. Rewal also emphasises that structures are an important part of his design vocabulary. The Permanent Exhibition Complex (1971) and State Trading Corporation towers (1989) are good examples. However, the same cannot be said about Metro Bhawan in Delhi (2009). A strong structural logic also drives this building but the use of steel and aluminium takes away the expressive elegance. Though Rewal feels that one has quickly to find new materials for tall structures, he is undoubtedly at his best when he uses stone.

Rewal’s buildings embody ideas of sustainability. But, in the recent years, he has focused on energy conservation and used photovoltaic cells to harvest solar power. The Visual Arts Institutional Campus in Rohtak, Haryana; the Energy Technology Centre in Noida; and Coal India Headquarters in Kolkata represent this shift. Large photovoltaic panels, which adorn these buildings, are overpowering and appear uncomfortably dramatic. Probably, these are early stages in his experiments and could soon evolve into a more sophisticated solution. Part of the problem is in his theorisation.

Rewal has often emphasised that every building has a rasa or essence and it has to express it. Following this principle, he simplifies the multidimensional concept of sustainable architecture to the single issue of energy and expresses it through one prominent element — photovoltaic cells. Menon, though, admits that the idea of sustainability is complex and defends such experiments as indicative of Rewal’s propensity to take risks. These debates, however, do not take away from what Rewal has accomplished. He is, undoubtedly, a worthy candidate for the first retrospective at the NGMA. The exhibition with large-scale models, original drawings and mock-up constructions is impressive. It could have gone beyond the structure of a monograph, explored the times of Rewal’s practice, and located his works alongside that of his compatriots. Probably that is reserved for another show. This commendable effort, the curators’ hope, will help highlight the significance of good design.

-The Hindu, 24th May 2014

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) may very soon limit the number of people visiting the Taj Mahal to minimize damage caused by the increasing number of tourists. The average footfall at the monument has increased at a rate of 10%-15% per annum. Over 58 lakh visited the monument in 2013. Steps leading to the main platform of the monument have completely worn out due to huge tourist inflow. Constant movement has also left foot and hand prints on marble stones. The ASI has commissioned the National Environmental Engineering and Research Institute to prepare a report on the monument's load-bearing capacity.

A senior official said while commissioning the research, ASI had put forth three proposals of step ticketing: issuing another ticket inside the monument to enter the mausoleum, prohibiting entry to graves of the royal couple or limiting visitors' access the main platform of the monument.

-The Times of India, 25th May 2014

Khair-ul-Manzil, located right across Purana Quila, remains a quiet and uncelebrated monument

It was World Heritage Day, and I set off monument hopping. The weather was perfect, and I had already visited the Turkman Gate and Delhi Gate. I was on my way to visit the excavation site at Purana Quila (Old Fort). As I paid the autowallah and turned around, I found myself facing an old structure across the road from the Quila. My feet made up their mind for me, and I stepped inside through an arched entrance.

The din of modern Delhi ceased. I found myself standing in the huge and peaceful courtyard of the Khair-ul-Manzil mosque. It had an octagonal tank right at the centre and flocks of pigeon walked around. I looked around in awe and wondered why I hadn’t visited this place before.

There were arches, inscriptions, and remnants of stucco and glazed tiles in different colours that were still vibrant. I slowly made my way across the courtyard and removed my shoes as I came closer to the prayer area. And that is where I met Kafil Ahmad Ansari. He was in deep conversation with an elderly Sikh. And by them was a foreign tourist, who didn’t appear to understand any of it, but nevertheless sat there quietly listening all the same. I too joined them. And soon after me, came the security guard of the complex. The discussion was on the poor upkeep of monuments in Delhi. I asked Kafil to tell me something about the mosque. In a flash, he was up and ready totake me around the complex. We walked along one side of the mosque where there were several rooms still in good shape. They served as part of the madrasa, said Kafil . He drew my attention to the top of the structure, where there were big gaps. The British had fired cannons on this mosque from the roof of the Purana Quila.The story goes that someone from the madrasa had carried tales to the British about discussions being held there about achieving Independence.

