Amit Jethwa : A Remembrance

Amit Jethwa : A Remembrance

Amit Jethwa, the well-known naturalist, ecological & RTI-activist, is not among us today, yet the foot-prints left by him will be showing way to the thousands of youths like us, associated with his campaign through, “Gir Nature Youth Club”.

In a short span of less than a decade, how a lab-technician of Khambha Village of Saurashtra emerged as one of the active workers in field of forest-preservation, ecological-balance and awareness among people, especially on “Right to Information (RTI)”, is a much-told story. To his close associates, he was a truly devoted worker who never expected, or should I say that never accepted any reward or award for his acclaimed works. He was a source of inspiration among his team-mates, who usually passed on credits to them. Young Naturalist Award, constituted by Sanctuary Magazine, for 2006 to GNYC workers Bharat Kamaliya for protection of whale-shark and the same for 2007 to Hakkabhai Makwana for Vulture-protection shows that saplings grew below the big Banyan.

As the Chief Editor of “Around the Nature” he evolved an effective tool of communication with the people with concern over the effect of industrial and commercial activities on ecological balance and wild-life. He had also earned reputation as the member of GEER Foundation established by Gujarat Government.

His unfortunate tragic end has left a huge gap in the scenario, especially before the youths, who has been working with him for years and for whom, he was a source of guidance as well as of inspiration and courage. His sudden demise will, ofcourse, not bring such activities to an end, what matters is that we have lost a developer of enthusiastic and devoted activists.

We all members of Gir Natural Youth Club condemn his brutal assassination. We are also in receipt of several such messages from all across Gujarat. We are shocked but still committed to bring forward his campaign with all our strength.

May GOD rest his soul to eternal peace!

Bird watchers’ global meet on Nov 25

The three-day ‘Global Bird Watcher’s Conference’ will be held in Khijadia from November 25. About 100 participants from abroad and different parts of the state are expected to attend the conference.

Officials in the tourism department said that the conference was being planned in order to put Khijadia on the global map like Nal Sarovar and to make it a tourist attraction. Also, the conference will be held during that time of the year when migratory birds are found in large numbers.

Khijadia is the only place where fresh water and sea water is found. It also witnesses about 250 different species of bird flocking here every year.Chief Minister Narendra Modi has posted a message on Gujarat Tourism website and said that Gujarat is fast emerging as an eco-tourism destination, boasting of a wide range of pristine and even hitherto unexplored destination for avid nature lovers. He adds that over 350 species of birds from distant lands are found here since decades.

While tourism department officials said Khijadia falls on way to Dwarka and is just 15 km away from Jamnagar and so this route which is in bad shape will be repaired soon.

About 100 experts from abroad and other states as well as another 300 participants from Gujarat will be attending the conference. Moreover, papers would be presented on migratory birds and the route they take to reach Khijadia, their behaviour and breeding pattern will be studied. An interpretation center has also been constructed.

Relocation of tiger to Panna put off for now

New Delhi: Worried over safety of four new-born tiger cubs, the Madhya Pradesh government has put on hold its plan to relocate a new male big cat to Panna sanctuary.


‘‘If we shift a male tiger as planned earlier, it might devour the hapless cubs which are less than two months old,’’ said HS Pabla, principal chief conservator (wildlife), Madhya Pradesh.

‘‘Panna currently has one male and two female big cats, including the lactating one. The cubs will face survival threat if a new alien tiger is introduced...The unrelated male may even kill them if they are not their offsprings...This is a natural tendency among the predators,’’ tiger expert K Shankar said.

The state government, on its part, has beefed up security with the entire area being closed for tourists to ensure safe habitat for the cubs.
Overly cautious and secretive, tigresses are often reluctant to let a stranger male go near their litter and immediately move them far from the area which they feel becomes disturbed or threatened, Shankar said.
A tigress spends nearly 70% of its time nursing its cub for the initial few days after birth. This reduces to 30% by the time the cub is one month old. Approximately half of the litters do not survive to attain the age of two, said scientist from Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India. For instance, Shankar said, last November an 11-month-old female cub was killed inside the Kanha National Park by an adult tiger. In another incident, a two-year- old tigress was attacked and killed by a tiger while trying to protect her cubs.

