Anupma Khanna | Dehradun

Religion and nature are one, both being delicate manifestations of the same God, it is said. However, it is not very often that one witnesses as powerful a show of the gospel as around the shrines abutting the Ramganga in Uttarakhand; where people’s absolute faith in Hinduism is saving a magnificent life form from getting wiped out forever.

In what is remarkable, Hindu temples dotting the river in Pauri and Nainital have become isolated sanctuaries protecting the mighty, but threatened, golden mahseer from ruthless illegal fishing methods by the locals. Mahseer is a prized freshwater species having high culinary demand in the Ramganga region.

Consequently, fishing pressure is acute and despite having been declared endangered by the National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources 18 years ago, it continues to be massacred through explosions, electrocution and poisoning.

However, amidst this bustle are stretches of the Ramganga where the mahseer thrives, protected against all illegal fishing methods. Be it the famous Garjia shrine, the ancient Baijnath or the array of smaller austere temples, these holy places have become isolated sanctuaries for the endangered fish. The priests of these shrines have prohibited fish catching in the area and its absolute reverence among natives makes the mahseer flourish even in the absence of any official guard.

“Hinduism is the essence of our lives. And at the core of Hinduism is valuing every creation of God. Therefore, true divine service is in protecting the being as opposed to offering prayers while taking lives. This is the philosophy underlying angling prohibition near temples. The golden mahseer is a marvel of nature and we must not let it die,” elaborated priest Shiv Prasad in a conversation with The Pioneer.

As reiterated by Corbett-based wildlife conservationist Sumantha Ghosh, “It is amazing to perceive the intangible, outlasting sway of spirituality in causing behavioural changes. The mahseer is a highly-valued food fish among the bucolic locals. However, the same people do not touch the fish in these spots because of the religious underpinnings, forcing the mahseer to find sanctuary in isolated pools next to temples.”

The phenomenon clearly establishes that the reigning centrality of divine faith to the Hindu way of life accords a strong sway to religious leaders in rendering mindsets, making them one of the most potent harbingers of grassroots activism.

As emphasised by artist Smita Rathor in a conversation with The Pioneer, “Given India’s socio-cultural setting, eco-feminism and an emotional connect are the most sustainable approaches to environment conservation. In India, theism is sacrosanct. The success of these temples has significant connotations and must be replicated throughout the country.”

However, the golden mahseer may still be wiped out. As warned by Dr Shiv Kumar of Wildlife Institute of India, during monsoons the larger, adult mahseers migrate upstream for spawning and are massacred. Reiterating the same, Misty Dhillon, proprietor of the Himalayan Outback near Marchulaa lamented, “Protected areas comprising the Corbett and temple vicinities will not be effective unless something is done about the slaughtering of mahseer when they migrate to breed.”

River resources of the area are controlled by the forest department but ‘no patrols are being carried out to monitor the river and nothing is in place to stop the damage being done’, admonishes a recent study undertaken by a local NGO in collaboration with Wildlife Institute of India.

The study has found that dynamites are being used all along the river every day, killing everything in the vicinity of the blast with fry, fingerlings and other aquatic species often being a part of the discarded by-catch. Also rampant are bleaching, electrocution and snares. Compounding these direct threats are excessive sand mining and over extraction of water destroying aquatic habitat.

Mining is particularly intensive on the Gagas, a tributary of the Ramganga that runs through Bhikasain. Here, families are reported to mine sand from the river bed every day for jeeps and trucks to collect and transport to the market, dramatically altering the natural flow of the river and causing a crater effect with banks of discarded gravel and pools of stagnant water. Forty kg of sand is being sold for `20.

Clearly, a lot needs to be done — and done quickly. For barely a distance from the protected precincts of the Corbett National Park, one is appalled by the deterioration of the fragile ecosystem that is pushing many exotic life forms to the brink of disappearance. Yet, there may be no denying that the voluntary temple sanctuaries by the Ramganga have many a lesson to inspire.

It’s a great pleasure to see people getting acknowledged for their hard work and achievements and we would like to wish Mr Bhartari all he best for future success in his endeavours.

A jeep safari is a good way to see the sights

One hundred years ago, India’s tigers numbered around 40,000, yet within decades the Royal Bengal Tiger faced extinction. Although hunting was outlawed in 1970, the survival of the species was threatened by continuing loss of habitat and by poaching.