At one corner of the mosque was an enclosure which was the entrance to an underground passage that went all the way to the Quila. It was used by the locals to protect themselves when the violence was unfolding. It was so difficult to imagine that a place as tranquil as this was once the scene of armed conflict. Kafil related the history of the place with much pride. But seemed a tad disappointed when he told me that the mosque had no electricity, and was in dire need of maintenance, otherwise it would soon become even more derelict.

Leading me to a well, he drew some water out and offered it to me, assuring me that I would never taste water as sweet as this. The cool water was indeed welcome and refreshing. Kafil told me that he lived across the Yamuna. But he kept coming back to this mosque a couple of times a week. “Something pulls me back here,” he said. During our meeting which happened prior to the elections, Kafil had expressed thatonce the new government came to power, he would request it to look after old monuments such as Khair-ul-Manzil and open them to the public. I wonder how many more Khair-ul-Manzils are waiting to be explored.

-The Hindu, 26th May 2014

Youth for Heritage Foundation, headed by Vikramjit Singh Roop Rai, has been holding an exhibition, “Forgotten Heritage of Delhi” since March 1. It was started from the four core lobbies of the India Habitat Centre and on April 18 (World Heritage Day) moved to the Red Fort, having been inaugurated by the Director-General of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Pravin Shrivastava and conceived by the Superintending Archaeologist of Delhi Circle, V. S. Swarnkar. Due to close at the end of this month, the exhibition provides a peep into the Capital’s past with 73 pictures of 34 monuments on display. They include Lodi Garden, Jama Masjid, Sultangarhi, Hauz Khas monuments, Khirki and Begumpuri mosques, Hazrat Makhdoom Sabzwari’s shrine, the Green Park monuments, Zafar Mahal, Dadi-Poti tombs, Roshanara Bagh and Badli Sarai.

Among the lesser-known monuments Khirki Masjid, a double storied mosque, built by Junan Shah, Vazir of Firoz Shah Tughlak in the 14th Century, has three gateways with imposing minarets. The building gets its name from thekhirkis or perforated windows which have corresponding cells in the first storey. The pillared courtyard has nine domes. One wonders why the khirkis were built and for what purpose? Was the mosque meant for the exclusive use of purdah ladies? Its fort-like structure gives the impression that from the windows one could watch happenings outside without being detected or get shot by a traitor’s arrow.

The Begampuri mosque in Begumpur village on Aurobindo Marg is another structure of comparable proportions, also built by Junan Shah who is credited with having constructed seven imposing mosques before Delhi’s Jama Masjid came up. ‘Dadi-Poti’ (grandmother and grand-daughter) on Hauz Khas Road is a puzzling monument. Who are these two personages? Their graves seem to date back to Lodi times. During that period graves built on a platform were those of members of the nobility. The Dadi-Poti tombs are also referred to as those of biwi (mistress) and bandi (maid). This further adds to the riddle of this monument.

Zafar Mahal in Mehrauli has fallen on bad days. Built by Akbar Shah II, son of Shah Alam, it was completed by Bahadur Shah Zafar who also erected its magnificent gateway and named it after himself. The pattern of the Mahal is akin to that of Chhatta Chowk in the Red Fort and its gateway bears a faint resemblance to the Buland Darwaza of Fatehpur Sikri, which Zafar saw as a young man. Sultangarhi is the “first example of a monumental Muslim tomb in India, except for some monuments in Kutch” Situated on Mehrauli-Palam road, it was built by Altamash in 1231 for his eldest son Nasiruddin Mahmud who died at Lakhnauti (Bengal) in 1229. It is a maze-like monument with the character of a crypt (ghari) and a hidden staircase. There are other tombs also of the Slave period in this cryptic edifice.