Young tigers become independent from their mothers around 17 to 24 months of age, when they first settle temporarily in marginal habitats and then take a permanent territory of their own.

Green Dandi project launched

The Green Action for National Dandi Heritage Initiative (Gandhi) memorial project was launched in Dandi, some 50 km off Surat, in coastal areas of Navsari district on Wednesday by Union minister of forest and environment Jairam Ramesh at Dandi.


The project worth Rs 25 crore has been taken up by Societies of Integrated Coastal Management (SICOM), an agency working under the Union environment ministry in collaboration with Gujarat Vidyapith in Ahmedabad and Gujarat Ecology Commission.

While inaugurating the project, Ramesh said, “Guiding principals of Mahatma Gandhi hold great significance even today in every sphere including economic, social and environmental development. This new project will go a long way in conserving environment sustainably with overall development of the society.”

Gopal Krishna Gandhi, chairman Dandi Memorial Committee, said, “Gandhiji was unconsciously an environmentalist. His guiding principals will help in making this project a success.”

S K Nanda, principal secretary, department of forest and environment in Gujarat, said, “The project will focus on four main tools — conservation of coast and coastal resources, adopting nature-based development of resources, encouraging integrated village and community development, promoting eco-tourism and Dandi as an environment positive tourist destination.”

This project is likely to be completed in two years’ time and its funding will be done through World Bank assisted Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) project implemented by SICOM. Under the project, mangrove forestation, promotion of non-conventional energy sources, conservation of water, waste management, establishing carbon neutral villages, improvement in livelihood of the locals, village development, and promotion of Gandhian values will take place.

by : times network

Fighting pollution: Jairam’s pat for Vapi, rap for Ankleshwar

One of the most important landmarks of India’s freedom struggle, Dandi was on Wednesday declared an eco-sensitive zone by Union minister of forest and environment Jairam Ramesh. The minister made the declaration in the presence of chairman of Dandi Memorial Committee Gopal Krishna Gandhi in the coastal town.

Apart from Dandi, three villages surrounding Dandi will also be covered under the Environment Protection Act, 1980, he said. Any new industries that want to set up base at Dandi will now have to function under the Act’s purview. A local monitoring committee comprising locals from Dandi, Matwad, Onjal and Samapar villages of Jalapore taluka of Navsari district will be set up to monitor the procedures. “Maintenance of the eco-sensitive zone will be the responsibility of this committee,” Ramesh said.

The villages have a population of 20,000 in all. The eco-friendly development of the region will complete in couple of years’ time. In another important development, the environment minister said that the Gulf of Kutch too will be declared an eco-sensitive zone soon.

“We might have come late, but now that we have arrived we will do our best to preserve the rightful importance of Dandi,” Ramesh said on the occasion. He also added that this initiative should have been taken up a lot earlier, but “better late than never” is the catch phrase in the case of Dandi. As part of the project, an environment friendly ‘smarak’ (memorial) of Gandhiji will also come up.

Talking to a small gathering, Ramesh said that development of Dandi is a national programme and that there is no politics involved. In this endeavour, both the state and central government are together.

Linking Gandhiji with nature and environment, Gopal Krishna said, “Our aim is to see Dandi as an internationally promoted ecological centre. Gandhi was always linked to nature and environment. While developing this historic place, we have to look for ecological gains. We can achieve this objective by establishing bio-shield steps and making the Dandi beach totally pollution-free.”
 
by : times of india

Villagers kill leopard after it attacks 9 in Banaskantha

Palanpur: A leopard was killed by angry villagers of Tirth village in Vav Taluka in Banaskantha district on Sunday after it injured at least nine villagers, including a forest beat guard, police said. The shocking incident took place in presence of more than 30 police jawans and a dozen forest officials.

