Latest news with #KarnatakaForestDepartment
The Hindu
4 days ago
- General
- The Hindu
Protecting nature every day is our shared responsibility: Raichur University Registrar
Safeguarding nature is not merely an obligation of a few, but a collective responsibility, said Shankar Vanikyal, Registrar of Maharshi Valmiki University, Raichur while addressing the gathering during World Environment Day celebrations held at the Krishnatunga Auditorium on Thursday. Presiding over the event Thursday, which was jointly organised by the university's Departments of Life Sciences and the Karnataka Forest Department, Vanikyal emphasised that the growing global temperature, erratic climate patterns, and the alarming extinction of wildlife and bird species threaten the very fabric of life on earth. 'If we fail to conserve the environment that sustains us, it will not be able to sustain us in return,' he said. He criticised the unchecked pursuit of material comfort at the cost of nature and urged everyone to prioritise conservation over unchecked development. Expressing concern over the increasing use of plastic, he remarked that today's youth often feel embarrassed to carry jute bags, mistakenly perceiving it as old-fashioned, leading to greater reliance on environmentally harmful materials such as plastic. He strongly advocated for personal discipline in environmental protection. 'Before buying any product, we must ask ourselves if it harms the environment. A clean and joyful atmosphere is born from a clean environment,' he noted. Speaking on the occasion, K. Venkatesh, Deputy Registrar of the university, highlighted the link between a healthy environment and a healthy life. 'Every form of life, including animals and birds, depends on nature for food, air, and water. Preventing plastic pollution and conserving the environment is a duty we all share,' he said while addressing the student community. To mark the occasion, saplings were planted on the university campus. Participants took a pledge to nurture and grow the saplings. Faculty members from the Life Sciences departments distributed saplings to dignitaries as a symbol of commitment to nature. Present at the programme were Jyothi Damma Prakash, Registrar (Evaluation), Parvathi C.S., Dean of the Faculty of Commerce, Latha M.S., Deputy Registrar (Academics), and University Engineer Pampapathi, apart from faculty from various departments, non-teaching staff, and students.
The Hindu
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
‘Otters and fishermen have been living together ever since man took to fishing'
Sugandhi Gadadhar still remembers her first encounter with a smooth-coated otter while on a family vacation alongside the Cauvery many years ago. As a child, the Bengaluru-based National Geographic explorer, photographer, and wildlife filmmaker often went to play on its banks. 'It was one of those occasions when this thing (the otter) suddenly popped up from the water,' she says. 'The memory of that stuck in my mind for years.' Later, when filming other wildlife, she returned to that memory, 'this mirage-like thing' she found herself unable to shake off. 'I wanted to learn more about otters,' says Sugandhi, who has just released a documentary, My Otter Diary, co-created with her partner, wildlife filmmaker Raghunath 'Rana' Belur. 'That is when we started looking for otters to study in the wild.' The fact that otters are not so easily spotted 'because they are so shy and sensitive' lent to the challenge, she says; especially since 'there were not too many documentaries focusing only on otters in India,' chimes in Rana. He adds that most of the studies around these carnivorous, semi-aquatic mammals were set in the region around the Chambal in central and northern India and in Goa. 'There were surveys done along the Cauvery, but not too many had studied the behaviour, in terms of one family,' he says. My Otter Diary does precisely that, offering insights into otter behaviour, the threats and challenges they face and the complex relationship they share with the humans who inhabit the same patches of the river they do by following a female otter, Maya, and her family. 'That is what interested us: just spending time with them to understand what they do, how they behave, what their relations are and how they are feeling,' explains Rana. 'Rather than going around the river or going to multiple places and looking at them, we just thought of looking at one family's point of view.' How it began Rana and Sugandhi, the co-founders of Aranya Parva Creations, a production company specialising in natural history documentaries, began thinking about otters back in 2018. They had been making a short film on bears for the Karnataka Forest Department, shooting along the Tungabhadra river, close to Hampi and the Daroji Sloth Bear Sanctuary, recalls Rana. Since the Tungabhadra Otter Conservation Reserve, India's first otter conservation reserve, was created in this area, they started exploring for otters here, but they soon had to give up on this idea due to 'different logistical reasons,' says Rana. 