Roshanara garden has the tomb of Roshanara Begum, younger daughter of Shah Jahan, (died in 1671) who was very close to Aurangzeb. The tomb was planned by Roshanara herself in 1650 with a beautiful garden, ornamental fountains and canals. Now a Japanese-style garden adds to its attraction. The garden tomb houses the Roshanara Club, set up after the third Afghan war by the British, which organized the first cricket tournaments in North India. Badli Sarai on the Delhi-Karnal Road in Badli village marks the site of an inn built in Mughal times. Here a fierce battle was fought in 1857 between the sepoys and the Gordon Highlanders who are commemorated by a sandstone monument. Now only the gate of the serai stands as a silent memorial.

The Lodi gardens, later developed by Lady Willingdon, wife of the Viceroy, contain the tombs of some Lodi sultans. The Shish Gumbad built by Sikandar Lodi Nizam Khan, the greatest king of the dynasty, is not a head hunters’ monument but known so because of its glazed dome which takes its name from the Persian word shish (glass). The gumbad contains a number of graves which have remained unidentified so far but not that of his son Ibrahim Lodhi who rests in Panipat. The pictorial exhibition, in an Army Officers’ barrack in the Red Fort, is worth a visit to witness the glory of the Delhi that was. It showcases a history of over 700 years.

The author is a veteran chronicler of Delhi

-The Hindu, 26th May 2014

Sarangi maestro Lakha Khan talks to Divya Kaushik about his custom-made instrument, his recent album that helped him document his legacy and difficulties in taking ahead his musical tradition

Words like legend and maestro that are mostly used as a prefix to his name internationally, make little sense to Lakha Khan. The man in his late 60s is only overwhelmed by the love he receives from every corner of the world. The sarangi player and vocalist is known as the greatest exponent of sindhi sarangi. He was born in village Raneri in Jodhpur to a family of traditional Manganiyar musicians. Khan promised his father that he would play until he dies to take forward the family legacy of folk music. His father told him that till the time he will play, people will remember him, otherwise his destiny will not continue. Khan is keeping up his promise and the number of concerts and international tours has only gone up in the last few years. The musician was recently at Lodi-The Garden Restaurant to perform at an event organised by Friends of Music.

Khan was trained at an early age by his father, Tharu Khan, and later by his uncle Mohammad Khan in rendering the compositions of the Multan school of Manganiyars. He says, “My father has been a great influence in my life. As a child, I found the sound of his sarangi very sweet. From the age of eight till 14, all I did was listen and watch him tune. Once he asked me to accompany him for a performance. I refused. I was beaten up and I didn’t speak to him for a week. My mother didn’t cook for those seven days since I was her favourite kid. But later my father told my mother that she should not worry and I will become a master of sarangi. I finally started assisting my father by tuning his sarangi. But unfortunately, I could only learn from him for two years, as he passed away. I was 16 then and decided that I will continue practicing whatever my father taught me.”

Khan’s instrument is complex. His sindhi sarangi consists of 27 strings and all his sarangis are custom-made. He works closely with the suthar (carpenter) on all aspects of the sarangi — from the design, to the markings of the placement of strings, grommets and tension boles. The instrument he plays currently is about 14 years old, “but my most precious sarangis are the ones that were handed down to me by my father and my grandfather.”

From Edinburgh Music Festival to Amarras Desert Music Festival, Khan has staged his performances at many prestigious platforms. “I love playing at these festivals as youngsters not only enjoy the music but also understand it, which I like the most. Whenever I play, I go by my instinct and mood. Earlier I used to stress on playing solo, otherwise I had to play as per the musicians playing alongside and some of them were really bad,” says Khan who feels fortunate to share stage with several greats including Sultan Khan, Rita Ganguly, Vieux Farka Toure and Madou Sidiki Diabate.

