Garbage-laden municipal trucks climb the Ghazipur landfill, a 30-metre-high and multi-layer hill containing 46 lakh metric tonnes of trash. Up there, a large number of rag-pickers are busy snapping up saleable recyclables missed by their street counterparts amid innumerable kites encircling overhead and dogs, captured from streets, hanging around.

At another spot on same site in east Delhi, teams of experts are busy laying layers of mud, concrete blocks, gravel and rubberised sheets. Greenery is also happening.

“We’re trying to trap methane, to be converted into CNG, prevent soil and groundwater pollution through lining, mine the trash piles to create space for fresh dumping and reclaim some parts through greening,” said an expert at the site surrounded by slums.

If the task is uphill, stakes are high too. The results of projects undertaken by the East Delhi Municipal Corporation with help from World Bank, Planning Commission and the Delhi government will make or mar the life of 40 lakh people in the trans-Yamuna area.

The waste management system is falling apart with the 70-acre landfill having exhausted its lifespan years ago and no fresh site is in sight.

A plant has been set up to burn 1,300 tonnes of garbage, half the amount the 673 colonies in east Delhi spew out daily. Though a similar plant in South Delhi is facing protests over green concerns, senior corporation official Yogendra Mann is hopeful. “We will convert useable trash into energy and remove the rest to other sites. In the meantime, we will allow dumping only for composting and for the waste-to-energy plant,” he said.

But these big-ticket plans have little impact on the ground, at least as of now. Devender Singh Bansal, an office-bearer of the Ghazipur RWA, said, “We have hired rickshaws to collect garbage and take that to community bins or dhalaos where it remains uncollected as the corporation’s trash pickups come once in 4-5 days. We have tried calling the garbage helpline but it’s of no use.”

The corporation has ensured, through an NGO, Chintan, door-to-door trash pickup and segregation in two wards — 221 and 254. Sunil Negi, a resident of ward 221, said, “The NGO collects the waste, puts it in separate bins.” Segregation means less waste needs to be land-filled. Chaudhary Vijay Pal of ward 254 said, “It’s a relief. Earlier, a four-wheeler used to come and we had to carry garbage from home to the vehicle.”

Chintan’s Bharati Chaturvedi claims her organisation ensures waste does not spill into drains, a big problem in less affluent areas and that workers have green cycle rickshaws, uniforms and whistles.

But 150 dirty dhalaos dot the rest of the 62 wards where there is no formal door-to-door trash pickup. In several areas such as Ghazipur, Vivek Vihar and Trilokpuri, dhalaos are often not cleaned. In Mayur Vihar, garbage remains uncollected for days and spills over. Vinod Kumar of Vasundhara Enclave Vyapar Mandal said, “The massive dhalao near the market is cleaned every two days. This is a major nuisance.” (with inputs from Ritam Halder)

Waste collection at doorstep will be expanded in east Delhi: S Kumaraswamy

East Delhi municipal corporation commissioner S Kumaraswamy shared plans to reclaim space at the Ghazipur landfill by way of establishing a waste-to-energy plant and other initiatives. He also spoke about plans to extend system of door-to-door collection of garbage.

The Ghazipur landfill has already exhausted its life span. What are plans for the future?

A waste-to-energy plant is coming up at the landfill. It will take care of 1,300 tonnes of waste daily. A debris processing plant of 500 tonnes-a-day capacity will also be set up at Shastri Park.

The waste-to-energy plant at Okhla in continues to face protests over environmental concerns. How would your plant be different?

All required pollution clearances will be taken to address such concerns.

Delhi’s environment department says waste in Delhi is not fit for burning. Your comments.

This is why the waste is being segregated. The new landfill at Narela-Bawana road under north MCD is a perfect example of how it should be done. The private companies involved have undertaken it in a scientific manner to keep it environment-friendly.

What are the plans for Ghazipur landfill?

We’re in the process of reclaiming the landfill. Existing waste will be dug off the site and segregated into different components. Recyclable items will be sent to industries for processing, reuse and the inert waste will be used for filling purposes. The process will take 10 years.

Door-to-door collection began in two wards a year ago. How is the response?

The response has been good. The NGO, Chintan, is doing a good job. We may extend the project in several other wards.

Segregation of garbage at source has been a challenge. How are you going to deal with this problem?

The project being undertaken by Chintan is an example. Debris and plastic complicates things. They separate the recyclable waste first. We have also identified various sites for dumping of debris.

Ritam Halder interviewed S Kumaraswamy about his plans to reclaim space at the Ghazipur landfill.

Case Study: She finds innovative use for all refuse

Indra De, former radiologist

Kalkaji Extension

New Delhi: Since 1997, Indra De has not thrown anything away as trash and recycled almost everything at her Kalkaji Extension home.

Tyres, plastic containers, electronic items, paper, polythene bags, tea cups, milk packets - virtually every kind of refuse has been found an innovative use by De.

De, 74, has three separate dustbins at her home - one each for paper, green waste and plastic. “I have trained my domestic help, Usha, in such a way that she knows what goes where,” she said.

“If you mix everything and throw it out, it creates problems. The idea is to segregate and reuse and that’s effective waste management,” she said.

Her little garden space has small plants in containers of paint, milk and other items. “If they become too big, then you put it in bigger containers. I go around and show people how they can do it too,” said De, who was a radiologist by profession.

Innovation has helped her create various interesting items at her house. Trays from an old refrigerator has been used to create a solar dryer for curry leaves, fenugreek and dhaniya; polythene bags stuffed in a cushion cover serve as cushions, a quilt of cotton cloth with layers of plastic bags and basic stitches on it are some of the features of this recycling heaven. Then a commodes has been turned into a pot for plant. The mother of three has also adopted a nearby park.

So is this the way forward? “In a way it is. What you need is a little motivation to carry it forward yourself and encourage others. This is not only good for environment but also helps to keep one fit and fine,” De said.

The Hindustan Times, 1st May 2013

TOI detailed the British response & inquiry into Jallianwala Bagh 'tragedy' and equally closely tracked Gandhi & Nehru's fiery speeches.

In 1919, Indians, growing increasingly impatient with British rule, received a series of shocks. The Rowlatt Act did away with legal processes for political offences, the treatment meted out to the Turkish Sultan sparked the Khilafat movement, and the Montagu-Chelmsford reforms were seen as deeply disappointing. But the biggest shock was the shooting down of unarmed protesters at Amritsar's Jallianwala Bagh on April 13 on the orders of General Reginald Dyer.

The massacre, in which 379 people, including women and children, were killed, and over 1,000 injured, generated outrage across the nation. TOI, then owned by the British, quoted Winston Churchill saying Dyer's act was wrong because "it was not the British way of doing things." It carred in full speeches on the issue in the House of Commons. For TOI, it wasn't only Jallianwala Bagh. The paper also reported Dyer's other outrageous order, the 'crawling order' which said every Indian passing through a street in which a British woman, Miss Sherwood, had been attacked, should go on all fours. "This order must have had the immediate result of seriously inconveniencing the residents of housing abutting in the street, and thereby punishing people who were prima facie innocent," TOI said.

On Dyer justifying the firing, TOI said, "Dyer looked upon the firing as his duty, though a horrible duty"

The paper reported Dyer's deposition before the inquiry committee set up to probe the massacre. A report on November 20, 1919, said Dyer had told the panel "the firing was justified." He was quoted extensively on how he'd warned people against holding meetings, how his authority had been "defied," and how "he felt his duty was to disperse the crowd by opening fire." More importantly, TOI said, "he looked upon the firing as his duty, though a horrible duty." A Congress session attracts overwhelming crowds.

A few years after the tragedy, in 1926, the paper gave voice to the Indian side, quoting Mahatma Gandhi saying "the massacre is a perpetual reminder to us that it will recur as often as we attempt to lift up our heads and desire no longer to live in bondage."

When General Dyer died in 1927, TOI on Aug 13 carried a picture of his funeral. British PM David Cameron visited Jallianwala in 2013

From TOI archives (April 14 | 1926)

Divergent political creeds ... demonstrating unity of parties condemning the Jallianwala Bagh tragedy avenging the wrong. A message from Gandhi: "The massacre is a perpetual reminder that it'll recur as often as we attempt to lift up our heads and desire no longer to live in bondage."

The Times of India, 1st May 2013

The residents of a neighbourhood in East Delhi are keeping their fingers crossed - to see if their efforts to lure the reticent and elusive sparrows back to their locality will finally bear fruit.

Over the past couple of weeks, the residents have been involved in making sparrow nests by hand and are in the process of hanging them up in various locations.

By May 2, nearly 25 such nests will dot the locality and await the arrival of their inmates.

If sparrows flock to these nests, the government will extend the pilot project to others Residents' Welfare Associations (RWAs) across the capital in order to rejuvenate the dwindling sparrow population.

So do these birds take to handmade nests? The Parks and Gardens Society, an arm of the Department of Environment, took its cue from public schools, who have for about two years now been luring the petite brown bird to their campuses with nests made by students.

The society decided to give it a try in a neighbourhood in Mayur Vihar.

"The birds are disappearing. If this pilot project is successful, then we can involve other RWAs too," S D Singh, chief executive officer of the society, said.

Eco Roots Foundation, an NGO that has worked with schools earlier and are now facilitating the project, will report back to the society on its success by the end of May. The Parks and Garden Society is paying Rs 110 each, for individual nests or birdhouses.

Rakesh Khatri, director of the NGO, said they are aiming to have residents build about 25 such nests and put them up throughout the area.

"The neighborhood is very conducive for such a project. There is a lot greenery around," Khatri said.

Delhi does not have sufficient data to prove that sparrows numbers are dwindling in the capital. The bird's decline in population has been based on first-hand accounts of people who have grown up in the city and vouch that they see lesser number of sparrows now than they used to some years ago.

The Indian Express, 1st May 2013

The waste-to-energy plant running at Okhla in South Delhi is causing environmental pollution, the national green tribunal said on Tuesday. Rahul Choudhary, a local commissioner appointed by the tribunal, has found in his report that the collection of bottom ash and fly ash inside the plant is not being regulated as per norm and it can be truly hazardous even for those working there. The report said bottom ash and fly ash is being carried out in open trucks which is also detrimental to the environment.

Choudhary filed his report to the tribunal on Tuesday. Samples of bottom ash and fly ash were taken on April 6. A report on stack and ambient air quality samples collected between April 10 and 20 is awaited.

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) on Tuesday also filed a report prepared by a committee of experts, who inspected the site between March 28 and 31 and collected samples. The report said the quantum of pollutants exceeds the permissible limits on a couple of parameters.

The tribunal has given two weeks to the petitioners who have sought closure of the plant as well as the firm running the plant to respond to these reports. The local commissioner and the CPCB would file the awaited reports.

“It remains undisputed that certain measures are required to be taken by the firm to ensure that parameters of emission are within the permissible limits,” the tribunal said and asked the union ministry of environment and forests and the CPCB to suggest measures required to be taken. The matter will be heard next on May 28.

The tribunal also asked the firm to state through an affidavit the steps proposed to be taken to ensure that its activity does not cause environmental pollution. The tribunal also asked the firm to quantify plastic content in the municipal solid waste being burnt, and at what temperature.

Timarpur-Okhla Waste Management Co Pvt Ltd is operating the plant with a capacity to process 1,300 tonnes of waste daily and generate 16 MW of electricity.

Wildlife watching is a tricky occupation and to conduct the arduous task of wildlife census non-stop from noon-light to moonlight is even more complicated. Despite the prevailing heat conditions and a sizzling temperature of 44 degreess Celsius, a full-scale wildlife census was recently conducted at Sariska and Ranthambhore wildlife sanctuaries in Rajasthan. On May 25 and 26, nature lovers congregated at Sariska National Park (SNP), located a mere 200 km from Delhi. The reason behind wildlife enthusiasts and trigger-happy photographers making a beeline for the park was that rare opportunity to experience animal census operations firsthand. While it was adventure for some to spend a night in the forest, for others it was a getaway from the daily drudgery of city life. Certain first-timers thought that it is a fun exercise, but in reality, it is serious work of conservation.

Spread over 850 sq km, SNP is home to a variety of fauna such as spotted deer, chinkara, nilgai or blue-bulls, jackals, hyena, leopards and reintroduced wild tigers. Having an undulating rocky terrain with wide valleys, the forests comprise of typical dry deciduous trees that dramatically change colours with the seasons. The forest is lush green in the monsoon with numerous streams and mini waterfalls; turn invigorating with balmy atmosphere in the winter, but dramatically turn tinder dry in the summer.

Summers are chosen for animal counting because the animals scurry for shady corners during this time — making the job easier for forest officials. The preferred day-night invariably coincides with a full moon when there is ample light for easier sighting. The wildlife census is a 24-hour non-stop vigil from atop a strategically chosen spot that is usually a makeshift platform called machan made of wooden logs and perched high upon a sturdy tree. Mostly all machans are rickety and pretty uncomfortable, giving sore bottoms by the end of the exercise as I had experienced during my participation in various such censuses.

According to the District Forest Officer (DFO) at SNP, the waterhole technique is applied where animals are counted from a hiding place or machan as they visit waterholes. The survey is taken at a time when there is the least availability of water at all water sources in the entire census area. To facilitate this method of counting, 271 machans were specially built overlooking water points which are basically waterholes to quench the thirst of small and big creatures.

Sharad Khanna, CEO of Indian Wildlife Adventures who escorted a team of volunteers from NCR, said: “The waterhole survey started at 10 a.m. and continued throughout the night until the next day till 10 a.m. with the help of a fact-sheet where species and their total numbers were diligently recorded. Use of binoculars and cameras were permitted for better viewing and determining the sex and age of the animals with help of experienced foresters who accompanies each volunteer.”

The result obtained is an index of wildlife animal presence in that particular area. At the end of the 24-hour exercise, the available data is computed to arrive at a guesstimate. Data thus compiled over the years will show results that can be deciphered for better conservation methods by researchers.

Though wildlife census involves many more practices like pugmark methods, scat sampling, roadside counts, pellet group count, camera-trap method, waterhole census in the most widespread and comprehensive. The technique not only covers the entire sanctuary but also involves volunteers so they also get to appreciate and participate in the nation’s wildlife conservation, informed the DFO. On an earlier occasion, to study the status of wildlife population in Sariska, I was placed at a prime location and provided with water and food. While the daytime was scorching, it also gave me chances to be up-close with birds and beasts. As the beautiful big orb of the moon rose on the horizon, there was some respite from the heat but soon this turned miserable as the temperatures dipped to shivering standards. In the wee hours, there was temporary cloud cover and suddenly a resounding roar shattered the silence of the night but nothing was visible. Until daylight dispelled darkness and forest officials came to take us back to the base camp, it was not known that it was a leopard that let out the spine-chilling roar. The tell-tale pugmarks revealed it all.

-The Hindu, 2nd June 2013

Though pomp and show lights up the Walled City area on the birth anniversary of iconic Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib, his haveli at Gali Qasim Jaan in Ballimaran wears a neglected look on other days.

The erstwhile owners of the haveli want a library to be set up in the premises for the local community. A visit to the haveli reveals that the residence where Ghalib spent the last few years of his life (from 1860 to 1869) has no windows today. There is no sunlight in the dank medieval premises which lacks proper ventilation.

Even the roof has been covered with a blue-coloured, emblazoned plate and an archaic chandelier dangles from it.

A bust of Ghalib is displayed inside one of the rooms. Presented by Hindi film-maker and poet Gulzar on December 26, 2010, it was sculpted by Bhagwan Rampure. Pages of verses from the gifted poet have been framed and kept as decorative items.

There are inconsequential details about Ghalib’s wife Umrao Begam. The claustrophobic room is dimly-lit and the unrelenting heat makes it difficult for visitors to stand and soak in the ambience of the place. “What is the point of restoring the haveli of one of the greatest Urdu poets when his books are not available to readers. I keep coming to Delhi but am disappointed that the local administration has not made a library,” says Mohammad Nizam, a resident of Bareilly.

Shafiquddin Khaksa, whose family owned the haveli , says in their large-heartedness they decided to relinquish their ownership of the haveli so that it could be used as a public property for inquisitive visitors from within the country and abroad. “My late grandfather Khaji Mohammad Ibrahim purchased Ghalib’s house in 1967 at an auction conducted by a government department. Years later, activist Firoz Bakht Ahmed convinced us that we should relinquish our hold over the property for the larger good of the humanity.” Shafiquddin’s family used to run a shop of raw materials used in construction activity from the haveli . He now runs a chemist shop adjoining the haveli . “We could have got more compensation but we are not greedy. We wanted a living monument to come up here; one in which young boys and girls of the area could have access to a library or computer centre. Putting up books in Urdu, English and Hindi would be a welcome step.”

Every year, creative people, litterateurs and those from different professional backgrounds participate in a candle-light procession from Town Hall to Ghalib’s haveli where cultural activities includingmushaira are held.

Shafiquddin asks why no activities are held on a regular basis. “Even on Ghalib’s birth anniversary the local community is involved at the eleventh hour.”

Firoz Bakht Ahmed says: “Who would not love Ghalib? Ghalib is in the heart of all the connoisseurs of poetry the world over. However, what is to be lamented is that the memorial restored by me is today no more than a dead, defunct and forlorn two-room haveli. Of late, there are people who have become opportunistic enough to cash in on Ghalib’s fame and use the haveli like a mistress coveted by all but cared by none.”

Pointing out that he had filed a public interest litigation in 1996, Mr. Bakht says the haveli was restored on August 8, 1997, after Single Bench Judge Justice C. M. Nayar gave the landmark judgment to restore the house of Ghalib within six months in a manner most impressive and impeccable befitting the great poetic talent. “But it took three years. There have been umpteen lovers of Ghalib who claim they got it restored. Where were these lovers of Ghalib, when we were running from pillar to post to get it restored? Those cashing in on Ghalib’s name should first of all try to make the haveli a living monument rather than use it for self-promotion.”

In his petition for the Ghalib memorial, Mr. Bakht had demanded a 400 square yard area for thehaveli as was the original during the days of the poet. He had also suggested that a reading room be set up where Urdu, Hindi and English newspapers and magazines can be accessed by the local community. “Besides, a portion of a room must be devoted to selling the translation of Ghalib’s UrduDiwan (collection) , as has been done by Ghalib Academy, Delhi. Apart from that, information booklets on Ghalib and his picture postcards too must be made available.”

For all these demands, Mr. Bakht had even approached Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit in 2010. “She sent the file to Department of Culture Secretary in-charge to uplift and properly light the Ghalib monument. I have been contacting the official for the upgradation of Ghalib’s haveli but there has been no development.”

However, the activist is thankful to the Indian Council for Cultural Relations for renovating the monument. “However, I would like involvement of organisations like the Aga Khan Trust for Culture so that the haveli can become a world-class monument attracting tourists in large numbers. We should place a system where tourists or visitors have to buy tickets in order to see the haveli . This is necessary to meet the daily expenditure incurred on the upkeep of the haveli .”

-The Hindu, 2nd June 2013

The Hindustan Times, 1st May 2013

It was Delhi government’s Eureka moment of sorts when a waste-to-energy plant at Okhla started functioning in January 2012. Billed as one-of-its-kind plant in India, it was supposed to burn 1,300 tonnes of garbage a day, half of what 70 lakh people in 104 wards in South Delhi produce daily, and generate 16 MW of electricity. Fifteen months on, though the Delhi Pollution Control Committee has allowed the Timarpur-Okhla Waste Management Company to run the plant, it remains mired in controversy over environmental reasons.

Reports filed by an expert committee and a local commissioner appointed by the National Green Tribunal have said the plant is causing pollution. The tribunal, which is hearing a petition filed by residents of Sukhdev Vihar, seeking closure of the plant, will decide its fate.

Gopal Krishna, convener, Toxics Watch Alliance, said, “The plant releases harmful dioxins into the air. Delhi’s waste, largely because of poor segregation, is not fit for burning.”

The South Delhi Municipal Corporation and the New Delhi Municipal Council are supposed to segregate wet waste for composting, pick out recyclables and send to this plant only non-hazardous, dry waste. But this hardly happens; the job being left to”illegal”rag-pickers.

The tribunal has now asked the Union ministry of environment and forests to suggest remedial measures for the Okhla plant. But pollution is not the only issue here.

“Since the sole focus of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation is to send dry waste (40%) to this plant at the cost of disposal of wet waste (60%), the overall garbage disposal in South Delhi has taken a hit. It’s a waste of energy plant,” said Bharati Chaturvedi, a waste management expert.

The landfill in Okhla itself has been a concern. A study supported by the Centre says there is no mechanism to trap the harmful gases that are released, toxins mix with groundwater and drains.

The landfill is overflowing at a maximum height of about 40 metres at a few places and an average height of about 27 metres above the ground level. Worse, reclamation of the landfill is not likely to start in the near future.

But the dumping continues because there’s no alternative site. The corporation has sought 500 acres of land, but the Delhi Development Authority has not obliged because of environmental reasons and scarcity of land in the Capital.

About 700 overflowing dhalaos or community bins that serve as secondary collection centres dot the 532-km area in the districts of south, west and south-west Delhi, covered by the corporation.

Sukhvir Singh of Jangpura said, “The corporation must start a door-to-door trash pickup system.”

Pinky Jain of Lado Sarai and Vinay Sharma of Janakpuri rued there was no segregation at source.

Vijay Arora of an RWA in Lajpat Nagar said, “We have hired people to collect garbage from houses to dump it in the dhalao, which is not cleaned regularly.”

Bhagirath Lal of Green Park market association said, “We send the garbage generated in the market to the dhalao on our own.”

The corporation has in some areas outsourced secondary collection. It has had some impact.

Harvinder Singh of Defence Colony market association said, “We have kept a drum which is cleaned twice a day.”

(With inputs from Ritam Halder)

Case study: Pits of manure takes care of colony waste

Shammi Talwar

Defence Colony, A-Block

New Delhi: When Shammi Talwar was elected an executive member of the Defence Colony, A-Block, RWA in 2003, her agenda was clear: “I wanted to reduce garbage generation.”

She contacted an NGO and it gave her the idea of composting the colony’s waste. On less than a half an acre wasteland, there are now eight functional pits in the colony where composting is done.

“We collect kitchen waste from households and put it in the pits. Compost is produced in three months. The garbage collectors also segregate waste and sell plastic bottles,” she says, adding that the colony produces over 4,000kg of manure every year.

“Today there is a self-sustainable system in place. The Delhi government has given us funds to set up this composting unit. The forest department and other RWAs purchase manure from us as it is cheap as well as organic. People of the colony also buy manure for their private gardens,” said Talwar, who has been living here for the past 33 years.

“The goal is effective disposal of garbage. We are not keen on earning money. But since the landfills have exhausted their lifespan need of the hour is to have two pits in every park in each colony of the city. If the government makes it compulsory then nothing like it,” said Talwar.

Talwar’s model has been replicated in Dwarka and Sarita Vihar as well.

“It depends on one’s will to implement effective garbage management. We want to make this colony a ‘zero-waste residential area’. People must be motivated to learn to segregate their garbage properly,” she said, before resuming to instruct gardeners on nuances of composting, a knowledge she has acquired over the past few years.

Ritam Halder

Interview Manish Gupta: ‘DDA has to provide us land for reclaiming Okhla landfill’

Manish Gupta, commissioner, South Delhi Municipal Corporation, squarely blames the DDA for not providing land for an alternative landfill for south Delhi. The landfill at Okhla has already exhausted its life span and the civic body is trying to reclaim it. He also claimed that the emissions at the Okhla waste-to-energy plant are within the prescribed norms. He spoke to HT about these issues:

The landfill at Okhla exhausted its lifespan a long time back. How is south Delhi going to manage its waste?

It is DDA’s responsibility to provide land for landfill. Supreme Court has also directed it to do so. But nothing happened.

What is the south civic body doing about it?

We have prepared a plan for the next 20 years that includes composting, debris processing units and waste-to-energy plants. We would segregate waste, recycle, compost and burn it. Only residue inert material will be dumped. For this purpose 500 acres of land is required. Hopefully the court will help us.

What about the overflowing landfill?

We have prepared plans to reclaim the site. But technology and funds are needed. We also need land for dumping when reclamation starts. There is a 60-acre plot near the site. DDA has to take action. Once we get the nearby plot, reclamation will start.

There have been environmental concerns regarding the Okhla waste-to-energy plant. The matter is pending before the court. Are these plants a way forward?

For these plants, you need land to dump waste. According to its master plan (2021), Delhi requires 1,500 acres of landfill. So these plants save land. Plus landfills produce methane and pollute groundwater. Emissions at our plant are within norms. In Paris they have 15 waste-to-energy plants in the city. If they can why can’t we?

When will door-to-door collection of garbage begin?

From January 2014, a waste management and sanitation plan will be put in place. Consultants will make an assessment of every ward’s sanitation management. Door-to-door collection will be a part of it. By April 1, 2014 we want to start implementing it.

The Hindustan Times, 2nd May 2013

The Connaught Place project may well be on its way to missing its June completion deadline also with work at many places being far from complete. Adding to the woes are three under-construction subway entries — one at KG Marg and two on Janpath — that lie deserted as death pits for commuters making their way to this office and shopping destination, deemed as the fourth expensive in the world.

The subway entrance on KG Marg has a 10-ft odd drop, one that has the potential of catching a pedestrian unawares. “Earlier there were work-in-progress boards put up by the New Delhi Municipal Council. For a few days, these are missing and this place has become quite dangerous. No untoward incident has happened till now but it could happen anytime,” Pawan Kumar Jha, a security guard at a nearby building, said.

Atul Bhargava, president of New Delhi Trader’s Association, said though work on the subways remained incomplete at a few places, majority of the work has been done with only the cleaning up activity remaining. “Water pipelines have been laid. The electricity pipeline will have to be laid and this will take two months as over 90,000 metres of cable work is to be done. We expect a clearer picture in the next 10 days,” Bhargava said.

Hindustan Times took a stroll of the inner circle and spotted loads of debris and construction material scattered around the pavements and roads. “This is basic housekeeping operation. Other than these, the project is nearly on the verge of completion,” Bhargava said.

According to Bhargava, Connaught Place has come a long way in these years of revamp. “The inner circle parking spots have improved. The pavements have been redone. Outside the pillar, granite and sandstone corridors have been constructed anew and ceiling lights have been installed. The windows are all new and the roofs waterproofed. New pipelines have been installed in the rain water drains. The facade has been replastered,” he said.

The major task still remaining, however, is the 22ft service duct. Service lines, such as those of telephone and electricity, will go underground in this duct, which will help in doing away with the ugly meshes of wires overhead.

Earlier in February, the project consultant Engineers India Limited (EIL) had approached the NDMC with a plan to make a steel box service duct across the Outer Circle at four locations.

The Hindustan Times, 2nd May 2013

India Gate invites people from all walks of life, be it the fitness conscious on their early morning walks, protesters fighting for their rights or people merely indulging their late-night craving for an ice-cream. To improve the general upkeep of the area and make it a safer public space, Central Public Works Department (CPWD) is working towards several short-term and long term measures.

These include ensuring proper illumination of the paths that run along the lawns, their cleanliness and stationing of its guards in the area. Long-term measures entail solving parking problems in the area and opening of a coffee shop near Vijay Chowk.

"To ensure immediate improvement, we will take up short-term measures, which do not require getting clearances from other authorities. These will involve better upkeep and beautification of the lawn area by planting more flowers. The water in the canals will also be cleaned and we will try to make the garbage collection system more efficient," a CPWD official said.

The CPWD is responsible for cleaning and maintenance of lawns. Officials said the measures will be implemented in six to nine months.

According to CPWD director general V K Gupta, emphasis will be put on improving lighting in the area. "Since India Gate is visited by a large number of people at night, we plan to install proper lights near the lawns to make the area safer," Gupta said.

According to officials, the paths and lawns that fall behind government buildings, such as Vigyan Bhawan and Krishi Bhawan, are not properly lit, making them unsafe at night. "We are also planning to station our guards in the area, an official said.

Officials said engineers responsible for maintenance of the area had already begun work.

A committee, headed by additional secretary of the Ministry of Urban Development, D Diptivilasa, has been formed to ensure proper maintenance of India Gate. It includes members from several agencies, such as New Delhi Municipal Council, Delhi Urban Art Commission, Central Vista Committee and Delhi Police.

The Indian Express, 2nd May 2013

With rising incidents of death of wildlife, particularly elephants, by speeding trains, the Ministry of Environment & Forest (MoEF) has identified vulnerable stretches of railway tracks across the country that pose a major threat to animal movement.

West Bengal and Odisha have the maximum stretches of railway tracks passing through vulnerable wildlife habitats, followed by Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

According to official sources, 49 elephants were killed on railway tracks across the country since 2010, including 5 killed in December last in Odisha. The jumbo deaths have largely occurred in the states of West Bengal (Buxa Tiger Reserve/Alipurduar), Uttarakhand, Odisha and Tamil Nadu (Krishnagiri).

Experts feel despite repeated deaths and identified stretches of sensitive tracks, there is yet to be any draft policy to tackle the situation. The elephants lost in such train hit cases are essentially from the wild, which move in herds through corridors from one forest to other in search of food and water. Hence, their deaths are a big loss in conservation, they regretted.

The official figures indicate that 168 km of broad gauge railway passing from Siliguri junction to Alipurduar junction that has claimed a number of jumbos in the past is amongst the most vulnerable in the country. To add to this 150 km of rail tracks in Odisha, particularly through Dhenkanal and Keonjhar are the most threatened.

The sources pointed out that Alipurduar route directly passes through a number of prominent elephant corridors as Bhuttaban Forest - Chapramaari Wildlife Sanctuary - Gorumara National Park, Dumchi forest - Chunabhatti - Khairbaari - Jaldapaara, among others.

Nearly 42 km of railway tracks passing through Athagarh Forest Division in Odisha have been demarcated as vulnerable in Odisha. The elephants cross the railway line from Sankhapol Reserve Forest towards Khamar Nuagaon and Kolathapangl village area besides crossing Ranibanta to Deulia Reserved Forest areas amongst others. Further, 36 km of Angul Forest Division in the same State has been marked as a sensitive stretch.

Rajaji National Park in Uttarakhand also has a vulnerable rail stretch of 19 km passing through the forest ranges of Kansrao, Motichur and Haridwar Ranges.

The major elephant crossing points involving railway tracks in Kerala spans for about 33 km between Kanjikode and Walayar under Palakkad Forest Division. Yet another 34 km of rail track - between Wayalar and Ettimaday stations) and 15 km between Periyangathunai Royakottai, respectively - has been identified between Hosur and Coimbatore forest divisions in Tamil Nadu.

Commenting on the situation, Member of National Board for Wildlife, Biswajit Mohanty, pointed out that there have been repeated high-level meetings between MoEF and Rail Ministry shortly after such incidents. However, the need of the hour is to see that these guidelines are actually followed at ground level. Further, the forest department must ensure that there is intensive patrolling in such areas to ensure the implementation of the guidelines.

The Pioneer, 2nd May 2013

Four years ago, the erstwhile Municipal Corporation of Delhi outsourced the task of door-to-door trash collection to a private firm in Rohini and Civil Lines. The corporation said the firm would also segregate, transport and dispose of the waste. The dirty dhalaos were supposed to disappear, making way for ATMs and flower shops.

But there’s a good reason why the pilot project was not extended to the rest of the city. Despite privatisation, residents allege that trash vans don’t turn up regularly. When they do, they don’t stick to schedule. So, people are forced to throw waste on streets. And the overflowing dhalaos have stayed put. Biomedical waste.

Following complaints, the firm’s performance was reviewed and fine slapped. Now the North Delhi Municipal Corporation says the firm doesn’t have the wherewithal to do its job.

The corporation has hired another firm in Karol Bagh and Paharganj to collect waste from dhalaos. It was supposed to ensure that there was no garbage in every dhalao for at least two hours every day. But even in these two zones as well as in Narela, where the corporation itself collects waste from dhalaos, sanitation levels are appalling.

The grand plan was to segregate waste, then recycle and compost it so that only 20 per cent of garbage could go for dumping. But the plan has gone haywire. The landfill at Bhalaswa exhausted its lifespan long back. A new site has come up at Narela-Bawana road but caters to only Civil Lines and Rohini as it is far away from other areas of north Delhi. So waste from Paharganj, Karol Bagh and Narela continues to reach the overflowing Bhalaswa landfill, resulting in massive pollution.

Despite court interventions, government and civic agencies have failed to find a way forward.

But the problem is not limited to the landfill. Harpal Singh of Malkaganj in Civil Lines said, “There is waste everywhere. The sweepers who are supposed to collect garbage don’t work. Trash pickups don’t visit the area regularly.” Zakir Ahmed of Idgah Road in Sadar area said, “People dump waste on the streets. The dhalaos overflow and are cleared in 3-4 days.”

AK Jain of Chandni Chowk said, “All the dhalaos are overflowing and there is no regular cleaning mechanism. People, too, treat the streets as a dumping ground.” In Indira Vikas Colony, near Mukherjee Nagar, people litter all around. Milap Chand of Haqeeqat Nagar RWA said, “We have employed people to take garbage to the dhalaos. Door-to-door collection has failed. The dhalaos are not cleared in time.” Anand Kambot of Kamla Nagar market association agreed. “Those who are supposed to clear the waste push it under parked cars,” he said.

But Naveen Kaushik of Sector 11 RWA in Rohini had a positive story to tell. “Door-to-door collection is taking place. The dhalao has separate bins for wet and dry waste.”

Clearly, much of the Rs. 600 crore spent on waste management and sanitation, is going drown the drain.

The Hindustan Times, 3rd May 2013

By documenting the loss and revival of Afghan Hammam Khisht-i-Kopruk, a living heritage site, author Tanvi Maheswari seeks to inspire people.

Books on architecture are not exactly a dime a dozen, so when they come they understandably fan our curiosity. Works like “Life of an Afghan Hammam: Ignited Extinguished Rekindled” go one step further, because it tells a story rather than confining itself within a didactic framework.

Hammam Khisht-i-Kopruk in Afghanistan is a beautiful example of living heritage. Built in 1848, the bath house was ravaged by the flood in the Kholm river in 2010. Three years later, it is back to being what it used to be. A busy public space utilised by men and women to not just bathe but also socialise, perform rituals and have entertainment. Architect Tanvi Maheswari in her book weaves an engaging narrative of this incredible structure from its heydays to its loss and, finally, its revival. Tanvi was part of AFIR, a design and architecture firm (with offices in Delhi and Kabul) which was working on the restoration of the hammam in collaboration with local experts, Government of Afghanistan, and Prince Claus Fund. The latter issued funds to the hammam under the aegis of its Cultural Emergency Response Programme.

When Tanvi and others in her AFIR team led by Anne Feenstra were working on the site attempting to restore it, she was only documenting the whole process. The idea of the book came later, when the young architect realised how she could use the opportunity to show a different side of Afghanistan that we rarely see. “It was a small triumph but a triumph nevertheless of the local people of the area who took control of the situation and decided to save it. The entire village wrote a letter to the authorities asking them to intervene. I realised it was much more than just a bathhouse for the community. It was a place where women could go alone with kids - certain days are reserved for them - chat, gossip and socialise. Certain rituals are performed there, and it also serves as a matrimonial market for women. I have written it like a mosaic, strewn with stories, photographs, poems and calligraphy.”

Even though privately owned - the owner is called a hammami - the community realised that they can’t afford to lose it. The author says it is always culture that takes a backseat in a turmoil but it can prove to be a source of succour and psychological hope. In India and the world, political, natural or social disasters often render these examples of living heritage in a state of emergency. “And people can take inspiration from such places. It is relevant to situations and places like rural India, post-tsunami, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh… in fact, entire South Asia.”

The writer rebuilds its past by delving into the history of Kholm, a small town in North Afghanistan where the hammam is situated. Earlier known as Tashqughan, it was under the rule of Mir Wali that the town transformed into the most important one in Afghanistan. The place gained one of the biggest covered markets in the world and the hammam during his period. The relevance of hammams in Afghan society and their history is highlighted through a number of stories on Mullah Nasreddin, Abu Sir, Rabia Balkhi that Tanvi has included in the book. “Afghan hammams are very different from Turkish hammams. They are very austere and simple structures. What made this hammam even more special was that it had a mihrab (a semi-circular niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the direction of the Kaaba). The whole idea of having a mihrab inside the area where you bathe is quite controversial.”

Then there are chapters on the ex-hammami Wahidullah, restoration work carried on by AFIR in collaboration with local experts using the traditional techniques, and personal experiences of the AFIR team members on and around the site, which take the story forward. As of now the book is available online on the website of Prince Claus Fund.

The Hindu, 3rd May 2013

Widow Remarriage, a law for ‘age of consent’ was among early TOI campaigns for change.

Around 1846 TOI went all guns blazing towards making 'widow remarriage' an acceptable reality in society. Its writers lobbied for suitable legislation, and it threw open its columns to opinions from both the orthodox and reformers. Scraps of news with a hint of promise of this reform found their way into the paper.

One of the earliest reports was of a 'Dhurma Sabha' meeting calling for sanction to let widows marry.

"At a meeting of the Dhurma sabha, the stronghold of orthodox Hinduism... it is a strange thing to read of a petition calling for legislative enactment in favour of the remarriage of Hindoo widows being submitted for the approval of a Society originally established to contest the abolition of Suttee!" Welcoming the change in the Sabha, the report compliments the member who moved the petition. "We admire the courage of the baboo who introduced the subject to the Society; and we applaud his determination to persevere to the attainment of his benevolent object..."

The coverage was single-minded. It hailed the reformers; was scathing in its criticism of the orthodox and called for action from "educated Natives". Where customs confused, it pitched in with reports on caste practices and religious customs: a sort of 'Hindoo-rituals-for-dummies' or what we now call Learning-With-The-Times so that all its readers could be, so to speak, on the same page if differing in opinion. It carried reams of emotional reporting to showcase the pitiable conditions of Hindu widows: from little 10-year-olds forced into prostitution to being abandoned and exploited by Maharajas and the like. Such reports were often followed by biting editorialized comments, "How long will Lord Ripon's Government allow enforced widowhood to continue?"

Hailing the law when enacted in July 1856, TOI noted, "The Act...gives us a step in the right direction. It is obviously a compromise betwixt Hindoo prejudice and a European sense of humanity and justice. When once a reasonable number of widows become married, their husbands may perhaps find courage enough to come forward and insist on more...".

In December 1856, it detailed the first two marriages recorded after the Act was passed.

The Times of India, 3rd May 2013

A young wildlife biologist who converted bird hunters into their saviours in remote forests of Arunachal Pradesh was awarded the 2013 Whitley Award, also known as Green Oscar, in London on Thursday. Aparajit Datta was among the eight conservationists from across the world to win the prestigious award and shared 2,95,000 pounds as the prize money.

“Datta leads a programme to conserve hornbills in the Indian Eastern Himalaya at the Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF), an NGO established in 1996 to promote science-based wildlife conservation in India,” said a statement by the Whitley Fund for Nature.

Hornbills are prominent birds of Asian tropical forests and Arunachal is home to five hornbill species. But their killing by locals for meat and habitat loss because of shifting cultivation had threatened their existence deep inside forests.

Many tribals were not aware that Due to their predominantly frugivorous diet, the brightly coloured birds with loud calls have always been considered important agents of seed dispersal in the tropical forest. A small and poor tribal group in Namdapha National Park, called Lisu, were hunting the birds and logging for their fuel needs.

Datta established a community-based conservation program with them to reduce hunting and save wildlife by first improving the quality their lives. “We started schools; built river embankments to stop erosion and protect agricultural land; and supplied solar panel lamps that power homes and save the enormous expense of kerosene and batteries,” she said.

Her team also provided fuel-efficient stoves and water-heating devices in an effort to reduce deforestation. In addition, the tribal community for the first time got access to better health facilities and education. And now they were working to find market for handicrafts made by the tribals.

The efforts had resulted in protection of the fragile birds.

She started her work about a decade ago in Namdapha in Arunachal as student of biology about a decade ago and decided to study hornbills as part of doctorate.

“In tropical forests “80% to 90% of tree species bear fruits that animals disperse. But here in Namdapha, many large mammals and birds like the hornbill—crucial to seed dispersal—are hunted. Some parts of the park have become empty forests, devoid of wildlife. The absence of these dispersers could have severe consequences for the regeneration of many plant species,” she said.

The award statement applauds Datta for her approach is raising awareness of the threats to the bird’s survival, and creating a wider rural and urban constituency for conservation through a participatory community outreach programme that gets people involved.

The Hindustan Times, 3rd May 2013

An inspection at the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI)-protected Lal Gumbad monument, off Chirag Dilli, on Thursday revealed unauthorised occupation. The occupants and unauthorised encroachers, however, had fled the spot before the inspection team reached.

The inspection was prompted by an “incorrect” reply by the ASI to a query under Right to Information (RTI) by senior advocate Rajiv Dutta. The ASI had replied saying, “No person has occupied/residing in the monument”, whereas, Dutta claimed, he and others from the area had regularly seen people residing there at night too.

On Dutta’s other question about the expenditure on maintenance and upkeep of the monument, the ASI said it was R8,26,458 in 2010-11 and R79,380 in 2011-12. When Dutta asked for an inspection of the site to cross-check what maintenance or repairs had been carried out, he received a corrected reply on April 12, saying that Rs. 44,630 was spent in 2010-11 and R1,45,018 was spent in 2011-12.

An ASI official was deputed for the joint inspection with Dutta and three other residents. The inspection revealed - HT has a copy of the report - “The long hall, with several doors, all locked, has ceiling fans, a working clock, several bedding sets that could be seen through the windows. Iron doors were locked. There were shanties and jhuggis with utensils around. They even have a toilet outside the monument.”

Sources said, “Similar cases are common across Delhi with court cases pending for many of them. Removing religious encroachments has always been difficult.” A senior ASI official said the monument was freed of encroachment in 2007 following a court case. “Then, we had demolished as many as 11 rooms. But one we couldn’t as it had a copy of holy Quran.”He expressed ignorance about the difference in the RTI reply and the ground situation. “If he (Dutta) is not satisfied or finds something not matching, he can always file an appeal.”

The Hindustan Times, 3rd May 2013

A year after the top job at the prestigious Victoria Memorial Hall in Kolkata went vacant, the culture ministry has finally found a candidate to steer one of India's finest museums. Prof Jayanta Sengupta, a historian from the University of Notre Dame, Paris, will take over as secretary-cum-curator, highly placed sources said. His predecessor, Prof Chittaranjan Panda, had completed his term in January 2012.

Sengupta is an assistant professor of history at Notre Dame and has also served as a Fulbright lecturer at Utah State University. He has, however, spent a large part of his academic life in West Bengal. "He will join his new position soon after wrapping up his current assignment. It is certainly a welcome trend to see academics and experts based overseas choosing to come and work here at Indian salaries," a senior culture ministry official said.

Only recently, the HRD ministry approved for the first time the appointment of a Harvard Law College academic, Prof Ashish Nanda, as director of IIM-Ahmedabad.

Heading the Victoria Memorial is an assignment of equal prestige. Described as the largest repository in India for a "visual history of Kolkata", Victoria Memorial boasts of major collections of paintings, manuscripts and sculptures from the British period, rare books dating to the 1870s such as a collection of plays by Shakespeare, Omar Khayyam's Rubaiyat, manuscripts such as copies of Ain-i-Akbari by Abul Fazal, the court historian of Akbar; the note book of Tipu Sultan in his own hand writing; a volume of copies of Tipu Sultan 's letters, among others. Opened to the public in 1921, Victoria Memorial Hall was conceived by the then Viceroy of India, Lord Curzon, as a monumental memorial to Queen Victoria.

The Indian Express, 3rd May 2013

Equating facilities available at the revamped Maharana Pratap ISBT in Kashmere Gate with those at international airports, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Thursday said the real challenge would be in maintaining these facilities .

Dikshit inaugurated the upgraded, modern bus terminal - the largest and oldest bus terminal in the country. "When we build something, we should also keep it clean and emphasise on its maintenance. Crores are spent on projects but, unfortunately, we don't spend so much on maintenance. But I have been assured by the chief secretary and the Transport department that the renovated ISBT will look the same even after ten years,'' Dikshit said.

"When I went to our airport after its upgradation, I began thinking about upgrading facilities at ISBTs as they are also used by lakhs of people every day. The bus terminal has been under renovation for two-and-half years. The results are there for everyone to see,'' she said.

The renovation of Kashmere Gate ISBT, which caters to nearly two lakh passengers daily, began in July 2011. The terminal was partially shut to facilitate the work carried out by Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS). The project, originally slated to be completed by November 2012, overshot the deadline. No change has been made to the basic design of this building. According to the Transport department, maintenance of the building will for now be done by Delhi Transport Infrastructure Development Corporation through private contractors till a company is hired permanently.

Five hundred buses which were diverted to other ISBTs in Sarai Kale Khan and Anand Vihar will start operating from here again by next week. According to Transport officials, there will not be any congestion in the area as proper arrival bays have been created for buses and encroachments around the ISBT have been removed.

The Indian Express, 3rd May 2013

Experts have criticised the New Delhi Municipal Council’s (NDMC) application to increase the height of the commercial wing of the proposed multi-level parking off Kasturba Gandhi Marg, which they claimed will only add to the congestion in the area.

The National Monument Authority (NMA) in February had cleared the project by the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), putting a height restriction of 21 metres for the commercial wing and allowing the parking block building to go up to 38 metres, as applied for. Citing commercial viability as a reason, the NDMC has applied for a re-consideration.

The NDMC has been propagating the multi-level parking project, proposed to come up on a large vacant plot of land between the high rises of Kasturba Gandhi Marg and Barakhamba Road, as “much needed” to ease the parking problem of the business district. “The way the project has been conceived is wrong. The NDMC is just making it worse by asking for higher commercial towers. More commercial space means more congestion and additional burden on resources,” said an urban planner.

As per NDMC’s original proposal, it was to be executed on a BOT basis under the public private partnership (PPP) model allowing the private concessionaire commercial use of partial space. The parking area would hold approximately 1,500-1,600 cars while an area of about 6,000-odd sq metres space above ground would be developed as commercial space.

Kasturba Gandhi Marg and Barakhamba Road, two of the important radials of the Connaught Place, are an important part of what is known as the Central Business District (CBD) right in the heart of the city. Thousands of commuters, officer goers and shoppers and cars throng the place daily.

“Stakeholders should consider the ground situation. Bylanes around KG Marg, Barakhamba Road and Tolstoy Marg are already clogged. There is no scope for further commercialisation,” said an urban affairs expert.

Prof KT Ravindran, former chairperson of the Delhi Urban Arts Commission (DUAC), said, “Shops or offices would bring in more traffic to the area and ultimately increase parking problems.”

During his tenure at the DUAC, his team had considered the NDMC’s proposal and categorically suggested a food court like activity instead of shops or office space (proposed above ground).

The Hindustan Times. 4th May 2013

The next time you are on your way to Connaught Place through Parliament Street, a 13-foot marble structure will greet you on the right, on the Palika Kendra campus greens.

In a bid to promote urban art in the Capital, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) recently put up a sculpture created by city-based artiste Neeraj Gupta. “This initiative has been started on an experimental basis. Artistes, who want to install their creations, will be given space. In Rome, each street has a specimen of urban art. Why should Delhi lag?” an NDMC official said. However, the municipal council has not paid a penny for it. “Either the artist does it with his own money or gets a sponsor. It was quite clear that we will not fund it,” he said, adding that the NDMC has ample funds to support urban art but it won’t be touched as of now.

In June last year, the council had given a newspaper advertisement inviting artists interested in putting up their creations. “Neeraj Gupta, who has created this magnificent piece of art, was one of the applicants,” OP Mishra, director (projects/ IT/ building enforcement), NDMC, said.

According to him, if public feedback is positive, all roundabouts and other chunks of green spaces under the council’s jurisdiction might act as a palette for the artistes.

However, it is not feasible for artists’ to create wonders with money out of their own pockets. “The raw marble block I used costs more than R14 lakh. It took seven months for me to complete it. Either the municipal council will pay me later or will allow sponsorship,” said Gupta, who feels his piece, Resurgence, tells the tale of Delhi’s journey as a city.

The Hindustan Times, 4th May 2013

A small restored part of Ghalib’s haveliholds a museum which contains details about the poet like the food he ate and clothes he wore. Divya Kaushik took a walk around this part of Delhi 6.

Braving the heat with a glass of extra sweetenedshikanji bought from a street vendor, sitting on a raised platform before a row of shoe shops at Ballimaran, three foreigners walked past the traffic and carts selling seasonal goodies. They were on their way to a popular address, Ghalib’sHaveli, Gali Qasim Jaan, Ballimaran.

It now contains a museum that was restored and worked upon a year ago by Showcraft Productions. This attracts tourists, students and youngsters. The trio we followed, were engrossed in clicking pictures of the haveli. From its grand wooden doorway to Ghalib’s poetic world and the people in the neighbourhood, everything was new to them.

People who visit read the verses. And now there’s an English translation available, along with Urdu and Hindi.

The Indian Council of Cultural Research (ICCR) had proposed that a part of the haveli be converted to a museum. The mandate for restoration was given by ICCR to Showcraft Productions.

“Most of the paintings, manuscripts and so on, were recreated on the basis of material collected from Ghalib Institute. We had limited space. And the focus was on famous poetry, verses and information about the poet,” informed Mohita Gattani, director of Showcraft.

The museum is broadly divided in three sections. One part close to the entrance, has details like where the poet was born. With information about his houses in Rampur and Moradabad.

Apart from pictures, there are clothes supposedly worn by Ghalib and his wife Umrao Begum. The clothes in a glass case were created taking a clue from details found in books and other material pertaining to Ghalib.

“The wooden panels, which take inspiration from Muslim architectural patterns were created for a different look. You will notice the picture frames have borders that resemble inlay in old monuments. The idea was to make them visitor-friendly. Prints of paintings have been used here, because we didn’t want the originals to get spoilt.”

