'Rice for Oliver Ridley Turtle Consevration Scheme' for fishermen

After a prolonged wait, fishermen families identified under Rice for Oilive Ridley Conservation (ROrC) scheme have become the recipients of Public Distribution Scheme doles in coastal districts like Kendrapara in Odisha.

So far 2200 families who are affected by 7-month-long prohibition on marine fishing for turtle protection measures every year were distributed special eligibility cards for the subsidised rice benefits, according to officials.

Altogether 10,133 fishermen families have been targeted to get PDS coverage to make up their vocation and livelihood loss in Kendrapara, Puri, Ganjam and Bhadrak districts where the turtles arrive for nesting each winter.

The bulk of the affected families are from Kendrapara as the coastal district is home to the restricted sea corridors of Gahirmatha marine sanctuary.

It is a livelihood stakes package for poor fishermen communities to ensure them food security.

Because of prohibition of fishing from November 1 to May 31 each year, the community is adversely affected with depletion of income sources.

Under the scheme, each family will be provided with 25 kg of rice at subsidised rate of Re 1 per kg every month. 2200 families were distributed special cards.

The cards entitle them to get subsidised rice each month from PDS retailers of Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare department, said Additional Fisheries Officer, Paradip, Ranjit Dash.

Of the 10,133 identified beneficiaries, 6,255 families are from Kendrapara district. The rest of the targeted families are from Puri, Ganjam and Bhadrak district.

While 3,959 families have been enumerated for PDS coverage in Mahakalpada block, 2,296 fishermen families are from seaside Rajnagar block, said a senior official.

Aware of loss of livelihood sources following the seven-month-long prohibition on sea-fishing, the government had earlier announced extension of PDS families in favour of affected fishermen families.

The ban had hit hard livelihood stakes of fishermen communities besides other stakeholders.

After prohibition was lifted on May 31, sea fishing got frequently disrupted owing frequent formation of low pressure.

(Reference: ddinews.gov.in)

Good News - Just In A Day !

Supreme Court of India has once again passed a judgement which making women and people interested in gender issues happier. It was a case of insurance compensation to a housewife. SC has ruled that compensation can not be lowered simply because she was a house wife and not earning. This great relief to hundreds of thousands of women who sacrifice, compromise or even totally let go of their professional careers and ability to earn for the sake of their children and families. Though they are doing greater valued work, they mostly end being weighed lower because they don't earn and so dont own money. Things often get worse as women get older and market value of their abilities start diminishing.

Though I dont know details of this judgement, it looks a great step forward !

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Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (a political psty shrtformed MaNaSe) is known for its agenda for the local marathi folks in Mumbai and Maharashtra. MaNaSe is also known for its rowdy methods. So when I read the news "MaNaSe stops shooting of a BigB film', my first reactions was, "Oh No! one more case of sic political vandalism". But as I read the news I was in for pleasant surprise. They had searched and found that many workers in the shooting were foreign national not on working visa. So they went to police, filed a complaint and the police then went and legally stopped the work. Kudos to legitimate activism !

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Indian rivers are routinely polluted very much. Around the cities pollutants are mostly of individual human nature. When a person dies and cremeted, it is tradition to immerse his ash into a river. This is one cause of polluting of river. Maratha Mahasangh of Kolhpaur and adjoining towns came together and pledged to immerse only handful of ash into river and spread the rest in fields. Though I dislike cast based organization, this act must be complimented! It may also not have any significant impact on reducing pollution in that river, but its definitely a step into making people own up for pollution and involve them into improving actions.

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'Rahul Gandhi uses RTI to get information on some actions of Mayawati government' This is a BIG complement to RTI (Right To Information Act) that a political bigwig is using RTI. I also notice a spurt in corruption cases against politicians and beurocrats. Such cases can built up only on the basis of internal information and data, which would have been almost impossible to get before RTI times. Now ALL govermnet, semi-government, public data, information, records, sanctioning is easily avialble to anybody and everybody with simple RTI Application.

Thannk you Anna Hazare, Shailesh gandhi, Arvind kejriwal and many others who have worked very hard to get a powerful RTI Act in place and have contiued the work to get people educated and empoweed with RTI !

Indian supreme court directs govt to grant land to farmers displaced by dams

Good gracious God, in India things do move, albeit very verrry slowly. Soon it may be time that due compensation for project affected people becomes a norm. Soon Indians can proudly say that we dont build our development on sacrificial lambs, viz. project affecties!