Enacting the Wildlife Protection Act in 1972, India’s central government established the first nine tiger reserves, including Corbett and totalling 16,000sq km, across India.

Reserves now number 27 and encompass more than twice that initial land area.

Project Tiger has doubled India’s tiger population whilst safeguarding much of the gene pool and habitats for wildlife generally, although some argue that some smaller reserves are not viable populations.

As at Corbett, Tiger Reserves consist of a core, a heartland shielded from forestry, grazing and other disturbances. Buffer zones supplement the habitat and allow multiple uses, including pre-existing villages and forestry operations.

Project Tiger http://projecttiger.nic.in

Fact File

Corbett National Park is six hours drive east of Delhi. Overnight trains also serve Ramnagar, which offers a range of accommodation including the comfortable but bizarrely designed Country Inn Tree Tops, one of many hotels along the Ranikhet road.

Corbett Museum is 32 km from Ramnagar on the road to Nainital.

More information: Lonely Planet’s encyclopaedic India guide.

Tiger’s pug or pawprint indicates the age and health of the animal

We glimpse a lone sambar deer, more timid than the chital; the canine bark of the barking deer reaches us from a bend ahead. Porcupines and wild boar have dug up the ground in many places. Tiger scat, examined by expert eyes, reveals fur and crushed bones from its last kill: that is as close as I’ll come to a face-to-face encounter with the king of the forests. Tiger hunting has long since ceased, but the ‘king of Indian sport fish’ still draws anglers from around the world. Esteemed by pukka sahib sportsmen since the nineteenth century, the yellowfin or golden mahseer remains abundant here; catches are released.

At a once-abandoned hamlet on the river flat, ecologist Sumantha Ghosh, in partnership with local communities has established Vanghat River Lodge, a wilderness and fishing lodge just outside the reserve.

Vanghat trains and employs young villagers as housekeeping staff and gillies. Poaching and dynamite fishing have virtually ceased, and catch sizes are rising noticeably. The hamlets and their garden beds are shielded by solar-powered electric fencing, for protection from predatory leopards, browsing elephants – and the occasional tiger.

Vanghat’s stone and mud-brick cottages have been fitted with comfortable beds and ensuite bathrooms: far more welcoming than India’s scruffy government resthouses. Drinks are offered around the campfire before dinner materialises.

Barry Abbott, a retired Briton who has fished all over the world, declares himself well pleased with his first day’s tally: a 15lb mahseer, with a 25-pounder slipping off the hook. My own catch is considerably less impressive, but the intangible rewards include a glimpse of two very large otters slithering across the river-worn pebbles.

“Tiger is giving us dodge”, declares wildlife guide Hem Bahuguna, calling a halt near some tell-tale pug marks (pawprints) and scrapings. As the engine cools, then stills, we hear only the birds, the soft breeze and the distant chattering of monkeys. From time to time, another jeep materialises, stopping to exchange a few words. Otherwise, here in India, most crowded of nations, there is perfect peace.

Corbett is India’s first, perhaps finest, Tiger Reserve and is buffered by surrounding tracts of country. You can spend days chasing tigers or cast a line to tempt the golden mahseer. The Ramganga Reservoir provides year-round water for the animals and spawning grounds for the golden mahseer, which migrates upstream.

Tall stands of teak, with its strikingly wide leaves, and the equally imposing sal clothe the hillsides, and wide gravel river beds traverse expanses of waving grass. Gharial, the snouted crocodile, coexist alongside the mugger crocodile and the otter. Sambar, chital or spotted deer and the solitary muntjac or barking deer are all readily spotted, especially when browsing in the grasslands. Less visible, the wild boar, sloth bear and tiger all record their passing with spoor – paw prints and droppings.

The eco-friendly Vanghat River Lodge in the Corbett Tiger Reserve

Panthers, although endangered, continue to be sighted in the hill country – but, Bahuguna admits gloomily, Indian authorities have recently confiscated quantities of contraband skins.

Macaques or rhesus monkeys, the males’ buttocks comically inflamed during the present mating season, together with the larger langurs, enliven otherwise still forests.

At least, 500 of India’s 1,300 known bird species are recorded at Corbett: a hoopoe browses boldly; a lone rose-winged parakeet stands out against bare boughs.