Mohita added, “To most foreign tourists the translation is an important feature. The other is the lightning. LED lights have mostly been used, as per ASI regulations. Lights, lamps and chandeliers highlight the information and poetry on the walls,” added Mohita.

The other section is the courtyard, which used to be an open space. But since there’s a residential area on the top floor, garbage used to accumulate in the courtyard. One courtyard wall is covered by a huge picture of Ghalib sitting leisurely. The courtyard gives a feel of a mehfil, with a royal chandelier hanging from the roof. On one wall you find Ghalib’s famous lines: “Dilapidated with plantation are the walls of my house Ghalib/they say what a scene, but for me it’s no more than a forest glib.”

The courtyard leads to the other section which has a music system that plays songs by various artists, “all of which were by Ghalib.” In the afternoon, the sound system was off. But we were told that it plays as a background music in the museum in the mornings and evenings–the peak visiting hours.

You find stamps on Ghalib. And the inner panel has antique utensils. Nobody is sure if Ghalib really used those. The other part of the same section has more poetry: “Yeh na thi hamari kismet ke visaal-e-yaar hota, agar aur jeete rehte yahi intezaar hota.” (To meet beloved friends was not in my fate/ had I lived ever longer it would be more a wait.) And “Ban ke dushwaar hai har kaam ka asaan hona, aadmi ko bhi mayassar nahi insaan hona.” (How difficult it is for a task to be simplified, load of work has not let me live like a man).

On the other wall, there was information about Ghalib’s favourite food: fried kebabs, dal murabba, roasted mutton, shammi kebab, besan karhi phulkian. And gram pulse chutney, pickles, vinegar, sohanhalwa, mangoes, mishri (after meals). Plus some ground almonds with mishri and hookah! The list of his hobbies includes kite flying, chausar, pachcheesi and chess.

After examining the information, we decided to move on. But the foreign visitors were still lingering.

The Pioneer, 4th May 2013

Over the last two weeks this column has focused on Waqeyat-e-Dar-ul-Hukoomat Dehli (Events at the Capital City Delhi) by Bashir-ud-Din Ahmad. We had planned to carry excerpts from the book over the next two weeks as well, but something rather damaging and disturbing needs to be brought-up and therefore the excerpts have had to take a back-seat for this week.

And now for the issue that has caused this rescheduling. The Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan Marg – the road connecting Andheria More to Mahipalpur in south west Delhi is being broadened. The broadening exercise has been in the news and it has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. The agency responsible for the exercise is the Public Works Department and it has cut down more than a hundred trees without permission of the department of forests.

The procedure for cutting down of trees, as laid down after persistent pressure from environmentalists and judicial intervention, states that for each tree that is cut at least ten saplings have to be planted on land identified and approved for this purpose. Identification of land and approval of forest department, for cutting and replanting at the designated site, has to be sought before tree cutting begins. In case any land designated as forest is to be used for any other purpose, then the government has to transfer an equal amount of revenue land after it has been re-designated as forest land.

In the case of this road every single rule has been flouted. The forest department was not informed, land for replanting was not identified, approval for the number of trees to be cut was not taken and trees were cut down in violation of all rules and many very explicit court orders. Residents of Sector A and Sector D from Vasant Kunj and environmental activists took recourse to litigation. Fortunately, the courts have put a stop to the work till the issues raised by the petitioners are resolved.

The concerns of the petitioners, aside from the environmental, include questions of safety for pedestrians especially children, the elderly and the physically disabled, issues as important as the deliberate disregard for the green cover of Delhi.

The Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan Marg after being broadened to its proposed width of 75 metres will stretch from the boundary walls of Sector A on one side to the boundary wall of Sector D on the other side, and this would mean that residents will virtually step on the road as they come out of their blocks. Hundreds of children wait for their school buses on this road and cross it at least once while going to and returning from school, in many cases they do this alone and in others they are accompanied by grandparents.

Those tearing down this road at break-neck speed in order to lay out the red carpet for cars, seem to have made no provisions for subways and overhead bridges. Who knows how many accidents will make them realise that a majority of the population of this city has to walk and if city planning makes any claims to be inclusive it has to give priority to the pedestrian - the child, the elderly and the physically challenged - and not to automobiles.

There is one question about this project that has not been asked and it is only this question that will help explain the unseemly hurry in which this project has been taken up and is being implemented. The question is “what was the need to broaden this road?” The answer you are likely to get is “the sudden increase of traffic on the Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan Marg - Auna Asif Ali Marg segment has led to traffic jams on this stretch and therefore the need to broaden the road.

Now, this is only half an answer. The complete answer is, “the sudden increase in the volume of traffic is a result of the creation of the toll plaza at the Gurgaon Expressway”. The high toll and the interminable queues at the toll gates have forced a large number of daily commuters to shift to the already congested M.G.Road alternative route. This shift has led to this sudden spurt in traffic on the Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan Marg- Aruna Asif Ali Marg stretch.

There is a refusal to accept that the decision of converting an already existing congested arterial route into a toll plaza was patently wrong and that it would have been more fruitful to create a parallel toll channel for those wanting to save time and bypass Delhi and Gurgaon.

The refusal to except these two mistakes has led to compounding the problems at all ends. There seems to be no end to the mess at the toll gates at the Gurgaon Expressway, the Mehrauli Gurgaon Road has become impossible to navigate and trees need to be chopped to broaden the Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan Marg in order to accommodate the ever-expanding volume of traffic that could virtually disappear if the toll plaza was scrapped.

If trees in Vasant Kunj have to be saved, the concessionaire for the Gurgaon toll plaza needs to be sent home bag and baggage. The question before us is “Who is going to scrap a profitable PPP project to save a few hundred trees?”

The Hindu, 4th May 2013

Amid the modern buildings and haphazard constructions of Delhi, a corner of the city is adorned by age-old havelis - a reminiscence of what Delhi once was. Sadly, most part of the Walled City of Delhi remains its past only. The only interruption to that is an underground metro rail network.

But a stroll down any lane of Old Delhi would lead you to one famous haveli or the other. Lanes and bylanes are by no means easy to navigate with bad traffic and an endless crowd but a few enquiries and a small ride on a cycle rickshaw may help. Though most of the havelis of Shajahanabad got destroyed in the mutiny of 1857, few famous ones still standing strong are Ghalib’s Haveli (where he spent last years of his life), Zeenat Mahal’s haveli, Begum Samru’s Kothi, Namak Haram Ki Haveli and Neharwali Haveli (the ancestral home of General Perwez Musharraf).

A few of the havelis have been renovated, either by descendants or government after media attention and are definitely worth visiting for their splendid architecture and history. Amongst other heritage structures, Masterji ki haveli now welcomes visitors to spend their time experiencing the Mughal lifestyle. Kashmiri Haveli has been redone by The Heritage Society and it also organises cultural programmes while Ghalib’s haveli displays the poet’s memorabilia.

Seth ramlal Ki haveli

Bygone times: The haveli that was built around the 1850s, now wears a more contemporary look. The renovation which began earlier this year has retained the 19th century details. A grade-II heritage building, it is being renovated by Seth Ramlal’s nephew Devaki Nangal Bagla and the process is still on. The restoration brings out the prominence of the courtyard, brick vaults and jaalis, multifoliated arches and curved entrances with grand facade. The haveli displays a charming mix of past and present.

Where: Chhota Bazar, Kashmere Gate

Kashmiri Haveli

Cultural confluence: Till 2007, the haveli was inhabited by Kashmiri Pandits who moved to lesser congested parts of the city. The ground floor dates back to 1860s while the first floor was constructed around 1930s during British times. The renovation work of the haveli by The Heritage Society was completed last year and now it welcomes visitors and organises cultural programmes.

Like other havelis of the time, it has its roof supported by timber and arches. On the walls hang maps of 19th century. Greenery in courtyard adds to the haveli. There is also a shop that sells books specifically on the city and its heritage and also stocks traditional garments and jewellery. In the bylanes nearby, there is also Haksar Haveli where Jawaharlal Nehru got married. Where: Gali Kashmiriyan, Sitaram Bazar, Nearest metro is Chawri Bazar.

The Hindustan Times, 4th April 2013

The Delhi Durbar was among the momentous events of British India. TOI's October 25, 1911 editioncaptured the event in delightful details.

The glamorous event had far-reaching significance. Supposedly held to commemorate the coronation in London of King George V and Queen Mary and proclaim them sovereigns of India, the splendorous show threw up surprises. Without warning, the King declared moving of the capital of imperial India from Calcutta to Delhi. He annulled the 1905 partition of Bengal. The Bengali-speaking areas were consolidated and borders of eastern India redrawn. The state of Bihar was born, its capital in Patna.

Times of India's December 13 edition gushed: "The scene at Delhi yesterday, when his Imperial Majesty, the King Emperor announced in person the solemn rite of his coronation to his Indian people, was one of unsurpassed dignity and splendour." In a news item painted in bold brushstrokes of colour, the daily described how: "Indian sovereigns and thousands of His Majesty's loyal subjects witnessed a spectacle the like of which has never before been seen."

The sovereigns appeared in their coronation robes, the king-emperor wearing the bejeweled Imperial Crown of India studded with 6,170 diamonds, sapphires, emeralds and rubies. So heavy was the crown that it reportedly gave the king a headache.

An earlier sequence of news reports detailed the meticulous preparations for the grand event. The durbar camp, specially constructed for the occasion, spread over 25 sq miles and had its own railway. Sixty-four km of new roads were built. A Shimla-datelined story carried a long list of camps to be set up for the durbar in Delhi, key British officials who'd attend, public works, roads to be spruced up or built and an unending list of Indian royals who'd be present. Other than the biggies, this mentioned relatively obscure, smaller princes and there were more than 500 of them.

The Times of India, 5th May 2013

Imagine calling a cycle-rickshaw to your house and being dropped to the Metro station. Or, having an entire street dedicated to pedestrians, where you could stroll without the fear of being run over or pushed towards the drain. This is not wishful thinking for a team of architects is working on a pilot project to pedestrianize and provide last-mile connectivity in some parts of Malviya Nagar.

The Aap Ki Sadak project was conceived by city-based Ashok B Lall architects and funded by the Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation, started in March last year. Over the months it has taken on board suggestions by hundreds of residents in the area and developed a number of models for making the neighbourhoods in Malviya Nagar walkable.

Along with the feedback, the architects have used their own expertise to offer better connectivity without adding to the pollution.

For instance, the main arterial road running parallel to the Press Enclave Road will have a dedicated footpath and a cycle/cycle-rickshaw lane. This is the most important road as it links the Malviya Nagar Metro station, Krishna Mandir, Gol Chakkar, Triveni Complex and leads to Chirag Dilli. The project also proposes tomove the bus stand at the Gol Chakkar area to the Metro station to cater to a large number of people.

Another interesting proposal is to build a bridge that connects the nullah (drain) near Satpula to Chirag Dilli. We plan to make it a public space by having lanes along the water body to allow movement. Delhi Itegrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS) also plans build a road parallel to BRT and along the drain to make the place extremely well-connected," said landscape expert Sujata Hingorani, who is working with the team. According to the project map, the nullah has been revamped and the surrounding space has been paved to turn into a small, green lung for the neighbourhood.

On Sunday, Aap Ki Sadak held an exhibition to explain their ideas along with an interaction to involve residents in the planning. Navdip Asija of the Punjab-based Fazilka Eco Cabs spoke to residents on how the pedal-rickshaw could ensure last-mile connectivity without polluting the area or congesting the roads. "The project is interested in the concept of 'dial a rickshaw'. It can provide livelihood opportunities and prove really convenient for residents. Also, there is no carbon emission or particulate pollution," he said.

Not only does the project promote alternative modes of transport but envisions parking areas that can save space by accommodating more cars. Manish Gupta, Commissioner, South Delhi Municipal Corporation, who visited the exhibition said the project seemed promising but will succeed only if car owners get involved.

"Pedestrians have the first right of movement but that is always violated. I think we need a change in mindset to prioritize public transport and pedestrian safety," he observed.

The Times of India, 5th May 2013

The dusty browns and yellows of Delhi's summer are now relieved by streaks of colour. Though the replacing of host plants with exotic ones has endangered some species of butterflies that used to be seen in the city, there are still spots where their numbers have not declined. Some species are doing particularly well because of frequent spells of rain last month.

Delhi alone is home to almost 90 species of butterflies — more than the total number found in all of England. The insects are host specific and an entire species can be wiped out if their host plant or shrub is removed. Believe it or not, but the fragrant roses do not attract any butterflies. This is the problem plaguing Delhi at present as indigenous plants are being replaced by exotic ones, and in turn affecting its butterfly population.

Exactly to what extent butterflies are host specific is explained by butterfly researcher Peter Smetacek. "Because of the introduction of exotic species, four new species of butterflies have proliferated in the capital. They are the Common Jay, which came because of the plantation of the avenue tree polyalthia; the Red Pierrot which have followed plantation of succulents; and the Large Cabbage White and Indian Cabbage White. None of these were in Delhi's list in 1972," added Smetacek.

In 2002, a research paper listed 86 species of which some cannot be seen today or are viewed very rarely. "One such species listed in the 2002 paper was the Black Raja but I have not seen it in several years," says Dr Surya Prakash, a lepidopterist or someone who studies butterflies and moths. Recently, Prakash compiled a poster on butterflies which was released by WWF. "The Giant Red Eye has not been seen in a while and sightings of others like the Common Red Flash, Blue Tiger, Grey and Chocolate Pansies have come down drastically," he said. Experts say Delhi is facing a problem with the loss of habitat for the butterflies. Many of the species visit the milk weed, which is being removed indiscriminately from across the city. The lantana, a favoured grass by the butterflies, is also being removed.

Delhi managed such a huge host of butterfly species largely due to its Ridge forests which gave the butterflies several plants, shrubs and grass to choose from. Being cold blooded, the butterflies have the need to sun themselves and can often be found resting on exposed rocks. The city is also home to the Tiny Grass Jewel, the smallest butterfly found in the world. The other more immediate threat to butterflies is poaching. They are in great demand in countries like Thailand and China where they are framed and sold. India, with its 1,500 species, is a great hunting ground for them, Prakash said. About a 100 species are on the verge of extinction in India.

Some butterflies found commonly in Delhi are the Blue Pansy, Common Silverline and Lime Butterfly. The Painted Lady and Indian Fritillary are migratory, flying 400-500 km from the Himalayas to reach Delhi. The city has three artificially created conservatories, one each at the Aravali and Yamuna Biodiversity parks and at Lodhi Garden.

Butterflies are good pollinators. They are also food for other organisms and are eaten by birds, frogs. So if the butterfly population were to be wiped out, it would affect the entire food chain. Butterflies are called 'umbrella species', which means that protecting the butterfly's habitat helps conserve other species too. And finally they are good bio-indicators. This means they indicate and assess the health of any ecosystem," said Suhas Borker, founder member of The Green Circle of Delhi. The agency, along with NDMC and DU's Centre for Environmental Management of Degraded Ecosystems developed the conservatory at Lodhi Garden. Jitendra Kaushik, assistant director (horticulture), NDMC said that the butterfly numbers in Lodhi Garden are unusually good at present since the new plantation has taken root and the insects have a huge variety of plants on which to lay eggs and food.

The Times of India, 5th May 2013

After being chased by a flock of 50-odd crows, a distressed bird flows out of the Aravali Biodiversity Park into the Vasant Vihar area within a few minutes. Wildlife photographer Yaseer Arafat who caught this early morning drama on Saturday was stunned to realize that the bird being harassed was none other than an oriental pied hornbill, last sighted in Delhi in 1995.

"Arafat, working for the biodiversity parks programme of Delhi University, was out on a routine monitoring of park when he saw the bird and took pictures of it. We will be monitoring its return, in case it comes back," said Dr M Shah Hussain, scientist in-charge, Aravali Biodiversity Park.

The last mention of the bird having been seen in Delhi was made in the book 'Fauna of Delhi', published by the Zoological Survey of India in 1997. The sighting was reported by an organization named Kalpavriksha. This entry makes references to two other British records of the bird in Delhi, one in 1948 and the other in 1978.

"The bird is a medium-sized hornbill, larger than the commonly found Indian grey hornbill. It is usually found in moist deciduous forests and near fruit yielding plants. It is an extremely rare sighting for Delhi as the bird is usually found in Haryana, going east through the Himalayan foothills to Arunachal Pradesh and eastern India," said Hussain.

According to sources, the bird was earlier recorded as a vagrant, indicating it had strayed from its usual flight path and habitat. Since Delhi does not offer a suitable habitat for the bird, the one spotted on Saturday was also possibly a vagrant. "The crows were chasing it since it is an unusual bird for the area. This is a common habit with crows. The bird might have lived around Delhi several years ago when there were forests around the capital. The bird might have also been a passive migrant in Delhi — used the city as a stop-over point in its migration," added Hussain.

Studies indicate that the population of hornbill is declining even though it is known to adapt easily to a changing landscape.

- The Times of India, 5th May 2013

Taking cognisance of the spiritual and environmental importance of the National River Ganga and the Yamuna, experts from various Indian Institutes of Technologies (IIT’s), environmentalists, engineers, and spiritual leaders will discuss technical means to ensure continuous unpolluted flow of these two rivers during a two-day national workshop on Ganga and Yamuna to be held at Parmarth Niketan Ashram in Rishikesh on May 8 and 9.

The workshop is being jointly organised by The IITians for Holy Ganga, a forum constituted to preserve heritage and ecology of the river Ganga by alumni of all IIT’s and Ganga Action Parivar (GAP), a body of engineers , activists and spiritual leaders.

“The experts attending the workshop will discuss current challenges being faced by both the holy rivers and suggest ways to protect and maintain free-flowing, unpolluted state of both rivers and find workable solutions to the problems of pollution and obstruction. The Ganga and Yamuna are environmentally and culturally vital. The minimum ecological flows of the rivers ensuring water quality and environmentally sustainable development should be maintained,” said IITians for Holy Ganga and IIT Kharagpur Almuni Association president Yatinder Pal Suri.

“The main speakers at two workshop will include Ganga River Basin Management Plan coordinator Prof Vinod Tare of IIT Kanpur, Centre for Environment Science and Technology, Benaras Hindu University coordinator Dr BD Tripathi and former chairman, Central Pollution Control Board and IITians for Holy Ganga spokesperson Paritosh Tyag,” said Ganga Action Parivar head Swami Chidanand Sarswati.

“Sewage waste management along Ganga and Yamuna, industrial waste treatment, solid waste management, bio toilets along these rivers, dams and alternative energy, smarter water practices and conservation will be discussed in the workshop,”added Saraswati.

IITians for Holy Ganga spokesperson Paritosh Tyagi said, “Both rivers Ganga and Yamuna are deeply associated with the faith and civilization of the country and should be saved at any cost. We appeal to the government at centre and the States concerned to save the sacred rivers. Various schemes started by Centre and States in last few years have left both the rivers more polluted.”

The Pioneer, 6th May 2013

The day was particularly hot when the clock struck one on May 4, 1799. In a flash, 76 Redcoats crossed the four-foot-deep Cauvery, followed by columns of the 73rd and 74th Highlanders, and stormed the fort of Srirangapatnam. It took the attackers just 16 minutes to scale the west-side wall and enter the fort through a breach, surprising its defenders. About two hours later, the fort had fallen, its most famous defender falling along with his 8,000 comrades-at-arms with several musket and sword wounds. The 'Tiger of Mysore', Tipu Sultan, was dead. History books tell us that the fall of Tipu was a result of his betrayal by a few close associates. One of them, they say, was his confidant, Diwan Purnaiya.

TOI traced the descendants of Purnaiya and found that they were very reticent to talk about the past. A past which has branded their ancestors as traitors. When contacted, Rajeev Purnaiya, the Mysore diwan's direct descendant, who is the CEO and managing director of a company named Principal Axis in Bangalore, just had this to say: "I've nothing to add to whatever you know about my ancestor from history books. Good luck with your story."

However, his relative, Rao Saheb Arni, was a little more forthcoming. "I refuse to believe that Purnaiya was a traitor. If he did, he wouldn't have espoused the cause of Tipu's eldest son, Fateh Hyder, as the next ruler of Mysore. It's a different thing that the English preferred a scion of the Wodeyar clan as the next ruler. In fact, Tipu had entrusted his son to the care of Purnaiya, long before the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War had begun."

Rao Saheb Arni

Most youngsters in their family, though, know little about either Purnaiya or Tipu Sultan. "Ask them about Tipu Sultan, and they might wonder if it's a new brand of whisky," remarks Arni laconically.

But for Lahore-based Syed Muhammad AliMeerza, the past is not a limiting factor. This retired Pakistan International Airlines official is a direct descendant of Nawab Mir Jafar of Bengal, a name that has come to symbolize traitors. In the battlefield of Plassey on June 23, 1757, Mir Jafar had allegedly betrayed his master, Nawab Siraj ud-Daulah; and his son Miran had executed the young nawab at a place in Murshidabad, which is today known as Namak Haram Deori (Traitor's Gate).

Syed Muhammad Ali Meerza

"We cannot reverse what he (Mir Jafar) did so many centuries ago; but the Nawab Nazim and his family did a lot of good things for the people of Bangal subah (the states of Bihar, Odisha, West Bengaland parts of Bangladesh today)," says Meerza. "Mir Jafar's wife Munni Begum loaned Rs 90 lakh to the Company officials. Later, a school was opened with the interest gained from this amount for the education of the Nawab's family and the common people. It's still running on the interest, and even today, children of our family study there along with other children. In 1969, when the family fell on bad times and our lands were taken over by the government, I was forced to migrate to Pakistan. I never wanted to."

Meerza's relatives still live in Murshidabad, reminiscing the past. "We're history's wronged children. But we have come to terms with it now. It doesn't bother us anymore," says Meerza.

The Hindustan Times, 6th March 2013

On the anniversary of the Revolt of 1857, R. V. Smith looks back at the strange visions and premonitions that were reported from far and wide

As the anniversary of the 1857 Revolt comes around one is reminded of the omens and weird events that preceded it. In Delhi the angel of death was seen hovering over the Red Fort, an apparition also witnessed before the death of Aurangzeb in February 1707. A headless warrior riding a horse startled many a belated traveller near Kashmere Gate. He came to be known as ‘Dund’ or man with just a neck sticking out above his shoulders. The Dund was also seen in Bareilly, Agra, Lucknow and Faizabad. And wherever he went there was bloodshed. In Agra, reportedThe Statesman before the onset of the summer of 1857, a sheet of blood was seen on several nights in the sky, which seemed to extend right up to Delhi and beyond. The Maulvi of Faizabad, Ahmadullah Shah, who later led the heroic resistance in Lucknow, is said to have dreamt that Delhi’s streets were flowing with blood that had seeped into Payawan, the place where he was eventually killed.

Strange sightings were reported on the Ridge too by English soldiers. One of them saw a long line of kings silently trooping down to the city and then disappearing. (End of the Mughal dynasty?) Another soldier saw his dead father wagging his finger as though warning him of lurking dangers. A British woman, Harriet Tytler, wife of Capt. Robert Tytler, dreamt that the baby she was carrying in her womb would have to pass through a harrowing time until both she and her child were rescued by Punjabi or Pathan sepoys. Harriet did, in fact, give birth on the Delhi Ridge, and her baby nearly died of dysentery during the rains that followed. However, she was able to take the child safely to Karnal.

In Shahjahanpur, the daughter of a Protestant priest had a nightmare in which she saw a whole lot of people being shot in church, among them her father. She also saw a man in black walking in her house after midnight. The spectre would always disappear near the staircase. Her dream came true as, on a May morning in 1857, rebel sepoys attacked the church and killed nearly all the male members, including the girl’s father. But she and her mother escaped, only to be taken captive by a Pathan who kept pressurising her to marry him. That she narrowly managed to avert a forced wedding and returned home with her mother, after saving the Pathan and his family from the raiding firangi troops, is another story.

In Chandni Chowk, a Sikh sewadar saw a vision of men hanging from gibbets that extended from Lal Mandir to Fatehpuri Masjid. Later it turned out that the avenging British did hang from gibbets in the Chowk many sepoys and others they suspected of taking part in the revolt. The grandmother of Haji Zahur was troubled by dreams in which she saw dead bodies rotting in front of Gurdwara Sisganj, with an overwhelming stench that seemed to persist even after she woke up. As it turned out, the bodies of two sons and a grandson of Bahadur Shah Zafar, who had been killed by Lt. Hodson at the Khooni Darwaza, were thrown to rot in front of the gurdwara at the spot now marked by Northbrook Fountain.

Lala Hanwant Sahai, who was arrested in the Hardinge Bomb Case of 1912, told this scribe in the 1960s that his father’s elder sister used to see an Angrez family being massacred in the building of the Delhi Bank, just across from her house. The dream recurred for three nights, and on the last night she imagined she could even hear the screams of a woman and her daughters. The dream came true when the manager of the bank, Beresford, his wife and daughters met their end at the hands of the rebels on May 11. They put up a brave resistance, with Mrs. Beresford killing two of the attackers before being done to death herself. In Daryaganj, the nehar that flowed through it was reportedly seen to be covered with blood by a relative of Sir Sayyid Ahmed Khan - or this is what his dream foretold. When Sir Sayyid, then 40 years old, came to inspect his house after the disturbances were quelled, he found it in bad shape, but whether the relative escaped is not known. At the Khooni Darwaza or Lal Darwaza of Allauddin, a man walking towards the Delhi Gate one evening saw blood trickling down as though somebody had been murdered there. And at a shrine near the Yamuna, a naked faqir was heard chanting, “Mar, mar” at the beginning of May 1857. Another faqir in Shahjahanpur made his takia(abode) ring with the same chant, as recorded by J.F. Fanthome in his novel Mariam, which also gave a graphic description of the church massacre.

What does one make of these uncanny happenings? Do coming events cast their shadow, especially of macabre incidents? One doesn’t know but then all the witnesses couldn’t be lying. Incidentally, modern research has proved that the mind has infinite capacities of foresight. Maybe what are termed as gloomy pre - “Mutiny” yarns were not just balderdash.

The Hindu, 6th May 2013

World Bank nod for proposal to revive Kaurihar Gram Samuh project Over a 100 villages in the southern region of Allahabad district are set to benefit from the World Bank’s plan to revive water projects.

The international agency has accepted the Allahabad Jal Nigam’s (AJN) proposal for reviving the Kaurihar Gram Samuh Drinking Water Project, said senior officials.

The project, under the AJN’s Nirman Fund, will ensure supply of potable water to 104 villages in the Meja and Kaurihar blocks. It was conceived in 1967-68 and inaugurated in January 1972, when the region faced severe drought and several families were compelled to migrate. Around 150 villages spread over 50 kilometres benefited from the World-Bank-funded project on the banks of the Tons, the largest tributary of the Yamuna.

However, it was abandoned in 1980 - due, primarily, to lack of maintenance. The supply pipes, which were linked to tanks and provided water directly to the villages through underground pipes, are in a dilapidated condition.

Since the region’s terrain is rocky, tube wells have failed over the years. According to a Union Ministry of Water Resources report, Kaurihar falls under the semi-critical category as far as ground water is concerned. Out of the 820 blocks in Uttar Pradesh, 107 are described as semi-critical, with six - Bahadurpur, Dhanupur, Saidabad, Urwa, Pratappur and Kaurihar - located in the district.

Further, a 2008-2009 Ground Water Brochure of Allahabad notes that construction of canals or strengthening of the existing canal system should be emphasised in four blocks - Bahadurpur, Chaka, Kaurihar and Meja. Around 35 per cent of the district’s population depends upon groundwater and this project will benefit as many as 1,35,259 persons, including 30,417 belonging to the Scheduled Castes (2001 Census).

AJN executive engineer J.N Mishra said the details of the plan would be in place within a month. The date of implementing the project would also be known then. The administration is hopeful that the project will start by this year.

The Hindustan Times, 7th May 2013

There is some fresh evidence of around 100 of trees having been cut in and around Mangar Bani in the Aravalis even as the ministry of environment and forest has asked the Haryana chief secretary to identify it and other such areas that are deemed forests.

Green activists who took photographs of the freshly cut tree stumps, which have not yet started sprouting shoots, said that photos show tyre tracks, suggesting a large scale operation. "Only thicker and older trees are targeted for their trunks. The branches are mostly left behind, suggesting this is not subsistence cutting by villagers for firewood, but a commercially oriented operation," Sarvadaman Oberoi of Mission Gurgaon Development said.

Activists who have been opposing the diversion of a portion of Mangar Bani, a sacred grove, for a mega tourist complex said this development has exposed how government agencies in Haryana have failed to protect areas which fall in restricted zones notified under sections 4 & 5 of Punjab Land Preservation Act. Area covered by these notifications cannot be utilized for any non-forest activity.

A large portion of Aravalis in this region fall in 'gair mumkin pahar' or common hilly land category. Green activists said that clearing of trees and removal of vegetation is more prevalent in these portions since there is high speculation of government allowing real estate and related activities.

The issue of non-forest use of forest land in Mangar, Kot and Roz-ka-Gujjar is already pending before National Green Tribunal.

The Times of India, 7th May 2013

More than eight decades after Mahatma Gandhi began the Salt Satyagraha in Gujarat’s Dandi, the proposal to honour the movement and the Mahatma by building a memorial is finally gathering pace.

The decision to construct a Dandi Memorial was mooted by the Ministry of Culture and announced by the Prime Minister in 2005 during the 75 anniversary of the movement. However, the plan has taken too long to execute for various reasons including delays in securing environmental clearances and tying up the monies.

“IIT-Bombay has appointed a comprehensive consultant to prepare the complete designs and estimates to facilitate construction. After the receipt of administrative approval and expenditure sanction, the tendering process for construction of the memorial in Dandi will be taken up by the Central Public Works Department,” CPWD Director-General V.K. Gupta told The Hindu.

The memorial will be constructed by the CPWD and funded by the Ministry of Culture. It has been conceptualised by IIT-Bombay’s national design team. In its proposal for the memorial, the Ministry has said the idea is to recreate “an experiential journey recreating the spirit and the energy of the Dandi March and taking the visitors step-by-step to understand the Dandi March story and the methodology of satyagraha”.

The proposed design will have a pathway towards the main memorial which will replicate the Dandi March route through 24 spaces representing the 24 halts. There will be panels with visual description giving information about the main events that occurred during the day’s journey to the halt.

“The challenge before the CPWD is to construct a memorial of 70 metres height with two stainless steel arms that will be illuminated at night. The CPWD is providing the necessary input to enable the national design team to finalise the design,” Mr. Gupta said.

The main memorial will be a statue of the Mahatma inside a pyramid of light, leading the marchers, followed by life-size sculptures of the group of marchers; two stylized hands raised skywards and carrying simulated salt crystals will form the canopy under which this sculpture will be placed.

The hands will be lit using solar energy with a bank of LED search lights floor-mounted around the rim of the base pedestal. The design concept includes the gradual illumination of the pyramid as the sun goes down.

A small lake will also be constructed in the memorial complex, as a symbolical representation of the seaside where the Dandi March took place. The water body will create reflections of the monument from all sides, according to the Ministry’s design proposal.

“A block estimate of Rs. 64.40 crore has been prepared, which includes Rs.12.34 crore to carry out research and development with respect to the light pyramid, salt crystals, solar panels and custom designs for maintenance-free components. Another Rs.52.06 crore has been earmarked for construction of the memorial,” the CPWD chief said.

The Hindu, 7th May 2013

Fatehpuri Masjid’s Shahi Imam, Mufti Mukarram Ahmed, on Monday criticised the Archaeological Survey of India for not rebuilding the minarets in the 17 Century mosque and carrying out only “inconsequential work”.

Dr. Ahmed said he was annoyed with the ASI because it had “changed the wooden doors but the two minarets which had fallen years ago have still not been rebuilt”.

Pointing out that the mosque in Chandni Chowk comes under the Delhi Wakf Board, the Shahi Imam said the ASI started work on the mosque in October 2011 to commemorate the 150 birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda. The Swami Vivekananda Trust in Kolkata had allocated Rs. 6 crore for conservation and upkeep of the mosque.

“We only air our grievances before the Wakf Board. We did not ask the ASI to work on our premises. Though it has shown interest, we are unhappy with the fact that one burzi (small minaret) on the main gate facing Chandni Chowk and another minaret on the northern gate facing Khari Baoli have not been rebuilt. The basic structure of the Fatehpuri Masjid is weak. The main tomb needs repair. But workers assigned by the ASI are doing irrelevant work like relaying the floor. We have a number of rooms inside the mosque premises and the ASI has changed the wooden doors. It was an unnecessary exercise. ASI’s main priority should be to rebuild the minarets. Work is being done intermittently and there is a communication gap between us and the ASI,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Circle of ASI convened a meeting on Monday to discuss issues pertaining to repair and renovation of the mosque, which was constructed by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan’s wife Fatehpuri Begum.

The Shahi Imam’s representative, Najeeb, participated in this meeting which was convened to delineate the responsibilities of each side. According to a senior ASI official, at the meeting on Monday, the ASI asked the representative of Fatehpuri Masjid to give a list of demands. “We will see how we can do the job and fulfil all the requirements within the limited budget and staff constraints we face,” said the official.

The Hindu, 7th May 2013

In 2002, Delhi has 177 listed water bodies. By 2006 this number went up to 629. Subsequently, an additional 200 have been identified. However, no exact figure is available as several of the original 629 have disappeared. In fact, many water bodies that still exist are not even listed on revenue records.

Despite a court-appointed committee surveying these water bodies on a regular basis, the government has made no change to its 2006 list. Consequently, encroachers are taking over several water bodies under the nose of land-owning agencies.

"A committee to monitor the Jahangirpuri and Dhirpur marshes was set up in 2004. Three lawyers were appointed by the court to survey the water bodies and draw up a list. Delhi is facing tremendous shortage of water and the government has been talking endlessly about how groundwater levels need to be recharged. It is surprising that the government is dragging its feet even after so many years," Vinod Jain, director of non-governmental organization Tapas which moved the public interest litigation in response to which the high court set up the monitoring committee, said.

Of the 629 water bodies that exist officially, several have vanished. "The government itself allotted water body land for development. A water body near Gharoti dairy farm has been allotted for a secondary school and substation. It is one of the 629 listed bodies. A water body in Burari has been handed over for constructions by the block development officer," said a source.

The committee of lawyers manages about 12 visits to water bodies annually. They are hamstrung by negligence on part of the land owning agencies.

"There have been several instances when officials representing the land owning agencies or patwaris failed to show up. It is not easy to cover more than a couple on each visit. Despite that, about 200 such water bodies have been identified which are still not on the government's list. No effort has been made to put them there," said the source.

Even after surveys, there are hundreds of such water bodies that can be developed but are encroached upon. The land owning agencies have been given clear directions to take action but barely a handful of action-taken reports have been submitted till date.

"In Dera Mandi, sewage is flowing unchecked into a 19,650-sq-yard water body and DJB is yet to take action. In Jaunapur, there is a 15,600-sq-yard water body which is severely encroached upon. Directions had been given to demarcate it in 2008 but these have not been followed," said the source.

A government official said that revival of water bodies is a priority with the chief minister and the government would ensure that each land owning agency does its duty.

The Times of India, 7th May 2013

By stressing ‘intrinsic value’ and ‘best interest’ of species, the Supreme Court wants conservation to be pan-nation rather than State-bound.

In response to calls to shift some of India’s last Asiatic lions to neighbouring Madhya Pradesh, the Gujarat State Wildlife Board went to the extent of calling lions [exclusively] Gujarati ‘family members’. But, in a historic judgment lauded by the world conservation community, (Centre for Environmental Law WWF-1 v. Union of India and others, Supreme Court, 2013) the Supreme Court has ruled that Gujarat has to part with some lions, to be shifted to Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno-Palpur wildlife sanctuary, upholding the nation’s right to have a second habitat for lions.

Predictably, this long legal battle has been understood as a battle between Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. Also, responses to the Supreme Court order have been all about lion conservation vis-à-vis Gujarat, testing the notions of how much ownership a State can have over a wild animal - even if in recent times saving the lion has been about Gujarati ‘pride’, management and effort.

However, this judgment is about much more than Gujarat, or even lions. The judgment calls for something that policymakers have neglected — what it calls the ‘species best interest standard’. Placing the persistence of species at its heart, the judgment calls for directives based on an ‘eco-centric approach’ and not a human or anthropocentric approach. Combined with the idea of doing what is best for the species, rather than the whims of policies, planning and politics, the judgment makes a powerful call for a new conservation paradigm, based on both science and ethics, for our most threatened species. It has recognised the lack of governance and planning response to endangered species, and has called for the “necessity for an exclusive parliamentary legislation for the preservation and protection of our endangered species”.

Finally, the judgment brings down the barriers of protected area conservation - protection girded by State boundaries and State pride - and calls for this to be done with the species in mind and not profit. Notions that may be unfashionable but are certainly needed at a time when many of our critically endangered species have rescue plans but no action, and at a time when India is the President of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

Intrinsic worth of species

In TN Godavarman Thirumulpad versus Union of India, Supreme Court, (2012) the Supreme Court ruled in favour of wild buffalo conservation. It also called for the ‘eco-centric approach’, one that would go beyond what is profitable for people. Conservation in India is not withoutits well-loved pin-up stars: The lazy stretch of a tiger, the dance of a peacock, the strut of a lion, and the eyes of the four-horned antelope chousingha, are well-documented and have large, enthusiastic fan clubs. Conservation of these species depend quite often on the idea that these animals are beautiful, charismatic, and worth saving.

The difficult question though, is what of animals that are not considered beautiful? Or what of animals which do not seem to be of direct benefit to people and tourism? To these questions, science and our wildlife protection Act has the answer - we are duty bound to protect our species, whether we deem them worthy or not. In the wild buffalo judgment (2012), the Supreme Court called for saving species on the basis of their ‘intrinsic worth’. Ecologically, this is an idea very relevant to our times, and takes us back to our earliest lessons in understanding nature - that each species is important for resilient ecosystems.

In its judgment on lions (2013), the Supreme Court reasserted the intrinsic worth of species - particularly important to heed when planners disagree. Despite how worthy we rate our species, this intrinsic worth approach underlines the inherent right of all species to exist. This approach becomes even more important in the case of an endangered species, or species which are as isolated, threatened and hemmed in as the Asiatic lion. By asking for lions to be ‘re-introduced’ to Kuno-Palpur, the Supreme Court has gone beyond State boundaries. It is invoking the historic range of the lion, once so common it was called the national animal of India - a mantle now worn by the tiger.

Significantly, the court is aiming both for a landscape approach - upheld by population biologists as the long-term key to saving several species - and also this entirely new standard for endangered species conservation: the “best interest” standard. It is, in effect, reinforcing the wildness of animals by stressing that wild animals belong to natural and wide-ranging habitats and not States and their units of governance.

Of dugongs and bustards

In keeping with the ideas of ‘intrinsic worth’ and ‘species best interest standard’, the judgment has directed the Ministry of Environment and Forests to “take urgent steps for the preservation of Great Indian Bustards, Bengal Floricans, dugongs and Manipur-brow antlered deer”. This is significant as policies on paper to save these species exist but have not been implemented across different States or landscapes. Project Bustards, meant to save our three bustards - the Great Indian Bustard, Bengal Florican and Lesser Florican - has received in-principle approval from the Ministry of Environment and Forests but that is as far as the project has gone. There are perhaps 200 Great Indian Bustards and less than 300 Bengal Floricans left in India. There is thus a compelling need for the nation - and not just States - to to save these critically endangered birds.

Non-human citizens

In a sense, this is about the future but the future of citizens who are distinctly non-human. “The cardinal issue is not whether the Asiatic lion is a ‘family member’ or is part of the ‘Indian culture and civilization’, or the pride of a State but the preservation of an endangered species for which we have to apply the ‘species best interest standard’. Our approach should not be human-centric or family-centric but eco-centric,” the judgment on lions says.

In reminding us that lions are not about Gujarat, and saving bustards and dugongs is the nation’s and Parliament’s prerogative, the court has moved the spotlight from humans toward non-human citizens. As the humans in the story, it is now contingent upon us to use our imagination and faculty to save these citizens, with passion and commitment.

(The writer is with the Bombay Natural History Society. Views expressed are personal. She can be contacted at [email protected])

The Hindu, 7th May 2013

The School of Gardening started by the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) in 2011 has turned out to be a hit. Following the success of the initiative, other civic bodies of the city are also looking up to this school to get their gardeners trained and gain expertise in horticulture.

The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) has approached the NDMC for training its Horticulture department employees. Moreover, the school also plans to give training to its schoolchildren so that they learn to care for nature.

This would also earn the NDMC revenue of Rs 36 lakh. Besides, this would be the first time when the school would take in 'students' from outside its body for training. “The SDMC has sent a proposal to us wherein they want 1,800 of their gardeners to be trained in our school. We will charge a fee of Rs 2,000 per head for the 10-day course,” said HK Pachauri, Director Horticulture, NDMC.

The charges would include the cost of reading materials, transportation for practical training, infrastructural facilities as well as refreshments, he added.

“The 10-day course, he said, would comprise five days of theoretical learning and five days of field training. The 1,800 people will be taught on rotation basis. While around 200 will be given theory classes, the other lot will be sent for field training to different places,” explained S Chellaiah, Principal of the School of Gardening.

Sources said the East and North Delhi Municipal Corporations along with the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) have also made similar requests.

Meanwhile, the Education department of the NDMC believes that the school should also take in schoolchildren to teach them basics of gardening like sowing of seeds, taking care of saplings, cutting and budding. "The children who come during our summer camp can be sent to this school for learning gardening skills. By this, they will be more sensitive towards nature and care for it. But, this plan is yet to be finalised," said an official in the Education department.

The School of Gardening, situated at Purana Quila nursery, till now has imparted horticultural skills to 1000 of its gardeners in over five batches. "The training is for 100 hours in total which spans over a time of one month," Chellaiah said. The course which is undertaken periodically, teaches different aspects of gardening like watering, creating terrace gardens, pest control, maintenance of machinery, and honing expertise in seasonal flowers to its people.

The Pioneer, 7th May 2013

Gujarat must show its largesse by happily allowing the translocation of some lions to a new habitat in the greater interest of the species. Lions do not ‘belong' to any State; they are our national heritage, and we hold them in custody for the world

On April 15 the Supreme Court directed that the first batch of lions from Gujarat be shifted to Palpur-Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh within six months. The judgement came not a moment too soon, given the dire need for a second viable population of wild Asiatic lions.

The Asiatic lion was all but extinct at the turn of the 19th century, with numbers plummeting by some estimates to about two dozen animals, restricted to the Kathiawar region of Gujarat. It was the Nawab of Jungadh who first extended protection, supported by Lord Curzon, a keen naturalist, who also had a hand in the protection of rhinos in Kaziranga. In independent India the Gujarat Government and its people must be credited for the fact that lions flourished with numbers exceeding over 400 today. The Indian Government (which laid a strong foundation when in 1948 the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru supported the preservation of the lion and strongly opposed its hunting) along with scientists, national and international conservation institutions, etc contributed significantly to its conservation. Of particular note is Gujarat’s handling of the poaching crisis which last hit Asiatic lions in between 2005 and 2006. With the force of the Government behind it, the case was fast-tracked, resolved and 20 poachers were convicted within 18 months, creating a precedent - and a model - in India’s wildlife crime history .

Gujarat must show its largesse by allowing the translocation of some lions to a new habitat in the greater interest of the species. Lions do not ‘belong’ to any State, they are our national heritage, and we hold them in custody for the world. Confining them to one pocket is inimical to its long term survival. It’s a classic case of putting all one’s eggs in a single basket with the risks attendant with that strategy. We run the risk of losing the only population of the lion in case of a natural calamity or an epidemic. It is known to happen, with an epidemic almost wiping out a small population of lions in Ngorongoro crater in Tanzania.

It must be noted that Gir’s lion population has saturated and is spilling out into areas which are not protected and have intense human use pressures, making them very vulnerable. Worryingly, mining dots the Gir landscape, and this includes Barda sanctuary, created to support a second gene pool for the lions - laying much forest land (outside of the ‘protected areas’) waste and hindering movement of the big cats.

Gujarat had consistently refused to part with ‘its’ lions and the issue has unfortunately taken political overtones and become one of vanity - the pride of lions equated with Gujarati asmita or ‘pride’. In its plea to the Supreme Court, Gujarat admitted that the issue had gone “beyond scientific reasoning” as “the lion is part of the family and community of Gujaratis”, and so surely one could not go by the logic alone. Following the relocation order, Gujarat’s State Board for Wildlife decided to proceed with a “strong review petition” of the decision by the Supreme Court. Reason seems to have taken a backseat, with the tone almost bordering on the ludicrous. Regional NGOs and media have joined in the agitation. An article in the Ahmedabad edition of a leading national daily goes on to explain that, “It is almost like a firing squad waiting out there in the lion’s new home in Madhya Pradesh” (a reference to the large number of gun licenses in the Sheopur district, where Palpur Kuno is located).

One would not, however, undermine Gujarat’s valid concerns about the security of the lions in Madhya Pradesh, where they say tigers are poached, and where a Panna was allowed to happen? Yes, Panna’s shame is a tragedy, even more so given that those who allowed such a tragedy to happen have not been held accountable. In the same vein, we must acknowledge that Panna is being gradually rebuilt, and also the tremendous effort and dedication of the staff in keeping the tigers secure. Similarly, in the same State, where there is Kanha, tigers have survived, indeed thrived, despite threats and even occasional lapses largely due to the consistent and focussed protection efforts over the years. It was also pointed out that the first attempt to relocate the lions had failed. In between 1957 and 1958 three lions were shifted to the Chandraprabha Wildlife Sanctuary in Uttar Pradesh following a decision of the Indian Board for Wildlife which felt it was inadvisable to confine the lion to a single habitat. Reports indicate that the lions settled down and bred, with their population reaching up to 11 before they vanished.

This, however, cannot be used as a yardstick for the current translocation plan. SS Negi, who was part of the Chandraprabha experiment explains that the sanctuary was too small, only about 40 square miles, and had heavy human use and grazing pressure. The animals were not monitored and were largely left to fend for themselves once they were brought to Chandraprabha (in a train!). It is most likely that these lions ranged out of the sanctuary limits, killed livestock and were probably killed in retaliation. More importantly, this exercise taught us some important lessons - the need for large area for the lions, intensive monitoring, stringent protection and constant vigilance.

The exercise of building a second population is fraught with uncertainties, as any move of such magnitude is bound to be. Our effort must be to ensure that the risk is minimised, that Kuno Wildlife Sanctuary is best prepared - protection strengthened, availability of adequate prey base ensured, sufficient and motivated staff appointed. Support of the local people is crucial. Most importantly, both States — Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh - and the Centre must work together and show long-term commitment to ensure that India’s lion pride flourishes. Gujarat’s commitment to the natal population must continue, the shift is an additional safeguard. We need strong political will, and the goodwill of the local people, and all other stake holders, if we are to succeed. It is critical that we do not place misplaced obstacles - as on the success of this rests the future of a critically endangered species.

(The writer is senior consultant, WCS India, and founder-director of ‘Bagh’. She is also a member of the National Board for Wildlife)

The Pioneer, 8th May 2013

It is home to 25 forest types, supports 805 kinds of plants and hosts 31 species of mammals and 209 sort of birds.

India has nominated a group of six hill forts in Rajasthan and the Great Himalayan National Park in Himachal Pradesh as candidates for World Heritage Sites this year. UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee at its meeting in Cambodian capital Phnom Penh next month will decide on conferring the status on them.

The hill forts at Chittorgarh, Kumbhalgarh, Ranthambore, Gagron, Amber, and Jaisalmer are excellent examples of Rajput military architecture, which are found in palaces, temples, memorials and even in villages. Built between 13th and 19th centuries, these forts are unique to this region and creatively use the landscape to increase protection.

The Great Himalayan National Park, spread over 75,400 hectares, is located on the western part of the Himalayan mountains in Kullu District. It is among the most scenic sites in the country and rich in biodiversity. It is home to 25 forest types, supports 805 kinds of plants and hosts 31 species of mammals and 209 sort of birds.

Going by a report of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which evaluates nominations for natural sites, it is unlikely that the World Heritage Committee would inscribe the Himalayan Park as a World Heritage Site. The IUCN has said the delineation of the park is disjointed. It recommended that the intervening land be added to the park to create a contiguous area. It suggested that the rights of local communities be accommodated and integrated in the management plan.

The five Rajasthan forts were nominated last year too, but UNESCO rejected them. This year, the government added the Jaisalmer fort, reworked the documents and renominated the five. The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), which evaluates the cultural properties for UNESCO, inspected the sites last year, and their final recommendation will be known on May 17.

India has 29 world heritage sites — 23 cultural and six natural properties.

The Hindu, 8th May 2013

The conservation of critically endangered Great Indian Bustards, regarded as pride of Rajasthan, is under CAG scanner in its own State. Along with the GIB’s the Ghariyals, (figuring in the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species).and sloth bears that have a sizeable population in the State, are also on the CAG radar.

In its performance audits of ‘Protection of Forests and Wildlife of Rajasthan’, CAG has observed lack of adequate efforts to prevent their decline in population. It has called for “initiation of special programmes for protection of habitats of critically endangered species, so that, these vulnerable species do not get extinct in the State.”

The audit report noted that population of GIB had decreased due to “non sanction of recovery plan from the GOI”. Endemic to the Indian Sub Continent, it is the State bird of Rajasthan and identified as one of the species under the centrally-sponsored “recovery programme for saving critically endangered species and habitats” by the centre in April 2010.

The report states that the State Government had sent a recovery plan of Rs34.35 crore to the Centre, whose approval was awaited. The money was for development of core area, construction of enclosures, pasture and infrastructure developments. The department accepted as on December 2012 that the sanction of plan has not been received.

