Category: Nature / Environment

Dinosaur nest cluster with 256  eggs found in Narmada Valley

While dinosaur nests and eggs having been found in the past, too, this recent find raised the possibility of the Narmada Valley having been a fertile hatchery location for dinosaurs millions of years.

A rare discovery of 92 closely located dinosaur nests and 256 fossilised eggs of herbivorous Titanosaurs (one of the largest known dinosaurs) has been made by a team of palaeontologists in Dhar district, which is part of the Narmada Valley in Madhya Pradesh.

While dinosaur nests and eggs having been found in the past, too, by other palaeontologists in the Jabalpur region of MP and Balasinor in Gujarat, this recent find raised the possibility of the Narmada Valley having been a fertile hatchery location for dinosaurs millions of years ago.

The field research was carried out by a team of palaeontologists from Delhi University, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Mohanpur-Kolkata and Bhopal in many villages of Bagh and Kukshi areas of Dhar district between 2017 and 2020.

A paper on their research by Harsha Dhiman, Vishal Verma, G V R Prasad and others was recently published in the PLOS ONE research journal. “A major inference from the three years of research is that the nests and eggs found in the villages of Dhar district date back 66 million years ago.

It’s quite possible that the Titanosaurs either just came to lay the eggs in this area of Narmada Valley or the eggs were also hatched there. The eggs found by us show evidence of hatching as well as not having been hatched,” Dhiman, the lead researcher told this newspaper on Saturday. “Since only nests and eggs and not bones have been found, we need to perform micro CT scan for further research,” Dhiman added.

Egg Diameter around 15-17 cm
The nests found in the Narmada valley were close to each other, which is generally not the case. These nests had eggs which ranged between 15 cm and 17 cm in diameter. “Each nest had between one and 20 eggs,” Dhiman said

newindianexpress.com

Telangana teen researcher wins international award for developing organic insecticide

The extract of Ramphal leaves is effective against various insect and pests like, pod borer, Helicoverpa armigera, fall armyworm, spodoptera frugiperda, larvae, and green peach aphids.

Sarvesh Prabhu, a 17-year-old research intern at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), represented India at the International Science and Engineering Fair in Atlanta, USA and won the third prize in the biochemistry category. He was awarded $1,000 for developing a cost-effective bio-insecticide from the leaves of bullock’s heart, Annona reticulata, popularly known as Ramphal.

When asked what led him to such a discovery, he said, “During the lockdown, my sister did gardening as a hobby. All of our plants were getting eaten by insects before they could grow, resulting in a terrible harvest. While my sister wanted to use chemical insecticides, I was absolutely against them, which led me to find botanical insecticides as an alternative. Ramphal grows in our garden, and we noticed that it flourished when all other plants were struck by pests. Thus, began my project in the middle of the pandemic.”

The extract of Ramphal leaves is effective against various insects and pests like pod borer, Helicoverpa armigera, fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda, larvae, and green peach aphids. Ramphal leaves were tested in a lab. The results showed a mortality range of 78-88 per cent.

He said, “One of my main goals was to make it cost-effective and easy to manufacture by the farmer themselves. The preparation process of the insecticide is simple and easy. The Ramphal tree is also commonly found across India. This botanical product is several times cheaper than most insecticides in the market.”

About winning the prestigious prize, he said, “It was truly a pursuit that I cannot forget. More than the prize, the journey was impactful. The friends I made, the knowledge I gained from previous research papers, and the skills I acquired from the experts at ICRISAT are invaluable.”

newindianexpress.com

Sethrichem Sangtam gets first Rohini Nayyar prize for rural development

His organisation ‘Better Life Foundation’ focusses on rural livelihood security, environment sustainability and education for change.

Sethrichem Sangtam, who helped triple the incomes of 1,200 marginalised farmers in Eastern Nagaland, was awarded the first Rohini Nayyar prize for outstanding contribution to rural development.

The prize awarded to an individual 40 years or under in age, was presented by the Niti Ayog Vice-Chairman Suman Bery. The winner was selected by an eminent jury from civil society consisting of Dr. Ashok Khosla, founder, Development Alternatives; Dr. Rajesh Tandon, founder, PRIA; and Ms. Renana Jhabwala, national coordinator, SEWA.

Mr. Sangtam works with 1,200 marginalised farmers in Eastern Nagaland through his organisation ‘Better Life Foundation’, which focusses on rural livelihood security, environment sustainability and education for change.

Among his many achievements were encouraging farmers in the region to abandon wasteful slash, burn cultivation and move to permanent farming. The average income of the farmers tripled as a result of his interventions.

The prize had been instituted by the family of the late Dr. Rohini Nayyar, an eminent scholar-administrator who spent much of her professional life working on issues related to rural development in India.

Dr. Nayyar, a well-known economist and former principal adviser at the erstwhile Planning Commission, was one of India’s foremost authorities on rural development. She passed away in October 2021.

Developing India’s social and economic development

The prize will be given out annually by the Nayyar Foundation for Social and Economic Purpose, set up to contribute to the social and economic development in India.

While giving away the award, Mr. Bery said many initiatives for rural India which one saw around at present, like the aspirational districts programme, the development of multi-dimensional poverty index for India, and the digitisation to create financial inclusion in rural India, were results of the efforts by Dr. Rohini Nayyar and her team, while she was in the Planning Commission.