'So, we started looking at different places, one of which was along the Cauvery.' It also helped that they already knew people who had studied or worked along this stretch, one of whom was the wildlife biologist Nisarg Prakash, who has conducted surveys and written about the otters along the Cauvery. Through Nisarg, they met Shivanna 'Shivu', a fisherman who lives and works along the river Cauvery, who, with Sugandhi herself and the many otters, is a crucial character in the documentary. 'We also needed to navigate the river and were looking for someone who could take us boating,' he says. Once they started boating with Shivu, they began enjoying his company and his wry sense of humour, so they asked him to work with them, explains Rana. 'He would wait for us in the mornings and take us out daily. ' Life by the river In 2020, after spending nearly two years traversing the Cauvery, looking for signs of otters, they found Maya and her family. 'It was around the time of the pandemic, so we actually took a house in a local village there and stayed in that village for the next five years, instead of travelling up and down,' says Rana. They fell into a routine there, something that the film also captures: leaving home at 5-5.30 am to reach a spot at the crack of dawn, waiting for Maya and her family to appear. 'While you know that this is when they come out or return to their den, they don't always stick to that pattern. It was not every day that we saw otters, so that was a challenge,' says Sugandhi, while Rana chips in, saying that otters' movement patterns depended on many things, including when the fishermen lay out their nets. 'Some days, we would stay the whole day, some days we would wait until we got a gut feeling that they had come and gone, and would not come back that day,' he says. Over the next five years, they would stick to this routine, garnering footage of otters feeding, playing, mating, fighting and bonding, to tell a deeply compelling story of this beautiful animal, currently classified as Vulnerable by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. My Otter Diary, the research of which was supported by the National Geographic Society, TVS Motor Company and Globetek, also explores a more universal theme in a nuanced way: the negative impact of current 'development' models on wildlife and indigenous communities, often pitting them against each other. 'Otters and fishermen have been living together ever since man took to fishing, but the problems they are now dealing with are different,' explains Rana. The Cauvery, which is under stress due to a combination of factors, now holds fewer fish, which 'both the fishermen and otters are trying to get to, so that is where the conflict is arising from,' he says. This 52-minute-long film, which has been co-produced by Oxford Scientific Films and is being distributed by All3Media International, hopes to kickstart a conversation around these issues, raise awareness about otters and simply have more people rooting for Maya and all the otters, says Sugandhi. Otters are apex predators in the riverine ecosystems they inhabit, like tigers in forests, and therefore, play a key role in maintaining the health of this ecosystem. But many people simply do not know enough about them, she states. 'We want the conflict between otters and fishermen to at least come down, if not stop. Both are victims, but they have not caused the situation,' she says. 'So, we want these conversations to begin and hopefully some action to happen.' My Otter Diary will be screened at Bangalore International Centre on June 7, 11 am to 12.30 pm.
The Hindu
7 days ago
- Lifestyle
- The Hindu
Anil Kumble begins new innings as ambassador for forests and wildlife
Former Indian cricket team captain Anil Kumble, who was recently appointed ambassador of the Karnataka Forest Department and for wildlife conservation, said that he would work with the department for forest and wildlife conservation, and its development in the State. On June 3, Mr. Kumble called on Environment Minister Eshwar Khandre and thanked the government of Karnataka for appointing him as the ambassador for the department. He said that his earlier experience of serving as vice-president of the Karnataka Wildlife Board would help him in his new role. The Minister said that Mr. Kumble has immense concern and love for wildlife, forest conservation and the environment, and has agreed to become the ambassador for forests and wildlife without expecting any remuneration, which is a testament to his concern and commitment to the environment. He expressed confidence that the former cricketer will promote forest and wildlife conservation, and create awareness among the people.