According to the official figures of Ministry of Environment and Forest, there are only 296 individuals left in the country, of which 175 are found in Rajasthan.

The report says that the Desert National Park (DNP) in Jaisalmer that was to be developed as habitat for conservation of the GIB is also facing rough weather. Out of 3,162 sq km area that was to be notified by the State Government for DNP Wildlife Sanctuary, only 50.76 sq/km area, (two per cent of the WS area) was actually forest land and the rest, the Government and revenue land, and private properties making the proposed notification difficult.

Besides, 73 villages were situated within the Wildlife Sanctuary (WS) area resulting in biotic pressure, habitat interference and fragmented habitats. The department has not initiated any step to relocate the villages and increase the forest area.

The CAG report also expressed concern over the conservation of Ghariyals. Endemic to Indian sub-continent, its major breeding populations is confined to two rivers of Girwa and Chambal in the country. Accordingly, part of Chambal falling in their respective territorial jurisdiction, has been declared as Wildlife sanctuary by the three States.

However, for proper functioning/execution of plan/programme, establishment of a separate division for NCS was included in the management plan. Audit observed that neither separate division was created nor separate staff sanctioned for the WS in this regard.. Further, no census was carried out till 2012 and the State Government did not know survival status of Ghariyals. The CAG report further noted that Sloth Bear population in South Western parts of Aravallis in Rajasthan needs to be protected by declaring the area as a sanctuary, especially Jaswantpura hills in Jalore district.

It was observed that no WS was declared for protection of Sloth Bear. Only a Conservation Reserve - ‘Sundha Mata’ has been so far declared by the State Government in the forest block of Jaswantpura. However, no planning/scheme for protection and conservation of Sloth Bear has been initiated by the State. The department intimated (December 2012) that finalisation of National Action plan for conservation of Sloth Bear is under process, said the report.

The Hindustan Times, 8th May 2013

The environment ministry has shunned responsibility in implementing its own green rules and says it cannot be liable for failure to implement them as it was the job of the state government.

In a petition filed in the Supreme Court, the ministry said that it was not "feasible and practical for MoEF to monitor implementation of each and every notification."

The ministry moved SC challenging an order of the National Green Tribunal, which had imposed a fine of Rs.1 lakh on the ministry for its failure to implement its notification for declaring 15 km around Kaziranga National Park in Assam as 'no development zone' for industrial activity. The money was to be deposited with Director of Kaziranga National Park.

The tribunal held that the ministry and the state government had failed to carry out their duties in implementing the provisions of the 1996 notification. The notification was issued to protect the rich Kaziranga wildlife from adverse impact of industrial activities in the area.

The ministry told the Apex Court that it could act only if there is any complaint of violation of its rules and it would attract the penal provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

The ministry also said that the notification was sent to Assam government in 1996 and the state pollution control board should have taken the notification into account while giving consents to operate to the industries.

The ministry has six regional offices across India, including one in Shillong, to ensure that its rules are followed. But, they are blatantly flouted and the ministry blames lack of manpower for its failure to enforce regulations for environment protection.

The Hindustan Times, 8th May 2013

A dolphin kiss or their playful nature in man-made water holes would remain elusive for the Indian audience.

The environment ministry rejected the plan to develop dolphinariums in different locations in India, including Delhi's neighbourhood of Noida, Kochi in Kerala and Mumbai.

Dolphinarium is an artificial, commercial facility where the aquatic animals are kept in captivity and displayed for amusement of audience at a high price by taking away their right to live in their natural habitat. India's only brush with dolphinarium was in 1990s with a park in Chennai, which closed soon after the death of all captive mammals.

Places such as United States and Dubai have big dolphin parks and are branded as an effort to create awareness about recluse creature. But, Brazil, United Kingdom and Chile have banned dolphins in captivity.

"We will not allow dolphinariums," environment and forest minister Jayanthi Natarajan told Hindustan Times.

The ministry would soon come out with a ban on dolphin parks, some of which were proposed in collaboration with foreign players. The reason is that the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, and the Wildlife Protection Act prohibits display of animals and birds for amusement, a reason for them vanishing from circuses in India.

The Hindustan Times, 8th May 2013

When Chief Archivist of Assam State Archives Tarun Deka and his colleagues were rummaging around the stacks of files and documents in the Archives, some of which date back to 1774, a slice of history of one of India’s great peasants’ uprisings against the British rule came alive.

The Archives’ team found a small handwritten poster put up by Assamese peasants of Patharughat, a village in Darrang district, way back in January 1894 appealing the residents of the village to assemble for a Raijor Mel (People’s Convention) to oppose hike in land revenue imposed by the British government.

This historic uprising of Assamese peasants later came to be known asPatharughator Rann. Researchers and local residents of Patharughat claim that 140 Assamese peasants were massacred by the British rulers to crush the uprising. The poster was found by the then Deputy Commissioner of Darrang District J.D. Anderson on his way to Patharughat on January 27, 1894. The Archive team also found the original handwritten reports of the Deputy Commissioner and the Superintendent of Police of Darrang on the uprising, which the Archive team believes, will throw more light on this historic uprising.

A repository of more than three lakh official files, about one lakh reports and historical documents and about 40,000 books, including some rare books like Military report on the Brahmaputra river systempublished in 1914, besides some rare photographs, the Assam State Archives has in its custody a single page decree issued by Warren Hastings, the first Governor-General of Bengal, on abolition of slavery in Assam as the oldest document dating back to 1774, says Mr. Deka.

Researchers looking for facts relating to raising of the first battalion of the Assam Rifles, the oldest paramilitary force of India, will have to visit the Assam State Archives as it has in its collection the relevant original official files to authenticate the information. The Archives’ collection also includes a report on 1897’s great earthquake in Assam, documents and reports throwing light on the colonial period.

An introduction of the Assam State Archives says, “Assam first became a British protectorate at the close of the First Burmese war in 1826. In 1832, Cachar was annexed, Jaintia Hills were included in the East India Company’s dominion in 1835 and in 1938, Upper Assam was annexed to it. Thus gradually the whole of Assam came under British rule.”

Very soon researchers in any corner of the world will be able to access the catalogue of the rich repository of the Assam State Archives at the click of a mouse, thanks to the State government’s move to make the Archives a World Class Archives by equipping it with latest technology.

“The Assam Electronics Development Corporations Limited (AMTRON) has already started setting up a data centre along with a server in the Archives building. The AMTRON is also working on a website of the Assam State Archives. We will upload our catalogue of files, documents and books on the website so that researchers and interested persons across the globe can easily find out huge official file, document, report or a rare book, available in the Archives collection. Eventually the Assam State Archives will be a favoured destination for historians and researchers across the world,” says Director of the Assam State Archives, D. Sonowal. The AMTRON will also be bar-coding the books in the Archives collection.

And towards that direction the Archives team has been making all efforts for since February to update the Archives catalogue as fast as they can. However, it is not an easy task, as they have to take extra care that not a single leaf of any file, report or book, some of which are brittle, is damaged or lost.

The Assam Government initiated the move to equip the Assam State Archives with latest technology after a group of historians urged Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi in December 2012 on the need to modernise the Archives and make its repository easily accessible for historians, researchers, administrators and other interested people.

Jishnu Barua, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister and Border Areas Department, a historian by himself and a regular user of Archives’ materials, is leading the Archives’ team in updating the catalogue.

The Hindu, 9th May 2013

The Union Cabinet on Thursday will take up for approval a proposal to set up the National Skill Development Authority (NSDA), a permanent body located either in the Planning Commission or the Finance Ministry and guided by a Cabinet committee headed by the Prime Minister.

The NSDA is being conceived as a body tasked to ensure training of human resources by institutionalising a new approach to skills development. The NSDA, if approved, will subsume the PM's Council on Skill Development, office of the Adviser to the PM on Skill Development that is currently headed by S Ramadorai, and Mission on Skill Development under the Planning Commission.

A GoM had been set up after some ministers had expressed reservations on the proposed NSDA. The HRD ministry, which manages most of the skill development programmes, had questioned the need for such a centralised body and maintained that it would lead to duplication of efforts. The Planning Commission, which is piloting the proposal, has stressed that the NSDA will coordinate and synergise the current efforts by the ministries.

The Authority is expected to oversee, support and speed up existing skill development efforts of the central government and state-level skill development missions. It will lay down strategies, financing and governing models to expedite skill development activities.

The Indian Express, 9th May 2013

The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has paved the way for the construction of one-acre ‘country homes’ in the capital.

In the authority’s meeting on Wednesday, the final approval was given to 27 villages that had been identified as ‘low density residential area’. These villages, located mostly on the periphery of the Capital, were declared as ‘development area’ to ensure overall integrated development of urbanisable area in the Master Plan of Delhi (MPD) 2021 - under the new land pooling policy as well as for development of farmhouses and country homes.

DDA had earlier allowed farmhouses on an area of minimum one-acre under the name of ‘country homes’, reducing the earlier mandatory requirement of minimum 2.5 acres. The Floor Area Ratio of these farmhouses was also increased. Thanks to the DDA’s proposal, land prices in these villages had already increased and are now expected to spike further after the final approval.

This proposal was approved by the authority subject to conditions such as that it will exclude the area falling under regional park and green belt. Also the jurisdiction of identified unauthorised colonies, which are being regularised by Delhi government and development of village abadi areas, shall be only as per village development plan.

With the civic bodies raising a hue and cry over collection of regularisation charges from existing farmhouses by the DDA, it has been decided that the funds shall be shared by the DDA and corporations as per the modalities decided by the Central government.

In the meeting, 25 modifications in the under review MPD 2021 were approved and sent to the urban development ministry for final notification. These include policy for motels, policy for multi-disciplinary clinics for persons with learning disability, policy for temporary cinemas, policy on private public participation in land assembly development, policy for legalisation of godowns in non-conforming areas, etc. These proposals are at various stages of finalisation with some of them such as motels and farmhouses already notified. A new chapter in the MPD-2021 is being added on transit-oriented development and the chapter on environment is being redrafted.

South civic body claims DDA trying to usurp its authority over farmhouses

New Delhi: Leader of the House in the South Delhi Municipal Corporation Subhash Arya on Wednesday opposed the decision taken by the high-powered committee of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to declare farmhouses in villages of low-density areas as “development area”.

Arya said the Mayor, chairman of the standing committee, leader of the House and leader of the Opposition of the South civic body had met the Lieutenant-Governor and opposed this decision. He alleged that the Congress-led governments at the Centre and in Delhi were trying to usurp all the rights and powers of the civic bodies.

“We want our jurisdiction over these farmhouses and revenue generated by them back. The DDA’s decision taken under the chairmanship of urban development minister is a gimmick by the Congress to weaken the corporations financially,” Arya said. He also said that if the DDA will not release funds, then the BJP will work out ‘’other options’’ for protesting the decision.

The Hindustan Times, 9th May 2013

Before December 25, 2002, when the Delhi Metro made its maiden journey between Shahdara and Tis Hazari stations, an aging fleet of Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) buses and equally rickety but dangerous blueline buses were the only mass transit systems in Delhi. Those who could afford started buying cars and two-wheelers to drive to work. The expansion of the Metro network transformed the way people travelled in the city.

Ten years later, it’s yesterday once more. Despite 2.1 million passengers travelling in the Metro - which is bursting at the seams during peak hours - and higher number of buses carrying more passengers, more people have taken to driving their own vehicles.

Experts believe that unless there is a strong and integrated multi-modal transit system, it will be difficult for the government to achieve its target of bringing the ratio of public transport to private vehicles to a healthy 70:30.

They also say that there is a need for a system where people can walk or ride a bicycle or share an auto to reach the nearest Metro, monorail or bus station. “No system will be successful unless all independent systems work in tandem,” said Manfred Breithaupt, senior transport advisor with GIZ-SUTP, an international transport consultant body.

Integration of multi-modal transport systems not just means physical and network integration. Integration of fare systems and information sharing is really important. Delhi’s 190-km Metro network and more than 5,500 bus system work in isolation. The government is now talking about laying a monorail network and building ‘pod taxi’ system.

Last-mile connectivity should be the key, say experts. “People will continue to use private vehicles if there are no cheaper means of public transport available to reach Metro stations or bus stands,” said Ashok Bhattacharya, director, Unified Traffic and Transportation (Infrastructure and Planning) Centre (UTTIPEC).

That is why, apart from advocating shared autos for the Capital, UTTIPEC is doing a project on multi-modal integration at Metro stations.

“We have taken up 68 stations. There will be proper space for walking and non-motorised vehicles. There will be no parking for private vehicles. DMRC will follow the same pattern at the rest of its stations,” Bhattacharya said.

Strong bus transit system is another mode experts have suggested. More than 140 cities in the world have BRT corridors. Delhi experimented with it but left it midway, fearing voters’ backlash, But many other Indian cities - mainly Tier-II cities such as Ahmedabad, Indore, Hubli-Dharwad - are experimenting with it.

“A quality public transport system is the best way to promote social cohesion. It is better to design routes in a way that travellers do not have to endure multiple transfers,” Lloyd Wright, Senior Transport Specialist, Asian Development Bank, told HT.

The Hindustan Times, 9th May 2013

Six hill forts from Rajasthan may soon get the prestigious tag of World Heritage Sites of the Unesco. The forts - Chittorgarh, Kumbhalgarh, Ranthambore, Gagron, Jaisalmer and Amber - are all located on the Aravalli range, which also happens to be one of the oldest mountain ranges in the world.

Inclusion in the list of World Heritage Sites does not mean financial or other benefits but can impact the footfall pattern as these sites are usually mentioned when drawing up tour packages.

The Hill Forts of Rajasthan is a serial nomination. A two-member team from the advisory body of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) visited Jaipur in November 2012 and held a meeting with the State Government and ASI officials.

“Following this, the ICOMOS recommended that the hill forts be part of the World Heritage Site list,” Union Culture Minister Chandresh Kumari Katoch told reporters on Thursday.

However, while the nominations of the six hill forts were accepted, the Great Himalayan Park near Kullu in Himachal Pradesh was rejected. Katoch, however, said that the government will pursue it again next years along with Rani Ka Bagh in Pattan in Gujarat.

Four of the six forts are protected by the Achaeological Survey of India (ASI) and two by the Rajasthan state archaeological survey, said Union Culture Minister Chandresh Kumari Katoch adding that the nomination dossier of the hill forts was prepared by the State Government and was sent to the World Heritage Site centre in January 2011.

The monuments ranging from 8th to 19th century AD represent Rajput military hill architecture, which are exceptional examples of centres of Rajput power and control, are reflections of courtly culture and patronage of arts and music, their mercantile business, etc.

The structural ruins comprise multi-gated approaches through massive and high fortification walls, palaces, temples, memorials and water reservoirs. The extensive fortifications - up to 20 kilometres in circumference - exploit the contours of the hills, and specifically the river at Gagron, the dense forest at Ranthambhore, and the desert at Jaisalmer.

Each represents a different era, different geographical area and different designs. Both Ranthambore and Kumbhalgarh are forest forts. One of the defences of these forts is the thick vegetation surrounding them which practically hide their existence.

The last Indian monument that got the tag of World Heritage Site in 2010 was Jantar Mantar. Of the 911 monuments that Unesco has labelled World Heritage Sites, India hosts 28. Five of these are natural sites.

The Pioneer, 10th May 2013

In the ongoing protracted battle between the state and the Naxals in the central part of India, the dominant tribal population of this region has become the most prominent victim. Against this background, 240 km away from Raipur - in Damkasa village near Durgkondal block in Kanker district - 70-year-old retired teacher Shiv Singh Anchla has dedicated his post-retirement life to the conservation and promotion of the Gondi language and culture.

The Gond community, to which Mr. Anchla belongs to, is one of the largest tribes in Chhattisgarh. In the forested hills of the Bastar region in south Chhattisgarh, the Gonds have been significantly known for their rich culture. In recent years though, the vibrant colours of this rich civilisation have been fading away.

The Gond community, like other adivasi communities, is woven into a symbiotic relationship with the environment. They worship nature that, in turn, helps these indigenous communities sustain their socio-economic and cultural lives. Their care and concern for their natural heritage is well reflected in their customs wherein every single community is entrusted with protecting one of the rare trees and animals and no one is allowed to harm them at any cost. This way, the balance between man and his environment is maintained. The advent of external factors, however, has weakened the sanctity of such practices.

“Adivasis have always been environment-friendly because they believe that trees, stones and forests are their God. Alarmingly, in the last few years, trees are being cut ruthlessly, indicating that adivasis are forgetting the importance of their life-giving forests,” says Mr. Anchla worriedly. To restore respect for Mother Nature, he has established Jango Raitaar Vidya Ketul after the name of a local deity Jango Raitaar, revered as the goddess of language of the Gond tribe. Set in five acres of land donated by Mr. Anchla himself, this nature park is home to rare herbs, plants and trees which otherwise are likely to become extinct with few even recognising the loss.

Mr. Anchla is also planning to establish an International Divya Gyan Research Institute and Gyan Mani Shiksha Dweep Vilakshan Vidyalaya. This institute will train people who share the common interest of exploring the history of local adivasi culture, their deities and their unique relationship with forests.

This visibly-determined old man sensed the looming threat during his teaching days and began to share with his students the intricacies of their natural as well as cultural heritage to ensure that the next generation takes responsibility for the cultural wealth they have inherited from their forefathers. Not an opposer of contemporary education system, he believes that every form of education that develops or increases the knowledge of mankind should be promoted. He maintains that this should not, however, be at the cost of sacrificing their traditional culture.

To save the traditional Ghotul practices, the Gondi language and the tribe’s festivals, he organised a Rath Yatra in November last year to make people aware of their culture and join hands for its preservation.

Leading a humble life, Mr. Anchla is also the religious head of the Gond tribe in Chhattisgarh. Besides, he is a skilled medical practitioner (vaid) and successfully treats many ailments using natural herbs.

The Hindu, 10th May 2013

The eyes of the international wildlife community seeking a ban on dolphinariums in India are on Union Minister for Environment and Forests Jayanthi Natarajan to make good her oral commitment towards stopping the setting up of dolphin parks, which animal conservation activists claim causes a lot of harm to the marine mammals.

A spokesperson of Federation for Indian Animals Protection Organisations (FIAPO) said on Thursday that global dolphin sympathisers including famous dolphin advocate Ric O Barry, OBE Virgina Mckenna, Sanctuary Asia founder and prominent wildlife conservationist Bittu Sahgal and other conservation-oriented organisations like National Wildlife Board, Earth Island Institute, Born Free Foundation had their eyes trained on the MoEF waiting for a formal legislation prohibiting keeping of cetaceans (dolphins & whales) in captivity in India.

“Jayanthi Natarajan has recently stated that she will not allow captive dolphin facilities known as dolphinariums in India. This is a hugely encouraging step in the right direction… We now hope that she will actively legislate a complete prohibition on the keeping of cetaceans in captivity in India,” the FIAPO spokesperson said.

The statement comes a day after Natarajan’s statement in New Delhi that proposed dolphinarium in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa, Noida and Maharashtra would not be granted sanction by her Ministry, as claimed by People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

“It is well known that dolphins suffer in captivity. They are extremely intelligent, self-aware beings with emotions, feelings and close relationships to one another and call the vast and dynamic oceanic habitat, home,” the FIAPO spokesperson said.

“Removing dolphins from the ocean and putting them into small tanks or sea pens in dolphinariums and making them perform for commercial entertainment, is removing a significant part of who they are as dolphins and forcing them to endure a life of misery in captivity,” FIAPO added.

The Pioneer, 10th May 2013

Due to low disposable income, Indian consumers now prefer travelling to domestic leisure hotspots for holidays over international destinations, says the latest MasterCard Consumer Purchasing Priority Survey on travel.

The survey interviewed 805 respondents in four cities - Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore, and Chennai - who talked about their travel habits and preferences. Respondents were in the age group of 18-64 years.

The top three domestic destinations where consumers headed include Agra, Delhi and Mumbai followed by Bangalore and Jammu. The survey claims that the focus on international travel continues to be aspirational with only 17% respondents intending to travel overseas in the next 12-months.

Hong Kong, Australia and Saudi Arabia emerged as the top three international destinations choice for Indians in the next 12-months.

The survey notes that travel agents play a big role in clinching deals as 58% respondents opted to go with a travel agent for making the bookings. Further, on domestic leisure trips consumers prefer making payments in cash for various expenses.

In the dining and entertainment category, 'mid-range family restaurants and cafes' emerged the most popular destinations with 55% respondents opting for them.

In the luxury shopping segment, the survey found ownership of luxury goods to be low in India. Though the respondents who shop for luxury goods said this year they intended to spend US$1,500 (Rs 81,210), up from about US$ 1,000 (Rs 54,140) a year ago.

The Hindustan Times, 10th May 2013

Royal Enfield could well become the first Indian automotive company to set up its own heritage museum. A common strategy in developed markets like the West and Japan, automotive museums are a rarity in India. Although a number of Indian companies have a legacy going back to more than half a century - including the likes of Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Hindustan Motors and Ashok Leyland - there are no public displays of India's automotive heritage.

When the Royal Enfield museum does come up, it will be a first putting India alongside such famed auto museums as the Mercedes Benz Museum in Stuttgart and the Suzuki Museum in Hamamatsu. "The museum is definitely something Royal Enfield will put up though the time frame etc has not been fixed," said a top Eicher Motor's official. Eicher Motors owns Royal Enfield.

Siddhartha Lal, MD & CEO, Eicher Motors Ltd said, "We will definitely do a museum and we are up to it as well though we're not in a rush." Although Lal did not specify, the museum will probably be housed in the company's mint-fresh new plant in Oragadam in the outskirts of Chennai which was inaugurated earlier this month. Apart from the museum, the Rs 150 crore factory has also built in another first — a visitors' gallery. Also common in iconic and historic car factories in developed markets, the Royal Enfield visitors' gallery will be a first in India.

"The new plant has been built with viewing galleries worked into the layout," said Lal. "I am told that the Lonely Planet includes our old plant in Tiruvottiyur in its list of must-visit landmarks in Chennai. We do get a lot of visitors including foreign tourists and visiting diplomats and the gallery will help us organize regular tours for those who want to see our plant and be a part of the making of our bikes. Currently we have such tours every Saturday in our old plant and we would like to have them in our new plant," he added.

The proposed museum and plant tours are part of a strategic move by the company to highlight Royal Enfield's motoring heritage. The other aspect of that drive is the company's foray into accessories — also common among automotive brands in the west.

Royal Enfield announced its foray into accessories like biking gear and clothing in 2012 and it has already extended both the range of items as well as the showrooms stocking them. "Our accessories range currently comprises about 30 items available in around 10 stores and by the year end we will go national taking the range to all our dealerships nationwide," said Lal.

The Times of India, 10th May 2013

The Supreme Court on Thursday issued a notice to the Centre and Archaeological Survey of India seeking their responses to Uttar Pradesh government's plea for its permission for beautification of areas near the Taj Mahal.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir also sought a response from central pollution control board on the state government's plea.

Two applications were filed by the state government seeking permission from the apex court to develop Taj Nature Walk and Taj Heritage Corridor Area (Mumtaj Eco Park) near the white marble mausoleum located. Taj Mahal, built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife Mumtaz, is a Unesco World Heritage Site.

Earlier, the Mayawati government had also planned beautification of areas near the Taj through Taj Corridor Project but it was mired in corruption charges and a CBI inquiry was directed into it by the apex court.

The Times of India, 10th May 2013

A section of Ghalib’s haveli that has been refurbished and is open to the public The chandeliers twinkled, poetry filled the air, and Mirza Ghalib was present - in spirit.

Indian Council For Cultural Relations has put together an exhibition-cum-museum on Ghalib at Ballimaran, Chandni Chowk. The ICCR completed the process of refurbishing Ghalib’s haveli and is showcasing his photos, clothes, letters and books.

The inaugural evening had some eminent poets reciting Ghalib’s poems, dressed in elaborate costumes reminiscent of the Mughal era. The highlight of the night was a performance by noted ghazal singer, Imran Khan. “The haveli has been renovated well. It’s an honour to recite Ghalib’s poems.”

Famous Kathak dancer, Uma Sharma, who spearheaded the campaign to refurbish Ghalib’s home, said, “When I first visited the haveli 16 years back, it was in a bad state. I met the owner and made up my mind to do something to preserve it. Tonight the haveli looks alive. Suresh Goel and Pavan Varma have contributed immensely and I admire the extensive work done. The place has been beautifully lit up with chandeliers and the curtains have been dry-cleaned. It has been made open to the public.”

Born and brought up in Delhi, Uma Sharma feels Delhi has changed tremendously. “Delhi is no longer safe and clean. Chandni Chowk should remain the way it is but cleaner. It is too crowded now with tempos and cars. Chandni Chowk had a certain smell to it which I would like to bring back with similar projects.”

The Delhi government along with some politicians are working on building and cleaning the roads, which lead to the haveli. “Delhi government has been a great help and we are trying to clean the roads nearby. We are working on improving the overall outlook,” said an MLA of the area.

The Asian Age, 11th May 2013

My first encounter with Freddie Smetacek was through stories. A friend, who’d met him at his house in Bhimtal, took such delight in talking about him that Smetacek became an instant legend for me.

I had hoped to some day meet the man with the enormous bug and butterfly collection and a wall full of dirty limericks. As fate would have it, Freddie Smetacek stayed in the realm of stories for me.

This time, I meet him in a book penned by his son, Peter. Butterflies On The Roof Of The World opens with a young Peter chasing an elusive species of the winged creature through steep mountain-sides, almost Mowgli-like in his understanding of the landscape and its dangers.

The memoir is a saga of growing up, of emerging from behind the shadows of his father’s obsession and achieving a unique understanding and expertise that goes far beyond what the junior Smetacek had grown up with.

While talking about how a certain museum beetle attack destroyed his father’s collection and left him quite despondent, Smetacek writes with great clarity about what led him to choose the life of a lepidopterist, a life in sync with nature. “Having nothing to do is one of the prerequisites for observing nature,” he writes.

With that, Smetacek defines the pace of the book. The slowness of it might take a little getting used to for the average reader at times, and the long descriptions of various Lepidoptera might even seem tedious. But inside these stories of nature and its bountiful creations are nestled stories of the people who are close to the writer.

Wildly informative as they are, it is in these bits that much is revealed about the individuals who make the memories - the siblings, the father, the mother, the wife, the grandfather - and the space-time continuum that they inhabit together. This is more than a book about butterflies.

It’s a manual of sorts - one designed to prepare you for life outside the concrete jungle. Read closely, the memoir transforms into a window into a whole way of life, one where moths and other specimens of the insect population are not things that one must eliminate.

The manner in which Smetacek narrates tales of beetles and frogs and herds of monkeys, making them almost human, is enchanting. For Smetacek it is important to exist within nature, not in spite of it - and this is what makes the book significant for this reviewer.

The Hindustan Times, 11th May 2013

Six hill forts of Rajasthan, including Amber fort in Jaipur, may soon find a place on UNESCO's World Heritage List.

The International Council in Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), which evaluates the cultural properties for UNESCO, has made a recommendation for inclusion of Chittaurgarh fort in Chittaurgarh district, Kumbhalgarh fort in Rajsamand, Ranthambhore fort in Sawai Madhopur, Jaisalmer fort in Jaisalmer, Amber fort in Jaipur, and Gagron fort in Jhalawar in the UNESCO list, Culture Minister Chandresh Kumari Katoch told media.

ICOMOS inspected the sites last year.

The hill forts are located on the Aravalli mountain range and are excellent example of Rajput military hill architecture, which are found in palaces, temples, memorials and even in villages.

Built between eighth and 19th centuries, these forts are unique to this region and creatively use the landscape to increase protection and are exceptional examples of centres of Rajput power and control, reflections of courtly culture and patronage of arts and music, their mercantile business.

The structural remains or ruins comprises multi-gated approaches through massive and high fortification walls, palaces, temples, memorials and water reservoirs.

These have extensive fortifications up to 20 kms in circumference and exploits the contours of the hills and specifically the river at Gagron, the dense forest at Ranthambhore, and the desert at Jaisalmer.

The nomination dossier on hill forts of Rajasthan comprising five forts namely Chittaurgarh, Kumbhalgarh, Ranthambhore, Amber and Gagron fort was prepared by the state government and was sent to World Heritage Centre in January 2011.

The five Rajasthan forts were nominated last year too, but UNESCO rejected them. This year, the government added the Jaisalmer fort, reworked the documents and renominated the five.

A two-member ICOMOS advisory mission, consisting of Susan Denyor and Giles Tillotson, visited Jaipur in November last year and held a meeting with the officials of Archaeological Survey of India and Rajasthan government.

The ICOMOS in its report has recommended that the Hill Forts of Rajasthan be inscribed on the World Heritage List.

India had also sent the nomination for inclusion of the Great Himalayan National Park in Himachal Pradesh in World Heritage Sites this year, under the cultural proporties category, but its candidature has been put on hold for want of some documents.

The Park, spread over 75,400 hectares, is located on the western part of the Himalayan mountains in Kullu district.

It is among the most scenic sites in the country and rich in biodiversity. It is home to 25 forest types, supports 805 kinds of plants and hosts 31 species of mammals and 209 sort of birds. India has 29 world heritage sites - 23 cultural and six natural properties.

The Times of India, 11th May 2013

Architecture is a strange profession. It survives on hope, but it thrives in self created ugliness. It makes for beautiful books, but left to itself, creates dreary and ramshackle buildings. Today, in the mutilated reality of the Indian city it is getting harder and harder to discover anonymous places of quiet attraction, places that are not excuses for professional self-congratulation. Yet in print, the beautiful and the beguiling structures of Indian heritage continue to appear in coffee-table books with unerring regularity.

Goa, its architecture and landscape, is however an exception. In a history still visible, the Portuguese home - now a bit squalid and overrun by vegetation - is a stirring reminder that foreign invasions produced some of the more lasting evidence of Indian culture. In the new, beautifully produced book The Indo-Portuguese House, introduced by architect Gerard da Cunha, the history of Goan building - church, palace and home - is encapsulated in a flash of mesmerising photographs and extended captioned text. A pictorial introduction of people, personalities and places lends a somewhat hurried background to the architectural task that follows.

In the main section of the book, Akeru Barros Pereira, a water colourist from Kyoto, married to a Goan, brings to her drawings a bit of both cultures: the Japanese restraint in painted form, applied to the pastel exuberance of the Portuguese house, and landscape. It takes a sensitive Japanese artist to make a significant personal record of such a type of domestic architecture. Of course, the muted assembly of the façade, and the set colonial practices of design and construction made every house only a minor variant of the other. By changing the pastel shade, the colonial trim, the shape of window, and the size of front verandah, each composition altered slightly. The house was merely a careful combination of these architectural elements which, when seen together, made for a casual conformity. As with all great architecture, under the shaded vines, after a while everything began to look similar. The book's scope seems to lie less in defining house types, but instead capturing a personal and romanticised view of the place.

The Indian Express, 11th May 2013

The 19th century was a strange period for the Hungarians. At some level, there was a curiosity among Hungarians about Asia being a land of "possible descendents". It's no surprise that in 1926, a 36-year-old Hungarian author, Ervin Baktay came from Budapest to India with questions on his mind. Fascinated by Indian figures such as Rabindranath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi, he gave up his career as an artist to pursue Indology. After his sister's (Marie Antoniette Gottesmann) marriage to a Sikh scholar named Umrao Singh Sher-Gil, he travelled across India and documented India of that era. His observations remain most relevant in Hungary. Marking Baktay's 50th death anniversary, a photo exhibition titled, "Enchanted by India : Ervin Baktay" at the Hungarian Information and Cultural Centre, is on display and documents his travels through photographs. Sourced from the private archives of Baktay's family and curated by Zoltan Bonta, 30 photographs show the Indologist, writer and artist in various parts of India between 1926 and 1929. "Baktay's life was spent in making India known to the West. Yet, in India, he is not known because his books were in Hungarian," says Geza Bethlenfalvy, author of Enchanted by India - Baktay Ervin (1890-1963) Life and Works, a former Director of the Hungarian Centre and DU professor, who has helped in bringing the exhibition to India. Among the poignant images on display is that of Umrao Singh-Baktay Gottesmann family; Baktay with Singh in Lahore's Shalimar Garden; in Shimla; on his houseboat in Dal Lake and his last India visit in 1956. One of the photographs show a young Ervin Baktay when he was studying art under Simon Hollosy, the Hungarian pioneer in naturalism and realism. This was also the time he got interested in Asian arts and aesthetics. It was Hollosy's school of art that led him to mentor his niece, Amrita Sher-Gil, who was in Hungary, and encourage her to become an artist. "There is a notebook which shows various drawings by her, which were guided by Baktay," says Bethlenfalvy.

The Indian Express, 12th May 2013

The flora and fauna, which were found in abundance along the banks of Yamuna in Delhi 100 years ago, have successfully been revived. With the reintroduction of several extinct medicinal plants in the flood plains of the river-Yamuna Biodiversity Park (YBP), environmentalists are hopeful to restore river’s pristine glory.

The first phase of the ambitious project of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA)-YBP is complete and attracting significant number of migratory birds.

As environmentalists put it, rapid urbanistion in the city especially on the banks of the river was primarily responsible for vanishing of the flora and fauna. However, they have been revived in the Yamuna Biodiversity Park, which is spread over an area of 457 acres. Of this, 157 acres of land has been developed in the first phase; while the remaining area will be developed in the second phase that will take at least five to six years.

According to the environmentalists and scientists, these species of plants have been collected from jungles in the adjoining States - including Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand - and revived in Delhi by creating favourable conditions. The medicinal and fruit plants such as tylophora asthemetica, ceropegie bulbosa, gala, khirnis, white variety of jamun, which once found in abundance in the Yamuna basin forests, have been reintroduced for conservation. These species had almost vanished from the Yamuna in Delhi over the last 100 years.

The Biodiversity Park, which is the first of its kind in the world, is also providing a home to a variegated hue of birds and species of animals besides enhancing the conservational, educational and cultural value. It a collective attempt by the DDA and Centre for Environmental of Degraded Ecosystems of Delhi University to bring back the vanishing flora and fauna. This park was once a barren land and has been now been completely overhauled into a biologically rich nature reserve attracting people even from the foreign countries. Students and researchers have shown a keen interest in the park.

“Rapid industrialistion and human encroachments had left the Capital bereft of its natural glory. The development of this wilderness has set an example for not just States within our country but also countries across the globe that are now trying to emulate this nature reserve. Recently we had a delegation of Canadian students to visit the park. Researchers from Britain and France have also come in the recent times to the park,” said CR Babu, environment professor at Delhi University.

A team of scientists was assigned the task to bring back this vanishing flora and fauna. “These scientists surveyed all along the floodplains, upstream and downstream. They decided to bring back the plant species found along the river Yamuna and grow in the form of communities. This was a challenging task as 157 acres that was allotted to them was located in Jagatpur village in the upstream of Wazirabad reservoir. This area used to be an active floodplain but now a bund was created consequent to which no vegetation was possible in the area and only salt loving plants like Suda Fruicticosa could grow. However, now there are over 1,200 species of plants,” Babu said adding the transformation took place as the scientist first grew grasses known as Leptochoal Fusca and few other grasses which changed the Ph of soil from 10 to seven. Once the soil became neutral they added farmyard manure like cow dung. Thereafter they planted samplings of various plant species.

The scientists said the Yamuna Biodiversity Park has about 1,000 species of flowering plants which used to exist in the flood plains several decades ago. These species have been thriving in the form of 20-25 plant communities. It also has moist deciduous forests, dry deciduous forests tropical thorn forests, scrub grasslands and the most biologically rich grasslands. “The Yamuna Biodiversity Park is based on the ecosystem model. It is a 10-year-old plantation. The ecosystem is fully developed. All the faunal elements have come on their own,” said Dr Ekta Khurana, ecologist at the park.

The environmentalists have also created a wetland in the park that harbours 60 species of fish including Katla and Rohu. They said along with the vegetation also came a large population of mongoose Indian heir, Corcupine and most interestingly wild pigs. It also has a butterfly conservatory which contains 55 different species of butterflies. At the beginning there were just 35 species of birds but today there are 200 species. It also has a conservatory of about 450 species of fruit yielding trees. Its herbal conservatory boasts of at least 350 medical plants. It is also equipped with an excellent interpretational centre.

“A huge wetland has already been created and more wetlands and marshes will soon be developed. Sixty per cent of the area will be under wetland marshes. Forty per cent of the area will be flood plains, forest and grasslands that can sustain the annual flood events. These wetlands will impound the floodwater and will serve as a habitat for many resident as well as migratory birds in the future,” said Dr Mohammed Faizal, Entomologist at the Yamuna Biodiversity Park.

Another scientist Dr AK Singh, a plant taxonomist at the park said, “The entire project will take nearly six years to get completed .The project is lagging because of local issues like demarcation of land.”

In the first phase, nearly 100 acres of wetland were created which will hold 500 million gallons of floodwater. This, according to environmentalist, will recharge the groundwater that will ultimately benefit people living along the alluvium plains of Delhi.

The Biodiversity Park, which represents Delhi’s natural heritage and rich biological diversity of the flood plains of Yamuna River, has also become a means of promoting natural education among school and college students.

As many as 40,000 students and public from all across the world visit the park annually. This park is however open to public only if they come in groups and are accompanied by a guide. This has been done in order to prevent the jungle from further pollution.

The Pioneer, 13th May 2013

Mochis played a vital role in medieval times, and were often rewarded for their services. R.V. SMITH tells the tale of one such mochi who was gifted a vineyard by Jahangir

Once when Akbar went hunting he lost his way in the jungle. Separated from his entourage, he went looking for water to quench his thirst. An old man grazing goats gave him a lota full of water. The grateful emperor used his paan spit to write afirman on a leaf gifting 40 villages to the goatherd. The man put the leaf in his turban and forgot about it. When he suddenly remembered the incident, he looked for the leaf in his turban and, failing to find it, went in search of his benefactor, bewailing, “ Bakri char gayi chalees gaon (the goat has nibbled away 40 villages)”. Word reached Akbar and he summoned the man, who then realised that it was the emperor himself who had made the gift to him. Needless to say Akbar made good his loss and the goatherd led a luxurious life after that. But there are some improbabilities in the tale: Akbar was not fond of paan and couldn’t be chewing one while out hunting. Secondly, he was illiterate so how could he have written the firman ? Nevertheless, his gift showed how generous kings could be at times.

It is, therefore, not surprising that his son Jahangir could be just as benevolent, for he gave a baghcalled Arakpur to a mochi (cobbler) named Ramdas. The place thereafter came to be known as Arakpur Bagh Mochi. Arakpur could mean that it was a vineyard or a rose garden where the attar of roses (discovered by Asmat Begum, Noor Jahan’s mother) was distilled, may be along with the wine, as a famous song says, “Us mein phir milai jaye thodi si sharab (let’s mix some wine in the juice of flowers)”. Well, Arakpur seems to have been a famous garden owned by Ramdas, son of Maluk Chand of Rohtak. It finds mention in Maulvi Zafar Hasan’s list of monuments of Delhi, compiled in the second decade of the 20th Century. After that people forgot about the place and it was left to an enterprising researcher, Nivedita, to trace it on the outskirts of Chanakyapuri and fix its exact location, which had not been mentioned even by Zafar Hasan, who described it thus:

“The Bagh is an extensive enclosure surrounded by a masonry wall, with a bastion at each of the four corners and a big gateway towards the east. In the centre of the enclosure there is a tank about 120 sq ft, with a circular bastion, which has a pavilion (baradari) of three compartments on its northern bank. It was originally a bagh built by one Ramdas entitled Mochi and it is after his title that the garden is known.”

There seems to be a contradiction here. If the bagh originally belonged to Jahangir then how could Ramdas have built it? Could be that he extended it, though there is a well with a diameter of seven feet six inches under the back wall of the baradari, the inscription on which says it was built by Jahangir. The emperor was not a frequent visitor to Delhi and preferred to stay in Agra or Lahore but whenever he did come to the erstwhile capital, he could not do without his wine and kababs (“ Ek lukma kabab ho, ek pyala sharab ho/ Sultanate Noor-e-Jahani abad ho barbad ho ”). The couplet means that so long as he got his wine and kababs he was not bothered whether his kingdom, virtually ruled by his wife, prospered or went to ruin. Such a king gifting a vineyard to a mochi signifies that the cobbler must have rendered some great service to him — could be that he saved his life or mended the royal shoes while the emperor was going for battle or on shikar . But this can be a conjecture, like the story about Mohammad Shah falling in love with the wife of a cobbler he met during an excursion in the countryside and giving the man a garden and a title in lieu of taking the woman into his harem.

Mochis played a vital role in medieval times as they were the ones who shod the soldiers without whom the imperial army would have been quite ineffective. Remember what an unhorsed Richard III kept crying before being struck down at the 1485 battle of Bosworth, “A horse, a horse / A kingdom for a horse”. And if an emperor lost his shoes in battle he could very well have lost his kingdom too. Regharpura in West Delhi is the home of those who followed the army and skinned horses and other animals that fell in battle. The skin was used for, among other things, making shoes. Hence the importance of cobblers, who were not overlooked even by Shah Jahan. When he built Shahjahanabad, two streets in it were named after mochis – one near Chitli Qabar and the other between Turkman and Ajmeri gates. They are still known as Gali Mochiyan. Latest research has brought to light the fact that Bagh Mochi subsequently became known as Moti Bagh for the sake of a decent name for Government quarters built in the bagh. However during Maulvi Zafar Hasan’s time there were mud huts of the villagers there, who later sold them to realtors, thus driving the last nail into the history of a royal garden. But was Ramdas really a cobbler - or did mochi indicate some sort of medieval title?

Incidentally, the ruler of a former princely State was known as the Mehtar of Chitral. Now Mehtar also means sweeper!

The Pioneer, 13th May 2013

Deaths due to unnatural causes and low rate of reproduction are turning captive elephants into an endangered species in Kerala, the God’s Own Country where jumbos are an inalienable part of festivals at temples and mosques and an added attraction at programmes like inaugurations and grand receptions.

More than 300 tamed elephants have died in the past four years in Kerala and a majority of them were aged between 20 and 40. Year 2009 alone had seen the death of 81 captive elephants in Kerala. At the same time, reproduction among captive elephants has been on the decline for the past several years and almost no reproduction is taking place presently.

“Kerala has about 700 captive elephants and the number is coming down every passing year,” says Parameswaran Nair, an elephant-lover from Thrissur. “On the one hand, owners and mahouts are killing elephants by putting them to overwork while on the other no reproduction is taking place. Tamed elephants soon could disappear from Kerala in a few years,” he says.

Over a dozen captive elephants have already died in Kerala this year. Veterinary doctors and officials of the State Wild Life Department say that majority of the deaths are due to unnatural causes. One of the main reasons behind the high number of jumbo deaths in Kerala is the tendency of mahouts and owners to put the jumbos to work in extreme summer heat.

Doctors say that the main cause of a majority of deaths of elephants is impaction, blockage of digestive tracts due to dehydration and intake of unfamiliar food. They also say that allowance-hungry mahouts and avaricious owners are in the habit of putting ill jumbos to work to cash in on the seasonal demand without providing timely treatment and rest to the animals.

As per the rules, elephants should not be put to work for Ezhunnallippu (parading at temple festivals) for more than six hours a day but this norm is never adhered to by the owners. During the temple festival season between January and May, every elephant is made to work for an average of ten hours a day.

“The jumbos’ ordeals do not end there,” says Mohana Prasad, working against cruelty towards the pachyderms.

“Elephants should be given total rest tomorrow if it works today but this never happens. They keep on travelling from one festival ground to another all through the summer months, resulting in serious health impairment,” he says.

“That is not all. Food habit is a very important thing for elephants. But the mahouts who take them from festival ground to festival ground cannot get the same kind of fodder for the elephant every day. This situation leads to force-feeding, leading to impaction and other kinds of digestive problems which through repetition ensures the jumbo’s eventual death,” Prasad says.

Elephant-lovers say there is a tendency among the owners to let elephants die rather than providing them with treatment with an eye on insurance money. A grown-up elephant costs between Rs 25 lakh and Rs 30 lakh. Though the insurance amount normally is Rs 6 lakh, owners generally prefer to access that sum to spending lakhs of rupees on treatment of the ill jumbos.

The Wildlife Department thinks that this situation coupled with the low rate of reproduction can lead to the disappearance of captive elephants in Kerala in some years. Therefore, the department is considering programmes to promote their reproduction at the Forest Department’s elephant camps in the State.

The Forest Department’s four jumbo camps in State have a total of 27 elephants. Of these, two tuskers and six cows could be used for reproduction, the department thinks. The plan is to keep all these eight elephants in one camp. The department also thinks of including privately held jumbos in camp.

The Pioneer, 13th May 2013

Ahhichatragarh fort was among the 20 projects, spread across 16 countries, shortlisted from 800 entries

Soon after six hill forts in Rajasthan were nominated for UNESCO’s World Heritage List, the architectural heritage of the State received yet another recognition as the 12th century Ahhichatragarh Fort of Nagaur was shortlisted for the prestigious Aga Khan Award for Architecture.

The “rehabilitation project” of the 12th century monument was among the 20 architectural projects, spread across 16 countries, shortlisted from 800 entries for this year’s edition of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture (AKAA), announced on April 30 at the Palacio das Necessidades (the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) in Lisbon, Portugal.

The shortlist features a wide range of architectural projects - from a modern high-rise apartment block to the revival of traditional building techniques - located in Afghanistan, Austria, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Rwanda, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Thailand and Yemen.

The US$ 1 million award selects projects not only for their architectural excellence but also for their potential to improve “the overall quality of life.”

The award was established by Aga Khan IV, an international business magnate and the 49th Imam of Nizari Ismailism, in 1977 to “identify and encourage building concepts that successfully address the needs and aspirations of communities in which Muslims have a significant presence.”

The Award recognises examples of architectural excellence in the fields of contemporary design, social housing, community improvement and development, historic preservation, reuse and area conservation, as well as landscape design and improvement of the environment.

According to the AKAA website, the rehabilitation of the Ahhichatragarh fort, built by Muslim rulers in the 12th century, has adhered to the principles of minimum intervention. “Materials and construction methods of an earlier era were rediscovered, paintings and architectural features conserved, and the historic pattern of access through seven successive gates re-created,” notes the website. It particularly recognises “the finding and restoration of the intricate water system” within the fort, observing how “90 fountains are now running in the gardens and buildings, where none were functional at the project’s outset.”

From housing several government offices and a Border Security Force base, the fort has come a long way to its present restored phase.

The Asian Age, 13th May 2013

Till three years ago, the Lodhi-era tomb of Yusuf Qattal at Malviya Nagar on the main road leading up to Khirkee, was famous for all the wrong reasons. The premises were the tomb stood was notorious as the meeting place of anti-social elements.

Residents of the area often avoided entering or trudging through the large vacant grounds that houses the tomb, a mosque and many open graves of unknown persons. That was till the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) decided to step in and clear the premises of all unwanted elements. ASI, the custodians of the site, brought around a complete turnover by carrying out conservation work. So much so, that the place, once deemed almost haunted, now receives scores of students from a nearby school during their lunch break. For many office-goers, the premises of the tomb now are also the perfect place to take a short nap between work beneath the shades of its many trees. The soothing green lawn around the monument has also made it approachable for residents. Sufi saint Sheikh Yusuf Qattal — during Ibrahim Lodhi’s reign — is believed to have performed religious devotion at Satpula and died in the year 1526-27. His tomb is an attractive structure with beautifully carved red sandstone pillars and jaalis (latticework screens). There are kanguras around the roof. To its west is a mosque, probably built around the same time.

The Hindustan Times, 13th May 2013

Several species of beautiful birds have been forced into leaving the Garhi Mandu city forest area due to rise in pollution and loss of habitat. The forest area is spread over 894 acres in northeast Delhi.

Locals and civic workers are dumping debris and plastic waste in a huge natural wetland, which borders as much as 60 per cent of the south and eastern boundaries of this protected forest. Regular burning of garbage is causing severe air and water pollution.

On the filled up land, vegetable cultivation has also started. Water from the wetland is being regularly pumped out for cleaning vehicles and cultivation. Regular fishing is also disturbing the habitat and food chain of thes birds by causing the wetland to dry up. Open thoroughfare and playgrounds around the wetlands have also disturbed nesting.

“Resident waterbirds scared away so far include oriental darter, spot-bill duck, great and little cormorant, cinnamon bittern, white-throated kingfisher, purple swamphen, Indian moorhen,” said ecologist TK Roy. Birds, whose nesting has been disturbed, include green bee-eater, bank mynah, dabchik, and blackwinged still.

“The wetland attracts several species but despite repeated requests from environmentalists, the government is yet to notify the wetland. That’s why it’s unprotected and officially not part of the city forest,” he said.

“While so much money is being spent to save wetlands, a natural one along this city forest has been left neglected. Once the wetland is notified by the government for its protection, Garhi Mandu City Forest will be combined forest land of terrestrial and wetland habitats,” he said. The city forest is rich in biodiversity. The first-ever bird count at Garhi Mandu, conducted on February 24 this year, found 90 species, including 26 migratory and several threatened birds. “We found 33 species of waterbirds, including 13 migratory ones. Of the 57 species of terrestrial birds, 13 were migratory,” said Roy, who conducted the count.

The city forest shares its eastern boundary with colonies such as Shastri Park, Jagjit Nagar and Usmanpur along the Pushta Road which branches off National Highway 24. On the other side, it borders the left bank of the Yamuna.

The Hindustan Times, 13th May 2013

Put on your trekking boots and let this summer be a memorable one.

Summers are meant to be enjoyed outdoors. So pack your backpacks and get set to follow the trails along the trekking paradises in the country.

Western Ghats

Western Ghats is one among the eight hotspots of the world's biodiversities and was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site last year. Geography textbooks may tell you that the Western Ghats or the Sahyadri hills are a mountain range that runs along the western side of India. What it didn't tell you is that this mountain range can be a trekker's delight.

