Category Archives: Nature

Adoption of tigress Manya and her son Shaurya renewed

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature, Travel
Zoo Executive Director B.P. Ravi is seen presenting a memento to the representatives of Kumar Organic Products Ltd., Bangalore, which renewed the adoption of Tigress ‘Manya’ for the 6th time and her son ‘Shaurya’ for 4th time consecutively.
Zoo Executive Director B.P. Ravi is seen presenting a memento to the representatives of Kumar Organic Products Ltd., Bangalore, which renewed the adoption of Tigress ‘Manya’ for the 6th time and her son ‘Shaurya’ for 4th time consecutively.

Mysore :

Kumar Organic Products Ltd., Bangalore, has renewed the adoption of Tigress ‘Manya’ f or the 6th time and her son ‘Shaurya’ for 4th time consecutively by making a payment of Rs. 2 lakhs for a period of one more year ending up to 24.8.2015 and 28.9.2015 respectively for both mother and son.

Mysore Zoo, has in a press release, expressed its gratitude to Kumar Organic Products for their support and involvement in conservation efforts.

“We hope that their continued support inspires other Corporates / Institutions to take up the cause of conservation,” said the release and added, “There is overwhelming response from the sponsors towards adoption and till date the total amount collected towards adoption is Rs. 17,18,393 compared to Rs.16,65,393 collected during the last year on the same date.”

Adoption of Animals

The II PU students of Maharshi PU College have adopted a Love Bird of the Zoo for a period of one year from 22.8.2014 to 21.8.2015 under ‘Adoption of Animals’ scheme by paying Rs.1,000 as adoption fee.

The following persons have also adopted the animals under the scheme: Shivu (Kajani), Mysore – Indian Cobra (Rs.2,000); Vikrant Yadav, New Delhi – Love Bird (Rs.1,000).

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / August 26th,  2014

Voices from the grassroots : Measuring development …..

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Nature, Science & Technology

DrBalasubramaniamBF25aug2014

by Dr. R. Balasubramaniam

Being in the development sector, I have been fascinated by the evolving obsession of practitioners, donors, academia, and the community in measuring and evaluating. The tools, methodologies and the people involved in this activity are getting better and better. Everyone seems to be so preoccupied and engaged that many consider a programme a failure or bad, if some acceptable form of measurement is not undertaken. I have written numerous proposals and implemented many projects in different sectors of health, education, and community development that I have found myself questioning not just the validity but also some of the metrics and the fundamental premise that drives these measurements. I am not saying that measurements by themselves are wrong; all that I am trying to point out is that we need to understand the programme being measured, the competence of the people measuring, the tools deployed and the metrics of measurement and more importantly the context — before one indulges in this activity.

I would like to explain this a little more clearly with a personal example. I first came to the tribal area in the forests of Heggadadevanakote in Mysore district of South India in 1987 and began running a small dispensary. Obstetrics being one of my favourite subjects, it was only natural that my focus was on maternal health and mortality. Being concerned by the high maternal mortality in the area, I started exploring how one could bring it down. Public health knowledge and practice has established maternal mortality to be an important indicator of health of a community and one always believed that this indicator could measure health outcomes.

It was also the time when everyone including the WHO and the Government of India focused heavily on maternal health and safe motherhood initiatives. The whole health sector was being pushed towards Institutional deliveries and we also got caught up in this excitement. Over the next many years we campaigned for Institutional deliveries and ensured that we created adequate facilities for safe childbirth at our hospitals. We even had a World Bank funded project in 2001-02 to ensure improved maternal and child health outcomes amongst the tribals in the area.

Sometime ago, my wife Bindu, an obstetrician who has been long associated with the programme, was remarking how she was seeing a huge positive change amongst the health seeking behaviours of the tribal women. She told how challenging it was 20 years ago to motivate the tribal women to have Institutional deliveries but now the women sought the hospital on their own. Institutional deliveries, which were non-existent when I first came to the area, had grown to 40% by the end of the World Bank funded project in 2002.

Today, virtually every tribal woman in the area comes to our hospitals to deliver their babies. Our RCH programmes have been written about and studied; World Bank considers the RCH project that they funded us as one of their best; Public Health practitioners and academicians are impressed with the falling maternal mortality and improved health outcomes. It is indeed very reassuring when so many people and institutions with their sophisticated tools and methods call us a public health success.

