Latest news with #Barman
News18
7 hours ago
- General
- News18
Green Oscar conservationists Hargila Army community model for Cambodia
Guwahati, Jul 30 (PTI) Green Oscar award-winning conservationist Purnima Devi Barman, famed for her 'Hargila Army' model to protect and preserve the endangered Greater Adjutant Stork (GAS), has conducted an innovative community conservation training programme in Cambodia to empower women. Barman conducted a transformative community-led conservation initiative at the Prek Toal Bird Sanctuary, a Ramsar site in Cambodia's Tonle Sap Biosphere Reserve, on Monday for 20 women conservationists and park rangers of that country. The day-long training was aimed at adapting the Hargila Army model, a women-led conservation movement that has successfully protected the rare Greater Adjutant Stork (Hargila) in Assam, the UNEP Champion of the Earth winner said. A landmark outcome of the training was the formation of the Sisters and Brothers of Storks, a new collaborative global network that will work alongside the Hargila Army to conserve the Greater Adjutant globally for all other stork species, fostering a cross-border alliance for inclusive, community-based conservation. 'This is not just about saving a species but about empowering communities, especially women, to become guardians of nature by weaving conservation into the fabric of their culture and daily lives. The energy and resolve of the women of Prek Toal deeply moved me", Barman said. The training marks a milestone in South-South cooperation for biodiversity conservation, gender equality in field-based wildlife conservation programmes and strengthening ties between Assam and Cambodia through a shared commitment to ecological protection and women's leadership, she said. By integrating traditional knowledge, cultural heritage, and ecological science, the sessions inspired participants to develop community-centered conservation strategies tailored to Cambodia, Barman said. The highlight of the programme, organised by Cambodia's Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), was the inauguration of educational posters, designed by Barman, showcasing the behavioural ethogram of the Greater Adjutant stork. Unveiled by local community members and rangers, these posters symbolise a renewed commitment to conservation awareness and coexistence with storks and wetland wildlife, she said. The training featured engaging and creative activities, including leadership exercises to map women's strengths in conservation, cultural integration activities connecting local traditions with environmental values, 'textile hunt" exploring nature reflected in fabrics and folk expressions and 'web of life" game illustrating biodiversity interdependence. A collective pledge ceremony affirming dedication to protect Cambodia's natural and cultural heritage was also taken during the training. WCS Tonle Sap Landscape programme manager Phearun Sun expressed enthusiasm for future collaborations between the Assam Hargila conservation team and Prek Toal communities. He highlighted the Hargila Army's behaviour change model as an inspiration for community-driven conservation efforts to protect the Greater Adjutant Stork. PTI DG DG MNB view comments First Published: July 30, 2025, 13:30 IST Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
The Hindu
18 hours ago
- General
- The Hindu
Cambodia adapting Assam's ‘stork army' model
GUWAHATI A successful Assam model designed for adjutant storks is being adapted for a transformative community-led conservation initiative for a Ramsar site in Cambodia's Tonle Sap Biosphere Reserve. The initiative, hosted by Cambodia's Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), involves training 20 Cambodian women conservationists and park rangers in the 'Hargila Army' model, a women-led conservation movement that has helped protect the endangered greater adjutant stork in Assam. The focus area is the Prek Toal Bird Sanctuary in the Tonle Sap Biosphere Reserve. The training programme on July 28 was led by Purnima Devi Barman, the founder of the Hargila Army and the United Nations Environment Programme Champion of the Earth. She is also a wildlife biologist at Aaranyak, an Assam-based biodiversity conservation organisation. 'Our sessions are aimed at inspiring participants to develop community-centred conservation strategies tailored for Cambodia by integrating traditional knowledge, cultural heritage, and ecological science,' Ms. Barman said. Educational posters showcasing the behavioural ethogram of the greater adjutant stork were the highlight of the programme. Unveiled by local community members and rangers, these posters symbolise a renewed commitment to conservation awareness and coexistence with storks and wetland wildlife, she said. The training featured engaging and creative activities, including leadership exercises to map women's strengths in conservation; cultural integration activities connecting local traditions with environmental values; 'textile hunts' exploring nature reflected in fabrics and folk expressions; and a 'web of life' game illustrating biodiversity interdependence. Phearun Sun, the WCS Tonle Sap Landscape Programme manager and the coordinator of the event, expressed enthusiasm for future collaborations between Assam's greater adjutant stork conservation team and the Prek Toal communities. Ms. Barman said the Sisters and Brothers of Storks, a new collaborative global network, was formed during the training. This network will work alongside the Hargila Army to conserve the greater adjutant stork and all other stork species globally. 'This is not just about saving a species. It is about empowering communities, especially women, to become guardians of nature by weaving conservation into the fabric of their culture and daily lives,' Ms. Barman said.