Brahmagiri hill lies along the border of Karnataka and Kerala. Brahmagiri is a 30 km-trek from Mananthavady in Wayanad and 10 km, more or less, from the Iruppu Falls in Karnataka. Most trekking expeditions in Kerala require permission from the Forest department and officials in light of heavy wildlife protection measures. More trekking options and routes are opening up along the Kerala-Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border especially in the Nilgiri hills.

Dandeli in Karnataka offers the adventure seeker rock-climbing, river rafting, camping and long treks to the Kavala caves. The dense forests that lead to the caves are peaceful and just right for the trekker in you. Apart from trekking, one can also go for bird-watching at the wildlife sanctuary, mountain biking and jeep safari.

The Karla hills in Maharashtra are just as great for trekking. The Karla cave shrines are a major tourist attraction and inarguably visited by a large number of trekkers. Forts like Lohagad, Visapur and Tung are idyllic places not just for trekking, but even for a family outing. Lonavala hill station is quite close and about 60 km from Pune.

Trekkers ideally take the route through Malvali village and Bhaja Caves to get to Lohagad. It shouldn't take more than three hours by foot to reach the base of the fort and the way to the fort is an easy climb. Many of the structures on the fort are still intact and relatively clean. Its twin fort, Visapur is on its eastern side and much larger. The treks are simple and one needn't be equipped with the latest trekking gear or rock-climbing equipment.

Himalayas

The Himalayas is undoubtedly the most spectacular of places for trekking. Pictures and video footage in magazines and channels do not do justice to the wonder of these mountains. Most places would still have snow after the heavy winter season, but when summer sets, trekking here gives you the opportunity to view the snow-clad mountains, the lush greenery of the range and experience the adrenaline rush.

Kedarkantha in Uttarakhand impresses you with its view alone. The trek takes you through dense pine forests and breaks out to open meadows. You can even spot a few Himalayan Langurs on your way if you're lucky. The trek can be wrapped up in less than a week.

Valley of Flowers is another alpine wonder in the Himalayas. The trek taking you through Govindghat, Ghangria to the valley and back is about 40 km. Carpeted with flowers of different hues and colours, the valley is known to make trekkers fall unconscious from the scent of its flowers! Now whether that holds true or not, trekking in the Valley of Fowers takes you along the blue and clear waters of the Alakananda. Can you say picture-perfect?

Essentials

Backpack

Trekking shoes

Two 1 litre water bottles (depending on the duration of your trek)

One heavy jacket/wind-breaker (depending on the location) and extra clothing

Sunscreen lotion

Flashlight with extra batteries

Medical kit (just in case)

-The Pioneer, 14th May 2013

Shobana Udayasankar chats with Shana Maria Verghis about preserving and innovating with a painting tradition that reached heights under the Vijayanagara kingdom and was patronised by the Wodeyar dynasty

The distinction between Tanjore and Mysore paintings might appear significant to the casual observer, but Shobana Udayasankar did both and developed a bias for the latter over the former.

Udayasankar who won a Lalithakala Akademi Millenium Award back in 2000, for a Mysore painting she made on goddess Devi Chamundeshwari, has an exhibition at the art gallery in Epicentre, Gurgaon. The Bengaluru-based artist explained, "Unlike Tanjore painting, which have thick gold relief, Mysore paintings have the low and intricate relief of 'gesso' work." 'Gesso' refers to a mixture of Arabic gum, white lead powder and gambose (which gives the yellow colour), that is used for embossing and is covered in gold leaf or foil.

She also said that Mysore paintings "allow one to be innovative." After a recent trip overseas, Shobana was inspired to paint figures from The Ramayana, with Balinese imagery and Mysore painting techniques. She also did this with a calender of Thai dancers.

Traditionally Tanjore and Mysore paintings are based on themes from Hindu myths and have devotional purposes. They are also used "by expectant mothers who ask for the Krishna paintings."

Because she is dealing with divine imagery, Shobana usually chants the panchadashakshar (15 letter)mantra while painting.She explained, "I try to bring divinity to a painting, so it gives prosperity to its owner."

Her daughter Krishna, who happens to be an author of the four-part Aryavarta Chronicles, explained that the tradition of Mysore art evolved after people from the North migrated South during the rule of the Maratha Sarfoji, after the Muslim invasion.

One stream migrated to Tanjore, the other would join the Wodeyars in Mysore. But we see other influences. One frames has four squares, with a yali (lion), hamsa and elephant, bearing a similarity to Javanese art designs, though Krishna mentioned that one "sees these on Indian temple pillars."

The mysore style originally used vegetable or mineral colours. However, Shobana says these are "not easily available. So I have applied watercolour and poster colour."

One wondered if this was why her awarded painting of Chamundeshwari had a slight faded look. However, other paintings in this collection are at least two decades old, and still appeared fresh.

In addition to Shiva-Parvati, Krishna-Radha and Ram, there was Chelluvaraya, an avatar of Vishnu that's worshipped as a local deity in Melkottai district. And Kamadeva with his consort, Shakti with her consort, along with Bhairava, Vishnu and Rudra.

Shobana trained with a master called Dundaraja, and the late Ramanarasaiah, who used to be a painter at the Mysore royal palace. Patronage has died, and both Udayasankars, mother-daughter emphasised that practitioners as well as buyers are few these days. It seems Ramanarasaiah's daughter-in-law continues to paint in this style, but not commercially.

The artist uses old texts like Samudrika-Lakshana, as a reference for anatomical proportions andPuranas and various material for descriptions of deities and their positioning. For instance the winning picture of Chamundeshwari shows her after killing Mahishasura. Below that figure is a smaller one with a cooler demeanor, dissipating the rage. Sometimes Udayasankar takes the advice of her family acharya(priest) for directions on placing the figures, or other details.

We admired the serene figure of Dakshinamurthy, the God of learning sitting below a tree. According to beliefs he described as 'mauna guru', because he stays silent. Marriages of the Gods as per vedic rites, with other Gods, ganas and gandharvas watching are part of the panorama.

Shobana Udayasankar began to paint in Mysore style about 30 years ago. A Tamilian settled in Bengaluru, she is skilled with handicrafts and learnt these painting techniques, "as I saw them everywhere." She said Mysore palace has a store of such paintings, "some restored, some damaged."

-The Pioneer, 14th May 2013

It is conservation red alert for the Great Indian Bustard (GIB) across the country that have disappeared from more than 90 per cent of its former range. Conservationists across the country have urged the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) and State Governments concerned to secure and fully protect all "lekking" sites of this endangered species. This may be the single most important step in saving the species.

A lekking site is a traditional place where males gather for competitive display to attract females. If these sites are subjected to disturbance or degradation, GIBs may not be able to breed, and the bird will continue to decline.

In its effort to protect such lekking sites, MoEF has banned all bustard photography during the breeding season from Apr 1 to Oct 31. "However, even disturbance outside the breeding season can have serious implications for the species. Wildlife photographers should therefore voluntarily desist from GIB photography", says Ramki Sreenivasan, from Conservation India, spearheading the "Save Bustard" campaign in the country.

Further, they have called for launching of full-scale Project Bustard under the aegis of MoEF with adequate funding and authority, on the lines of Project Tiger. It should involve national and international experts, and key people from each of the states where GIB's are still found.

"If urgent and targeted conservation actions are not taken immediately at specific sites where they still exist, the bird will almost certainly go extinct. It will be India's first mega species to go extinct in recent times", says Dr. Pramod Patil, working on GIB conservation since the last 10 years.

The need of the hour is to constitute a GIB task force in every GIB state, with a handpicked membership that includes committed officials from wildlife / forest dept, biologists, conservationists, and local community leaders, he adds.

The experts have also called for examining the feasibility of captive breeding by constituting a core group that includes international experts with experience in breeding bustards or similar endangered birds in captivity. The recovery of the California Condor, a large-sized, slow breeding American bird that was on the verge of extinction, was a result of captive breeding.

The GIB with the last surviving population of about 200 is now confined to only eight pockets in 6 Indian states - Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The largest population of about 100 birds exists in Rajasthan. "It may be already extinct in Madhya Pradesh - there are no reliable current estimates from the state.

-The Pioneer, 14th May 2013

Arun Krishnamurthy quit a promising career at Google to focus on his passion for conservation. The 27-year-old, a graduate of Madras Christian College, began with Roots & Shoots India (part of the Roots & Shoots Network) and founded his own NGO, Environmentalist Foundation, in 2011. Today, Arun works with a team of 900 volunteers towards restoring six lakes across India.

For his efforts, Arun was awarded the Google Alumni Impact Award in 2011, chosen as a Young Laureate for the Rolex Awards for Enterprise in 2012 and most recently, as a Youth Action Net Fellow by the International Youth Foundation. He has also produced and directed the environmental documentaries Elixir Poisoned and Kurma, which highlights the plight of sea turtles.

Why did you choose to focus on restoring the lakes across India?

Water at the end of an open tap has made it an insignificant resource, where we do not understand the importance of it. Water is the basis for all life… it is crucial for us to protect water bodies such as lakes and ponds as they cater to several life forms ranging from birds and amphibians to reptiles. With the urban landscape growing, several water bodies are being turned into construction sites or dump yards and thereby having a negative impact on all life forms. To ensure that the remaining water bodies are preserved our NGO, Environmentalist Foundation (EFI), started a project called Fence It, which aims at cleaning and restoring lakes and ponds in the Indian urban mass.

Community participation is one of the cornerstones of your initiative. How did you manage to get together the 900 volunteers who're working on the effort to save lakes?

EFI has extensive mass sensitisation and public awareness campaigns through which we attract volunteers to join our project. The majority of our volunteers are aged between 11 and 18 and we recruit them through dedicated school programmes. "Science Badge" is one such initiative through which we offer fellowships to students interested in scientific research and conservation.

You've worked on two documentaries. What has the response to them been like?

Reaching a large number of people has always been a challenge. When we thought about ways through which we can reach large sections of the society convincingly, we came up with the idea of street theatre and documentary films. Making these documentaries has been a learning experience and has made us better understand society in general.

At the age of 27, you've scooped up a host of awards for your work in environmental conservation. Which to you has been the most meaningful?

Every organisation that has considered and awarded us has shown confidence in our work and agrees with us that environment conservation is the need of the hour. The Rolex Award specifically is a major morale booster, it has given us at EFI a lot of confidence. Receiving an award like this has brought credibility to our work. Running an organisation which is comprised mainly of students gives us a whole new level of exposure and sense of responsibility.

In environmental activism, apart from a passion for environmental causes, what would you say is the primary requirement?

Commitment. Just because there is nobody to question us on what we have delivered for the environment, we can't just do anything and everything. We need to do the right thing in the most committed way as we are answerable to ourselves.

-The Asian Age, 14th May 2013

Why do farmers in the seven districts of Saurashtra, the coastal region of prosperous Gujarat, have to go through a severe drought almost every other year? Why has the Rs. 39,571-crore Narmada dam project, which can help millions of farmers irrigate their land, not been completed in 20 years?

Chief minister Narendra Modi has an answer. On May 5, he told farmers that they were not getting the Narmada water because the central government "had not allowed the height of the Narmada dam to be increased".

Modi blamed the "anti-Gujarat forces" for non-completion of the project, the construction of which began in 1982. The 121.92-metre dam will become 138 metres high once it's completed and will pump in enough water to the parched fields of Saurashtra and enable farmers to raise two crops a year instead of just one — that too in a good monsoon year.

The Narmada Control Authority — an independent body — can allow the height of the dam to be increased. And permission has been withheld as it is linked with the relief and rehabilitation of project-affected families in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.

But has the decade-old Modi administration done enough to distribute the Narmada water in Saurashtra through an efficient canal system? The numbers tell a story.

The Narmada project is expected to irrigate 1.845 million hectares in 15 Gujarat districts, of which 75% of the area is drought-prone. Once the Narmada project is completed, the state's agriculture growth is expected to rise by 6%, said former union minister and Planning Commission member YK Alagh.

Way back in 2007, Modi announced that the project would be completed by 2010. But his government has subsequently moved the deadline to December 2014.

Experts associated with the project said the Modi government had failed to build a massive canal network with a total length of more than 75,000 km, which would bring the Narmada water to far-flung areas in Saurashtra, Kutch and north Gujarat. But as of now, the government has completed only 35% of the canal network.

"This government has completely failed to realise the potential of the project because not even 10,000 km of canals have been built in 10 years of Modi's rule in the state," said Sanat Mehta, one of the chief architects of the Narmada project and former chairman of the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited.

Farmer Khumansinh Jadeja from Dhangadhra town summed up the prevailing sentiment of the rural community in Saurashtra: "It's been 20 years since I have been farming and have been waiting for the Narmada water to reach my field. But unfortunately, the canals have not been laid so there is no water and I cannot irrigate my farm. I am still waiting."

-The Hindustan Times, 15th May 2013

Art restoration and conservation requires a lot of precision. There are several platforms within the field that require reconditioning and open opportunities for professionals to explore some new piece of work.

Art has been an inseparable part of human life and culture since the dawn of civilisation. The spectrum of art is, indeed, vast and unlimited, beginning with the cave paintings of the early man, encompassing the Harappan art forms, adorning the Gupta period, Greeco-Roman art collection and continuing right up to the famous painters /sculptors like Tagore, Jamini Roy, Nandalal Bose, Gaugain, Rodin, Picasso, Van Gough, Salvadore Dali to name a few.

"Art restoration and conservation are two separate fields which cater to the maintainence and revival of art works. While restoration deals with reforming, cleaning and modifying the piece of art which is in rags and ruins to its original state, art conservation on the other hand emphasises on preserving the antique art item by using various techniques like documentation, frequent examination, cleaning, preventive care and other treatments. Both fields may be different from each other, yet, their eventual goal is to preserve or revive a masterpiece in a way that it doesn't lose it's original texture," Dr CV Anand Bose, vice-chancellor, Delhi Museum Institute says.

Nature of Work

Being an art restoration entails not only removing flaking paint from paintings, re-touching and painting over some parts but it is a specialised field which requires some degree of scientific knowledge especially of chemistry and primarily of painting and art history. If one is working with other medium like sculpture, manuscripts, photographs or textiles, then one needs to have specialised knowledge in those fields. Art restoration is a time consuming. One needs to work slowly and go over minute details.

Skills Required

One needs to be good at painting (or other art forms like sculpting, handling textiles, manuscripts or photographs) primarily to work as an art restorer. One also needs to have a good knowledge of art history. Most art restorers work only in those fields in which they know a lot about. So the same art restorers do not work in widely varying fields like art objects from different ages and cultures. "Art restoration and conservation is at a much better stage in the West. It is advisable that students should spend sometime in various museums and galleries in the world, do internships and free lance work in order to have a better understanding of their field. It also helps in getting trained under some of the best professionals around the globe," Dr Bose tells you.

Job Prospects

With the art industry booming and Indian art making a name for itself worldwide, the art industry is evolving in the country. More art galleries are coming up and with it art restorers and art conservers are coming into demand. "A lot of art museums and galleries hire art restorers and conservers to figure out if a masterpiece is real or fake, which includes, if it is from the time that it claims to be and if the item has the signature traits of the artist who is claims to belong to," Dr Bose states. There are also several other platforms where art restorers can find work. "There are auction houses which employ art restorers for the same kind off work. India museums are also rapidly hiring professionals to help their curators who lack specialised skills to handle and maintain masterpieces. Libraries also employ such professionals in order to preserve their manuscripts as well as other items that they may have," Dr Bose says. Art restoration courses or degrees in fine arts from India also make one eligible to work as art restorers in other countries.

There a wide quantity of Indian art objects stored in other parts of the world and which thus require specialised knowledge about Indian art in order to be restored better but one can also specialise in non-Indian art in India and work in other countries.

Remunerations

The remuneration varies widely. Some institutions employ art restorers on a project-wise basis. The job may not be a regular one but based on individual projects. Private collectors also employ art restorers primarily on this basis. However, some institutes also permanently employ art restorers and pay them monthly salaries. "There is no steady source of income or a monthly salary package. The remuneration in this field various from project to project depending on the item. However, since art restoration and conservation is such a specialised field, the pay package of for every project is generally very good, it is in the multiple of lakhs," Dr Bose says.

Where to study

• National Museum, New Delhi
• University of Mysore, Crawford Hall, Mysore
• University of Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh
• Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, Haryana.

-The Pioneer, 15th May 2013

Like most ancient cities, Delhi is also full of interesting historical surprises. In the southern part of the city lies Hauz Khas Village, a small township that traces its roots to the early 14th century, and yet, it remains the most "upscale" spot of the capital in present times.

From quirky curio shops to fancy multi-designer stores, one notices a visibly evident transition here. The narrow street, which was once famous for its "alternate crowd", is now growing vertically at a pace faster than a blink of eye. And, recently, when the Smoke House Deli opened its doors for foodies, it celebrated the spirit of 25 years of this cultural gully.

Designer Bina Ramani, who first spotted the potential of Hauz Khas, remembers that in 1987, when she first saw the ancient havelis and monuments in their natural surroundings with a lake in the milieu, she was enchanted by the untouched beauty of the area.

She says, "Around 25 years ago, I was just back from New York and looking for a place to start my designer store. One day I drove to this part of the city, which was like any other village next to the capital. The chief of the village showed me a haveli for my shop, and I immediately fell in love with the place. At that time, one could experience the beauty of sunrays falling on the lake and hobnob with the most talented artists in that quaint lane. I still remember that Suresh Kalmadi was one of the initial investors who developed properties in this area."

Dilip Cherian, columnist and image consultant, recalls one of his initial ventures in the Hauz Khas Village, and mentions about how good food and music were the main attractions in this area. He says, "Around 20 years ago we started a fine dining restaurant in Hauz Khas Village, which instantly got popular with the alternate crowd of that time. We called the place 'Touch of Class,' and at that time we had only four items on the menu in each category. It was a quaint place, and many romances bloomed in that eatery, where couples would fall for each other over our famous dessert — Death by Chocolate. I believe each city has its own escape zone, and that time Hauz Khas Village was the 'out-of-the-box' escape zone for us."

Sunil Sethi, president, FDCI, feels that Hauz Khas Village is to Delhi what Via Monte Napoleone is to Milan or Fashion District to Los Angeles, a historic lane where one can trace the heritage of fashion flourishing under a common roof.

He says, "My first introduction to HKV was in the early '90s when I attended the off-site Yves Saint Laurent show with the lake and monuments in the backdrop. In those days, this area was considered to be one of the 'arty' hubs, where one could find an art gallery, some eateries and music joints in the vicinity. The proximity of NIFT to this place played a very important role in making it a designer's favourite. At that time young NIFT passouts could afford cheap rents and start their stores here."

Aashti Bhartia, director of Ogaan, recalls that Hauz Khas Village was one of the first few places she got familiar with. She says, "As a child I used to visit my mother's (Kavita Bhartia) store all the time. Ogaan was established in 1989, and architect Revati Kamath used elements from the village to design it for us. For many years we used the natural earth plaster on the walls of the store. The Village at that time was very quiet and looked like one of the heritage lanes where one could bump into peculiar designer stuff and buffaloes on the roads at the same time."

-The Asian Age, 15th May 2013

The government has received a white paper from the industry suggesting steps to enhance solar energy projects

A demand for the creation of a separate window under the National Clean Energy Fund (NCEF) has been made by the industry. It may provide a boost to the country's domestic solar energy projects by providing easy access to finance for such clean energy technology, the industry has stated in a FICCI white paper.

The paper on reducing the cost of finance for solar energy projects through NCEF has been submitted to the government for consideration.

The Fund was announced in the budget 2011-12 and is expected to be a step for funding research and innovative projects in clean energy technology. The white paper in essence, suggests innovative models for sharing and distribution of risk and cost of financing through NCEF as the cost of financing from the domestic Financial Institutions is high.

"Given the challenges faced by the solar industry in India due to the high cost of finance, the government's decision to extend an interest subsidy from the NCEF for enabling lowering the cost of finance for renewable energy projects is a commendable step," states the white paper.

The paper recommends that the interest subsidy be made available for eligible projects and routed through the lenders to such projects so that borrowers would get lower interest rates for the loans while the lenders directly receive the subsidy. The FICCI Solar Energy Task Force was launched in February 2010, with the launch of Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) to provide a platform for the solar energy sector to deliberate on policy and regulatory issues and advance interests of the sector at domestic and global platforms.

The document states that since solar energy projects are treated on par and as part of all power sector and categorised under power for categorisation and monitoring of sector exposure, it limits the availability of finance to the sector. Treating solar energy projects under a separate category (say, Renewable Power) or under a sub-limit, similar to RPO norms stipulated by Electricity Regulatory Commissions, will provide the much needed fillip to lending to solar energy projects. In view of the absence of a separate exposure limit to renewable energy, providing a thrust to the sector for creating additional funding mechanisms becomes an imperative.

An interest subsidy could be made available for eligible projects and routed through the lenders to such projects. Thus, borrowers would get lower interest rates for the loans (not a reimbursement) while the lenders directly receive the subsidy. Since number of projects seeking such interest subsidy will be relatively large, some selection mechanism will have to be implemented to select such projects.

One way to select such projects can be in line with the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) scheme for rooftop subsidy, where-in channel partners can directly seek subsidy on behalf of customers. In a similar way, the Concerned Nodal Agency (CNA) can have banks as channel partners where-in Banks would be able to seek interest subsidy directly on behalf of projects. Under such a mechanism, banks acting as Channel Partners would do their own due diligence on the projects before approaching MNRE or the CNA. This will ensure that only quality projects get such an interest subsidy.

Since there are no industry-wide benchmarked interest rates, domestic lenders typically lend on semi-fixed rate, that is, interest rate linked to a base rate which is reviewed from time to time. Such fluctuation in the rate of interest is borne by the borrowers. The lenders may be incentivised to provide fixed interest rate loan for three to five years by providing an additional interest subsidy (for instance, 1-2 per cent per annum higher than the regular interest subsidy). Cost of financing can also be brought down through a guarantee scheme that guarantees a certain percentage of exposure to banks.

Non-performance of this guarantee scheme can be funded through the NCEF. NCEF will need to create a corpus that will act as a backstop determined based on an assumed default rate. To prevent the issue of moral hazard, guarantee can be provided on 50 per cent of exposure to the bank.

The white paper is of the view that interest rates in India are high compared to other countries including developed and other emerging markets such as China. While loans from international organisations are available at a low interest rate, the hedging costs have impeded its utility. While multilateral agencies are willing to lend, they do not want to take the Rupee exposure. In case of floating rate, the hedging cost includes cost of hedging currency and cost of hedging interest rate. Both these costs lead to a much higher effective cost of debt. As a result, a fully hedged loan in foreign currency, for example the US Dollar, becomes expensive. It is suggested that while the fluctuation in the rate of interest in the case of international loans may be borne by the borrower, the currency should be hedged with government support.

-The Hindu, 16th May 2013

Delhi's forest department came under the scanner of experts and residents on Wednesday during a daylong discussion session titled 'Delhi's dying trees.'

Noted filmmaker and environmentalist Pradip Krishen, who took part in the discussion, said: "I often wonder how Delhi's forest department envisions its role. There's a lot they can do. They can save the ridge forest. In the last several years that I have been working in the ridge area, I have not come across a single forest department staff there".

Krishen whose book 'Trees of Delhi' is considered a Bible for environmentalists said it was bad for the forest department to have said that trees and greenery could not come up in a dry, rocky terrain. "The area may not be good for agriculture but it is an excellent for forestry. In a similar but steep countryside near Faridabad, this has been happening," he said.

Ravi Agarwal of NGO Toxics Link, who moderated the session held at India International Centre, said, "Delhi has transformed from a green capital to a concrete jungle in less than a decade". "Tens of thousands of trees have been felled for roads, flyovers, Metro, Commonwealth Games, and new constructions. Those remaining have been imprisoned in concrete pavements, or their branches chopped off brutally. Despite the government's claim of increase green cover, it is clear that there are fewer trees around," he said.

Responding to some tough questions ranging from ruthless pruning to shortage of staff posed by residents, Delhi's chief conservator of forests AK Shukla said, "We're doing what we can. Civic agencies should also shoulder some responsibility. Delhi has a feudal mindset. People use their green areas for dumping garbage." Shukla, however, admitted that concrete tiling and metal guards were killing trees and that a large number of saplings were being planted every year but their survival rate was a concern.

-The Hindustan Times, 16th May 2013

The National Green Tribunal(NGT) has directed the government to settle forest rights in the notified reserved forest areas of Delhi within six months and issue a final notification within nine months.

The notification declaring areas of north, southcentral and southern Ridge as reserved forest was passed by the LG on May 24, 1994 but the necessary steps of demarcating the area, finalization of forest rights and issuance of final notification have not been "taken despite lapse of two decades".

The court issued these orders while hearing the matter of three illegal roads being built in the Rajokri Forest. A five member Bench headed by NGT chairperson Swatanter Kumar has also ordered that no non-forestry activity should be permitted in the reserved forest area which includes dumping of malba. NGT said,"All without exception are hereby prohibited from throwing any malba into the reserved forest area in terms of the provision of the Notification of May 24, 1994. All the malba that has been collected which ought to have been removed by the authorities now shall be removed by DDA and PWD. The expenses for such removal shall be equally made by both authorities, however the ridge shall be under the charge of the DDA."

The NGT has also empowered Delhi Police to not only prevent people from throwing malba into the forest area but also to charge Rs 25,000 per truck for removal of the malba. The chief secretary of Delhi has been directed to ensure that the order is implemented. Meanwhile, the DCP of south district has been asked to "ensure complete compliance of these directions and submit interim report on the next date of hearing" which is July 12, 2013. The forest department and DDA have been told to ensure that no unauthorized activity takes place in the reserved forest areas. "They shall also ensure that no destruction of forest by construction of roads or otherwise is carried out " the order says.

The matter of illegal construction of roads in the Rajokri Forest was highlight by TOI in a report on March 27, 2013 and brought to the court's notice by Amicus Curiae Raj Panjwani. He had contended that "complete inaction on the part of the authorities concerned has resulted in destruction and starting of non-forest activity in the reserved forest area", a fact that the court found "duly supported" by documents presented in. The Bench observed that "in fact none of the learned counsel appearing before us has contended that throwing of malba, removal of malba and carrying on non-forest activity has not been permitted by the concerned authorities".

Sources said that once declared as reserved forest, these areas cannot support any non-forest activity without specific permission of the competent authority. However, in several cases including Sanjay Van, Rajokri and the central Ridge, illegal occupation and dumping of waste and malba was being carried out for years.

-The Times of India, 16th May 2013

With no long-term planning and policy reforms, the country's burgeoning waste management problem is set to become a health and environmental crisis

In 2012, for the first time in its history, India saw nationwide public protests from the northernmost Jammu and Kashmir to southernmost Tamil Nadu against improper waste management. A fight for the right to a clean environment and for environmental justice led people to large-scale agitations, which resulted in remedial responses by government authorities. However, the waste management problems lay unsolved and might lead to a crisis if the status quo persists without long-term planning and policy reforms.

Hunger strike

Since Thiruvananthapuram started transporting its waste to Vilappilsala village in July 2000, respiratory illnesses there have increased tenfold, from an average of 450 cases a month to 5,000. People who regularly swim in the village aquifer have begun contracting infections while swarms of flies have become pervasive. Currently, there is not a single household that has not suffered respiratory illnesses because of the waste processing plant and the adjoining dumpsite.

In August 2012, about 500 police personnel had to accompany trucks to the waste facilities against which the president of the village went on a hunger strike and the villagers blocked the vehicles by lying on the road. As the facilities could not be forced open, following the Vilappilsalaprotests, Thiruvananthapuram's residents had to sneak out at night with plastic bags full of trash to dispose it of behind bushes, on streets or in waterbodies. For months, they had to burn heaps of trash every morning. In response to a similar situation in Bangalore, where piles of garbage were rotting in the streets for months, a landfill had to be reopened soon after its closure against the will of local residents because the city could not find a new landfill site.

Public health

Improper waste management causes public health and environmental hazards like climate change, air and water pollution, soil contamination, spreads odours and disease, and breeds vermin including flies, mosquitoes, rats, dogs and monkeys.

Municipal waste on streets and at dumpsites is a significant source of food for stray dogs. Rabies due to stray dog bites is responsible for more than 20,000 deaths in India every year. In Srinagar, 54,000 people were bitten by stray dogs in the last three-and-a-half years.

Kolkata recently experienced an outbreak of a dengue fever with 550 confirmed cases and 60 deaths. This outbreak coincides with a 600 per cent increase in dengue cases in India and a 71 per cent increase in malaria cases in Mumbai in the last five years. Transmission of mosquito-related diseases is caused by non-biodegradable litter, which causes rainwater to stagnate, or clog drains, which in turn create breeding grounds for mosquitoes.

Open burning of waste is one of the largest sources of air pollution in Indian cities. In Mumbai, it is the cause of about 20 per cent of air pollution (particulate matter, carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons.) Trash fires also emit 10,000 gram TEQ (toxic equivalents) of carcinogenic dioxins/furans every year in Mumbai alone. (In comparison, France's 127 waste-to-energy facilities together emit only four gram TEQ of dioxins from combustion of 16 million tonnes a year.)

More than a dozen years after the Municipal Solid Wastes (Management & Handling) Rules 2000 was issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, no city complies with it. Open dumping, open burning, landfill/dumpsite fires, and open human and animal exposure to waste are common.

Local governments, which are responsible for waste management, will not be able to provide immediate solutions. Finding new landfill sites around cities is nearly impossible because of the sheer lack of space for locally unwanted land uses due to population density and the scale of India's increasing urban sprawl.

This is also due to the track record of the operation and maintenance of municipal waste facilities in India, coupled with the "not in my backyard" phenomenon. There are 71 cities that generate more waste than Thiruvananthapuram does. As these cities grapple with increasing quantities of waste with limited infrastructure, the public health of Indians will continue to be jeopardised, the quality of life will degrade, and environmental resources will be polluted. This will lead to a waste management crisis if government authorities fail to leverage the current public awareness to bring about long-term reforms.

Response and planning

In 2005, the government of India responded to the challenge of solid waste management by investing Rs.2,500 crore in public-private partnerships initiated by local governments under its Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM). In his 2013 Union budget speech, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, announced support to municipalities that will build waste-to-energy projects. Even though JnNURM was phenomenal in stimulating industry and local governments, it was inadequate in addressing the scale and extent of the problem. Financing of waste management projects is not accompanied by adequate education and training of human resources. Importantly, new initiatives undertaken by various municipal officials often fail because of frequent transfers.

Waste picker cooperatives which provide healthy working conditions are already recycling waste in various cities and have the potential to expand further.

Thiruvananthapuram started penalising institutions that dump waste openly. It has also increased subsidies for decentralised waste management options. Bangalore started initiatives to encourage separating garbage at source, the results of which will be seen only after years of consistent efforts.

In response to the dengue outbreak in Kolkata, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee went door-to-door to create awareness of waste management. For good or bad, many cities have already started or initiated steps to ban certain types of plastics.

What's next?

In order to provide immediate and much-needed relief to communities impacted by improper waste management and to buy themselves time to plan better, corporations can, and should, take measures: to reduce open burning and landfill fires, cut pollution due to leachate and reduce odours, and divert waste from dumpsites by increasing the informal recycling sector's role.

In addition to discussing what should be done and the ideal state of waste management for our country, we should examine achievable goals and the incremental steps that can be taken to achieve those goals. We should not let the perfect be the enemy of good. National and local governments should work with their partners to promote source separation, achieve higher recycling rates and produce high-quality compost from organic waste. While this is being achieved, provisions should be made to handle non-recyclable wastes that are being generated and will continue to be generated. We should not be lost in ideological debates while the health, quality of life and the environment of fellow Indians are at stake. The impending waste management crisis should be approached holistically. While formulating integrated solutions, it is important that we consider the time period associated with various technologies and methods, and their applicability. Planning at the national and local levels to deliver long-term solutions should maintain focus on addressing the immediate problems.

(Ranjith Annepu is Waste to Energy Research and Technology Council–India coordinator, Global WTERT Council. E-mail: [email protected])

-The Hindu, 18th May 2013

The story of Shahjahanabad

Shahjahanabad – built by Shahjahan. That is what Shahjahanabad actually means. Just as Tughlaqabad means built by Tughlaq and the meaning of Akbarabad? Well, built by Akbar. In this last excerpt translated from Bashir-ud-Din Ahmad's magnum opus on Delhi we have chosen a description of the spread of Shahjahanabad.

"…..Col. Polier (Swiss adventurer, military engineer and soldier who made his fortunes trading in India) estimates the perimeter of the city to be 10 miles, Franklin (William Franklin who has written on the city) says it is seven miles and Captain Archer says that it is five miles. Von Orlich describes Shahjahanabad as the Rome of India and reserves high praise for its mosques, palaces, halls, gardens, the mausoleums of kings, their consorts and the mausoleums of the nobles.

This is what Franklin has to say about the city and its suburbs 'the best view of the city, its buildings and its ruins is to be had from river Jamna, flowing opposite the fort three miles from the city. The grand ruins of the forts of Ferozeshah and Shershah, the impressive mausoleum of Humayun placed atop a high pedestal, its huge dome and the numerous big and small domes dotting the skyline, some glistening in marble and others aglitter in multi-coloured hues. The Qutub Minar, encircled by hills and reaching for the heavens, marble mansions sprinkled through the undulating landscape of the city, golden domes, the grand enclosing wall, imposing red sand stone gates through which one gets a glimpse of the minarets of the Jama Masjid and the Zeenat-ul-Masjid standing erect and proud, the entire scene (scene used in the original) is extremely interesting, engaging and full of grandeur.'

It is popularly believed that that it took seven years to complete the city. Looking at the expanse of the city and the scale of construction this does not appear to be an exaggeration. Bernier (French traveller Francois Bernier) saw the city in 1666 and this is what he says '……it was about 40 years ago that with a few to perpetuate his memory, Shahjahan, the father of the present king Aurangzeb, decided to build a new city close to old Dehli and therefore this New Delhi came to be known as Shahjahanabad or in an abbreviated form as Jahanabad.

Shahjahan, sick of the oppressive heat of Agra, did not think that it was a place that could meet the requirements of a royal residence and so instead of Agra he declared Delhi to be his Capital. Quite a lot of building material was harvested from the ruins that lay scattered all around and that is perhaps why people from other nations have mixed up the two Dehlis. Indians invariably use Shahjahanabad for this New Dehli but since the name of Dehli is more popular in Europe, I too use Dehli in my travelogues. In this respect Dehli is akin to a new city Loire.

Delhi is spread on one bank of the river, the population is spread out in a large arc in such a manner that the city looks like a crescent moon. There is a bridge of boats for crossing the river, The city is protected on one side by the natural defence of the river while on the other it is enclosed by a wall, the enclosing wall, however, is not complete, because there is no moat to defend the city, neither have any defensive provisions been made, there is of course at every 100 steps an old style bastion and an earthen mound in the shape of a raised wall. The width of the citadel wall is about four or five French feet. This enclosing wall runs not only around the city but the wall also runs around the fort ( Red Fort) but the perimeter of the city is not as extensive as people assume it to be. I was able to easily go around the city astride a horse in three hours and I don't think I was moving at a speed faster than one French league an hour. In this circumambulation of the city, I did not however cover the suburbs of Dehli, they are extensive and spread towards Lahore, the structures of the old city are spread wide and there are three or four smaller settlements near this city as well.

If all of them are combined, the city will become quite large. If a straight line was drawn such that it passed through the centre of the city, the length of the line will be a little more than a league. Though I am unable to give the exact measure of this city, because in the suburbs there are many large gardens and many open areas, we should accept that the extent of the city is simply huge".

At places the description may not be very exciting but what it contains is information gathered from diverse sources and crossed referenced, something that was not common in the times when this work was written.

When you come across details like the times when new gates were added to the enclosing wall of the city and the times when some of them were demolished and the reasons for their demolition you suddenly begin to look at the city not like something that was completed at one go and then it remained without change till 1857. Texts like Bashir-Ud-Din's Waaqeyaat is a document that gives you the history of Delhi as something, growing and developing not as something carved in stone for all eternity and it is this reason more than any other that is an argument in it being translated and made available for a larger readership.

-The Hindu, 18th May 2013

Reopening after a gap of six years, the revamped gallery of the Tanjore and Mysore schools of paintings at National Museum has many high points

There is still a long way to go but all that debate about reinventing our museums as spaces of deeper engagement seems to have induced some change. At National Museum, a slick new website that is far more interactive than the earlier version, a newly launched volunteer guide programme called 'Path Pradarshak', and the renovated gallery of Tanjore and Mysore schools of paintings are perhaps part of the transformation that our museums are in urgent need of. It is after a gap of six long years that the treasure trove of Tanjore and Mysore schools of paintings has been re-revealed to visitors.

The gallery was closed for renovation, and paintings were undergoing restoration work, informs Vijay Kumar Mathur, Curator, Lecturing and Education, National Museum. "But now the gallery is back with 88 paintings, new additions to the collection, improved captions, lighting and display and text panels. There is no fixed timeline needed to overhaul a gallery. We just felt that the display had become dated and needed a new lease of life. The old system of lighting was damaging the work but with LED lighting the experience of viewing will be enhanced," says Mathur, who has spearheaded the renovation programme of the gallery and is now working towards the overhauling of the decorative arts section. "The total number of miniature paintings at National Museum is 17,000, making it one of the largest collections of miniature paintings. Tanjore and Mysore paintings specifically constitute 150 paintings, out of which 88 paintings are exhibited in the revamped space which prior to closure exhibited 50 paintings."

Painted in bottle green, the section boasts design elements that are congruous to the Tanjore and Mysore styles of painting. The restored life-size painting depicting the scene of the coronation ceremony of Rama at Ayodhya is a new addition to the lot and is placed in a groove in the wall. The elaborate caption describing the painting reads "The coronation of Rama at Ayodhya: Maratha Period, Tanjore style, cloth painted on wood". Further detailing the scene it explains, "Rama with Sita seated on throne after his coronation ceremony accompanied by Lakshman, Bharata, Shatrughana, Hanuman and sages. He ruled for justice, truthfulness." Mathur says that they realised short captions barely mentioning the title of the work weren't enough, particularly for foreign visitors, and hence they went in for more detailed notes. An exhaustive booklet, and an elaborate text panel right at the entrance also work in the same direction.

Wooden walls erected within the section demarcate Vaishnavism from Shaivism. The enclosure created by the wooden walls comprises a series of Navneeta Krishna paintings. "Girija and Sita Kalyanam" is another beautiful addition to the space. Newly restored work rendered in the Mysore style is divided into two scenes — showing the marriage ceremony of Shiva and Parvati, and Sita and Rama. The artist had created this unique work (paper on cloth) at the end of the 18 Century.

Amongst the clutch of miniature art traditions, the Tanjore School has its own special place. Richly bejewelled, the surface bears religious iconography mainly drawn from Vaishnavism and Shaivism. The colour palette is bright, features are delicate, and they are mostly portraits. Missing earlier, now through a series of six paintings the process of executing a Tanjore style of painting is also revealed. Taking the sample of a parrot seated on a hand, it shows different stages of its making — from making a sketch with pencil to fixing the semi-precious stones and glass stones using the glue called 'chin-hallu' on to the surface to the execution of relief work.

Two new lithographs — the tomb of Haider Ali, Sultan of Mysore (company style, mid-19 Century), and the Brihadeeshwara temple, a centre of music, architecture and arts in Tanjore — portraits of Maratha ruler Serfoji II, who ruled Tanjore for 55 years, and a series of Baramasa poetry depicting different months are other highlights of the gallery.

-The Hindu, 18th May 2013

An open letter from Madhav Gadgil says Kasturirangan panel report will rob the region of its biodiversity

Dear Dr. K. Kasturirangan,

J.B.S. Haldane, the celebrated 19th-century scientist and humanist who quit England protesting its imperialistic invasion of Suez to become an Indian citizen, once said: "Reality is not only stranger than we suppose, but stranger than we CAN suppose!" I could never have imagined that you would be party to a report such as that of the High Level Working Group on Western Ghats, but, then, reality is indeed stranger than we can suppose!

In our report to the Ministry of Environment & Forests, based on extensive discussions and field visits, we had advocated a graded approach with a major role for grassroots-level inputs for safeguarding the ecologically sensitive Western Ghats. You have rejected this framework and in its place, you advocate a partitioning amongst roughly one-third of what you term natural landscapes, to be safeguarded by guns and guards, and two-third of so-called cultural landscapes to be thrown open to development, such as what has spawned the Rs.35,000-crore illegal mining scam of Goa.

This is like trying to maintain oases of diversity in a desert of ecological devastation. Ecology teaches us that such fragmentation would lead, sooner rather than later, to the desert overwhelming the oases. It is vital to think of maintenance of habitat continuity, and of an ecologically and socially friendly matrix to ensure long-term conservation of biodiversity-rich areas, and this is what we had proposed.

Moreover, freshwater biodiversity is far more threatened than forest biodiversity and lies largely in what you term cultural landscapes. Freshwater biodiversity is also vital to livelihoods and nutrition of large sections of our people.

That is why we had provided a detailed case study of the Lote Chemical Industry complex in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra, where pollution, exceeding all legal limits, has devastated fisheries so that 20,000 people have been rendered jobless, while only 11,000 have obtained industrial employment. Yet, the government wants to set up further polluting industries in the same area, and has therefore deliberately suppressed its own Zonal Atlas for Siting of Industries.

Your report shockingly dismisses our constitutionally-guaranteed democratic devolution of decision-making powers, remarking that local communities can have no role in economic decisions. Not surprisingly, your report completely glosses over the fact, reported by us, that while the government takes absolutely no action against the illegal pollution of Lote, it had invoked police powers to suppress perfectly legitimate and peaceful protests against pollution on as many as 180 out of 600 days in 2007-09.

India's cultural landscape harbours many valuable elements of biodiversity. Fully 75 per cent of the population of lion-tailed macaque, a monkey species confined to the Western Ghats, thrives in the cultural landscape of tea gardens. I live in the city of Pune and scattered in my locality are a large number of banyan, peepal and gular trees; trees that belong to genus Ficus, celebrated in modern ecology as a keystone resource that sustains a wide variety of other species. Through the night I hear peacocks calling, and when I get up and go to the terrace I see them dancing.

It is our people, rooted in India's strong cultural traditions of respect for nature, who have venerated and protected the sacred groves, the Ficus trees, the monkeys and the peafowl.

Apparently, all this is to be snuffed out. It reminds me of Francis Buchanan, an avowed agent of British imperialism, who wrote in 1801 that India's sacred groves were merely a contrivance to prevent the East India Company from claiming its rightful property.

It would appear that we are now more British than the British and are asserting that a nature-friendly approach in the cultural landscape is merely a contrivance to prevent the rich and powerful of the country and of the globalised world from taking over all lands and waters to exploit and pollute as they wish while pursuing lawless, jobless economic growth. It is astonishing that your report strongly endorses such an approach. Reality is indeed stranger than we can suppose!

– Madhav Gadgil, Chairman, Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel

-The Hindu, 18th May 2013

Efforts to re-establish and re-invent the historic and famed Nalanda University in Rajgir, located 12 km away from the monument zone of Nalanda in Bihar, moved ahead.

Plans to build a new campus took shape a few days ago when the international jury comprising four architects from Singapore, Japan, China and India and three members from the University chose the winning design from an international competition.

Of the eight proposals submitted by pre-qualified architectural firms, including five from abroad, the jury selected the design drawn by Vastushilpa Consultants, a well known architecture firm based in Ahmedabad for its "conceptual planning, clarity of thought and ability to take forward the vision of Nalanda."

Nalanda University, conceptualised as a standalone international institution, would be constructed on a 455-acre site to accommodate 2,500 students and 500 teachers. The University has proposed seven schools of learning including Historic Studies, Buddhist Studies and Information Technology, but only two of them — Historic Studies and Environment Studies — would be built in the first phase.

Rajeev Kathpalia, one of the two principal architects of Vastushilpa Consultants in a telephone interview said that their design 'envisions the new campus as an institution of future, a beacon of sustainable practices and a model of integration with local community.' He also explained that they have planned buildings as a close-knit group and located amid a tranquil agrarian landscape. More than half the site is intentionally kept open to take care of the aquifers and recharge them. The overall aim is to create an integrated ecosystem where flow of air, water and energy are channelled in an almost natural way, he added.

Balakrishna Doshi, a Padma Shri awardee, is the senior partner and founder of Vastushilpa Consultants.

Nalanda flourished as an important centre of learning for about 800 years. It fell into ruins in the 13th century, and the British archaeologists discovered the historic remains in the 19th century.

Following the decision to revive the university at the Second East Asian Summit in 2007, the Indian government established Nalanda University in 2010 after passing an Act in Parliament. Many Asia-Pacific countries have extended support for the project. Last year, the University floated the international competition seeking designs for the proposed campus.

-The Hindu, 18th May 2013

Toda embroidery has successfully adapted itself to contemporary demands, and is now visible not only on apparels, but on accessories as well. Brinda Suri gives us a flashback on this beautiful embroidery done by the Toda tribals of the Nilgiris, and its history.

The unstitched garment has always been a part of India's apparel tradition. The sari, dhoti, lungi, veshti, dupatta, doru, phanek, etc., are part of the attractive array. An indispensable piece in that line-up is the shawl, which is not just a longish piece of fabric loosely draped over the shoulders, but a significant part of textile history. Every region in India creates a specific kind and each of these has a particular connotation.

Amongst the tribes across the country, the shawl is an evolved piece of clothing, and draping it is dictated by customs, season, celebration, etc. The Mangkotepsu, for example, can be worn only by the warriors of Nagaland's Ao tribe, while the Tsungrem khim is exclusively meant for women of the state's Yimchunger tribe. In Himachal, the Lingchay is woven and draped in a particular manner by women of Kinnaur, just as the Dhablo is worn with pride in Kutch, Gujarat.

Toda shawl

Of similar fashion is the Puthukuli, a trademark shawl belonging to the Toda tribe of the Nilgiris. A heavily embellished, thick and wide shawl, it's worn alike by men and women. Customarily, it is part of daily dressing, and an absolute must-wear during ceremonial occasions. While most shawls across India are handwoven, the Puthukuli stands apart on account of being entirely embroidered. Its other noteworthy feature is the colour combination. The shawl is done in just two shades, red and black, with the base cream being the third hue. The colour code is one of the reasons it looks uber contemporary, the other being its liner pattern.

However, it was not always that these two shades were used, as recorded history speaks of the shawl being done only in the shade blue, a colour that's very significant for the Todas, who believe in the forces of nature. Their embroidery in blue was a gratitude to the azure sky, the sapphire waters of the streams, and the cobalt hue mountains, the Nilgiris. The shift from blue to red-black is said to be the result of the winds of change brought by an urban population that began moving closer to their settlements and exposing them to other colours. Another thought puts this change in colours to the market demands of the West, with European settlers in the Nilgiris — particularly around the hills of Udagamandalam or Ooty, a region where Todas reside in large numbers — being the ones who promoted the shawl abroad, and gradually ensured the colour shift.

It's the darning stitch with which the embroidered pattern is formed. The art of the Todas lies in the way they structure the stitches. So densely are these done that from afar, it lends the impression of a woven piece of fabric, with some patterns letting it appear as a printed textile.

Skillful work

The patterns are created without the aid of a wooden frame, and neither do they follow a pre-set design. It's all done in an impromptu way by deft hands of Toda women, who, like their counterparts across the country, evoke a sense of admiration for the skills they exhibit.

The Puthukuli's linear pattern wherein slender lines are off-set by broad bands, the tufted woollen threads, and the blend of red-black, all merge to create a very dramatic and opulent effect, making the shawl tremendously eye-catching.

A prepared shawl is about five metres in length and a little more than a metre in width. To get the desired width, two similar panels of equal size are embroidered and then stitched together, the reason there will always be a central ridge in an original Toda Puthukuli.

With the Todas being a pastoral community, the patterns on their shawls are inspired from nature and these are aesthetically juxtaposed with symbols of their belief in holy spirits. As observed in other regions, numerous folktales, prayers and songs also form part of the shawl design.

New trends

While the Puthukuli is all that the Todas embroidered once, their stitch-craft has now turned into an income-generating tool.

The survival of a handloom or handicraft depends on their easy adaptability to contemporary demands. Toda embroidery has found acceptance in the modern market with several non-governmental organisations, government schemes and textile designers collaborating towards popularising it. The Keystone Foundation, an NGO based in Kotagiri near Coonoor, is doing commendable work in this respect. The result is that Toda embroidery is now visible on apparels, as well as accessories. The striking range includes stoles, kurtis, pyjamas, table-linen, skirts, pants, bedspreads, spectacle cases, pouches, handbags, etc. Reassuringly, the colours remain black and red, with the forgotten blue also making a quiet comeback.

-The Deccan Herald, 19th may 2013

"Is this hand embroidery? Have you made the entire thing by yourself?" my questions were unable to express my amazement as I watched the lady unfold a table cloth.

Off-white in colour, the tablecloth was about a metre long, and had immaculate embroidery, done in geometrical pattern, on the edges and in the centre. I looked at it with disbelief, thinking how hard it must be for someone to do such precise work, while she unassumingly talked about the time and hard work it took to complete a beautiful piece of Norwegian embroidery.

Tara Krishnamurthy got acquainted with this form of embroidery for the first time during her stay in Aberdeen, Scotland, where she had gone to visit her daughter. She was very impressed and decided to learn more about it. "It was something unusual and I wanted to learn the art," shares Tara light-heartedly, adding that she took it up mainly to keep herself occupied during her three-month stay in a foreign land. It was her daughter's Indian friend, Lata Narayan, who taught her the fine embroidery. Lata had learnt it from a Norwegian.

