Category Archives: Nature

India’s first Elephant ambulance bringing Mia and Sita, the female jumbos rescued from Tamil Nadu circus,to Mathura.

Agriculture, Green Initiatives / Environment, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Nature, Records, All, Travel

Agra :

After spending decades in the circus, Mia and Sita were rescued by wildlife SOS under their circus elephant rescue mission, coordinated by union government, on Sunday. The two female jumbos are currently traveling in India’s first modern custom designed elephant ambulance and will be sent to Elephant Conservation & Care Center in Mathura.

The female elephants, “Mia” and “Sita” are the 6th and 7th circus elephants to be rescued in the year since the Centre has teamed up with animal rescue organization Wildlife SOS to rescue captive elephants being illegally used for circus performances, as part of its project to check maltreatment of wild animals. Wildlife SOS was instrumental in the release of Raju, the elephant who cried after being released from a life of chains after 50 years, and has collaborated with the government against the practice of using bears for dance performances. The organization is partner with the government to save 67 captive elephants from across the country, starting with 17 in the first phase that started in November, 2014.

This rescue also marks the inaugural trip of the Wildlife SOS’s new elephant ambulance – the first modern elephant ambulance in India with automatic electric hydraulic ramp, showers, dual power supply, dedicated room for the veterinary team with washing and treatment preparation area. This vehicle was designed to make transporting rescued elephants safer and more comfortable for the elephants.

Geeta Seshamani, Co-founder of Wildlife SOS, said, “With the addition of Mia and Sita to the herd, we have now rescued more than 10% of all the elephants that remained in India’s circuses when our circus elephant campaign began about one year ago. We are proud of this progress, but are committed to see this campaign through to the end, when we can say that no more elephants are suffering in India’s circuses.”

Earlier rescue operations required Wildlife SOS to hire trucks that were not specially equipped to deal with elephant rescues which made transport unsafe, challenging and inefficient.

Shreekant Upadhyay, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, UPFD said, “I am very happy that Wildlife SOS’s dedicated team is travelling across India to Tamil Nadu to save these elephants. Our Forest department congratulates Wildlife SOS with the success of this operation. ”

Initiatives to protect the elephant are not recent. In 1992, the ministry of environment and forests launched Project Elephant, designed to help elephants both wild and captive. In 1998, the central ministry banned the use of wild animals like tigers, bears, leopards, lions and monkeys in circuses. The elephant joined that list recently. The Animal Welfare Board of India has issued show-cause notices to circuses found lacking in animal welfare and documented maltreatment of elephants.

Both Mia and Sita, in their 50s will reach to elephant care and conservation centre Mathura on Wednesday. While Mia, the more spirited of the two, is developing a cataract in her eyes. She has significant, painful inflammation in both hind feet, as well as abscesses in her toenails – all of which contribute to making her gait severely abnormal.

Sita, the one who is more mild and mannered is also no less in need of veterinary intervention. Her right front leg never healed properly from an old fracture and is fused so she cannot bend it. Her left front leg is hyper extended, putting pressure on her foot, which has led to nail cracks and abscesses. Because of these problems, she has likely not been able to lie down and rest properly in more than a year.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> Environment> Flora & Fauna / by Ishita Mishra, TNN / November 23rd, 2015

Aligarh dairy farm: A Colonial-era legacy lost in time

Agriculture, Green Initiatives / Environment, Historical Links / Pre-Independence, Nature, Records, All, World Opinion

Aligarh :

In a quaint corner of the nondescript Aligarh village Cherat, time seems to have stopped several decades ago. A pile of rust iron, an old Ambassador, a dust-laden Royal Enfield, a few worn-out offices where locks are still hanging but the doors have given way — are all that is left of the iconic Aligarh Dairy Farm, set up in 1899 by the legendary Swedish dairy expert Edward Keventer.

The once sprawling farm seems like a ghost town now. It has rugged towers watching over a deserted stretch which is being gobbled up slowly by overgrowth of foliage. There are dilapidated quarters with no population and even a railway track which hasn’t seen a train in decades.

Keventer, who was appointed by the British government in 1890 to ensure good health of their soldiers in India, came to India the same year, strengthened his knowledge on dairy products and developed a unique and efficient dairy purification technique that marked the beginning of the Keventer saga. By 1899, he had established a strong network of dairy farms and plants, promoting modern dairy technology. He set the Aligarh Dairy Farm in the same year.

His business flourished and expanded rapidly across Karachi, Rangoon, Calcutta, Lucknow and Delhi, reaching its peak between 1908 and 1920. His dairy products became so popular that British King George V conferred on him a Royal charter for supply of fresh dairy and farm products.