Bahaguna has set up a pre-dawn rendezvous at Amdanda Gate, outside the town of Ramnagar. A pallid pink orb begins to burn through the mists which rise above forest and grassland as the jeep reaches Bijrani camp, where day-visitor facilities operate.

By noon, we have jolted across innumerable gravel river beds, wound up into the dappled shade of sal forest and back down again, and climbed a watchtower on the edge of a broad river valley. We have examined the bark torn and chewed by elephants, noting the bushes trampled by these huge and demanding creatures. Tiger pug marks and droppings beside the track indicate the age and health of the animal.

Tigers often prove elusive, but park director Rajiv Bhartari will explain why this is no cause for concern. At Corbett, an estimated 143 tigers range across 1,218 square kilometres of rugged terrain. This population density is considerably lower – and therefore healthier – than at some of the better-known reserves in western India.

Scientists are conducting a tiger census, and the numbers are coming in well above expectations.

Villagers in the community established by celebrated tiger hunter Jim Corbett

Jim Corbett, author of the best-selling Man-Eaters of Kumaon, became a larger-than-life figure in the Himalayan hill country before World War II. The British hunter tracked down and killed 50 man-eating tigers and more than 250 leopards which had terrorised local villagers, but believed that a taste for human flesh was developed only by ageing or wounded tigers. His concern for the tiger’s survival led to the reservation of what would become today’s Corbett National Park: the starting point in 1973 for the groundbreaking Project Tiger.

The hill people of Kumaon remember Jim Corbett not only by the reservations which bear his name, but for his dedication to the welfare of his tenant farmers for whom he created a model village at Kaladhungi. Choti Haldwani, Corbett’s bungalow where the life-long bachelor lived with his sister Maggie, has been preserved as a museum, whilst a walking trail meanders through the mustard seed and sugar canefields of his former estate.

Now, conservationists are breeding the Mahseer and hope to release them in rivers in Indian Kashmir. The programme is the result of a peace process between India and Pakistan that has led to a drop in violence in the region.

“We have bred this fish nicely and reared it out,” Showkat Ali, joint director of Kashmir’s fisheries department, told Reuters.

Ali said hundreds of Mahseer used to migrate to Indian Kashmir each year until Pakistan completed the Mangla dam in 1967 across the Jhelum river, the traditional migratory route for the fish.

The omnivorous red-finned Mahseer, scientifically known as Tor tor, is prized by anglers because of its huge size — reaching up to 2.75 metres (9 feet) and weighing up to 54 kg (119 lb) — and for its fighting spirit.

The fish lives in clear rivers and lakes throughout India and Southeast Asia and needs fast-flowing rivers and streams in the mountains to breed.

Finding enough of the thick-scaled carp in the area to breed at a farm in southern Kashmir proved difficult. Over time, enough were collected and fisheries officials plan to introduce young Mahseer into Indian Kashmir’s rivers and lakes in coming months.

Two more breeding farms are planned in the region, including one in the Uri area, near the Line of Control — a 740 km (460 miles) line which divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan.

A DREAM

Local anglers hoped the programme will bring back an exciting sport.

“I am sure, Inshallah (god willing), the return of the fish will attract more anglers to Kashmir,” Mohammad Amin, 65, said. “For me, fishing for Mahseer is only a dream now, the last catch was 15 years ago.”

To fulfil the dream, militancy in Indian Kashmir needs to remain under control.

Plans to conserve the Mahseer were disrupted in 1989 when Islamic militants launched a revolt against Indian rule in part of Kashmir.

Spiralling violence led to budget cuts and made the programme to unsafe for staff. But India and Pakistan’s 2004 peace process led to the project being revived.

While conservationists welcomed the move to restock Kashmir’s rivers with the Mahseer, they said it was crucial the government took a broader approach if they wanted the fish to remain in area for good.

“We need to look at this in more detail than just restocking,” said Sumantha Ghosh, naturalist and president of the Mahseer Conservation Society.

“We must study the habitat and see what other factors are causing populations to drop and also introduce protected areas as they have done in other Indian states like Uttaranchal and Karnataka.”

http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/38098/story.htm

As a part of Vulture Study Programme, the research scholars from France have kick-started their study from today. The scholars will be here for three months.

