Gary Agarwal's Blog

Wake up call on Defence

2008-01-17T14:48:00.000+05:30

Anurag Viswanath: Clouds of history

Anurag Viswanath / New Delhi January 17, 2008

Apart from the border dispute, China's encirclement of India remains a serious cause for concern.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s maiden visit to China with an “open mind” concluded on a high note with the joint declaration on “A Shared Vision for the 21st Century”, a commitment to building a harmonious world of durable peace and common prosperity through developing the Strategic and Cooperative Partnership. The declaration supports China’s commitment to support India’s aspirations in United Nations, cooperation in the field of civilian nuclear energy, besides positively viewing India’s participation in regional and sub-regional multilateral process and furthering bilateral trade.

Clichés aside, the visit was symbolic — issues such as the border dispute will fester in the background. The PM’s visit to China provides not only an opportunity to deepen a win-win economic relationship but also, importantly, an opportunity to take a well-deserved cue from the Chinese to delineate what should be Indian foreign policy’s pragmatic face.

The visit marked a sustained effort to institutionalise high-level visits and sustain the momentum of dialogue, which received a boost after former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s visit in 2003. The 2003 visit had concluded on a high note of the Principles for Relations and Comprehensive Cooperation, which marked India’s tacit recognition of Tibet as a part of China, in lieu of China’s recognition of Sikkim. Premier Wen Jiabao’s visit in 2005 led to an agreement on Political Parameters and Guiding Principles for the settlement of the boundary question, and in 2006, President Hu Jintao’s visit reaffirmed the Strategic and Cooperative Partnership.

The bilateral visit comes after the conclusion of the first Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on defence cooperation between India and China in 2006 which culminated in the first ever joint military exercise “Hand in Hand” held in Kunming, Yunnan province, in December 2007. This also comes on the heels of the 11 rounds of discussions between the Special Representatives on the unresolved border issue and the Third Round of Strategic Dialogue held in Beijing in 2007.

The visit took place in the backdrop of growing trade between the two. Sino-Indian trade which was $2.1 billion in 2000 has grown dramatically. It touched a high of $35 billion in 2007, up 54 per cent compared to 2006, making China India’s second largest trading partner. The target of $40 billion by 2010 set out in 2006 will be realised earlier.

On this visit, the target is to be further pushed to $60 billion a year. Border trade between India and China has resumed at the Nathu La pass after a hiatus of 44 years in 2006, facilitating the export of 15 listed Chinese goods and 29 Indian goods. However, trade is uninspiring at a meagre $1 billion.

This visit will also take forward the recommendations of the Joint Study Group (Feasibility Study) on the Regional Trading Arrangement (RTA) and measures to facilitate the same. While there has been progress on bilateral trade, India’s growing trade deficit, estimated at $9 billion in 2007, as well as the composition of the trade of low-value primary goods (such as iron ore) is worrisome. India is the 10th largest export destination for China.

The visit comes on the heels of new developments in the border region. Border negotiations continue to be tricky and remain under wraps. During the 11th round of talks between the Special Representatives, both sides agreed to form a Joint Working Group on the framework to resolve the issue.

The dispute in the Western Sector (WS, that is, Aksai Chin) and Eastern Sector (ES, Tawang) remains intractable with 14 areas under dispute (eight in the WS and six in the ES). There is no dispute in the Middle Sector. The dispute in the Western Sector has become complicated with the transfer of Shaksgam Valley (in PoK) by Pakistan to China. China does not recognise the Mcmahon line in the north-east and incursions along the Actual Ground Position Line (AGPL) have been reported in Arunachal Pradesh, an area which China covertly claims as South Tibet. Indian diplomatic channels have indicated China’s intransigence. China, on the other hand, alleges intrusions by India in the Western Sector.

China’s entente cordiale by way of defence or military arrangements with India’s neighbours — “encirclement” — has been cause for concern. China has upgraded or stimulated communication channels with India’s neighbours. The China-Nepal bus service started on the 736 km Kodari Highway since 2005; China also proposes to build four more road routes through Kunjerab Pass (PoK) to Pakistan doubling the existing network to eight. China and Pakistan also signed an MoU to upgrade the Karakoram Highway (KKH) in 2006. Pakistan has allowed China clout at Gwadar deep sea port at the mouth of Persian Gulf, an important Sea Line of Communication (SLOC). This will reportedly overhaul China’s maritime security, and enable an “energy channel” by giving it a strategic foothold in the gateway to West Asia. Plans are on the anvil to build a rail along the KKH, linking Western China to Pakistan.

China’s $3.1 billion Qinghai-Tibet Rail, which commenced operations in 2006, is also likely to have implications on Indian security. The 1,956 km rail line connects Xining with Golmud (both in Qinghai province) to Lhasa (TAR, Tibetan Autonomous Region). This line is to be further extended by 254 km at an estimated cost of $1.2 billion. The rail line will now extend to Shigatse, TAR’s second biggest city, during the ongoing 11th Five Year Plan (2006-2010) and then onwards to Nepal. This would make India more accessible to China’s Chengdu Military Region (MR) and Lanzhou MR manned by the People’s Liberation Army.

There are allegations that tunnels built ostensibly for the railway may be used as missile bases. There are also unconfirmed reports that China is working on a military installation near Shiquanhe, Ngari prefecture, TAR. This backdrop explains India’s current initiative to step up infrastructure in Arunachal Pradesh — seven roadways in the Indian state have been mapped out and 20 more planned in the border areas in the near future — which the Prime Minister will inaugurate later this month.

While the PM’s visit is a step forward, it is necessary, in the words of a famous sinologist, to see “China by daylight”, that is, to understand China in all its complexities and reign in both unbridled enthusiasm and cynicism about China.

Given the nature of the above developments, rabble-rousing about the “China threat” provides no solutions; the Chinese have not prevented India from setting its house in order, such as developing relations with peripheral states or upgrading infrastructure in border areas. Both vacillate between the promise of genuine friendship and the inextricable cloud of history. It is necessary to close the “knowledge gap” between the two. Geo-strategic compulsions and globalisation have underlined that there are no permanent friends or enemies.

And last but not the least, the visit entails lessons for India from China. From Mao to Market, leadership in China has maintained a constant goal, a long-term vision of fuqiang (fu, rich; qiang, strong) — of making the country rich and strong. China’s infrastructure has been one of the keys to becoming a manufacturing superpower.

What is admirable is China’s remarkable foresight. Defence preparedness, defence cooperation arrangements with neighbouring countries, developing relations around its periphery, progressive multi-dimensional relations with countries as disparate as United States, Congo and Myanmar, to name a few, proactive presence in regional and global fora, and a commitment to the goal of “Development is the fundamental principle” have propelled China’s resurgence in Asia and the world. The lesson for India is to take the cue.

Some thought provoking possibilities

2008-01-16T11:51:00.000+05:30

- Will the Nano or its equivalent finally replace the ‘autos’ in India?

- Can voting for PAN card owners, tax payers be made compulsory and can an e-ballot be casted through the cellphone?

- Can our multinationals, with the power to raise more money than the government does, in just 1 minute, think of adopting a district each for the ‘other India”?

- Reverse colonization- Will Indians spread to all parts of the World in their quest for economic opportunism?

- Could there be an Indian Amazon- how come there are no E-retailers for books, when there are so many for travel?

The book retailing business

2008-01-16T11:42:00.000+05:30

Just an observation- I buy a lot of books on Amazon because they are not available in the retail shops. But if one is in India, it is a bad proposition to use Amazon. On an average it takes 8-11 weeks for books to come to India, if you order on Amazon. I think that is too inefficient. With companies like Reliance getting into book retailing, if a company wants to take advantage of the current situation, it could establish a warehouse at Nagpur, particularly for discounted second hand books and tie-up with an express delivery companies (such as your) for a 48 hours delivery anywhere in India. There are plenty of E- travel agents, infact there are too many for any of them to be profitable for a long time but there currently is no Amazon type book seller in India. Amazon has warehouses even in China- a non-English speaking country, even in France, but not in India. If a tech company or even an existing book retailer wants, it can get into e-retailing in India very easily.

China bans free plastic shopping bags

2008-01-10T17:26:00.000+05:30

China bans free plastic shopping bags
The Associated Press
Wednesday, January 9, 2008

China will ban shops from giving out free plastic bags and has called on consumers to use baskets and cloth sacks instead to reduce environmental pollution.

The regulation, effective in June, was decided on about 15 years after shopkeepers started handing out cheap, flimsy plastic bags to customers. "White pollution," a reference to the color of many bags, has cluttered landfills.

"Our country consumes a huge amount of plastic shopping bags each year," said the State Council, China's cabinet. "While plastic shopping bags provide convenience to consumers, this has caused a serious waste of energy and resources and environmental pollution because of excessive usage, inadequate recycling and other reasons."

The regulation is part of Beijing's increased efforts to fight the pollution that has accompanied breakneck economic growth. As factories churn out low-cost products for the world's consumers, they have severely fouled the country's air and water.

Beginning on June 1, all supermarkets, department stores and shops will be prohibited from giving out free plastic bags, the State Council said. Stores must clearly mark the price of plastic shopping bags and are banned from tacking that price onto products.

The production, sale and use of ultra-thin plastic bags - those less than 0.025 millimeters, or 0.00098 inches, thick - were also banned, according to the State Council notice. Dated Dec. 31 and posted on a government Web site Tuesday, it called for "a return to cloth bags and shopping baskets."

It also urged waste collectors to step up recycling efforts to reduce the amount of bags burned or buried. Finance authorities were told to consider tax measures to discourage plastic bag production and sale.

Internationally, legislation to discourage plastic bag use has been passed in parts of South Africa, Ireland and Taiwan, where authorities either tax shoppers who use them or impose fees on companies that distribute them. Bangladesh already bans them, as do at least 30 remote Alaskan villages.

Last year, San Francisco became the first U.S. city to ban petroleum-based plastic grocery bags.

Roger Cohen: Brazilian lessons for '08

2008-01-04T10:39:00.000+05:30

By Roger Cohen

Published: January 2, 2008

RIO DE JANEIRO: It's good to begin the year in a country where coconuts are cleaved with nonchalant grace and the air is salty-sweet and there are guys on the beach from the "Life is Too Short Surf Club" and the Minister of Tourism advises those frustrated by long lines in airports to "relax and come."

That last remark, from Marta Suplicy, was voted one of the quotes of the year by the daily O Globo, along with another from President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva evoking the most sensitive point of the female anatomy to explain his search for the essence of an energy accord with the United States. Brazil is different.

This is a serious as well as a sensuous country with a stock market up more than 70 percent in 2007, burgeoning oil and ethanol industries, planes for export, iron ore to keep the Chinese happy, and much else to buttress its rising-power status. But pleasure trumps sacrifice and there's a "jeitinho" - ingenious fix - for anything.

