People boycott magisterial inquiry into Sompeta, Kakarapalli firing

Sticking to their demand for an independent judicial inquiry into the incidents of police firing at Sompeta and Kakarapalli in Andhra Pradesh’s Srikakulam district, people’s organisations here boycotted the magisterial inquiry held on December 14. Around 20 people, who were reportedly local Congress leaders, attended the inquiry held at revenue divisional office at Tekkali, 70 kms from Sompeta.

Letters - December 31, 2011

Cautious Warning It appears that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has tightened its procedures in the hope of preventing errors in terms of the language used in its report (‘Future shock’, November 16-30, 2011).

Letters

Sundarbans in peril This refers to the article, “The secret garden” (November 1- 15, 2011). The Sundarbans is one of the largest mangrove forests and home to the famous Royal Bengal Tiger and numerous fauna, including spotted deer. Situated in the Ganga-Brahmaputra delta of the Bay of Bengal, the forests cover an area of 10,000 sq km, of which about 4,000 sq km lies in India. The rest is in Bangladesh. In 1987 it became inscribed as a UNESCO world heritage site. But today the ecology of the Sundarbans is at risk due to illegal felling of trees and rampant poaching.

Native crown for Olympians

Botanical gardens in 15 countries are running a competition for 11-19-year olds to design a 2012 Olympic garland that contains native species.

The secret garden

Worlds can change within minutes, or kilometres. It was the bumpy six-hour ride from Kolkata to a tiger reserve in the largest riverine delta in the world, that told me this. Hopping islands in the Sundarbans onboard Rs 1 ferry rides, on rickety cycle vans dancing on puddles, and walking on slippery brick ways, the arduous journey is not for the big cat though. I am to witness the beginning of a stupendous task: documentation of life in its myriad hues.

Pluck and dry

“THIS is the third largest herbarium in the country,” says Tariq Husain, herbarium coordinator at the National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI) in Lucknow, as he ushers me into a large space lined by cabinets on both sides. The cabinets are stocked with dead plants, neatly kept in herbarium files.

Act of omission

Do public institutions need permission to access biological resources for genetic manipulation? The question has become critical in the wake of a complaint filed over accessing the country’s brinjal biodiversity for research and its eventual commercialisation. The complaint has forced the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) to find an answer for this vexed question.

Maharashtra forest department to go hi-tech

In a bid to make monitoring of Maharashtra's rich biodiversity efficient, the state forest department has decided to go hi-tech. The department has signed an agreement with the National Remote Sensing Agency in  Hyderabad, under which the agency will send satellite images to the Maharashtra Remote Sensing Applications Centre in Nagpur. The centre will then analyse the images and forward the information to the department.

Look beyond invasive species

FOR centuries scientists have applied one golden rule to maintaining balance in an ecosystem—remove the invasive species. This rule may change soon.

Land over nature

IT IS common knowledge that cities are expanding. That they are eating into the rich biodiversity is also well known. What is disturbing is the pace of this irreversible global phenomenon.