It is said that digital records today are the best way to document legacy and may be that is why Khan came up with his album At Home Lakha Khan, which released on Amarrass Records in December 2012 in India, in the US in 2013 and this year in the UK. “It feels great to finally get out an album in my name at this age. Its songs are not just about mythology, but there’s a song for almost every moment of life. There are songs for the seasons, songs about trees, animals and panihari songs. Our songs are a historical record maintained in families as an oral tradition. Last week some kids studying in the US (from Phalodi) visited my village as they had heard my music and albums. I can see that youngsters today are interested in folk forms but that interest has to be driven by awareness,” adds Khan.

It comes as a surprise that for someone like Khan, whose music is followed internationally, it is difficult to take forward the tradition of music in his family. He says, “It has been really difficult. My elder son Dane played dholak with me. Unfortunately, that has not happened lately. My youngest son was learning well but then he met with an accident. He was working as a labourer installing glass sheets. He never fully recovered from the injuries he suffered on his hand.”

-The Pioneer, 26th May 2014

Plans are afoot to restore the beauty of the iconic Gandhi Smriti. The museum, which is dedicated to the life of Mahatma Gandhi, is a tourist attraction but has not been maintained well. This is all set to change with the integrated conservation and museum development plans by the India National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage.

Once the final approval comes in, the plans are likely to take off within weeks, sources say. The board members, historians, planners and experts were consulted for inputs; they all agreed that Gandhi Smriti was a nationally recognized museum and needed more facilities for tourists. "Mahatma Gandhi is not just a national but an international icon. People come from all over the world to visit the place where he spent his last days and died. Gandhi Smriti bears witness to a landmark event in Indian history. We felt the need to bring the museum on a par with international museums in other countries and outlined the rejuvenation plans," said an official.

The theme of the project report is to retain the principles of simplicity and equality upheld by Mahatma Gandhi in a way that his teachings and beliefs would be reflected by the museum. The museum has problems like seepage in the main building, damaged mouldings on the wall surface, and different layers of plaster altering the original character. Inside the building there is a different set of problems like a change in the original flooring, decay of wooden doors and windows and loss of the ornamental stone in the jaali work. Part of the plan is to revive the old oil paintings that have stains, cracks and are flaking off in places.

A single entry for both visitors and VIPs has been proposed. It has also been suggested that the museum should be about Gandhi and not his achievements. "The displays can be divided into four parts showcasing different stages of Gandhi's life-his childhood and education in London; life in South Africa; life in India before and after Independence," according to the plan. There are plans to surprise visitors with Gandhi's presence through various project and lighting techniques and shed light on the mundane details of his life. A wax mannequin and holographic projections of Gandhi, an audiovisual room and laser effects are some of the suggestions.

Audio guides, based on the visitors' profile and preference, also find mention. These are popular in many monuments and common in many museums in other countries. The audio guide allow flexibility depending on gender, age groups, language, etc. "These can be handheld devices activated manually or in auto mode. The museum houses artefacts, sculptures, descriptive panels, interactive tools, images and paintings. The audio contents would cover description/details of such exhibits and also cover audio synchronized with the AV stations,'' says the report.

-The Times of India, 26th May 2014

The Haryana government has started the process of measuring the Mangar forest area in Aravali amid reports of it approving the sub-regional plan.

Sources said forest department teams were busy carrying out the ground work on Monday. "They told us that there was an order from Chandigarh," said a villager.

Meanwhile, the regional plan of NCR and the Haryana sub-regional plan are two of the pending issues that would come up before the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) under Narendra Modi. The urban development ministry has already sent a status report to the PMO, sources said.

UD ministry officials said the PMO had sought details of the pending issues. "The minutes of the NCR Planning Board (NCRPB) meeting that mentioned approval of the revised regional plan has been circulated. The prior nod from PMO was not taken though the ministry was advised to do so," said a source.

Raising concerns on the protection of the Mangar forest, PMO had asked the ministry to ensure that the revised regional plan and Haryana's sub-regional plan were not cleared until the issues raised by the environment and forest ministry (MoEF) were addressed.