So I've resolved to adopt Brazilian karma for 2008 and forget all the little irritants that plague American lives: microwaved croissants, high-five contagion, globalized brunch, death by PowerPoint, shops calling themselves "shoppes," the inconsistency of belt- and-shoe-removal rules at airports, Apple addicts vaunting the latest gadgets and people who convey agitation or anger by writing in ALL CAPS.

I'm not even going to be irked by automatically flushing toilets that flush before you're done, "hot towels" that are just wet, automatically activated faucets that never activate, congealed risotto, the prodigious capacity for getting tangled of cords for iPods and computers and cellphones, backpacks with wheels, rolling backpacks being rolled by adults, voice-mail hell, or the middle-aged trying to sound hip about the Web.

Nope, I'm done with irritation. Give me expiring hotel key cards, yet more on Princess Diana and Dodi, TV correspondents waiting for hurricanes, headache-inducing prosecco, Web sites I'll only visit once that require a password, conspiracy theorists, people afflicted with the control-freak-martyr syndrome ("I do so much I never have time for myself"), tape dispensers that don't work, sommeliers who decant indifferent wine, even Christmas starting the day after Halloween - I won't raise an eyebrow.

Test me with flickering video images on planes, the noun-verb frenzy as in "you disrespected me," the insidious beat from others' iPods, people who say "waiting on" rather than "waiting for," the systematic relegation of Saddam Hussein's crimes to a subordinate clause, offshore wind turbines, the unerring instinct of hotel mini-bar replenishment people for arriving at the wrong moment, equally ill-timed calls from mothers-in-law, and the decorative use of indigestible red peppers. You'll find me happily tuned to Bossa Nova.

I refuse to be troubled in '08 by sensible "orthotic" shoes, kids staring at computer screens, kids saying "wait" at the start of sentences, surreptitious below-the-table BlackBerry use (the technological equivalent of picking one's nose, as my colleague Jill Abramson noted), undercooked arctic char, cinnamon or chocolate on cappuccino, greetings on your TV screen in hotel rooms, overfilled wine glasses in restaurants, organic everything, or people on the train saying "Hi, honey, I'm on the train" into cellphones. Nope, this is my Candomble season.

You can throw it all at me: overheated rooms, bank clerks who ask "Have I exceeded your expectations?" and rob you with the fine print, Brian Williams' bristling chest, theft-dissuasive hotel hangers that can only be suspended on rings with key-like slots, super-sized sushi, "adventures" in Africa for the rich, fear-mongering from banks about identity theft, Starbucks staff operating in slow motion, Chicago's ban on foie gras, and, as my daughter Jessica pointed out, all those people who respond to a compliment by telling you how much they paid ("I got it at Banana Republic for 75 percent off"). I'll be viewing the world through the surfer's prism.

I know, starting in Iowa today, we will watch the race for the most important post on earth unfold, one that will end our subjection to President Bush's irritating smirk and Vice President Cheney's irksome scowl, and we will watch in the hope that the fear that has pinched our lives and made us more irritable will be undone by November's winner.

No new president is going to deliver a tropical United States, which is more or less what Brazil is, or cabinet members who recommend sex for airport blues.

Still, it's a rich political moment. We've got a woman, a black, a Mormon, a creationist and perhaps a Jew in the race: Some U.S. taboos are falling. The end of a vexed political season may be in sight. Here's to an irritant-lite, liberating 2008 for all, and not just in Copacabana.

Govt plans financial sops for solar power units

2008-01-03T17:12:00.000+05:30

New Delhi, Jan. 2 The Centre plans to offer financial sops for the running of solar power units to enable developers to overcome high initial costs and ensure electricity generated by these units become cost competitive for injection into the grid.

“We will provide financial assistance amounting to Rs 12 per unit to developers in case of solar photovoltaic and Rs 10 per kilowatt hour in the case of solar thermal power fed to the electricity grid under a demonstration programme,” the Minister for New and Renewable Energy, Mr Vilas Muttemwar, said here on Wednesday.

Pvt sector investment

Addressing a press conference, Mr Muttemwar said the private sector is expected to invest about Rs 1,000 crore in solar plants eligible for assistance under the scheme during the current Plan period. The demonstration programme would be limited to a total installed capacity of 50 MW of solar power during the Eleventh Plan. A maximum capacity of 10 MW in each of the country’s States and a maximum of five MW per developer will be considered under the scheme.

“To generate each unit of solar power, it costs around Rs 15 and the cost per MW comes to around Rs 20 crore. But with the announced incentives, more people would be interested,” he said.

Incentives

Developers would sell electricity to state-run utilities and the incentives will be paid to them based on the tariff the utilities provide. Project developers will be given the incentive at a fixed rate for a period of 10 years and these incentives would be over and above any financial assistance extended by States. “Due to the incentive, the volumes are likely to go up, which would further bring down the cost,” Mr Muttemwar added.

Currently, renewable energy accounts for about 7.5 per cent of the country’s installed generation capacity of 1,27,673 MW, with most of it coming from wind energy projects. The share of solar power in renewables is small and only 2 MW of grid interactive solar power is generated in the country.

Diamonds, Gold & War

2008-01-03T16:15:00.000+05:30

This looks like a sequel to Guns, Germs and Steel.

When Frederick Boyle, an author, returned from diamond diggings in 1871, he wrote about the need for monopoly in the industry, thus: “You cannot drown the market with an article only appertaining to the highest luxury — without swift and sudden catastrophe…”

By royal monopoly alone, or by means of great and powerful companies, can jewel digging be made a thriving industry, he proposed. Citing this, Martin Meredith writes in Diamonds, Gold and War ( www.landmarkonthenet.com ) that several attempts at amalgamation had since been made. “Two companies had emerged by 1885 as the most likely nuclei for a diamond mining monopoly: Kimberley Central and De Beers,” he narrates. “Both set about crushing smaller rivals by producing as many diamonds as possible; in the words of a Standard Bank report, by ‘swamping them with production’.”

De Beers developed its operations at breakneck speed, doubling the amount of ground it excavated in the process and showing, according to the Standard Bank, ‘a reckless disregard for human life’, informs the book. “With accidents multiplying and disease rife, the death rate in the mine reached 150 per thousand employed.”

Within a few years, at Cecil Rhodes’ behest, a new company was set up — De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd.

“Instead of being limited to diamond mining, Rhodes wanted the new company to be able to engage in any business enterprise, annex land in any part of Africa, govern foreign territories and maintain standing armies.” At the first annual general meeting of the company, held on March 31, 1888, Rhodes “triumphantly proclaimed his determination to make De Beers ‘the richest, greatest, and most powerful Company the world has ever seen’.”

By September 1889, he had achieved ‘a complete monopoly of all Kimberley’s mines – 90 per cent of the world’s production.’ Together with the world’s principal diamond merchants, he then set out to achieve a marketing monopoly of the diamond trade to ensure that the market could be manipulated to the best advantage, keeping supply in line with the highest price available…”

Standing tall: The hardground barasingha

2008-01-02T19:09:00.000+05:30

Kanha National Park, Mandla district, Madhya Pradesh

The Kanha National Park is spread over Mandla and Balaghat districts with the Mukki range in Balaghat district being one of the homes for the rare hardground Barasingha (Cervus duvauceli branderi) with the swamp dwelling barasingha (Cervus duvauceli) being found in Terai, Uttar Pradesh and Assam. Besides Kanha National Park, the hardground species is not found anywhere else. The best place to see the swamp barasingha is the Dudhwa National Park, put up by Billy Arjan Singh in U.P.

At one point of time in the 1970s, the number of hardground barasingha had dropped to 66, going by an article, Hardground Barasingha, written by Kishor Rithe in Sanctuary dated October 2005. Today, the number of barasinghas is put at slightly over 300 and is thought to be a viable population.

After a 25-km run to Mukki range from Kanha, Ganesh and this writer, hit the Bishanpura meadow, which impresses one with its quiet spread, rather more than the Kanha meadows. Tall, dry grass nod with the wind and at a distance one could see with the help of binoculars (also naked eyes) a barasingha family – a male, a female and a cub. One also noted, far away, a sizable herd of the animal.

We were keen on seeing the animal from near and our guide took us to Sounp Meadows, where again one spotted a male and a female together. The rutting season is on in the winter months and one heard the rutting call resembling “a shrill baying sound” as S.H. Prater puts it. However, the best viewing was the last, Friday morning drive into the Park. Motoring along at a slow pace in the Kanha meadows, we watched a male barasingha, looking comical with grass stuck at the top of its left antler. Taking dainty strides, the animal walked past our vehicle, waited for a few moments near the forest track, before crossing over followed by a second male, which had lost its antlers.

“There is a handsome grace in the animal,” remarked Giri and it seemed so. Kishor Rithe writes, “Barasingha have special habitat requirements. They feed on special grasses and enjoy aquatic plants found in and around water bodies on the hard grounds. Though their diet consists chiefly of grass, they also enjoy the tender leaves of sal and other trees. The presence of tall grass is essential to their breeding, as it provides shelter to pregnant females and protection for young fawns, from tigers, leopards and jackals.” Our guide told us wild dogs went after the animal as it was sluggish, and a tad dumb, mover.

Over the years, the park officials tried their best to alter the environment to lift the number of barasinghas. Kishor Rithe contends: “Though the efforts of most researchers and funding organisations came to naught, the barasingha eventually responded to that most simple of solutions – village resettlement, habitat regeneration and minimal forest management designed to keep meadows healthy and vibrant.”

Khageswar Nayak, who was the Chief Conservator of Forests and Field Director, Kanha National Park, in his book Kanha: Glimpses of a Tiger Reserve, writes of a future plan to keep this animal going. “The Kanha meadows are anthropogenic – old sites of relocated villages and abandoned agricultural fields – and are in an arrested stage of succession. Besides, the meadows have become regressive due to the long history of annual early burning. These have resulted in the encroachment of grasslands by woody species such as Butea monosperma (Palas), Lagerstroemia parviflora (Lendia), Shorea robusta (Sal) and Diospyros melanoxylon (Tendu). ….Keeping this is view, the park management erects chain-link enclosures before monsoon in some portions of the grasslands that require this treatment and allows them to recuperate for a season or two until they grow rich in heterogenous species,” writes Nayak.

Today, the barasingha have moved from Kanha to Kisli, Mukki, Supkar and Bhaisanghat. One can hope to live with this fascinating animal, with its antlers dancing above the grass, for long into the future.