Aligarh farm began to lose sheen soon after Keventer’s death in 1937 and the departure of the British from the country in 1947 further pushed it into oblivion.

In 1948, the Uttar Pradesh government took over this farm and renamed it Central Dairy Farm. It worked well until 1998 when it ran into losses and went out of business. Piling up liabilities as well as a host of court cases made it financially unviable, said officials.

Chief veterinary officer RK Yadav told TOI, “In 1948, the entire farm was given to the UP government. It was well-maintained and functioning. The ghee, butter, cream and pork was supplied to different states as well as the Army till 1998. After that, the farm stopped functioning because it came into losses and many court cases were filed against it. There are about 150 court cases against Central Dairy Farm at present.”

In another corner of the sprawling 1,700-acre Colonial-era farm, the state government runs a pig breeding centre, currently under the animal husbandry department.

As spiders listlessly make life-size cobwebs around the century-old farm’s rusted gate, its fate remains equally uncertain in the government files gathering dust in the faraway state capital.

“There are many court cases, and then there are different departments in the administration vying to get this farm. Some want to convert it into a green belt. Whatever the government decides will shape the future of this farm,” farm in-charge Abhinesh Pal Singh told TOI from Lucknow.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> Cit> Agra / by Eram Agha, TNN / September 09th, 2015

Pruning is prudent: This mango orchard is richer than all others

Agriculture, Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature, Records, All

Lucknow :

It is believed that good things are difficult to get.

Perhaps that’s why every mango grower lives with the fact that his mango orchard will follow the accepted alternate bearing pattern. This pattern, common to mango and several other fruit crops, means that the yield of fruit will not be the same year after year. A heavy yield one year could be followed by a dismal one another year and vice versa.

However, if you pass through Kunwarpur village on Sitapur Road, there will be one mango orchard outshining all others. Here, unlike others, each tree is laden with the king of fruits, waiting to be plucked. This delighting yield is no freak of nature but a result of a well-researched technique and years of hard work.

City-based mango grower Kunwar Raghavendra Singh introduced the canopy management technique in his orchard over a decade ago.

Under this, trees are pruned regularly to turn the upper part of the tree to look like an inverted umbrella, instead of a canopy. Using this technique, Raghavendra has turned his barren land into a 100% productive mango orchard, producing varieties of mangoes including dussehri, langda and chausa.

Even when the weather was playing havoc with all kinds of crops and subsequently with the fate of farmers, Raghavendra was not worried.

His more than 3,500 mango trees were safe from the untimely rain and thunderstorms. “The most harmful factor for any mango tree is the canopy shape. It can have good flowering but not good fruiting. Apart from the fact that it hardly bears any fruit, this form limits the penetration of sunlight in the tree. This affects photosynthesis and the health of the tree,” says Raghavendra. The central shoots are the fastest growing in any tree and draw most of the nutrition and hormones. When the central shoots are removed, the nutrition flows side ways to lateral branches. This results in better size of the fruit, he explains.

Efforts must also be made to see that trees are gradually brought down to a maximum height of 22 feet-a manageable height which makes spraying pesticides easier, he adds.

Ready to extend a helping hand to other mango growers and also to the state horticulture department, Raghavendra claims that unlike a dense mango orchard, an open one reduces the cost of management and results in optimum flowering and fructification even in inclement weather.

The inverted umbrella structure allows free movement of air thus facilitating cross pollination. After untimely rain, the free movement of air helps evaporate moisture, the most devastating factor in the growth and spread of fungal infections.

Dr Mansoor Hasan, a city-based cardiologist, has also implemented this technique in his orchard in Manikpur, near Unchahar since 2011, with the help of his son Aly Hasan.

Happy with his produce, Dr Hasan says, “I have observed that fruits of a well-managed tree are also bigger in size and qualitatively better as compared to a taller tree. Even trees which were not giving any fruit for past many years have gradually started bearing fruit once they were pruned,” he adds.

In the case of mango trees, it seems, bigger is not better.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / by Uzma Talha, TNN / June 28th, 2015

AU scientists develop herbal oil for fungal infections

Education, Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature, Records, All, Science & Technology, World Opinion

Allahabad :

High humidity has led to spurt in cases of fungal infection. The easy remedy to the problem comes in form of oil extracted from various herbs. A team of scientists of Allahabad University has extracted three types of oil. Their study has been published in various international journals and further research is being conducted in collaboration with an institute in Germany.

