ENTRUST REALTORS & CONSULTANTS SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 2,...
Transcript of ENTRUST REALTORS & CONSULTANTS SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 2,...
Nishikant Khajuria
Jammu University is fully geared up for hostingbiggest ever event in its history as the 101st IndianScience Congress is all set to be inaugurated by PrimeMinister Dr Manmohan Singh on February 3.
JU in collaboration with the State Government andIndian Science Congress has finalized all the arrange-ments for the five-day mega event, in which more thaneight thousand delegates are participating from acrossthe country as well as abroad.
The five-day Congress shall provide a platform forintense discussion on the recent developments in the fieldof Science & Technology in the country and abroad. Maintheme of this year’s Science Congress is “Innovations inScience and Technology for Inclusive Development”.
During the Congress, the event will have 14 sessionsnamely Agriculture and Forestry Sciences; Animal, Veteri-nary and Fishery Sciences; Anthropological and BehavioralSciences (including Archaeology and Psychology & Edu-cational Sciences); Chemical Sciences; Earth System Sci-ences; Engineering Sciences; Environmental Sciences;Information and Communication Science & Technology(including Computer Sciences); Material Sciences; Math-ematical Sciences (including Statistics); Medical Sciences(including Physiology); New Biology (including Biochem-istry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology and Biotechnology);
Physical Sciences and Plant Sciences. Besides, ‘Women Science Congress’, ‘Children Sci-
ence Congress’, ‘Science Exhibition’ and ‘Science Com-municators Meet’ are main attractions of the mega event.Further, there shall be special Symposia on J&K titled “Sci-ence and Technology Imperatives and Opportunities forSustainable Development of J&K”.
The grass-root session on “Rural Innovators” will beinaugurated by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on veryfirst day of the event while former President Dr A P J AbdulKalam will inaugurate the Women Science Congress aswell as Children Science Congress on February 4.
Nobel Laurates Prof Y Lee, president InternationalCouncil for Science ICSU and Dr Farid Murad and Interna-tional experts along with national luminaries from differentstreams of Science, teachers,
young scholars and students, leaders of many ScienceAcademies from other countries are participating in thisCongress. The auditorium and other locations where vari-ous events of the Science Congress will be held, are ready.The state-of-the-art “Pandaal” with 10 thousand sittingcapacity has been raised near Gymnasium Hall of the Uni-versity for the main functions, such as inaugural and vale-dictory sessions. This huge structure has all auditorium likefacilities and features like water-proofing, acoustics, stages,IT equipped and adequate fire-safety measures.
Similar make-shift structures have been raised for thefood court near residential quarters, media lounge adjoin-ing the Law School complex, hospitality lounge and regis-tration counter in front of the Dhanvantri Library and Sci-ence Exhibition in the main ground near the Guest House.
For the Children Science Congress, temporary cabinshave been erected in the Gymnasium Hall where the stu-dents from different institutions will display their sciencemodels. Arrangements for the Women Science Congresshave been made in the Business School Hall.
For the arrangements and infrastructure, the JU has tak-en help of State Government as well as the Indian Army,which contributed by constructing two temporary bridgeslinking the gap between main campus and residential area.
Governor N N Vohra and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah,who are Chancellor and Pro-Chancellor, respectively of theJammu University, are taking keen interest in the ScienceCongress and have extended all out assistance to ensurebest possible arrangements for success of the event.
On directions of the Governor and Chief Minister, anapex committee and High Level Monitoring Committee con-sisting of Iqbal Khandey ,Chief Secretary; B R Sharma,Principal Secretary Planning & Development, B B Vyas,Principal Secretary to CM and Finance Secretary; Shant-manu, Divisional Commissioner Jammu; Sheikh MushtaqAhmad, Principal Secretary Higher Education; Arun Mehta,
Principal Secretary PDD and others, has been formed todirect the preparations for the Science Congress.
The Indian Science Congress Association president DrR C Sobti, is personally monitoring all the arrangementsfor which Jammu University has appointed Prof MeenaSharma and Prof Naresh Padha as the local Secretariesbesides constituting a number of management committeesfor different tasks.
