1 Eco News, Vol. 21, No. 3 October - December 2016 · PDF file5 Eco News, Vol. 21, No. 3...

1Eco News, Vol. 21, No. 3 October - December 2016

Eco News, Vol. 21, No. 3 October - December 20162

Established in 1989

✯ 1980 - The C.P. Ramaswami AiyarFoundation starts nature education forteachers and students.

✯ 1989 - C.P.R. EnvironmentalEducation Centre (CPREEC) establishedjointly by the Ministry of Environmentand Forests and the C.P. RamaswamiAiyar Foundation as a Centre ofExcellence of the Ministry ofEnvironment and Forests. Governmentof India.

Our Mission

✯ To increase knowledge, awareness andinterest among the public about theenvironment in all its aspects

✯ To develop resource materials forenvironmental education andawareness raising

✯ To conduct training programmes for awide cross-section of people

✯ To take up environmental projects fordemonstration and research

Our Activities

✯ Training and awareness raising✯ Awareness to and through action✯ Awareness programmes in ecologically

fragile areas✯ Conservation of the ecological heritage✯ Research and surveys✯ Generation of resource materials✯ Exhibitions✯ Courses, seminars and symposia

Facilities

✯ Environmental Laboratory✯ Library✯ Computer Division✯ Publications Division

Geographical Spread

CPREEC’s activities extend to

✯ Andaman & Nicobar Islands✯ Andhra Pradesh✯ Goa

C.P.R. ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTRE

✯ Karnataka✯ Kerala✯ Maharashtra✯ Orissa✯ Tamilnadu✯ Puducherry

NGO Network

CPREEC has an extensive network of about600 NGOs. All educational programmes arecarried out in partnership with selectNGOs, Universities, Colleges and Schools.

Publications

✯ Activity and information books andpamphlets for children

✯ Environmental training guides and kitsfor teachers

✯ Researched Publications✯ Colourful and informative posters✯ ECONEWS - A quarterly magazine✯ Indian Journal of Environmental

Education, a peer-reviewed journal

Exhibitions

CPREEC designs three new exhibitionsevery year and has a bank of mobileexhibitions that travel all over India.

Environmental Education

✯ Green Schools of India (GSI)✯ Training programmes for Teachers✯ Training programmes for School and

College Students✯ Environmental Law Education

Special Projects

✯ National Green Corps (NGC)✯ Biomedical Waste✯ Biodiversity Conservation

Research and Surveys

✯ Sustainable Technologies✯ Surveys of Natural Resources✯ Socio-Economic Surveys✯ Lab to Field Technology Transfer


Contents

Natural Food Colours --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5

Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve--------------------------------------------------------------- 7

Sustainability in Campuses of Higher Education: Green Campus -

An Environmental Monitoring Approach -------------------------------------------------12

Cultural tradition of Kachabeswarar temple ---------------------------------------------16

Enjoying the dawn with birds – My Chilika experience -------------------------------19

Tackling Groundwater Pollution ------------------------------------------------------------21


Food colours are a matter of choice. Asdiscussed in the previous issue of“Eco news”, colour is added to food toimprove the appearance, delight theonlooker and deceive the senses, asmost of the synthetic dyes are PolycyclicAromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) derivatives.PAHs have been established as a classof carcinogens. It is a matter of concernthat synthetic colours originally preparedfor the textile and paper industries havefound their way into the food processingindustry.

Due to the awareness on the therapeuticand medicinal properties of naturaldyes and colours and the toxicity ofartificial colours, the demand for naturaldyes and colours are increasing amongthe public throughout the world. Naturaldyes obtained from plant-basedpigments have medicinal values hencethey are mostly preferred. Some of thedyes obtained from various plants andanimals are listed below:

Substance Source Colour

Alkanet roots of the plant red

Annatto fruit of the shrub yellow

Caramel burnt sugar yellow

Carotene carrots and other plants yellow

ChlorophyII Leaves green

Cochineal dried female insect red

Indigo fern blue

Cocoa Red Cocoa beans red

Tyrian blue murex shell blue

Cocoa blue dried female insect red

Litmus lichens red

Flavine bark of tree yellow

Osage orange dried orange Yellow

Orchil lichens red

Persian berries fruit of thorn bush yellow

Safflower flowers of saffron red

Saffron dried stigmas and petals yellow

Sandal red sandalwood red

Turmeric roots yellow

Tyrian purple murex shell blue

Natural Food ColoursDr. P. Sudhakar


Curcuma longa (Turmeric) Curcumin isthe primary pigment which is yellow-orange in colour. It is generally used invarious food industries for colouring. Itis mainly used in pickles, sausages,confectionaries, ice cream, bakery andsavory products. It is used as analternative to saffron. Apart fromcolouring, it is also used in skin care andhair care cosmetic products. It is alsoused in Ayurvedic medicine as ananalgesic, antiinflammatory, antitumor,antiallergic, antioxidant, antiseptic, intreating anemia, diabetes, indigestion,gallstones, food poisoning and poorblood circulation.

Indigofera tinctoria: (Indigotine)Theblue colour obtained from flowers ismainly used to dye fabrics and is used tocure constipation, liver disease, heartpalpitation and gout.

