Latest news with #Ramachandran
The Hindu
a day ago
- Science
- The Hindu
Citizen science data-backed study reveals widespread decline in India's birds
A recent study has revealed a significant decline in many of India's bird species, underscoring the urgent need for targeted and sustained conservation efforts. The State of India's Birds 2023 report, produced by a consortium of leading research institutions and conservation organisations, assesses the status of 942 bird species using data contributed by thousands of birdwatchers through the eBird citizen science platform. According to the report, 204 species have suffered long-term decline, and 142 are currently declining. 'Our findings reveal a sobering truth — India's diverse bird populations are facing significant decline, underscoring an urgent need for concerted conservation efforts,' said Vivek Ramachandran, Fellow, Wildlife Biology and Conservation Programme at NCBS, and an author of the study. Alarming trends The report represents one of the largest biodiversity monitoring efforts in the global south. It classified 178 species as 'high conservation priority', 323 as 'moderate priority', and 441 as 'low priority.' Birds with specialised diets, such as those feeding on vertebrate prey, carrion, or invertebrates, have declined the most, averaging over 25% long-term population loss. In contrast, species dependent on fruits or nectar have remained stable or even increased. Habitat specialists from grasslands, scrublands, and wetlands have experienced the steepest declines. Winter migrants to India have also declined more sharply than resident species, raising further alarm. Innovations in data handling According to a communique from NCBS, one of the main challenges of using eBird data is the variable effort put in by citizen scientists. Rather than standardising birding duration or distance, the team standardised analyses based on the number of species reported per checklist, which improved the comparability of data. All the software and analytical methods developed for the project are open source, allowing researchers worldwide to build upon them. 'The analysis leveraged citizen science data from the eBird platform and developed a robust methodology to clean, organise, and analyse this semi-structured data to overcome biases. This framework allowed for the assessment of a larger number of bird species than previously possible and is intended to serve as a blueprint for regions with limited resources for traditional surveys,' said Mr. Ramachandran.
The Hindu
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
Revenue minister inaugurates 'Saaral Vizha 2025' in Courtallam
Revenue Minister K.K.S.S.R. Ramachandran inaugurated the 'Saaral Vizha 2025' at Courtallam on Sunday. As part of the festival the minister also inaugurated a four-day flower exhibition, organised by the Horticulture Department at the Eco park in Courtallam. The annual Saaral festival held during the southwest monsoon season (saaral season), commenced on Sunday will continue until July 27 (Sunday) , featuring a wide range of competitions and cultural performances at Kalaivanar Auditorium in Courtallam. Speaking at the events Mr. Ramachandran said the current government is organising all the arrangements in a systematic and well coordinated manner. Whether it is conducting public events, carrying out welfare activities for the people, or ensuring that welfare schemes reach the intended beneficiaries. The inaugural day of the festival featured a series of cultural performances by school students and other artists. Bharathanatyam, folk arts, Nagaswaram was performed, as part of the celebration. On the inaugural day, the minister also awarded cash prizes to the winners of the chubby kids competition. The second day of the festival is set to feature yoga competitions, multicultural students programmes in the Kalaivanar Auditorium. In the evening, events including folk drama, silambam, villisai, and other shows are scheduled. Tenkasi District Collector A.K. Kamal Kishore, Tenkasi Superintendent of Police S. Aravind and other officials were present.