For accommodation of the visiting delegates, hotels,state guest house, circuit-house, Saraswati Dham, Vaish-navi Dham and University Guest houses have beenbooked.
In view of the event, heavy deployment of Police hasbeen made all around the campus, which has been fullysealed for the outsiders with no vehicle being allowed toenter the main gate. Metal detectors have been installedon every entry point besides frisking of everyone by thesecurity personal.
Special biometric passes have been issued to the mediapersons for covering the event and those associated withthe Science Congress.
Since the scheduled Science Congress is biggest everevent in the history of Jammu University, all eyes are seton its proceedings and successful completion with the hopethat things would move in right direction only.
Tahir Shawl
On a Chilly but bright sunny morning of September 2013 an Air India flightlands me at Kushok Bakula Airport at Leh. The visit to Ladakh was for a veryspecial and important conservation cause or rather in pursuit of a dream cometrue for me. I was going to harvest the results of the seeds imbibed during mytenure at Leh as Wildlife Warden four years ago. I had mooted out a propos-al to Wildlife Protection Department of the state to devise and develop scien-tific management planning for the protection and conservation of some of ourmost threatened avian species especially Black-necked crane, the state birdof Jammu and Kashmir, and the Bar-headed geese, the highest flying birdever recorded so far and are summer visitors to Ladakh and breed only inthis region in India.The project encompassed studying their migration patternand habitat utilization using modern and advanced scientific tools like satel-lite telemeters, neck collars/bands and leg rings.
For devising a strategy for the conservation of our threatened migratorybirds and their habitats, it is essential to obtain baseline information about theirbreeding grounds, migratory routes, stop-overs and duration of stay at eachsite and the annual fluctuations in their number arriving at a place.
The study was first initiated for Bar-headed geese at Gharana wetland nearIndia- Pkistan border in Jammu region of the state in March 2012 and laterextended to Ladakh with addition of Black-necked crane, the state bird of Jam-mu and Kashmir and threatened avian species.
In LadakhThe Indian trans-Himalayan region in Ladakh holds a distinct position as
a bio-geographic zone for supporting unique wildlife species most of thembeing rare and endangered. About 33 species of mammals 276 species ofbirds and more than 700 species of plants, predominantly herbs and shrubs,have been reported from this region. Apparently barren, this high altitude colddesert region in Jammu and Kashmir, experiences extreme low temperatureand rain fall leading to low environmental productivity. Nevertheless, this regionsupports the richest wild sheep and goat community and is represented byeight species and sub-species of ungulates.
This is the only place within Indian limits where Black-necked crane (BNC)and Bar-headed geese (BHG) visit and breed during summer. These birdspecies are considered as threatened and their global population shows declin-ing trend. The estimated number of BNC in Ladakh was around 80 in 2009where as the 2013 estimate shows the number around 100.Its global popula-tion is less than 6000.
In GharnaHardly at a distance of 40 kilometers from the winter capital of Jammu and
Kashmir, the Jammu town, is located a marsh land area stretching along India-Pakistan border. Most part of this area is under paddy cultivation and producesone of the best qualities of Basmati rice. A small part of this marsh land haslegal status as Wetland Conservation Reserve. It was during 2004 when I, asWildlife Warden Jammu, on a birding trip to Gharana, caught sight of a flockof Bar-headed geese (Anser indicus). This was the first sighting report of Bar-headed geese from Gharana wetland. Since then about 4000 to 5000 Bar-
headed geese visit every winter Gharana and adjoining marsh lands like Kukri-an,Pargwal etc besides 15000 and 20000 birds of different species.
Not only the migratory and resident birds are under threat but the wetlandreserve itself may disappear in near future if steps, on war footing, are not tak-en to save this important and almost the only wintering ground of Bar-head-ed geese in Jammu and Kashmir.
