Chandarsain is from Ramnagar, only 43 years on this earth, he has what many people might consider an unusual profession, he is a snake catcher. Pandit Ji as he is fondly called is also a painter an artist and a news reporter. He works for Dainik Hope and Nirankush Bharat.

Chandarsain follows the footsteps of Romulus Whitaker. He went on his first snake rescue expedition at the tender age of thirteen; he walked behind snake charmers and rescuers. That is how he learnt to catch snakes.

He has caught various species both venomous and non-venomous ones. He must have caught and rescued over 1000 snakes in the past 13 years.

People call him from different places to catch and release snakes. Once a snake is caught Chandarsain sees to it that it is released in the forest, away from human – beings.

Dinesh Mansera studied in the Kumaon University worked with the Uttarujala, Danik Jagran and Rashtriya Sahara. He also worked with Akhon Dekhi in D.D Metro, Rozana with B.A.G Films and D.D. Metro, Aaj Tak and so on. He made exclusive stories on Indo China Trade (Gunji) the Indo – Nepal Border Dispute, the Likers Problems in Uttaranchal/Jim Corbett, Pollution in the Nainital Lake, Problems with Bidi Labour, Rice Miller’s, Baghwal Festival in Devidhura. Currently with N.D.T.V, he is working on the Pollution Problems in Nainital Lake, Ganga Pollution, and Maovaad in Indo – Nepal border.

He takes great pain in wildlife related stories, though he is not an environmentalist or an activist but he is no less than any great one. He is always on the move and ever active to save nature and wildlife. A great support and an excellent journalist.

Sudershan Juyal was born & brought up in Nainital. He was educated in Nagarpalika Prathamik Pathshala Tallital, Government High School and Government Intermediate College, Kumaon University, Nainital. He taught in St. Joseph’s College Nainital.

After which he joined the National School of Drama and started working with theatre groups and institutions in Delhi, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. He has worked with many renowned persons like Fritz Benewitz, B.V. Karanth, Brij Mohan Shah, Mohan Upreti, Mohan Maharishi, Ranjit Kapoor, Anuradha Kapur, Amal Allana, Manjeet Bawa, Catherine Rao, Robin Das, Jean Claude Carriere, Prasanna and many more known people in this industry.

After which he joined the Film and Television Institute of India, he then started working with Shekhar Kapur as an assistant director and later worked with other film and TV personalities like Vijay Anand, Dr. Chandraparkash Dwivedi, Ravi Ojha and Vinod Pande. He directed many episodes of the “Reporter” for DD and Star Plus. He got involved with Sahara TV (now a bouquet of news, film and entertainment channels) where he headed programming of entertainment and news channels. Then he went on a sabbatical moved to Dehradun to relearn the meaning of theatre and cinema. He is trying to discover and adopt the methods of sustainable and organic methods of living, while looking forward to sharing his experiences with local communities in Uttarakhand.

He is a guy who can make anything out of waste and recycle whatever he gets in hand. He is one of those talented and creative people who can make the best out of the worst and who understands the value and importance of reusing, refusing, reducing and recycling waste. He taught ladies in Dhikuli and Ringora ‘art and craft’ and also how they can use the time they have at home in being creative and earning from their creativity. He is a guy who has a golden heart and we believe that more of him can do good things for the local community.

In 2005 he also was part of a team which led a 17 day expedition to the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve, Lohajung, Auli Boogiyal, Bednee Boogiyal, Kulara and Tapovan.

In 2006 Manoj took part in an eco-tourism guide workshop held at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) Dehradun.

He is now the manager-in-charge of the Vanghat Riverine Woods and there he is also managing one of the Mahseer Conservation Scheme Projects i.e. a single beat that has been taken by us. He is regulating permits and overseeing the transfer of the funds paid to the village EDC accounts. Also, he helps in binding the Local Community with this Conservation Project because that is a way in which Human – Animal Conflict can be reduced.

Manoj has grown over the years and has come a far way from where he was and is going.

]]> http://www.mahseerconservancy.org/blog/2011/01/11/mahindra-singh-negi/feed/ 0 http://www.mahseerconservancy.org/blog/2011/01/11/hetal/ http://www.mahseerconservancy.org/blog/2011/01/11/hetal/#comments Tue, 11 Jan 2011 08:00:12 +0000 Mahseer Conservancy http://www.mahseerconservancy.org/blog/?p=1094

Ms. Hetal believes in the ‘Green Angel’ has done her Bachelor’s in Geography Honors’ and Masters in Environment and Development.