The Hindu
02-06-2025
- General
- The Hindu
As monsoon sets in, adivasis of Nagarhole plan to start constructing houses
With the monsoons setting in, Jenukuruba tribal, who re-entered the forests of Nagarhole Tiger Reserve almost a month ago 'to reclaim their ancestral land', said they will begin construction of houses. Addressing a press conference here on Monday, J.A. Shivu, leader of the Nagarhole Adivasi Jammapale Hakku Sthapana Samiti, said, 'We held a gram sabha on May 20, where it was decided that we would start constructing houses. Individual forest rights surveys have already been done for the 52 families who re-entered the forest, and therefore, we know the plots that have been surveyed. So, we will start constructing the houses there, since the rains have arrived.' Case to be filed The tribal leaders also said that they are planning to file a case against the Forest Department and panchayat officials under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act for withholding the rights of the people and dragging their feet on the forest rights claims raised by adivasis under the Forest Rights Act (FRA) 2006. It was a month ago that 150 tribal people entered the Nagarhole forests as a mark of protest against the delay in granting rights. Officials of the Karnataka Forest Department and the Karnataka State Tiger Protection Force (STPF) attempted to prevent this move, and tensions have been brewing in the regions since. 'The Forest Department and tiger protection force have been continuously trying to evict us out of our ancestral lands. They attempted to bring down the sacred structures we built. There were many instances where in the middle of the night they tried to bring down the three structures in which we are collectively living now,' Mr. Shivu alleged. A long wait According to Community Networks Against Protected Areas, the forest dwelling communities of Nagarhole were evicted in 1985 after it was declared a wildlife sanctuary. The indigenous population were subsequently forced to work as bonded labourers in coffee plantations. After the FRA came into effect in 2006, the tribals applied for their forest rights in 2009, and have been waiting for 16 years for the officials to act upon it. 'What has happened since 2006 has been a complete denial of those rights and a return from the promise that was made under the Forest Rights Act,' said Lara Jeswani, lawyer at Bombay High Court. She said that out of the more than three lakh claims, only 15,000 claims of individual rights had been decided. Political ecologist Nitin D. Rai alleged that adivasis were bearing the brunt of what the State needs to do to meet its financial and developmental obligations. 'Denial of forest rights comes directly from the (government's) need to increase the tiger numbers so that they can show they are doing very well on the conservation front and therefore cannot be questioned of diversion of forests and infrastructural development,' he said.
The Hindu
27-05-2025
- Sport
- The Hindu
Anil Kumble appointed ambassador of Forest Department
Former Indian cricket team captain Anil Kumble has been appointed ambassador of the Karnataka Forest Department and for wildlife conservation. Environment Minister Eshwar B. Khandre on Tuesday announced Mr. Kumble's nomination; the former cricketer has served as vice-chairman of the Karnataka Wildlife Board earlier. Mr. Khandre said that Mr. Kumble will raise public awareness on forest conservation, afforestation, tree preservation, and wildlife protection. No honorarium He added that Mr. Kumble had agreed to be the ambassador without accepting any honorarium. 'I would like to express my gratitude to the Government of Karnataka and the Minister Eshwar Khandre for appointing me as the Ambassador of Karnataka State Forest Department and Wildlife Conservation. I will strive to continue my work towards creating awareness about the diversity of flora and fauna of our state, supporting wildlife conservation and the development of the frontline personnel of the Forest Department,' Mr. Kumble said in a post on X. Speaking at a press conference, Mr. Khandre said that 128 acres of encroached forestland worth ₹4,000 crore had been cleared in the past two years in Bengaluru. In the last two years, 1,205 encroachment cases had been registered and 6,251.31 acres of forest land had been reclaimed across the State, he said. Park in Yelahanka He added that to develop green space in Bengaluru, the government had decided to build a new park on 153 acres of land near Yelahanka. 'The 153-acre land previously allocated to Karnataka Forest Development Corporation for growing eucalyptus will be reclaimed by the Forest Department on June 2 and developed into a park,' he added.