In an effort to protect this habitat of bar-headed geese and important bio-diversity I discussed and persued the issue with Director Bombay NaturalHistory Society (BNHS) Dr Asad Rehmani to get it declared as an IBA (Impor-tant Bird Area) along with some other areas of Jammu region and prepared acheck list of birds of Gharana first in 2004. We later conducted bird flu sur-veillance and bird ringing exercises in 2006 and 2010 with technical assis-tance from BNHS. During March 2013 we deployed satellite transmitters, incollaboration with WII, on two bar-headed geese at Gharana to study migra-tion pattern and habitat utilization. The study further aimed at looking for thelink between Ladakh and Gharana populations of Bar-headed geese. TheJammu and Kashmir state has the distinction of being the only state in Indiahosting both wintering population ( in Jammu) as well as breeding population(in ladakh) of Bar-headed geese .
Trapping and Deploying Satellite TransmittersAfter my arrival at Leh I along with colleague scientists Dr Asad Rehmani
Director Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai , Dr Bilal Habib from WildlifeInstitute of India, Dehradun, spent two days at Leh acclimatizing, discussingour methodology and buying necessary provisions for the field.Along with Inte-sar Suhail ,Wildlife Warden Leh, we left Leh on 15 September and after daylong journey by road reached Chushul, a small sleepy hamlet situated at anelevation of 4400 meters, near India -China border, in Changthang region ofLadakh.On our arrival at Chushu, around dusk, we straightway moved to Tso-Gul-Tso, a marsh nearby, where a pair of black-necked crane was reported tobe present.
We along with Ali Hassan and his son Skinder , the trained bird trappersfrom Bihar, conducted recci of the area, laid traps and waited for the Black -necked cranes to get trapped till late evening. We were not able to get anyin hand and decided to return to our Rest House at Chushul.
Next morning we were up and ready by 4'Oclock.There was chill in the air.We proceeded to the target site we had visited last evening and waited, sit-ting in our vehicle, till dawn. The pair of cranes was still roosting in water. Ali
Hassan laid leg nooses at strategic locations using his experience and skills,gained by him almost over forty years of experience as one of of the mostskilled Indian bird trappers, as we continued waiting for the birds to come outof water and get trapped..
Patience, endurance and persistence are pre-requisites for any person tobe a good and successful field wildlifer. We saw the cranes coming out of waterand assumed they would be trapped soon. Contrary to our assumption theycontinued walking and foraging in the vast marshland in a direction away fromnoose traps. We moved to new nearby location to recce and identify otherpotential sites for trapping Bar-headed geese and Black-necked cranes.
In the adjoining valley across the hill, very close to India-China border, Iwas spell bound to experience spectacularly awesome sight of a large num-ber of Tibetan Wild Ass (Kiang), three pairs of Black-necked cranes and flocksof Bar-headed geese along with other bird species and some domestic yakssharing huge expense of this marsh land covered with a white blanket of salt.This valley comprised of three localities viz; Sirding, Tingru and Rala with nohuman population residing here during summer.
Back at our previous location at Tsu-Gul-Tso the cranes were advancingtowards the noose traps while foraging and wading through the marsh. Soonit was a joyous moment for us when we saw a female Black-necked cranegetting trapped at around 10.35 AM. Without losing much time we silently andcautiously took some biometric measurements, Put two colour leg bands onleft leg and deployed a satellite telemeter on it. The crane was quickly releasedvery safely. We watched the bird delightfully while it joined her companion aftertaking a couple of small strides and flights.
The first black-necked crane in India with a satellite transmitter deployedon it was foraging again peacefully with her companion at the Tsu-gul-Tsomarsh land in Chushul while a satellite above in the sky had started giving ussignals about its location.
Next day, on September 17, we deployed satellite telemeters on two Bar-headed geese at Rala and Tingru near Chushul. In total we collared and ringedfour bar-headed geese. The neck collars/ bands, each bearing a specific num-ber, were also put on four Bar-headed geese.
The second Black-necked crane was captured at Tibra near Hanley onSeptember 21, around 2.45 PM. A satellite transmitter was deployed success-fully on this crane along with leg bands.
(The author is District Soil Conservation Officer Jammu)
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2014 INTERNET EDITION : www.dailyexcelsior.com/magazine
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REALTORS & CONSULTANTS
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Indian Science Congress comes to Jammu
Tracking threatened birds
Manmohan Singh
Prime Minister of India
Mohammad Hamid Ansari
Vice President of India
Prof. Lee, Y. T. Nobel Laureate, President, ICSU
Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam
Former President of India