She has worked with Mr. Bittu Sahgal, a well known Environmentalist and Editor, Sanctuary Asia. She has worked as Head Initiatives: Sanctuary Asia, National Coordinator: Kids for Tigers and Assistant Manager: Corporate Social Responsibility with Mr. Sahgal.

After which she enrolled for training with CC Africa/Taj Safaris as a Naturalist/Ranger but she got promoted to a Community Officer cum H.R Manager where she worked with the Baiga and Gond Community of Madhya Pradesh along with the other work that she was doing there.

She has also been a part of Environmental Campaigns/Events; with well know organizations. Though she comes from a Business family her passion towards Environment, Wildlife and Conservation has brought her into this field.

Now she is a part of Masheer Conservancy and working on Projects like Vulture Conservation, Masheer Conservation, Rural Traveller, Human – Tiger Conflict with Lantana being a sustainable source of income. She is also doing some research in Uttarakhand but that will be revealed later..

]]> http://www.mahseerconservancy.org/blog/2011/01/11/hetal/feed/ 3 http://www.mahseerconservancy.org/blog/2011/01/10/nicola-addison/ http://www.mahseerconservancy.org/blog/2011/01/10/nicola-addison/#comments Tue, 11 Jan 2011 05:50:10 +0000 Mahseer Conservancy http://www.mahseerconservancy.org/blog/?p=1089 Nicola joined Mahseer Conservancy in early 2010, and is the Vulture Program coordinator, along with having involvement in much of the other work carried out by the conservancy.

Growing up in South Africa, Nicola spent most of her holidays trekking in the Drakensberg Mountains.  It is there that she first discovered her love for birds of prey, and, in particular, vulture species.  A move to New Zealand with her family did not diminish this passion.  The outdoor lifestyle of both South Africa and New Zealand led to a passion for wild places and conservation, and Nicola went on to study Ecology, Zoology and Natural Resource Management at university.  A research project in New Zealand falcon (Falco novaeseelandiae) continued and reinforced the bird of prey fascination.

After university, Nicola worked in both the private and public sectors for environmental protection, first as an environmental consultant focusing on best practice environmental methods for large developments such as hydroelectric power schemes.  In the public sector, Nicola worked as an Environmental Protection officer, again implementing best practice environmental methods, this time focusing on conserving aquatic ecosystems and implementing efficient erosion and sediment control measures.

Throughout this work Nicola maintained a conservation focus, with ongoing involvement with New Zealand falcon, and a trip to Kruger National Park as part of the team involved in satellite tracking wild African elephant.  A few months of soul searching resulted in Nicola leaving her 9-5 office job to follow her dreams to India, and she’s never looked back.

Dr. Rajiv Singh was born in Lucknow (Kinmarry). He is a qualified Vetenary Doctor, who has studied B.V.Sc & A.H from G.V. Panth University Panthnagar. He has worked with many known organizations and government bodies like P.F.A: People for Animal’s, belonging to Ms. Maneka Gandhi, Sanjay Gandhi Animal Care Center at Raja Garden Delhi, Jain Ward Govt. Hospital, Paraag (also known as Aanchal) at Khatima Uddhamsingh Nagar, a Govt. Hospital at Veerukhal Uttarakhand, Govt. Hospital in Haldwani at Kuwanpuri (Golapaar), Jahankat hospital in Khatima. Currently, he is working with Ramnagar Govt. Hospital, Corbett.

He is also working for the protection and conservation of Vultures with Mahseer Conservancy. He has also been involved in the Postmortem of 10 Tigers, 2 Leopards and 6 Elephants at Ramnagar and Khatima. Dr. Rajiv Singh has a dream of creating a good international standard operation theatre for the animals where he can treat them. He also wants a team of trained staff who can take care of both domestic as well as wild animals especially when he is not around.

Rajiv is one person who is by our side even in an unhourly hour especially when it comes to wildlife. Even though he has not received any formal training for the treatment of wild animals but he is ready to learn and get trained for the same. One of his current wishes is to visit B.N.H.S, Pinjore so that he can have a good hold on the Vulture Breeding and Conservation Program as well as know how on Vulture Rescue and Treatment.

He is one of the biggest supporters of Mahseer Conservancy and Vulture Conservation Projects. A true Humanitarian and a good friend of the voiceless!