Detailing about various sorts of fungal infections and remedies to combat them, head of the department of botany, Allahabad University, Anupam Dikshit, said: “We have extracted oil from various plants which are effective against fungus and viruses. Both bacteria and fungus are capable of harming the fibre of your clothes but fungal infection is far more deadly.” He added that fungus needs certain medium for growth and cotton clothes and leather items provide best of conditions. Cotton and leather contain cellulose, which is made of polysaccharides and on the contrary, synthetic clothes are much safer from these infections.

This work of Dikshit has given two patents to his name, one a joint US-India-German patent and another one an Indian. Apart from this the work has been published in several international journals.

Dikshit said that the best climatic conditions for fungus are the temperature ranging between 30-35 degree Celsius and 55% or above humidity.

He suggested that one should be more careful in respect to white or light clothings as the fungal growth in the vegetative stage misses the naked eyes. And by the time you recognize the dark or black colour of the second stage of fungal growth, it had already done substantial damage to the fibre.

Similarly, about the leather items, he explained that the green spot on the leather, which again is an organic material, is fungus named penicillium. The best remedy is to polish them in every two days as the essential oil controls the fungal spores from germinating at the first stage, itself.

About the remedial measures, Dikshit informed that essential oil, present in ammi commonly known ajwaien, fennel or Sauf and cumin seeds or zeera, are the best remedy.

So, the next time you spot a white or coloured patch on your dress better get it treated as this could be fungal infection already in the process of harming the fibers of the clothes.

Tips to protect clothes from fungus

* Take your outside, sunshine and fresh air will kill the mildew

* Leave a light bulb turned on in areas where the fungus is most likely to breed

* Remove clothes from plastic dry cleaning bags immediately

* Check your clothes for spots/stains every time you hang them up

* Keep about an inch between your clothes and don’t cram them in

Keep closet door open to help with air flow

* Never hang clothes in your closet, unless they are completely dry

* Stuff your shoes and handbags that you don’t wear daily with a little tissue

* Opt for paint, not wall paper on your closet walls

Tips to protect leather from fungus

* Allow air circulation around stored items

* Apply a wax dressing to leather

* Take your leather items out occasionally and place them in the sunlight

* Store leather goods for extended periods

* Clean your leather regularly

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Allahabad / by Rajeev Mani, TNN / June 28th, 2015

UP ‘miracle baby’ born at 750gm, fits into palm

Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Nature, Records, All, Science & Technology

Aligarh :

Doctors at a local medical facility in Aligarh are in disbelief as they attend to a baby who just 750 gm, and almost fits in the palm. Born pre-mature at seven months to Pinki, 20, from Chandaus village, the baby is said to be stable, but still under high-risk.

According to doctors, the normal birth weight of the baby should be around 2.6 kg and the condition is ‘extreme high-risk’ when the weight at birth is less than 1000 gm.

Gynecologist Anjula Bhargava, who delivered the baby said, “The mother had various complications when she came to us. So, we had to go ahead and deliver baby. At seven months, the baby should be at least 1.5 kg. This is a tiny baby with partly developed respiratory system, among other difficulties. He needs to be immediately shifted to a bigger facility to survive,” she says.

But the father of the baby, who’s a BSF jawan, is unable to afford the cost of the treatment outside Aligarh. Immediately after the birth, on May 21, when the family went looking a facility in town, they were simply turned down by because of the risk involved.

They finally managed to admit the baby at Aligarh’s Makhan Lal Hospital & Child Care Centre, where he’s presently undergoing treatment.

Child specialist at the Centre, Dr Sunil Gupta, said, “We took him only after making it clear that there is no guarantee of his survival, though we will give our best. In this case, the mortality rate is high. They told us how they spent hours looking for the right medical facility. All I can say is the child is lucky to survive with no medical care for hours after the birth. A normal child should weigh 2.5 kgs at the birth and lesser than 1.6 kg is low birth weight, and lesser than 1,000 gm is extreme low birth weight.”

At the centre, he is being continuously being supplied with oxygen to strengthen respiratory system. The treatment is also on to keep away Septicemia (blood infection), and to make sure that he tolerates feed, said Dr Gupta.

Uncle of the baby, Om Prakash, who is a farmer, said they were heartbroken when they first saw the baby. “We did not know where to go for help. We just wrapped him in a cloth and rushed from one medical centre to another in the scorching heat. When three centres turned us down, we lost hope. Now the doctors tells me his condition is improving,” he says.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Agra / by Eram Agha, TNN / May 25th, 2015

BHU research associate recognized as Super Woman for contributions

Agriculture, Nature, Science & Technology, World Opinion

Varanasi :

To mark the International Women’s Day, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) recognised Chhavi Tiwari, senior research associate at Banaras Hindu University, as Super Woman for her dedication to empowering women farmers by making them aware of the value of micronutrient-rich wheat.