Surprisingly, the book of Nayak seems to have missed out on the rare white-backed vultures (Gyps bengalensis). We saw nine vultures a distance away from Shravan Tal – five in flight taking the thermals and four absorbing the sun atop a dried up tree. In the bright sunlight, they circled the air and on the turn one could spot the white back of theirs which while resting is hard to see.

There is a crash in the population of the white-backed vultures and the drug Diclofenac has been banned. Expert Rishad Naoroji in his book – Birds of Prey of the Indian Subcontinent – says most of the potential substitutes for Diclofenac hurt the kidneys of the vultures. He is in favour of captive breeding “to ensure viable populations for future reintroduction (into the wild).”

Rounding up the case for vultures, Rishad says: “At the time of this book going to print, permissions have not yet been granted for holding and captive-breeding facilities and capture of three species of vulture, despite the gravity of the situation. The MoE has shown itself to be completely impotent and this lack of effectiveness and bureaucratic indifference will be recorded by history.” Well, the way the script is running, every common bird of yesteryear, including the common house sparrow (Passer domesticus), could become uncommon.

P. Devarajan

A stove that can trigger a fuel revolution

2007-12-26T18:47:00.000+05:30

IN SEARCH OF CLEAN ENERGY: PART III

Sreelatha Menon & Sapna Dogra Singh / New Delhi December 26, 2007

Jatropha oil and solar stoves for cooking? Many environmentalists see cooking as the right use for jatropha oil and other bio-fuels which are now being used only for running vehicles.

The reason is that 80 per cent of the renewable energy now in use is in the form of twigs and cow dung that the rural woman uses for cooking. Jatropha oil and solar stoves could help continue using a green fuel even when she leapfrogs into affluence.

Says environment activist Sunita Narain: This woman is cutting more CO2 emissions than the big companies which have been running windmills, because her stoves outnumber the windmills. She is too poor to afford a kerosene stove or a gas stove or a microwave. Women like her form 80 per cent of the entire gamut of renewable energy, while wind, solar power and other forms comprise just a fraction of 0.4 per cent. Her chulha (oven) forms 39 per cent of India’s primary energy use. The need of the hour is to find an alternative for women like her. That would provide a beginning towards a low carbon economy.”

The energy advisor in Greenpeace India says the idea does not make economic sense as the jatropha grower would prefer to sell the oil to a company like Reliance, for say Rs 30 a litre, and buy kerosene for Rs 2.

However, Subrato Mandal, a bio-fuel expert and an economist at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP), says the economy of fuels is skewed as subsidies are determining the prices of fuels. The environmental viability of fuels should also be taken into account. He says there are scattered instances of jatropha and similar plant oils being used for cooking purposes. But it has not been documented.

He says it can definitely be a medium for cooking as it can be directly put in the stove and the wicks burn like they do in an oil lamp. It can definitely be a good alternative for a petroleum product.

He says that the clean development mechanism (CDM) should be used to make the prices affordable for the poor.

If the CDM is used to fund jatropha use for cooking oil, it should translate into carbon emission reductions (CERs) and earn in euros to the grower and if it is being sold to an auto fuel company then the CERs should be denied to it, says Mandal.

Currently, a CER earns 21 euros — double of what it earned a year ago. So CDMs should be exploited to make such green projects like solar stoves and bio-fuels viable and profitable, adds Mandal.

The bio-fuel expert says solar stoves can supplement other cooking medium in cities and villages. He says if a solar stove can help a housewife cut LPG use from 14 cylinders a year to four a year, then why not?

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Renewable Energy has no project for green cooking fuels. It has 4 million family-size biogas plants, about 1.4 million solar photovoltaic systems for lighting and other applications.

It is, however, supporting deployment of renewable energy systems by providing fiscal and financial support to reduce the capital costs of these systems.

It is left to communities to exploit the green opportunities, says the ministry.

Seeing a tiger at its own sweet will

2007-12-26T18:26:00.000+05:30

Kanha National Park, Mandla district, Madhya Pradesh A chital alarm called as our Maruti Gypsy rolled down Bison Road in Kanha National Park at about 8 in the morning. A few minutes ago, the Park, with a core area of 940 sq.km and a buffer zone of 1,005 sq.km, had just shed its mist cover. The chital alarm called again possibly from the far side of Shravan Tal at the end of Bison Road. We moved back and forth Bison Road when our guide, 30-year-old Kamalesh Maravi, advised us to halt the vehicle at the end of Bison Road in front of Shravan Tal.

Kishor Rithe of the Satpuda Foundation, at the wheel, switched off the engine and we waited. By about 8.20, one got the first glimpse of the radio-collared tigress as it climbed on to the embankment, strolled along before moving down towards us and away into thick, dry light brown grass. From a distance of about 80 ft. we could take some pictures as the tigress walked in and out of the skylight. Kishor refused to age the tigress while Kamalesh Maravi thought it was a full grown, six-year old female. It has three cubs and has earned a frightening reputation as some of the guides believe it had killed a human intruder into the Park some time ago. Kishor, Giri Venkatesan, this writer and his son, Ganesh, had a peaceful viewing as there was only a second Gypsy parallel to us.

Over five days, Ganesh and this writer (Kishor and Giri had to break off on work at Mandla) had five tiger sightings. Evening trips in Kanha start at 3 p.m. and end at 5.30 p.m. while the morning rides start at around 6 a.m. and end at 12 in the afternoon. There were about 30 minutes to go that evening as we were driving in second gear along Dhawajhandi fireline before touching the Indri-Chimta Road. Our guide Phagan Singh Maravi is passionate about tigers. He has a sixth sense as he told us in Hindi, “Saab, idhar tiger dekhne ko milega (Saab, we are sure to see a tiger here).” Sure enough at around 5.10 on the left side of the forest track, we sighted the powerful head of a heavy, radio-collared male. It was a profile in tiger thought as we switched off the Gypsy engine to watch. After a few minutes, it rose, looked round and walked away sedately in silent mode.

It was 5.15 p.m. Yet again, we were alone on the forest track. We moved along to spot a second male, probably mightier than the first, on the right side above a nullah. A peacock was strutting in front of it calling desperately. But the tiger did not attack. For a few moments it sat on its hind legs staring at the peacock nervously pacing in front. The tiger walked down the nullah, circled a tree to smell it and moved away as a few vehicles saw the action. The peacock also made it with its life. “Chalo aaj bach gaya (He is saved for the day),” remarked Phagan Singh Maravi. On the following evening, a male tiger sighting was ruined by many crowded Gypsies, desperate to see the animal. It lay curled up in the grass with its head tucked into its belly and did not bother to raise its head. Perhaps, from an aesthetic angle, the radio-collared tigress at the Kanha Meadow was the prettiest sight.

Driving along the edge of the Kanha meadow, we (along with our guide Kamalesh Maravi) thought we heard a high-toned roar and stood still at the spot. Two wild boars were feeding at a distance of about 80 ft. when Maravi took us back to the rim of the Kanha Meadows. At 8 a.m., in sparkling sunlight, a radio-collared tigress strode out across the grassless part of the Meadow towards a banyan tree. Two elephants tried to trap the lady (for the popular Tiger Show) as it crossed over into the forest beyond. For about a forever 10 minutes, one stood rooted at the easy grace of the lady as she made the distance. Panthera tigris is alone in the super league of Nature. Kamalesh Maravi had his own construct on the event. Possibly, the tigress was mating with a male and went off the scene for its own reasons. The elephants failed to trap the female but got the male for the Tiger Show. Three to four elephants surround a tiger or tigress for the public riding on the elephant’s back to have a sighting. Most wildlifers scorn the Tiger Show. This writer would ban it for the reason that the Tiger Show comes in the way of seeing a tiger at its own sweet will in the wild by the ordinary public.

On holidays (like the one starting ahead of Christmas and ending around the first week of January), more than 70 vehicles enter the Park when the carrying capacity is 55 vehicles per day (six to a vehicle). This information was given last year to this writer by Khageswar Nayak, Chief Conservator of Forests, Kanha National Park. With the media (including this piece) exclusively chronicling the fate of the tigers, the visiting public is exclusively tuned on the animal; the rest of the sal and bamboo forest and its citizens, which is Kanha National Park, are set aside. Using own funds liberally to reach Kanha, the public wants to see a tiger and at some places vehicles form double rows (with none yielding space) when the animal is spotted. It does not have an easy solution as disappointing too many visitors could get them forever against Nature, argues Giri. There is a scientific way to measure the carrying capacity of vehicles in a Park and that could act as the limit, says Kishor Rithe.

But one cannot understand the move of the Park management to open a third gate at Bitcha to add to the rush; currently there are two gates – Kisli and Mukki. In the bargain, the Tiger Show needs to be stopped as it is demeaning to the tigers, if not to the humans.

Public frustration can be really sharp going by the tale told us by Phagan Singh. A frustrated visitor, having spent well over Rs. 20,000, yelled at Phagan Singh Maravi and threatened to report the non-sighting of a tiger to forest managers in Bhopal and New Delhi. “Ek do tiger ko idhar bandh ke rakkho (Tie up one or two tigers in the Park),” he shouted at a scared Phagan Singh, who humbly replied, “Saab, aap kuch bhi karo. Mere ko chod do (Saab, you are welcome to do anything but leave me alone).”

Some time in the future the public may be able to see more tigers as the Satpuda range as Central India becomes one integrated piece of Tigerland. Proof: Dr. Y.V. Jhala of the Wildlife Institute of India, has radio collared a few tigers in the area and one tiger collared in Kanha National Park was found recently in Pench Tiger Reserve Maharastra, some 250 km away.

P. Devarajan

Recycling company building $50m plastic-to-fuel plant

2007-12-18T14:47:00.000+05:30

Enviro-Hub's plant will be able to convert into fuel 30,000 tonnes of plastic waste a year

By Jessica Cheam

AN EXCITING new use has been found for the annoying plastic waste that often washes up on beaches and clogs rubbish dumps: fuel.

It may sound too good to be true, given the soaring price of crude oil and the global hunt for alternative fuels, but mainboard-listed Enviro-Hub Holdings says it is building the world's first large-scale, commercial plastic-to-fuel plant.

The waste management and recycling firm yesterday announced the construction of Singapore's first $50 million plastic-to-fuel plant - which converts waste plastic into useable fuels and gases.

Its executive chairman, Mr Raymond Ng, told The Straits Times that Enviro-Hub had been researching a long-term environmental solution for plastics since 2005.

Success came only last month, when a pilot plant it built proved that the technology imported from India worked.

This patented technology, for which Enviro-Hub now holds an exclusive licence, heats waste plastic with a special catalyst that breaks it down into 85 per cent diesel, 10 per cent liquid petroleum gas and 5 per cent coke.