In fact, the NCRPB secretariat had attached a letter from MoEF with the minutes of the meeting that was circulated among board members. The minutes mention that the Mangar forest and its buffer will be earmarked as no-construction zone.

Meanwhile, Haryana's town and country planning department said to have held a meeting last week to clear the revised sub-regional plan for its early notification.

Haryana, which had submitted its sub-regional plan to NCRPB secretariat over six months after making the commitment, pushed for its clearance only months before the general election.

-The Times of India, May 27, 2014

We have changed Bombay to Mumbai, Madras to Chennai, and Calcutta to Kolkata to put our colonial past behind us, but everyone believes its structures should be preserved. The buildings in Delhi built between 1920s and 30s by British architect Sir Edwin Lutyens is one such example. AG Krishna Menon, Founder of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), says that while these buildings need to be preserved, their names are not always important. For instance, the Viceroy's House is now the Rashtrapati Bhavan; a different name doesn't change or take away from its beauty.

Menon is associated with The Lutyens Trust, which preserves and promotes Lutyens' varied body of work. The trust established a Photographic Archive Committee in early 2004, the contents of which have been available as an online exhibition since January this year. It showcases Lutyens' country houses, smaller houses, gardens, bridges, estate cottages and social housing from projects across the world including Ireland, Italy and Sri Lanka. It also includes furniture, fireplaces, and lighting that were designed by Lutyens.

The exhibition has a section dedicated to New Delhi, with a focus on the Rashtrapati Bhavan at various stages of construction. Many of the pictures in this section are from EE Hall's collection (although not necessarily taken by him) who, along with Walter George and William R Mustoe, worked with Lutyens in building, designing and landscaping New Delhi as India's capital city. Other online exhibits include Hyderabad House, Baroda House, King George V Memorial and India Gate.

Menon recalls an anecdote of Lutyens, who after the construction of the Rashtrapati Bhavan (much to his chagrin) noticed only the tip of the dome was visible from afar because it was located on Raisina Hill. As architect Herbert Baker was the one responsible for this design, people often joked that Lutyens had met his "Bakerloo" when his appeals to lower the entire hill were denied.

-The Indian Express, May 27, 2014

Theatre directors say that a play is about people — as they circle one another, clash, connive or cooperate, a story is born. Delhi-based Feisal Alkazi, 59, a veteran of 300 plays, would argue that theatre is also about places. His recent productions have taken audiences to Slovakia during World War II (Love in the Time of Oppression), colonial Kolkata (A Quiet Desire) and Mughal and modern Delhi (Noor and Khoya Khoya Chand, respectively).

Even when he takes off his director's hat and puts on the writer's, places remain important to the director. Some of the 20 books he has authored have titles such as Exploring an Environment, and The Riverfront of My Town: Discovering Jaipur. Alkazi's new book is called Srinagar: An Architectural Legacy (Intach and Roli Books, Rs 395) and presents the Valley as a wondrous place full of mysticism, imperial history, 300-year-old gardens, aromatic deodars, saffron-flavoured food and hereditary chefs. In an interview, Alkazi reveals why he had "a ball writing this book over eight months".

What was your first impression of Kashmir?

The first time I saw Kashmir was from a plane window and it was scary — this valley hemmed by mountains and totally cut off from the rest of India; there is only one connecting road. That's what makes it so different from the rest of the country. Accessible from the north, Kashmir was, however, on the Silk Route. I have been to Samarkhand and Bukhara and could see the linkages in the architecture of these places with Srinagar's. The book explores the architectural heritage of this 500-year-old city through its rich past and different eras of kings.

How did this book come about?

In 2004, I ran a project called Children of Kashmir with the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. It involved children whose parents had been killed during the violent years. When you work with children, you cannot focus only on trauma, you have to deal with the positive. As we evolved a project on Kashmir, we found many interesting stories and hidden histories of the place. The third Buddhist conference was held here in 100 AD. It was also ruled by Sikhs and there is still a population of Kashmiri sardars. This produced a book, Discovering Kashmir. I went back many times thereafter. Srinagar: An Architectural Legacy is for a person who doesn't want to do the touristy three-day-two-night stay. Six of the 10 chapters in the new book are on heritage walks in Srinagar so that people can discover the city for themselves. I had a totally different Kashmir experience and the book shares that.