Alkanna tinctoria: Alkanna is anastringent and a source of red pigmentused in cosmetics. It is used traditionallyin the treatment of skin wounds anddiseases. Orally, alkanna root has beenused for diarrhea and gastric ulcers.

Tagetes erecta (Mexican marigold):Lutein is a purified extract obtainedfrom the petals of marigold flowers withorganic solvents which changes fromyellow to orange colour. It is used as afood colouring agent and nutrientsupplement (food additive) in a widerange of baked goods, beverages,breakfast cereals, chewing gum, dairyproducts, etc.,

Vaccinium myrtillus (Bilberry): Thefruit juice is red in colour and this turnsblue in basic medium. The extract canbe used for treating bladder stones,biliary disorders, scurvy, coughs, andlung tuberculosis. Bilberry leafdecoctions have been used to lowerblood sugar in diabetic patients.

Crocus sativus (Saffron): The essentialoil of saffron contains several terpenes(pinene, cineole) and carbonylcompounds. Saffron also finds use inmedicine, as a food spice, and in thetextile industry as a dye and inperfumery.

Natural food colours not only add flavourand good appearance to the food, but italso enhances health.

References

1. Chaitanya Lakshmi G. Food Coloring:The Natural Way, Research Journalof Chemical Sciences, Vol. 4(2), 87-96, February (2014).

2. F. Delgado-Vargas, A.R. Jiménez,O. Paredes-López: Natural pigments:carotenoids, anthocyanins andb e t a l i n s — c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s ,biosynthesis, processing and stability.Critical Reviews in Food Science andNutrition, 40(3), 173, (2000).

3. Mott MacDonald, Project Profile onNatural Food Colors – Marigold,Annatto, iNDEXTb (2000).

4. Vaccinium myrtillus (Bilberry),Alternative Medicine Review, 6(5),(2001).

5. Aura Sturzoiu, Marta Stroescu,Anicuþa Stoica, Tãnase Dobre:Betanine extraction from betavulgaris - experimental research andstatistical modeling, U.P.B. Sci. Bull.,Series B, 73(1), (2011).

6. Bernard Weiss: Synthetic food colorsand neurobehavioral hazards: Theview from environmental healthresearch, Environmental HealthPerspectives, 120, (2012).

7. Richard Cantrill, Chemical andTechnical Assessment (CTA), Luteinfrom Tagetes erecta FAO, 63rdJECFA,(2004).


The Project Tiger scheme was launchedin 1973 to protect our national animal,the tiger. Initially, nine (9) tiger reserveswere established. At present, there areforty nine (49) tiger reserves existing in18 states of our country. Project Tiger isan on-going centrally sponsored schemeand is managed by the National TigerConservation Authority (NTCA) of theMinistry of Environment, Forests &Climate Change (MoEF&CC), Govt. ofIndia. The Head Office is located atNew Delhi with regional offices ofProject Tiger functioning at Bengaluru,Guwahati and Nagpur. The mainobjective of Project Tiger is theconservation of the tiger by implemen-ting different sustainable activities. Themain activities are habitat protection,reduction of man-animal conflictsthrough eco development activities, etc.The budget allocation for the TwelfthFive Year Plan was 1245 crores.

In Tamil Nadu, there are four tigerreserves. They are Kalakad – Mundun-thurai, Mudumalai, Anamalai and

Sathyamangalam. The SathyamangalamTiger Reserve (STR) was recently addedand is located in Erode district. Thedetails and the importance of thisreserve are discussed in this article.

The Sathyamangalam forest area is animportant wildlife corridor in theNilgiris Biosphere Reserve. It is situatedbetween the Western Ghats and EasternGhats. This forest area is well connectedto Mudumalai National Park and TigerReserve in Tamil Nadu, BandipurNational Park and Billigiri RangaswamyTemple Wildlife Sanctuary in Karnataka.The Sathyamangalam forest was declaredas a wildlife sanctuary in the year 2008spread in an area of 1142 sq.km. In theyear 2013, it was declared as the fourthtiger reserve in the state of Tamil Naduwith an area of 1408 sq.km. of which 793sq. km. is the core area and 615 sq.km.is the buffer zone (G.O. (MS) No. 41 dated15.3.2013 of Tamil Nadu Governmentand G.O. (MS) No. 167 of the Ministry ofEnvironment & Forests, Government ofIndia dated 22.10,2013).

Forest Area of Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve

Core Area Area in Buffer Area Area inHectare Hectare

Guthiyalathur 25083.25 Guthiyalathur 53656.47Reserve Forest (Part) Reserve Forest (Part)

Talamalai Reserve Forest 49662.53 Guthiyalathur Extension 162.31Reserve Forest

Nilgiris Eastern Slope 4878.15 Talamalai Reserve Forest 3410.06Reserve Forest

Sathyamangalam Tiger ReserveDr. T. Sundaramoorthy


Core Area Area in Buffer Area Area inHectare Hectare

Talamalai Extension 1240.63Reserve Forest

Akkurjorai ReserveForest 383.64

Akkurjorai Extension 155.80Reserve Forest

Berabetta Reserve 1468.52Forest

Ullepalayam ReserveForest 059.58

79623.930 61537.010

Forest settlement (-) 274.599 Forest settlement area (-) 45.800area (7 settlements) (2 settlements)

79349.331 61491.210

Total Core Area 79349.331 HaTotal Buffer Area 61491.210 HaTotal Tiger Reserve 140840.541 Ha (or) 1408.405 sq.km.

The Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserveis divided into two divisions – Sathyaman-galam and Hasanur. There are sevenforest ranges, they are Sathyamangalam,Bhavani Sagar, T.N. Palayam, Talamalai,Hasanur, Germalem and Talawady.

The major soil types of this reserve arered soil, laterite soil and alluvial soil. Theterrain of this area is undulated and theelevation ranges from 960 mm to 1266mm. The rock of this reserve belongs tothe pre-Cambrian age. The averageannual rainfall is 600 mm.

The main forest type of this reserve istropical dry thorn forest. Sub type of

this forest area are southern tropicaldry mixed deciduous forest, southernsub tropical hill forest , southern tropicalsemi evergreen forest and riparianforest along the Moyar river.

Plant diversity

About 65% of the tiger reserve is withforest cover. There are more than 700plant species found in the reserve.About 60 plant species are consideredendemic. The dominant plant species ineach forest sub type varies. This reserveis famous for the sandal tree (Santalumalbum). The other common species aregiven below:


S.No. Botanical name Habit Family Common Vernacularname name

1 Anogeissus Tree Combretaceae Axle Vakkalilatifolia (Roxb. Woodex DC.) Wall. Treeex Guillem. & Perr.

2 Terminalia crenulata Tree Combretaceae Laurel Karu(Heyne) Roth Maruthu

3 Themeda triandra Herb Poaceae Red grass PeruForssk. manip-pul

4 Themeda cymbaria Herb Poaceae Elephant PothaiHack. grass pul

5 Heteropogon Herb Poaceae Black Sulam pulcontortus (L.) SpeargrassP. Beauv. ex Roem.& Schult.

6 Grewia tiliifolia Vahl Tree Tiliaceae Dhaman Unu

7 Kydia calycina Roxb. Tree Malvaceae Kydia Pula

8 Sapindus Tree Sapindaceae Soapnut Poovanemarginata Vahl tree kottai

9 Acacia torta (Roxb.) Climber Fabaceae Twisted InkkaiCraib Acacia

10 Acacia planifrons Tree Fabaceae Umbrella KudaivelWight & Arn. thorn

11 Albizia amara Tree Fabaceae Bitter ushil(Roxb.)B.Boivin Albizia

12 Bauhinia Tree Fabaceae Burmese Aathiracemosa Lam. Silk Orchid

13 Hardwickia binata Tree Fabaceae Indian AachaRoxb. Blackwood

14 Dichrostachys Tree Fabaceae Sickle Veduttalamcinerea (L.) Wight bush& Arn.

15 Cassia fistula L. Tree Fabaceae Indian SarakonraiLaburnum


S.No. Botanical name Habit Family Common Vernacularname name

16 Mesua ferrea L. Tree Calophyllaceae Iron Wood NangilTree

17 Pterocarpus Tree Fabaceae Indian acamaimarsupium Roxb. Kino Tree

18 Schleichera oleosa Tree Sapindaceae Ceylon Puvam(Lour.) Oken Oak

19 Ziziphus Tree Rhamnaceae Indian Ilanthamauritiana Lam. jujube

20 Bischofia Tree Phyllanth Javawood Malai-javanica Blume -aceae poovarasu

21 Celtis tetrandra Tree Cannabaceae Nilgiri Elm KuriyaaRoxb.

22 Chukrasia Tree Meliaceae Chitta Aglaytabularis A. Juss. gong wood

23 Dalbergia Tree Fabaceae East Indian Thodagathilatifolia Roxb. Rose Wood

24 Machilus Tree Lauraceae Large- irulimacrantha Nees Flowered

Bay Tree 25 Mangifera indica L. Tree Anacardiaceae Mango Mankai

26 Santalum album L. Tree Santalaceae Sandalwood Chandanam

27 Syzygium cumini Tree Myrtaceae Indian Naval(L.) Skeels Blackberry

28 Terminalia Tree Combretaceae Chebulic Kadukkaichebula Retz. Myrobalam

29 Toona ciliata Tree Meliaceae Australian TheraM. Roem. redcedar Tharam

30 Trema Tree Cannabaceae Charcoal Yerralaiorientalis (L.) Bl. Tree

31 Bambusa Herb Poaceae Indian Mungilarundinacea Thorny(Retz.) Willd. Bamboo

32 Dendrocalamus Herb Poaceae Solid Kattu-munkilstrictus (Roxb.) Nees bamboo

33 Pongamia pinnata Tree Fabaceae Hongay Pungan(L.)Pierre oil tree


Animal diversity

The Sathyamangalam tiger reservesupports a good number of tigers. In2011, 25 tigers were reported and inthe year 2015, 54 tigers were reported.The tiger population was estimated byusing camera traps and pug mark studyby scientific agencies. In addition,40 species of mammals, 30 species ofreptiles, 230 bird species, 15 species ofamphibians, 85 species of butterfliesand 10 species of fishes are reportedfrom the reserve.