'This plant is a historic milestone for the company,' said Mr Ng, formerly the co-founder of waste recycler Citiraya Industries, now known as Centillion Environment and Recycling.

'Plastic waste has always been a big problem for the world. The commercial potential in this technology is huge,' said Mr Ng.

Enviro-Hub's new 200,000 sq ft plant in Tuas, which will cost an initial $30 million to build, will be able to convert into fuel 30,000 tonnes of waste plastic a year.

Mr Mohamed Gani Mohamed Ansari, business development director of Enviro-Hub unit Cimelia Resource Recovery, said the diesel produced - unlike in older technologies - would have low sulphur content and also lower carbon dioxide emissions. The heating process of converting the waste plastic into fuel would also be emissions-free, said Mr Ansari.

Enviro-Hub is now looking into seeking carbon credits from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

These credits are savings in carbon dioxide emissions - largely blamed by scientists for global climate change - that can be traded on the carbon market.

Enviro-Hub's facility - equivalent to a 24MW plant - will use about 5 per cent of the fuel it generates to power itself.

The rest will either be used to power the rest of Enviro-Hub's plants nearby or sold to industries.

The plant will start operations by the second quarter of next year, with its capacity expanding to 50,000 tonnes a year at an additional cost of $20 million by end-2008, said Mr Ng.

Enviro-Hub yesterday incorporated a new unit - Enviro-Power - to operate the plant.

Funding for the plant is internal, the firm said in a statement to the Singapore Exchange.

Singapore is estimated to generate more than 300,000 tonnes of waste plastic a year - a capacity Enviro-Hub hopes its plant will eventually reach.

Enviro-Hub also announced late yesterday that it would invest US$4.2 million (S$6.1 million) in a 30 per cent stake in Enviro Energy - a company incorporated in the Cayman Islands.

Enviro Energy, through a unit in Thailand, will also be looking to set up a similar plastic-to-fuel plant in Thailand.

The setting up of Enviro-Power and the investment in Enviro Energy are not expected to have any financial impact on the company's current financial year.

Enviro-Hub's shares was 0.5 cent higher at 57.5 cents at yesterday's close

Leadership in Governance

2007-12-18T12:11:00.000+05:30

MEN AND IDEAS

Blueline solution in Indore

GURCHARAN DAS

To be able to kill 113 persons in less than 12 months in broad daylight is something of an accomplishment. The distinction belongs to Delhi’s Blueline buses. Desperate citizens tend to blame drivers, police, politicians, or transport officials. They are all guilty, of course. The real problem, however, lies elsewhere. A few months ago a prominent public figure even blamed ‘privatisation’. A staggering comment, i thought, considering that major cities in the world (including in France and England) have excellent, privately run bus services.
   Closer to Delhi lies Indore, a city of 20 lakh people. Vivek Aggarwal, a 34-year-old IAS officer, became its collector in 2005. He had a hobby — he studied bus services in different cities. With a tiny capital of Rs 25 lakh, he launched a public-private bus partnership in Indore based on best practices in the world. Two years later, Indore has a fleet of 98 modern, low-floor buses with computerised ticket-vending. Electronic signboards at bus stops announce when the next bus is due based on satellite data. Investment in the system has risen to Rs 40 crore, all done privately. The city has made a profit since inception; so have its six private partners who run the buses. Soon, it will have 500 buses. Indore is now quoted (with Bogota) as having the best bus service in the world.
   What can Delhi learn from Indore? First, it must ditch the old socialist idiocy of ‘one bus one owner’ — a product of the ‘small is beautiful’ thinking of the Eighties. This same stupidity made India reserve 800 industries for the ‘small scale sector’. Economists believe this was perhaps the most harmful industrial policy of the past 50 years, which has effectively prevented our industrial revolution. Indore did not have such socialist hang-ups — it selected the most capable entrepreneurs and companies to run its buses. Secondly, Delhi must not allow two operators to compete on the same route. This leads to speeding and accidents as drivers scramble to maximise revenue. Bus owners must get exclusive routes and earn revenue based on distance travelled, and this can be easily monitored by an affordable satellite system that tracks bus movement. Indore has a daily and monthly electronic pass, whose revenues are shared between companies. Tomorrow, if Delhi switched to a system where Blueline buses earned revenue per kilometre, traffic deaths would disappear.
   Delhi must also have a regulatory body which assesses demand, plans routes, fixes fares, gives out tenders, and monitors daily performance. Indore has a five person team which does this continuously, and this is the secret of its success. Delhi is finally planning to have a Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority, but unless it gives it teeth, it won’t succeed. Some will argue that Indore is too small to be an example for Delhi. These are the same second rate minds who scoffed at Japan’s miracle in the Sixties and Korea’s in the Seventies, arguing that these countries were too small for India to copy. Just think of Delhi as 10 Indores!
   Another painful lesson from this tale of two cities is that it takes a bit of luck to throw up officers like Vivek Aggarwal, who have the knowledge and the will to deliver. The average IAS officer spends a lifetime pushing files and still gets promoted. Vivek Aggarwal, i fear, may actually be punished by a system that puts down achievers. But before that he would have had the moral satisfaction of bringing a smile on 20 lakh faces in Indore — something that most of his colleagues will never experience in an entire lifetime.

Technology leadership in Drip irrigation

2007-12-11T17:52:00.000+05:30

Last week I read about Singapore’s position as a global water hub. However, in the area of irrigation, due to the domestic market, Jain irrigation, an Indian company has made tremendous advances. In the next 10 years, as our glaciers and rivers dry up, we will need to completely overhaul our irrigation systems. Instead of mega projects like river linking, we need to concentrate more on issues like getting farmers access to drip irrigation.

BH Jain conferred Water Conserver of India award

moneycontrol.com: December 1, 2007

Shri B H Jain, Founder-Chairman of Jain Irrigation Systems Limited, has been conferred upon the prestigious UNESCO & West-Net instituted award as the “Water Conserver of India”. This is taking into account yeomen service to the cause of water conservation.

Jain Irrigation is pioneer in micro irrigation and sprinkler irrigation systems in India which is a viable alternative to the conventional irrigation methods.

This award has been presented by the Hon’ble Union Minister of Water Resources, Prof. Saif-Ud-Din Soz at a glittering function held in New Delhi on 29th November 2007 at the Jaypee Vasant Continental, Vasant Vihar, New Delhi. The function was attended by eminent delegates from the World Bank, UNICEF, UNESCO, Central Water Commission and TERI apart from the Industry and Press.

Till date, the Company has received 46 State Awards, 85 National Awards and 3 International Awards for outstanding export performance, R&D achievements and entrepreneurship, Fair Trade Practices Etc. The internationally prestigious "Crawford Reid Memorial" Award instituted by Irrigation Association, USA was conferred on the Chairman Shri. B.H. Jain for "Significant Contribution to the Irrigation Industry outside the United States".

The Company employs more than 4,200 people directly and several hundreds indirectly. The company operates through branches and depots practically in all the States besides overseas subsidiaries for supporting and developing Export business. The Company has an outstanding track record in successfully developing Micro Irrigation Systems and Sprinkler Irrigation Systems as an alternative to the conventional irrigation methods. Besides, the Company makes PVC Pipes for Irrigation; PE Pipes for gas and water distribution and ducts for Optical fiber cables. PVC & Polycarbonate Sheet for exports; Fruit Pulp & Puree Dehydrated and Onion & vegetables for exports.

Company has modern manufacturing facilities located in India at Jalgaon, Maharashtra, Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh), Baroda (Gujarat) and Udumalpet (Tamilnadu).

The company has recently acquired Companies in USA & Israel in its core line of business as part of strategy to become one of the top 3 global players. At present, Company has 13 plants outside India i.e. USA, Israel, Chile, Brazil, Spain & Australia

The Company has an extensive Research & Development [R&D] farm and training & development center spread over nearly 1,000 acres of farm at Jalgaon & similar facility near Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. This center has extensive development laboratories and is engaged in pioneering efforts in developing tissue culture plants for Banana, Sugarcane etc. The Company's turnover for the last year ended on 31.03.2007 was Rs.1,267 crores and is currently expecting to accomplish a more than 45% growth in the current year with a turnover of Rs.1,850 crores, including Rs.515 crores of export turnover from India.

The Company's customers included some of the top MNC's like Coco-cola, Pepsi, Nestle, Gilroy Foods etc. besides Indian large customers like HLL, Reliance, L&T, BSNL, Bharati Telecom etc. The Company had established its leadership in almost all the businesses it is engaged in and the list of satisfied customers are even increasing.

Singapore bid to become global water hub

2007-12-07T12:04:00.000+05:30

If we could have ‘shower’ meters, linked to the volume of water being used & a display that converts that value into rupees, I think it will go a long way in reducing personal water consumption.

Turning a crisis into an opportunity

K.V. Kurmanath

Hyderabad, Nov. 29 Singapore’s success story with water reminds one of a Bollywood rags-to-riches story. From a water-starved State 30-35 years ago, it has now become a confident nation on the water front.

This, however, is not news. The success story has been written many times over in the last few years.

But what is new is the city-nation refuses to live on the laurels. It now wants to become a global hydro hub, offering technologies and skills in project implementations in the water sector.

It has already begun taking up desalination projects in West Asia and project management assignments in China and Vietnam, according to Mr Prantik Mazumdar, Centre Director (Kolkata) of Singapore Government’s International Operations Group.

“The Government has set up a $500-million fund for research and development in the water and related issues,” he said.

Mr Mazumdar was here to showcase the Singapore experience with regard to water and its plans for the future at a summit on water organised at the CII-Green Business Centre.

The city is taking up a S$2-billion project that envisages laying 40-60 metre deep tunnel sewerage system to collect all of its used water and, using the gravity pull, channelise it to Changi Water Reclamation system.

It will also help the City-State free 90 hectares of precious land. Singapore’s 700 sq. km is less than half of our national capital.

The 10-litre challenge

As a part of its bid to become a global water hub, Singapore is going to organise an international meet on water next year.

As it strived to save and use every drop of water, the Singapore Government launched the 10-litre challenge, asking its people to reduce the per capita daily consumption of water to 155 litres by 2012.

A businessman`s crusade against darkness

2007-12-04T19:21:00.000+05:30

A businessman`s crusade against darkness

PROFILE/ Harish Hande, CEO, Selco

BS Reporter / New Delhi December 04, 2007

Harish Hande, who has been honoured recently with a prize for social entrepreneurship, has made it his business to take solar power to every un-lit home.

Harish hande, CEO, Selco, who has been selected social entrepreneur of the year by the Nand and Jeet Khemka Foundation this year, has been in the business of solar electrification since the past 12 years. At last count, his clients numbered 85,000 in 220 villages in Karnataka and 2,000 clients in Gujarat where he started operations recently.