]]> http://www.mahseerconservancy.org/blog/2011/01/10/dr-rajiv-singh/feed/ 0 http://www.mahseerconservancy.org/blog/2011/01/10/govind-patni/ http://www.mahseerconservancy.org/blog/2011/01/10/govind-patni/#comments Tue, 11 Jan 2011 04:59:58 +0000 Mahseer Conservancy http://www.mahseerconservancy.org/blog/?p=1061

Govind Patni is a guy who understands the importance of serious journalism. He is one of the first people who knows and understands the implementation of serious journalism especially when it comes to conservation and wildlife. He is a native resident of Lohaghat; Champawat (Uttarakhand). He started his carrier in journalism; 2001 from a Hindi daily called “Jan Lahar”. He has graduated in Arts from Kumaon University and has Post Graduated in Mass Communication from Ruhelkhand University. Currently he is placed in ETV News as a reporter.

Govind is an emerging environment and wildlife journalist. He is amongst the few media people who pay attention to environment and wildlife conservation. He works in Ramnagar which is a part of the Corbett Tiger Reserve. He is quite active when it comes to fighting for the danger and safety of wildlife in and around Corbett. He has raised many issues for the safety and conservation of wildlife. He has covered many stories and some of them have been successful ventures. He encourages eco-tourism through his news reports. He still fights for the ill effects of disingenuous tourism in Corbett Park. Govind has been successful on restricting wildlife disturbing activities in many resorts situated in and around the Tiger Reserve. He has telecasted news on tiger safety and received success especially towards tiger conservation. He plays an important role in spreading awareness especially pertaining to environment and conservation.

Govind is an active blogger. His blog “Corbett News” (http://corbettnews.blogspot.com) reaches out to people both nationally and internationally. People share their emotions and information related to wildlife in this blog. Mr. Ravish Kumar a senior journalist of NDTV also appreciated “Corbett News” and wrote an article for the blog in a daily Hindi news paper called the “Dainik Hindustan”. All in all a person who does all he can in order to contribute towards wildlife conservation. He completes the saying that a pen is mightier than a sword!

Dr. Anil Prakash Joshi known as Mountain Men has devoted himself to resource-based rural development for the last 29 years.  As a teacher, he guided 19 Ph.D. students and motivated many more to work in the hill villages to use science and technology to solve the basic needs of the mountain community.  An Ashoka Fellow, he has authored over 80 research papers and 10 books dealing with sustainable development of the Himalayas through various means. He has also been publishing other important scientific magazines to popularize science in the villages.  The major publications are TIME (Technology Intervention for Mountain Ecosystem) and Rural Tech, which have a distribution of 5000 villages and institutes.

He quit his comfortable job as a Reader in the Government P.G. College, and plunged himself whole-heartedly into research and development work for the village people of the Himalayas.  He formed a voluntary organization entitled Himalayan Environmental Studies and Conversation Organization (HESCO), and concentrated on need-based science and technology developments, and their application for the mountain regions.  He began this work on a small scale by taking up initiatives that had immediate application possibilities in the rural areas through the support of agencies such as the Department of Science and Technology, and the Department of Bio-technology.

His total task involved in promoting local economy through local means. His strong belief is utilizing local recourses can only bring sustained economic development in rural India as former is governed by community. Thus development of local resources, upgraded wisdom, and local markets have been his focal approach.  These efforts were designed to bring about a decentralized economy, and have shown tremendous results.

  About Five lakhs villagers from ten thousand villages in the nine mountain states of the Himalayas have direct and indirect benefits from his initiative. His major contribution has been to bring back neglected watermills of 5,000 villages with new version by upgrading the traditional system. Economic and social changes of the villages after mills revival have brought revolution in many states like J&K, HP and Uttarakhand.

New applications of mill for several local resource utility have given a new ray of hope to neglected water millers. He organized millers from state to National level to gear their voice. Internationally, water millers proposed to organized to advocate decentralized power generation for local economy.

He mobilized thousands of villages to tap their local resources such as agriculture, horticulture, and medicinal and fiber plants to generate income and support a paradigm for a thriving local economy. Now most of the rural development departments of the mountain states have followed this protocol, and decentralized economies are slowly taking hold and economic independence is setting the place in rural Himalaya.

Agriculture being a major resource, Dr. Joshi also promoted the same in the mountain villages, where traditional crops have been revamped.  This approach is restoring the ecological importance of the indigenous crops, according to the Climate and Nutritional needs of the villages. His efforts to initiate value addition in local agri-produce has been fetching high return. He motivated the shrine-committees of  Badrinath, Gangotri, and Vaishno Devi Temples, as well as some Muslim Shrines, to allow offerings which are made from the local crops and resources. This was to generate local employment in these economically-deprived regions from local produce. The annual turnover of these villages involved in offering for shrines is estimated to be Rs. Ten Lakh to Forty lakhs. There is a silent movement on offering as an employment spreading in all agro-climatic zones of the country. The ministry of Science and Technology has taken up this as a major programme now.