These researchers of France University are undergoing National Diploma in Environment and have created special study sites at Ringora village, to study vultures who have their nests in the region in big numbers. While dwindling number of vultures in the country have been a cause of concern, Uttarakhand has somehow recorded these vultures in good numbers.

Jacob, a scholar said that studying vultures in Corbett would certainly help them in a better way. He disclosed that they would monitoring the nests round the clock.

You can find this article by clicking on the following link:

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2009/20090719/dun.htm#10

In a major boost for environmentalists, vultures were sighted in Uttarakhand after the recent discovery of the near-extinct birds in Himachal Pradesh.

Over 150 vultures of five species can be found nesting and feeding at three locations around Ramnagar in Uttarakhand — Van Gujjar village of Tumeria, Ringora and Hatidagar. The three sites fall under two categories:

Regular nesting sites (Ringora and Tumeria): Vultures are consistently seen roosting and occupying nests throughout the year and these are likely to be important breeding sites;

Regular feeding sites (Hatidagar): Cattle carcasses are regularly left here and vultures feed on them.

Ringora is an “encroached” village with around 25 families on either side of NH-121, about thee km north of Ramnagar in Nainital district. Earlier, Ringora residents used to keep a large number of cattle. However, at a time when the natural scavengers suffer a population catastrophe triggered by medicines; at Ringora, Indian white-backed vultures are seen roosting virtually every day on four trees, all of which are large kadam (Adina Cordifolia) trees. In a monitoring research undertaken recently by a Corbett-based vulture conservation NGO, 235 white-backed vultures were recorded in 60 observations spread over a month. Vultures in groups of 15 or more are often sighted here.

Significantly, the slender-billed vulture (SBVs), which is even more threatened than the tiger in India, has also been roosting occasionally at Ringora. A captive breeding scheme in India, run by a coalition of conservation groups, including the Royal Society for Protection of Birds and the Zoological Society of London, has seen successful hatching and fledging of two slender-billed vultures for the first time this year. Given that there are just 1,000 slender-billed vultures left in the wild, even the five resident SBVs recorded by researchers is good news for conservationists. Besides, Cinereous or black vulture and red-headed vulture have also been spotted at Ringora.

The second colony borders Tumeria dam, 22.5 km south-west of Ramnagar in Udham Singh Nagar. It is a village of Van Gujjars with about 15 families. Their general attitude is quite pro-vulture and, interestingly, the village also has an old Government poster dating at least 10 years with information on Rajasthani vultures. Well-known for their large holdings of buffaloes, these Gujjars have herds of hundreds grazing in and around the reservoir.

The village is surrounded on three sides by degraded sal forest (Shorea Robusta) and on these trees can be seen large numbers of white-backed vultures and their nests. The villagers say the vultures have been constantly roosting in the village for a couple of years now.

According to Tumeria residents, around 40 vultures can be seen roosting after 4 pm just about every day. Corroborating it, Sumantha Ghosh of Corbett Tiger Reserve in interactions with The Pioneer recounted having observed 49 vultures on August 24 and 39 vultures on August 2 this year.

The vultures found at Tumeria roost in the upper canopy of the sal trees in the village and appear to nest within the approximate boundaries of the village. Forest officials attributed the presence of the very large number of vultures in the area to frequent presence of carcasses nearby.

The third location is a regular feeding site of the white-backed, Egyptian and slender-billed vultures. Hatidagar is a scattered village 9.2 km south-west of Ramnagar in Nainital. The place where these vultures are being sighted is not situated within the village, but is close to a gurdwara by the side of a drying riverbed, where cattle carcasses are regularly left. On July 23, 17 SBVs and 12 WBVs were recorded (the majority observed feeding on the remains of a carcass) and on August 24, 17 WBVs were present at this site.

Information from local naturalists indicates that the vultures have been frequenting this place regularly in the last couple of years. Both slender-billed and white-backed species appear to use the Bombax Ceiba trees, popularly known as cotton trees, as temporary roosting spots while there is food available at the site. With their breeding season at its peak starting October, dedicated monitoring and preservation of these vulture colonies must be taken up on priority; for their extinction is likely in the next 10 years. We do not have any time to waste.