One of the endangered vulture species –the Indian Vulture (Gyps indicus) breedsin the Moyar river valley region of thereserve was reported in the year 2010.The other common animals and birdsfound in this reserve are tiger, leopard,jackal, hyena, jungle cat, bison, spotteddeer, sambar deer, black buck, barkingdeer, sloth bear, otter, mongoose, Indianpangolin, porcupine, bonnet macaque,slender loris, Indian wild dog. Birdspecies include white backed vulture,woodpecker, tree pies, hornbills, peacock,bulbuls, babblers, mynahs, etc. A goodnumber of elephants were also reportedfrom this area. About 800 elephantswere recorded in the year 2011.

Conservation issues of SathyamangalamTiger Reserve

The conservation and management ofthis tiger reserve is vested with the

Director / Conservator of Forests basedin Erode. According to TRAFFIC India,poaching of wildlife is still reported inthis area. The National TigerConservation Authority has givenadequate financial assistance tostrengthen manpower, logistics andequipments to tackle the issue. Mananimal conflicts are reported in thisarea. Leopards prey on local cattleand goats. This weakens the localpopulation support for conservation.Elephants enter the agricultural landsin the nearby villages and damage thecrops. This reserve supports a goodnumber of Irula and Sholiga tribalpopulation. About 17 tribal settlementsare inside the reserve forest. More thanone thousand families living in theborder area of the reserve forest collectminor forest produce in various seasons.It is one of the largest tiger reserves inSouth India. The importance of thetiger reserve is not fully known to thepublic. Awareness on conservation ofbiodiversity of this reserve should becarried out intensively.

Source:

❖ National Tiger Conservation Authority(NTCA) / Project Tiger, Ministry ofEnvironment, Forests & ClimateChange (MoEF&CC), Government ofIndia.

❖ Forest Department, Government ofTamil Nadu


Sustainability in Campuses ofHigher Education: Green Campus -An Environmental Monitoring ApproachU.Thirunavukkarasu

Institutions of higher learning

Institutions of higher learning arehotbeds of thinking and nurseries ofsocial change. The institutions ofhigher learning educate future leaders,thinkers, social activists, administratorsand responsible citizens of the country.India was a knowledge hub and seat oflearning from ancient times. It was alsohome to great institutions like Nalanda,Taxila and Vikramsila Universities ofthe bygone era.

The colleges and universities of thecountry are expanding the boundariesof the knowledge and play an importantrole in the economy and society. Inaddition to that it holds the power ofyouth in its campuses.

In India, there are 350 StateUniversities, 123 Deemed to beUniversities, 47 Central Universities239 Private Universities - totalling asolid figure of 759 universities in India(as on 05.07.2016). There was a greatmomentum in the number ofuniversities and colleges in the recentpast. The number of Universities hasincreased 34 times from 20 in 1950 to677 in 2014 and the number of collegeshas also increased 74 times from 500in the year 1950 and growing to 37,204,(as on 31st March, 2013).Under the totalof 759 (various types of) universities,today, India is host to one of the largesthigher education systems in the world.

Sustainable Development andSustainability

The World Conservation Strategy, IUCN1980, UNEP and other institutions atthe international level introduced“sustainable development” as a conceptin relation to human being and his/herinteraction with the biosphere. It alsoshed light on conservation anddevelopment as complimentary activitiesof present day sustenance.

‘Human beings are at the centre ofconcerns for sustainable development.They are entitled to a healthy andproductive life in harmony with nature’-United Nation Environment Programme,1972.

The concept had many antecedents atinternational fora and discussions. TheWorld Conference on Environment andDevelopment (Rio Declaration in 1992)reiterated the outcome of the UnitedNations Conference on HumanEnvironment held at Stockholm in 1972.The widely accepted definition ofsustainable development was broughtout by the Brundtland Report.

The Brundtland Commission’s reportdefined sustainable development as“development which meets the needsof current generations withoutcompromising the ability of futuregenerations to meet their own needs”.


However, along with the concept of‘sustainable development’, thecontroversies over ‘developmentparadigm’ being included in the‘conservation agenda’ have also beenraging all over the world. There weremany interpretations and shades ofdefinitions purported around the world,alleging that the term sustainabledevelopment does not give any directionto arbitrate between the conflictinginterests of economic rationality, socialjustice and ecological equilibrium.

There were political thoughtsinterpreting the ability of sustainabledevelopment in a restrictive meaning“the ability of sustainable developmentto respond to persistent socialproblems of a country is considered assustainable development”. The positiveside of those wide discussions onsustainable development has alsoyielded acceptability at the highestpolicy level and political thinkingleading to formation of ‘sustainabledevelopment national committees’ andaction plan based on Agenda 21.

There was also criticism about‘sustainable development’ that itpromotes globalisation and corporateagenda of expansion. The terms‘sustainability’ and ‘sustainabledevelopment have been used in manycontexts with inter changeable / samemeaning. But on deep exploration ofits origin, usage and objectives‘sustainability’ means the ultimate goaland destination, whereas ‘sustainabledevelopment’ is the framework forachieving sustainability.

Sustainable Education

The institutes of higher learning -Universities - should reinforcesustainability principles and bring outbest models for the society to practice.

The intensity of present environmentalchallenges requires new initiativesin teaching - learning process ofenvironmental education in the formaleducation sector. The models practicedshould bring about a perceivableenvironmental standard improvement –to justify and to measure the learningoutcomes. If the learner has to progressthrough systematic environmentalmilestones, benchmarking environmentalstandards in an educational setting ishighly necessary from time to time foreffective environmental learning.