In 2009-10, I had taken a year away from our projects and this gave me the space, the energy and the willingness to re-look critically at all that we had been doing. I was assessing what it was that I first came to the tribal areas to do and how I had been doing it. Using the metric of improved health outcomes and the falling maternal mortality and morbidity rates; we were definitely an unqualified success. But was this the right metric to measure our work and intent. Can this metric capture everything that exists in this ecosystem? How honest would it be if we did not try and engage ourselves in outcomes that unintentionally emerged because of our programmes, but were not given any attention, as they were not readily visible or worthy of measurement? Or is it that we were ignorant of the metrics that one needed to deploy?

In our intent to reduce the maternal mortality by increasing institutional deliveries, had we not unintentionally taken away the community’s ability to cope and manage this natural phenomenon without any dependence on people or a system outside their community and tradition? We today have a generation of young women who have mostly delivered their babies in our hospitals but who have neither the knowledge, nor the attitude or the skill-sets to ensure that they can continue their century-old tradition of delivering children at home. What if we changed the metric to building the capacity and competence of the community to have cost effective and rational health practices that did not need an expensive health care system that they could neither afford not sustain with their resources.

Isn’t building the capacity and competence of communities to ensure a workable health system that they can run and sustain with their own resources and abilities more important than running a sophisticated health care programme that needs doctors, nurses and managers to come from faraway cities. Well, the metric of measuring what is important for communities is what the development sector needs to focus on rather than what is easily measurable or merely the programmatic and managerial aspects. And the metric needs to be something that attempts to capture what is happening in the whole eco-system rather than just the piece that is the most evident.

[e-mail:drrbalu@gmail.com]

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Feature Articles / August 20th, 2014

State government order makes rearing and selling quail legal

Business & Economy, Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature

It’s official. Rearing and selling Japanese quails is not illegal in the state anymore. The state government has lifted a three-year-old ban, after a recent directive from the Centre removed Japanese quail from schedule IV of The Indian Wildlife Protection Act (TIWPA). Till recently, the state forest department not only prohibited rearing and selling the bird, but also booked those who sold it. All this even as neighbouring Tamil Nadu allowed Japanese quail farming, including farming and trading.

Demand is high for quail meat and eggs / Photo: en.wikipedia.org
Demand is high for quail meat and eggs / Photo: en.wikipedia.org

But with the Centre’s directive in July, followed by the state’s order withdrawing the prohibition in August, it’s hoped that the long prevailing confusion over Japanese quail among breeders, wildlife volunteers, and pet traders will finally come to an end.

Farming and trading in Japanese quail (known as gowjala hakki locally) was in disarray as forest officials, as well as the forest department’s investigative cell, constantly raided outlets selling meat and eggs, both of which are in demand. Not stopping there, even those who brought Japanese quails and their eggs from neighbouring states were booked by forest sleuths here. Traders faced repeated harassment in the form of stock seizures and booking of cases under various sections of TIWPA.

NO LICENCE REQUIRED

The sleuths had justified their actions based on a September 2011 directive from the Centre, which asked state governments not to issue fresh licences either for Japanese quail farming or to expand existing facilities. The directive had cited the inclusion of Japanese quail in schedule IV of TIWPA.

As a result, thousands of people who wanted to set up quail farms in the state, as well as retailers who wanted to sell quail eggs, found their applications in limbo. The new order has dismantled the licensing system.

State Forest Department brass confirmed that there is no more need for a licence, which was mandatory till recently. Chief Wildlife Warden and Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF), Karnataka, Vinay Luthra, told Bangalore Mirror: “Japanese quail has been removed from all the schedules of TIWPA. Henceforth, no prior permission is needed to rear or trade in it. There is no need for a licence either.”

Rearing and selling Japanese quail will henceforth be hassle-free in the state, experts said. “Definitely this order is a boon to this sector. Quail is a very good bird to rear as poultry. The demand for Japanese quail meat and egg is high, and the trade has scope for expansion. With the ban gone, hatcheries will get eggs and chicks without any trouble,” said Prakash Sannamani, a doctorate holder and specialist in Japanese quail.

source: http://www.bangaloremirror.com / Bangalore Mirror / Home> Bangalore> Others / by Chetan R, Bangalore Mirror Bureau / August 21st, 2014

30-year-old home in Jayanagar testifies to the strength of mud

Amazing Feats, Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature, Records, All, Science & Technology

MudhouseBF21aug2014

Open your eyes to alternative, energy-efficient technologies

It could be anyone who could be part of this training. From farmers of Anekal wishing to build their own home, to a mason from Uttarakhand or an IT professional trying to understand the effectiveness of using mud.

Starting on Thursday, Gramavidya will conduct a three-day training programme on ‘Alternative and energy-efficient building technologies’ at the Rajiv Gandhi Rural Housing Corporation Koushalya Shaale, Kengeri.