Hande says he is into business only because that is the only way he can take solar power to the largest number of people. That has been his dream and main occupation for the last 12 years when he started doing his Masters and PhD in Massachusets Institute of Technology. His subject was rural electrification and whether solar power makes sense.

He says he came upon the idea during a brief visit to the Dominican Republic as a student in IIT Kharagpur. “Those two hours of what I saw there — people using and paying for solar energy changed my way of thinking totally. I haven't touched technical applications after that,” says Hande.

His strategy for making solar energy succeed has been two fold: doorstep service and doorstep financing. He first started creating solar service centres in all the places he was setting up solar panels.

In addition, he got the centres to identify more potential technicians in nearby villages which were beyond the centre's reach, train them and then help them set up shop.

The second task was to persuade the existing financial network of Regional Rural Banks, cooperative banks to finance the solar panels he set up. “Once that was done, I have been piggy-riding on this network to spread the reach of solar power into the interiors of Karnataka villages,” he says.

In Gujarat, a tie-up has been achieved with SEWA and customers are getting financed while being offered solar energy.

Hande admits that solar electrification programmes have been criticised for providing just a single bulb and thus keeping the poor sections from being on a par with other beneficiaries of electricity.

He says that his technicians go with a clean slate to the customer's house. It is not a pre-planned one-bulb scheme being offered. People can opt for one or two or three bulbs and even run an electric sewing machine,. The installations can be done in phases depending on the payment capability of the buyer, he says.

He has the story of a customer who ran away when he was told that three bulbs would cost him Rs 12000. The technician of SELCO did not give up, says Hande. He went back to the customer, climbed on his roof and put a single bulb in such a way that it lit up three of his rooms cutting the cost by third.

The costs of lighting up houses come between Rs 5,000 and Rs 18,000 he says. “Of course, solar lighting cannot solve irrigation problems of villagers. That needs so much energy that the costs would be unbearable for the villagers,” says Hande.

He also is not in favour of a single transmission system catering to a number of customers. “It is so much easier to be modular,” Hande says.

He says the idea that drives his business proposition is the Gandhian principle of “production by masses rather than mass production''. And the fact that in Karnataka alone 44 per cent of people have no electricity

Bangalore Walks

2007-11-19T14:31:00.000+05:30

Bangalore Walks is an interesting way of exploring the city and its history. Much like anything else in India, the government should have done this long back, if it was serious about promoting tourism, but fortunately, today, Arun Pai, an entrepreneur and history lover and a proud Bangalore an has launched something which was so sorely missed. Bangalore Walks is all about re-discovering your city from a historical perspective and on foot. In good measure, a typical South Indian breakfast is thrown in to complete the walk. It has done more for city tourism than the 50 years existence of government tourism department/s.

At School, History was treated as just a study dates and some outdated facts which were to be memorized in order to pass the exam. Infact, it was even made fun off. If you had an interest in History, you were probably a sissy. The ‘real’ people would solve complicated math sums. In Economics, they say, for a thing to have value, to be precious, it must have scarcity value. Conversely, if you have too much of something, chances are, you will not value it. We have too much history and is it any surprise, we don’t value it. In France, they will take you to a Chateau (village) and talk about it for hours. In India, even a priceless piece of historical architecture is only good enough for the dogs (and humans) to relieve themselves.

We just took our second Bangalore Walk at Lalbagh and came back enthralled, with new eyes.

Here are two suggestions for Arun Pai and his team: Add Grover Vineyards & Nandi Hills as a walk with probably a meal thrown in at Angsana. Also, worlds largest flower Exporters, Karturi Floritech have a large, beautiful farm at the outskirts of Bangalore. It could be another suggested walk for your fan group.

What Business are you in?

2007-11-14T12:11:00.000+05:30

This morning I had an emergency. My glass frame broke down and I do not keep an emergency pair. I suspect, most people don’t, unless they travel very often.

First thing in the morning I went to my optician and asked him, if the frame could be repaired. “No’, said the neighborhood optician. So, naturally I asked him, if I could have a new one, and how soon I could have it. He could not even answer me without calling his central workshop at Ulsoor, who informed him that it took 24 hours to get the new glasses ready.

Now, compare this to how Essilor, a leading lens maker, who has a factory in Doddbalapur area, does its business. Orders come in from Europe real time through the internet- i.e., a customer visits an Optician, who records the customized requirement for lenses, places the order for manufacturing these lenses at Bangalore through the internet, Essilor receives and processes it and put its on the flight to Europe within 12-24 hours and the customer probably gets it within 48 hours.

It may be unfair to compare the two, but there is a point to this- Essentially, they both follow the same process, with scale being the only difference.

Consider the convenience or inconvenience to the customer who has a broken frame or lens and has to wait for 24 hours to get a new one. He/She will either suffer through a terrible headache throughout the day without the glasses or the other alternative to completely switch off from work.

Could not the optician fill in with an additional service of providing emergency glasses (and charge a reasonable amount for it)? Thinking on the same lines, can an optical retailer, not fill in to provide eyes masks, eye pillows, eye care solutions and eye massages instead of just providing frames and frame repairs. This would be a sure way to differentiate himself from the other neighborhood retailers and provide value add services, not without increasing the average bill amount of each customer.

Let us look at the neighborhood Optician a little more in detail. He easily stocks about 5000 frames- I am quite certain, without knowing what is the inventory turnover period, which frames are moving faster and which are slow and what is the cost of keeping this inventory- What is the cost of the retail space?

One really has to be ask oneself the larger question- what business am I in? Am I in the frame and lens business or am I in the Eye-care business? Only then would you get the right answers.

Ram Rajya

2007-10-16T17:39:00.000+05:30

The Vision for future India

Combine the vision of Gandhiji, Gopinath, Dr. Abdul Kalam and Dr. Devi Shetty with the learnings of ‘Fortune at the bottom of the pyramid’ and what do you get: All of our villages having PURA facilities, Health, education and entertainment through satellite (ISRO and Dr. Devi Shetty have a model for this) and at prices which even villagers can pay. All districts connected with Air Services so none of the produce goes waste. There are 600,000 villages in India and 700 districts. Imagine if each company can adopt just 1 village and provide the PURA facilities.

Imagine if a political party were to put out a manifesto, seeking a mandate for not just 1 but 2 terms of 10 years promising 10% for 10 years starting 2010. Vision 2020- that’s what will save India.

Sun struck: Jharkhand villages get water, light through solar power

Business Standard: October 9, 2007

Ranchi: Paharsingh is a hamlet, situated about 52 km from Ranchi. The village has a population of only 87 people, belonging to the primitive Birhor tribe.

Till a few months ago, the village had no source of drinking water. The villagers had to collect water from a hand pump located in a far-off village.

However, their water woes came to an end when a solar water pump of 1,200W capacity was installed in the village. The initiative was taken by Jharkhand Renewable Energy Development Agency (JREDA), run by the Jharkhand government. The agency works with the Ministry for New and Renewable Energy.

The project, which cost Rs 7 lakh, now also lights up the streets of the village.

The agency, with the help of the ministry, generates electricity from the solar plant and provides it to remote villages.

It plans to cover 224 remote villages of Jharkhand by the year-end through solar home lighting and street lighting systems. The JREDA has recommended more such units in remote villages of the state to ensure drinking water supply.

Under this programme, one solar home lighting system has been installed in each house of Paharsingh village and 1,211 solar lights have been installed in the streets.

"Over 84,000 people belonging to the SC/ST category have benefited from this programme and the JREDA has spent Rs 2,392 lakh on this project," says project officer Prakash Kumar Das.

"We are also doing a pilot project of providing power through bio-fuel. A diesel generator set of 5 KVA capacity has been installed in Gardih village of Nawadih block in Bokaro district. The engine runs on vegetable oil and supplies electricity to the village," Das adds.

The tribal village of Paharsingh, with 100 houses, gets 4 hours of power daily from the engine that runs on karanji oil, the seed of which is available in the village.

A machine for manufacturing leaf plates was installed by the villagers with the help of the agency, after a performance study of the engine running on different vegetable oils was made available by the Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra.

The electricity is supplied to the machine by the solar plant for 2 hours everyday. The villagers are happy because the availability of electricity has increased their income due to the sale of leaf plates. The total cost of the project is Rs 15.79 lakh.

Panna Tiger Reserve

2007-08-17T18:31:00.000+05:30

Panna Tiger Reserve or National Park is an incidental attraction for most tourists, as most land at Khajuraho and make a detour to the park, if they have time. Leave aside one or two hotels and the area around the reserve remains uncluttered, except for the lorry traffic on the highway bisecting Panna and the Gangau sanctuary.

Some time ago, wildlifers thought the Panna Tiger Reserve in the Vindhya mountains was going the Sariska way. A leading tiger expert had alerted the country over the sharp decline in tiger population at Panna. Officials in the forest department of Madhya Pradesh have still not got over the scare and dismiss the work of the expert with disdain.

Dinesh Kothari and myself did not expect to see a tiger at Panna Tiger Reserve when we went on our morning round in a jeep. The Ken river flowing softly through the reserve, defines the forest and is said to be one of the few clean river systems in the country. The Ken keeps the National Park alive. It originates at Bhuwar village near Katni and after running through the southern part of the Panna district, flows along the boundary of Panna and Chhatarpur districts to enter Uttar Pradesh and join the Yamuna.

For a start, we saw four-painted sandgrouse, for the first time, apart from chitals, sambhars and nilgais. On the way, we saw a few tiger pug marks and our guide got a message on his walkie-talkie of a tiger being sighted near the Shivla-Jheria link road. There were two jeeps ahead of us at the spot with the tiger resting deep in the forest. We climbed on an elephant using the top of our jeep as a base and the mahout guided the animal, busy tearing branches from the nearby trees, to the spot where the tiger lay on its side in splendour. We were four on the elephant — two aged foreign ladies, Dinesh and myself — and the five-minute ride was a bit of a roll.

For a minute, the four-year old, male tiger, lifted its head, looked at us before going back to sleep. The tiger did not bother about the 50-year-old she elephant, Anarkali, standing some 10 ft away nor did Anarkali think much of him. Watching the tiger from elephant back (popularly called elephant show) is not the ideal way of watching a tiger. Yet, we were part of the elephant show and at least this writer will not do it again.

At his offices in Panna town, Shahbaz Ahmad, Chief Conservator of Forest and Field Director, Panna Tiger Reserve, said, "the tiger density in the area is good."

An October 2006 study of Wildlife Institute of India says, "We also have conducted camera trapping exercise covering an area of 185 sq km in the Panna National Park. The estimated density of tiger in this area is 4.9 tigers per 100 sq km. Number of tigers in the study area of 185 sq km with a confidence limit of 95 per cent comes to nine (range - minimum eight tigers to a maximum of 15 tigers). Viewed in the context of the all-India situation, this is a reasonably good density and indicates a healthy tiger population in the study area...