It becomes essential when young mindsare involved in the process. The modelspracticed should bring about aperceivable attitudinal change on theknowledge communities, i.e. students,towards improving our environmentalstandards.

Green Campus: An EnvironmentalMonitoring Approach for UniversityStudents

C.P.R. Environmental Education Centre(CPREEC) conceived a novel programmeof involving young minds in theenvironmental conservation throughenvironmental quality monitoring. Theprogramme aims to instil a senseof responsibility on the health ofindividuals through monitoring thesurrounding environment, namely theair, water and soil. The colleges acrossthe country are intended targetgroups. In the city of Chennai institutionswere approached for this environmentand health initiative to promotescientific temper about essential naturalresources.

Sensitizing college students on themajor trends of our environment isimportant with field based handson activities. Green Campus - An


Environmental Quality Monitoring wasan outcome of sustained discussionsbetween CPREEC, Ajuba Solution IndiaPrivate Limited and other partners of theprogramme.

Carefully selected leading educationalinstitution/colleges, which care foryoung adults and educates themthrough university courses are theprime environmental health-systembeneficiary and partners in monitoringenvironment through green campus.

The major objectives of the GreenCampus is to

❖ Sensitize the student and teachingcommunity in different educationalinstitutions.

❖ Promote environmental thinking as abase for healthy living among theyoung adult student population ofuniversity courses.

❖ Pass on the skill of monitoringenvironmental resources througha systematic environmental manage-ment approach.

❖ Encourage green campus partners todiscuss scientifically validatedenvironmental indicators to guidefurther remedial and environmentalconservation measures.

❖ Galvanize the creative ability ofstakeholders in solving environmentalchallenges and to extend it to the localcommunity.

The project aims to create awarenessamong the college students aboutessential natural resources; namely air,water and soil. Involving volunteers andcollege students in action oriented

activities, the CPREEC team facilitatedthem in improving the environmentalquality of the institutional campus. Theskill of air quality survey, water qualitysampling, soil sampling was taught tothem by the CPREEC team.

Air is essential for life; the quality of airdecides the quality of life we lead incities and towns. Nature has createdmechanism to purify air by plants inits natural existence and activity. Dueto increasing industrial activity,transportation, population pressure andreduction in green space worsened theair quality. The impact is felt on thehealth front of human beings and otheranimals. In the same way, noise beyondthe prescribed limits can cause damageto human health. Exceeding noise levelis a disturbing factor in residential andindustrial areas.

Ambient air quality survey in the vicinityof the college campuses with a highvolume air sampler were conductedduring peak and non peak hours withcorresponding vehicular frequencycount on the nearby roads. It is alsoproposed to repeat the activity forenvironmental status after a period oftime or season.

Water is essential for all life forms andmust be preserved at micro and macrolevels. The water resources quality of aspecific area decides the welfare of peopledwelling in diverse environmentalconditions. Even the daily routine ofpeople is highly connected with thequality of water.

Survey of water stored, surface andunderground water in college campus toascertain its status and quality havebeen carried out through sample testingon field and verification at the competentlaboratory.


Soil is an important substratum for life.The health of the soil reflects the qualityof life lead by the community. Excessivepollution, absence of green cover, soil air,soil moisture and weather influencesthe health of soil. The soil sampleswere studied in a scientific manner toascertain its composition and status.

The state of art laboratory facility ofCPREEC was used to verify and analyzewater, air, and soil samples.

Green Campus-process questionnaire

CPREEC’s process questionnaire onGreen Campus was circulated amongthe participating students to initiateand to carry out environmentalup-gradation activities in the campuses.The questionnaire could be used as atemplate for recording environmentalenhancement activities on focusedissues.

The students and faculty members willbe made to understand the importanceof environmental monitoring andsustainability (air, water and soil quality)through consultative meets at the collegecampus at periodic intervals.

Outcome of Green Campus Activities

❖ Air, water, noise and soil status andquality of it have been ascertained

and compared with the standardsprescribed at the national level.Remedial measures and applicablesuggestions to reduce the impact aregiven.

❖ The knowledge gained by studentswill motivate the student communityto understand and preserve thequality of resources available in thecampus in a sustainable way.

❖ Based on the findings, the studentswith the guidance of faculty memberswill initiate measures to ensureenvironmental sustainability of theinstitutional campus

❖ The students/youth will convey theimportance and status of air, waterand soil and its sustainability totheir parents and thereby to thecommunity.

References

1. www.ugc.ac.in2. www.mhrd.gov.in3. www.unece.org4. Price, Trevor, Education for

Environmental Sustainability inCompulsory Education, KindleEdition

5. www.sustainabledevelopment.un.org6. www.unep.org


Cultural tradition of KachabeswarartempleM. Amirthalingam

It is one of the largest and most importanttemples of Kanchipuram town, the townof a thousand temples. Kachabeswarartemple is located in the southern cornerof Western Raja street at a distance ofabout one kilometre from the famousEkambareshwara temple. The presidingdeity of the temple is Lord Shiva, alsocalled Kachabeswarar. His consort isSoundarambigai. The temple contains abig Rajagopuram and is built in theGajaprushta style. The temple occupiesquite a large area. The temple alsohouses other idols such as Saraswati,Ganesha, Chaturmukeswarar, Sasthaand Bhairava. There are also fourshrines dedicated to Lord Shiva situatedaround the temple tank (called IshtaSiddhi Tirtha). These are DharmaSiddheswarar, Kama Siddheswarar,

Vishnu in the form of Koorma worshipped Lord Shiva

Artha Siddheeswarar and MokshaSiddheswarar. Located near the maindeity is an idol of Lord Ganesha calledSatyamozhi Vinayaka which is reputedto have been worshipped by Lord Vishnuhimself.