Scroll.in
5 days ago
- General
- Scroll.in
‘Famous Last Questions': Memoir-cum-reportage that finally takes the millennial mess seriously
In her book, Famous Last Questions, author Sanjana Ramachandran confesses she has two selves: the 'insane' self that lives at home and the 'sane' self that exists outside it. This insanity is a cocktail of grief, anger, loathing, and regret – and it has been allowed to fester and mature for all of her life. Of course, her parents are to be blamed for it, her father, especially. She recalls his violent bursts of anger, his unacceptance of his daughter's individuality, his sly misogyny, and most regrettably, his unwillingness to want to be better. The good and the bad times The stifling atmosphere at home during childhood is in sharp contrast to the rapidly expanding world outside. For every 90s child, including Ramachandran, the 2000s were a time of great excitement and possibilities. (This was perhaps true for everyone irrespective of their age.) There were the fledgling days of social media, American pop culture was televised, the recent liberalisation made capitalism look promising, and there was a growing understanding among savarnas that caste was evil as opposed to a simple social hierarchy that many had been conditioned to believe. As Ramachandran rightly observes, this generation was the second or third to enjoy the fruits of independence and yet, unlike their predecessors, they existed in a world that was getting more confusing by the day. Ramachandran considers her place in the shifting world order as a 'Hindu Brahmin Indian woman'. Though the strategic placement of the words should guarantee some degree of ease in navigating public and personal life, Ramachandran argues that for most Indian women, it's a lose-lose situation. And Hindu Brahmin women, who inadvertently uphold and enforce caste norms, are not better protected against patriarchal violence than their lower-caste sisters. In this argument, she makes a fine case for the dubiousness of 'merit' and how it is artificially constructed through intimidation and coercion, and gives rise to lifelong victimhood and an inferiority complex. While her father belittled her mother's intelligence and refused to take her seriously (even when she was the sole breadwinner of the family), he impressed upon his daughter the importance of education and independence. Added to this was his Brahmin pride that quietly perpetuated the falsehood that their caste valued knowledge above all else. So while Ramachandran competed for best grades, slogged away for a seat in India's best institutions, and even put on the 'cool girl' act to fit in male-dominated spaces, she knew her heart was not in it. Achieving her parents' dream wasn't enough: she had coveted degrees and a good job, and yet her father did not treat her like an adult and her mother still wanted more. Despite an unhappy marriage (which leads to a torn eardrum), Ramachandran's mother is keen for her daughter to marry. This feeling is shared by her grandmother, who makes matters worse by emotionally blackmailing her and being unthinkingly (or thinkingly) misogynistic. Ramachandran insists she isn't prepared. Moreover, she has no role models in this department and yet, despite the obvious grief of her own marriage, being single past one's prime is simply unacceptable to her mother. It is not only a conditioning of her times, but also caste – a Brahmin woman isn't supposed to remain unpaired, the family's honour resides in her womb and it is too precious to go to waste. Irrespective of the collective progress women have made over the years, the one thing that they are simply unable to win against is Caste. Ramachandran knows that even in 'love marriages', endogamy is king. And competitive exams and demanding jobs leave young Indians with little energy to defy norms. A haze of memories Ramachandran writes about her own rebel phase like it were the most natural thing to happen. And indeed it was. The freedom of the new millennium was for everyone to enjoy. To aid this was Bollywood, alongside the Internet. Ramachandran grew up during a time when Bollywood could still create big cultural moments and influence trends. The most notorious of which was Kareena Kapoor's size-zero figure for the 2008 dud, Tashan. The movie was a flop at the box office but the frenzy of the size-zero era is felt to this day. All of this seems quite silly in retrospect, but Ramachandran considers how it worsened body image issues among Indian women, including young girls such as herself. Here, too, this becomes a gateway into examining the national preoccupation with women's bodies and how class and caste figure into the politics of fashion and appearance. In her memoir-cum-reportage, Ramachandran reinforces the humbling realisation: 'I'm special, not unique.' Her knife cuts deep into her emotional wounds, and while the grief of her personal life is debilitating, what is worse is carrying it around. Her reckoning with faith and spirituality (Buddhism, in this case) was especially fascinating to read. She takes Vipassana seriously and leans into it to let go. Faith, regardless of its many shortcomings, becomes a helpful refuge when nothing else seems to work. Frankly speaking, Ramachandran has guts. It's not easy to write about how much you despise your parents or speak freely of the hurt they have caused you. (She calls them 'devourers' at one point.) In fact, it's terribly difficult to even admit it to yourself. (Finally, a truth that is universally acknowledged.) The shame of failing to love your parents is perhaps greater than the shame of being a failed parent, and it is uniquely heartbreaking to step away from the toxicity and acknowledge that you have been hurting too. She is witty when she looks back on those difficult years, but the pain hides in plain sight. Thankfully for the reader, Ramachandran doesn't attempt to downplay the seriousness of the mess that she (and other Indian millennials) has landed in. Famous Last Questions does not offer famous last answers. It appears as though Ramachandran still has a long way to go – but she is beginning to see that her parents loved her in their own, broken ways, that they too were victims of repressive regimes and a lifelong curse of shame and guilt. If there's one way out of this madness, it is perhaps to let the small things go. What the book did for me was unravel my own memories – my dual life during my teenage years, the lies I have told over the years to spare my parents from truly knowing me, the hypocrisy of my father's 'feminism', my mother's eagerness to see me married while ruing it unproductive… And of course, the severe disgust I felt about my body as a 12-year-old when I saw a skinny Kareena Kapoor in sparkling swimsuits. It is not easy to see some of your most private indignities reflected in a stranger's memoir. Read it at your own risk.