“A cross-section of those interested gather from across the country for the sessions — consisting of lectures, audiovisual presentations, hands-on training and interactive open-house discussions,” says M.R. Yogananda, who has a doctorate in Civil Engineering from IISc., who spearheads the training. Gramavidya, a non-profit society, promoted by a group of professionals and academicians, disseminates building technologies for sustainable livelihoods. The experts are pioneers in construction methods, who have popularised cost-effective technology throughout the country in renowned constructions like the Auroville.

“We need to disseminate as much information as possible. After all, even professionals who pass out of engineering colleges seem to be uninformed about constructions that are quake-resistant. Energy-intensive beam and column structures are not everything. Interactive sessions can re-invent forgotten vernacular approaches,” says Mr. Yogananda, who is also the consulting engineer of Mrinmayee, offering research and lab-testing facilities for stabilised mud-blocks.

In the mid-1980’s Mr. Yogananda’s house in Jayanagar, built with stabilised mud blocks, became a curious model for people to “wait and test it out in all seasons” as the fear of going in for mud construction was mocked at. No sooner, the house was projected as India’s example of mud revival at the Festival of France in HUDCO’s national seminar. “My house is nearly 30-years-old now, and can go on for generations with its earthy sheen,” says Mr. Yogananda.

For details, 26582970 / 94489 26442 / gramavidya@gmail.com

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bangalore / by Ranjani Govind / Bangalore – August 21st, 2014

Adivasis captivate audience with traditional dances

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Nature, Records, All, Travel

AdivasisBF17aug2014

Mysore :

As part of ‘Anantha Yatre’ to commemorate the International Day of World Indigenous People, Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya (IGRMS) has organised a four-day cultural programme presented by Adivasis from various parts of the country which commenced at the Platinum Jubilee Hall at JK Grounds here yesterday.

Tribal artistes from 11 States had converged to exhibit their talents in a true cultural exchange programme.

The programme began with ‘Pooja Kunita’ presented by Krishnegowda and troupe from Pandavapura with excellent synchronisation to the beating of percussion instruments.

Naga tribe from Nagaland presented ‘War Dance’ with the warriors celebrating the victory which was eye-catching.

Tribals from Telangana presented a traditional ‘Gousadi’ dance in special costumes.

Young adivasis from Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh presented ‘Thogal Jagoy’ and ‘Siyomi’ dances respectively which captivated the audience.

It was a unique programme where the audience had the opportunity to enjoy a cultural extravaganza from across the country.

The cultural programmes by the tribal and folk artistes of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and North Eastern States will be held everyday from 6 pm onwards at MMCAA auditorium in J.K. Grounds till Aug. 13.

Also, the workshop- cum-Demonstration on Tribal/Folk paintings of India that commenced on Aug. 9 at IGRMS, Southern Regional Centre (SRC), Wellington House on Irwin Road in city, will be held everyday between 10 am and 5.30 pm till Aug. 13.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / August 11th, 2014

Groundwater sanctuary

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature
The picture at Lalbagh / The Hindu
The picture at Lalbagh / The Hindu

It looks like Basavanagudi is lucky to have a good water table with a lot of open wells capable of providing water to its residents right through the year.

The Indian Institute of World Culture is located in the locality of Basavanagudi, one of the oldest layouts formed in the city in the 1890s. The road on which the building is situated is called the B.P. Wadia Road and is named after the founder of the IIWC, which was established in 1945. There is an excellent library for adults and for children on the rather large campus with the typical old style Bangalore building. Many old timers come to listen to lectures organised in the evenings on various topics. I was there to speak on the culture and tradition of the open well in India.

Since I was early I wandered about the premises speaking to the person looking after the garden and the premises in general. Casually I asked him if there was a well in the area. To my surprise not only did he take me and show me a functioning well but also assured me that the water was crystal clear and sweet.

The well, safely enclosed in a pumping room, dates at least to the 1940s and has been supplying water unfailingly ever since. Devaiah also told me about a large stone lined and stepped open well next to the building which was also there for long. It has now been filled up and a multi-storeyed apartment has come in its place. The apartment has drilled a borewell to supplement its water needs.

Two recharge wells

The Institute has done a nice thing for the well. It has taken all the rooftop rainwater from the two large building blocks on its premises and put it into two recharge wells 10 ft. deep. This ensures that the entire rainwater goes into the aquifer, thus enhancing groundwater levels.

In front of the Institute is the famous M.N. Krishna Rao Park. Here also is a water reservoir of the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB). This reservoir is filled daily from waters of the Cauvery a 100 km. away and 300 metres below the city. Ironically it also probably sits on a shallow aquifer with a high groundwater table that it ignores.