There is a legend connected with thistemple. It is said that during thechurning of the ocean of milky, theMandara hill, used as the stick, (mathu)began to sink. To retrieve it, Lord Vishnuincarnated as Kashyapa (tortoise) inorder to help the Devas. He came to thisplace and created a spring, bathed andprayed to Lord Shiva to help him in hisendeavour. Lord Shiva responded to hisprayer, hence the name Kachapeshwara.Kachapa means tortoise and Ishwara isLord Shiva.


It is said that mother Anjanakshi blessesthe devotees from a separate shrine.Anjanam means eyes. The origin of theword Anjanam is derived from the factthat she is blessing devotees as her owneyes. The Sri Chakra is also installed inthe mandapa before this shrine. Womenlight ghee lamps here for family welfareand prosperity.

Traditionally, the sacred tree in thistemple is the banyan tree; hence, thetemple is also known as Aala Koil - or thebanyan tree temple.

There is an interesting legend connectedwith this temple. Once upon a time, LordVishnu sat under the purasa maram(flame of the forest / Butea monosperma)and worshipped Lord Shiva. In responseto his prayer, Lord Shiva appeared infront of him as a Jyotir Linga. LordVishnu worshipped him and receivedhis blessings from him. This temple issituated under the purasa tree which ison the bank of the temple tank.

In Tamil culture, pipal is also known asarasa maram (the king of trees). Some ofthe places named after the pipal or arasatree are Arisili, Arasadi, and Arasur inTamil Nadu. The deity named afterthis tree is Arisilinathar. The pipal is asource of knowledge and the serpentswhich surround the tree are the keepersof divine knowledge. It is the most sacredtree, because it is the dwelling place ofthe Hindu trinity: Brahma, Vishnu andShiva. The tree has been described asthe ’tree of Knowledge’ ’tree of life’, ’treeof eternal life’, and ’tree of creation’. It isclosely connected with fertility: the treeis worshipped by women for fertility andlongevity. A platform is built around itand an idol of a snake is placed underthe trees and worshipped. Several inter-twined or coiled snake stones, symbolsof fertility, are installed beneath the tree

by childless couples and worshipped inthe hope of begetting a child and for goodhealth of the husband. In villages,women bathe early in the morning andcircumambulate the trees.

In this temple, Amavasya, which falls onMonday is said to be Somvati Amavasya.According to Hindu mythology, womenobserve a fast on this day for the long lifeof their husbands. Married womenperform parikrma (rounds) around thepipal tree 108 times. The pipal tree holdsa special significance in Indian culture.A sacred thread is tied around the pipaltree by women as a part of a ritual onSomvati Amavasya.

There is a legend associated withSomvati Amavasya. According to theepic Mahabharata, Bhishma Pitamahnarrated the legend of SomvatiAmavasya to Yudhisthira. Anotherlegend is about a money lender who wasvery happy with his family of seven sonsand one daughter. All the sons of themoney lender were married, but hisdaughter was still in search of a perfectmatch.

The money lender had a friend who wasa pandit. Whenever he used to come tohis place, his blessings were always forthe daughters-in-laws, but not for hisown daughter. The daughter of themoney lender was very upset with thisbehaviour of the pandit. Once, the wifeof the money lender asked the panditabout his unusual behaviour. As asolution, the pandit mentioned awasherwoman living on Singhal island.He said that if the washer woman putsindoor (vermilion) on the forehead ofher daughter, she would becomefortunate. Hearing this, the girl wentto Singhal island and met thewasherwoman. The washerwomanfulfilled her wish by putting the sindoor


on her forehead. Since then, womenfollow this ritual on the day of SomvatiAmavasya for the long life of theirhusbands. This may be the reason whypeople come to this temple and worshipLord Kachabeswara and circumambulatethe pipal tree during the early morningon the new moon which falls on Monday(Soma amavasiya).

Scientifically, it has been proven that thepipal tree exudes the maximum amountof ozone during the period of sunshine.The absorption of ozone helps femalefertility. By circumambulating the tree,the lungs are made to work more andthus take in more fresh air and ozone.The ozone thus strengthens the uterusand fallopian tubes. A new moon dayhelps absorb ozone more than other daysdue to gravitational forces.

I wish to acknowledge the help renderedby Mr. R.Selvapandian who providedthe photographs for this article.

Reference

❖ https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-significance-of-the-Peepal-tree-in-Indian-Culture.

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Sometime back, when I travelled toChilika Lake (Lagoon), I got a uniquechance to educate children as well asexperience nature, both of which I adore.It was a nature camp and I was sent thereofficially to educate the children aboutnature and its significance. It’s alwayscool to teach children, especially thoseat elementary and secondary school level.They are charming, inventive and mostimportantly mischievous.