The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked Madhya Pradesh govt to identify the farmers whose 75 per cent or more land were acquired for carrying out of excavation and construction of canal work for Indira Sagar and Omkareshwar projects.


A Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan favoured the proposal for granting land-for-land by identifying the project-affected families of farmers.

The Bench accepted the plea of Madhya Pradesh government that it would need two weeks to identify such farmers and posted the matter for further hearing on 13th February.

The apex court had on 18th December last refused to stay the Madhya Pradesh High Court order restraining the state government from further acquisition of land and carrying out of excavation and construction of canal work for Indira Sagar and Omkareshwar projects.

The High Court had passed the order on the petiiton filed by Narmada Bachao Andolan activist Medha Patkar.

Green GDP in India

Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh recently announced that the government plans to release the first round of “green” gross domestic product (GDP) data for India by around 2015. While details on the methodology and data sources to be used in the proposed metric remain relatively sparse, the Central Statistical Organisation is reported to have started preparation of a national database to estimate the costs of environmental degradation associated with GDP growth.

Complete article in this can be found at http://epw.in/epw/uploads/articles/14201.pdf

(I only pray that announcements are strongly supported by actual actions. Recently India has announced emission reduction targets, but I dont see initiation for initiating actions! I strongly believe that mere technology is inadequate to effect any substantial reduction in emission. It needs fundamental changes in our lifestyles and how we look at 'economy'- - - Amen!)

Indian government revises air quality norms

When Indian governments do not want to act, they make an act !!!
Anyway, so much, so good ! Here is the good news:

In a major move to check air pollution, the government on Wednesday revised its norms, putting in place uniform standards for residential and industrial areas. The new guidelines, which came after a gap of 15 years, have been prepared after considering those of the European Union. The norms of World Health Organisation has been considered.

The revised guidelines have added five more hazardous chemicals in the list of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for monitoring.

They are Ozone, Arsenic, Nickel, Benzene and Benzo(a)Pyrene (BaP).

The government had notified the National Ambient Air Quality Standards in 1994 under the Air Act.

The review of the NAAQS and inclusion of new parameters was carried out by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in collaboration with IIT-Kanpur, Ramesh said.

The revised standards will be applicable uniformly with the exception of stringent standards for Oxides of Nitrogen and Sulphur Dioxide in the ecologically sensitive areas.

The previous standards for residential areas have been uniformly applied for fine particulate matter, carbon monoxide and ammonia.

More stringent limits for Lead, Oxides of Nitrogen and Sulphur Dioxide have been prescribed even for residential areas.

The CPCB will create a roadmap for the generation and maintenance of a database and monitoring of required infrastructure.

The government will also develop additional support system of enforcement such as National Environment Protection Authority and the National Green Tribunal to ensure effective enforcement of standards

Rebirth of a tree

in the city of Nagpur, in central India, a 150 year old banyan tree with the girth of 37 ft had been dying a slow death. Excavations for road widening and haphazard dumping of garbage around the tree appeared to be making the tree into wood. Some active citizens came together to save the tree from almost certain death. After their persistant efforts local muncipal body agreed to adt and cleared the polythene and garnage that was suffocating the root holding soil. A Pest control firm treated the soil for termite control. With the tree's degradation its aerial shoots have stooped growing downwards. Activists have attached sacks of soil to their tips and water those sacks regularly.

Efforts of all these people seem to be bearing fruits and the banyan tree is begining to reviving and is beginning to sprout fresh leaves once again.

With this banyan tree on its way to recovery, activists have identified other rare tress that need to be saved. They have turned their focus on one of the only two remaining Baobab tree, which is getting buried in a grwoing dump hill.

4 lakh solar energy systems installed in rural india in 3 years

The Government has said that over four lakh solar energy run systems were installed across the country in last three years.

"Around 4,10,500 solar energy run appliances including home lighting systems, lanterns, street lights, SPV pumps and cookers were installed in the last three fiscals," New and Renewable Energy Minister Farooq Abdullah said while replying to a Rajya Sabha query on Monday.

The research supported by the ministry has helped in improving the efficiency of solar cells from 12-13 percent to 14-16 percent, Abdullah added.

Novel equipments for watering

University of Pune is trying its bit to use eco-frinedly products with novel ideas.

It has installed a swing in its jogging park. This swing is connected to pumps which are attached to water tank. As the swing moves to and fro, water is siphoned up and supplied to surrounding plants using drip irrigation system. If the swing is used for 10 minuts, it pumps 100 litres of water.