"So far as comparability of our studies with the past study done by Karanth (2002) is concerned, it would not be out of place to mention here that their study covered an area of 418 sq km of the Park and estimated a population density of 6.94 tigers per 100 sq km. They estimated a population of 29 tigers over 418 sq km with a range from 10 to 48 tigers. Such wide variance in population estimation is not a very useful tool for monitoring a population. It is also relevant to point out here that our density estimate over 185 sq km has a low CV (coefficient of variation) of 16.8 per cent compared to their high CV of 46.54 per cent. Thus, our estimates are more precise... "

On the way back near the exit gate, we had a chat with the range officer, Madla range, Narendra Singh Parihar, who was happy we had seen a tiger. He said the forest department was on the alert at the Panna Tiger reserve, which has four ranges: Madla, Hinnauta, Panna and Chandranagar. "We are trying our best to stamp out poaching and have built watch towers to oversee 98 per cent of the area," he said.

The Panna Tiger reserve is spread over a core area of 542.67 sq km (no buffer zone) and was at one time the royal hunting grounds of the Maharajas of Panna, Chhatarpur and Bijanor. At present, the Gangau sanctuary nearby is under the management of the Panna Tiger Reserve. Mining activity has completely stopped, including diamond mining, by the National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), said Shahbaz Ahmad. "The NMDC has approached the Supreme Court and we are waiting for the final ruling," Ahmad added.

But the Panna-Gangau forests may not remain with New Delhi keen on a dam plus two power stations across the Ken and a railway line lancing the forests to link Khajuraho to Satna. Also, the District Planning Committee is keen on denotifying a portion of the Gangau sanctuary, to probably restart mining and agriculture.

Recently, New Delhi sent a team of officials to drill 35 holes at various points in the Panna National Park as part of the work ahead of setting up the dam. The Field Director objected as any work inside the sanctuary needs the okay of the Supreme Court and the team went back. The Ken-Betwa river link proposes to divert surplus waters of the River Ken at Daudhan (2.5 km upstream of existing Gangau weir) through a Ken-Betwa link canal to River Betwa for meeting the water requirements in the water deficit Betwa basin.

A dam is to come up at Daudhan on the Ken river with a gross storage capacity of 2,775 million cubic metres; a two-km long tunnel followed by an about 230 km long link canal will transfer water from the Ken; two power houses, one (3x20 MW) at the foot of the dam and the other (2x6 MW) at the end of the 2-km long tunnel, are to be set up; the existing outlet of Barwa Sagar shall be used to drop the link canal water into Betwa, through the Barwa river.

A rather, distressed Shahbaz Ahmad said the dam and the railway line would reduce forest cover and cut into the Panna Tiger Reserve. About 74 per cent of the submerged area comes under forests and parts are reserved falling within the Panna National Park. The area of the National Park under submergence is estimated at about 45 sq km. That may be a low-end estimate for a project expected to cost Rs 1988.74 crore. What is being left unsaid is that the Government will denotify parts of the National Park to accommodate the development projects and push Panna into the past.

Kanha National Park

2007-08-17T17:54:00.000+05:30

We reach Kanha as the sun is homeward bound. From the open verandah of the guesthouse, we gaze at the kaleidoscope of colours that paint the horizon, the hues changing from bright orange to deep blue to purple, till the inkiness unveils the shimmering stars. Ahead in the open grassland looms a huge tree. Our guide calls it an ek mein teen (three-in-one), a banyan, neem and sal rolled into a single marvel. Quite a familiar sight in Kanha, he tells us.

As it darkens a host of sounds accost our ears. The cicadas' incessant orchestration is punctuated now and then by the loud hoots of an owl. A jungle cat slinks in, ferreting rather noisily for bits from the kitchen bin, and a scrunching and grunting has us train our torches to a clump of trees nearby. It's a family of wild boar at their favourite haunt. Deep in the forest we hear the plaintive cry of a deer.

The night is enchanting in this wilderness in the Maikal Ranges of the Satpura Hills. The next morning, up at dawn, we are at the gates just as they are being unlocked, our open jeep augmenting the excitement of an adventurous foray into the forest.

The jungle cock greets us with his loud crowing and we can just make out his brilliant multihued coat among the cluster of bamboo. Chitals dot the landscape, at times very near, their coats camouflaging them in the brownness of the foliage. It is the right season to be here as animals are most visible now, coming out to slake their thirst in waterholes and nibbling on whatever food is available.

We stop by a pond. It's surrounded by a host of creatures — monkeys, neelgais, deer in perfect harmony, drinking their fill. As we move on, we espy under the tall sal trees a lone gaur, the Indian bison in white-socked majesty. Chewing cud, it stares at us. We stop a bit and, looking into the forest behind him, find his entire kith and kin. This sanctuary is also the only habitat of the barasingha, herds of which congregate by shallow pools.

Diverse trails

Though the circuits are mapped out in Kanha, the trails are diverse enough to sight a number of creatures. It is however in its grasslands that wildlife abounds. As we near one we find it chock-a-block with herds of sambhar. At another peacocks display their finery, while a couple of blackbucks stand, leaping gracefully into the air as they hear us approach. And we witness a stag fight — the deer, horns locked, challenging each other's might! The evening round ends at Bamimi Dadr — sunset point — a spectacular area in the park. We settle here to see the sun go down in the horizon, an orb of red, the shadows lengthening as trees and grasses become silhouettes. Silence falls. As we wait in utter quiet we are rewarded by a rather rare sighting of a pack of dhole — the Indian wild dog.

Kanha is also a birdwatcher's paradise, harbouring almost 200 species of avian life. And so the next morning, binoculars in hand, we station ourselves in a clearing in the forest. The Racket-Tailed Drongo, Indian Roller and Shikra are here in plenty as are Treepies, Kingfishers and Woodpeckers. Water birds wallow in Kanha's many brooks and pools and at Sarvantaal, we catch a few Common Teals and Pintail Ducks.

Another round of the forest, and it turns out to be our chance to see the big cat! For as we are ushered into the jeep, we are told that a tiger has been sighted in the surrounding environs. A gathering twister has us take cover under a clump of trees but as it moves away our guide points to the nearby rushes. And there, with its tail raised high is the mighty beast. Giving us a nonchalant glance, it moves right across, turns around and strides back into the grasses. It's only after it disappears, that we exhale!

Big cat bonanza

Barely have we begun to get over the vision, when we make our way quickly to another spot, deep in the jungle. A big cat has been spotted here too. It's resting in the thickets after its meal. Clambering onto an elephant we sway along, crouching to escape getting entangled in the tree branches. We clutch on to the howdah as our mahout manoeuvres the elephant to stop at a grove of sal and bamboo. The creature is well camouflaged and difficult to sight.

But, as it turns over, the grass moves and we get a peek. It's lazily licking its paws, quite oblivious to our presence...

That's the second tiger we've seen, and we're in for a bonanza. Our guide's talkie gets the message that a tigress has been sighted at the end of our trail. Down a rivulet and up again into the forest we go, when suddenly the elephant stops in its tracks. The tigress must be nearby.

Frantic alarm calls across confirm its presence. We wait in silence. Fifteen minutes later the tigress walks by, a few feet away, two cubs in tow. We barely breathe...

As we get back a new family has settled near our lodge. It's the monkeys. They are there to entertain us for the evening. As we are busy watching their antics, we spot a sloth bear in the distance.

Kanha has surpassed our expectations...

Fact file

Getting there: Kanha is accessible from Nagpur, Jabalpur and Raipur — all well connected by air and rail from Delhi and Mumbai.

Local transport can be hired to get to Kanha from these cities.

The two main entrances to the park are Khatia (3 km from Kisli) and Mukki.

Accommodation: Madhya Pradesh Tourism, Wild Chalet Resort, Tuli Tiger Resort, Krishna Jungle Resort, Kanha Jungle Lodge, Royal Tiger Resort.

Best season: Feb-June. The park is closed from July-October.

Panna Tiger Reserve

2007-08-17T17:52:00.000+05:30

On a late afternoon waiting on the banks of the River Ken in the Panna Tiger Reserve for a boat, we heard the thud of the axe against wood. Villagers were removing forest cover and there was no forest official to stop them. The dhabas at Panna use wood as fuel and most of it could have only been trawled from the forests.

The poor have to live and cannot afford gas cylinders. They do not have any meaningful employment to talk of. But when the forests go, the poor will be the worst hit with policy makers taking the first flight out to the US. There are five villages with 1,900 families inside the Panna Tiger Reserve and have to be relocated, said Shahbaz Ahmad, Chief Conservator of Forest and Field Director, Panna Tiger Reserve, and added eight villages have been relocated.

With the passing of the Tribal Bill will the five villages be relocated? Narendra Singh Parihar, Range Officer, Madla range, admitted to grazing being a major problem. We took the boat ride to watch crocodiles sunning themselves on the river banks but could not see any. It was the same at the 45.20-sq km Ken Gharial sanctuary.

A long 26-km ride over kutcha roads from the reserve took us to the Ken Gharial sanctuary and the guide promised to show us a gharial sunbathing in the River Ken. Work is on to rebuild the road and widen it, which could eat up some of the oldest mahuwa trees in the region. The river bed is rocky being made of granite, dolomite and quartz and during rains get submerged.

For about 30 minutes, Dinesh and myself floated down Ken without spotting a gharial with the adult male sporting a pot-like growth at the tip of its mouth. There is no sight better than the Ken in Panna. The river offers an easy fluidity to the forest made mainly of teak, mahuwa, salai and bamboo. The forest and its denizens know they will live as long as the river lives. One has gone to a few tiger reserves but there is nothing like the Ken with its ancient dignity still in place.

The Ken River Lodge, built on wooden stilts, on the banks of Ken (outside the reserve) offers a good birding site and we noticed darters, cormorants, including the large cormorant and a painted stork, basking under a winter sun. A guide at the lodge told us of the nesting of a pair of Sarus cranes at the far end of the river. In 2005, the Ken went wild during rains breaking banks and damaging quite a bit of the forest and signs of the destruction are still there.

The Government hand out on Panna lists the common trees, animals and birds populating the area and like all such documents is far off the mark. We did spot two Egyptian vultures, a few painted sandgrouse and vultures inside rocky pockets. The herbivore population is not well-built and there are some who doubt whether it can keep up a large tiger population.