As part of the nature campingprogramme, we are advised to staywithin the limits of any protectednatural landscapes, viz-a-viz wildlifesanctuary, reserved forest or nationalpark. We stayed in the midst of a lavishgreen backdrop encompassed by avariety of species, resident of Chilika.The ever-soothing early morning breezeflows alongside the twittering andchattering cries of birds and littlecreatures.

Chilika Lake is the biggest tidal pond ofAsia found along the Coromandel Coastof peninsular India. Being declared oneof the six wetlands under the Ramsarconvention, it offers a great deal ofscenic beauty.

Illumination of skyWith a crack of dawn

The never ending horizonNever to be missed

Furthermore, this picturesque locale is asafe haven for diverse aquatic life formssuch as birds (both waterfowl andwaders), fishes, crabs, etc.

We organized a birding trip to the nearbyisland, Nalbana. Boats were arrangedfor the trip. Nalbana is a wonderfulisland with vast life forms situated at theheart of Chilika Lake.

The children jumped out of joy as the boatsurged through brackish water andmoved forward. We tried to arouse theirinterest by showing them some beautifulcreatures like Irrawaddy Dolphins,Seagull, Gull-billed Tern, Pied Kingfisher,White-bellied Sea Eagle, etc. The childrenwere given binoculars to observe thebirds. Some of the kids were curious,questioning the open-feather stance of abird. It was a Cormorant. Unlike otherwater birds, cormorants do not have waxcoating around their feathers. So itstays under the sun with its feathersopen to get dry. This in turn looks strikingand attracts students, birders and

Enjoying the dawn with birds – My ChilikaexperienceT R Gowthama


photographers. The children were sothrilled watching the hunting behaviourof terns and kingfishers.

Hovering along the airstreamWith her eyes glued

Dives and captures him in a flash

As we paddled through the lake, we sawa huge flock of Ruddy Shelducks takingoff, sensing us (strangers). NorthernPintails, Shovelers and Gargeneysaccompanied them shortly. It was beyondbelief to spot all these wonderfulcreatures at the same time. Childrenlooked absolutely thrilled.

After an hour long journey, we reachedthe island. The forest officials briefed usabout the island and its significance.Nalbana Island was declared a birdsanctuary in 1973. It serves as a massivewintering ground for birds. One can seeover thousands of birds hystericallyforaging the mudflats during the season.The best part about this island is, itvanishes during the monsoon season dueto heavy showers and resurfaces backonce the water recedes.

The children were taken to the watchtower, where they got to watch the birdsthrough high range spotting scopes.Watching the peculiar behaviour patternof larger and smaller birds, the children’scuriosity was piqued. The larger birdsinclude greater and lesser Flamingos,Herons, Egrets, Pelicans, Storks, Ducksand Ibises. The smaller birds includeStilts, Terns, Sandpipers, Ruffs, Snipes,Lapwings, Coot, Teal, etc. They even sawa few raptors like Sea Eagle, Kites andFalcons.

As they were curiously screening thebirds through the spotting scope, one ofthe children shouted out an alarm. Heinformed us that he has spotted a birdwhich has a white head with dark eyesand sharp beak pointed downwards,

brownish feathers and pale yellowcoloured legs with talons. It was clear thatthe bird he was describing about was theBrahminy Kite; we were startled by hisacute observation.

He continued further that the bird hadrepeatedly fallen into the water whileattempting to take off. He sounded veryconcerned about the bird and itscondition. We responded quickly bytaking a look at that bird through thescope and witnessed the same scene asnarrated by the boy. Immediately, weinformed the forest officials, who afterobservation told us that the bird wasinjured. The feathers were woundedbecause of which it was struggling to fly.Without wasting much time, their teamrushed to the spot and rescued the bird.

The Forest Ranger and Divisional Officerappreciated the boy for his intuitiveobservation and quick thinking. Theypresented him the famous book “Thebook of Indian Birds by Salim Ali” andencouraged him to do bird watchingregularly. It was pleasant surprise for theboy and also for the entire group.

Overall, it was an enchanting experiencein Nalbana both for the children and us(educators). It was one of my mostunforgettable experiences with childrenand nature.

Injured Brahmini Kite


References

1. Prabir Kumar Naik, Gouranga CharanPati, Anirvan Choudhury and KishoreChandra Naik (2008). Conservationof Chilika Lake, Odisha, India.

Proceedings of Taal 2007: The 12th

World Lake Conference: 1988-1992.

2. Nalbana Bird Sanctuary – Wikipedia(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nalbana_Bird_Sanctuary).

Tackling Groundwater PollutionB. Tirumala

According to a UNICEF report on Indianwater “There will be constant competitionover water, between farming familiesand urban dwellers, environmentalconservationists and industrialists,minorities living off natural resources andentrepreneurs seeking to commoditisethe resources base for commercialgain” 1.

The impact of globalization onenvironment and sustainabledevelopment remains in transition inIndia. The Indian economic environmentis also largely squeezing its naturalresources, at a faster pace, exploitingresources and effluents of affluenceare thrown into the sink of water bodies,land, air, commercialization, ofagriculture, expansion of industries,urbanization high level of migration thathave led to a disastrous effect onenvironment. Modern consumers desirea life style based on mobility, convenienceand product disposability and this hasled to further advancement of resourceinefficiency and waste generation.(Duraisamy and Latha, 2011).