Norwegian embroidery, often called Hardanger, is named after a region in the southwestern coast of Norway, where it is also known as Hardangersom (or Hardangersaum). There is not enough information available about the origin of this craft, but it is assumed that it originated in ancient Persia. The art was introduced to the European region through sea traders, was taken up by the local artisans, gained admiration and underwent some improvisation.

Also referred to as white work, the embroidery makes use of white or ivory coloured thread and cotton or linen fabric. It is characterised by traditional geometrical patterns and shapes like squares, rectangles, triangles, diamonds, diagonals, zig-zags and crosses. It involves thread-counting skills, cutting and withdrawal (cut work) of thread to form geometrical designs that are not traced. The result is a grid or a pattern consisting holes with edges neatly hemmed in a combination of specific stitches. Often the elaborate form of this art is referred to as Norwegian lace-making.

It took Tara more than two years to finish the table cloth which she had started along with two other projects. "At one stage, I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to finish it," says the lady in her early 70s.

This embroidery requires special types of thread and cloth which were not available here. Tara had to depend on her daughter in Aberdeen to send the raw material whenever she needed.

Tara is happy for the praise coming her way (which she finds quite unexpected). She thinks the time-consuming embroidery requires a lot of patience and concentration as one wrong thread count can spoil the whole pattern. As for the marvelous table cloth, which is best used as a wall hanging, she would like to gift it to her daughter.

Norwegian embroidery is commonly used to embellish tablecloths, napkins, towels, bedspreads, pillows curtains and wall hangings. It is also used to adorn traditional folk costumes, aprons and hats.

-The Deccan Herald, 19th May 2013

Particular science fiction characters and creatures of phantasmal nature that we see on silver screens are not real, but creative expressions of their original creators. These characters contribute and bring to the story a sense of wonder, and sprinkle magic on its viewers.

Similarly, specific crafts and folk sculptures from around the world, through the use of a variety of frames, materials, colours and embellishments, result in sequent odd, but intriguing, almost science-fiction like creations and images which represent the artistry of its creators and craftspeople, to those who appreciate such imaginative works of art.

One such creation is the inventive and colourful Alebrijes, from Mexico, which too have a similar, entrancing effect on others. Although they are not in fluid motion, as are the creatures-on-screen, the still, life-like nature of these creative pieces, in their varied forms, in a spectrum of bright colours, and as solid apparitions, bring forth an abundance of effervescence, spirit and enchantment.

Fantastic creatures

These creatures are therefore reflections of fantasy, combined with characteristics of some real animals and birds on earth, and certain human-like traits. Strange-looking ears, beaks, mouth, eyes, creatures with wings or without, a strange head on the normal body of an animal, or a normal head of an animal on a strange-looking body, an animal with star fish legs, a fish with wings, an octopus with fiery eyes, and other alien-looking creatures with claws, horns, wings, tails, and big and sharp teeth, are some examples which form a range of such creative species in papier-mâché (paper mache) or wood. The final pieces are as colourful, elaborate and imaginative as is perhaps pictured by Alebrijes creators.

Each piece of Alebrijes is different from the other, and its conception dates back to the 1930s, when they were first visualised. As goes one version of the origin of Alebrijes story (and there are several versions), Pedro Linares Lopez, a paper mache craftsman, during an illness, dreamt of a number of creatures of an alien nature in a forest call out the name 'Alebrijes' to him. After recovering from his illness, Linares created pieces of those creatures out of paper mache. This is said to be the original Alebrijes. Later on, another creator named Manuel Jimenez, from Oaxaca, created a different variety of Alebrijes out of copal wood instead of paper mache. Both forms have found immense fame worldwide since then.

The impact of these creations can be seen in a yearly parade and a carnival-like atmosphere where the essence of Alebrijes encapsulates gaiety and fun by celebrating festivities on the streets of Mexico city, for everyone to see and be a part of. The cultural thread it carries unites people from various parts of the world. Some celebrities have also endorsed these creations for their variety, and the enigma which envelops these artistic pieces. Alebrijes lend exuberance, a sense of mystique and otherworldly possibilities to its environs. Their stiff liveliness finds them manifested in the celebratory glances people give them, or perhaps, it is the other way round, as these artificial creatures are also considered to ward off evil from the lives of people.

Influence of history

The cultural heritage and history of Mexico also had much to contribute to the dream-like experiences of the creator of Alebrijes, and hence we see his painstaking work, in what has now become one of the popular art forms of the country.

The original Alebrijes, made out of paper mache, are small, but those made of copal wood are giant-like. Documentaries on their development and construction have also brought to the world the knowledge and importance of their existence. They have found universal acceptance as being a part of the culture of Mexico. The family of Linares continues to make these fantasy-bound pieces, and even the craftspeople of Oaxaca continue to contribute to galleries of wood-based Alebrijes. Small or large, they are all part of the same family of colours and ideas which seem to lead to a supernatural and positive influence on those whose lives it touches.

-The Deccan Herald, 19th May 2013

“For conservation to be successful in our country it is necessary that we return to a craft-based approach where master craftsmen are empowered to match the work of their forefathers using traditional materials, tools and building craft traditions,” said Aga Khan Trust for Culture project director Ratish Nanda, who has been associated with the restoration work of the two Mughal era garden tombs of Isa Khan Niyazi and Bu Halima over the past two years.

Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Nanda said traditional materials were used while carrying out the restoration work on the two tombs. Restoration was a daunting task as it involved in-depth research, and experts from India and abroad had to be roped in. It was a challenge to produce authentic parts which could fit in the broken areas of the tombs. “It was driven by the understanding of the multi-disciplinary project team that the outstanding universal value of the Humayun’s Tomb world heritage site – of which these monuments are a part – lies in it being an ensemble of 16th Century garden-tombs,” said Mr. Nanda.

The conservation work was undertaken to successfully restore the dignity of the Mughal era garden tombs and create an understanding of these sites as well as to establish a model conservation philosophy.

According to landscape architect of the project Mohammad Shaheer, during the Mughal period the ground around the tomb was used for maintaining orchards. “The produce would be sold and used for the upkeep of the tomb.”

Since an orchard existed around the garden tomb of Isa Khan “citrus species have now been planted”. “After two years, the trees would make the monument look even more beautiful. A lot of earth had been put on the ground. So the correct level had to be restored. Since the ceramic tiles used in the tomb were from Central Asia, a team from Iran and Uzbekistan researched and produced tiles of the original colour. Similarly, traditional material like lime plaster have been used.”

For team comprising archaeologists, conservation architects, engineers, stone carvers, landscape designers, urban planners, graphic designers, glazed tile makers, masons and plasterers it was important to remove the 20 Century accretions to the structures and their setting.

According to AKTC chief engineer Rajpal Singh, his team manually removed a million cubic feet of earth laid here in the 20th Century as well as dismantled a British era road that was built after demolishing portions of the Bu Halima enclosure wall. “Cement was removed from the dome of Isa Khan’s tomb causing significant damage while also appearing unsightly. It is important for craftsmen to use traditional building traditions and materials as these skills also need to be preserved and conservation projects such as this create significant though rare employment opportunities for craftsmen.”

Apart from working on the conservation of the two tombs, the AKTC also involved the local community of Hazrat Nizamuddin basti in the conservation work which has been carried out on these tombs and the garden setting with co-funding from the World Monuments Fund and in constant dialogue with the Archaeological Survey of India.

-The Hindu, 21st May 2013

Acting upon allegations of rampant encroachment of the Yamuna riverbanks, the National Green Tribunal on Monday imposed a ban on all construction activities - whether temporary or permanent - on the floodplain zone in UP, Delhi and Haryana. The tribunal has also directed the three states to take steps to demolish illegal structures.

The directions were passed by a bench of the tribunal headed by chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar while hearing upon a petition filed by Ghaziabad-based environmental activists demanding for freeing the Yamuna and Hindon banks from the clutches of illegal occupiers. The orders have been made applicable for the Hindon as well. "Wherever unauthorized and illegal constructions have been raised, steps should be taken to demolish it," states the order.

In order to determine the extent of the spread of illegal and unauthorized constructions in the floodplain zones over the years, the tribunal has also directed the state governments of UP, Delhi and Haryana to specifically file plans and maps showing the extent in the past 25 years.

The tribunal has directed all authorities, including police and the irrigation, environment and PWD departments of the three states to ensure compliance of the tribunal orders. The interim order was passed after it was conceded by public authorities and departments of the three states that there continues to be illegal construction on the floodplains.

The tribunal has observed that constructions on floodplains not only affects the natural flow ofthe river but even causes environment problems besides raising risk to human life and property.

The orders were issued on Monday after the petitioners presented a circular issued by the UP government in 2010 to various departments, for effectively halting construction of illegal structures in the floodplain areas. "Despite the above notification and the stand taken by the authorities in Delhi and Haryana, there has been mushrooming of unauthorized and illegal constructions on the floodplain zone. It is high time that these authorities should discharge their statutory obligations in accordance with law and with greater sense of responsibility," the order further states.

The states have been directed to provide complete details as to whether any of their departments have issued no-objection certificates for such constructions. NGT has also directed the DDA and the East Municipal Corporation of Delhi to be impleaded as respondents in the case.

-The Times of India, 21st May 2013

Noida authority's decision to take over 25 per cent of one of city's most frequented parks, located in Sector 47, for commercial purpose has angered the residents of the neighbourhood. A delegation of residents met senior officials of the Authority to protest claiming they "are eating up the space". If Noida authority’s plan gets executed, over 50 well-grown trees will be cut down.

The matter came to light two weeks ago, when the authority sought suggestions and objections through a public notice regarding their decision to set up a commercial complex on a nearby piece of land. The authority's decision to construct the complex on a major chunk of the park where over 200 well-grown trees have been planted, instead of on the previously allotted space for commercial uses, raised sharp criticism from many. Over 300 residents, including some environmentalist and city-based social organizations also protested against the move. These people have demanded authority to take back its decision as the park is considered as a lifeline for the entire Sector.

According to residents, the park measures 100 metre length as well as width-wise, and is well-maintained. It has plenty of trees and Noida authority has spent a lot on its beautification a few months ago.

"As the park was constructed under the Master-Plan made by the authority, the officials should not take any step to acquire its land for commercial purposes. They should at least think about the trees in the park. With the move of Noida authority, the existence of the park will be in the dark as it would be used by visitors of the market," said Pradeep Kharbanda, a town planner, who is also a resident of Sector 47.

A senior official of Noida authority said that they are reviewing the matter and any decision in this regard will be taken with proper consent of the local people. "As we have issued a public notice, we will observe objections and suggestions properly for the period of 30 days and later, we will discuss the issue with concerned persons. But, at present we cannot comment if we will move forward with our decision or not," said Dev Pujari, Chief Architect Planner of Noida authority.

-The Pioneer, 22nd May 2013

A microscope slide with traces of Mahatma Gandhi’s blood, preserved for nearly 90 years, sold for well below the guide price set by a British auctioneer on Tuesday – a year after a similar sale stirred a row.

The glass slide with the smear of dry blood – taken by doctors when Gandhi was recovering from an appendix operation in Mumbai in 1924 – sold for £7,000 at Mullock’s in Shropshire. The auction house had set a guide price of £10,000 to 15,000.

Mullock’s, which in Apr 2012 sold a clump of blood-spotted soil taken from the spot where Mahatma Gandhi fell, fended off criticism that it was dealing with the macabre. Last year’s sale was described by Gandhi biographer Bhikhu Parikh as a “sacrilege.”

“It’s just a smear of blood on two microscope slides – not a bottle of it,” Mullock’s expert Richard Westwood-Brookes told HT. “People wanted to keep it like sacred relics.

“A lot of people have criticised us, but I’d say this is no different from the Christian Catholic position, where bits and piece of bodies of saints are kept in shrines.”

The soil-and-grass, which sold for £10,000 pounds, was resold to a foundation, and is on an exhibition tour of India, he said. “It has gone back to the right place, and is being made available to the Indian public.”

The blood sample was among a clutch of Gandhi memorabilia, including his sandals, lantern and shawl, that went for £300,000. His will, written in Gujarati, fetched £40,000.

-The Hindustan Times, 22nd May 2013

For a parched area like Dwarka, this was a success story like no other. An over-200-year-old water body was painstakingly revived in a community effort in 2012. The water body located in Sector 23, till then filled with sewage or dry for most part of the year, suddenly came to life.

This year, however, it looks like it may return to its former state. Residents have written to the lieutenant governor, complaining that DDA has taken over the maintenance of the water body and have ruined their effort.

Diwan Singh from Natural Heritage First, who assisted the residents in the revival project, says that they approached DDA to desilt the water body this year since locals could not afford to undertake the work annually.

"Just when everything seemed to be going well, the residents have been shocked to see that DDA has gone ahead with destroying it now. It has used JCB machines to put the silt back into the water body, closed down the rainwater carrying channels, reduced the size of water body and are building artificial footpaths around it," says the letter sent to the LG.

Residents met the CEO of Delhi Parks and Garden Society, who is the nodal officer for water bodies, to complain about the issue but are yet to hear about from him. Last week, they also met the DDA chief engineer in charge of the area but he "refused to do any desilting or preserve the surrounding area. At least 100 residents have signed the request letter to him. We have met him three times and sent several written communications to him", Singh said.

The DDA chief engineer didn't comment on the issue.

Residents of villages near the water body and those living in Dwarka's highrises came together in 2012 to revive this water body. Sources say that till 1984, when DDA acquired land in the area, the water in the pond was crystal clear. After ownership went to DDA, its condition deteriorated rapidly due to flow of sewage into it and shrinking of its area.

"Last year residents pooled money and labour and carried out desilting of the water body, created rainwater carrying channels, linked the stormwater drain to the water body and looked after the area around it to prevent encroachments. Our efforts bore fruit as for the first time in several years it had water till February-end. Usually, it would dry up around the end of October. Birdlife had also improved around it with a peahen observed nesting near it and hatching four chicks. A pair of owls has been seen on the peepal tree on its banks. A birdwatcher has captured images of 40 species of birds around the water body. Monitor lizards and hare have also been seen there," Singh said.

-The Times of India, 22nd May 2013

Efforts to secure the patch of land on which the Nila Gumbad stands have finally borne fruit, with the Northern Railway handing over the plot to the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC). Conservation work on this earliest Mughal-era structure began this week after years of wait.

The work is expected to take a year, and Nila Gumbad might become accessible to visitors of Humayun's Tomb with the reopening of the blocked gateway. "A significant portion of the land has been secured, though the railways is still to clear up several truckloads of concrete sleepers,'' said an ASI official. Conservation efforts by AKTC will be supported by the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust. Officials said they will focus on the tiles covering the dome and the intricate plasterwork as well as the wall paintings that adorn the ceiling of the dome. The damage caused by vibrations of rail and vehicular traffic will be curtailed to prevent any further cracks or chipping of tiles.

"The work will include stone repairs, restoring of stone jaalies, removal of cement plaster as well as landscaping," said Rajpal Singh, AKTC chief engineer. Like its famous neighbouring world heritage site Humayun's Tomb, Nila Gumbad was a garden-tomb portions of which were destroyed in the building of the railways. In the 1970's, a road was built bifurcating Humayun's Tomb and Nila Gumbad and cement has been profusely used in past repair works. "We are as such trying to undo over a century of neglect, vandalism and misuse of this mostspectacular of Delhi," said an AKTC official. The work expected to take up to two years will allow the millions of annual visitors to Humayun's Tomb to also visit Nila Gumbad.

Senior officials from ASI meanwhile said that they planned to approach Unesco to request that the world heritage site boundaries be extended to include Nila Gumbad. Heritage conservationists said that Nila Gumbad is the earliest Mughal-era structure in Delhi and originally stood in the riverbed and was accessible only through the Humayun's Tomb complex. ASI had relocated 400 squatters from this area in 2002 and since 2007, AKTC and ASI have been requesting for permission to shift a road segregating the site from Humayun's Tomb. Due to the remote location of nila gumbad, hardly any visitor comes across it which conservationists say is shame because the monument is one of the more significant and striking monuments in the capital. The gumbad is considered the earliest Mughal era structure in Delhi and was built on a river island.

-The Times of India, 22nd May 2013

The action that was reportedly taken byNoida Authority against illegal farmhouses on theYamuna floodplains two months ago seems to be mere eyewash as many more have mushroomed in the region. Sellers of illegal farmhouses and plots, allegedly with 'strong links with senior ministers and officials of the UP government', are reportedly involved in the illegal activity.

When TOI visited the site after two months of the authority's demolition drive, a shocking scenario awaited. During the drive, anti-encroachment teams had demolished a wall of a project named Buddha Garden. However, the wall has been re-constructed again.

Gautam Budh Nagar district magistrate Kumar Ravikant Singh remained unavailable to comment on the issue. However, DIG (stamps) Vijay Deo Sharma said there was no clarity on the law regarding such structures, so his department has to register such farms.

TOI also visited several sectors along the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway that touch the Yamuna floodplains and found at least a dozen land mafias developing farms in the region. To dupe innocent investors, a 1,000 square yard plot is being sold at a cost of Rs 40 lakh, what a two-bedroom flat generally costs in high-rises in the area. At one of the farms, a swimming pool and other concrete construction has been done, while in another wooden rooms have been constructed.

"The nexus runs right from the top till the bottom. We 'facilitate' all people in the system. Without their 'blessings' we cannot run this business," said a farm seller on the condition of anonymity. He claimed that many of them have connections with not only the Authority chairman, but also with people who are close to UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav.

The role of the registry department and electricity department has also come under suspicion. Even as the illegal farms continue to get themselves registered with the stamps department, officials cite lack of clarity to act against the land sharks. "In the absence of any law, we have no choice but to register the farmhouses," said the DIG (Stamps).

Earlier, following TOI reports, Noida Authority and its special team led by administrative officer Rajesh Prakash had demolished some structures in 34 villages from the clutches of land sharks. At that time tall claims were made by Noida Authority chairman and CEO Rama Raman to take stringent action against the people selling farms, but to no avail.

-The Times of India, 22nd May 2013

While multiple laws and guidelines exist in Delhi for the preservation of trees, the primary reason why the forest department has been unable to implement any of them is because it is severely short of manpower.

According to officials, not only does the department not have sufficient sanctioned strength, the sanctioned posts have also not been filled despite repeated reminders to the government. "We have been asking the Delhi Staff Selection Board to recruit more people for an increase in number of sanctioned posts in Delhi for a while now. The city has 85 sq km or 5.73% of geographical area as recorded forest land while 19.97% is under green cover. There are 26 protected forests, 42 city forests and one wildlife sanctuary. Other than this, the entire city is dotted with trees. It is impossible for us to supervise with the number of ground level staff we have," said a senior official.

There are six Acts which empower the forest department to take action, other than two court rulings including one by the National Green Tribunal that was passed this year. The Acts include The Indian Forest Act of 1927, The Wildlife Protection Act of 1972, The Delhi Wildlife (Protection) Rules of 1973, The Forest (Conservation) Act of 1980, The Forest (Conservation) Rules of 2003 and the Delhi Preservation of Tree Act, 1994.

In the last five years, after the sixth pay commission came into force, Class D was abolished and staff that was at least matriculate pass was promoted. Over 100 people from ground level moved to administrative posts. "This has not only deprived the department of necessary staff, the people who are left behind are old and illiterate and not able to handle the hectic work on ground," said a source.

-The Times of India, 22nd May 2013

THE Golden Jubilee Park coming up on Yamuna riverfront has been witnessing hectic activity since the past three months. Stacked across a portion of the park are what appear to be building blocks carved out of bamboo. The sound of carving machines rings loud as Ulrich Wallner, the man behind the project, watches the teams at work.

Director of Bambutec, Wallner flew in from Germany to train and work with teams from India. They are busy creating the components that will be fitted together to form bridges, machans and shelters — one in the shape of a flower — at the park.

Part of the Phase-I of Yamuna Riverfront Development project, under Delhi Development Authority (DDA), the Golden Jubilee Park will have an open air exhibition area, butterfly park, mythological park, wetlands and bamboo structures.

The park will be tucked between Old Railway Bridge and ITO, along a 189-hectare area. The first phase of the project is expected to be ready by next year.

"It's like Lego. All elements inter-lock with each other by using sustainable renewable resources. All the pre-fabricated components, mainly made of bamboo, are assembled on site. These structures — machans and bamboo shelters — will come up on helical piles. The piles will ensure that these structures are a little above the ground, in case the water level rises during rains,'' Wallner said.

A helical pile is an extendible deep foundation system with helical bearing plates welded to a central steel shaft. Load is transferred from the shaft to the soil through these bearing plates.

The workshops for Wallner's teams are made of bamboo, straw, clay, composite solution, limestone and plaster. According to DDA, this is the first time such technology is being used in India. No concrete has been used for these structures and piles make their foundations.

-The Indian Express, 24th June 2013

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) is holding its 37th annual session in Phnom Penh. On Sunday it completed an update of new sites to be added the World Heritage List. Below are the main decisions:

Mount Etna (Italy): tallest active volcano on the European continent.

Mount Fuji (Japan): Fujisan, the highest mountain in Japan.

Agadez (Niger): the 15th century town was a crossroads for the trans-Saharan caravan trade and is home to the tallest minaret ever built out of mudbrick.

El Pinacate and Gran Desierto de Altar Biosphere Reserve (Mexico): desert home to many species of plants and animals.

Tajikistan National Park.

Terraced rice fields of Honghe Hani (China): marking 1,300 years of rice cultivation. Xinjiang Tianshan (China).

Namib Sand Sea (Namibia): coastal desert area whose only water source is uniquely delivered by fog.

Hill Forts of Rajasthan (India)

Monuments of Kaesong (North Korea): a dozen monuments including tombs, fortress walls and a 700-year-old school at the medieval city of Kaesong, the base of Koryo dynasty.

Medici Villas and Gardens (Italy)

Wooden tserkvas (churches) in the Carpathian mountains (Poland and Ukraine)

Red Bay Basque Whaling Station (Canada): A 16th-century Arctic base for Basque whalers.

-The Indian Express, 23rd May 2013

At a time when most of its water bodies are drying up due to the scorching heat, Delhi is witnessing a rare wildlife phenomenon at Shanti Van where nearly a dozen species of South Asian waterbirds have found a safe refuge in a small seasonal wetland which is still alive. Ecologist T. K. Roy is thrilled at the development and says it is rare for such waterbirds to be found in Delhi at this time of the year. “Wetlands, whether big or small, seasonal or perennial are very important for the aquatic ecosystem, biodiversity and waterbirds’ habitat. While wetlands in Delhi either get completely dried up or are quickly degrading, the seasonal wetland in the middle of Shanti Van, which usually is full of waterbirds during winters but dries up in the summer months, has sprung a surprise this time round.”

Mr. Roy, who is involved with the annual waterbird census in Delhi, says: “Among the waterbirds which can still be seen at Shanti Van wetland are the spotbill duck, little cormorant, little grebe, white-breasted waterhen, black-winged stilt, common moorhen, little egret, intermediate egret, red-wattled lapwing, white-throated kingfisher, cattle egret and pond heron.”

For nature lovers, the wetland is thus providing not only a reprieve from the heat but also something for the eyes to savour. “It’s really surprising and amazing to see that in mid-summer, some of the major species have even been able to successfully breed here and grow chicks,” he said.

Among the waterbirds which are successfully nesting and breeding are the spotbill duck, which is a beautiful native species of wild duck. It successfully bred this summer and 16 chicks are growing up in the wetland. Then there is the little grebe, a small diving native bird species, which has got five chicks. The black-winged stilt, which is a tall common wader species, has laid eggs and is waiting for them to hatch on a tiny island. The red-wattled lapwing is a common resident bird species and it too has laid eggs.

-The Times of India, 23rd May 2013

The National Green Tribunal on Wednesday issued notices to the Union Environment Ministry and others for failing to take steps to protect the Dadri wetlands in the National Capital Region. The wetlands are the only area within a 200-km radius of the Capital where blackbucks exist in their natural habitat along with nilgais, and is home to more than 200 species of rare and migratory birds.

The Tribunal also issued notices to the Uttar Pradesh Government, Greater Noida Authority, Uttam Steels and Associates for destroying the wetland under the banner of Ansal API and the Shiv Nadar University. The notices followed a petition filed by Akash Vashishtha who raised the issue of destruction of eco-precious Dadri wildlife habitat and sought directions to restrain the builder and the university from carrying out any construction activity in the surroundings.

“Although the wetlands falling in a protected area are to be governed by the Wildlife Protection Act, areas such as Dadri wetlands have to be protected under the Wetlands (Conservation & Management) Rules framed under the Environment Protection Act, 1986,” noted Amit Khemka, the counsel for the petitioner.

“It is strange that although the government authorities are well aware for over two years that the builders are causing massive damage to these wetlands for monetary benefits, the authorities are only dragging their feet and allowing the rich biodiversity of the area to be destroyed continuously,” said Mr. Khemka.

The court has fixed July 10 as the next date of hearing in the case.

-The Hindu, 23rd May 2013

The government has decided to put all water data about river flows and ground water in public domain

In a bid to bring transparency in the water sector, the Centre has decided to put in the public domain all water data maintained by the Central Water Commission (CWC) and the Central Ground Water Board. The data, including river water levels, river discharge, siltation, reservoir levels, ground water levels and water quality, will be uploaded on the India-Water Resources Information System website. Earlier such data used to be made available only to the State governments.

However, the government proposes to keep as ‘classified’ the water data on rivers India shares with neighbouring countries, although the information under this category will also be shared on certain conditions.

As per the new Hydro-Meteorological Data Dissemination Hydrology Policy released by the government recently, entities seeking information about the Indus basin and other rivers/tributaries discharging into Pakistan or the Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna basin and rivers/tributaries discharging into Bangladesh and Myanmar will have to sign a pact with the Centre for the information and can obtain it for a fee.

The policy provides that ‘classified’ data will be released for a specific purpose (project) and will be ‘non-transferable’. A ‘Classified Data Release Committee’, headed by a joint secretary in the water ministry, will consider the request for a fee of Rs. 75,000 with the rider that the ‘classified’ data shall not be reproduced in any report or publication or detailed project report.

This, however, has not satisfied voluntary organisations working in the sector who want more. According to Himanshu Thakkar of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People, more information should be made available about the water flows at smaller sub-basins of the ‘classified basins’. The data exchanged with neighbouring countries and all information about functioning of trans-boundary cooperation projects and plans should be put in public domain. The ‘methodology’ of data collections should also be shared to ascertain accuracy and implication.

Among the responses received by the government on the draft of the policy was the demand that projects which require forest land or can cause significant impact on local populations or made available to any private developer or commercial interests or relating to irrigation, drinking water, flood control project and hydro power project must be put in the public domain. The various water data users that have been identified under the policy are the Indian commercial and non-commercial users and foreign users, including agencies/entities owned partially or fully by foreign citizens including individuals employed by such agencies/entities. The Indian commercial users include private and public sector companies and consultants including non-government organisations.

“Putting water data in public domain will empower stakeholders. For instance, people will be able to ascertain whether the water belonging to them for drinking purposes is coming to them or is being passed on to the industry,” an official source told The Hindu.

An expert, however, felt that lack of punitive measure in the policy for misuse of data or violation of the agreement for specific use of statistics was a “drawback”. The policy only says that “any breach of undertaking [by the user] may invite civil liability”.

-The Hindu, 23rd May 2013

Mahatma Gandhi’s personal belongings, including his sandals, along with his last will written in Gujarati and a slide with his blood sample were sold at an auction on Tuesday afternoon by specialist auctioneer Mullock’s in Ludlow, Shropshire.

The auction house, which last year had auctioned Gandhi’s distinctive round steel rimmed spectacles, wooden charkha and soil with blood from the spot of his 1948 assassination, had more than 50 lots of items connected with the Indian independence leader on sale as part of its auction of historical documents and ephemera. The Gandhi lot was auctioned for £287,000.

The top selling item in the Tuesday sale was the Mahatma’s will, a two-page document written in Gujarati and signed by him. The will, written in a neat secretarial hand, was sold on phone for £55,000. It had been expected to sell for £30,000-£40,000. The auction of Gandhi items on Tuesday did not reach the stratospheric heights of the auction in February this year in which Mullock’s sold a letter written by Mahatma Gandhi for £115,000. Explaining the reason, Richard Westwood Brookes, historical documents expert for Mullock’s, said in a telephone interview, “The letter in February auction was one-off item and the price for an item goes up when two people are keen to buy it. This time, we had a lot of items so a lot of bidders dropped out of bidding for some items fairly early knowing they would get something else instead.”

Mr Brookes refused to reveal the identity of the buyers of the Gandhi items, but said that most of the items were sold on phone bidding from India. “The Indian government had got in touch with us before the auction, but I don’t know whether any of the bidders were buying on behalf of the government,” he said, adding that the person who bought the will for £55,000 had spent more than £100,000 in the auction.

Mahatma Gandhi’s “Three Monkeys,” excited a lot of interest while bidding and delicately carved miniature figures in a white wood originally attached to a small wooden tray sold for more than double the high estimate at £36,000.

A half-tone photograph signed by Gandhi in Hindi, sold for £40,000, four times its estimated price of £8,000-£10,000. The photograph was inscribed to the reverse by the author and poet John Gawsworth, “To John Platt / I give this autographed / portrait of Mahatmaji / because I fully believe / he is worthy of it. / John Gawsworth / Calcutta / 7.X11.45.”

A power of attorney, signed by Mahatma Gandhi, who was born in Porbander in Gujarat in 1869, sold for £25,000 to a phone bidder. The four-page folio document in Gujarati was expected to fetch £30,000-£40,000.

-The Asian Age, 23rd May 2013

An exhibition of rare photographs pays a befitting tribute to 160 years of the Indian Railways

The mention of Indian Railways conjures up images that embody the quintessential characteristics of living and travelling in India. One is accustomed to the blue-clad berths, the ubiquitious pantry service, the classical music radio that crackles periodically with news announcements, and the vocal refreshments vendors at stations. However, far from what one sees today, an exhibition aims to rekindle the past glory of one of the oldest and biggest enterprises in India. Organised by theMinistry of Railways, the exhibition titled "160 Years of Indian Railways: An exhibition of selected photographs from the archives of Indian Railways", will open on May 24 at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts in Delhi.

The exhibition's over 190 archival photographs do more than offer a banal lesson on the historical presence of Indian Railways from 1853 to now. Much like the prose and literature the locomotives have inspired, the Indian Railways here assumes a personified character of "a mute spectator to the unfolding historical events". The photographs, sourced from the Railway Archives, Press Information Bureau and Railway Museums from the 17 zonal offices in India, are categorised into nine sections. They showcase the railways' evolution, not in a chronological manner but in its character.

"The plan is to bring Indian Railways back into people's mind and consciousness," says Seema Sharma, Director, Information and Publicity, Indian Railways, who has organised the exhibition.

A section called "Locomotives and Trains" is an ode to never-seen-before models of varied kinds, steam and diesel. While one photograph is of a steam engine train bearing an Ashoka Chakra, another shows the engine decorated with British flags. "During Independence, there were 42 railway systems owned by private companies, the government and former princely states," says Sharma. The "Personalities" section shows leaders such as Jawaharlal Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri on the railways.



- The Indian Express, 23rd May 2013

To bring cheers to wildlife activists, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) funding various infrastructure projects as flyovers, irrigation projects amongst others across the country has proposed to support measures to check man-animal conflicts as a part of its bio-diversity project.

To begin with, it will come to the rescue of jumbos in North Bengal by putting up electronic fence and mobile squad to keep elephants and gaurs off train tracks and villages. The Sunderbans will also be another focus area of the Rs 360-crore project, in which controlling man-animal conflict is a major component. Similar efforts are also being taken up in Tamil Nadu, at a cost of Rs 5.59 crore.

“There is habitat loss and fragmentation of wildlife due to the upcoming infrastructure projects, leading to rising man-animal conflicts and loss of lives from either sides,” said Shinya Ejima, JICA chief representative in India. Based on discussions and suggestions with wildlife experts, the project is aimed at reviving the forest corridors and habitats, important for the passage of wildlife, and reducing their incidents of straying to human landscape, she pointed out.

Apart from the villages of North Bengal, the project will also constitute squads and assist the elephant trackers of Forest Department in the conflict-prone forests of Rupnarayan, Kharagpur, Bankura and Purulia. The project also envisages the installing of nylon net fencing to keep the big cats at bay from entering the villages located in the forest fringe. Out of a total of 85 kms of interface required to be fenced, more than 50 kms have been covered by the Forest Department.

Along with the Sunderban Tiger Reserve, the project also proposes to cover Buxa Tiger Reserve, Mayurjharna Elephant Reserve besides other wildlife sanctuaries such as Senchal Wildlife Sactuary and Singalila National Park.

Similar efforts are being made in Tamil Nadu. While solar fences will be put up to keep away the wild herds of elephants from entering the villages, elephant trenches will be dug for the passage of elephants particularly in the vicinity of railway tracks. Some of the worst-hit areas are the districts of Erode, Dharmapuri, Dindigul and Tirunelveli.

The influx of jumbos mainly occurs during the post-monsoon and dry season periods. Elephant population from Bandipur Tiger Reserve, Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary, Nilgiri North and South Forest Division intensifies for a period of 3-4 months at a density of 1.5 elephants per sq km. Due to the impact of developmental activities, the once contiguous large forest area has shrunk, leading to increase in man-elephant conflict.

The step has been welcomed by Kishore Rithe, member of Standing Committee National Board For Wildlife. Rithe who had been voicing for mitigation funds by the Infrastructure Ministries to control man-animal conflicts, felt this will set a good precedence for the other project proponents to follow.

-The Hindu, 24th May 2013

Arun Krishnamurthy, 26, gave up his job with Google to devote himself to the environment. His volunteer-driven group has so far cleaned up 17 lakes across the country. In 2012, he became the youngest recipient of the prestigious Rolex Young Laureate Award for Enterprise for his ongoing project to restore Kilkattalai Lake in Chennai. Krishnamurthy tells Priya M Menon how the youth can become effective agents of change.

What prompted you to establish the Environmentalist Foundation of India (EFI)?

I started EFI eight years ago while I was still in college, roping in a few like-minded friends to volunteer at Vandalur zoo. When I began working at Google in Hyderabad, I saw that Gurunadham Cheruvu, a lake in Miyapur about 8km from our office , was very dirty. So I approached people staying in nearby apartments as well as school students. On May 30, 2008, around 117 of us cleaned it up. Later on, whenever there was a tree cut down, or an injured animal, they began contacting us for help. It instilled a sense of responsibility in us and I decided to become a full-time environmentalist. I finally registered EFI in June 2012.

How does your organisation work? We do awareness programmes in sch-ools and enlist volunteers. Most of them are aged 11 to 18. We are a team of 47 in Chennai and 19 in Hyderabad .

What is the main thrust of your work? We conduct lake clean-up programmes across India. We remove garbage, test the water for contaminants and pollutant levels and desilt the lake bed. The silt is used to strengthen bunds. Of the 17 lakes we've cleaned up, five are in Chennai. We also work for sparrow reintroduction , making nests and putting them up in biodiversity parks. We have also adopted two villages inTamil Nadu for our 'Green Gramam' project. We introduce sustainable living practices , like waste segregation and recycling plastic waste in these villages.

What are the challenges that you have faced? People suspect that we come with a hidden agenda. For instance, residents of Perumbakkam, who were funding the restoration of a lake nearby asked us for help. But when we approached the panchayat, they wanted to know why we were taking up the work. It is hard for people to digest that we do it for social good. The second biggest hurdle we face is that it is difficult to change people's attitudes. We can clean lakes but people will keep dumping . Whenever I travel abroad, people say India is dirty. But I say India is beautiful; a few Indians are dirty. And I work to change that. The youngsters who work with me are my driving force.

-The Hindu, 25th June 2013

In 1998, after 26 years in the police force, there was little that could scare Somesh Goyal. But the figure lurking outside his jeep, deep in the forest of Bandhavgarh in Madhya Pradesh, had a potential for great violence. "The Bamera Male is the dominant tiger male in Bandhavgarh. On a visit, I saw one of these tigers injured after a fight. Insects were bothering him and he turned around and came very close to my jeep, almost touching the wheel. His body odour and ferocious looks sent a chill down my spine," recalls Goyal. The IPS officer-cum-photographer did what came naturally to him — he aimed his camera and began to click. This image is now a part of a book, titled Stripes in the Wild (Indiaclicked.com; Rs 1,500), and an exhibition at IHC.

Wildlife photographers' fascination, even obsession, with the big cat has been well documented. Goyal's work adds to the oeuvre and he has many anecdotes to share. His oldest photograph is more than 15 years old and titled Munna, after the dominant male of Kanha National Park in Madhya Pradesh. Munna is famous for the stripes on his forehead that appear to spell out the word "Cat".

Goyal, an officer with the Sashastra Seema Bal in Himachal Pradesh, is also an avid trekker and photographer and most of his images come from visits to parks such as Kanha, Ranthambhore and Kaziranga. After almost 20 years of shooting various animals, he decided to compile his works in a book. "I wanted to write a book for the layman, giving facts that would interest even children. I have used no technical jargon in the book, except scientific names of the various tigers," says Goyal about Stripes in the Wild.

While the book has 70 images of tigers, the 50 photographs on display include elephants and rhinos. "I'm not shooting mannequins. The idea is to tell a story through photographs," he says.

-The Times of India, 24th May 2013

The national green tribunal has asked DDA to prepare a plan for removal of all encroachments from the Yamuna riverbed falling under Zone 'O' of the Master Plan by July 17.

While hearing the case of Manoj Misra against the Union of India over dumping of debris on the Yamuna river bed, a five-member bench headed by NGT chairperson Swatanter Kumar also observed that affidavits submitted by government departments and Delhi Metro stating how much debris had been dumped by each of them and what had been done to remove it from the riverbed were incorrect.

"Affidavits on behalf of the public authorities including DDA, PWD, CPWD, DMRC, state of Uttar Pradesh and different corporations have been filed and we have no hesitation in noticing that these affidavits are entirely incorrect and do not comply with the directions contained in our orders," the order says.

The court has now asked all heads of department including the vice-chairman of DDA, directors general of CPWD and PWD, chief secretaries of UP and Delhi and municipal commissioners of Delhi to file fresh affidavits stating how much debris, construction and demolition waste has been generated by each agency in the last 10 years, where this debris has been dumped as per the their contracts and a list of contractors hired by these authorities who have worked on different projects and the payments made to each.

The affidavits are to include steps taken for removal of the debris till May 23 and the extent of removal of debris till the next date of hearing on July 17. The affidavits are to be submitted in court within the next six weeks.

-The Times of India, 24th May 2013

Two global travel agencies have withdrawn tours to India's Andaman andNicobar islands as a protest against the degrading "human safaris" to see the Jarawa tribe.Travelpickr, a global company based in Canadaand India, and Spanish company OrixaViatgeshave become the first operators to withdraw following UKbased Survival International's call for a tourism boycott of the islands until 'human safaris' are stopped.

The organization is asking nearly 200,000 tourists who visiting the islands every year to stay away - until tourists are banned from the road through the Jarawa forest and an alternative sea route set. Survival's director Stephen Corry said on Thursday, "In travellers' eyes, the Andamans are increasingly becoming synonymous with human safaris. The islands' reputation has undoubtedly been severely damaged by the scandal."

Head of Travelpickr Rene Trescasess said, "We were appalled to learn about the human safaris and have now withdrawn over 40 tours to the Andaman Islands." Viatges said, "We have removed the Andaman Islands from our list of tourist destinations. We don't understand this kind of tourism - we believe that people and cultures should be treated with respect, rather than used by unscrupulous people making a profit." Survival has written to over 200 travel companies and websites in 11 countries, urging them to stop their tours to the islands.

A public campaign will soon be launched targeting tourists to discourage them from visiting the popular travel destination. Survival is also asking members of the public to pledge not to travel to the islands until the demands are met. Over 2000 people have already pledged their support and said they won't visit the island.

Hundreds of tourists from India and around the world, mostly from Israel, UK and US, travel along the Andaman Trunk Road every day to ogle at members of the Jarawa tribe. The 400-strong Jarawa tribe is believed to be part of the first human migration out of Africa. The safaris have been condemned by the United Nations and thousands of letters against the tours have been sent to the Indian government.

-The Times of India, 24th May 2013

Malayalam’s long wait for ‘classical’ status is over. The Union Cabinet decided to grant the coveted recognition to the language, spoken by 3.33 crore Malayalis spread over all parts of the globe, at its meeting in the national capital on Thursday.

With the Cabinet’s decision, Malayalam joins Tamil, Kannada and Telugu, all members of the Dravidian linguistic family, as the fourth ‘classical’ language in South India. The Cabinet decision, it has been clarified by the Ministry of Culture, would be subject to the final decision in the writ petition pending before the Madras High Court. However, the political and cultural leadership of Kerala have erupted in jubilation on learning about the Cabinet decision.

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has described the decision as “a great recognition for Malayalam language and Kerala” and Leader of the Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan has expressed gratification about the preparatory work of his government to build the State’s case for the recognition. Jnanpith-winning poet O.N.V. Kurup has also expressed happiness about Malayalam’s elevation to the long-awaited status and termed it as something that nobody could deny.

Financial assistance The Cabinet decision would result in the State getting Rs.100 crore in financial assistance from the Centre and support for various projects that the State would chalk out in the coming years for promotion of the language and its literature. It would also result in the University Grants Commission supporting establishment of Chair for Malayalam in various Central universities. The efforts for securing ‘classical’ status was begun by the last Left Democratic Front government on the initiative of Mr. Achuthanandan and M.A. Baby, the then Chief Minister and Culture Minister. It had constituted a committee comprising Prof. Kurup, poet Puthussery Ramachandran and linguists to prepare the State’s arguments to prove Malayalam’s antiquity.

A three-member panel of experts, constituted by the Sahithya Akademi, had gone into their arguments and heard experts on the subject before endorsing the State’s claim. This followed Mr. Chandy and Culture Minister K.C. Joseph taking up the issue with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

-The Indian Express, 24th May 2013

If scarce water has been a major problem for Delhiites this summer, dirty water only aggravates their problems. People in almost all parts of the city have been complaining of contaminated water being supplied by the Delhi Jal Board (DJB). The problem gets worse as sewer water mixes with potable water due to leakage in the pipelines. Moreover, the supplied water also smells very bad, rendering it completely useless.

According to an estimate, nearly 25 per cent of households in the Capital are bereft of treated water. Even the VIP Lutyens Bungalow Zone (LBZ) is not spared of the menace. A few residents of these VIP areas complained that the water supplied to them is contaminated too. "The water is so dirty that forget about drinking, it is not even fit for bathing. We either buy bottled water or use filters. But, what about the large number of employees who stay in servants' quarters with us? They are the worst affected," a resident of the colony said.

The list of localities receiving contaminated water also includes Tilak Nagar, Moti Nagar, Rohini, Keshavpuram, part of the Walled city, Geeta Colony, Karkardooma, New Ashok Nagar, Gandhi Nagar, Trilokpuri, Pitampura, Ambedkar Nagar, Aya Nagar, Laxmi Nagar and Ashok Vihar.

"We have been receiving extremely dirty and foul-smelling water for the past two months, which is not even suitable for washing or cleaning purposes," complained Mandeep Singh, a resident of New Sahib Pura in Tilak Nagar.

Several families across Delhi complained that because of the filthy water supply they have to depend on buying water cans for drinking purpose, which is very expensive for daily use.

"The water is very bad and dirty. The actual Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) in water should be between 50 and 70, for drinking purposes. But, the water supplied to us is so high on TDS that even our RO systems fail to filter it. Its candles have to be replaced in two to three months. So, we have now started using packaged drinking water," Anil Vajpayee, President of RWA Federation, East Delhi.

"Places like Geeta Colony, Karkardooma, New Ashok Nagar and Trilokpuri are the most affected. Residents come to us bringing water from their homes and it is awful. It is black and smells bad too. It is not just once, but an everyday affair in many households. We have complained to the concerned authorities many times, but in vain," said Renu Sharma, President of Resident Welfare Association (RWA), Geeta Colony.

Similar situation is faced by the residents of North Delhi as well, especially in areas like Keshav Puram and Ashok Vihar, the quality of water is pathetic. "Our main sewer line is broken, water pipeline is damaged and we get water which has sewage mixed in it," said Ronnie Bahl, a resident of Keshav Puram.

Earlier, DJB Chief Executive Officer Debashree Mukherjee told 'The Pioneer' that the major problem is with the colonies situated at tail-end.

"We are trying our best. Till now, we have completed 81.3 per cent of water connections in the city. We are promptly supplying water in the areas under us. Moreover, 167 additional water tankers with GPS systems will be deployed. With this new system, it will be easy for us to track the tankers, so we can ensure that water is being efficiently delivered," she said.

-The Pioneer, 25th May 2013

The Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) has started the process for selection of technical consultants to prepare a detailed projectreport for conversion of the old DC bungalow at Panbazar into a Heritage and Handloom Museum.

GMDA chief executive officer (CEO) Dr M Angamuthu told The Assam Tribune that the DPR will include a master plan of the site with an integrated design of all facilities, including architectural concept plans, complete structural and engineering services design and landscape design.

Architects and architectural firms wanting to take up the project have been asked to submit their proposals by June 18. “The administrative approval for the project has already been received from the stategovernment. We are keen to start the actual work on conversion of the bungalow at the earliest,” Angamuthu said.

He said GMDA want to get the best possible consultant from across the country for the project. “We want to convert and renovate the structure but at the same time our effort would be to ensure that the architectural heritage and original touch of the place is not lost. The aim is to develop the place as a major tourist attraction and work would be undertaken in the entire vacated DC bungalow area,” the GMDA CEO said.

The conversion of the old DC bungalow into a Heritage and Handloom Museum is part of the Rs 600-crore waterfront beautification project along the Brahmaputra river announced earlier by the State government. The government has sanctioned Rs 7.46 crore for the DC bungalow conversion project, including consultancy charges.

According to a senior GMDA official, after selection of the technical consultant, financial bids would be drawn up before tenders for various works at the conversion site are invited. “While details will be worked out once the consultant is selected, our emphasis would be to give an artistic touch to the whole bungalow area with landscaping, environmental lighting, rest sheds and beautification of the existing underground watertank, among other things” the official said.

He said that a topographical and geo-technical survey will be made by GMDA in consultation with the selected consultant. The vacated DC bungalow area is of about 13,600 square metre. Besides the heritage bungalow, there is an underground water tank. Being on the riverfront, the area is considered a place of scenic beauty and a major vantage point in the city.

-The Assam Tribune, 25th May 2013

The strikingly beautiful, milky coats of white Bengal tigers are caused by a single change in a known pigment gene, a new study has found.

The white tigers, a variant of Bengal tigers were discovered in the Indian jungles, and since then their unique coat colour has remained a mystery.

Now, scientists have discovered that their spectacular white coats are produced by a single change in a known pigment gene. “The white tiger represents part of the natural genetic diversity of the tiger that is worth conserving, but is now seen only in captivity,” said Shu-Jin Luo of China’s Peking University.

Luo, Xiao Xu, Ruiqiang Li, and their colleagues advocate a proper captive management programme to maintain a healthy Bengal tiger population including both white and orange tigers. They say it might even be worth considering the reintroduction of white tigers into their wild habitat.

The researchers mapped the genomses of a family of 16 tigers living in Chimelong Safari Park, including both white and orange individuals. They then sequenced the whole genomes of each of the three parents in the family. Those genetic analyses led them to a pigment gene, called SLC45A2, which had already been associated with light colouration in modern Europeans and in other animals, including horses, chickens, and fish.

The variant found in the white tiger primarily inhibits the synthesis of red and yellow pigments but has little to no effect on black, which explains why white tigers still show characteristic dark stripes.

Historical records of white tigers on the Indian subcontinent date back to the 1500s, Luo noted, but the last known free-ranging white tiger was shot in 1958.

That many white tigers were hunted as mature adults suggests that they were fit to live in the wild. It is worth considering that tigers’ chief prey species, such as deer, are likely colourblind.

Captive white tigers sometimes do show abnormalities, such as crossed eyes, but Luo says any frailties are likely the responsibility of humans, who have inbred the rare tigers in captivity.

With the causal gene identified, the researchers ultimately hope to explore the evolutionary forces that have maintained tigers in both orange and white varieties.

The study was published in the journal Current Biology.

-The Pioneer, 25th May 2013

At a roundabout on the leafy Kasturba Gandhi Marg, near India Gate, is hidden a jewel reminiscent of the architecture of a bygone era: the Travancore Palace.

Tall pillars and large rooms mark the 20,000-odd sq ft of building space amid the sprawling green campus belonging to the erstwhile king of Travancore, now a Government of Kerala property.

It was built around the same time as New Delhi. After the princely states were merged with the Indian Union, this was transferred to the government. There have been no external changes to the whitewashed building, though several additions and alterations were made within. The façade, reflecting the colonial ambience, is marred by seepage and structural problems.

Today, it has a clutter typical to a government complex. It houses the Kerala Tourist Information Centre, offices of Non Resident Keralites Affairs (Norka) and Keltron, a State Bank of Travancore branch, a Kerala State Electricity Board outlet, Kaveri Cell, the Malayalam Mission Library and the Travancore Art Gallery, which is being renovated.

Pointing out to the "gross mis-utilisation of the place", 85-year-old Om Chary NN Pillai, a prominent Malayali resident of the Capital, says an overhauling project for the building is on.

Aiming to make it as a cultural complex showcasing Kerala's culture, there are plans for the adaptive re-use of this heritage building. One of the new projects proposed is one that will showcase the coastal state's culinary culture too: a Kerala Food Park.

-The Hindustan Times, 26th May 2013

As one steps into the main archway of the Humayun’s Tomb and faces the majestic white marble dome perched atop the red sandstone structure, one is captivated by a small, deep-blue, mushroom-like structure that stands out. It may be mistaken as an addition to the tomb, but it is a canopy under restoration.