According to forest department officials, the incident of leopard attacks took place in the wee hours of the day when some villagers were on their way to attend to nature’s call. Chaman Thakore spotted the wild cat, but before he could react the animals had pounced on him. Hearing his cries, other villagers, who were nearby, came forward and were also attacked the by the leopard.

Some of the villagers intimated the area beat guard R K Purohit. Purohit too was attacked when he tried to tackle the animal. “Purohit was severely injured as he got into a physical fight with the big cat. He suffered fractures to his limbs and was admitted to a private hospital,” said range forest officer B M Chaudhari. The other injured included Jidalji Thakore, Arjan Thakore, Darga Hira and three others.

However, as a major operation was underway at the village to cage the wild cat, the villagers got to the animal first. While RFO Chaudhari spoke about the leopard attacks in the morning, he was unavailable for comment when the news of the leopard killing came in. “As many as 30 police jawans and a dozen forest officials and revenue officials were present in the village to cage the animal. But, the angry villagers chased the animal with sticks and stones and killed it by late evening,” said police subinspector AM Bariya.
 
by : TIMES NEWS NETWORK

BELLING THE BIG CAT

Soon-to-be-fitted GPS collars will not just help record lions’ position in Gir but also their body temperature and heartbeat

Soon, forest department will be able to record body temperature and heartbeat of big cats in and around Sasan Gir. The forest department, which has recently issued tenders for use of GPS in Sasan and nearby areas, has decided to use GPS-based animal collar system. Of the 411 lions in the sanctuary, the department proposes to collar upto 10 per cent lions, which is about 50 lions, in the initial phase.

According to the tender bid, the animal collar should send position, heartbeat and body temperature of the animal with time stamping, at

least once in a day, and preferably 2 to 3 times.The government has proposed that the neck-band be adjustable, lightweight, low in power consumption and with a battery life of around one year, weighing around 1 kg.

An official said the radio antenna of the collar must be embedded in neck band and should not have an exposed end. It may result in injury, hindrance for the lion while moving around in the forest. Officials said as per specification, the vendor setting up GPS system will have to set up a radio network which should automatically capture data transmitted by collar and deliver data it to control room set up at Sasan headquarters.

There are 550 waterholes and few natural water bodies in Gir which provide water to the wild animals. Almost all animals visit these waterholes once a day. The government proposes to establish VHF/UHF radio network infrastructure-based access points around these locations.

BY : Times of india

Gir collects Rs 2 crore from tourist inflow


Ahmedabad: For the first time, Gir sanctuary and Devaliya Interpretation Centre has crossed the Rs 2 crore mark as far as tourism revenues are concerned, an increase of over 17 per cent from earlier years.

Official data shows that the number of visitors too has gone up. In Gir Sanctuary, it has gone up by 23 per cent while the same in Devaliya has gone up by nearly 30 per cent.

Deputy conservator of forest Sandeep Kumar said this year more than 13,299 more visitors have visited during the season from October 2009 to 15 June 2010. The number of visitors during tourist season was 70,391.

Senior officers said the number of foreigners who visited the sanctuary is just 7 per cent of the total visitors. Of the 70,391, 4,957 were foreigners, which was 541 more than 2008-09. Lesser foreigners have visited Devaliya. According to Kumar, the increase in revenue is because of rise in tourists as the entry rates remain unchanged. He further said only 90 vehicles were permitted to enter the sanctuary in two shifts — morning and evening. “During vacation and on holidays, there was a need to increase the number of permits as many tourists had to wait for their turn,” said an official.

The maximum rush was noticed during Diwali holidays, Dusshera, Christmas, New Year and Uttarayan. During summer vacation, the rush was as expected.

Officials further said that because of uncertainity of sighting a lion, many Indian tourists prefer to have a look of the majestic lion in Devaliya rather then coming to Gir Sanctuary. Also, those on the way to Somnath would make a short halt at Devaliya and then resume their journey