-The Indian Express, May 28, 2014

South Delhi Greenway project proposes to convert a 12.5 km stormwater drain into a green pathway and recreational area.

The Delhi government is looking at reviving the South Delhi Greenway project, which proposes to convert a 12.5-km stormwater drain from Said-ul-Ajaib to Barapullah into a green pathway and recreational area with waste water treatment facilities.

The project was originally supposed to have been executed before the Commonwealth Games in 2010. Three government agencies — the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation (DTTDC) and Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) — had worked out the Rs 500-crore plan jointly. But it was later abandoned after it ran into bureaucratic hurdles.

"The project has now been handed over to the Public Works Department (PWD), which will supervise its implementation. Lt-Governor Najeeb Jung will be given a presentation of the project soon," an official said.

Stormwater drains in the capital have essentially become sewage carriers, clogged further by construction debris. "Under the project, the stormwater drain from Said-ul-Ajaib to Barapullah will be desilted and given bacterological treatment. Ponds will be created, and walkways and cycling tracks developed," the official said.

PWD officials have reportedly already visited the area. "The initial plan is to take up a 4-km stretch from Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium to Sarai Kale Khan near the Barapullah elevated road and another 4 km of Kushak Nallah near the INA Market," the official said.

The greenway will be lined with food courts and recreational facilities. "Five of the seven ancient cities of Delhi are likely to be connected by the greenway trail. Various historic sites like the Mehrauli Archaeological Park, Qutub Complex, Satpulla, Humayun's Tomb, Safdarjung Tomb, Lodhi Tomb, Old Fort, Tughlakabad Fort, etc., will become more accessible and form part of an extensive greenway heritage trail," the official said.

The project could be executed through a public-private partnership. "Some stretches of the stormwater drain have been covered and will remain that way," the official said

-The Indian Express, May 28, 2014

A two-year-old project to rejuvenate Varanasi's ghats could get a boost under the new government with the new tourism and culture minister, Shripad Naik, announcing he would discuss plans for the holy city with PM Narendra Modi.

The tourism ministry in 2012 sanctioned Rs 18 crore to improve the ghats, build jetties, repaint garishly hotel walls with aesthetic colours, improve signages and remove ugly advertisements. Two years on, not a paisa has been spent on the project. Asked if he had plans for River Ganga and Varanasi, one of the two seats Modi won in the Lok Sabha polls, Naik said: "We want to develop Varanasi as a tourist city. He has a vision for the holy city."

Sources said the plan had remained on paper because of the state government's indifference. "We hope this will change with the new administration,'' a source said. The project was supposed to be completed by October 2013.

Naik, who held charge of tourism during NDA's previous term, said development of infrastructure was essential for the sector's growth. Issues concerning visa and security need to be addressed and tourists should feel safe in the country, he said. "There are problems regarding visa and security of tourists and these will be addressed to attract more foreign visitors." Referring to incidents involving foreign tourists, he said, "There have been some incidents, which have created a bad name for the country. We need to address them."

Naik, who has been given additional charge of culture, said the tourism sector had tremendous job-creating capacity and should be given a boost. Seeking cooperation of other ministries, he said: "We need support from civil aviation, home and other departments to boost tourism."

The minister said he'd improve facilities and bring together culture and tourism to attract more tourists to the country.

-The Times of India May 28, 2014

The books will be available at the ticket counters of the museum for Rs 25 each from next week.

To ensure that children accompanying parents and other adults to the National Museum are able to engage with history, the museum has launched a set of four trail books on varying subjects. The books list out major attractions in the galleries in the forms of "treasure hunts" alongside colour-coordinated clues.