Offset by the giant white marble in the backdrop, this small canopy, chhatri (umbrella), is now visible because it has regained the beauty that the original artisans had imparted to it almost 500 years ago. There are eight such chhatris on the terrace of the main building in the Humayun’s Tomb complex which are being restored with glazed tiles in two shades of blue, yellow, green and white, just the way the original architect conceived them. These chhatris will be completed this week.

These glazed tiles, the pièce de résistance of this restoration, have travelled all the way from Uzbekistan, the land of Humayun’s ancestors. The craft of Mughal tile-making, that got lost in India due to neglect of artists, has been revived by bringing on-site trainers from Uzbekistan, who have imparted the know-how to young men from Nizamuddin Basti. In 2011, these chhatris began being studded with handmade glazed tiles in spaces where they originally existed but had fallen to the vagaries of nature or human neglect.

The tilework is part of a larger conservation project underway at the Humayun’s Tomb. The project is funded by several agencies such as the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC), Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and the World Monument Fund.

Instead of buying tiles from Iran for cheap, AKTC chose to train residents of Nizamuddin Basti in tile making. “We have spent nearly Rs 50 lakh on research and development of this tilework. The cost of making one tile on site is around

Rs 1,000. We could have bought them at a fraction of this price from Iran or elsewhere. But the idea was to resurrect this Mughal tradition in India. After this project is over, these men can set up their own tile business,” says Ratish Nanda, Project Director at AKTC.

He says the tilework policy was formulated after a UNESCO conference at Humayun’s Tomb, where 40 experts from 10 tile-producing countries deliberated upon the need to restore the lost art. “This established a policy for tilework across the Islamic world,” Nanda says.

Saroj Kumar Pandey, Mohammad Imran and Asif Ahmed, among others, were trained under four Uzbek artists in 2011. Today, they can confidently restore a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Imran was a motor mechanic whose business had shut down. “I knew nothing about tile-making or even Humayun and Babur. I learnt by observing the Uzbek artists...,” he says. Asif is Class XI student who had failed twice. In three years, the chhatris regained their splendour and these young men, a rare skill.

-The Indian Express, 26th May 2013

A dusty road, snaking between closely set houses, takes you to this water body in south Delhi's Rajpur Khurd. It is completely dry and surrounded by temples, houses and a dharamshala which makes it hard to locate. In fact, the road that leads to it was once submerged under this decades old water body.

"The water body was originally 7,800 sq yards and was part of gram sabha land. At present, only 1,000 sq yards remain. When we first visited, there was only one small temple on the johar, or water body, and some houses surrounding it. The water body originally stretched beyond the houses to the road. In the past three years, there have been three court commissioner visits during which to this water body during which time the commissioners have taken up the case of case of encroachments was discussed but no action was taken," said a government source.

The temple is now surrounded by village houses, another temple, a dharamshala and a road because of which barely one eighth of the water body is left. The encroachments have also covered the water channels that could have ensured that whatever is left of the water body could at least have a water supply. A village elder, who was sitting by the water body when TOI visited, said the temples were "ancient". When questioned further, he added that they had come up about 10 years back. "The water body is also quite old and has been there since before this area was inhabited. However, it is mostly dry now. Water is difficult to spot even in monsoon," said Thakurji, a resident.

Sources say the court commissioners had stopped work on buildings during their visits. They had asked local authorities to take action against it but the buildings that were under construction during their inspections are now complete and in use. The area deputy commissioner had also passed orders, asking for a list of structures that have come up on the johar land recently but no action was initiated against offenders.

The area where the johar is located, close to Chattarpur, is dotted with several water bodies of varied sizes. Preserving them in this part of the capital is even more important because south and southwest Delhi are woefully short of ground water.

"Most of the water bodies here, other than those located in the forest area and within Bhatti and Asola, are encroached upon and the local government officials are party to it. This is why despite so many orders, the encroachments have not just not stopped, only increased," said a government official.

-The Times of India, 26th May 2013

As we step into Jivya Soma Mashe's house, on a vast open plot in Ganjad village near Dahanu town about 140 km from Mumbai, a frail old man emerges from a room, adjusting his hearing aid. He is dressed in a white shirt and khaki half-pants and clutches a small pointed stick.

Mashe welcomes us with a smile and a pat on the back. He then goes back to the intricate Warli painting he is working on. His eldest son, Sadashiv, tells us that he has been working on the 8ft x 8ft painting for the last one-and-a-half months, for two hours every day. The painting is of a wedding, with men and women at work, drawn in white on a cotton cloth with an earthen-red background. He tires soon these days. "But he is adamant about painting," says Sadhashiv.

Eighty-year-old Mashe, who has many national and international exhibitions to his credit, was the first artist to bring Warli paintings into a secular domain, away from tribal ceremonies and rituals. "My father was the first to draw Warli paintings as pure art and just not for rituals," says his son. Sadashiv believes his father would never have become famous, if not for Bhaskar Kulkarni, a maverick artist from Mumbai, who took Mashe to Delhi in 1973 for an exhibition of his handicrafts at Pragati Maidan. Before that, and even sometime after his first exhibition, Mashe worked as a labourer at a farm in a nearby village.

Mashe's first solo exhibition was held at Gallery Chemould in Mumbai in 1975. Mashe's first international exhibition was in France in 1976, which was followed by another major one in 1989. In 2003, he had a joint exhibition with Richard Long, a British artist in Germany, and in 2004 at Milan, Italy. These were followed by exhibitions in the US in 2006.

-The Indian Express, 26th May 2013

The expensive geo-textile tube project to arrest embankment erosion in Brahmaputra’s Majuli is feared to do little to stop the river’s strong corrosive powers

From a distance it looks like a corrugated astro-turf, adding a shade of green on a small patch of a rather long and dusty embankment (or dyke) for protection from swirling waters of the mighty Brahmaputra. Called geo-textile tube (or geo-tube), it comprises of high-strength woven geo-textile that is filled with sand slurry under high-pressure. The geotextile fabric allows consolidation of the sand to create a long sausage-like gravity structure. As grass takes root on this surface over time, the tubes are expected to provide strength and stability to the embankment.

The positive experiences with geo-tubes for shoreline protection in some parts of Malaysia brought the technology to India, ostensibly to stop the recurrence of embankment erosion. A pilot project, utilising geo-tubes installed as submerged dykes, was undertaken in 2006 to protect shoreline erosion at many vulnerable sites along the Malaysian coast. Encouraged by the success of the pilot initiative, a similar project was undertaken two years later to protect a five-km-stretch of the beach at Pantai Batu Buruk.

Buoyed by the success stories emanating from the Far East, 146 geo-tubes were laid at Matmara in Majuli, the biggest river island in Assam, amidst fanfare and optimism. Since the original embankment was breached at this site by the Brahmaputra in 2008, geo-tubes were installed to strengthen a five-km-stretch of the weakened dyke. But the river had little regard for the geo-tubes laden 3.5 km stretch (which could only be completed) and swept it away the following year. It not only meant loss of materials worth Rs. 100 crore but the consequent damages caused by surging waters were several times over.

The story didn’t end here though. The Malaysian executing agency — Emaskiara — faced flak for the dyke failure but recreated geo-tubes on a small stretch for future reference. The project seems suspended for the time but the equipments and materials are still being guarded at the site. Local people apprehend that despite being a failure the project will be revived to serve vested interests. “But it is unlikely to stop erosion and protect our villages,” opines Sunil Kumar Pgn, a resident of nearby Ruptoli village and a member of the local students union.

Reports indicate that some 93 per cent of all the dykes are well past their effective lifespan of 25 years. Erected way back in the 1950s and 1960s, the length of earthen embankments in Assam is an incredibly 4,463 km. Not only have breaching of embankments and consequent flash floods been a consistent problem for the past couple of decades, a parallel economy of flood control for repair and maintenance of dykes has come into being as well. Capital expensive geo-tubes have only contributed value to the political economy of flood management.

Interest in new mechanisms to control embankment breach is beginning to grow, oblivious of the price the exchequer may have to pay. As many as 354 cases of breach of embankments were registered in 2004, which till then was the highest for the preceding two decades. As many as 114 breaches in embankments have officially been recorded during the last four years, making a strong case for search for alternatives to the conventional system of flood moderation. No wonder, geo-textile tubes and its close cousin, geo-fabric bags, have been in the news.

Akin to conventional sand-bags, geo-fabric bags have also been tried at erosion-prone Rohmoria, upstream of the town of Dibrugarh. As was the fate of the geo-tubes, so has been the case with the geo-fabric bags. Laid along 2.6 km stretch of the Brahmaputra river bank under an Rs. 52 crore erosion control project, the geo-fabric bags have either been washed away or dislocated in the first surge of monsoon flow in the river itself. Will the geo-fabric last another season in its present form is a million-dollar question.

It goes without saying that the Brahmaputra river bed has risen significantly on account of increased silt flow due to forest clearance and infrastructure development along its course in recent decades, leading to flood waters spilling over large areas in the floodplains. “Unlike other rivers, the Brahmaputra has strong current which needs cost-effective techniques of flood moderation,” says Ravindranath of Rural Volunteers Centre, a flood relief and rehabilitation centre in flood-prone Dhemaji district.

(The writer is with the Ecological Foundation, New Delhi)

-The Hindu, 26th May 2013

Theodre Baskaran heads to Thattekkad Bird Sanctuary, home to an astounding variety of avian life.

Western Ghats are well known as one of the 18 biodiversity hot spots in the world, with a staggering variety of life forms. Certain areas in these ranges are particularly rich in birdlife. One such is Thattekkad Bird Sanctuary, about 50 km from Kochi airport. The man behind the formation of this is Salim Ali.

As part of a series of bird surveys in different parts of the country, he began a study of Travancore Cochin area at the behest of the Raja in 1933. Salim Ali, along with his wife Tehmina, started the survey in February 1933 from Maraiyar, above the present-day Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary. Curator of Trivandrum Zoo N.G. Pillai also joined the team. Working their way up and crossing Munnar they came down to Thattekkad, in the foothills on the other side on February 11. Struck by the diversity of bird life, he stayed there for 12 days and observed about 162 species of birds. The data he gathered in this survey formed the basis for his enduring work, The Birds of Travancore & Cochin (1953).

Many years later, in 1982, a chance meeting between the Forest Minister of Kerala, Nurudin, and Salim Ali at the VIP lounge of Bombay airport led to the setting up of this sanctuary. The Minister wanted to create something in honour of the legendary ornithologist. Salim Ali opined if the Minister were keen, then he would welcome the setting up of a bird sanctuary. A team, led by Dr. R. Sugathan, a former student of Ali and a pioneering ornithologist, was formed to identify the area. After scouting around the ranges, the team suggested two places, Athirappalli and Thattekkad. The latter was chosen by Salim Ali. In 1983, the Kerala Government notified the area as a sanctuary and christened it Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary.

The sanctuary has an astounding variety of birds, about 320 species, including 40 migratory birds. What is the reason behind this amazing bird wealth? In that small area of 25 sq.km., spread over an undulating landscape, nestle 11 varied habitats, natural and man-made, that sustain an impressive tropical bird community. The dam across the Periyar, built in 1964, has formed a large water body that supports water fowl. It has also created a short stretch of riparian forest that forms a habitat by itself. Added to this is the Kuttapuzha River on the north-western side of the sanctuary. You have forests of different types: evergreen, deciduous, scrub and also grassland. There are teak and mahogany plantations along the edge of the sanctuary. Anaimudi, the highest peak in South India is only 22 km away, facilitating altitudinal migration. Palghat gap, the longest in the Western Ghats, is 45 km away.

There are some iconic birds in this sanctuary that attract birdwatchers from all over the world. They are the mysterious Ceylon Frogmouth, the colourful Western Trogon, the handsome Black Baza, the ubiquitous Malabar Hornbill and the jewel-like Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher. Recently some Great Indian hornbills have been sighted regularly though they do not nest here.

We made four forays into the forest, all by foot, and in the first walk itself sighted the Frogmouths. A resident of the rain forest, this bird has evolved over eons to fit perfectly into that little ecological niche in the dark, moist habitat. Nocturnal, this myna-sized bird is so well camouflaged that it can escape all but the trained eye. Our guide led us to a pair, sitting on a branch upright and sleeping, with the beaks pointing upward in perfect imitation of a tree branch. It was a transcendental experience to stand just four metres away from this ecological marvel. The bird builds a tiny nest of moss and lichens stuck to a branch and lays a single egg. Once considered rare, it has been spotted in other areas also as more and more people are getting interested in birding. Three years ago it was recorded in Sirumalai near Dindigul and recently in the forests near Srivilliputhur. In our walks into the jungle we were joined by two young back-packing wild-lifers from whom we learnt a lot. One of the girls, studying butterflies, pointed out a Southern Birdwing to me, the largest butterfly in India. We also spotted two “lifers”, birds that a bird-watcher sees for the first time — Brown Hawk owl and Crested Goshawk, a bird of prey.

In this small area there are about 40 elephants moving about and one has to be watchful. During one of our walks we could hear elephants trumpeting close by and had to beat a hasty retreat.

Thattekkad has become a favourite ground for bird photographers from all over and the Forest Department conducts photography workshops for them. We ran into T.N.A. Perumal and K. Jayaram, both masters in wildlife photography, and saw them at work. Before leaving the sanctuary we got a chance to spend some time with Dr. Sugathan, himself a rara avis and get an idea of his immense knowledge of birds in the Western Ghats.

-The Hindu, 26th May 2013

Yamuna Biodiversity Park in Delhi comes alive on International Day for Biological Diversity In the ever-growing concrete jungle of Delhi, by clearing greens and slicing the Aravalli, the Yamuna Biodiversity Park is perhaps the last refuge for all indigenous fauna and flora species — frolicking in the mosaic-like wetlands and keeping their gene pool alive.

No doubt that this site was chosen to celebrate the International Day for Biological Diversity on May 22 to commemorate the adoption of the text of ‘Convention on Biological Diversity’ on this day in 1992. It was a collaboration between the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and the University of Delhi.

This year the theme was ‘Water and Biodiversity’. About 70 students, researchers and teachers of Delhi University, elders from nearby villages and DDA officials participated in the event.

The park acts as the repository of approximately 50 threatened communities of the Yamuna basin and the Aravalli hills; provides ideal alternative habitats for migratory and resident bird species; enhances ground water recharge; acts as a sink for CO and other pollutants.

-The Hindu, 26th May 2013

The man who changed Taj Mahal forever was none other than Lord Curzon, the Viceroy of India between 1899 and 1905. Before him the Taj was surrounded by tall green trees. Utpal Kumar tells this and other stories of the Raj’s obsession with gardens

Recently, I visited Agra. Standing along the Taj Mahal, I realised why it could evoke such extreme emotions among visitors. Everyone looked for a picture-perfect moment. The main draw, of course, was the white marble structure (a bit yellowish now), which Mughal emperor Shah Jahan had built in memory of his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal who died at a relatively young age. No one cared about anything else. Some were sitting in front of the Taj instructing photographers to catch the glory of the structure behind. A few others tried to create the impression of having the monument in their palms. But many just sat on the floor wondering how the Mughals could get it so right with the Taj.

Far from the centre of the frenzied action, a photo gallery was on along the periphery of the Taj compound. It was displaying rare photographs of the monument, showcasing how it changed over the years. One photograph of 1862 was particularly interesting. Here the marble structure was hardly the centre of attraction; instead, a thickly grown garden in front of the Taj was grabbing eyeballs.

The man — villain or hero depending on one’s preference for wide open spaces or green trees — who changed the Taj forever was none other than Lord Curzon, the Viceroy of India between 1899 and 1905. Before him the Taj was surrounded by tall green trees. Considering them “overgrown”, Curzon ordered to clear them out, thus opening the view of the marble structure.

But why did Curzon go for wide open spaces in front of the Taj? Eugenia W Herbert, in her recent bookFlora’s Empire, believes Curzon couldn’t comprehend the subtle nuances of Mughal gardening. For the Viceroy, the Taj garden should be flat, formal and paving the way to the great building. It’s position was, thus, made subsidiary to the marble structure, which was not the case when the monument was first conceived. In the Mughal scheme of things, both the building and the garden were equally significant. Herbert, however, believes it would be wrong to question Curzon’s intention. For, she says, the Viceroy was in love with the Taj ever since his days as a young traveller when he “devoted no less than 14 pages of his diary to it, viewing the monument in the early morning light, in the waning gleam of evening, and under the full effulgence of the moon”. In Curzon’s defence, it could be said that he did what he thought was right. In fact, he once confessed that he wanted “to restore nothing that had not already existed, and to put up nothing absolutely new”. And yet post-Curzon, the Taj hardly remained the same. For, he thought “the removal of the flowers and the substitution of simple grass in the plots bordering the water channel in the Taj is an improvement”.

Also, Curzon made the mistake of dismissing the Taj Ganj, the entryway to the Taj Mahal, “as little more than an Augean stable to be cleared as quickly as possible”. This way he, even though unintentionally, detached the Taj from its original milieu. He failed to realise that the chaos of the Taj Ganj was consciously made to ensure that the visitor entered the sanctity of the garden tomb from the untidy and frenzied marketplace; the two symbolised the Quranic concept of the Paradise and the chaotic world existing side by side — one leading to another. Insists William Dalrymple in the book City of Djinns,“Outside the garden, all is delightful chaos; inside, reflecting the central concept of Islam, spontaneity is crushed by submission to a higher order.”

Herbert believes that the sudden — and relatively early — death of Mumtaz Mahal might have helped imbibe uniqueness to the Taj. “Rulers and notables often designed their tombs during their lifetimes, enjoying the pleasures of the gardens while they lived. Then after their death, a mausoleum replaced the pavilion at the centre of the garden. The suddenness of Mumtaz Mahal’s death made this sequence impossible; her funerary garden was thus intended less to evoke the delights of this life than of the one to come,” says she. Since Mumtaz died suddenly, it helped the architects introduce a drastic change: Her mausoleum was set not in the middle of the garden, but at the far end. “The positioning of the tomb at the end of the garden emphases the garden in all its 42 acre majesty, not just the setting for the tomb,” says Herbert.

So, it was Curzon’s failure to understand Mughal gardens that changed the Taj forever. He couldn’t realise that Mughal gardens appealed to all senses, whereas their English counterparts concentrated on sight alone. Thus, what he regarded as excessive was actually a deliberate attempt to provide more texture and odour to the Taj. Also, maybe Curzon was still under the spell of the 18th century English design which emphasised the need for a vast stretch of lawn dotted with a few beautiful trees — all set up to bring out the house in full bloom. The role of the garden, thus, was subsidiary in the entire scheme of things. Curzon himself was raised at one such house, and perhaps he saw it as a model!

Unfortunately, the ‘restoration’ of the Taj set the pattern for landscaping other monuments in the country. Delhi, too, witnessed the change. Here the actors changed (from Curzon to Lutyens), but the story remained the same.

And the story goes like this: After Edwin Lutyens was chosen as New Delhi’s architect, Lord Hardinge, the then Viceroy, sent him to see major Indian monuments at Agra, Indore, Mandu and Sarnath. He hoped that Lutyens would be inspired to create an architectural synthesis of East and West. These tours, however, did nothing to change his belief that India “had no architecture and nothing is built to last, not even the Taj”. Is it, therefore, any surprise that Herbert finds the creation of New Delhi “a staggering demonstration of cultural hubris in imposing the alien aesthetics of English garden city on India”?

Interestingly, of the eight kinds of trees originally selected for the roads of New Delhi, none was native to the region. Popular north Indian trees like mangoes and shisham were conspicuous by their absence. When one examines the species planted in the new capital city, the jamun is probably the most commonly available, followed by the neem, which can be easily found on prominent thoroughfares like Safdarjang Road, Ashok Road, etc. The other significant trees are arjun, imli, sausage tree and bahedawhich, together with jamun and neem, account for about 85 per cent of the avenue trees in Lutyens’ Delhi.

What Herbert doesn’t mention is that in selecting trees for New Delhi, two factors often cropped up. First, the makers of the city didn’t want a species that would shed its leaves. They, thus, opted for evergreen trees. Another aspect that sealed the fate of many north Indian trees was the fact that they were seen to be too commonly available. Thus, mango got ignored for being “too common”. The planners were too eager to ensure the capital city looked ‘different’ from other cities in the country.

This obsession with greenness — along with the desire of being different — ensured Delhi got trees that were completely alien to the region and its ecosystem. Traditionally, the city’s native trees have been deciduous, but the new city makers, led by Lutyens, went for evergreen trees. They failed to realise that deciduous tress suited the climate of Delhi as the region witnessed no or very little rainfall for up to nine months a year. Also, most of these trees are leafy and green in summer and monsoon, and just when we need some warmth in winter, they drop their leaves to help us get sunshine.

What made the Lutyens and Company despise deciduous trees? Maybe it has something to do with the difficulty of keeping streets clean. Or, was it the result of prejudice of those who were used to snowy winters with trees bare and lifeless? Or, maybe they thought a tropical country like India should have evergreen trees!

But then something happened which the city makers could not forecast. In the dry Delhi climate, even the evergreen trees began acting like deciduous trees — a tactic, one would say, that helped them survive the prolonged drought year after year. So the very raison d’être of importing trees from other regions failed, demonstrating how important it is to plant trees in conformity with native ecology, rather than not in defiance of it.

This brings us to the third issue: Why were the British so keen to build English gardens in India? Herbert answers this through “garden imperialism”. For her, India’s many conquerors, through gardens of their imaginations, attempted to tame the land that seemed alien and hostile at the same time. Also, just as it was with Babur, gardens helped the British come over their homesickness. Herbert, however, believes that the British created gardens in India not just out of homesickness, but also as a mark of civilising an alien, inhospitable land. They wanted to set an example of ‘civilised’ life for their subjects.

The British desire to create mini-England in India also helped emerge hill stations like Simla, Dehra Dun, Darjeeling, Ooty, etc. These places became “little islands of Englishness” where the British could look forward to ‘comforts’ of home. Interestingly, in the British summer capital of Simla, altitude determined the social status — quite literally. Thus, the Viceroy occupied the tallest spot in Simla, followed by others. Of all the hill stations, Kodaikanal, founded by American missionaries in the mid-1840s, alone could boost of a comparatively egalitarian social order.

During their rule in India, the British founded great cities like Bombay, Madras and Calcutta, and transformed the body and the soul of a few others, such as Delhi and Lucknow. They also put their stamp on the country’s historical, priceless monuments. No doubt they saved many of them from going into oblivion. But the jury will be out as to how the Taj would have fared without the Curzonian vision. Or Delhi without Lutyens’ ideas!

-The Pioneer, 26th May 2013

Concerned about rising levels of air pollution in the city, the Delhi government has commissioned IIT-Kanpur to conduct a comprehensive study of pollution levels and causes. The government plans to use data to formulate a policy to control and reduce air pollution, and initiate a second-generation air action plan.

Commissioned last month, the IIT-K study will be the most comprehensive study since the 2007 Central Pollution Control Board and National Environmental Engineering Research Institute report.

Director of Environment department Anil Kumar told Newsline: "We need data for a policy framework and so we commissioned a fresh study."

The Environment department said the predicted levels of air pollution indicators in 2017 — such as sulphur dioxide, suspended particulate matter and nitrous oxides — showed drastic increases, thus necessitating the report.

The IIT-K study, to be complete between 12 and 18 months, will analyse the contribution by different sources to air pollution and document new sources of pollution.

"The city has witnessed vast changes in the past five years and there are new sources of pollution that have not been studied before. We also found that the contribution to air pollution from known sources has also changed," a senior Environment department official said.

The IIT-K report will also recommend possible ways of reducing and controlling air pollution. According to the Environment department, the contribution to air pollution from industries, vehicles, burning of waste and leaves and construction dust will be studied.

"Air pollution due to construction dust is something that has never been studied before," Kumar said. He added that the IIT-K study will also look at rising levels of greenhouse gases.

Recently, the Environment department moved a Cabinet note regarding the second-generation air action plan, which at present is with the Law and Finance departments for consideration.

-The Indian Express, 27th May 2013

The court deadline for restoration of Neela Hauz expired on February 28 but civic agencies have not been able to stop the flow of sewage into the water body. In the last meeting, Delhi Jal Board (DJB) complained that a newly constructed municipal drain was flowing into its storm water drain, and the untreated sewage was entering the water body.

"The municipal corporation has been directed to divert this sewage to DJB's sewage treatment plant (STP) in Vasant Kunj. Till then water quality in the hauz cannot be improved. They have been told to finish the work as soon as possible," said a source.

Earlier, untreated sewage flowing into the water body was diverted by DJB to its Vasant Kunj STP. Sewage from the neighbouring Kishangarh village meeting DJB's storm water drain was also diverted to the STP.

"We have stopped a large amount of waste from entering the water body. Now the municipal corporation has to manage its waste andDDA has to carry out greening work," said sources.

S D Singh, CEO of Delhi's parks and gardens society said DDA has been asked to develop Neela Hauz as an ecological-zone. "We have discussed creation of a special bio-zone under which the hauz will be surrounded first by species of water plants, followed by bank-specific greenery, dense forest and then a tree cover along the road. Pit digging for plantation will start in June and DDA has been asked to submit a detailed plan in the next six months," he said.

Residents of nearby areas who have been campaigning to save the water body say that so far DDA has managed to construct a wall around the water body and a parking lot for visitors.

"There was an S-bend that was meant to be demolished to merge the Neela Hauz with the neighbouring Sanjay Van but that has not happened. The water body is also not deep enough. We will meet the LG again," said a resident.

-The Times of India, 27th May 2013

India's elephant and tiger corridors are under stress as the government is allowing mining activity there forcing the independent members of an environment ministry's wildlife committee asking the government to bring them under their regulation.

The Standing Committee of the National Board of Wildlife is a statutory body headed by environment minister to clear all projects in and around wildlife areas. But, the committee is not able to decide on projects in wildlife corridors as the state governments having liberty to de-notify an elephant area through executive order. This has resulted in mining being allowed in forest areas considered as corridors for the big animals to move from one green zone to another.

The issue was raised at a recent committee meeting by non-official members, who urged environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan to bring all such corridors under its ambit for regulation.

A committee member MD Madhusudan said the elephant reserves are created through an executive order and can be de-notified through another executive order, a major legal hurdle in regulation. The Wildlife Trust of India has identified many elephant corridors but the state governments have failed to notify them fearing it would impose restrictions on developmental work.

"There is a need to give a legal status to these reserves and the regulatory role should be given to the National Board for Wildlife," the minutes of the committee meeting quoted Madhusudan as saying.

Another member Prerna Bindra said that all elephant and tiger corridors should be declared as eco-sensitive zones so that the committee can deliberate on any projects proposed there. She also said that there has been an alarming rate of diversion of key wildlife habitats in recent past for projects.

The ministry's Forest Advisory Committee (FAC), mandated to allow diversion of forests for projects, had cleared mining in both elephant and tiger corridors on the ground that they were not notified as wildlife areas. Some of the projects cleared were in naxal affected areas in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.

"Diversion of forest land in elephant reserves, elephant and tiger corridors that are identified and demarcated by the state government and central government should immediately be brought under the purview of the standing committee," she said. Kishore Rithe, who represented Satpuda Foundation, said the wildlife corridors are defined under the Wildlife Protection Act and therefore, they should get the status of ecologically sensitive areas automatically.

Other members of the committee expressed their shock at the pace India was losing its wildlife corridors just because they were not notified deliberately by the state governments.

-The Hindustan Times, 27th May 2013

The concept of ‘sewa’ or selfless service for the community has a unique place in Sikhism. As a means to promote humility, which is one of the three fundamental principles of the faith, its purpose is to work voluntarily for the betterment of humanity. It took Daljit Ami, an independent film maker from Punjab to discover that as a result of varied interpretations of ‘sewa’ in the context of Sikhism, not just the preservers but destroyers of precious heritage in Punjab draw upon ‘sewa’ to justify their deeds.

His latest film titled what else but Seva, documents some unique efforts in both directions. The target is ancient religious and literary manuscripts endangered by neglect, disuse and the march of time. To preserve these mostly handwritten documents, old editions of the Guru Granth Sahib and many more scriptures is the stellar work being done by Chandigarh based Punjab Digital Library which has digitized some 7.5 million pages since 2003.

People like Devinder Pal Singh went from village to village to search for old ‘birs’ of the Guru Granth Sahib and other manuscripts which they could digitize. From 5,000 pages a month, they now do some 3,000 a day. Then, as the work grew people began approaching them with books, photographs and newspapers too and they began doing those too. “Anything related to the history, culture and literature of Punjab and our catchment area is both Pakistan and Indian Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and north India in general from where we get old material that is digitized to preserve its content, if not the physical form”, he says. But Daljit’s keen camera has also documented the destructive aspect of several ‘Angitha Sahib’gurudwaras in Punjab and elsewhere – secretive but well organized places - where old scriptures and manuscripts are systematically cremated in huge quantities. The logic behind these crematoriums is the Sikh philosophy handed down by the Tenth Guru Gobind Singh that their holy book, the Guru Granth Sahib is the embodiment of a guru and no one else has that privilege.

So we have Harsharan Singh of an Angitha Sahib gurudwara near Paunta Sahib in UP angrily opposing all those “who preserve the scriptures through chemical processes and digitization.”

“When the Guru Granth Sahib is our guru, he has a life and will die too. Have you seen anyone holding on to the body of his or her father? When the ‘guru’ scripture grows old, its parts are torn and faded, it has to cremated and we are doing this holy task,” he says.

Daljit was not given permission to film the huge crematorium at the gurudwara, or the room where scriptures from all over India, Pakistan and sometimes from different parts of the world are given the ritual purification bath and wrapped in clean clothes preparatory to their cremation. He took the shots with a zoom lens from outside the boundary walls. But Harsharan Singh did tell him that “though this is a secret place, we have no paid help, all who work here are volunteers and we have no shortage of anything, be it, ghee, wood or perfume needed for the cremations.” The cremated remains are then collected and immersed in the river Yamuna that flows nearby.

The Angitha Sahibs that are known to exist in Goindwal Sahib and Ludhiana in Punjab and this one in Paunta Sahib. And all of them have an extensive network of collection centres where old manuscripts some 80 to 100 years old come. They need not be just Sikh scriptures, for as Harsharan Singh informs, they get holy books of Hindus, the Gita, Ramayana, the Bible and a variety of other scriptures from Jainism, Buddhism, Islam too and all are cremated with the same reverence and sanctity. “God is one and he is embodied in the scriptures of all religions,” they believe.

When Devinder Pal showed the sants of Goindwal Sahib the preserved scriptures on his laptop, they were angry and wanted him to show them where the original old works are so that they could cremate them. The logic may not appeal to many, but theirs is also a kind of ‘seva’. And their followers are many.

Seva throws light on other efforts at preserving old books, sometime single handed ones like that of Gurdev Singh Sidhu an author who rummages in old shops of Malwa in Punjab for torn, termite eaten works of Punjabi narrative poetry – a dying tradition. This is Daljit’s tenth film and will be screened at the Punjabi International Film Festival later this month.

-The Hindu, 27th May 2013

R.V. Smith takes a peek at the salt mandis of Shahjahanabad whose vestiges can still be found in place names

Without salt, life is devoid of savour and Shah Jahan was very well aware of this because salt was brought by the maund (40 seers) for the royal household from Namak-ki-Mandi in Agra City every week. It is still there, situated in the market area of Seo-ka-Bazar, Kinari Bazaar, Kashmere Bazaar and Johri Bazaar. So when he built Shahjahanabad, the emperor had some of the bazaars named after the ones in his former Capital. Phatak Namak owes its origin to those times. Situated near Hauz Qazi on the right of the road leading to Ajmere Gate, the phatak as such was erected later but there was always a salt market there. Caravans of camels brought salt to the city and it was all Lahori namak or rock salt. Sambari namak from the salt mines of Sambar in Rajasthan was sold by the pansaris (grocers).

Salt was very cheap those days. In the time of Alauddin Khilji (1296-1316), it was sold at the rate of 2 and a half seers for a jittal. The sultan had fixed the rates for all essential commodities: wheat per maund was 7 and a half jittals (a jittal was a little more than a rupee), sugar per seer was 1 and a half jittals, gur per seer one third of a jittal, rice per maund 5 jittals, 2 and a half seers of butter or ghee cost 1 jittal, and oil was 3 seers for a jittal.

In Shah Jahan’s time, the prices of these commodities had increased only marginally. So one could get 2 and a half seers of salt for Rs. 1.50. Now one kilo of salt costs Rs.15, for which one could get two maunds of wheat those days. Phatak Namak continued to sell salt in wholesale trade till about a hundred years ago, say old timers. Now only the name remains and one has to buy salt from the market shops. An interesting story about salt concerns a village on the outskirts of the Capital, where no salt was available because of a dacoit named Jaswanta, who had banned its sale. The reason was that the dancing girl he loved had been murdered by a village youth whom she had spurned. The man was hunted from pillar to post and eventually tortured and killed by the desperado but still his thirst for revenge was not satiated. There came a day when the son of the Pradhan of a neighbouring village came to wed a village girl. When the food was served, it was tasteless because there was no salt in it. The bridegroom, Jeevan Singh, who happened to be a wrestler, lost his temper and asked his father-in-law why he and his wedding party had been insulted thus. When he heard the story of Jaswanta’s revenge he got up from the pandal, saying he would get married only after he had dealt with Jaswanta. How he disposed of the dacoit chief and ended the ban on salt is part of folklore.

Phatak Namak had its counterpart in Telion-ka-Phatak, near Turkman Gate, which was called Hauz Muzaffar Khan in earlier times because of a hauz or tank that existed there. When the Trinity Church foundation was being laid in early 20th Century, the digging revealed the remains of the tank and so the church site was moved to the interior of the Turkman Gate locality. Telion-ka-Phatak was the centre of the oil trade in the Walled City. The telis (oil sellers), unlike the proverbial Gangu Teli, was an influential community, that had become much richer than in the days of Raja Bhoj, because of the big demand for oil which, along with salt, is an essential ingredient for cooking. However, the oil sellers were supposed to be possessive of their young daughters. The reason was that along with the “fishbone” of the foreleg of a mutton piece, the bodies of such girls, if they died before the age of 13, could be stolen and misused by tantriks. In the pre-Partition years, a teli’s daughter died suddenly after returning from school. The grieving parents buried her and when they went to the cemetery on the third day, they found the mud grave dug up and the body missing. A search resulted in the remains being found some distance away but the heart was not there. Exorcists, whose help was taken, opined that it could have been used along with goat “fishbone” by some lover to charm the woman with whom he was madly in love. The gorkands (gravediggers), who were arrested, were finally let off for want of evidence and migrated to Karachi. You can make what you like of the story, but halal meat sellers even now crush the “fishbone” (called Shiani-ki-haddi) before putting it in the waste box or cut it up with the mutton pieces so that it’s not misused.

The third well-known phatak is known as Phatak Habsh Khan, situated in Tilak Bazar, Fatehpuri. This gate was built by Sidi Miftah, an Ethiopian, who became a Mughal nobleman in Shah Jahan’s times. He was nicknamed Habsh Khan because of his African features. There is a Shidhion-ki-Masjid too near Filmistan cinema in Karol Bagh. Sidi Miftah is said to have achieved siddhi and was held in esteem by those who regarded him as a majzoob (a mystically inclined person), though some think Sidi meant Negroid descent.

However, Phatak Namak is now just a name for a non-existent trade while Telion-ka-Phatak, with its early Mughal period cusped arch, and the Shahjahani Phatak Habsh Khan, disfigured by alterations, are better known landmarks as an All India Radio team learnt recently. But all three phataks have tales to tell, like the missing gate of Banaras Bank Ahata in Agra which reminded one of Warren Hastings, the Chait Singh affair and the harassed Begums of Oudh.

-The Hindu, 27th May 2013

Geologist Robert Bruce Foote, who found a Palaeolithic tool near Chennai on May 30, 1863, classified, catalogued and described his discoveries systematically One hundred and fifty years ago, on May 30, 1863, young geologist Robert Bruce Foote bent down and picked up a stone tool on the Parade Ground at Pallavaram cantonment, near Chennai. It turned out to be an epochal discovery.

It was a hand-axe made of a hard rock called quartzite. Prehistoric man had crafted it to dig out tubers and roots from the soil, butcher animals he had hunted and take out the meat, and so on. As Foote, then a 29-year old assistant geologist in the Geological Survey of India (GSI), cradled the hand-axe and looked at it transfixed, he recognised it to be a Palaeolithic tool. (Palaeo means old, lith means stone. Prehistory is that part of history before written records began).

At one stroke, his discovery changed the antiquity of humankind who lived in the Indian subcontinent. It put India on the world map of prehistory. Recent research has established that such tools used by Palaeolithic population in India could be dated to 1.5 million years before the present.

Four months after this discovery, on September 28, 1863, Foote and his best friend and colleague in the GSI, William King, made another seminal discovery. They found numerous stone tools, including hand-axes, cleavers and flake tools, at Attirampakkam, near the Kortallayar river, in Tiruvallur district, 60 km from Chennai. Prehistoric man had used them to hunt animals gathering around waterholes and exploit plant and aquatic resources. Foote found some more stone tools later at Pallavaram and was convinced that a Palaeolithic population had lived in India.

Two types of dating done in France at the request of Shanti Pappu and Kumar Akhilesh, specialists in Tamil Nadu’s prehistory, have established that the stone tools found at Attirampakkam could be dated to 1.5 million years. The methods used were paleomagnetic and cosmogenic nuclide burial dating. Dr. Pappu and Dr. Akilesh did this dating as part of their project to study the rich prehistoric archaeology of northern Tamil Nadu, which entailed excavations at Attirampakkam to unravel the prehistoric man’s activities at the site, its environmental context and the age of the stone tools found there.

Foote was a man of multiple interests. He was a geologist, archaeologist, palaeontologist, ethnographer, museologist (one who studies the organisation, management, and function of a museum) and landscape painter. He wisely invested in shares. He was a perfectionist, too.

As Dr. Pappu says in her researched article, ‘Prehistoric Antiquities and Personal Lives: The Untold Story of Robert Bruce Foote,’ published in Man and Environment (Vol.XXXIII, No.1, 2008), “His name is stamped across the pages of India’s geological and archaeological history, and carries as much weight today as it did a century ago… His prolific publications, comprising reports, memoirs, short notes and catalogues of antiquities, his lectures and dialogues with interested individuals, geologists and other scholars, place him amongst the foremost intellectuals of the 19 century… Through the years, literature written by and on Foote helps us gain insights into his personality — as a scientist and scholar, and as a man standing in front of India’s past with a sense of wonder and reverence.”

Foote not only discovered stone tools but also classified, catalogued and described them systematically. He tried to understand the technology that went into their making. He studied whether the tool was made of quartzite, agate, chalcedony or chert (a form of microcrystallite quartz), whether it belonged to Palaeolithic, Neolithic or Iron Age, the stratigraphy (a branch of geology that studies rock layers and layering) and the sedimentary context in which he found it and the geography of the location of the find, said Dr. Pappu.

In sum, he painted a holistic picture of every discovery he made. “He gave the exact locations of the sites where he found the tools and precise directions on how to reach the site. This when there was no Global Positioning System,” said Dr. Akilesh. For instance, this is how Foote describes his first stone-axe discovery: “The first implement discovered was found by me on the 30 May last year [1863] among the debris thrown out of a small gravel pit a few hundred yards north of the Cantonment at Palaveram (10 miles S.W. of Madras) and about the same distance west from the high road.”

Dr. Akilesh said Foote’s knowledge of the geology of the Indian landscape was amazing. He spoke about the vegetation, animals and fossils found at sites, and made ethnographic observations about them. Foote was the first to discover tiny tools called microliths in the red “teri” sand dunes of Tirunelveli district. He surveyed the famous Billa Surgam caves in Andhra Pradesh and studied the ash-mounds of Karnataka and proved that they were made of burnt cow-dung, Dr. Pappu said.

The Government Museum, Egmore, Chennai, has an eclectic collection of the stone tools Foote found at Pallavaram, Attirampakkam and in the Salem, Baroda and Hyderabad regions. According to R. Kannan, Principal Secretary, Tourism, Culture and Religious Endowments Department, the Government of Madras acquired the collection for the Museum for Rs.40,000 in 1904. The Museum has published Foote’s catalogues of his collection of Indian prehistoric and protohistoric antiquities. Foote was born in England in 1834 and died in December 1912 in Kolkata. He lies buried in the graveyard of the Holy Trinity Church at Yercaud.

-The Hindu, 27th May 2013

The new Congress Government in Karnataka led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has decided to set up a Marine National Park at Netrani island just 19 kms away from the Murudeshwar coast in Karnataka.

The State bio diversity board is planning to declare Netrani Island as the Marine National park to save the endangered bio diversity at the island. According RK Singh, Additional Principal Conservator of Forests and Member Secretary, Karnataka Biodiversity Board, the Government is mooting the idea to declare the island as the Marine National Park. He also said once the court clears the case, the State would start working on the project.

He said in Karwar, “We are working on it. Once the case is resolved in court, we will begin work on it. The idea is to set up a marine national park here is to protect the rich corals and other endangered species.

“The park will also encourage eco-tourism. Fishermen don’t need to worry as they can continue fishing everywhere except in the core area of the Marine National Park,” he added.

Marine National Parks already exist in the Gulf of Kutch, the Andaman and Nicobar islands and in Tamil Nadu.

The Karnataka bio diversity Board also rejected Indian Navy’s request for target practicing at rocky surface on the island. In fact after the Karnataka High Court firmly rejected the Indian Navy’s petition seeking Netrani Island for them to use for target practicing last year the Navy had approached the bio diversity board to permit them to use rocky surface of the island for target practicing.

Netrani or Pigeon Island is located in the Arabian Sea, off the Murudeshwar coast of Uttara Kannada district was used by the Indian Navy for target practice till the Karnataka high court has ordered the Navy to stop target practice until further orders. The Indian Navy has established project Seabird at Karwar and was using Netrani Island for target practicing for the last 15 years. After protests by environmentalists, locals and marine biologists, Karnataka High Court also restrained the Navy using this island for target practice. The Netrani landmass is the last archipelago island of the Western Ghats.

According to Professor VN Nayak of marine biology department of Karnatak University, the rare corals around the island have started growing and expanding after the halt of the activity.

He said, “I have observed that many types of corals have started growing and expanding in the area in the last one year.”

-The Pioneer, 28th May 2013

The new Congress Government in Karnataka has decided to rejuvenate the dead river Arkavathy, once perennial water source to the city of Bangalore on the lines of the revival of river Thames in London. According to Karnataka Water Resource Minister MB Patil, the Government has decided to revive Arkavathy on the lines of revival of river Thames in London. He said the Government has already working on a plan to revive this river to provide water to Bangalore.

He said, “Help of experts involved in the revival of Thames will be taken if needed for the revival of Arkavathy River, which would add drinking water source for Bangalore city. Both Thames and Arkavathy have similar magnitude and the department is committed to implement this project.”

In fact the previous BJP Government had initiated a project to rejuvenate river Arkavathy to provide drinking water parched Bangalore. The BJP Government had started programmes for the revival of Arkavathy including cleansing its birth point, identifying flow area, and GIS mapping of the flow.

Patil made it clear that the Government will take a tough stance in clearing encroachments in Arkavathy catchment paving way for smooth flow of water. He said Managing Director of Karnataka Irrigation Department Kapil Mohan recently visited London to study the feasibility of rejuvenating Arkavathy River.

According to Minister, cleansing the channels, clearing industrial effluents and regenerating water bodies were some of the initiatives taken during revival of river Thames and it took 15 years to rejuvenate Thames. Patil said his department does not mind taking the assistance of national or international consultants for this project. “Experts in IITs will also be consulted before taking up this project. The department will explore all legal ways to remove bottlenecks and, if needed, some strong steps will also be initiated. The Central Government will be requested to finance this project. The DPR is likely to be ready soon and it will be implemented in consultation with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.”

“Untreated sewage water and effluents from industries have been diverted into the river. This will be checked and the river will be revived. This river will be one of the important sources of water in the coming years,” he said.

Arkavathy, which takes birth in Nandi Hills near the city, flows at least 86km crossing various places in the Bangalore rural and Ramanagam districts. Arkavathy, a tributary of river Cauvery, is a large mountain river and is used by the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board to provide drinking water to Bangalore.

-The Pioneer, 28th May 2013

The bungalow was built during 1886-87 by British industrialist T.J. Cameroon with permission from then Travancore Maharaja Sree Moolam Thirunal Rama Varma to start a paper mill at Punalur.

A colonial bungalow that “drowned” thirty years ago has surfaced from its watery grave in the reservoir of the Thenmala Dam in Kollam district.

The spot is about 3 km from the dam top and can be reached after a 45-minute trek through the forest. The resurfaced bungalow looks eerie from a distance. Yet, one is overwhelmed on entering it after squelching across knee-deep silt.

The water in the reservoir has receded to an unprecedented low in the wake of the drought in Kollam district.

Shortly before the structure was inundated in 1983 by the waters of the Kallada Irrigation Project (KIP), its teak doors, windows and rafters had been auctioned.

The bungalow was built in 1886-87 by the British industrialist T.J. Cameroon who was given permission by the then Travancore Maharaja Sree Moolam Thirunal Rama Varma (1885 to 1924) to start a paper mill at Punalur, using the abundantly growing reeds in the surrounding dense forest as raw material.

Commissioned in 1888, the paper mill was initially christened the Travancore Paper Mills. The name changed to Lakshmi Paper Mills, then to Meenakshi Paper Mills and finally Punalur Paper Mills in 1931 as managements changed. It boasted the India Security Press at Nasik among its clientele at that time.

The bungalow, with 15 rooms, had glass pane windows. Natives called it the “kannadi (glass) bungalow.” The majestic structure stood on the side of the erstwhile Shengottai-Thiruvananthapuram road. Shengottai, now in Tamil Nadu, was then part of the Travancore kingdom. The bungalow was the office complex of superintendents monitoring the reed harvest and its transportation in bullock carts to the paper mill, some 20 km away.

Following the declaration of the Wildlife Protection Act in 1972, the bungalow was taken over by the Forest Department and it later served as the survey office of the KIP when the dam was sanctioned. The dam was commissioned in 1984, but the bungalow had gone under water some time before that.

Senior citizens of the area who had seen the bungalow in its heydays say that the structure is still in immaculate condition. This they attribute to surkhi mortar with which it was built.

Fifty-year-old G. Thomaskutty, who resides near the dam, often passed the Kannadi bungalow as a teenager. The courtyard had plenty of guava and mango trees then, he recalls.

As the monsoon progresses, the Kannadi Bungalow will once more be inundated.

-The Hindu, 28th May 2013

We are often led to believe that, in this era books may actually go extinct; I laughed it away, as I leafed through the pages of this wonderful book, Himalaya: Mountains of Life, by Sandesh Kadur and Kamal Bawa. Eight years ago, when they produced their first masterpiece together, ‘Sahyadris’, an excellent photo-documentation of another bio-diversity hotspot of India, the Western Ghats, they set standards for natural history books written and produced in India.

Now with this new book, I can dare say that the bar has been raised high once again! “Himalaya” is a ‘Tour de force’, showcasing the incredible biodiversity of Eastern Himalayas. Excellent and evocative photographs bring to life the amazing tribes, the unique birds and animals, flowers, and other amazing creatures like frogs, snakes and butterflies. This region has one of the highest endemism in the Indian sub-continent — about 80% and also sustains about 10% of all bio-diversity on Earth!

One of the most respected Naturalists in the world today, George Schaller, who himself undertook a wildlife survey in this very region 20 years ago, writes in one of the forewords, “Mountains of Life reminded me that I should have tramped leisurely through the forests and patiently looked closely at the orchid, lizard, or other small treasure rather than rush along in search of an elusive Tiger track”. Imagine the venerable George Schaller himself writing so modestly about how he felt when he read this book! Such is the power of ‘Himalaya’, specially highlighting the ‘smaller creatures’ like spiders and moths and the beautiful orchids of this region.

Myriad life forms Page after page, the book took me on an epic journey of this wonderland, ebbing with all the myriad life forms, we share our Planet with. The passion of the authors flows through every page; some of the double spreads depicting tribes, fish , frogs, snakes just to name a few, are such a visual treat! What particularly struck me is a fitting photo-documentation and celebration of the fantastic anthropological diversity of the region. For example, Arunachal Pradesh itself has 120 tribes speaking about 50 different languages and many are fast disappearing. These tribes have been beautifully highlighted in the book. The feature about the Naga tribe is an example of this and also a beautiful portrait of a Lepcha family. Arunachal also offers us a sample of the biodiversity of the region: forests cover about 80% of this State and about 6000 plant species (1/3 of all species in India), 50% of all birds and 20% of our mammals live here!

As a Naturalist who has travelled in this region, I am particularly struck by the stupendous effort put in by the authors to photo-document such rarely seen birds like the White-bellied Heron (one of my favourite pictures in the book), Gould’s Shortwing, mammals like Tibetan Sand Fox, Pallas’s Cat, Marbled Cat, Asian Golden Cat and Binturong.

The primate double spread showing all the rare monkeys of the region is a great ‘at-a-glance’ portrayal. The menu of seeds of Hornbills and the painting of the Fire-tailed Sunbird also are very special. Even in good natural history books photos of subjects like Fungi and Moths are rarely depicted but this book is an exception. Some of the ‘comparative’ photos like the glacial retreat between 1921 and now give an excellent visual perspective. Excellent maps are also extensively used in ‘Himalaya’; the best example being the ‘ecoregions’ and the ‘protected area’ maps.

‘Himalaya’ has achieved something beyond regular coffee table books, which are all mostly about glossy pictures. The threats to this fragile land have been meticulously documented and they present us with a dreary picture. Sample this: eight of the biggest rivers of Asia originate in the Himalayas and if all the hydro-electric dams (planned in the region by four countries) are actually built, there would be 800 of them-the highest concentration in the world; that too in a proven seismically active zone. One can well imagine the catastrophic environmental damage they would cause. The issue of ‘Glacial lake outburst floods’ (GLOF) has also been highlighted; about 20 such floods have occurred in Nepal alone in the past 25 years and more are likely in the region.