New Indian Express
15-07-2025
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Expand beachfront near Kulasekarapattinam temple for Dussehra festival: Activist Ramachandran
THOOTHUKUDI: An activist from Kulasekarapattinam urged the district administration to expand the beachfront near the Mutharamman temple to accommodate huge influx of devotees for the upcoming Dussehra festival. Ramachandran, the activist, submitted a petition in this regard to the collector during the grievance redressal meeting held on Monday at the collectorate. The petitioner demanded that the district administration widen the village roads to operate buses to the beach. Kulasekarapattinam is located along the Thoothukudi-Kanniyakumari highway, and is in the vicinity of the site proposed for the ISRO rocket launching pad and the Udangudi supercritical thermal power plant. Meanwhile, a stone quarry operator -- K Kasilingam from Ottapidaram -- told media persons that a DMK functionary has allegedly been disrupting the operations of his quartzite quarry, for which he obtained the mining licence in September 2024.
Mint
13-07-2025
- Business
- Mint
India to set up its first marine insurance group amid western sanctions
New Delhi: The Centre has begun consultations to set up India's first protection and indemnity (P&I) entity—to be called India Club—that will provide third-party insurance to Indian ships operating in the country's coastal region and inland waterways, said shipping secretary T.K. Ramachandran. The plan is to get domestic companies to provide insurance cover to Indian ships, which now depend on global clubs for securing ships and cargoes, the secretary said in an interview. The need for an India-focused P&I entity has also been felt to reduce the country's vulnerability to international sanctions and pressures where insurance coverage is denied to shipping lines operating between countries facing sanctions. At present, third-party risks in the shipping sector are insured with the International Group of P&I Clubs, a 13-member group based in London that provides liability cover to over 90% of shipping lines globally. Apart from fleet owners, the government may also contribute some seed money into the new P&l entity to help it get the necessary capital to start underwriting insurance. The Union ministry of ports, shipping and waterways' (MoPSW) consultative exercise is also to form a coalition of domestic fleet owners operating in coastal and inland waterways routes and form a locally owned P&I entity. Public sector insurance companies and reinsurers would be allowed to join the insurance coalition to give the P&I entity the heft required for providing protection cover. A tender is already out inviting consultants who can help set up the entity, said an official at an insurance association. Based on consultants' recommendations and its own consultative exercise, MoPSW may finalize a proposal that would then take the Union cabinet's approval. 'We are moving forward on the plan to have a distinct Indian P&I entity. This aim is to have this entity for managing specialized insurance needs of coastal and inland waterway vessels this year itself," Ramachandran said. A P&I entity or a P&I club is a mutual insurance association that provides risk pooling information and representation for its members. Unlike a marine insurance company, which reports to its shareholders, a P&I club reports only to its members, which include ship owners and operators, charterers, freight folders and warehouse owners. These act as both insurer providers and insurance receivers for its members and provide coverage for a carrier's third-party open-ended risks. These include risks such as damage caused to cargo during carriage, war risks and risks of environmental damage such as oil spills and pollution, which traditional insurers companies are reluctant to cover. 'In India, mutual insurance is invalid in law. So, if a club kind of setup for marine insurance is being designed, the insurance law will first need to be emended. The idea of a separate P&I entity is not bad given that it is a very specialized nature of insurance that should be provided by people who understand the industry well," said Anil Devli, chief executive officer of the Indian National Shipowners' Association. 'Public sector general insurers and a few private insurers are currently providing ship hull and machinery insurance and also covering cargoes. If an Indian P&I entity is being planned, the government should provide capital and allow public sector insurance companies to pool resources and set up to this specialized entity for the domestic shipping industry," he added. 'Insurers, including GIC (General Insurance Corporation of India), have experience in forming pools for specific covers, which suggests they could potentially come together to support an Indian P&I club. Their participation would be vital in providing proper risk coverage for domestic vessels. By collaborating with insurers, India Club could leverage their expertise and resources to offer comprehensive coverage to vessel owners," said Gaurav Agarwal, head, marine, Prudent Insurance Brokers. 'This has been under discussion for long. Looking at the small vessel operators being targeted initially, it cannot be a club that is basically a 'mutual' created by shipowners. So, the entity conceived should be an insurer/company providing P&I coverage. The tender is out inviting consultants who can help set up such an entity," said R. Balasundaram, secretary general of the Insurance Brokers Association of India. The government plans to scale up India Club gradually as part of global clubs offering covers to even international shipping lines. To be sure, the local P&I entity is expected to benefit only a few small shipping lines as 90% of Indian-owned ships are operating on foreign flags of countries such as Panama, Liberia and Kazakhstan that have relaxed regulations. Also, India Club will face the challenge of providing monumental levels of covers running to billions of dollars as its cover may not be accepted by global traders who largely depend on covers offered by international clubs that provided insurance globally with quick settlement of claims.