You can find this article by clicking on the following link:

http://www.dailypioneer.com/206903/Hope-takes-wings-as-vulture-colonies-thrive-in-Uttarakhand.html

RAMNAGAR – With the vulture population declining alarmingly in Uttarakhand’s Ramnagar area, which adjoins the Corbett Wildlife Sanctuary, a group of pro-wildlife activists and forest rangers are engaged in spreading public awareness about their conservation in the region.

Under the banner of the Corbett Vulture Conservation Committee, the NGO activists recently used the annual Ramlilas, held during the Dussehra festival, to promote awareness about vultures.

Jatayu Bhagwan, a Demi god in form of a vulture, who finds mention in they mythological epic Ramayana, was used to spread the message of conservation , the idea being to use mythology to educate the masses.

The near extinction of vultures has caused ecological concern as vultures eat up carcasses and keep jungles free of diseases.

As per reports, 99 per cent of the country’s vulture population has vanished mainly because of consuming cow carcasses are treated with the anti-inflammatory drug Diclofenac Sodium, the production of which was banned in 2006.

Officials say, the use of the drug is rampant and efforts are on to dissuade people from using the drug.

“It is awareness regarding this salt called Diclofenac because though the veterinary one has been banned, the alternate of that is human Diclofenac which is being used rampantly (for livestock of cattle). And they give you one dose, which you are recommended to apply three injections. So our studies show that in adjoining forested areas of the Corbett Tiger Reserve, which is in the Terai west area, not in the forested areas but in the habitat areas of the adjoining Terai west and Ramnagar.

There were many villages where the use of diclofenac, human diclofenac, is still quite rampant. So which is a huge cause of alarm. So this is what our awareness programme is all about,” said Sumantha Ghosh, Director, Corbett Vulture Conservation Committee.

Even renowned wildlife documentary filmmaker Mike Pandey has worked on the subject and made a movie titled ‘The Vanishing vulture’.

This movie was screened during the ‘Ramlila’ plays to draw public attention towards the declining number of vultures.

Besides, the activists also opted to talk to people and distributed pamphlets with information about the need for vulture conservation.

According to experts, connected to the conservation of vultures, the mission is important in the Indian subcontinent else it could lead to serious repercussions like the spread of disease.

“So this sort of global implication is mainly that, we have the awareness of the early warning signs, that some drugs are used and have become more commonly used, and may effect all kinds of animals in unknown ways. So some kind of testing for these kind of effects in the future, this is the warning that you get from this….as well as the implication to the health costs to the Indian subcontinent,” said Oliver Grey Reed, a vulture conservation specialist of United Kingdom, who is also associated with the conservation drive in Ramnagar with Corbett Vulture Conservation Committee.

Birds eating drug-infused carcasses suffer from kidney damage, increased serum uric acid concentrations, visceral gout and death.

The drug was introduced in India in 1995. Although the production and sale of Diclofenac has been banned, the implementation has been slow.

Vultures find a place in Schedule I of Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, the country’s only legal framework to protect endangered species, which prohibits hunting and trafficking of endangered species.

Conservationists around the world have also called upon the Indian Government to intensify a captive breeding programme for the threatened species.

You can find this article on the web at all the following links:

http://www.andhranews.net/India/2009/September/29-Vulture-conservation-gets-31097.asp

www.newkerala.com/nkfullnews-1-120791.html

http://trak.in/news/vulture-conservation-gets-a-boost-through-ramlilas-in-uttarakhand/8639/

www.newstin.co.uk/tag/uk/147629878

http://connect.in.com/dussehra-messages/article-vulture-conservation-gets-a-boost-through-ramlilas-in-uttarakhand-565db71e5f23379559ea2fb270dd49493349b679.html

http://www.india4u.com/india4unews/Vulture-conservation-gets-a-boost-through-Ramlilas-in-Uttarakhand-212407-1.htm

http://www.dailyindia.com/show/293104.php

http://blog.taragana.com/n/vulture-conservation-gets-a-boost-through-ramlilas-in-uttarakhand-180335/

http://sify.com/news/moreheadlines.php?tag=Ramnagar&vsv=tag

http://www.wikio.co.uk/entertainment/media/publishing/sanctuary_group

http://news.indiaid.com/blog/_archives/2009/9/29 (middle of page)

http://newsrack.in/browse?issue=Environment&catID=6&owner=indiatogether