A report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India noted, "The Kanha Tiger Reserve had 7 per cent of the area as grasslands which was to be increased to 15 per cent. On a comparison of the availability of grasslands during 2000-05, it was seen that except in the Badhavgarh Tiger Reserve, three other tiger reserves (Panna, Pench and Kanha) witnessed a decline ranging between 0.001 and 0.05 sq km land availability per herbivore. The decline in availability of grassland was due to increase in the number of livestock in these tiger reserves. The livestock population severely causes fodder shortage in the tiger reserves, which needs to be tackled while planning for grassland and meadows development in the reserves." The final notification to declare Panna Tiger Reserve a National Park has not been issued till March 2006 though the reserve was created in 1975.

A note of the Wildlife Institute of India says, "The rationale for taking landscape as a unit is that tigers are long ranging animals (at times ranging over 250 sq km), and also that their prime habitats are subject to high turnover of individuals. It will, therefore, be naïve to assign any absolute number to a given administrative unit. Another important point to be mentioned here is that the density of tigers in an area can vary widely over time due to natural process of recruitment, dispersal and mortality. Breeding success or failure of even a single female may drastically change the prevailing densities. Therefore, present assessment done by WII is useful more as a baseline for long-term monitoring of the status of tigers in the area rather than giving absolute numbers."

Are we ducking the critical issue of trying to get at a firm estimate of the tiger population in India? Some tiger experts believe India's forests today could at best hold about 1,200 tigers (1,500 tigers on the higher side), while there are unconfirmed reports of the government pushing for a higher count of 5,000.

In the absence of any estimate, one can today firmly believe the CAG 2006 report castigating the Project Tiger Directorate. It says, "... . Poaching and unnatural deaths of tigers outnumbered the natural deaths. There was a decline in the tiger population in many reserves. Conservation efforts in the Tiger Reserves by and large remained ineffective due to inordinate delays in the settlement of acquisition rights under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972, inadequate wildlife corridors connecting tiger reserves with other Protected Areas, slow progress of relocation of villages outside the Tiger Reserves as well as poor tourism management." It may be noted that along with the tigers, other animals are getting scarce.

P. Devarajan

Navegaon National Park, Maharashtra

2007-08-17T17:47:00.000+05:30

The Flame of the Forest or the palash (Butea monosperma) is blooming in Vidarbha. The crimson orange flowers, standing out from bare branches, spread colour on an otherwise drab and tired landscape, offering respite to travellers in the 40 degrees C heat.

The Flame of the Forest is sacred for Hindus. "Among the trifoliate leaves, the middle leaflet is believed to represent Vishnu and the two lateral ones are Brahma and Shiva. The wood and leaf stalks of palash are used in havans (sacred fire) and the tree symbolises the moon, say Marselin Almeida and Naresh Chaturvedi in their book The Trees of Mumbai.

Elsewhere, at the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve, the Melghat Tiger Reserve and the Navegaon National Park the forests are blushing waiting for April to burst into flowers. The Mahua is in fruit and one watched tribal men and women picking the forest floor for the whitish yellow marble-size fruit. In April, the tree will flower and the sloth bears will make their visits. The first maroon coloured leaves of the kusum can be spotted now, before they turn green in the summer months. At Navegaon National Park, Bhimsen Sreenarayan Dongarwar took us to a tribal temple with the interior crowded with white coloured horses made of earth.

"The Gond tribals will not cut a tree if anyone places a white horse in front of it. The tree becomes inviolate," explained Bhimsen. Kishor Rithe and this writer started with an evening visit to the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve where the guides talked of two tigresses with kids roaming the interiors though we did not see them. One did hear the alarm and rutting calls of the chital and saw a few of them along with sambhars, blue bulls (neelgai) and two barking deer.

In the morning sitting on the veranda of the forest guesthouse, one watched birds stir with the sunrise. We were amused by an orange-headed ground thrush moving up and down the more than 60-year-old jamun tree a few feet away from the veranda, while a squirrel dared to come up to the plastic chair this writer was occupying. Generally, the birds search the underside of leaves for insects or worms for a free breakfast.

Having tea at the tea-shop, one was surprised by a black-headed golden oriole and a couple of tree pipits. Sometimes one forgets the cup of tea on the table as bird movements grab one's being. In Melghat, there is the Centre called the Muthawa with its flat-roofed bamboo and mud hut, where time waits for one to spend.

On World Forest Day (March 21), Nishibhau, Kishor and I spent a late evening on an elevation in the 20-acre campus. "At around 7 p.m., the owls will call for about 15 minutes and then fall silent busy searching for rodents and snakes. A good owl population is a positive statement on the forest," said Kishor and sure enough the owls called from various parts of the forest. Possibly, in another two years, when the Centre turns green and the trees gain girth, the owls will surely shift residence and come nearer. We slept on the roof of the hut and by about 10 p.m. had to cover ourselves with two rugs each as temperatures dropped.

A moon, scooped like a watermelon, wrested a part of the sky, while the stars and planets took their appointed seats for Nishibhau to give a short talk on astronomy. After identifying the Dhruva nakshatra and the Seven Rishis (saptarishi), Nishibhau was on his own scanning the skies when a satellite came into view. Not that this writer understood much.

Being a college lecturer, Nishibhau has the skill to keep one tuned in though one is not sure if his students at the engineering college will agree. But for me, Nishibhau is a must on any forest trip. While others snored off, one kept awake watching the sky and recalled the famous rhyme: "Twinkle, twinkle little star/ How I wonder what you are/ Up above the world so high/ Like a diamond in the sky." At school, no teacher showed the sky. On this night, the lines made sense and one wondered whether humankind has moved much beyond the anonymous poetry.

Getting up early, we readied for the sun to risein the eastern sky. We take a new day without a doubt, a sunrise is a given and are sure the routine will be stuck to even while human beings deface Planet Earth. The enormity of our easy assumptions is felt when one is alone for a few moments in a forest or a mountain or at a beach. Aren't we taking Planet Earth for granted and that at some moment in the future it may not oblige?

From Melghat to Navegaon National Park is a six-hour drive. As we neared the Park, the driver applied the brakes noticing a sand boa crossing the road. We got down to watch the crawl of the creature and granted it safe passage into the dense foliage on the road's edge. The guesthouse at the Park is a two-tiered structure with our room touching the top of the trees.

In the morning, we were grateful witnesses to yet another sunrise (our third consecutive) over the Navegaon Bandh Lake.

Sipping tea, we noticed an iora hopping around on a bare tree. Before setting out for home, one spent the afternoon watching some 30 to 40 Hanuman langurs, kicking up a racket on the trees outside. Never for a moment they stayed still, with the little ones swinging from branch to branch.

P. Devarajan

Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve

2007-08-17T17:28:00.000+05:30

Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve Chadrapur district Word of splendid tighter viewing in Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR), Chandrapur district has spread fast. The day before we touched the forests last week, some 200 vehicles had moved in a day into the Park to watch the tigers.

Two tigresses with three cubs each are roaming the area around Gosecanal and Dauna, while a second pair of tigresses with two cubs each has been located at Vasant Bhandara and Panderpauni.

We (Paul, Kishor Rithe, Giri Venkatesan and this writer) were blessed to spend about 30 minutes watching the three Dauna cubs late in the afternoon from an open Gypsy.

On the more than three-hour night run from Nagpur to Tadoba, it was raining with the sky spitting thunder and lightning.

"We may not see any tigers," warned Kishor as with the descent of the monsoon over the teak forests of TATR, tigers and most animals withdraw from waterholes located on the edge of core forest areas.

"It is like this. During the trying hot months with little greenery, prey and predators crowd around water holes with the prey (mainly herbivores like sambhar and chital) aware of the lurking danger. Sometimes, the herbivores pull back from the water holes in fear. In the process, they thin out physically and wait for the rains to go back to their old ways of living. With rains, they pull deep into the parks and scatter widely, making sighting difficult," explained Kishor Rithe.

That sounded like the lama in the book Kim, written by Rudyard Kipling where the lama exclaims, "We are all on the Wheel of Things." Sometimes on top, sometimes below.

On the morning trip, we saw nothing and kept to ourselves. We started the noon trip with a prayer and at around 4.15 p.m. we spotted the three Dauna cubs at the Panderpani water hole though there were no signs of the mother (usually, the mother is with her cubs for 18 to 24 months by which time, the cubs learn the tricks of living).

The three one-year-old cubs lay spread out in an arc behind some thin vegetation with one close to the water hole.

For a minute, the air crackled with the alarm calls of a sambhar but that did not make any difference. For about 30 minutes, the three cubs lolled around before a loud tourist vehicle drove them away from the spot.

The forest track we were on starts at Pandherpauni to touch Kala Amba and then proceeds to Bhanuskhindi. The Dauna waterhole lies on this stretch and to our good luck the three cubs had shifted to Panderpani.

From 4.15 p.m. to 4.45 p.m. we gazed at the one-year-old cub nearest to the waterhole, some 20 ft. away from our open Gypsy. It yawned twice, stared at us while tapping the ground and swishing its black-tipped tail.

The Panthera tigris was oozing grace while one turned reverential. It was Sameer, who spotted the three cubs and beckoned us. Sameer started as a guide and now owns a Gypsy to take tourists on rides in the Park. We left the place as the three cubs moved away only to enjoy the spectacle of a full-grown male tiger making its way towards us. It did not care for our presence as it turned off into wilder part of the jungle.

On the second morning, from the watchtower at Panderpauni, we had a glimpse of two chitals, calling in alarm, staring into a thick cluster of dry grass. They called for quite some time but no tiger emerged.

Credit for the strong and healthy population of tigers needs to go to the forest officials led by the Field Director of TATR, S.H. Patil.

He has been taking particular care to cut off some of the tourist paths to reduce the disturbance to the roaming tigers. "Now, the question will be to prevent any poaching in the coming years and that is going to be a tough job," remarked Kishor Rithe.

For this writer, TATR is hugely special. Over the last few years, the tiger population has remained steady at around 34 (males and females put together with cubs excluded).

The twin sanctuaries of Tadoba and Andhari form the TATR. The Tadoba National Park, declared in 1955, was transferred to Maharashtra in 1956 and became the state's first National Park, spread over 620 sq. km.

The Andhari Wildlfire sanctuary was declared a sanctuary in 1986 along with the Tadoba National Park and as the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve in 1993, says Erach Bharucha in the recently published book National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries of India. The Andhari Wildlife Sanctuary has an area of 508.85 sq.km.

From TATR we drove to the twin protected areas on the banks of the Pench river on the M.P.- Maharashtra border with a total area of 758 sq. km.

In the two Parks, our streak of luck held being able to spot four jackals with one jackal (Canis aureus) striding ahead of us in Pench (M.P.) to join up with another, while the common langurs called furiously from tree tops.