The books will be available at the ticket counters of the museum for Rs 25 each from next week. The first book lists animals and birds in India art and gives clues to children to find terracotta and metal figurines in the gallery. The second book titled Life in Harappan Civilisation gives a brief introduction of the various objects — utensils, figures of gods and goddesses, agricultural equipment — excavated from the Indus Valley period.

The third book, Finding Buddha, has various symbolisms associated with Lord Buddha at various stages of history, including the Mauryan and Gandhara periods.

The last book, Nine Rasas in Art, looks at sculptures, paintings and murals from various regions and periods.

Speaking to Newsline, National Museum's Outreach Department official Jayati said the trail books were to ensure that children accompanying adults do not feel left out during the trip.

"The gallery interpretations currently are not meant for a young audience. In foreign countries too, museums usually have a lot of books, activity kits and trail features for children. So, we thought of emulating the model here too. Each book will take about 40-45 minutes for the children to complete and keep them engaged," she said.

"We are getting in touch with other organisations on how to bring in more concepts which will involve children," she said.

-The Indian Express, May 29, 2014

Corporates could be roped in to rejuvenate the decaying 'ghats' at Varanasi, complete with jetties for boats and improved facilities for tourists and bathing pilgrims.

The 100 ghats at Varanasi have immense spiritual attraction, drawing foreign and domestic tourists, but have been neglected for years. With PM Narendra Modi as the MP from the holy city, officials now hope there could be a move to improve the conditions. Sources said many corporates, including major hospitality chains, had expressed interest in adopting the ghats for a make-over.

The ghats, or steps leading to the River Ganga, were built when the city was under the administrative control of the Marathas. The most popular are Dashashwamedh ghat, Rajendra Prasad Ghat and Kedar Ghat.

At present , there is lack of changing rooms and bathing space for pilgrims, haphazard parking of boats, broken steps and stone walkway to the Vishwanath Mandir, poor quality of takhts (where the priests or pandas sit), too many overhead cables in the bylanes of Vishwanath Mandir, damaged umbrellas used by the 'pandas', lack of signages and drinking water facilities.

A report prepared by IL&FS for the union tourism ministry also underlined poor lighting on the ghats, lack of resting and sanitary facilities for tourists and lack of garbage bins. One of the biggest problems is devotees disposing of garland and pooja material in the river, adding to its pollution. Officials said plastic emulsion paint had been used on the ghats which would have to be scrapped off. "This could reduce the life of the stone by 50 years. Using plastic emulsion is tampering with heritage and it has to be removed," an official said.

The ministry had recently allocated Rs 18 crore for make-over and has plans to establish changing rooms. There are also plans to create sufficiently long jetties on each side of the ghat for parking of boats and embarking and disembarking of passengers. There are plans to repair the broken steps and use of red chunar sandstone for reconstruction work.

Officials said significant work needed to be done to remove the mesh of overhead electricity cables which could be dangerous apart from giving an untidy look.

-The Times of India May 29, 2014

If Delhi's new forest department chief has his way, leopards and hyenas could return to Asola Bhatti, the capital's lone wildlife sanctuary which was part of the terrain where these predators roamed in the not-too-distant past.

Tarun Coomar, who recently took charge as Delhi's additional principal conservator of forests, plans to make Asola Bhatti more bio-diverse — with a better mix of native plant species — and strengthen the corridors that link the sanctuary with other forests in the Aravalis which still have big predators.

"These corridors still exist. Under directions from the Centre, we have to declare an eco-sensitive zone for Asola which is likely to restore a wildlife corridor," Coomar said, adding that strengthening these wild passages linking Asola with forests in Haryana and Rajasthan could see the return of wildlife such as leopards and hyenas. But any work on the corridors, he cautioned, would require a lot of coordination with the neighbouring states and success would depend on how much priority they give to such a plan.