Another program popularly knows as TIP (Technology Initiative for Peace) was instituted by Dr. Joshi which enlisted the assistance of the Indian Army and security forces. This program has been instrumental in bringing revolution in the villages of the border areas. It brought Dr. Joshi’s watermill technology and electrified many villages throughout Jammu, Kashmir, and the LOC.  In tandem with his program to maximize the use of the local resources in the regions of Kargil, Kupwara, Baramullah, Jammu, and Kashmir, Dr. Joshi introduced the brand name of “Kargil” for locally-produced products.  A similar intervention was also carried out in the northeast Arunanchal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur state, and a local-brand of their products has been established.  These efforts have braught employment in local communities, and have had the positive effect of diverting the local youth away from anti-social activities. The other forces like Border security forces, Indo Tibbetian Border Police, Social Security Board, and Central Reserve Police Force have also begun similar experiment in their respective border areas under the guidance of Dr. Joshi. This has become a popular initiative as it has brought peace in remote border areas where otherwise unrest prevails because of constant negligence of community.

Mountain men’s recent intervention in recharging mountain springs has caught enormous attention of the mountain community and policy makers in these states.  Using isotope-hydrology as a tool, with the help of Bhabha Atomic Research Center, he has successfully recharged seventeen springs which were turning dry experiment on another 120 springs of 3 states is under program.  The results of this experiment are already affecting a major thrust of many government development agencies who are addressing the scarcity of water in rural mountain areas.

     Another innovative and exciting programme introduced by Dr. Joshi involved school children and teachers from local renowned schools.  He motivated them to serve villages for development using both local resources and technology.  The basic idea behind this program was to inculcate in children an affinity towards rural villages and to create new opportunities for development for deprived villages.  The positive benefits of this project thus far have resulted “adopt a village” concept being shared with 70 additional schools across the country. 

He has also initiated WISE (Women’s Initiative for Self-Employment), a social platform for women to generate employment and marketing opportunities, as well as to address other economy-related issues.  More than five thousand women from all over the mountains are members of WISE, which has strengthened the relationship between women, their community’s resources, and technology.

Dr. Joshi has also promoted a forest-fire prevention measure in mountain villages. The removal of forest litter which exaggerates spread of wild fires was locally utilized. This litter is used for composting and other energy purposes. The villagers remove the litter before onset of peak summer for above uses. Compartmental removal present fire incidence as well as does not harm forest growth.

Another important contribution of Dr. Joshi’s includes disaster-management through providing employment relief to the victims of natural disasters. This was rendered by promoting earthquake-resistant types of housing and as well immediate employment relief based on local resources. Thousand of villagers were benefited with it at the time of 1992 and 1999 Himalayan earthquake. 

In 1979, Dr. Joshi addressed the menacing problem of soil erosion and landslides in the Himalayan Mountains with Biological methods. The simple botanical cum mechanical method has been applied to stabilize the slopes. More than hundred slides along the major hill roads were controlled by his initiative. These experiments became so successful that the Border Roads organization subsequently adopted the technology throughout the mountain region. 

Dr. Joshi also promoted to schedule caste community. During their visit in Himalayas, an idea came up in his mind to develop a model village for schedule caste community through their local resources in three states Uttarakhand, Himanchal and J&K. About 10 numbers of villages all across Jammu Kashmir, Himanchal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand are involved in the task.

Primary philosophy underlying Dr. Joshi’s approach to rural village development is the concept of a community-to-community knowledge transfer.  He is committed to inspire a continuing “development chain” in which a village receiving the benefits of development will in turn pass on that knowledge to another village in need of assistance. This mode of technology-transfers is popular by name Shridan (community initiative to community) practice. It has popular acceptance in Indian mountain villages. This has recently been adopted internationally too. The Swiss community has initiated a programme called CIC (community initiative to community) from Alpine to Himalaya. The community of Engadin valley organized support for technology transfer to Swiss alpine to himalaya. Rural women from Indian mountain were trained by Swiss community on Bakery, Cheese, and Bee Keeping etc. Similar initiative is brewing in New Zealand where south alpine community is organizing training for Himalayan farmers on agriculture issues. The whole technology transfer program is organized, sponsored and imparted by communities. The trained community further share it with others.      