S.H. Prater in his Indian Book of Animals puts it aptly: "In their pursuit there is no undue hurry, no violent outburst of speed. Dogs move with a lobbing tireless canter which in the end brings them to their exhausted prey. ... . The feet are adapted to one purpose, the pursuit of prey over hard ground." Wolves, jackals and foxes, dogs domestic and wild, together compose the Canidae family. Driving out of the Pench (M.P.) park, Paul pointed to an Indian fox (Vulpes bengalensis), on an easy gallop. It moved along side our vehicle (keeping a safe distance of about 40 ft) before merging into the cluster of villages.

Prater opines climatic conditions "have done little to prevent the family from invading and settling in new countries. The wolf, the red fox, the jackal and the wild dog are immigrants into India from the north. They probably entered the country by way of our north-western passes.

"Here as elsewhere they have adapted themselves to life under contrasting conditions of heat and cold, of dryness and humidity. In this, the jackal has been perhaps, the most successful. It has spread over the whole of India. ... . Not so the wolf and the fox. In the Indian plains, wolves and foxes have selected for settlement the more open parts of the country. In contrast, wild dogs have kept exclusively to forests."

Narnala fort

2007-08-17T13:42:00.000+05:30

A cold curry of rain, mist and wind was served us as we motored to the top of the Narnala fort housing the 12.35-sq. km Narnala Wildlife Sanctuary at around 3.30 in the evening. “We are at around 3,000 ft above sea level and is the highest point in Akola district,” informed Imtienla Ao, Divisional Conservator of Forests, as the wind made one unsteady. “It always blows here whatever be the season,” Ao added, and one did not dare to go to the edge to see the green Akola valley below.

For a few seconds the sun made a guest appearance before the mist erased the distant Satpura range. An old noting from a district gazetteer (why have we dropped this healthy habit after Independence) says: “Narnala is an ancient fortress in the hills in the north of Akot taluka at a point where a narrow tongue of Akola district runs a few miles into Melghat. It is uninhabited but is in charge of a patel and a patwari; the latter, Narayan Dattatreya, has a fund of information about it.”

The spot today is still free of humans as we crawled about an hour to get to the top. The black-brown stone tower broods over the traveller and seemingly was built by some Muslim emperor going by the architecture of the broken remains of arches and gateways. The writer of the note in the district gazetteer says: “Ahmad Shah, the ninth king of the dynasty, was compelled to visit his northern province owing to the invasion of eastern Berar by the Gonds. After driving the intruders from his dominions, he halted for a year at Ellichpur and while there built the fort of Gawil and repaired that of Narnala. … In the reign of Mahmud Shah, the assumption of supreme power in Bidar by Kasim Barid, a Turk, disgusted the tarajdars, whose allegiance to Mahmud Shah was, after 1487, merely nominal.

“Fatehullah Imad-ul-Mulk, who retained to the end an affectionate regard for the son and successor of Mahmud Shah, was resolved not to be the servant of the Turkish upstart and now began to pave the way for an open declaration of his independence by repairing and strengthening his fort. The inscriptions over the beautiful Mahakali or Muhammadi gate ….. record the fact that the gate, which is the strongest in the fort, was built by Fatehullah in 1487.” Was the Narnala fort then built before 1487? Perhaps, one can assume the Narnala fort is at least 500 years old — a sufficient age to claim senior citizen status. In the evening, we (Kishor Rithe, Dinesh Kothari and this writer) along with Ao and her officials, went for a walk under a drizzle.

As one sighted a pack of 20 jungle bush quails (Perdicula asiatica) scrambling in and out of the shrubs on the edge of the track, Dinesh and others spotted three healthy sambhars. One of the forest officials told us of the existence of a resident tiger near a lake of which there are six at the top. “These lakes do not go dry in the summer,” said an official and if so should act as water holes for animals.

The Narnala fort covers 392 acres and the walls wind about so much in following the shape of the hill that people say the full circuit measures 24 miles, says the gazetteer. It would certainly take very many hours to trace out all the buildings, especially as the walls, though generally in excellent condition, have crumbled in places and the enclosure is much overgrown with long grass and bushes. It is said that there were 22 tanks, six of which hold water all the year, 22 gates and 360 Buruj towers or bastions, the gazetteer adds. It remains the same today.

“As years go by, only forts like Narnala can act as sanctuaries for tigers to live in relative peace,” thought Kishor though one is not sure if a resident tiger can live alone; more, poachers can easily make it to the top. Even if the tiger lives, it may be as uncomfortable as the lone female elephant.

The State Government dumped the lady on the forest department and now does not provide enough funds to feed her. Every evening, the elephant is fed some oil-coated 10 rotis (one kg each) with blocks of gur. In the night, she is left free to find her fill while through the day she is tethered to a pole by iron chains.

An iron cannon located away from the trail suggests some hard battles centuries ago with humankind than being no better than today. In modern times, couples leave their mark by scribbling their names in white on the cannon. We spent the night at the protection camp (a two-roomed cement structure) with the windows shut tight while the night wind searched for entry points.

At six in the morning, a thick mist hid Dinesh standing some 10 ft. away. Sipping cups of tea one watched some six grey tits (Parus major) having a breakfast of insects served by the rains. They were all over the forest floor and tw o of them stood some five feet away for one to have a detailed look.

At the foot of the Narnala fort, we parked ourselves to watch a large number of crested tree swifts assembled in a line on an overhead electric wire, as if in some school. While an iora called from near, a pied crested cuckoo (Clamator jacobinus) flew down to a bush some 10 ft away from this writer. “Time up,” said Kishor as we drove off.

P. Devarajan

Notes on 'the tail of the tiger'

2007-08-13T18:09:00.000+05:30

Notes on ‘the tail of the tiger’

For Imtienla Ao, Divisional Conservator of Forests, the Ambabarwa, Wan and Narnala wildlife sanctuaries at the southern tip of the Melghat Tiger Reserve, form “the tail of the Tiger and it is sensitive.”

Since 2004, she has been pushing government files to get the three wildlife sanctuaries included in Project Tiger by making them a part of the Melghat Tiger Reserve (MTR). The Centre has been stingy in sanctioning funds for the three sanctuaries while some monies have been flowing from Project Tiger. Questions have been raised over funding by the Project Tiger when the Ambabarwa, Wan and Narnala wildlife sanctuaries have yet to be notified as Project Tiger areas. For Ao, who has transfer orders on hand to head a forest research institute at Jorhat, a formal notification of inclusion could be the best farewell gift. It is not as if areas under Project Tiger have helped protect tigers and forests; but it is the best of the worst alternatives for wildlife.

On the afternoon we reached the Ambabarwa wildlife sanctuary, it was cloudy though one could guess at the impress of rains over the last few days. “We have had good rains,” said a forest guard and evidence was there in the dripping greenery and slushy forest floors. Experts like Kishor Rithe measure the health of a forest by not looking up at the trees but down at the forest floor. “If there are strong signs of regeneration, one can attest to good health,” Kishor said pointing at a one-foot high teak stem. Dinesh Kothari and this writer walked on trying to identify the trees with the animals moving into the interiors while the birds were silent.

Teak, saalai (Boswellia serrata), charoli, neem and many others looked up to the skies in confidence and we thought of climbing up a nearby peak the next day. As Ao and a few officers were chatting at Bandarjira Protection Camp, a forest guard drove up in a bike and presented to the lady a plastic cast of the pug mark of a male tiger found near a buffalo kill. That was some faint proof of a tiger in Ambabarwa. With rain drops buzzing the forest through the night we could not make it to the top. At about 9 in the morning when the skies looked dim and dark, we decided to walk along brisk nullas with water making its way anyway to Bewada Nala. The path got too thin and one turned back, while Dinesh and Kishor made it to the top. It was close to a two-hour drenching trek with none wearing any protective gear. From Ambabarwa we drove to Wan wildlife sanctuary with the Wan river sprinting past like some lonesome, long-distance runner to meet the Purna river. Some four months hence, there will be nothing to suggest a river or a nulla in these parts. There will be a rocky bed for one to step across and the foresters say the water moves below. One is not sure.

From the tourist bungalow, we watched the wind whipping the rains over the Wan as a kingfisher dipped into the waters to pick something edible. “The waters of the Wan river are brown in colour suggesting movement of silt. That happens when the upstream forest cover is thin. If the waters were white, it could mean the soil is being held by the forests,” explained Kishor. Wan is a quaint forest with a metre gauge railway line running through the sanctuary connecting Akola to Indore. Four trains arrive and exit every day and at the station the crowd will not be more than 10 tribals.

For a change the trains are empty and are manually operated with signal hands dropping at both ends for a train to halt and pass by Wan. When the train moves away the signal hands move up leaving the young station master and his assistant alone. At one end there is a tunnel and we walked half-way before turning back in fright as it gets dark in the middle. There is something “affectionately yours” about Wan. One is abruptly trapped in a no-time zone at a lonely station like Wan reminding oneself of the book, Making a Mango Whistle by Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay. Durga tells her brother Apu: “ Let’s go, Apu. Let’s go and see the railroad – it can’t be that far away. We’ll come back be fore noon for sure. We might actually get to see a train. And we’ll tell Ma that we got late trying to find the calf.”

Now there is a proposal to broad gauge the Wan rail track and that could eat up forests. Ao is not in favour of this and is protesting while the station master at Wan told us technical surveys have been completed. We seem to be in a hurry to delete our past on the 60th year of our Independence. Poaching, felling, illegal occupation of forest land – the wretched tale is common to Indian forests and it is painful dwelling on them.

When forest officers buy important postings, they make good by selling away forests and wildlife and that could be the most important reason for the sick status of our forests.

It may be best to state some facts: Melghat Tiger Reserve (MTR) and Wan wildlife sanctuary are located in the Amravati district of Maharashtra within the Chikaldara and Dharni tehsils; Narnala wildlife sanctuary is located in Akot tahsil of Akola district and Ambabarwa wildlife sanctuary in Sangrampur tahsil of Buldhana district touching Melghat Tiger Reserve. Total area: Gugamal National Park (core area): 361.75 sq.km; Melghat sanctuary (buffer and tourism area): 788.78 sq.km; Multiple use area (buffer area): 526.90 sq.km.; Wan wildlife sanctuary: 211 sq.km.; Narnala wildlife sanctuary 12.35 sq.km.; Ambabarwa wildlife sanctuary 127.11 sq.km. If 10 and more times this area can be allotted to special economic zones, can the Government not chip in by preserving Melghat Tiger Reserve as one whole?

On a late evening walking down a forest path in Wan under rains in strong strands, Ao quoted Robert Frost for us: The woods are lovely, dark and deep./ But I have promises to keep,/ And miles to go before I sleep,/ And miles to go before I sleep. Ao has a long way to go before …

P. Devarajan