Indian Express
6 days ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
‘The guilty won't be spared': Tripura Minister Kishor Barman sets up team to probe fake fee cards row in Govt college
Days after a section of students alleged that fake fee cards were provided during admission at a government-run college in Tripura, newly appointed Higher Education Minister Kishor Barman on Wednesday stated that a team had been formed to investigate the matter and warned that anyone found guilty would not be spared. 'The issue was brought to the attention of the director and secretary of Higher Education. A team was formed to investigate the matter, and a report was sought. Anyone found guilty of fraudulent activities using fake fee cards will not be spared,' he told reporters during his first visit to Maharaja Bir Bikram University (MBBU) in Agartala on Wednesday after taking charge as Higher Education Minister. The allegation was raised by a few students of Ramthakur College of Agartala in the West Tripura district, where fake fee cards were purportedly used during undergraduate admissions this year. 'After taking charge as Higher Education minister, I conducted a review meeting at the state level. After the meeting, a decision was taken to visit all the universities under the Higher Education Department or state government to assess their present situation, their facilities, their problems, and the progress of the universities regarding the implementation of the National Education Policy and the kind of infrastructure required to adhere to the norms,' Barman said. Barman took stock of the infrastructure at the university and later interacted with the authorities and students of the MBB University, named after the state's last ruler, Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya Debbarma. During the interaction, the students and faculty laid thrust on ways to improve the quality of the institute through state-of-the-art amenities. The minister said that as part of strengthening the university, there are plans to bring additional colleges, which are presently under Tripura University (central university), under MBB University. The government will also implement the decisions taken in the budget to develop the institute, he said. The minister said that he also plans to visit private academic institutions to assess whether better things can be implemented there.
Miami Herald
21-07-2025
- Automotive
- Miami Herald
Slate shows its bare-bones, ‘mid-$20s' EV truck at Detroit summit
DETROIT - Slate Auto, the Michigan electric vehicle startup backed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has publicly touted a starting price for its pickup of "under $20,000" since coming out of stealth mode in April. But that was before President Donald Trump's big tax and domestic policy bill was signed into law on July 4, halting the $7,500 tax credit for EV buyers by the end of September. Now, Slate CEO Chris Barman said in Detroit this week, the starting price will be in "mid-$20s" when the two-seater trucks ideally start rolling off the line at a facility in Warsaw, Indiana, late next year. "Our business model was never built upon that tax credit being in place," Barman told The Detroit News at the Reindustrialize summit, a gathering of executives and policy experts focused on bringing manufacturing back to the United States. Slate showed off one of its vehicles at the summit. "We always viewed it as something that would be great for the customer to be able to get an even more affordable vehicle. But we've always, you know, had a target of being priced in the mid-$20s, and that's what our business case has been built upon," she said. Still, the company had widely touted the sub-$20,000 price tag upon its launch. TechCrunch reported that the carmaker stopped promoting that figure on its website once Republicans' "One Big Beautiful Bill" passed at the start of the month. A mid-$20s price tag would put the stripped-down EV truck in line with a number of entry-level vehicles on the road today - rather than, at the initial sub-$20,000 mark, potentially the cheapest new car out there. Slate, headquartered in Troy, has built much of its early brand on going against the grain of the auto industry's ever-increasing focus on bigger screens, more sensors and various other luxury accoutrements. A hype video Barman showed to Reindustrialize attendees noted that "cars are getting bigger, fancier and more expensive, because of ... stuff." Chief Commercial Officer Jeremy Snyder pointed out at an April launch that the average new car payment tops $700 per month and that many new cars face frequent warranty issues due to being packed with so much technology. "The industry has abandoned the majority of Americans," he said. Slate says it will offer a basic truck with only a few standard features, including air conditioning, cruise control and rear and forward-facing cameras. Much more can be customized later by the owner - items like additional speakers, colorful wraps and a DIY conversion kit to turn the little pickup into a five-seat SUV. "By eliminating the complexities of build configurations as well as a paint shop, we passed savings back to the customer without cutting corners," Barman said in a presentation. She said Slate's idea has quickly gained traction, with more than 100,000 people so far placing a $50 reservation. The startup is also advertising that the truck will be America-made at a moment when there is increasing interest in domestic manufacturing with Trump's tariff policies. The company is converting an old printing press facility in Warsaw, population 16,000, into its assembly site and expects to eventually employ close to 2,000 people. "We're still doing quite a bit of demolition" on the interior of the production site, Barman told The News. "We're gonna be, within the next few weeks, starting to get into laying in some floors where we had to take (them out) because the depth of