The authors also make an impassioned plea for ‘trans boundary conservation’, which in itself may not be a new idea, but the time is now perhaps ripe for such an approach, if we have to save this rich biodiversity. A famous Chinese proverb talks about, ‘One picture being worth a thousand words’; the 600-odd pictures in this book are so good that I would say each one is worth ten thousand words; that would make the book worth about 60 million words!

The authors should make a big effort to reach their monumental work to everybody who matters; decision makers, legislators, community leaders, schools and colleges, to drive home the point about what we have at stake, if we carry on with our destructive ‘developmental’ strategies; like the 800 dams being planned!

The authors have rightly said that all their efforts have only resulted in offering us a mere glimpse of the bio-diversity of this hotspot and no doubt we need more such efforts.

(Sarath Champati is a naturalist who often travels to the mountains) Himalaya — Mountains of Life: Sandesh Kadur, Kamal Bawa; ATREE, Bangalore.

-The Hindu, 28th May 2013

The Walled City’s gardens and squares are now obscured by illegal shops and businesses Mohammed Jahangir can remember when his friends ran through the streets of the famous Walled City of Lahore, racing past the mosques and through the markets. Then came long decades when even walking through its streets, choked by illegal construction, was hard.

Now, a pioneering new restoration project has allowed the 80-year-old to glimpse once more the city of his childhood. A string of conquerors, notably the Mughals, built the mosques, fortifications, roads and palaces which, by the 18th century, had turned Lahore, once a trading town on a branch of the silk route, into a stunning demonstration of imperial prestige.

The Walled City’s gardens and squares are now obscured by illegal shops and businesses, the skyline cluttered by unplanned tenements and bundles of cables. For many of the 200,000 inhabitants crammed into these four square kilometres, a fraction of Lahore’s seven million population, drinking water is a rarity. Levels of crime are high, rates of literacy low.

But last month the new Walled City of Lahore Authority (WCLA) – in effect an independent town council – met for the first time. The body oversees the ambitious plan to restore the past glory of the city’s oldest neighbourhood.

As ever in Pakistan, this is less simple than it might sound. The new authority will have to take on local mafias and win over local people to succeed. Many previous efforts have failed. “Nothing like this has been tried anywhere in the world as far as we know. Nowhere is a city itself a living monument,” said Shahid Durrani, a director of the WCLA.

Six months ago, work started in the narrow lanes leading to the Wazir Khan mosque from the Delhi Gate, from where the royal road once led to the current capital of India, 350 miles away and then the main seat of the Mughal emperors.

The gate, a brick, mortar and plaster structure, has been cleared of hoardings, illegal extensions and squatting stallholders.

Much of the £22m budget for the project has come from the World Bank “Socialmobilisation has been the key,” said Ahmas Bentarik, who runs the WCLA’s effort to win the consent of the local community for the project. “The aim is not to create a museum; we have to tackle all issues.”

Eventually tourists may come, backers of the scheme hope. Lahore was once a significant draw for overseas visitors. But now Pakistan’s reputation as violence-prone puts off many.

The four kilometres of battlements that gave the Walled City its name were largely demolished by the British following the rebellion against their rule in India in 1857. There are no plans to rebuild them. A short remaining stretch will be restored but nothing more, said Bentarik.

-The Hindustan Times, 28th May 2013

Dedicated money for developing green cover would now also be utilised for relocation of people from the tiger reserves and national parks.

The environment ministry has approved a proposal of National Tiger Conservation Authority to provide money from the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) to relocate people living inside tiger reserves and other protected areas.

Around 1,78,000 families live inside protected areas including tiger reserves and are considered a threat to wildlife because of increasing man-animal conflict. The ministry’s latest data shows that 652 people were killed and around 17,000 injured in attacks by wild animals between 2002 and 2012. In retaliation, around 100 ferocious animals were also killed during the period.

In a bid to check this conflict, there had been a government scheme to give compensation of up to Rs. 10 lakh for a family willing to relocate in 41 tiger reserves. The fund provided in the 11th five year plan (2007-08) of around Rs. 600 crore for tiger reserves had fallen awfully short for quick relocation.

Therefore, the ministry decided that the money from CAMPA can be provided to the state governments for relocation of people from around 600 protected areas. Some of the state governments have already submitted proposals for the relocation plan. As per the CAMPA guidelines, each state government can get up to Rs. 1,000 crore every year from the fund corpus depending on the projects they submit. The change, if approved by the Supreme Court, would mean most of the state governments would be able to utilise the limit.

What remains to be seen is whether the court approves the ministry’s proposal as the guidelines does not explicitly provide for relocation of people from forest areas in the name of creating inviolate wildlife zones.

The guidelines say the money provided can be used for assisted natural regeneration, infrastructure development, wildlife conservation and protection in addition to compensatory afforestation. But, relocation is not mentioned. Ministry officials, however, says that relocation of people would result in wildlife conservation and protection.

The standing committee of National Board for Wildlife has asked the government to fast track the decision to permit use of certain percentage of Campa funds for the relocation purpose. The NTCA has supported the committee’s view and had submitted a detailed proposal in this regard.

-The Hindustan Times, 28th May 2013

It has emerged as a model of response, resilience and sustainability in the face of a challenging jal pareeksha

Surat, the city of diamonds, textiles, and zari was earlier known as Suryapur. Located about 250 km north of Mumbai on the left bank of River Tapi, it is the second largest city in Gujarat and eighth largest in India. Surat has a habitable area of over 200 sq km as of 2013 (the city limit got extended in the year 2006 from 112.3 sq km to 324.6 sq km but not all of the additional area is habitable so far). With GDP growth of over 11 per cent per annum in the last 10 years, it is one of the fastest growing cities of India.

Rapid growth of cities is usually expected to generate urban sprawl and deterioration in public service delivery. Not so in Surat as was earler reported in this column, 'Surat: building a city that cares' (Indian Express, September 29, 2010), and it remains as true today. Surat has not only managed growth with advance planning but has also emerged as a model of response, resilience and sustainability in the face of a challenging jal pareeksha (testing by water) with the floods of 1994. The incredible story of Surat's transformation from the city of plague in 1994 to one of the three cleanest cities of India has been told by many. When I visited Surat last Friday, almost 20 years after the deluge, it was clear to me that the lessons learnt from the experience of 1994 and then again of 2006 have not been forgotten. The leadership of S.R. Rao, then commissioner, Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) and now commerce secretary, government of India, in bringing about the major turnaround is still remembered by one and all in Surat with affection and reverence. The institutional legacy that he left at SMC and the motivation that he generated in the "Suratis" has sustained the process of change that he initiated. The challenging task of SMC has been made a little lighter by the enthusiastic support and cooperation of the public, the elite, the NGOs and the political class.

-The Indian Express, 29th May 2013

A joint inspection by officials and a group of residents has said the public works department illegally felled or damaged as many as 235 trees for a road-widening project in Vasant Kunj.

During the last hearing on May 20, the forest department had informed the National Green Tribunal that 48 trees had been felled illegally. Now a report filed by the inspection team comprising the petitioner in the case and forest department and PWD officials says seven more trees subsequently fell as the roots had been severely damaged and soil around the roots dug up.

The report filed to the tribunal said: “Inspections revealed remnants of 35 more trees that had been felled illegally. Remnants of at least 20 trees were found dumped at a nearby site. It is possible that the number of trees felled may have been higher...but from the evidence gathered, it is reported that 90 trees have been felled unauthorisedly.”

“A total of 1,724 trees are within the alignment of the proposed road-widening project. Of them, 145 trees have been damaged due to widening. PWD should immediately save these 145 trees...Some of the damaged trees are not proposed to be cut and it is imperative these be restored on priority,” the report says. “PWD officials have indicated that 766 trees need to be cut. Only 32 trees can be transplanted. However, as it is summer, the possibility of successful transplantation immediately is slim,” the report says.

The report also says that no details were found to suggest the project had the sanction of the unified traffic and transportation infrastructure (planning & engineering) centre. “No compensatory afforestation plan is available with PWD at present,” it says.

Green tribunal hauls up PWD New Delhi: The tribunal on Tuesday hauled up the PWD and issued a show-cause notice asking why contempt of court proceedings shouldn’t be initiated against it for lying to the court. The PWD had earlier denied having felled trees. The tribunal has now asked a Central Forestry Institute to inquire into the matter and submit a report by July 10 when the matter would be heard next.

-The Hindustan Times, 29th May 2013

The three municipal corporations have been offered a list of 10 possible sanitary landfill sites to combat the problem of garbage.

The decision was taken at a meeting of commissioners of the civic bodies with officials of the urban development ministry, the Delhi Development Authority and other stakeholders, during which the 10 sites were identified.

“After the order of the high court on sanitary landfill sites, a tentative list of five sites has been suggested for the South Delhi Municipal Corporation. This includes a 60-acre plot near Okhla SLF, 450-acres in Bhati Mines, 30-acres in Tajpur Jaitpur Pahari, 150-acres in Ghitorni and 100-acres in Mandi village.

For the North civic body, the sites identified are 100-acre plot in Sultanpur Dabas, 150-acres in Pooth Khurd, 27.5-acres near Hamidpur village behind APMC compost plant, 42.5-acres near Palla village on Bakhtawar Pur Road and 62.5-acres between Palla village and Haryana border,” a senior corporation official said.

The East Corporation will share the landfill sites with South Delhi Municipal Corporation.According to the official, the move still required approval from certain agencies after which it could be put into process.

“The forest and environment department will submit its comments regarding environmental issues, if any. The DDA will have to submit issues regarding change in land use according to the Master Plan of Delhi. The land owning agencies will submit procedure for transfer of land,” the official said.

He added that a follow-up meeting on the issue will be held on June 4.

The issue acquired urgency after the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) banned dumping at three — Bhalswa, Okhla and Ghazipur — of the four existing dumping sites.

However, the three municipal corporations continue to dump garbage at the said sites because of lack of alternative sites despite repeated court orders and demands.

-The Hindustan Times, 29th May 2013

As the National Capital reels under severe heat conditions and sees an increased demand for water, production at three of Delhi Jal Board’s water treatment plants (WTPs) has gone down in over a decade, an RTI query has revealed.

The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) manages its daily supply through WTPs at Chandrawal I & II, Wazirabad I, II & III, Haiderpur I&II, Nangloi, Bhagirathi and Sonia Vihar, totaling a production of about 735-odd million gallons of water per day (MGD). About 100 MGD comes from ground water.

BS Vohra from East Delhi RWAs Joint Front had filed an RTI in this regard and sought data for last the 10 years of water production at DJB’s plants.

Replies revealed that production at Chandrawal I & II was 36,860 million gallons in 2003-04, 36,671.97 million gallons in 2004-05, 36,416.62 million gallons in 2007-08 and 33,623.93 million gallons in 2012-13.

Similarly, clear water production at Wazirabad went down from 44,589 million gallons in 2003-04 to 44,224 million gallons in 2006-07 to 44,135 million gallons in 2012-13, the data revealed.

“The data is shocking to us as Delhi’s population has increased manifold during the last 10 years. The rest of the plants have not yet bothered to reply to the RTI,” Vohra said.

But DJB officials are neither amused or find any of the revelations surprising. The Chandrawal plant was built in 1936 and hence its efficiency is less.

“But it’s rehabilitation is already under way, which will increase its functioning,” said a DJB official.

-The Hindustan Times, 29th May 2013

Summer may be a tough time for the residents of Delhi, but there are some positive aspects too. One lesser known fact is that this is also one of the peak seasons for butterflies in the city. A visit to the butterfly park in the Aravali Biodiversity Park is proof of the same. Now-adays, the merely two hectares big butterfly park has as many as 5,000 butterflies of around 90 species. Says Aisha Sultana, field biologist, working in the park, "All you need is a canopy of trees for shade, plants that support the reproductive cycle of butterflies and some moisture and you will have butterflies in abundance." That is what you can see in this butterfly park, located deep inside a depression in the Aravali hills, between Vasant Vihar and Vasant Kunj. As one walks into the park, one is surrounded by hundreds of butterflies of various hues. It is a pleasant surprise to see all these butterflies in the middle of the city. But creating this natural environment has been a challenge. Experts from Delhi Un i v e r s i t y ' s C e n t r e fo r Ecological Management of Degraded Ecosystem (CEMDE) have been working since 2006 to set up this butterfly park. Says M Shah Hussain, scientific incharge of the park, "We started with removing unwanted vegetation, planting trees, which support a butterfly's life cycle, providing a natural tree canopy and also developing the more than 700 hectares of Aravali Park, which is spread around it. It is only then that circumstances were created where butterflies could prosper." The aim of the park management is to create a place where children can come and learn and make sure that the ecology of the place also prospers. These butterflies not only look pretty but are also essential for pollination and as food for birds. Now, the management is working on a bigger park near the entrance of the park from the Vasant Kunj side, where a visitors' area is being developed. The butterfly park has had its share of VIP visitors. There is a tall tree that was planted by Union Minister Ajay Maken. Says Hussain, "Recently, the Delhi Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit also visited the park. She was pleasantly surprised by the large number of butterflies. In fact, she said that we should create something similar near her home. But that is not easy to achieve. A lot of factors contribute to create such an environment where butterflies are at home. All these butterflies have made this park their home on their own. They have not been introduced here." Besides the large number of butterflies flying around, visitors can also see butterfly larvae and pupa. The pupa are well camouflaged. They look like dried leaves and are difficult to spot. Only experts can do that. Some rarely seen butterflies, seen in the park are spot swordtail, common jay, common rose and small salmon arab. Other commonly seen species are the common and lesser gull, large cabbage white, yellow orange tip, plain tiger, common silver line, lemon pansy and lime butterfly, among others. Then there are some migratory butterflies as well, which have come here from the Himalayas and beyond, such as pea blue, Indian fritillary and painted lady. The visitors to the place come back transformed and educated. "I never knew such a place exists in the middle of the city. I saw a real pupa for the first time in my life. What has been created here is very impressive. I never knew one needs particular plants for particular butterflies. The next time I come to a park I will look at it in a different way," says Sumit Talwar, a visitor.

-The Hindustan Times, 30th May 2013

The zoo in New Delhi is adequately prepared to battle the rising heat

From elusive white tigers to towering giraffes, the National Zoological Park, Delhi, has been home to a vast canvas of flora and fauna in the heart of the city. And since November 1, 1959, when it was inaugurated, the zoo authorities have been tackling the relentless summer heat which regularly gatecrashes its way into the city. While the wilderness does not take any conscious measures to provide respite from the ire of Mother Nature, the zoo authorities do.

While speaking about the steps undertaken to counter the heat wave, Riyaz Ahmed Khan, curator, National Zoological Park, says, “We have developed special ponds for the elephants and rhinos to help them cool down in the heat. The ponds allow them to soak in mud and relax while the morning sun fades away.”

Riyaz also elaborates on how closed enclosures of carnivores, jaguars in particular, have been modified while keeping in consideration the changed weather conditions, “The wooden platforms have been removed and a special acronite mat has been introduced to maintain the shade and to keep the enclosures cool.”

Temporary artificial ponds have been developed for the white tiger and the deer who have always been the prime attractions at undoubtedly the Capital’s favourite picnic spot. Riyaz also mentions an introduction, the cooling spray, a mechanism which simulates a rain like environment within the bird enclosures on a trial basis. Another enhancement for zoo inhabitants which the summer heat has brought is that of the updated bathing patterns. Large animals like buffaloes are bathed twice a day during the summer months.

The diet of animals has also undergone transformation to help them cope with the changing weather conditions. “Diet of herbivores has been tweaked to include seasonal vegetables such as cucumbers and papayas. The carnivorous animals would be consuming less food during these months, so their diet has undergone subsequent changes,” Riyaz says. “We have also started introducing glucose into the diet of the animals to keep them equipped for the summer season,” he adds.

Unforgiving as it may be, the summer heat fails to dissuade persistent younglings from catching a glimpse of their favourite fauna. Zoo director Amitabh Agnihotri, mentioning the steps undertaken to cater to guests who throng the zoo, says, “The zoo has ample shades and shelters, while keeping the summer in mind, we have increased the number of purified water outlets which would dispense water free of cost within the zoo premises.”

The zoological garden will always be a prime attraction for residents and guests to the Capital. “We are taking all measures, from installing coolers, to modifying the bird enclosures and have taken steps as per the requirement of the animals,” Agnihotri sums up.

-The Hindu, 30th May 2013

Sericulture and weaving always have been traditional pursuits for the rural Assamese people, supplementing their agricultural incomes as well as fulfilling their personal requirements of cloth. Environmentally, Assam is the only place in the world suitable for producing all the four varieties of natural silks -- eri, muga, mulberry and tussar. Despite these distinct advantages of having a traditional cottage industry, eco-friendly climate for producing raw silks and availability of skilled man-power, the indigenous silk industry and its niche product for centuries ‘Assam silk’ is today struggling to survive.

Ostensibly the problem seems to be market oriented where the demand for Assam silk is diminishing because it is costlier in comparison to the silks from outside the State, particularly Benares. But this is misleading because cost wise there is not much difference in the prices of the fabrics produced in any of the noted silk manufacturing centers of the country including Sualkuchi when the fabrics are woven out of natural silk yarns. It is only when fabrics are woven out of natural silk yarns blended with cheap imported Chinese silk or artificial/synthetic silk yarns that a significant difference in the cost of the fabric occurs.

Taking undue advantage of this cost difference and the customers’ ignorance unscrupulous traders have been indulging in profiteering by passing off blended products as pure silk fabrics. The worst sufferers of this duplicity are the silk weavers, who, for survival, are forced to make distress sales of their genuine products at throwaway prices to the bulk buyers/mahajans, who have a stranglehold on the market. This was the root cause of the recent disturbances in the silk town of Sualkuchi. Therefore the threat to Assam silk is not from Benarasi silk but from duplicate silk fabrics being sold as real silk, a trend which is not confined only to Assam. In reality there is a growing demand for all the varieties of Assam silk in the domestic, national and international markets.

For instance, the demand for muga, a monopoly of Assam, has been growing with its increasing popularity in India and abroad. It is now a high end fashion fabric commanding premium prices. The market for eri, another exclusive silk of Assam, which was earlier restricted because of its poor quality and limited uses, has also grown with improved technology appreciably upgrading the quality. Today eri is one of the most economic and durable silk fabrics with multiple uses. Its excellent thermal properties and suitability for blending with wool has also made it a popular fabric for the colder climes in India and abroad. Moreover eri is the only natural silk that does not involve the killing of a living organism as it is not extracted from larvae. It is therefore preferred all over the world by Buddhists and conservationists. Even though mulberry silk is not exclusive to Assam it is in demand among the connoisseurs of Assam “paat” because of its unique texture. Unfortunately the indigenous silk industry has not been able to exploit this market potential because of which it is in the doldrums.

A deficient production because of a shortage of silk yarns is the main reason for the inability to meet the growing demand. Against a total domestic demand for silk yarns of 26,000 tons (MT) the country produces only 18,370 MT. The shortfall is made up by imports from China and the less expensive synthetic silk yarns from Japan and Italy. The problem has been further aggravated by the decline in the production of mulberry silk; the most widely used natural silk, in Karnataka. Karnataka which is the biggest producer of mulberry silk in the country has seen a steady decline in its area of mulberry cultivation because of rapid urbanization, industrialization and a shortage of agricultural labour. Consequently prices of mulberry silk yarns have been skyrocketing and Assam which is heavily dependent on Mysore silk yarns for its production has been caught in this vicious cycle of decreasing supplies and increasing prices.

The only way to salvage the situation is to increase the State’s own production of silk yarns. In the long run this will curtail the dependence on imported yarns, ensure regular supply of yarns to the local weavers at reasonable rates and make the finished products more price competitive.

Fortunately, unlike Karnataka, the basic parameters for sericulture in the State are still favorable. The climate is still suitable for silk rearing, the cultivable areas are still untouched by urbanization or industrialization and a sizable section of the rural population is still involved in rearing and weaving. At present almost 20,000 hectares of land are in use for muga, mulberry and eri cultivation involving 2.6 lakh families in more than 10,000 villages of the State. While according to the 2012/2013 Economic Survey Report of Assam the State has 13 lakh handlooms which provide direct and indirect employment to around 25 lakh people. Utilized properly this dormant potential can transform the rural economy of Assam.

Even though every year both the State and Central governments initiate numerous schemes and spend huge amounts for the development of sericulture and weaving, the results have been disappointing. In 2011/2012 Assam produced a total of 2109 MT of raw silk as follows: Eri- 1976 MT, Muga- 115 MT and Mulberry- 18 MT. However the efforts have been grossly inadequate given the magnitude and gravity of the problem. Compare this to the fact that Assam had recorded a muga production of 95 MT way back in 1957; or Karnataka’s production of almost 10,000 MT of mulberry silk annually; or new entrant Andhra Pradesh’s annual output of mulberry silk of 4500 MT. Perhaps the enormity of the situation may be better understood from the fact that Sualkuchi alone has a yearly requirement of 2000 MT and 98 MT of mulberry and muga silk yarns respectively. Therefore all out efforts are needed to increase the output of silk yarns, particularly mulberry and muga, in the State.

For a start the entire sericulture and weaving sector must be better organized and streamlined from the grass-roots to the showroom so that the scope for the exploitation of farmers and weavers by middle men is removed. Some measures which can make a significant difference are increasing the acreage under sericulture, establishing modern infrastructure for sericulture and weaving, supply of quality seeds and feeds for silk worms, regular lab to field projects to educate farmers and weavers on scientific methods and new technology to improve quality and boost outputs, frequent grass-root level awareness programs about government schemes and funds with a single window service to avail these facilities, soft loans to farmers and weavers from banks to undertake schemes etc. These are some long term initiatives which if implemented properly can yield permanent results.

Agitations by beleaguered weavers for supply of subsidized yarns and free electricity, procurement of finished products at remunerative prices by government agencies, banning of silk fabrics from outside etc. are short terms measures that may provide temporary relief but will permanently cripple the indigenous silk industry as a whole. In the era of globalization and an open market economy the leitmotif should be more production and not more protection. To save Assam silk, perhaps Assam needs a sericulture revolution involving small silk growers just like the small growers revolution in tea.

-The Hindu, 30th May 2013

In an exemplary move, a small village in Assam’s troubled Karbi Anglong district has agreed to move itself to a new location in order to clear the Kalapahar-Doigrung Elephant Corridor of all human habitation. The decision to shift Ram Terang village, located within 30 kms radius of Silonijan area in Karbi Anglong, comes at a time when instances of man-animal conflict are on the rise across the country.

Foundation stone for a new model village was laid recently and the Ram Terang residents are expected to shift to the new location by the year-end. The new model village will have traditional houses reflecting the culture of the area. It will also be equipped with all basic facilities, such as electricity, healthcare, education, etc.

Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) Coordinator Dr Rathin Barman said the project to relocate the village has been undertaken with assistance from Elephant Family, IUCN, Netherlands and Japan Tiger and Elephant Fund. The project is implemented by the WTI with the support from Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council and Assam Forest Department.

Rechno Haising Ronghang, the 40th King of Karbi Anglong, who laid the foundation stone of the new village, said that it is a new step that will benefit wildlife as well as people. “There should be no barrier when it comes to wildlife conservation. We need to think of it as something that is necessary for human survival too,” he added. The Kalapahar-Doigurung Elephant Corridor is located about 22 kms from Silonijan and connects Kalapahar with Doigurung-Nambor Wildlife Sanctuary and Kaziranga National Park. Ram Terang village has been in the middle of the corridor for about 30 years. As a result, human-elephant conflicts are rampant with regular reports about loss of property and life.

“There are about 1,800 elephants in the Kaziranga-Karbi Anglong landscape making it the habitat of about 8 per cent of India’s elephants. Securing this corridor will not only provide safe passage to these elephants but also relieve local people of losses caused due to conflicts,” said Barman.

He added that it took three years to convince the villagers that the relocation will help both the residents as well as the animals. “The villagers were very hesitant at first when we approached them with the idea of relocation as it involved complete overhaul of their livelihoods,” Barman said.

“However, eventually they understood the need and benefits of the efforts to animals as well as themselves,” said Dilip Deori, WTI Assistant Manager.

-The Pioneer, 30th May 2013

Bangalore-based artist Shobana Udayshankar triumphantly talks about her patience and knowledge of scripture and mythology. "You need it if you want good results, especially in Mysore Art. It's a style which relies on intricacies," says Udayshankar, who has been working for 25 years with Mysore Art, a fading style of paintings. Centuries ago, these paintings were also used in the royal palaces of Karnataka. The meticulous detailing, called "ghesso", which is needed for the art form, allows for an embossed, grand effect that imitates the use of pure gold in the traditional palaces of Mysore.

Udayshankar's exhibition, titled "The Royal Art", which has paintings from the Mysore Art on display, is currently on at Shridharni Art Gallery.

"I started working with Tanjore Art (a more popular sister art form), but the intimacy and detailing of Mysore paintings lured me. I've been a convert ever since," she says.

Udayshankar's main goal behind the exhibition was to draw the audience's attention to an art form she considers overshadowed. "The awareness is minimal, mostly because the process needs a lot of attention to detail, and patience. Both of which are lost virtues today," she adds. Udayshankar says that it is the main difference between Tanjore and Mysore Art that helped her make the switch. "Tanjore Art mainly revolves around the Krishna-Radha figures, whereas Mysore Art is more varied in its subject matter," she informs. Traditionally, Tanjore Art was considered a bolder form, and still uses plaster of Paris and dramatic colours, while Mysore Art uses white-rice powder and water colours. It was Mysore Art's simplicity and intimacy that appealed to Udayshankar and she decided to learn the art form under the guidance of renowned Mysore royal palace artist and curator, Ramanarasaiah. In the year 2000, she was awarded the Millenium Artist Award by the Karnataka Lalit Kala Akademi for her art work Chamundeshwari.

-The Indian Express, 30th May 2013

Among the riot of colours and fragrances of Delhi's phool mandi, numerous artistes have sought and found inspiration. Some of these stories of the Capital's largest wholesale flower market (the Daryaganj mandi) will now emerge through an exhibition of portraits, canvas prints, lithographs, polaroids and film screenings. Organised by designer Sapna Bhatia's label Bring Home Stories (BHS), the show will be held at Indian August, a lifestyle store in Noida, this weekend. "I lived in England for some time and realised that people used flowers only on special occasions. In India, however, no ceremony or festival is complete without flowers," says Bhatia.

In the short animation film, History of Phool Mandi , a viewer can travel through the time the flower market was established in 1869. Made by TV News International and headed by Bhatia , the film strings together the cultural significance of flowers, from the marigold to the rose, in prayers, celebrations, weddings and funerals, with the tales of flower-sellers. Another documentary that's a part of the festival is Flowers (Bollywood). It pays an ode to the existence of flowers during the 100 years of Indian cinema by making references to songs such as Sasural genda phool and Phool tumhe bheja hai khat mein. In fact, the relationship between flowers and films has been intricate and long-lasting. Flowers have fulfilled multiple roles in Indian cinema — including popping up on screen every time the hero and heroine got intimate in the '60s and '70s.

The exhibition also includes an old lithograph of a madrasa in Delhi, where a teacher and children sit on the ground with books placed in front of them, while flowers have been digitally printed over it. In another black-and-white lithograph of the Lodhi Garden, an elephant can be seen walking past graves that have been decorated with yellow flowers.

-The Indian Express, 30th May 2013

While North and South corporations have each announced five tentative sanitary landfill sites, environmentalists have protested against the choice of areas.

In south, one option is 450 acres of Bhatti Mines against which forest officials have reservations. In the north, two of the five options are located near Palla village which is part of the original Yamuna flood plain.

A proposal to use part of the Bhatti Mines as a landfill site has been shot down once in 2011 by the Delhi forest department and the environment ministry. This time, too, sources say, attempts to use the forest land as a landfill site will be thwarted. "We understand that the municipal agency needs land but as long as it is on forest area, the plan will not be supported," said a source.

NGO Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan has written to the LG, protesting against the proposal for landfill sites in north. Its' convener Manoj Misra said, "We are alarmed that two of the sites are proposed in Zone P II in north Delhi near Palla village. This zone being largely rural should be maintained to meet the city's growing need of food and water," he said.

The two proposed sites are a 42.5 acre land on Bakhtawarpur Road and a 62.5 acre land between Palla village and Haryana border. "The land's proximity to the river give it an excellent potential for massive water storages, both underground in aquifers and for raising off-channel reservoirs where part of flood flows in river Yamuna could be stored for later use. A landfill site here may pollute the ground water," said Misra. Corporation officials say they haven't finalized any site yet and are awaiting suggestions from the forest and environment department. "We want 200acre of land. It will be more convenient if we get land at different places," said P K Gupta, commissioner, North corporation.

-The Times of India, 31st May 2013

The picturesque archipelago of Andaman and Nicobar Islands on Thursday got international recognition for its unique flora and fauna as United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation(UNESCO) designated it as world biosphere reserve at a convention held in Paris. With the latest addition, India now boasts of nine such sites.

Biosphere reserves are considered as sites of excellence, where new and optimal practices to manage nature and human activities are tested and demonstrated.

Member countries establish such reserves and the UNESCO recognises them under the programme to promote sustainable development based on local community efforts and sound science.

The Andaman and Nicobar islands chain are believed to be home to 1,800 animal species and some of the world's most endangered tribes.

Other sites added to the list include Pakistan's Ziarat Juniper forest and China's Snake Island.

-The Daily Baskar, 31st May 2013

In the months to come, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is set to raze the remaining ugly, modern structures erected by the Indian Army inside Red Fort. The project, an integral part of the Comprehensive Conservation Management Plan (CCMP), was divided in phases and work on Phase I was completed earlier this year. While the original plan was in three phases, officials hope that they will raze the remaining identified structures in Phase II itself.

A total of approximately 300 such structures were identified for demolition, of which over 80 were razed in Phase I that lasted about six months. Under Phase II, smaller structures like cow sheds, pillars, toilets etc built during the six decades the military camped on the fort grounds too will be torn down. "We're in the process of identifying and marking post-independence structures that have no historical value. This is likely to be completed in a few weeks,'' an official said. But with Independence Day drawing closer when Red Fort comes under tight security for the PM's address, sources said, Phase II work would probably begin only after August 15.

"The structures that need to be razed have no historical value and are an eyesore for tourists. They obstruct a clear view of the monuments,'' the source said. The Phase II focus will be more towards the north side of the fort grounds, while Phase I was mainly towards south.

Unlike some years back, when structures like toilets, tin sheds and hutments were razed, this time around ASI has zeroed in on bigger structures like two-storey cottages and large staff quarters which housed the Army during their years inside the Fort. The cottages have been lying empty since the Army moved out in 2003 and are falling apart.

There are a hundred such cottages which will be razed. While the Army had occupied about 70% of the fort grounds during their tenure, most cottages are located close to each other. A few Army buildings are also being used by CISF guards who protect the fort.

-The Times of India, 31st May 2013

The Mughal-era Khazanchi Ki Haveli near Dariba may be one of the morestriking Walled City buildings. But in recent years, this centuries-old structure has fallen into decay.

Over the years, alterations to the original construction, vandalism and growing commercialization have had an adverse impact on the haveli.

Although the government says it wants to protect heritage structures, this 800-year-old building has escaped notice. It doesn't figure in MCD's heritage list, leaving the door open for abuse and alterations.

Many Chandni Chowk havelis now house families who pay meagre rents between Rs 25 and Rs 200 to live in what was once a status symbol for the rich. The owners of most such havelis have moved out and aren't interested in their upkeep. Khazanchi Ki Haveli with its beautiful carvings and designs on marble pillars is one such haveli.

The building is quite significant to Delhi's history. "Shah Jahan's accountants were called khazanchis. They used this building to keep accounts books of the Mughal treasury. The street in front was named Gali Khazanchi, after the accountants," a historian said. A tunnel connects the haveli to Red Fort. This was used to transfer money safely to the royal coffers.

Rupan Jain, one of the haveli owners, lives on the first floor. A direct descendant of a family of Mughal accountants, Jain firmly believes that the haveli is an integral part of history and should be preserved. "Unfortunately the building was never listed as a heritage structure. A few times, government officials came to inspect the haveli, they went away from the ground floor. I always missed them," she says.

Jain says she couldn't stop the alterations to the haveli architecture as she was only part owner of the building. "Over the years, this mansion has undergone several changes. There was a white-stone, carved chajja that has been changed to bricks and mortar. White marble that adorned the haveli, same as the type used in the Taj, has vanished. So have several jaali works in typical Mughal style and pillars with intricate designs engraved on them," she says.

The haveli has two more owners who live elsewhere. Jain alleges that the building was being developed as a commercial hub and has approached several agencies to put a halt to this.

The haveli isn't part of MCD's list of 767 heritage buildings that have been notified as protected heritage buildings. To counter this, the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (Intach) has identified another 738 structures and havelis that were excluded from the original list which is still pending Delhi government notification. Khazanchi Ki Haveli figures on this list.

While the first list comprised important heritage structures like Fatehpuri Masjid and the State Bank of India building among others, the second includes mostly the magnificent and neglected havelis, now ravaged by time.

-The Times of India, 31st may 2013

Geologist Robert Bruce Foote, who found a Palaeolithic tool near Chennai on May 30, 1863, classified, catalogued and described his discoveries systematically One hundred and fifty years ago, on May 30, 1863, young geologist Robert Bruce Foote bent down and picked up a stone tool on the Parade Ground at Pallavaram cantonment, near Chennai. It turned out to be an epochal discovery.

It was a hand-axe made of a hard rock called quartzite. Prehistoric man had crafted it to dig out tubers and roots from the soil, butcher animals he had hunted and take out the meat, and so on. As Foote, then a 29-year old assistant geologist in the Geological Survey of India (GSI), cradled the hand-axe and looked at it transfixed, he recognised it to be a Palaeolithic tool. (Palaeo means old, lith means stone. Prehistory is that part of history before written records began).

At one stroke, his discovery changed the antiquity of humankind who lived in the Indian subcontinent. It put India on the world map of prehistory. Recent research has established that such tools used by Palaeolithic population in India could be dated to 1.5 million years before the present.

Four months after this discovery, on September 28, 1863, Foote and his best friend and colleague in the GSI, William King, made another seminal discovery. They found numerous stone tools, including hand-axes, cleavers and flake tools, at Attirampakkam, near the Kortallayar river, in Tiruvallur district, 60 km from Chennai. Prehistoric man had used them to hunt animals gathering around waterholes and exploit plant and aquatic resources. Foote found some more stone tools later at Pallavaram and was convinced that a Palaeolithic population had lived in India.

Two types of dating done in France at the request of Shanti Pappu and Kumar Akhilesh, specialists in Tamil Nadu’s prehistory, have established that the stone tools found at Attirampakkam could be dated to 1.5 million years. The methods used were paleomagnetic and cosmogenic nuclide burial dating. Dr. Pappu and Dr. Akilesh did this dating as part of their project to study the rich prehistoric archaeology of northern Tamil Nadu, which entailed excavations at Attirampakkam to unravel the prehistoric man’s activities at the site, its environmental context and the age of the stone tools found there.

Foote was a man of multiple interests. He was a geologist, archaeologist, palaeontologist, ethnographer, museologist (one who studies the organisation, management, and function of a museum) and landscape painter. He wisely invested in shares. He was a perfectionist, too.

As Dr. Pappu says in her researched article, ‘Prehistoric Antiquities and Personal Lives: The Untold Story of Robert Bruce Foote,’ published in Man and Environment (Vol.XXXIII, No.1, 2008), “His name is stamped across the pages of India’s geological and archaeological history, and carries as much weight today as it did a century ago… His prolific publications, comprising reports, memoirs, short notes and catalogues of antiquities, his lectures and dialogues with interested individuals, geologists and other scholars, place him amongst the foremost intellectuals of the 19 century… Through the years, literature written by and on Foote helps us gain insights into his personality — as a scientist and scholar, and as a man standing in front of India’s past with a sense of wonder and reverence.”

Foote not only discovered stone tools but also classified, catalogued and described them systematically. He tried to understand the technology that went into their making. He studied whether the tool was made of quartzite, agate, chalcedony or chert (a form of microcrystallite quartz), whether it belonged to Palaeolithic, Neolithic or Iron Age, the stratigraphy (a branch of geology that studies rock layers and layering) and the sedimentary context in which he found it and the geography of the location of the find, said Dr. Pappu.

In sum, he painted a holistic picture of every discovery he made. “He gave the exact locations of the sites where he found the tools and precise directions on how to reach the site. This when there was no Global Positioning System,” said Dr. Akilesh. For instance, this is how Foote describes his first stone-axe discovery: “The first implement discovered was found by me on the 30 May last year [1863] among the debris thrown out of a small gravel pit a few hundred yards north of the Cantonment at Palaveram (10 miles S.W. of Madras) and about the same distance west from the high road.”

Dr. Akilesh said Foote’s knowledge of the geology of the Indian landscape was amazing. He spoke about the vegetation, animals and fossils found at sites, and made ethnographic observations about them. Foote was the first to discover tiny tools called microliths in the red “teri” sand dunes of Tirunelveli district. He surveyed the famous Billa Surgam caves in Andhra Pradesh and studied the ash-mounds of Karnataka and proved that they were made of burnt cow-dung, Dr. Pappu said.

The Government Museum, Egmore, Chennai, has an eclectic collection of the stone tools Foote found at Pallavaram, Attirampakkam and in the Salem, Baroda and Hyderabad regions. According to R. Kannan, Principal Secretary, Tourism, Culture and Religious Endowments Department, the Government of Madras acquired the collection for the Museum for Rs.40,000 in 1904. The Museum has published Foote’s catalogues of his collection of Indian prehistoric and protohistoric antiquities. Foote was born in England in 1834 and died in December 1912 in Kolkata. He lies buried in the graveyard of the Holy Trinity Church at Yercaud.

-The Hindu, 27th May 2013

Geologist Robert Bruce Foote, who found a Palaeolithic tool near Chennai on May 30, 1863, classified, catalogued and described his discoveries systematically One hundred and fifty years ago, on May 30, 1863, young geologist Robert Bruce Foote bent down and picked up a stone tool on the Parade Ground at Pallavaram cantonment, near Chennai. It turned out to be an epochal discovery.

It was a hand-axe made of a hard rock called quartzite. Prehistoric man had crafted it to dig out tubers and roots from the soil, butcher animals he had hunted and take out the meat, and so on. As Foote, then a 29-year old assistant geologist in the Geological Survey of India (GSI), cradled the hand-axe and looked at it transfixed, he recognised it to be a Palaeolithic tool. (Palaeo means old, lith means stone. Prehistory is that part of history before written records began).

At one stroke, his discovery changed the antiquity of humankind who lived in the Indian subcontinent. It put India on the world map of prehistory. Recent research has established that such tools used by Palaeolithic population in India could be dated to 1.5 million years before the present.

Four months after this discovery, on September 28, 1863, Foote and his best friend and colleague in the GSI, William King, made another seminal discovery. They found numerous stone tools, including hand-axes, cleavers and flake tools, at Attirampakkam, near the Kortallayar river, in Tiruvallur district, 60 km from Chennai. Prehistoric man had used them to hunt animals gathering around waterholes and exploit plant and aquatic resources. Foote found some more stone tools later at Pallavaram and was convinced that a Palaeolithic population had lived in India.

Two types of dating done in France at the request of Shanti Pappu and Kumar Akhilesh, specialists in Tamil Nadu’s prehistory, have established that the stone tools found at Attirampakkam could be dated to 1.5 million years. The methods used were paleomagnetic and cosmogenic nuclide burial dating. Dr. Pappu and Dr. Akilesh did this dating as part of their project to study the rich prehistoric archaeology of northern Tamil Nadu, which entailed excavations at Attirampakkam to unravel the prehistoric man’s activities at the site, its environmental context and the age of the stone tools found there.

Foote was a man of multiple interests. He was a geologist, archaeologist, palaeontologist, ethnographer, museologist (one who studies the organisation, management, and function of a museum) and landscape painter. He wisely invested in shares. He was a perfectionist, too.

As Dr. Pappu says in her researched article, ‘Prehistoric Antiquities and Personal Lives: The Untold Story of Robert Bruce Foote,’ published in Man and Environment (Vol.XXXIII, No.1, 2008), “His name is stamped across the pages of India’s geological and archaeological history, and carries as much weight today as it did a century ago… His prolific publications, comprising reports, memoirs, short notes and catalogues of antiquities, his lectures and dialogues with interested individuals, geologists and other scholars, place him amongst the foremost intellectuals of the 19 century… Through the years, literature written by and on Foote helps us gain insights into his personality — as a scientist and scholar, and as a man standing in front of India’s past with a sense of wonder and reverence.”

Foote not only discovered stone tools but also classified, catalogued and described them systematically. He tried to understand the technology that went into their making. He studied whether the tool was made of quartzite, agate, chalcedony or chert (a form of microcrystallite quartz), whether it belonged to Palaeolithic, Neolithic or Iron Age, the stratigraphy (a branch of geology that studies rock layers and layering) and the sedimentary context in which he found it and the geography of the location of the find, said Dr. Pappu.

In sum, he painted a holistic picture of every discovery he made. “He gave the exact locations of the sites where he found the tools and precise directions on how to reach the site. This when there was no Global Positioning System,” said Dr. Akilesh. For instance, this is how Foote describes his first stone-axe discovery: “The first implement discovered was found by me on the 30 May last year [1863] among the debris thrown out of a small gravel pit a few hundred yards north of the Cantonment at Palaveram (10 miles S.W. of Madras) and about the same distance west from the high road.”

Dr. Akilesh said Foote’s knowledge of the geology of the Indian landscape was amazing. He spoke about the vegetation, animals and fossils found at sites, and made ethnographic observations about them. Foote was the first to discover tiny tools called microliths in the red “teri” sand dunes of Tirunelveli district. He surveyed the famous Billa Surgam caves in Andhra Pradesh and studied the ash-mounds of Karnataka and proved that they were made of burnt cow-dung, Dr. Pappu said.

The Government Museum, Egmore, Chennai, has an eclectic collection of the stone tools Foote found at Pallavaram, Attirampakkam and in the Salem, Baroda and Hyderabad regions. According to R. Kannan, Principal Secretary, Tourism, Culture and Religious Endowments Department, the Government of Madras acquired the collection for the Museum for Rs.40,000 in 1904. The Museum has published Foote’s catalogues of his collection of Indian prehistoric and protohistoric antiquities. Foote was born in England in 1834 and died in December 1912 in Kolkata. He lies buried in the graveyard of the Holy Trinity Church at Yercaud.

-The Hindu, 27th May 2013

Geologist Robert Bruce Foote, who found a Palaeolithic tool near Chennai on May 30, 1863, classified, catalogued and described his discoveries systematically One hundred and fifty years ago, on May 30, 1863, young geologist Robert Bruce Foote bent down and picked up a stone tool on the Parade Ground at Pallavaram cantonment, near Chennai. It turned out to be an epochal discovery.

It was a hand-axe made of a hard rock called quartzite. Prehistoric man had crafted it to dig out tubers and roots from the soil, butcher animals he had hunted and take out the meat, and so on. As Foote, then a 29-year old assistant geologist in the Geological Survey of India (GSI), cradled the hand-axe and looked at it transfixed, he recognised it to be a Palaeolithic tool. (Palaeo means old, lith means stone. Prehistory is that part of history before written records began).

At one stroke, his discovery changed the antiquity of humankind who lived in the Indian subcontinent. It put India on the world map of prehistory. Recent research has established that such tools used by Palaeolithic population in India could be dated to 1.5 million years before the present.

Four months after this discovery, on September 28, 1863, Foote and his best friend and colleague in the GSI, William King, made another seminal discovery. They found numerous stone tools, including hand-axes, cleavers and flake tools, at Attirampakkam, near the Kortallayar river, in Tiruvallur district, 60 km from Chennai. Prehistoric man had used them to hunt animals gathering around waterholes and exploit plant and aquatic resources. Foote found some more stone tools later at Pallavaram and was convinced that a Palaeolithic population had lived in India.

Two types of dating done in France at the request of Shanti Pappu and Kumar Akhilesh, specialists in Tamil Nadu’s prehistory, have established that the stone tools found at Attirampakkam could be dated to 1.5 million years. The methods used were paleomagnetic and cosmogenic nuclide burial dating. Dr. Pappu and Dr. Akilesh did this dating as part of their project to study the rich prehistoric archaeology of northern Tamil Nadu, which entailed excavations at Attirampakkam to unravel the prehistoric man’s activities at the site, its environmental context and the age of the stone tools found there.

Foote was a man of multiple interests. He was a geologist, archaeologist, palaeontologist, ethnographer, museologist (one who studies the organisation, management, and function of a museum) and landscape painter. He wisely invested in shares. He was a perfectionist, too.

As Dr. Pappu says in her researched article, ‘Prehistoric Antiquities and Personal Lives: The Untold Story of Robert Bruce Foote,’ published in Man and Environment (Vol.XXXIII, No.1, 2008), “His name is stamped across the pages of India’s geological and archaeological history, and carries as much weight today as it did a century ago… His prolific publications, comprising reports, memoirs, short notes and catalogues of antiquities, his lectures and dialogues with interested individuals, geologists and other scholars, place him amongst the foremost intellectuals of the 19 century… Through the years, literature written by and on Foote helps us gain insights into his personality — as a scientist and scholar, and as a man standing in front of India’s past with a sense of wonder and reverence.”

Foote not only discovered stone tools but also classified, catalogued and described them systematically. He tried to understand the technology that went into their making. He studied whether the tool was made of quartzite, agate, chalcedony or chert (a form of microcrystallite quartz), whether it belonged to Palaeolithic, Neolithic or Iron Age, the stratigraphy (a branch of geology that studies rock layers and layering) and the sedimentary context in which he found it and the geography of the location of the find, said Dr. Pappu.

In sum, he painted a holistic picture of every discovery he made. “He gave the exact locations of the sites where he found the tools and precise directions on how to reach the site. This when there was no Global Positioning System,” said Dr. Akilesh. For instance, this is how Foote describes his first stone-axe discovery: “The first implement discovered was found by me on the 30 May last year [1863] among the debris thrown out of a small gravel pit a few hundred yards north of the Cantonment at Palaveram (10 miles S.W. of Madras) and about the same distance west from the high road.”

Dr. Akilesh said Foote’s knowledge of the geology of the Indian landscape was amazing. He spoke about the vegetation, animals and fossils found at sites, and made ethnographic observations about them. Foote was the first to discover tiny tools called microliths in the red “teri” sand dunes of Tirunelveli district. He surveyed the famous Billa Surgam caves in Andhra Pradesh and studied the ash-mounds of Karnataka and proved that they were made of burnt cow-dung, Dr. Pappu said.

The Government Museum, Egmore, Chennai, has an eclectic collection of the stone tools Foote found at Pallavaram, Attirampakkam and in the Salem, Baroda and Hyderabad regions. According to R. Kannan, Principal Secretary, Tourism, Culture and Religious Endowments Department, the Government of Madras acquired the collection for the Museum for Rs.40,000 in 1904. The Museum has published Foote’s catalogues of his collection of Indian prehistoric and protohistoric antiquities. Foote was born in England in 1834 and died in December 1912 in Kolkata. He lies buried in the graveyard of the Holy Trinity Church at Yercaud.

-The Hindu, 27th May 2013

Geologist Robert Bruce Foote, who found a Palaeolithic tool near Chennai on May 30, 1863, classified, catalogued and described his discoveries systematically One hundred and fifty years ago, on May 30, 1863, young geologist Robert Bruce Foote bent down and picked up a stone tool on the Parade Ground at Pallavaram cantonment, near Chennai. It turned out to be an epochal discovery.

It was a hand-axe made of a hard rock called quartzite. Prehistoric man had crafted it to dig out tubers and roots from the soil, butcher animals he had hunted and take out the meat, and so on. As Foote, then a 29-year old assistant geologist in the Geological Survey of India (GSI), cradled the hand-axe and looked at it transfixed, he recognised it to be a Palaeolithic tool. (Palaeo means old, lith means stone. Prehistory is that part of history before written records began).

At one stroke, his discovery changed the antiquity of humankind who lived in the Indian subcontinent. It put India on the world map of prehistory. Recent research has established that such tools used by Palaeolithic population in India could be dated to 1.5 million years before the present.

Four months after this discovery, on September 28, 1863, Foote and his best friend and colleague in the GSI, William King, made another seminal discovery. They found numerous stone tools, including hand-axes, cleavers and flake tools, at Attirampakkam, near the Kortallayar river, in Tiruvallur district, 60 km from Chennai. Prehistoric man had used them to hunt animals gathering around waterholes and exploit plant and aquatic resources. Foote found some more stone tools later at Pallavaram and was convinced that a Palaeolithic population had lived in India.

Two types of dating done in France at the request of Shanti Pappu and Kumar Akhilesh, specialists in Tamil Nadu’s prehistory, have established that the stone tools found at Attirampakkam could be dated to 1.5 million years. The methods used were paleomagnetic and cosmogenic nuclide burial dating. Dr. Pappu and Dr. Akilesh did this dating as part of their project to study the rich prehistoric archaeology of northern Tamil Nadu, which entailed excavations at Attirampakkam to unravel the prehistoric man’s activities at the site, its environmental context and the age of the stone tools found there.

Foote was a man of multiple interests. He was a geologist, archaeologist, palaeontologist, ethnographer, museologist (one who studies the organisation, management, and function of a museum) and landscape painter. He wisely invested in shares. He was a perfectionist, too.