Coomar said he would consult ecologist C R Babu on how plantations in the sanctuary and other parts of Delhi ridge can have the right variety of native species that will be attract wildlife.

The forest chief is also reassessing the demolition drive to remove encroachments from Asola Bhatti, started recently by his department, as there are "differences" in the forest department's survey of forest land and that of documents submitted by people who own land in the area.

"We have a precise survey done by the special task force (STF), revenue department and Geospatial Delhi Limited (GSDL). But we have to figure out if we are doing the right thing as people also have documents to show that they rightfully own land," he said. But Sanjay Colony, an unauthorized slum cluster of over 25,000 people inside the sanctuary will have to go, he said.

Coomar, who headed Delhi's forest department 20 years ago before serving in Andaman and Nicobar in various capacities, told TOI that the colony has to be relocated. "The residents are agitating against us but they have no business living inside a wildlife sanctuary," he said.

The relocation work will soon be carried out with help from Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board. Some may be moved to Savda Ghevra and other colonies near Narela but they have not decided on when the relocation work will be done.

Coomar said his Andamans stint was not very different from his work in Delhi. "There we would have social fencing as a means to protect forests; here a brick wall separates the sanctuary from human habitation. There it was tropical, evergreen forest and here it's scrub forest. In both, protection is vital," he said.

"You can call my style of protecting Delhi's forests, neo-forestry, as our goal is to improve forests and biodiversity scientifically," he added.

On trees within the city, Coomar agreed that agencies seem obsessed with concretizing. "There are some acute urban development problems. I have to woo them to understand the requirements of trees and make them fall in love with them," he said.

-The Times of India May 30, 2014

Towards the end of the latest excavation at Purana Qila, which began in January this year, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has discovered a ring well 4.4 metres below the earth.

The well, 70 centimetres in diameter, lined with earthen rings is characteristic of the Maurya period. "This along with fragments of northern black earthenware and grey ware unearthed are proof that the excavation has reached up to the Mauryan period which was from 322 to 185 BC", said Assistant Superintending Archaeologist Vishnu Kant to The Hindu.

The well is in a vertical excavation shaft approachable by a ladder. Beside it is a drain, probably of a kitchen in the Maurya period.

The excavation on a slope behind the Sher Mandal is akin to a time portal. At the very top, remnants of the post partition camps are found. As the slope progresses, excavations at various level reveal different ages of history. First are the ruins of the Mughals (1526 to 1857) followed by the Sultanate (1206 to 1526). Then the Rajput period (600 to 1200 AD) appears in excavations where fine disposable earthenware and an entombed skeleton of a small goat have been discovered.

As we go lower, excavations shafts reveal remains of the Gupta and post Gupta period (300 to 600 AD), the Kushan period (0 to 200 AD), the Sungas (200BC to 1BC) and finally the Mauryas in continuous sequence.

Mr. Kant added: "We have not been able to find a link to the Mahabharata period. It is said that the five villages demanded by the Pandavas included Indraprastha which falls within the present day Delhi. Evidence of that period is usually painted grey ware. We have not been able to find these at the level of that period."

Grey pottery with black patterns have been found at later levels or from eras after the Mahabharata period. These, Mr. Kant explained, are smaller fragments which may have resurfaced in rain flow and were then used by children as play objects.

This is the third and the largest excavation here since the first one in 1955 by pioneering archaeologist Braj Basi Lal. Several labourers and 18 students of the Institute of Archaeology, Red Fort along with ASI staff led by Vasant Swarnkar, Superintending Archaeologist of the Delhi Circle.

So far, the excavations have revealed an 18 centimetre tall Vishnu idol, believed to be from the Rajput era although alternately it is also claimed to be from Akbar's reign. In addition to this, a Gupta terracotta seal and stamped pottery, Mughal beads and gems and Sultanate glazed ware have also been found. An exhibition of the recovered artefacts in April saw a massive turnout and Purana Qila in public imagination is now more than just a haunt for lovers.

-The Hindu, May 30, 2014