He has undertaken Padyatra to raise the issues on community right and empowerment.  Padyatras from Gangotri to Delhi, Uttarakhand to Himachal Pradesh and Manari to Maletha were conducted to raise water issues under Water Movement. Considering the agriculture as a mainstay and farmer most important individual of the nation, he recently organized cycle yatra from J&K to Uttarakhand and from Kanyakumari to Uttarakhand (5000 Km).  His latest endeavor has been to demand a fix percentage of land under agriculture to ensure the food security. He has been working on one window service to the marginal farmers. This would include loan, seeds, plant protection services and market outlet. This has been established in Uttarakhand as a ‘KISAN BANK’ a paradigm for others to follow.  This has largely reduced farm inputs and as well a dignity of farmers is secured, which latter feel is threatened.

Dr. Joshi has also published a children’s newspaper entitled “Bachcho Ka Akhbar” to bring awareness to village-children about science and their local natural resources.  This paper is distributed in 1500 villages of the mountain areas.

Positions

1.  Member in Indian Council for Forestry Research and Education, Society.
2. Center Soil and Water Training Research Institute,  member.
3. Expert member:- Indo Swiss Collaboration in Biotechnology .
4. Expert member : Biotechnology Promotion Committee Programme.
5. Expert in Department of Science and Technology.
6. Fellow National Academy of Science.
7. Member of Indian Society for Forester.
8. Fellow of Indian Botanical Society.

AWARDS:

 I.Jawahar Lal Nehru Award by the Indian Science Congress in 1999.

II.Social Science Award for 2001 from Shri Ram Washshran Devi Bhatia Memorial Charitable Trust.

III.Declared Man of the Year 2002 by the popular magazine “The Week”.

IV. Awarded the Sat Paul Mittal Award for 2004.

V.Dr. T.N. Khoshoo Memorial Award in Conservation for 2005 for his contribution to social upliftment.

VI.Padma Shree Award in 2006

VII. Jamnalal Bajaj Award in 2006.

VIII.Honored as one of the Silvers of the Year 2007 achievers named By Harmony Magazine.

IX.Real Heroes Award, CNN IBN and Reliance

X.National Award for women’s development through application of   science and technology

dranilpjoshi@gmail.com

dranilpjoshi@yahoo.com

website: www.hesco.in

Prerna Singh Bindra

Prerna Singh Bindra is an economics graduate, and has a degree in Personnel Management and Labour Welfare. She started her career with Indian Institute of Management (Ahmedabad), as a Research Associate. She has also consulted with NGOs i.e the Friends of Women’s World Banking, where she assessed needs for micro financing for rural women, and helped streamline systems to make microfinance accessible.

Career

She began her career in journalism, born out of a passion for the wilds, with Sanctuary Asia. Later, she moved on to mainstream media, as she believed that the message needed to percolate to the common man, and to reach a larger audience. In a career spanning over a decade, she has worked with various publications including India Today, The Asian Age, The Pioneer, Tehelka and The Indian Express— penning well over a thousand articles on nature and wildlife. She has also written nature articles for children.  Prerna has done many investigative, undercover stories at times at considerable risk to life ie. exposed the illegal trade in shahtoosh in Jammu & Kashmir, the ivory trade in Gujarat and the elephant massacre in Satkosia in Orissa. She has travelled across forests in naxal control like Palamau and Saranda in Jharkhand, and Simlipal in Orissa, and remote forests such as Valmiki in Bihar.    She has written extensively on the  Terai, traversing through Uttarakhand-Uttar Pradesh-Bihar to understand and highlight man-animal conflict, poaching concerns, rehabilitation of villages from critical tiger habitats and other issues in protected areas in the Terai. She has also focussed on lesser known endangered species. Her canvas also includes writing on deforestation, impact of power plants, mines and other mega-projects on ecology and livelihood. Her writing has also effected policy change.  

She currently is a freelance journalist, and is the Editor of Tigerlink, a journal which collates and analyses information on the tiger from across its range countries. She also occasionally volunteers for NGOs, essentially pitching in campaigns or driving media attention to focus on critical conservation issues. She is also currently working with the Ministry of Tourism to help work out strategies to help alleviate the negative impacts of tourism on wildlife. She is currently also involved with the NDTV Save the Tiger campaign as representing Sanctuary Asia who are the knowledge partners. 

She is committed to raise the bar for environment journalists, and has helped organise media workshops. She has spoken at various seminars, conferences, colleges and schools.  She is guest faculty at an International Course on Awareness as a tool for Conservation organised by Satpuda Foundation in collaboration with Environment Education and Conservation Global. And also for the journalism school of Centre for Media Studies. 

Awards

She has won the Carl Zeiss Award for excellence in networking and engaging the public at large for the cause of wildlife conservation, as well as the Sanctuary Asia Wildlife Service award for in-depth and consistent coverage of conservation issues.

 Book

She has authored a well-received book, a conservation-based travelogue The King and I:Travels in Tigerland, published by Rupa in 2006.