As Dr. Pappu says in her researched article, ‘Prehistoric Antiquities and Personal Lives: The Untold Story of Robert Bruce Foote,’ published in Man and Environment (Vol.XXXIII, No.1, 2008), “His name is stamped across the pages of India’s geological and archaeological history, and carries as much weight today as it did a century ago… His prolific publications, comprising reports, memoirs, short notes and catalogues of antiquities, his lectures and dialogues with interested individuals, geologists and other scholars, place him amongst the foremost intellectuals of the 19 century… Through the years, literature written by and on Foote helps us gain insights into his personality — as a scientist and scholar, and as a man standing in front of India’s past with a sense of wonder and reverence.”

Foote not only discovered stone tools but also classified, catalogued and described them systematically. He tried to understand the technology that went into their making. He studied whether the tool was made of quartzite, agate, chalcedony or chert (a form of microcrystallite quartz), whether it belonged to Palaeolithic, Neolithic or Iron Age, the stratigraphy (a branch of geology that studies rock layers and layering) and the sedimentary context in which he found it and the geography of the location of the find, said Dr. Pappu.

In sum, he painted a holistic picture of every discovery he made. “He gave the exact locations of the sites where he found the tools and precise directions on how to reach the site. This when there was no Global Positioning System,” said Dr. Akilesh. For instance, this is how Foote describes his first stone-axe discovery: “The first implement discovered was found by me on the 30 May last year [1863] among the debris thrown out of a small gravel pit a few hundred yards north of the Cantonment at Palaveram (10 miles S.W. of Madras) and about the same distance west from the high road.”

Dr. Akilesh said Foote’s knowledge of the geology of the Indian landscape was amazing. He spoke about the vegetation, animals and fossils found at sites, and made ethnographic observations about them. Foote was the first to discover tiny tools called microliths in the red “teri” sand dunes of Tirunelveli district. He surveyed the famous Billa Surgam caves in Andhra Pradesh and studied the ash-mounds of Karnataka and proved that they were made of burnt cow-dung, Dr. Pappu said.

The Government Museum, Egmore, Chennai, has an eclectic collection of the stone tools Foote found at Pallavaram, Attirampakkam and in the Salem, Baroda and Hyderabad regions. According to R. Kannan, Principal Secretary, Tourism, Culture and Religious Endowments Department, the Government of Madras acquired the collection for the Museum for Rs.40,000 in 1904. The Museum has published Foote’s catalogues of his collection of Indian prehistoric and protohistoric antiquities. Foote was born in England in 1834 and died in December 1912 in Kolkata. He lies buried in the graveyard of the Holy Trinity Church at Yercaud.

-The Hindu, 27th May 2013

Geologist Robert Bruce Foote, who found a Palaeolithic tool near Chennai on May 30, 1863, classified, catalogued and described his discoveries systematically One hundred and fifty years ago, on May 30, 1863, young geologist Robert Bruce Foote bent down and picked up a stone tool on the Parade Ground at Pallavaram cantonment, near Chennai. It turned out to be an epochal discovery.

It was a hand-axe made of a hard rock called quartzite. Prehistoric man had crafted it to dig out tubers and roots from the soil, butcher animals he had hunted and take out the meat, and so on. As Foote, then a 29-year old assistant geologist in the Geological Survey of India (GSI), cradled the hand-axe and looked at it transfixed, he recognised it to be a Palaeolithic tool. (Palaeo means old, lith means stone. Prehistory is that part of history before written records began).

At one stroke, his discovery changed the antiquity of humankind who lived in the Indian subcontinent. It put India on the world map of prehistory. Recent research has established that such tools used by Palaeolithic population in India could be dated to 1.5 million years before the present.

Four months after this discovery, on September 28, 1863, Foote and his best friend and colleague in the GSI, William King, made another seminal discovery. They found numerous stone tools, including hand-axes, cleavers and flake tools, at Attirampakkam, near the Kortallayar river, in Tiruvallur district, 60 km from Chennai. Prehistoric man had used them to hunt animals gathering around waterholes and exploit plant and aquatic resources. Foote found some more stone tools later at Pallavaram and was convinced that a Palaeolithic population had lived in India.

Two types of dating done in France at the request of Shanti Pappu and Kumar Akhilesh, specialists in Tamil Nadu’s prehistory, have established that the stone tools found at Attirampakkam could be dated to 1.5 million years. The methods used were paleomagnetic and cosmogenic nuclide burial dating. Dr. Pappu and Dr. Akilesh did this dating as part of their project to study the rich prehistoric archaeology of northern Tamil Nadu, which entailed excavations at Attirampakkam to unravel the prehistoric man’s activities at the site, its environmental context and the age of the stone tools found there.

Foote was a man of multiple interests. He was a geologist, archaeologist, palaeontologist, ethnographer, museologist (one who studies the organisation, management, and function of a museum) and landscape painter. He wisely invested in shares. He was a perfectionist, too.

As Dr. Pappu says in her researched article, ‘Prehistoric Antiquities and Personal Lives: The Untold Story of Robert Bruce Foote,’ published in Man and Environment (Vol.XXXIII, No.1, 2008), “His name is stamped across the pages of India’s geological and archaeological history, and carries as much weight today as it did a century ago… His prolific publications, comprising reports, memoirs, short notes and catalogues of antiquities, his lectures and dialogues with interested individuals, geologists and other scholars, place him amongst the foremost intellectuals of the 19 century… Through the years, literature written by and on Foote helps us gain insights into his personality — as a scientist and scholar, and as a man standing in front of India’s past with a sense of wonder and reverence.”

Foote not only discovered stone tools but also classified, catalogued and described them systematically. He tried to understand the technology that went into their making. He studied whether the tool was made of quartzite, agate, chalcedony or chert (a form of microcrystallite quartz), whether it belonged to Palaeolithic, Neolithic or Iron Age, the stratigraphy (a branch of geology that studies rock layers and layering) and the sedimentary context in which he found it and the geography of the location of the find, said Dr. Pappu.

In sum, he painted a holistic picture of every discovery he made. “He gave the exact locations of the sites where he found the tools and precise directions on how to reach the site. This when there was no Global Positioning System,” said Dr. Akilesh. For instance, this is how Foote describes his first stone-axe discovery: “The first implement discovered was found by me on the 30 May last year [1863] among the debris thrown out of a small gravel pit a few hundred yards north of the Cantonment at Palaveram (10 miles S.W. of Madras) and about the same distance west from the high road.”

Dr. Akilesh said Foote’s knowledge of the geology of the Indian landscape was amazing. He spoke about the vegetation, animals and fossils found at sites, and made ethnographic observations about them. Foote was the first to discover tiny tools called microliths in the red “teri” sand dunes of Tirunelveli district. He surveyed the famous Billa Surgam caves in Andhra Pradesh and studied the ash-mounds of Karnataka and proved that they were made of burnt cow-dung, Dr. Pappu said.

The Government Museum, Egmore, Chennai, has an eclectic collection of the stone tools Foote found at Pallavaram, Attirampakkam and in the Salem, Baroda and Hyderabad regions. According to R. Kannan, Principal Secretary, Tourism, Culture and Religious Endowments Department, the Government of Madras acquired the collection for the Museum for Rs.40,000 in 1904. The Museum has published Foote’s catalogues of his collection of Indian prehistoric and protohistoric antiquities. Foote was born in England in 1834 and died in December 1912 in Kolkata. He lies buried in the graveyard of the Holy Trinity Church at Yercaud.

-The Hindu, 27th May 2013

Geologist Robert Bruce Foote, who found a Palaeolithic tool near Chennai on May 30, 1863, classified, catalogued and described his discoveries systematically One hundred and fifty years ago, on May 30, 1863, young geologist Robert Bruce Foote bent down and picked up a stone tool on the Parade Ground at Pallavaram cantonment, near Chennai. It turned out to be an epochal discovery.

It was a hand-axe made of a hard rock called quartzite. Prehistoric man had crafted it to dig out tubers and roots from the soil, butcher animals he had hunted and take out the meat, and so on. As Foote, then a 29-year old assistant geologist in the Geological Survey of India (GSI), cradled the hand-axe and looked at it transfixed, he recognised it to be a Palaeolithic tool. (Palaeo means old, lith means stone. Prehistory is that part of history before written records began).

At one stroke, his discovery changed the antiquity of humankind who lived in the Indian subcontinent. It put India on the world map of prehistory. Recent research has established that such tools used by Palaeolithic population in India could be dated to 1.5 million years before the present.

Four months after this discovery, on September 28, 1863, Foote and his best friend and colleague in the GSI, William King, made another seminal discovery. They found numerous stone tools, including hand-axes, cleavers and flake tools, at Attirampakkam, near the Kortallayar river, in Tiruvallur district, 60 km from Chennai. Prehistoric man had used them to hunt animals gathering around waterholes and exploit plant and aquatic resources. Foote found some more stone tools later at Pallavaram and was convinced that a Palaeolithic population had lived in India.

Two types of dating done in France at the request of Shanti Pappu and Kumar Akhilesh, specialists in Tamil Nadu’s prehistory, have established that the stone tools found at Attirampakkam could be dated to 1.5 million years. The methods used were paleomagnetic and cosmogenic nuclide burial dating. Dr. Pappu and Dr. Akilesh did this dating as part of their project to study the rich prehistoric archaeology of northern Tamil Nadu, which entailed excavations at Attirampakkam to unravel the prehistoric man’s activities at the site, its environmental context and the age of the stone tools found there.

Foote was a man of multiple interests. He was a geologist, archaeologist, palaeontologist, ethnographer, museologist (one who studies the organisation, management, and function of a museum) and landscape painter. He wisely invested in shares. He was a perfectionist, too.

As Dr. Pappu says in her researched article, ‘Prehistoric Antiquities and Personal Lives: The Untold Story of Robert Bruce Foote,’ published in Man and Environment (Vol.XXXIII, No.1, 2008), “His name is stamped across the pages of India’s geological and archaeological history, and carries as much weight today as it did a century ago… His prolific publications, comprising reports, memoirs, short notes and catalogues of antiquities, his lectures and dialogues with interested individuals, geologists and other scholars, place him amongst the foremost intellectuals of the 19 century… Through the years, literature written by and on Foote helps us gain insights into his personality — as a scientist and scholar, and as a man standing in front of India’s past with a sense of wonder and reverence.”

Foote not only discovered stone tools but also classified, catalogued and described them systematically. He tried to understand the technology that went into their making. He studied whether the tool was made of quartzite, agate, chalcedony or chert (a form of microcrystallite quartz), whether it belonged to Palaeolithic, Neolithic or Iron Age, the stratigraphy (a branch of geology that studies rock layers and layering) and the sedimentary context in which he found it and the geography of the location of the find, said Dr. Pappu.

In sum, he painted a holistic picture of every discovery he made. “He gave the exact locations of the sites where he found the tools and precise directions on how to reach the site. This when there was no Global Positioning System,” said Dr. Akilesh. For instance, this is how Foote describes his first stone-axe discovery: “The first implement discovered was found by me on the 30 May last year [1863] among the debris thrown out of a small gravel pit a few hundred yards north of the Cantonment at Palaveram (10 miles S.W. of Madras) and about the same distance west from the high road.”

Dr. Akilesh said Foote’s knowledge of the geology of the Indian landscape was amazing. He spoke about the vegetation, animals and fossils found at sites, and made ethnographic observations about them. Foote was the first to discover tiny tools called microliths in the red “teri” sand dunes of Tirunelveli district. He surveyed the famous Billa Surgam caves in Andhra Pradesh and studied the ash-mounds of Karnataka and proved that they were made of burnt cow-dung, Dr. Pappu said.

The Government Museum, Egmore, Chennai, has an eclectic collection of the stone tools Foote found at Pallavaram, Attirampakkam and in the Salem, Baroda and Hyderabad regions. According to R. Kannan, Principal Secretary, Tourism, Culture and Religious Endowments Department, the Government of Madras acquired the collection for the Museum for Rs.40,000 in 1904. The Museum has published Foote’s catalogues of his collection of Indian prehistoric and protohistoric antiquities. Foote was born in England in 1834 and died in December 1912 in Kolkata. He lies buried in the graveyard of the Holy Trinity Church at Yercaud.

-The Hindu, 27th May 2013

Geologist Robert Bruce Foote, who found a Palaeolithic tool near Chennai on May 30, 1863, classified, catalogued and described his discoveries systematically One hundred and fifty years ago, on May 30, 1863, young geologist Robert Bruce Foote bent down and picked up a stone tool on the Parade Ground at Pallavaram cantonment, near Chennai. It turned out to be an epochal discovery.

It was a hand-axe made of a hard rock called quartzite. Prehistoric man had crafted it to dig out tubers and roots from the soil, butcher animals he had hunted and take out the meat, and so on. As Foote, then a 29-year old assistant geologist in the Geological Survey of India (GSI), cradled the hand-axe and looked at it transfixed, he recognised it to be a Palaeolithic tool. (Palaeo means old, lith means stone. Prehistory is that part of history before written records began).

At one stroke, his discovery changed the antiquity of humankind who lived in the Indian subcontinent. It put India on the world map of prehistory. Recent research has established that such tools used by Palaeolithic population in India could be dated to 1.5 million years before the present.

Four months after this discovery, on September 28, 1863, Foote and his best friend and colleague in the GSI, William King, made another seminal discovery. They found numerous stone tools, including hand-axes, cleavers and flake tools, at Attirampakkam, near the Kortallayar river, in Tiruvallur district, 60 km from Chennai. Prehistoric man had used them to hunt animals gathering around waterholes and exploit plant and aquatic resources. Foote found some more stone tools later at Pallavaram and was convinced that a Palaeolithic population had lived in India.

Two types of dating done in France at the request of Shanti Pappu and Kumar Akhilesh, specialists in Tamil Nadu’s prehistory, have established that the stone tools found at Attirampakkam could be dated to 1.5 million years. The methods used were paleomagnetic and cosmogenic nuclide burial dating. Dr. Pappu and Dr. Akilesh did this dating as part of their project to study the rich prehistoric archaeology of northern Tamil Nadu, which entailed excavations at Attirampakkam to unravel the prehistoric man’s activities at the site, its environmental context and the age of the stone tools found there.

Foote was a man of multiple interests. He was a geologist, archaeologist, palaeontologist, ethnographer, museologist (one who studies the organisation, management, and function of a museum) and landscape painter. He wisely invested in shares. He was a perfectionist, too.

As Dr. Pappu says in her researched article, ‘Prehistoric Antiquities and Personal Lives: The Untold Story of Robert Bruce Foote,’ published in Man and Environment (Vol.XXXIII, No.1, 2008), “His name is stamped across the pages of India’s geological and archaeological history, and carries as much weight today as it did a century ago… His prolific publications, comprising reports, memoirs, short notes and catalogues of antiquities, his lectures and dialogues with interested individuals, geologists and other scholars, place him amongst the foremost intellectuals of the 19 century… Through the years, literature written by and on Foote helps us gain insights into his personality — as a scientist and scholar, and as a man standing in front of India’s past with a sense of wonder and reverence.”

Foote not only discovered stone tools but also classified, catalogued and described them systematically. He tried to understand the technology that went into their making. He studied whether the tool was made of quartzite, agate, chalcedony or chert (a form of microcrystallite quartz), whether it belonged to Palaeolithic, Neolithic or Iron Age, the stratigraphy (a branch of geology that studies rock layers and layering) and the sedimentary context in which he found it and the geography of the location of the find, said Dr. Pappu.

In sum, he painted a holistic picture of every discovery he made. “He gave the exact locations of the sites where he found the tools and precise directions on how to reach the site. This when there was no Global Positioning System,” said Dr. Akilesh. For instance, this is how Foote describes his first stone-axe discovery: “The first implement discovered was found by me on the 30 May last year [1863] among the debris thrown out of a small gravel pit a few hundred yards north of the Cantonment at Palaveram (10 miles S.W. of Madras) and about the same distance west from the high road.”

Dr. Akilesh said Foote’s knowledge of the geology of the Indian landscape was amazing. He spoke about the vegetation, animals and fossils found at sites, and made ethnographic observations about them. Foote was the first to discover tiny tools called microliths in the red “teri” sand dunes of Tirunelveli district. He surveyed the famous Billa Surgam caves in Andhra Pradesh and studied the ash-mounds of Karnataka and proved that they were made of burnt cow-dung, Dr. Pappu said.

The Government Museum, Egmore, Chennai, has an eclectic collection of the stone tools Foote found at Pallavaram, Attirampakkam and in the Salem, Baroda and Hyderabad regions. According to R. Kannan, Principal Secretary, Tourism, Culture and Religious Endowments Department, the Government of Madras acquired the collection for the Museum for Rs.40,000 in 1904. The Museum has published Foote’s catalogues of his collection of Indian prehistoric and protohistoric antiquities. Foote was born in England in 1834 and died in December 1912 in Kolkata. He lies buried in the graveyard of the Holy Trinity Church at Yercaud.

-The Hindu, 27th May 2013

Geologist Robert Bruce Foote, who found a Palaeolithic tool near Chennai on May 30, 1863, classified, catalogued and described his discoveries systematically One hundred and fifty years ago, on May 30, 1863, young geologist Robert Bruce Foote bent down and picked up a stone tool on the Parade Ground at Pallavaram cantonment, near Chennai. It turned out to be an epochal discovery.

It was a hand-axe made of a hard rock called quartzite. Prehistoric man had crafted it to dig out tubers and roots from the soil, butcher animals he had hunted and take out the meat, and so on. As Foote, then a 29-year old assistant geologist in the Geological Survey of India (GSI), cradled the hand-axe and looked at it transfixed, he recognised it to be a Palaeolithic tool. (Palaeo means old, lith means stone. Prehistory is that part of history before written records began).

At one stroke, his discovery changed the antiquity of humankind who lived in the Indian subcontinent. It put India on the world map of prehistory. Recent research has established that such tools used by Palaeolithic population in India could be dated to 1.5 million years before the present.

Four months after this discovery, on September 28, 1863, Foote and his best friend and colleague in the GSI, William King, made another seminal discovery. They found numerous stone tools, including hand-axes, cleavers and flake tools, at Attirampakkam, near the Kortallayar river, in Tiruvallur district, 60 km from Chennai. Prehistoric man had used them to hunt animals gathering around waterholes and exploit plant and aquatic resources. Foote found some more stone tools later at Pallavaram and was convinced that a Palaeolithic population had lived in India.

Two types of dating done in France at the request of Shanti Pappu and Kumar Akhilesh, specialists in Tamil Nadu’s prehistory, have established that the stone tools found at Attirampakkam could be dated to 1.5 million years. The methods used were paleomagnetic and cosmogenic nuclide burial dating. Dr. Pappu and Dr. Akilesh did this dating as part of their project to study the rich prehistoric archaeology of northern Tamil Nadu, which entailed excavations at Attirampakkam to unravel the prehistoric man’s activities at the site, its environmental context and the age of the stone tools found there.

Foote was a man of multiple interests. He was a geologist, archaeologist, palaeontologist, ethnographer, museologist (one who studies the organisation, management, and function of a museum) and landscape painter. He wisely invested in shares. He was a perfectionist, too.

As Dr. Pappu says in her researched article, ‘Prehistoric Antiquities and Personal Lives: The Untold Story of Robert Bruce Foote,’ published in Man and Environment (Vol.XXXIII, No.1, 2008), “His name is stamped across the pages of India’s geological and archaeological history, and carries as much weight today as it did a century ago… His prolific publications, comprising reports, memoirs, short notes and catalogues of antiquities, his lectures and dialogues with interested individuals, geologists and other scholars, place him amongst the foremost intellectuals of the 19 century… Through the years, literature written by and on Foote helps us gain insights into his personality — as a scientist and scholar, and as a man standing in front of India’s past with a sense of wonder and reverence.”

Foote not only discovered stone tools but also classified, catalogued and described them systematically. He tried to understand the technology that went into their making. He studied whether the tool was made of quartzite, agate, chalcedony or chert (a form of microcrystallite quartz), whether it belonged to Palaeolithic, Neolithic or Iron Age, the stratigraphy (a branch of geology that studies rock layers and layering) and the sedimentary context in which he found it and the geography of the location of the find, said Dr. Pappu.

In sum, he painted a holistic picture of every discovery he made. “He gave the exact locations of the sites where he found the tools and precise directions on how to reach the site. This when there was no Global Positioning System,” said Dr. Akilesh. For instance, this is how Foote describes his first stone-axe discovery: “The first implement discovered was found by me on the 30 May last year [1863] among the debris thrown out of a small gravel pit a few hundred yards north of the Cantonment at Palaveram (10 miles S.W. of Madras) and about the same distance west from the high road.”

Dr. Akilesh said Foote’s knowledge of the geology of the Indian landscape was amazing. He spoke about the vegetation, animals and fossils found at sites, and made ethnographic observations about them. Foote was the first to discover tiny tools called microliths in the red “teri” sand dunes of Tirunelveli district. He surveyed the famous Billa Surgam caves in Andhra Pradesh and studied the ash-mounds of Karnataka and proved that they were made of burnt cow-dung, Dr. Pappu said.

The Government Museum, Egmore, Chennai, has an eclectic collection of the stone tools Foote found at Pallavaram, Attirampakkam and in the Salem, Baroda and Hyderabad regions. According to R. Kannan, Principal Secretary, Tourism, Culture and Religious Endowments Department, the Government of Madras acquired the collection for the Museum for Rs.40,000 in 1904. The Museum has published Foote’s catalogues of his collection of Indian prehistoric and protohistoric antiquities. Foote was born in England in 1834 and died in December 1912 in Kolkata. He lies buried in the graveyard of the Holy Trinity Church at Yercaud.

-The Hindu, 27th May 2013

Geologist Robert Bruce Foote, who found a Palaeolithic tool near Chennai on May 30, 1863, classified, catalogued and described his discoveries systematically One hundred and fifty years ago, on May 30, 1863, young geologist Robert Bruce Foote bent down and picked up a stone tool on the Parade Ground at Pallavaram cantonment, near Chennai. It turned out to be an epochal discovery.

It was a hand-axe made of a hard rock called quartzite. Prehistoric man had crafted it to dig out tubers and roots from the soil, butcher animals he had hunted and take out the meat, and so on. As Foote, then a 29-year old assistant geologist in the Geological Survey of India (GSI), cradled the hand-axe and looked at it transfixed, he recognised it to be a Palaeolithic tool. (Palaeo means old, lith means stone. Prehistory is that part of history before written records began).

At one stroke, his discovery changed the antiquity of humankind who lived in the Indian subcontinent. It put India on the world map of prehistory. Recent research has established that such tools used by Palaeolithic population in India could be dated to 1.5 million years before the present.

Four months after this discovery, on September 28, 1863, Foote and his best friend and colleague in the GSI, William King, made another seminal discovery. They found numerous stone tools, including hand-axes, cleavers and flake tools, at Attirampakkam, near the Kortallayar river, in Tiruvallur district, 60 km from Chennai. Prehistoric man had used them to hunt animals gathering around waterholes and exploit plant and aquatic resources. Foote found some more stone tools later at Pallavaram and was convinced that a Palaeolithic population had lived in India.

Two types of dating done in France at the request of Shanti Pappu and Kumar Akhilesh, specialists in Tamil Nadu’s prehistory, have established that the stone tools found at Attirampakkam could be dated to 1.5 million years. The methods used were paleomagnetic and cosmogenic nuclide burial dating. Dr. Pappu and Dr. Akilesh did this dating as part of their project to study the rich prehistoric archaeology of northern Tamil Nadu, which entailed excavations at Attirampakkam to unravel the prehistoric man’s activities at the site, its environmental context and the age of the stone tools found there.

Foote was a man of multiple interests. He was a geologist, archaeologist, palaeontologist, ethnographer, museologist (one who studies the organisation, management, and function of a museum) and landscape painter. He wisely invested in shares. He was a perfectionist, too.

As Dr. Pappu says in her researched article, ‘Prehistoric Antiquities and Personal Lives: The Untold Story of Robert Bruce Foote,’ published in Man and Environment (Vol.XXXIII, No.1, 2008), “His name is stamped across the pages of India’s geological and archaeological history, and carries as much weight today as it did a century ago… His prolific publications, comprising reports, memoirs, short notes and catalogues of antiquities, his lectures and dialogues with interested individuals, geologists and other scholars, place him amongst the foremost intellectuals of the 19 century… Through the years, literature written by and on Foote helps us gain insights into his personality — as a scientist and scholar, and as a man standing in front of India’s past with a sense of wonder and reverence.”

Foote not only discovered stone tools but also classified, catalogued and described them systematically. He tried to understand the technology that went into their making. He studied whether the tool was made of quartzite, agate, chalcedony or chert (a form of microcrystallite quartz), whether it belonged to Palaeolithic, Neolithic or Iron Age, the stratigraphy (a branch of geology that studies rock layers and layering) and the sedimentary context in which he found it and the geography of the location of the find, said Dr. Pappu.

In sum, he painted a holistic picture of every discovery he made. “He gave the exact locations of the sites where he found the tools and precise directions on how to reach the site. This when there was no Global Positioning System,” said Dr. Akilesh. For instance, this is how Foote describes his first stone-axe discovery: “The first implement discovered was found by me on the 30 May last year [1863] among the debris thrown out of a small gravel pit a few hundred yards north of the Cantonment at Palaveram (10 miles S.W. of Madras) and about the same distance west from the high road.”

Dr. Akilesh said Foote’s knowledge of the geology of the Indian landscape was amazing. He spoke about the vegetation, animals and fossils found at sites, and made ethnographic observations about them. Foote was the first to discover tiny tools called microliths in the red “teri” sand dunes of Tirunelveli district. He surveyed the famous Billa Surgam caves in Andhra Pradesh and studied the ash-mounds of Karnataka and proved that they were made of burnt cow-dung, Dr. Pappu said.

The Government Museum, Egmore, Chennai, has an eclectic collection of the stone tools Foote found at Pallavaram, Attirampakkam and in the Salem, Baroda and Hyderabad regions. According to R. Kannan, Principal Secretary, Tourism, Culture and Religious Endowments Department, the Government of Madras acquired the collection for the Museum for Rs.40,000 in 1904. The Museum has published Foote’s catalogues of his collection of Indian prehistoric and protohistoric antiquities. Foote was born in England in 1834 and died in December 1912 in Kolkata. He lies buried in the graveyard of the Holy Trinity Church at Yercaud.

-The Hindu, 27th May 2013

Geologist Robert Bruce Foote, who found a Palaeolithic tool near Chennai on May 30, 1863, classified, catalogued and described his discoveries systematically One hundred and fifty years ago, on May 30, 1863, young geologist Robert Bruce Foote bent down and picked up a stone tool on the Parade Ground at Pallavaram cantonment, near Chennai. It turned out to be an epochal discovery.

It was a hand-axe made of a hard rock called quartzite. Prehistoric man had crafted it to dig out tubers and roots from the soil, butcher animals he had hunted and take out the meat, and so on. As Foote, then a 29-year old assistant geologist in the Geological Survey of India (GSI), cradled the hand-axe and looked at it transfixed, he recognised it to be a Palaeolithic tool. (Palaeo means old, lith means stone. Prehistory is that part of history before written records began).

At one stroke, his discovery changed the antiquity of humankind who lived in the Indian subcontinent. It put India on the world map of prehistory. Recent research has established that such tools used by Palaeolithic population in India could be dated to 1.5 million years before the present.

Four months after this discovery, on September 28, 1863, Foote and his best friend and colleague in the GSI, William King, made another seminal discovery. They found numerous stone tools, including hand-axes, cleavers and flake tools, at Attirampakkam, near the Kortallayar river, in Tiruvallur district, 60 km from Chennai. Prehistoric man had used them to hunt animals gathering around waterholes and exploit plant and aquatic resources. Foote found some more stone tools later at Pallavaram and was convinced that a Palaeolithic population had lived in India.

Two types of dating done in France at the request of Shanti Pappu and Kumar Akhilesh, specialists in Tamil Nadu’s prehistory, have established that the stone tools found at Attirampakkam could be dated to 1.5 million years. The methods used were paleomagnetic and cosmogenic nuclide burial dating. Dr. Pappu and Dr. Akilesh did this dating as part of their project to study the rich prehistoric archaeology of northern Tamil Nadu, which entailed excavations at Attirampakkam to unravel the prehistoric man’s activities at the site, its environmental context and the age of the stone tools found there.

Foote was a man of multiple interests. He was a geologist, archaeologist, palaeontologist, ethnographer, museologist (one who studies the organisation, management, and function of a museum) and landscape painter. He wisely invested in shares. He was a perfectionist, too.

As Dr. Pappu says in her researched article, ‘Prehistoric Antiquities and Personal Lives: The Untold Story of Robert Bruce Foote,’ published in Man and Environment (Vol.XXXIII, No.1, 2008), “His name is stamped across the pages of India’s geological and archaeological history, and carries as much weight today as it did a century ago… His prolific publications, comprising reports, memoirs, short notes and catalogues of antiquities, his lectures and dialogues with interested individuals, geologists and other scholars, place him amongst the foremost intellectuals of the 19 century… Through the years, literature written by and on Foote helps us gain insights into his personality — as a scientist and scholar, and as a man standing in front of India’s past with a sense of wonder and reverence.”

Foote not only discovered stone tools but also classified, catalogued and described them systematically. He tried to understand the technology that went into their making. He studied whether the tool was made of quartzite, agate, chalcedony or chert (a form of microcrystallite quartz), whether it belonged to Palaeolithic, Neolithic or Iron Age, the stratigraphy (a branch of geology that studies rock layers and layering) and the sedimentary context in which he found it and the geography of the location of the find, said Dr. Pappu.

In sum, he painted a holistic picture of every discovery he made. “He gave the exact locations of the sites where he found the tools and precise directions on how to reach the site. This when there was no Global Positioning System,” said Dr. Akilesh. For instance, this is how Foote describes his first stone-axe discovery: “The first implement discovered was found by me on the 30 May last year [1863] among the debris thrown out of a small gravel pit a few hundred yards north of the Cantonment at Palaveram (10 miles S.W. of Madras) and about the same distance west from the high road.”

Dr. Akilesh said Foote’s knowledge of the geology of the Indian landscape was amazing. He spoke about the vegetation, animals and fossils found at sites, and made ethnographic observations about them. Foote was the first to discover tiny tools called microliths in the red “teri” sand dunes of Tirunelveli district. He surveyed the famous Billa Surgam caves in Andhra Pradesh and studied the ash-mounds of Karnataka and proved that they were made of burnt cow-dung, Dr. Pappu said.

The Government Museum, Egmore, Chennai, has an eclectic collection of the stone tools Foote found at Pallavaram, Attirampakkam and in the Salem, Baroda and Hyderabad regions. According to R. Kannan, Principal Secretary, Tourism, Culture and Religious Endowments Department, the Government of Madras acquired the collection for the Museum for Rs.40,000 in 1904. The Museum has published Foote’s catalogues of his collection of Indian prehistoric and protohistoric antiquities. Foote was born in England in 1834 and died in December 1912 in Kolkata. He lies buried in the graveyard of the Holy Trinity Church at Yercaud.

-The Hindu, 27th May 2013

Geologist Robert Bruce Foote, who found a Palaeolithic tool near Chennai on May 30, 1863, classified, catalogued and described his discoveries systematically One hundred and fifty years ago, on May 30, 1863, young geologist Robert Bruce Foote bent down and picked up a stone tool on the Parade Ground at Pallavaram cantonment, near Chennai. It turned out to be an epochal discovery.

It was a hand-axe made of a hard rock called quartzite. Prehistoric man had crafted it to dig out tubers and roots from the soil, butcher animals he had hunted and take out the meat, and so on. As Foote, then a 29-year old assistant geologist in the Geological Survey of India (GSI), cradled the hand-axe and looked at it transfixed, he recognised it to be a Palaeolithic tool. (Palaeo means old, lith means stone. Prehistory is that part of history before written records began).

At one stroke, his discovery changed the antiquity of humankind who lived in the Indian subcontinent. It put India on the world map of prehistory. Recent research has established that such tools used by Palaeolithic population in India could be dated to 1.5 million years before the present.

Four months after this discovery, on September 28, 1863, Foote and his best friend and colleague in the GSI, William King, made another seminal discovery. They found numerous stone tools, including hand-axes, cleavers and flake tools, at Attirampakkam, near the Kortallayar river, in Tiruvallur district, 60 km from Chennai. Prehistoric man had used them to hunt animals gathering around waterholes and exploit plant and aquatic resources. Foote found some more stone tools later at Pallavaram and was convinced that a Palaeolithic population had lived in India.

Two types of dating done in France at the request of Shanti Pappu and Kumar Akhilesh, specialists in Tamil Nadu’s prehistory, have established that the stone tools found at Attirampakkam could be dated to 1.5 million years. The methods used were paleomagnetic and cosmogenic nuclide burial dating. Dr. Pappu and Dr. Akilesh did this dating as part of their project to study the rich prehistoric archaeology of northern Tamil Nadu, which entailed excavations at Attirampakkam to unravel the prehistoric man’s activities at the site, its environmental context and the age of the stone tools found there.

Foote was a man of multiple interests. He was a geologist, archaeologist, palaeontologist, ethnographer, museologist (one who studies the organisation, management, and function of a museum) and landscape painter. He wisely invested in shares. He was a perfectionist, too.

As Dr. Pappu says in her researched article, ‘Prehistoric Antiquities and Personal Lives: The Untold Story of Robert Bruce Foote,’ published in Man and Environment (Vol.XXXIII, No.1, 2008), “His name is stamped across the pages of India’s geological and archaeological history, and carries as much weight today as it did a century ago… His prolific publications, comprising reports, memoirs, short notes and catalogues of antiquities, his lectures and dialogues with interested individuals, geologists and other scholars, place him amongst the foremost intellectuals of the 19 century… Through the years, literature written by and on Foote helps us gain insights into his personality — as a scientist and scholar, and as a man standing in front of India’s past with a sense of wonder and reverence.”

Foote not only discovered stone tools but also classified, catalogued and described them systematically. He tried to understand the technology that went into their making. He studied whether the tool was made of quartzite, agate, chalcedony or chert (a form of microcrystallite quartz), whether it belonged to Palaeolithic, Neolithic or Iron Age, the stratigraphy (a branch of geology that studies rock layers and layering) and the sedimentary context in which he found it and the geography of the location of the find, said Dr. Pappu.

In sum, he painted a holistic picture of every discovery he made. “He gave the exact locations of the sites where he found the tools and precise directions on how to reach the site. This when there was no Global Positioning System,” said Dr. Akilesh. For instance, this is how Foote describes his first stone-axe discovery: “The first implement discovered was found by me on the 30 May last year [1863] among the debris thrown out of a small gravel pit a few hundred yards north of the Cantonment at Palaveram (10 miles S.W. of Madras) and about the same distance west from the high road.”

Dr. Akilesh said Foote’s knowledge of the geology of the Indian landscape was amazing. He spoke about the vegetation, animals and fossils found at sites, and made ethnographic observations about them. Foote was the first to discover tiny tools called microliths in the red “teri” sand dunes of Tirunelveli district. He surveyed the famous Billa Surgam caves in Andhra Pradesh and studied the ash-mounds of Karnataka and proved that they were made of burnt cow-dung, Dr. Pappu said.

The Government Museum, Egmore, Chennai, has an eclectic collection of the stone tools Foote found at Pallavaram, Attirampakkam and in the Salem, Baroda and Hyderabad regions. According to R. Kannan, Principal Secretary, Tourism, Culture and Religious Endowments Department, the Government of Madras acquired the collection for the Museum for Rs.40,000 in 1904. The Museum has published Foote’s catalogues of his collection of Indian prehistoric and protohistoric antiquities. Foote was born in England in 1834 and died in December 1912 in Kolkata. He lies buried in the graveyard of the Holy Trinity Church at Yercaud.

-The Hindu, 27th May 2013

Geologist Robert Bruce Foote, who found a Palaeolithic tool near Chennai on May 30, 1863, classified, catalogued and described his discoveries systematically One hundred and fifty years ago, on May 30, 1863, young geologist Robert Bruce Foote bent down and picked up a stone tool on the Parade Ground at Pallavaram cantonment, near Chennai. It turned out to be an epochal discovery.

It was a hand-axe made of a hard rock called quartzite. Prehistoric man had crafted it to dig out tubers and roots from the soil, butcher animals he had hunted and take out the meat, and so on. As Foote, then a 29-year old assistant geologist in the Geological Survey of India (GSI), cradled the hand-axe and looked at it transfixed, he recognised it to be a Palaeolithic tool. (Palaeo means old, lith means stone. Prehistory is that part of history before written records began).

At one stroke, his discovery changed the antiquity of humankind who lived in the Indian subcontinent. It put India on the world map of prehistory. Recent research has established that such tools used by Palaeolithic population in India could be dated to 1.5 million years before the present.

Four months after this discovery, on September 28, 1863, Foote and his best friend and colleague in the GSI, William King, made another seminal discovery. They found numerous stone tools, including hand-axes, cleavers and flake tools, at Attirampakkam, near the Kortallayar river, in Tiruvallur district, 60 km from Chennai. Prehistoric man had used them to hunt animals gathering around waterholes and exploit plant and aquatic resources. Foote found some more stone tools later at Pallavaram and was convinced that a Palaeolithic population had lived in India.

Two types of dating done in France at the request of Shanti Pappu and Kumar Akhilesh, specialists in Tamil Nadu’s prehistory, have established that the stone tools found at Attirampakkam could be dated to 1.5 million years. The methods used were paleomagnetic and cosmogenic nuclide burial dating. Dr. Pappu and Dr. Akilesh did this dating as part of their project to study the rich prehistoric archaeology of northern Tamil Nadu, which entailed excavations at Attirampakkam to unravel the prehistoric man’s activities at the site, its environmental context and the age of the stone tools found there.

Foote was a man of multiple interests. He was a geologist, archaeologist, palaeontologist, ethnographer, museologist (one who studies the organisation, management, and function of a museum) and landscape painter. He wisely invested in shares. He was a perfectionist, too.

As Dr. Pappu says in her researched article, ‘Prehistoric Antiquities and Personal Lives: The Untold Story of Robert Bruce Foote,’ published in Man and Environment (Vol.XXXIII, No.1, 2008), “His name is stamped across the pages of India’s geological and archaeological history, and carries as much weight today as it did a century ago… His prolific publications, comprising reports, memoirs, short notes and catalogues of antiquities, his lectures and dialogues with interested individuals, geologists and other scholars, place him amongst the foremost intellectuals of the 19 century… Through the years, literature written by and on Foote helps us gain insights into his personality — as a scientist and scholar, and as a man standing in front of India’s past with a sense of wonder and reverence.”

Foote not only discovered stone tools but also classified, catalogued and described them systematically. He tried to understand the technology that went into their making. He studied whether the tool was made of quartzite, agate, chalcedony or chert (a form of microcrystallite quartz), whether it belonged to Palaeolithic, Neolithic or Iron Age, the stratigraphy (a branch of geology that studies rock layers and layering) and the sedimentary context in which he found it and the geography of the location of the find, said Dr. Pappu.

In sum, he painted a holistic picture of every discovery he made. “He gave the exact locations of the sites where he found the tools and precise directions on how to reach the site. This when there was no Global Positioning System,” said Dr. Akilesh. For instance, this is how Foote describes his first stone-axe discovery: “The first implement discovered was found by me on the 30 May last year [1863] among the debris thrown out of a small gravel pit a few hundred yards north of the Cantonment at Palaveram (10 miles S.W. of Madras) and about the same distance west from the high road.”

Dr. Akilesh said Foote’s knowledge of the geology of the Indian landscape was amazing. He spoke about the vegetation, animals and fossils found at sites, and made ethnographic observations about them. Foote was the first to discover tiny tools called microliths in the red “teri” sand dunes of Tirunelveli district. He surveyed the famous Billa Surgam caves in Andhra Pradesh and studied the ash-mounds of Karnataka and proved that they were made of burnt cow-dung, Dr. Pappu said.

The Government Museum, Egmore, Chennai, has an eclectic collection of the stone tools Foote found at Pallavaram, Attirampakkam and in the Salem, Baroda and Hyderabad regions. According to R. Kannan, Principal Secretary, Tourism, Culture and Religious Endowments Department, the Government of Madras acquired the collection for the Museum for Rs.40,000 in 1904. The Museum has published Foote’s catalogues of his collection of Indian prehistoric and protohistoric antiquities. Foote was born in England in 1834 and died in December 1912 in Kolkata. He lies buried in the graveyard of the Holy Trinity Church at Yercaud.

-The Hindu, 27th May 2013

Geologist Robert Bruce Foote, who found a Palaeolithic tool near Chennai on May 30, 1863, classified, catalogued and described his discoveries systematically One hundred and fifty years ago, on May 30, 1863, young geologist Robert Bruce Foote bent down and picked up a stone tool on the Parade Ground at Pallavaram cantonment, near Chennai. It turned out to be an epochal discovery.

It was a hand-axe made of a hard rock called quartzite. Prehistoric man had crafted it to dig out tubers and roots from the soil, butcher animals he had hunted and take out the meat, and so on. As Foote, then a 29-year old assistant geologist in the Geological Survey of India (GSI), cradled the hand-axe and looked at it transfixed, he recognised it to be a Palaeolithic tool. (Palaeo means old, lith means stone. Prehistory is that part of history before written records began).

At one stroke, his discovery changed the antiquity of humankind who lived in the Indian subcontinent. It put India on the world map of prehistory. Recent research has established that such tools used by Palaeolithic population in India could be dated to 1.5 million years before the present.

Four months after this discovery, on September 28, 1863, Foote and his best friend and colleague in the GSI, William King, made another seminal discovery. They found numerous stone tools, including hand-axes, cleavers and flake tools, at Attirampakkam, near the Kortallayar river, in Tiruvallur district, 60 km from Chennai. Prehistoric man had used them to hunt animals gathering around waterholes and exploit plant and aquatic resources. Foote found some more stone tools later at Pallavaram and was convinced that a Palaeolithic population had lived in India.

Two types of dating done in France at the request of Shanti Pappu and Kumar Akhilesh, specialists in Tamil Nadu’s prehistory, have established that the stone tools found at Attirampakkam could be dated to 1.5 million years. The methods used were paleomagnetic and cosmogenic nuclide burial dating. Dr. Pappu and Dr. Akilesh did this dating as part of their project to study the rich prehistoric archaeology of northern Tamil Nadu, which entailed excavations at Attirampakkam to unravel the prehistoric man’s activities at the site, its environmental context and the age of the stone tools found there.

Foote was a man of multiple interests. He was a geologist, archaeologist, palaeontologist, ethnographer, museologist (one who studies the organisation, management, and function of a museum) and landscape painter. He wisely invested in shares. He was a perfectionist, too.

As Dr. Pappu says in her researched article, ‘Prehistoric Antiquities and Personal Lives: The Untold Story of Robert Bruce Foote,’ published in Man and Environment (Vol.XXXIII, No.1, 2008), “His name is stamped across the pages of India’s geological and archaeological history, and carries as much weight today as it did a century ago… His prolific publications, comprising reports, memoirs, short notes and catalogues of antiquities, his lectures and dialogues with interested individuals, geologists and other scholars, place him amongst the foremost intellectuals of the 19 century… Through the years, literature written by and on Foote helps us gain insights into his personality — as a scientist and scholar, and as a man standing in front of India’s past with a sense of wonder and reverence.”

Foote not only discovered stone tools but also classified, catalogued and described them systematically. He tried to understand the technology that went into their making. He studied whether the tool was made of quartzite, agate, chalcedony or chert (a form of microcrystallite quartz), whether it belonged to Palaeolithic, Neolithic or Iron Age, the stratigraphy (a branch of geology that studies rock layers and layering) and the sedimentary context in which he found it and the geography of the location of the find, said Dr. Pappu.

In sum, he painted a holistic picture of every discovery he made. “He gave the exact locations of the sites where he found the tools and precise directions on how to reach the site. This when there was no Global Positioning System,” said Dr. Akilesh. For instance, this is how Foote describes his first stone-axe discovery: “The first implement discovered was found by me on the 30 May last year [1863] among the debris thrown out of a small gravel pit a few hundred yards north of the Cantonment at Palaveram (10 miles S.W. of Madras) and about the same distance west from the high road.”

Dr. Akilesh said Foote’s knowledge of the geology of the Indian landscape was amazing. He spoke about the vegetation, animals and fossils found at sites, and made ethnographic observations about them. Foote was the first to discover tiny tools called microliths in the red “teri” sand dunes of Tirunelveli district. He surveyed the famous Billa Surgam caves in Andhra Pradesh and studied the ash-mounds of Karnataka and proved that they were made of burnt cow-dung, Dr. Pappu said.

The Government Museum, Egmore, Chennai, has an eclectic collection of the stone tools Foote found at Pallavaram, Attirampakkam and in the Salem, Baroda and Hyderabad regions. According to R. Kannan, Principal Secretary, Tourism, Culture and Religious Endowments Department, the Government of Madras acquired the collection for the Museum for Rs.40,000 in 1904. The Museum has published Foote’s catalogues of his collection of Indian prehistoric and protohistoric antiquities. Foote was born in England in 1834 and died in December 1912 in Kolkata. He lies buried in the graveyard of the Holy Trinity Church at Yercaud.

-The Hindu, 27th May 2013

Geologist Robert Bruce Foote, who found a Palaeolithic tool near Chennai on May 30, 1863, classified, catalogued and described his discoveries systematically One hundred and fifty years ago, on May 30, 1863, young geologist Robert Bruce Foote bent down and picked up a stone tool on the Parade Ground at Pallavaram cantonment, near Chennai. It turned out to be an epochal discovery.

It was a hand-axe made of a hard rock called quartzite. Prehistoric man had crafted it to dig out tubers and roots from the soil, butcher animals he had hunted and take out the meat, and so on. As Foote, then a 29-year old assistant geologist in the Geological Survey of India (GSI), cradled the hand-axe and looked at it transfixed, he recognised it to be a Palaeolithic tool. (Palaeo means old, lith means stone. Prehistory is that part of history before written records began).

At one stroke, his discovery changed the antiquity of humankind who lived in the Indian subcontinent. It put India on the world map of prehistory. Recent research has established that such tools used by Palaeolithic population in India could be dated to 1.5 million years before the present.

Four months after this discovery, on September 28, 1863, Foote and his best friend and colleague in the GSI, William King, made another seminal discovery. They found numerous stone tools, including hand-axes, cleavers and flake tools, at Attirampakkam, near the Kortallayar river, in Tiruvallur district, 60 km from Chennai. Prehistoric man had used them to hunt animals gathering around waterholes and exploit plant and aquatic resources. Foote found some more stone tools later at Pallavaram and was convinced that a Palaeolithic population had lived in India.

Two types of dating done in France at the request of Shanti Pappu and Kumar Akhilesh, specialists in Tamil Nadu’s prehistory, have established that the stone tools found at Attirampakkam could be dated to 1.5 million years. The methods used were paleomagnetic and cosmogenic nuclide burial dating. Dr. Pappu and Dr. Akilesh did this dating as part of their project to study the rich prehistoric archaeology of northern Tamil Nadu, which entailed excavations at Attirampakkam to unravel the prehistoric man’s activities at the site, its environmental context and the age of the stone tools found there.

Foote was a man of multiple interests. He was a geologist, archaeologist, palaeontologist, ethnographer, museologist (one who studies the organisation, management, and function of a museum) and landscape painter. He wisely invested in shares. He was a perfectionist, too.

As Dr. Pappu says in her researched article, ‘Prehistoric Antiquities and Personal Lives: The Untold Story of Robert Bruce Foote,’ published in Man and Environment (Vol.XXXIII, No.1, 2008), “His name is stamped across the pages of India’s geological and archaeological history, and carries as much weight today as it did a century ago… His prolific publications, comprising reports, memoirs, short notes and catalogues of antiquities, his lectures and dialogues with interested individuals, geologists and other scholars, place him amongst the foremost intellectuals of the 19 century… Through the years, literature written by and on Foote helps us gain insights into his personality — as a scientist and scholar, and as a man standing in front of India’s past with a sense of wonder and reverence.”

Foote not only discovered stone tools but also classified, catalogued and described them systematically. He tried to understand the technology that went into their making. He studied whether the tool was made of quartzite, agate, chalcedony or chert (a form of microcrystallite quartz), whether it belonged to Palaeolithic, Neolithic or Iron Age, the stratigraphy (a branch of geology that studies rock layers and layering) and the sedimentary context in which he found it and the geography of the location of the find, said Dr. Pappu.

In sum, he painted a holistic picture of every discovery he made. “He gave the exact locations of the sites where he found the tools and precise directions on how to reach the site. This when there was no Global Positioning System,” said Dr. Akilesh. For instance, this is how Foote describes his first stone-axe discovery: “The first implement discovered was found by me on the 30 May last year [1863] among the debris thrown out of a small gravel pit a few hundred yards north of the Cantonment at Palaveram (10 miles S.W. of Madras) and about the same distance west from the high road.”

Dr. Akilesh said Foote’s knowledge of the geology of the Indian landscape was amazing. He spoke about the vegetation, animals and fossils found at sites, and made ethnographic observations about them. Foote was the first to discover tiny tools called microliths in the red “teri” sand dunes of Tirunelveli district. He surveyed the famous Billa Surgam caves in Andhra Pradesh and studied the ash-mounds of Karnataka and proved that they were made of burnt cow-dung, Dr. Pappu said.

The Government Museum, Egmore, Chennai, has an eclectic collection of the stone tools Foote found at Pallavaram, Attirampakkam and in the Salem, Baroda and Hyderabad regions. According to R. Kannan, Principal Secretary, Tourism, Culture and Religious Endowments Department, the Government of Madras acquired the collection for the Museum for Rs.40,000 in 1904. The Museum has published Foote’s catalogues of his collection of Indian prehistoric and protohistoric antiquities. Foote was born in England in 1834 and died in December 1912 in Kolkata. He lies buried in the graveyard of the Holy Trinity Church at Yercaud.

-The Hindu, 27th May 2013