Water pollution signifies contaminationof water bodies, which makes their water

unfit for drinking and other purposes.There are basically five primary sourcesof water pollution¯domestic sewage,agricultural runoff, industrial effluents,wastewater from septic tanks, andstorm-water runoff.

In recent years, the increasing threat togroundwater quality due to humanactivities has become a matter of greatconcern. A vast majority of groundwaterquality problems present today arecaused by contamination and byoverexploitation, or by a combination ofboth. Rapid urbanization andindustrialization in India has resultedin a steep increase in the generation ofwastes. Due to lack of adequateinfrastructure and resources the wasteis not properly collected, treated anddisposed; leading to accumulation andinfiltration causing groundwatercontamination. The problem is moresevere in and around the large cities asalso various clusters of industries. Inmany of these areas groundwater is onlysource of drinking water, thus a largepopulation is exposed to the risk ofconsuming contaminated water 3. It isestimated that 60% of groundwatersources will be in a critical state of


degradation within the next twentyyears 4.

Every river in India is polluted to somedegree. The water quality in undergroundwells violates the desired levels ofdissolved oxygen and coliform, thepresence of which is one measure offilth, in addition to having highconcentrations of toxic metals, fluoride,and nitrates 5. India’s rivers also havehigh fluoride content, beyond thepermissible limit of 1.5ppm, whichaffects 66 million people. The pollutedwater then seeps into the groundwaterand contaminates agricultural productswhen used for irrigation. Over 21% oftransmissible diseases in India arerelated to unsafe water 6. Millions of poorpeople are affected by preventablediseases caused by inadequate watersupply and sanitation.

Once polluted, groundwater is extremelycostly to clean up. It is often not feasiblewith today’s technology, althoughpump-and-treat is commonly used withthe goal of restoring the water drinkingquality: water is pumped to the surface,

treated to remove pollutants and thenreturned to its source.

Issues in Tackling GroundwaterContamination

Groundwater pollution requires seriousaction and continuous monitoring aswithout the availability of fresh water,sustainable development will not bepossible. The first step towards evolvingmeasures to prevent and curegroundwater quality deterioration isgenerating reliable and accurateinformation through water qualitymonitoring (WQM) to understand theactual source/cause, type and level ofcontamination. However, there are a fewobservation stations in the country thatcover all the essential parameters forwater quality and hence the dataobtained are not decisive on the waterquality status. The existing methodologyfor WQM is inadequate to identify thevarious sources of pollution.

The Central Pollution Control Board(CPCB) and the State Pollution Control

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Boards (SPCBs) are the pollutionwatchdogs in India. Though monitoringof groundwater quality has come undertheir purview, only recently has thewater quality of rivers is being monitored.There are problems associated withinstitutional design itself. The SPCBsperform the dual functions of monitoringpollution and enforcing pollution controlnorms. But, the fact that regular WQMand its proper dissemination itself couldquestion the existence of the Boards asan enforcement agency creates adisincentive for them to perform the firstfunction meaningfully. Also, the agencylacks legal aid and an administrativeapparatus to penalize polluters. Thisreduces the effectiveness of the agencyin enforcing pollution control norms. Thefact that the cost of pollution is much lessthan the cost of treatment works as adisincentive for polluters, whereas theBoards are not mandated to executeenvironmental management projects.

It is ordinary people who raise the alarmabout poor water quality. The capacitiesof civil society/institutions must be built,so as to strengthen them to respond towater quality problems quickly. This ispossible only through better knowledgeand information about the nature ofgroundwater contamination, potentialsources of threats to groundwater qualityin their respective regions and degrees ofvulnerability, the ill-effects of usingcontaminated water, and the possiblepreventive measures.

These institutions can in turn putpressure on the line agencies to performand come up with a viable method totackle or prevent groundwater pollution.Strengthening civil society institutionsis particularly important becausegroundwater quality variations in natureare often sporadic and it is noteconomically feasible to establish an

elaborate network of WQM stationsdue to the high costs and technicalmanpower involved 7.

In the absence of complete and accurateinformation about the quality of water invarious sources, it is also not possiblefor line agencies to identify appropriatetreatment measures. It is the moral dutyof credible and technically competentNGOs to take initiative in strengtheningcivil society, by generating the vitaldatabase on groundwater quality.

References

1. Giridharadas, Anand, 2005. “Water-scarce India, too, Weighs a Return toAncient Practices.” InternationalHerald Tribune.

2. A. Duraisamy and S. Latha, 2011.Impact of pollution on marineenvironment -A case study of coastalChennai, Indian Journal of Scienceand Technology, Vol. 4 issue 3, pp 259– 262.

3. http://cpcb.nic.in/upload/NewItems/NewItem_47_foreword.pdf.

4. World Bank (2010), Deep Wells andPrudence: Towards Pragmatic Actionfor Addressing GroundwaterOverexploitation in India, Report.

5. India: Water Supply and Sanitation –UNICEF Study (2002), 30.

6. “India’s Water Crisis,” Water PartnersInternational, http://www.water.org/programs/india/crisis.htm.

7. http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/iwmi-tata/fi les/pdf/ground-pollute4_FULL_.pdf


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