According to BHU spokesperson, she has been working with the Harvest Plus programme with active collaboration and support from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) to empower women farmers by making them aware of the value of micronutrient-rich wheat. Her on-farm training programmes increase their understanding of crop and soil management techniques, aiding in the improved production of wheat varieties high in zinc content.

CIMMYT grew out of a pilot programme sponsored by the Mexican government and the Rockefeller Foundation in the 1940s-50s to raise Mexico’s farm productivity. The wheat specialist in this program, Norman Borlaug, worked with Mexican researchers and farmers to develop strong, short-stemmed varieties that resisted the rust diseases and gave much more grain than traditional varieties.

The relationship between India and CIMMYT is one of the longest and most productive in the world of international agricultural research and development. For more than 40 years, scientists from India and CIMMYT have been working together to improve food security and agricultural production systems.

According to World Health Organization (WHO) report, Zinc deficiency is attributed to 800,000 deaths each year and affects about one-third of the world’s population. It can lead to short stature, hypogonadism, impaired immune function, skin disorders, cognitive dysfunction and anorexia. Additionally, it causes approximately 16 per cent of lower respiratory tract infections, 18 per cent cases of malaria and 10 per cent cases of diaorrhea worldwide.

According to CIMMYT, enhancing the micronutrient content in wheat through bio-fortification is increasingly seen as an important tool to help improve the livelihoods of the most vulnerable, poorest and least educated sectors of society. Working closely with women’s self-help groups, Chhavi demonstrated the importance of wheat varieties high in zinc content through a participatory variety-selection approach, increasing the potential agronomic and nutritional benefit of these varieties for fast-track adoption.

Through her inclusive approach, a great deal of interest in high zinc wheat varieties has been generated among women farmers. Her efforts have contributed to the adoption of nutritious wheat varieties the eastern part of Uttar Pradesh, leading to the potential for technology dissemination in neighboring states. Engaging with rural women farmers is a core interest of Chhavi’s. She consults women farmers on their views and gives them the opportunity to participate in a decision-making process that increases their investment in agriculture and nutrition. Her activities play a crucial role in uplifting women by alleviating malnutrition and hunger through nutritious wheat.

Chhavi is the recipient of the 2010 CIMMYT- Cereal System Initiative of South Asia (CSISA) research fellowship and the Jeanie Borlaug Laube Women in Triticum Award from the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative in 2014.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Varanasi / by Binay Singh, TNN / March 08th, 2015

Now, parval leaves to control diabetes

Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature, Science & Technology

Allahabad :

If you are a diabetic and costly medicines are burning a hole in your pocket, don’t worry as leaves of “Trichosanthes dioica” or parwal can rescue you. Researches at the department of chemistry, Allahabad University, have shown that the extract prepared by the leaves of parwal brings down the blood glucose level (BGL) by over 32%.

The findings, titled ‘Glycemic properties of trichosanthes dioica leaves’ have been published in an international journal named as Pharmaceutical Biology, published in England. The study has been done by a team of chemists led by Geeta Watal and her team comprising Prashant Kumar Rai, Dolly Jaiswal, Rakesh Kumar Singh and Rajesh Kumar Gupta.

Rai said that variable doses of 250, 500 and 750 mg kg, per body weight of the extract, were administered on normal and sub and mild-diabetic rats, which brought down the blood glucose level (BGL) by 32.9%. “The aim of the study was to screen the glycemic attributes of an aqueous extract of leaves of parwal. This evidence indicates that extract of “Trichosanthes dioica” leaves has good hypoglycemic potential along with a high anti-diabetic profile,” he added.

Even as India has the dubious distinction of being termed the ‘diabetes capital of the world’, a number of Indian medicinal plants have been used for thousands of years in the traditional system of medicine for treating various diseases, Rai added.

Detailing on research, Rai said that 7 kgs of fresh leaves of trichosanthes dioica were collected and shade-dried. The dried leaves were crushed and extracted. The extract was administered in rats which showed a regular fall of 32.9%.

With its origin in the Indian subcontinent, parwal is a nutritive cucurbit vegetable. It is rich in protein and vitamin A. Direct intake of seeds of the plant was also found to be effective in the serum lipid profile of normal and mild-diabetic human subjects and rabbits. Seeds of the plant also possess anti-fungal and anti-bacterial qualities. The leaves and shoots are being used in Ayurvedic system of medicine since ancient times.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Allahabad / by Rajeev Mani, TNN / March 07th, 2015

She made no-polythene zone a reality

Education, Green Initiatives / Environment, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Nature

Lucknow :

If you spot clean roads around La Martiniere Girls College and a no-polythene zone in zoo, the credit for it goes to Rehana Ali. It was Rehana’s dedication and positive approach that has brought about a small but imperative change.