the cement there wasn't enough for the equipment we put in. So we're really putting a lot of infrastructure in right now." Barman said her company aims to source parts domestically wherever possible, with a number of suppliers so far based in the Midwest. But some parts for the truck simply can't be found in the United States anymore, the CEO said, like the truck's manual-crank window regulator, which is sourced from Brazil. She said Slate sees itself as drawing in customers who would otherwise only be considering used cars, which on average sell for about what the Slate truck aims to retail for, in the mid-$20,000s. "We're going to be pulling from the whole 35 million used vehicle (market)," Barman said, where shoppers figured they may be forced to settle for fewer safety standards and no warranty. "Now, they can step into a vehicle that has all the latest safety standards, comes with a warranty. It's an EV, so repairs will be lower because there's less parts to maintain in the vehicle, and it can grow with them. ... If they can't afford to make it an SUV when they first buy it, a year later, two years later, they can then change it out." Several EV startups have gone bankrupt or faced dire financial straits in over the last year as demand for the vehicles hasn't met expectations and funding has dried up. Even established players like Tesla Inc., Rivian Automotive Inc. and Lucid Group Inc. face headwinds, especially now that the tax credit is ending. Slate, though, is pushing ahead and advertises almost 100 open positions on its website in Michigan, Indiana and elsewhere. The startup has drawn attention from more established automotive players because of its Bezos connection and its focus on being cheap and customizable. "It was really interesting seeing that (Slate truck) out there," Paul Stephens, Ford Motor Co.'s global strategy manager, said on a panel at the Reindustrialize summit. "Complexity reduction is one thing, and part-count reduction is another thing too. So when we're looking at future product designs, trying to reduce the number of components while keeping the same task, is one of the top priority items that I've been seeing, and not just at Ford but the industry at large." And Tim Kuniskis, the CEO of the Ram truck brand who also oversees other U.S. Stellantis NV brands, recently called Slate's approach "super interesting" during a press event. "The idea behind it, you know, we've talked about that idea a million times. Super interesting. I give (Barman) a lot of credit," he said. "It's a cool idea. Now what's it going to actually transact at in the marketplace where the tax credits are gone and people start to option them up? It's not going to be $20,000. It's going to be $35,000, and by the time you get to $35,000, you're in midsize truck territory." Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
Yahoo
15-07-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Slate CEO says 5 types of car shoppers are interested in its low-cost EV pickup
Slate Auto CEO Chris Barman described five types of buyers interested in the company's low-cost electric truck. The demographic groups included fresh college graduates, newly-licensed drivers, and retirees, she told Sherwood News. The Jeff Bezos-backed company initially promised a truck "under $20,000," but shifted to a "mid-twenties" expected price tag. Slate Auto's new electric vehicle is expected to be unusually cheap, priced in the mid-twenty-thousand-dollar range. Given its anticipated price point, Slate says it has seen interest from five different consumer segments as it prepares to enter the market, CEO Chris Barman said in a recent interview with Sherwood News. First, Barman said that "everyday Americans" are interested in the vehicle, mostly because "it's just an affordable vehicle and a lot of utility and value for the money." Barman also said that "young professionals" fresh out of college or trade school are interested. "They're looking for value for the money, and what they love is the fact that it's an EV and they love the customization," she said. Electric vehicle ownership has long veered younger, according to a March Gallup poll, with 64% of 18-34-year-olds surveyed interested in owning an EV, compared to just 41% of those ages 55+. Barman is eyeing an especially young demographic: newly licensed drivers. "Parents like the fact that there are only two passengers, it doesn't have an infotainment for distraction, it has really high safety standards, and it's affordable," Barman told Sherwood. Among the older set, Barman points out that "contemporary seniors" are interested in the vehicle. " "They're individuals who are semiretired or retired and are interested in an electric vehicle, but have been intimidated by all the other technology that has been in an EV," she said. "They just want a simpler form of driving." Finally, auto junkies are interested in tricking the car out, the CEO added. Slate's electric pickup truck's "mid-twenties" price target remains relatively inexpensive, a feat especially important as the EV market floods with Chinese competitors outside of the US. The Jeff Bezos-backed EV producer originally said that its truck would be "under $20,000" after federal incentives. That price would have made the truck substantially cheaper than its EV competitors, like the Nissan Leaf, which starts at $28,140. When $50 reservations opened in April, the company reported receiving more than 100,000 requests in the first three weeks. President Donald Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" is set to eliminate many of the country's clean energy incentives, including the $7,500 tax credit for new US-built EVs, which Slate had been counting on to hit the sub-$20,000 pricing threshold. After Trump's spending bill was signed into law on July 4, Slate Auto changed the expected price online from "under $20,000" to "mid-twenties," where it remains. Read the original article on Business Insider
