Cover Story -Crouching Tiger Pounces Back

Over the past few decades, our country has witnessed an amazing swell in industrial, educational, infrastructural and economic development. But sadly, somewhere in the midst of this booming period of growth, the people of this country forgot some of the most precious elements which made this country known for its amazing biodiversity. The majestic, magnificent and bold Bengal Tiger, worthy of being the national animal of India in every respect and now facing the danger of extinction, once roamed the entire peninsula. Not only the Bengal Tiger, but the Amur, Indo-Chinese, Amur, Sumatran, Caspian, Javan and Bali Tiger populations once occupied about half of the great continent of Asia.

Alarmingly the population of tigers is believed to have declined by 95 percent in just the last century. Tigers face increasing challenges imposed by poaching, retributive killings and habitat loss. Articles out Tiger teeth and Tiger skin fetch high prices in the black market. Also, Tiger bone is always in demand for traditional medicines in China and some other parts of the world, which are proven to have little or no significant effects.

International Union for Conservation of Nature (ICUN) is the world’s oldest environmental organization, working around the world to save wildlife. They produce the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species after every major collective wildlife census to underline species that are already extinct or extinct in the wild, critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable. Their findings show that The Bali, Caspian, and Javan tigers are already classified as extinct (in the 1940s, 1970s, and 1980s, respectively).

But all is not lost (at least for the Indian tigers) as the tiger population in India has finally seen a rise by more than 12 per cent in the last three years. As per the current tiger census, the estimated population of the big cat in India stands at 1,636 up from 1,411 in 2007.The Minister of Environment and Forests, Jairam Ramesh, who released the census report,exclaims that more areas including Sundarbans have been counted during this census, which have shown to have 70 tigers. "Clearly the good news is that the Tarai belt is showing very good results in 2010. The numbers in the Northeast are quite worrisome, much below the carrying capacity of the Northeast. Central India is cause for worry because this is where there is very good tiger habitatIn Sunderbans the state government's estimate is 200 (but) our view, our numbers are much more realistic, they are based on scientific measures and I think the single biggest challenge in 2010 has been the Sunderbans," said Ramesh. In the Shivalik-Gangetic plains of north India, the count is now 353, 55 more than the previous 298 as per the 2007 census. However, the central India region has not shown any improvement. The tiger population remains fixed at 601 as before.

And since Tigers need to be given plenty of room in their natural habitat, one cannot expect to cram in many of these solitary cats in one area of land. On the other hand, in the Northeast, vitals are looking good as the figure is up from 100 to 148. Moving to the Western Ghats, the area has recorded a significant increase in the head count. There are now an amazing 534 tigers as compared to 412 in 2007. Sundarbans in West Bengal, where tiger population assessment wasn't done earlier has recorded 70 tigers. Therefore, the total count of the national animal amounts to 1706. The other big cause of worry is that though the tiger number is up, the tiger occupancy area has come down drastically by as much 20,000 sq km. Care needs to be taken about the occupancy levels as these wild cats are extremely solitary and only come out of hiding when it’s time to mate. For these cats, the town isn’t big enough.
This is the second all-India tiger estimation study which was carried out in the designated 39 tiger reserves all over India. A sigh of relief, for now at least. We’ve proved that we’re capable of making a difference. Now we need to prove that we’re consistent at it as well. The key lies in awareness, to save these beautiful creatures from dying out. Maybe the future isn’t so dark for these majestic cats after all. More or less, only time will tell.


Janani Pradhan, S.Y.B.Sc

At the Source of Conventional Energy

After our visit to the picturesque Rohtang pass in the morning, we were scheduled to see the "Allain-Duhangan undrground hydro-electric power plant" in the afternoon, during the summer trek to Himachal Pradesh this year.

Just a few kilometres from the Manali market we searched the gates of ADHPL in no time at the entrance we collected our permission pass and rode in our vehicles and entered a tunnel leading a long way underground to see the actual working of the hydroelectric power station in full action. The scene in the tunnel represented a picture of a massive feat of engineering too extended to behold all at once. The tunnel seemed like a hemisphere full of sparkling light bulbs.
The tunnel led us to a control room where a guide explained to us the working of the plant the Allain-Duhahangan power plant utilises water from the Hamtal and Pataori Himalayan streams, which form the Allain river, and from the Chander Tal glacier fed Duhangan river and thus receives the name from the two rivers .A visitor cant fail to be overwhelmed by the staggering proportion of the project, the mind blowing architecture and the air of mystery. Unfortunately photography was prohibited.

The ADHPL is the first private run of river hydroelectric power project in the country. It combines the perennial flow of the Allain and Duhangan rivers, through two underground tunnels to feed a single power house near Prini village in the kullu district .out of total power generated ADHPL provides the state of Himachal Pradesh with 15 % of the power as royalty and the remaining is sold to various north Indian states.

The tour gave us an insight into the economic advantage of the dam but to a lesser extent into the legitimate environmental concerns of the project on the negative side large hydro projects flood a lot of land, are responsible for the displacement of wildlife and people these projects are responsible for killing a large number of fishes they alter the natural flow of rivers and cause problem with the migrating fish. But the pros of renewable energy generated from hydroelectric projects outweighs the cons as hydroelectric power plants do not burn fossil fuel they do not produce carbon dioxide or pollutants .Hydroelectricity also eliminates the hazards of coal mining and the indirect effect of coal burning .it does not create any nuclear waste and does have dangers associated with nuclear leaks, thus making hydroelectric power plants safe for the environment these projects can help decarbonising and prevent catastrophic and irreversible effects of global warming there are both positive and negative effects of this source but the environmental done by the generation of nuclear energy is colossal compared to non conventional source of energy. The souring crude oil prices and the global energy consumption trends make hydroelectricity power projects like ADHPL ecologically and environmentally sustainable.

Ryan Reynolds takes a stand against Oil Spills

We love Ryan Reynolds in “Green Lantern”. He is amazingly apt to play the role of a superhero who, while trying to live his own life, is considerate and compassionate enough to make the “wrong”, “right” again through will power. Well, it’s not just in the movies that he’s doing good to humanity. In April 2010, when Ryan Reynolds was filming "Green Lantern" in Louisiana, the BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig burst into flames and the Macondo well began spewing crude into the Gulf of Mexico. Thousands of gallons going into waste per second.

Reynolds was considerate enough to immediately speak out about the need to clean up the region's coast and protect its community. Now, on the one-year anniversary of the spill, he still seems to be in full character. The actor is urging the world to remember what happened and learn something from the events. He wrote the following for Life Magazine;
"I fell in love with Louisiana because of the spirit of the people; their love of culture, music, art, and tradition," the actor explains. "My first reaction when the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded was shock about the 11 people who lost their lives, combined with sympathy for their families. Those feelings quickly turned to anger at BP and the other companies that allowed this to happen."

Evidently upset and rather angry about such a tragedy, Reynolds goes on to point out that BP has yet to compensate thousands of victims who lost their livelihoods due to the spill, and that the Gulf's fragile ecosystem, which was severely damaged, remains in a state of ruin without any clean-up or help whatsoever. "We need to break our addiction [from oil]," he writes, "and move toward a clean energy economy."
‘Green’ is the colour of ‘will’. Perfectly stated in this context



To Watch the horror of the Gulf oil spill on YouTube enter the following link in the URL bar:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKuh3jybRCI