Rehana, who teaches at La Martiniere Girls College, formed community, ‘Protection of Environment and Animals’, 18 years back. Since then she has pursued her mission with ant-like persistence. Pointing out people for littering the roads or taking students to clean them, she has made several efforts to keep the road and surroundings clean. “It is because of my profession that I do not hesitate in accosting people. Whenever I see anyone throwing wrappers on the streets, I ask them not to do so,” she shares.

Besides raising awareness among her students, Rehana also encourages them to join the noble cause. Every week, all students of the school deposit two paper bags, which are then collectively sent to the zoo. For more than a decade now, Rehana has been supplying paper bags with the participation of her students.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / TNN / March 05th, 2015

Fulfilling a green cover dream

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

Lucknow :

A canvas bag on his shoulders and a motorbike bedecked with posters and messages for afforestation, 45-year-old Lucknowite Chandra Bushan Tiwari has been on a mission to plant fruit-bearing trees across the country. On January 26, 2006, Tiwari had set himself the target of planting 1 lakh saplings along the river Gomti. By September 2014, he had achieved the task of seeding 96,000 trees.

Sowing peepal, gular, jamun, neem, banyan and other flower- and fruit-bearing trees, Tiwari, who was a teacher at Kendriya Vidyalaya, left his profession for the cause. He started teaching children of daily wage labourers, educating them about the ecosystem. “Lucknow used to be a city of gardens, but all that is left now is stones. We have spoiled the ecological balance and it is us who have to work to get that back.”

Raising 700 trees around the Gomti basin at Baikunth Dham, Khatu Shyam Ghat, Shani temple, Hanuman Setu, Kudiya Ghat and around Chandrika Devi temple, Tiwari circumnavigates the city with plants and seeds along with him at all times, gifting them to people

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / by Yusra Husain / March 15th, 2015

4,000-year-old house found at Baghpat village offers rare clue to Harappan habitation

About Uttar Pradesh, Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links / Pre-Independence, Nature, Travel, World Opinion

Meerut :

Here’s something for history buffs to get excited about. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), in excavations carried out at Chandyan village in Baghpat, have found remnants of a house that corresponds to the late Harappan period. The discovery is important since, according to archaeologists, this is the first time evidence of habitation pertaining to that period has been found in the Upper Doab region between Ganga and Yamuna.

The late Harappan phase pertains to the period starting around 1900-1800 BC when the Indus Valley Civilization, popularly known as the Harappan Culture, began to decline. The civilization, which is known for its superior urban planning, is believed to have flourished in the period between 3300 BC to 1300 BC in what is today Pakistan, northwest India and parts of Afghanistan and Balochistan.

Earlier in August, a human skull with a copper crown corresponding to the late Harappan period, was accidentally discovered at a brick kiln site in the village. The ASI started excavating the area on November 27 and found, to its delight, a number of items that pertained to the 4,000-yr-old era. “Till date, we have excavated around 20 burial pots, a pelvic bone of the same man whose skull we had found with a copper crown and a few beads like carnelian, faience and agate. However, the most interesting development, undoubtedly, is the evidence of habitation which was found for the first time. We excavated a mud wall with post holes where wooden pillars were probably fixed to support thatched roofs. We also found multi-level foundations that supported structures in different times,” said AK Pandey, superintending archaeologist, ASI.

4000yearhouseLUCKNOW30dec2014

Incidentally, the Harappan link to the area was established in 2005 when a farmer accidentally discovered a huge burial site at Sinauli village located just 40km from Chandayan. The Sinauli graves are also believed to correspond to the late Harappan period, strengthening archaeologists’ conviction about the latest find. What got them further excited was finding a clue to the period’s habitation, which they point out, happens very rarely. “During excavations, we found about 50 cm of habitational deposits. The chances of finding habitational structures here is quite uncommon because this is a fertile region and over a period of time, cultivators raze structures to the ground for agricultural purposes. But since we have burial sites here, logically, there should be habitational sites as well. If we extend the area of excavation, we might find something more substantial,” said DN Dimri, director of archaeology, ASI,

However, historians say there is a need to exercise caution. “This certainly looks like a habitational site but a lot more needs to be done to thoroughly establish the theories. In fact, instead of terming it a late Harappan site, I would rather call it a post-Harappan site when just a few remnants of the Harappan culture remained. Its antiquity could be anywhere between 1700 BC to 1500 BC”, said RS Bisht, former joint director general, ASI.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Meerut / by Sandeep Rai, TNN / December 28th, 2014