The area now known as Gandhi Bazaar was built upon a tank called Karanji Tank. This is close to the Institute. On the other end, not far away, is the Lalbagh Lake. Hyder Ali began the famous Lalbagh gardens with three wells for irrigation, says the traveller and chronicler Buchanan. It looks like Basavanagudi is lucky to have a good water table with a lot of open wells capable of providing water to its residents right through the year.

It only remains that we remember the well as a source of good and cheap water, that we protect and preserve the catchment so as not to pollute the resource and that we enhance it through rainwater harvesting measures. Areas such as these should be designated as groundwater sanctuaries and the groundwater legislation used to sustainably maintain that most precious of all resources for this city — water.

As a famous writer once said, this is a fight between memory and forgetfulness. The memory of the well must be retained and must be integrated with modern water needs but in ecological fashion.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> Habitat / by S. Vishwanath / August 08th, 2014

Now, you can adopt plants at Mysore Varsity

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature

While the animal adoption scheme of Sri Chamarajendra Zoological Gardens has become a big hit among animal lovers, the University of Mysore is mulling over initiating ‘Plant Adoption’ programme in a bid towards nature conservation.

The green friendly plans in the making is part of the Green Campus programme undertaken by the university under the University for Potential Excellence. The previous UPA government had allocated Rs one crore for the plantation drive, and the varsity had received Rs 50 lakh, said, Prof V Ravishankar Rai, Coordinator of the programme.

Rai said that through the Plant Adoption programme, the varsity wanted to involve youngsters, especially students and general public to keep the green cover intact, and also enhance the same with exotic and ornamental plants.

The varsity will provide the sapling for free, and also the space at its 700 acre odd campus comprising Manasagangotri (PG campus), Maharaja’s College and Yuvaraja’s College, he added. He also said that people will be allowed to bring saplings of their own choice. “To develop a bonding towards the nature, they will have to nurture the plants on their own,” said Rai.

A similar endeavour has been taken up at Tumkur University as part of the curriculum. A student who successfully nurtures the plant will be given bonus marks. Similar activities have also been undertaken at a larger scale in several foreign universities, said Rai.

As part of the green drive, works were underway to develop gardens both with natural and mexican grass, besides planting flower bearing and fruit bearing saplings to develop the food chain for birds and flies.

In the last three years around 5,000 saplings have been planted  in the campus by the Horticulture department of the varsity. Under the recent programme, 1,500 of the total 2,000 saplings have already planted. On Friday, the planting exercise was completed in the area surrounding the main building of University College of Fine Arts.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> District / by Sreekantswamy B / Mysore – DHNS, August 08th, 2014

Snake Shyam featured in UK tabloid

Amazing Feats, Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature, Records, All, World Opinion

Reaches 28,000 mark yesterday

SnakeShamBF31jul2014

Mysore :

City’s noted snake rescuer and wildlife conservationist popularly known as Snake Shyam who has been elected as the Corporator of MCC Ward No. 17 was featured in Daily Mail, a UK tabloid on July 23.

The article in the tabloid says that Snake Shyam, despite being allergic to most anti-venom, catches some of the deadly species in Mysore every day.

It also says that this serpent-lover had been bitten four times and the doctors discovered that their treatments were prompting a severe allergic reaction which could kill him.

That means that Snake Shyam’s next call-out could be his last – but despite the dangers, he refuses to give up.

The article also features photographs of Shyam catching snakes, documenting them, his Maruti Omni Van and video of him catching a snake.

Reaches 28,000 mark yesterday

With the rescue of a Rat Snake at a steel godown in Bannimantap here yesterday, Shyam has so far rescued 28,000 snakes.

Snake Shyam speaking to SOM said that he began catching snakes in 1980 and had not documented them till 1997. He further said that on the advice of some, he began to document the snakes he had rescued from 1997 and has so far rescued 28,000 snakes and released them into their habitat far from urban areas.

He has called upon the people not to kill them, but instead call him on Mob; 94480-69399 and keep a watch on the snake till he arrives.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General  News  / July 25th, 2014

WATERWISE – A tank is revived

Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature
A lovely green patch at the site of the soil biotechnology plant at Herohalli tank / The Hindu
A lovely green patch at the site of the soil biotechnology plant at Herohalli tank / The Hindu

Water mixed with sewage is being treated through a process called Soil Bio-technology and let into the Herohalli tank.

When a city hits a plateau with regard to water availability it perforce needs to become innovative in identifying alternative options. Right now many problems exercise the minds of citizens and institutions; garbage, sewage in stormwater drains and lake destruction are on top of them.