Another device is a cycle pump. This too is installed in the park. As it is used as a means of exercise it sends water to connected sprinklers, making surroundings cooler and greener.

NGO for equitable distribution of water

Gram Gaurav Pratishthan (GGP) was founded in 1974 by late Vilasrao salunkhe to achieve sustainable rural development. His wife Kalpanatai is taking his task forward. It led to the 'Pani Panchayat' movement. It has developed holistic farming system thru organic farming. In it Naigaon model, proective irrigation was successfully brought about with participation of mloal community. Its Ponde Model brought about equitable water distribution through micro watershed. GGP is also collaborating with some corporates to widen its area and reach.

Barren Hill Made Green by Collective Action

Kothrud is a western suburb of Pune City. Folks in the 50-60 age group taken up the issue of greening the hill in their are. Pune city is surrounded by hills. With increasing traffic and 'developement' pollution is increasing, trees are felling and hilltops are getting encroached. Instead of keep pointing fingures at government, these folks took it up on themselves to act.

It was a barren hill with depleted soil cover. It was not going to be easy to grow greenery there. Folks started in monsoon of 1998. First stones and rocks had to be roved, pits were dug and many trees of native species were planted. Scarcity of water and fertile soil was taken into consideration. Its a hard work offering various failures and demanding trials-and-errors. After different attempts these folks have succeeded in surviving some trees.

This is truly an initiative 'of the people, by the people, for the people. More participation, some government support and duplicating such initiative in different localities and different aspects of our urban lifestyle can take us a long way towards better life.

Pedestrians First

'Pedestrians First' is a NGO in Pune which is fighting for the right of the pedestrians. In today's social environment where developement is equated with technology as it exists today, all open spaces are being occupied with 'things'. Be those be constructions on open grounds or vehicles on open roads. All individual living beings are being marginalised. Trees are being cut, animals killed and pedestrians husshed off. Footpaths are being narrowed or removed totally. At traffic signals there is no time given to pedestrians to cross roads. Instead of working towards keeping open spaces as open as possible and still offer to meet basic requirements of citizens, establishment is working in opposite direction.

I see this NGO 'Pedestrains First' as working to re-establish the rights of pedestrains as basic human beings. They are working to make venturing out on foot safe for us, particularly for very young and old among us. This way is more humane, more eco-friendly, more sustainable, more healthy.

Let us wish luck to Pedestrians and try to be one of them as often as possible.

India to Observe 'Earth Hour' on 28th March

India will observe 'Earth Hour' by switching off all lights and electrical appliances for one hour on 28th March. India will join rest of the world from 8.30 to 9.30 pm on that day.Last year 'Earth Hour' was observed in 35 countries. This year India, espacially Delhi and Mumbai will also participate. World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is getting support from governments and corporate houses. The campaign began 2 years ago with people of Sydney switching off lights for one hour.

Earth Hour is not a quantitative measure to save electricity but a powerful symbol for the fact that it is possible to take collective action against climate change.

Personally, I do not support any hours or days as I believe that a change can only be brought about by action, not by flashy words. There is a danger that a need to act can get dissolved in blinding publicity of such flashy occassions. But this time the organisers are aware of it and are open and realistic about their awareness. Hence I thought it might work positively in encouraging people towards action, that is nothing less than lifestyle change.

Ban on Cutting Chinar trees in Kashmir Valley

Kashmir's famed Chinar trees may get a new lease of life with the state governmnet imposing ban on its felling and lopping. The ban follows numerous complaints that reckless felling and lopping is going on in every nook and corner of the valley. Chinar, which is integral part of Kashmir' heritage, is fast disappearing. Permission for felling Chinar trees can only be granted if 5 new Chinar trees are planted for every tree to be cut. All requests pending execution or permission are to be suspended.

Bio-Happiness and 'Evergreen Revoultion'

Noted agricultural scientist Swaminathan was addressing the 96th Indian Science Congress in Shilong. He underlines the need for conserving the rich bio-diversity of the north-east region of India and called for ushering revolution in the region. He gave thrust on soil health care, harvesting, efficient use of water, technology and appropriate inputs, credit and insurance, and assured renumerative marketing. The north-est region is one of the 12 mega-biodiversity regions in the world. He emphasised on linking bio-diversity, biotechnology and business in mutually reinforcing manner. he called for saving genes for posterity. Loss of every species and genes limit our options for the future. Cultural traditions of tribal people have important role in understanding bio-diversity conservation and management issues. Efforts should be directed at promotion of bio-happiness among tribal people.