As you drive west out of the city on Magadi Road, a little after Sunkadakatte Cross you see a tank on your right. This is Herohalli tank, with a water-spread of about 14.50 hectares. The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has been working to restore it. The tank has been fenced to protect it from encroachment; a bund has been created to enable walkers to go around it. A major stormwater drain brings in water mixed with sewage as well as debris including plastic. An underground sewage line runs across the periphery of the tank too. This sewage line carries about 6 to 8 million litres of waste-water daily. The water from the storm drains is not enough to fill the tank.

A quite but dedicated team of engineers from the BBMP and a competent and young team of designers are working to resuscitate this water body. A new technology called Soil Bio-technology or SBT is being applied for the first time in Karnataka at a scale of 1.50 million litres per day treatment.

Use of strainers

Using the concept of sewage mining, the SBT system taps into the sewage line and draws 1.50 MLD into a small wet well. From here the water is strained using 20 mm and possibly 10 mm strainers to remove solids, plastics, grit and large sediments. This will be collected and removed separately. The remaining waste-water is then allowed to percolate gradually through a specially prepared bed of soil and stones which harbour million of good bacteria. These bacteria eat away at the carbon in the sewage and also change the composition of nitrates and adsorb phosphates to clean up the water.

As the water trickles down the special medium, it is collected at the bottom. If necessary it can be re-circulated to allow the bacteria to have another go at cleaning it up. The treated sewage that comes out of the system is crystal clear and meets the requirement necessary to be led into the tank.

From the top the SBT plant looks like a garden, beautifully landscaped and full of colourful flowers and grass. There is no smell and no unsightly scenes. The SBT plant occupies 2,000 square metres as a foot-print, a really small component of the tank. Eventually Herohalli tank will receive treated waste-water and will be full. This water, cleaned by nature, will in turn recharge the surrounding aquifers and be available as additional supply to the local residents. Bangalore will have converted sewage water into usable water using the SBT and the tank as nature’s kidneys.

Sewage flowing in the stormwater drains can also be diverted to the SBT plant and then allowed into the tank. The design provides for it.

There are problems though. Plastics and garbage thrown into the storm drains end up clogging the bars and creating a backflow in the drains. These also end up in the tank. Sewage flow is sometimes mixed with industrial waste-water. This is highly toxic and cannot be treated. What the SBT plant does for now is to allow this water to flow past and then pick up only domestic sewage.

None of the problems are of a nature that cannot be overcome. All we need is community participation and institutional responsibilities. What the city now realises is that everything is tied up — garbage management, stormwater management, sewage management, lake restoration and groundwater recharge. Citizens and others should visit the SBT plant and Herohalli tank, understand how an eco-system can be managed and try to do the same for the water bodies in their neighbourhood. The time to seize this challenge and overcome it is now or else we will have lost our lakes and will run out of water for the city.

source: http://www. thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> Habitat / by S. Vishwanath / Bangalore – July 25th, 2014

Gold found in Hullambi hamlet of Dharwad

Business & Economy, Nature, Science & Technology

Hubli :

Hullambi, a nondescript village tucked away in the forest area in Kalghatgi taluk of Dharwad district is now attracting a good deal of attention, with reports of the presence of gold ore.

A team of geologists from the Geological Survey of India, Bangalore, and forest officers visited Hullambi two days ago and conducted some tests.

Geologists had in 2005 conducted a survey in the reserve forest area that falls under Tumarikoppa limits in Kalghatagi, and taken soil samples for testing. A positive report on the presence of gold ore in the top soil prompted geologists and forest officials to visit this place again for a further survey and test, said sources.

Udayakumar Jogi, assistant conservative forest officer, Kalghatagi, who is also part of the team, told TOI there are reports of the presence of gold ore in Bangargatti hill, bearing survey no 252 in Hullambi of Tumarikoppa reserve forest area.

“We conducted a preliminary survey in the area and also identified about 10 strategic points to dig pits up to 2-3 feet in depth to confirm the presence of gold ore. This process will be carried out by the Geological Survey of India, Bangalore, probably from next month as it has to seek permission to go ahead with its plan from the forest department and central government,” he added.

GSI, Bangalore, is likely to get permission shortly and begin its operations. After digging pits, the soil will again be sent for tests for a clearer report. “Our intention is to dig up deeper pits to confirm at what depth gold can be found,” he said.

It may be recalled that this is the second village in the district to report gold ore presence in the forest land. Exploration of gold ore was going on for a few years in Mangalgatti village of Dharwad district.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Bangalore> Namma Metro / TNN / July 12th, 2014