Woman of Steel

On 26.11.2008 Dayamani Barla was awarded Chingari Award for Women Against Corporate Crime 2008. This award iitself is instituted by two women who took on UC after Bhopal Tragedy. They, Rasheeda Bee and Champa Devi Shukla, won Goldman Environmental Prize in 2004.They put the prize money into a trust which would choose every year a woman working for the same cause.

Dayamani Barla is 44 years old tribal dalit woman, born to an extremely poor landless laborer and wen on to become journalist and activist. She is leading the fight against the giant steel plant coming up in Jharkhand, because she belives that the prices tribals will have to pay when they are displaced from their land can not be compensated by a few jobs or money.

Through her writting, Dayamani has set a standard for the kind of relevant journalism that is rare at a time when celebrity and sensation dominates media.

In Jharkhand, as in other tribal dominated states, local people are organising resistance gaisnt giant industrial and minning projects. The outcomes of these struggles may well shape the economics and politics of our country. These battles actually represent opportunities to devise developement that is inclusive, participative, sustainable, respects limited availability of natural resources.

It is with help of women and men like Dayamni Barla that governments and administrations are being forced to consider alternatives to their immediate limited perspective and vestsed interests. Only in the availability of such space for view and counterview, to offer and accept that democracy can survive, let alone flourish.

My salute to all these crusaders because of whom we can express whatever we wish to.

Chennai youth gets UN award for work on sustainability

Saleem Khan, a Biotechnology post-graduate from Chennai has received UN Award for work on environmental sustainability. 

More on this news on the blog where I found it.

UN urges faster transfer of clean energy technology

      Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, said that it is esential that industrialized countries speed up transfer of clean energy technology to poorer nations to tackle global warming. There is lot of talk about targets of carbon emissions but not about means to achieve that. Switzerland has suggested funding technology transfer by levvying 'carbon tax' per ton of greenhouse gases produced by the countries, with poorer nations paying less. 

      China produced a policy document last month stating that it will attempt to reduce emission of greenhouse gases, but it needs help from developed nation for transfer of clean energy technology. China also admitted that its emission levels have reached that of world's biggest producer of greenhouse gasses, USA.

Chinese Premierr Wen Jiabao urged developed nations to take main responsibility for addressing climate change, including its citizens changing their 'UNSUSTAINABLE WAY OF LIFE'. 

Ganga (Ganges) to be declared as national river

Government of India has decided to declare Ganga as a National River and also to set up a high powered Ganga river Basin Authority to protect the ancient river from pollution and other degradation. The proposed authority will be headed by Prime Minister himself and will have as its members Chief Minsiters of all states through which Ganga flows. The details will be worked out. A PMO release said that there is a need for integrated approach that sees the river as an ecological antity and addresses issues of quantity in terms of water flows along the issues of quality.

Incease in population of One Horn Rhinos in Kaziranga

International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has cleared Single Horn Rhinocers, found in Assam and Nepal,  from 'Endangered' catagory to 'Precious' catagory. Humpback Whales and African Elephants have been similarly upgraded. This was decided in the recent IUCN meeting in Spain. IUCN has commended officials of Kaziranga Reserve Forest. Chief Forest Conserverator of Kaziranga Mohanchandra Malakar has said that the population of very few in 1925 has increased to over 1800. In spite of this upgradation by IUCN there will not be any negligence in the protection of rhinos, he assured. 

Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) has another perspective. Poaching in Kaziranga has increased in last two years. In such a scenario these rhinos are more in danger, feels WTI.

According to International Rhinoe Foundation, there are only 2619 of these rhinos in the world. 

Tiger population on rise in Perriyar forest

In the Periyar Tiger Reserve in Iduki district of Kerala the tiger population has risen from 22 to 38.  It is noteworthy that 25% of this population consists of cubs.  Periyar Tiger Reserve has 925 sq. km. area. 

This survery was carried out by conservation biologist M Balasubramaniam and ecologist A Veeramamni of Periyar Tiger Foundation. The survey used capture-recapture technique using camera traps. The tiger population was estimated using sampling methods on observations.

Mr. Balasubramaniam said that 5400 local families were actively involved in the conservation project, under Eco-cosnervation commitees formed ten years back by the forest department.