Dr Deepak Nayyar, director of the Foundation, said that during her more than two-decades-long stint in the Planning Commission she also worked on the conceptualisation of the MGNREGA.

thehindu.com

World Ayurveda Congress: Experts pitch for innovations and research in Ayurveda

Anirudha Joshi said he was envisaging developing wearable devices that could provide vital information about anatomy.

Ayurveda has an enormous potential for innovation but that requires an extensive technology-based research and a concrete roadmap to make it a global brand and its products effective and successful, said experts at the 9th World Ayurveda Congress (WAC) here.

“There are great possibilities of innovations in Ayurveda. There are challenges to develop techniques more advanced than supercomputers. We will have to work on those areas of computing which have not been heard of,” Padma Bhushan Vijay Bhatkar said, while chairing a plenary session on ‘Innovation and Entrepreneurs in Ayurveda’.

Anirudha Joshi, who is credited with developing award-winning ‘Nadi Tarangini’, an Artificial Intelligence-based instrument for pulse-reading, said he was envisaging developing wearable devices that could provide vital information about the human body.

“It will be very helpful if we can develop wearables which can do ‘Astha-vidha-pariksha’. Our vision is to go into prediction of different stages of a disease so that we can defer a disease if we cannot prevent it,” he explained.

In his concluding remarks, Mr. Bhatkar said, “There is a need to develop new devices like `Nadi Tarangini’. We will have to think of ways of marketing, packaging, advertising our products and how they can be shown to the world.’‘ According to Kartikeya Baldva, CEO, Ixoreal Biomed Inc, Ayurveda, a traditional wellness system, had finally arrived but there was still a long way to go.

“It is very important to ensure the success of products but that would require quality, efficacy, branding, marketing and innovation,” he emphasised.

Ajit Kolatkar, Founder- Director of Pune- based Gastrolab India Pvt Ltd, said Ayurveda had to move in such a fashion that a doctor could diagnose the ailments of a patient by using minimum devices.

”We will have to start with fundamental research from Ayurvedic perspective. There has to be a concrete roadmap. There is a need to revisit Ayurveda in the context of contemporary science,” he said, adding there were many key areas where Ayurveda could contribute significantly.

Rishabh Chopra, founder of Ayurveda Experience, an Ayurvedic health and wellness platform, said ‘Ashwagandha’ had now become a popular product in the West.

However, there were several challenges to make Ayurvedic products globally acceptable. He also said Ashwagandha, turmeric and Yoga were some of the most online searched words in the West.

“Our vision is to go into prediction of different stages of a disease so that we can defer a disease if we cannot prevent it”Anirudha JoshiInventor,  ‘Nadi Tarangini’

thehindu.com

Railways bags nine awards for conservation of energy

The Kacheguda station bagged the first and the Guntakal Railway Station bagged the second award for adopting the best practices for energy conservation.

Indian Railways has won nine National Energy Conservation Awards for the year 2022, with the South Central Railway (SCR) bagging the first and second prize in railway station category.  These awards were given for the best energy management practices and presented by President Droupadi Murmu at a function held by Bureau of Energy Efficiency under the aegis of Ministry of Power. 

According to an official statement of the Ministry of Railway, the South Central Railway bagged the first and the second awards for energy conservation measures in railway station category. The Kacheguda station bagged the first and the Guntakal Railway Station bagged the second award for adopting the best practices for energy conservation.

The certificates of merit were awarded to the Kanpur Central Railway station under the Northern Central Railway, the Rajahmundry railway station and the Tenali Railway station. Under the buildings category, Ajmer workshop of North Western Railway was awarded the first prize. Certificate of merit was awarded to the Railway hospital Guntakal  (SCR), Electric Traction Training Centre, Vijayawada (SCR) and Divisional Railway Hospital, Pratapnagar (Western Railway).

newindianexpress.com

Telangana scores a double win at Unesco heritage conservation awards

The 17th century stepwells inside the Qutb Shahi tombs complex were in a state of ruin and were disused until the Aga Khan Trust for Culture signed an agreement with the State Government that the wells were restored.

Telangana scored a double win at the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation with a Distinction of Merit for the restoration of the stepwells inside the Qutb Shahi Tombs Complex in Hyderabad and an Award of Merit for the conservation work on the Domakonda Fort in Kamareddy district. The awards were announced today at Bangkok.

The 17 th century stepwells inside the Qutb Shahi tombs complex were in a state of ruin and were disused. It was only after the Aga Khan Trust for Culture signed an agreement with the State Government that the wells were restored, beginning with the Badi Baoli. The latest restoration was that of the eastern baoli whose restoration function was attended by Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development K.T. Rama Rao.

“It is an incredible feeling that AKTC has won an award for the third year in running. There is a nature and culture linkage that heritage sites demonstrate. They can address climate change with net-zero water requirement. The restoration of wells show how conservation of heritage sites can have multiple objectives,” said Ratish Nanda, CEO of Aga Khan Trust for Culture which is restoring the Qutb Shahi Tombs Complex with a private-public partnership model which includes the Department of Archaeology and Museums, Tata Trusts, US Ambassadors Fund and other partners.

In contrast, the Domakonda Fort is a private property and was built in the 18 th century with an amalgam of styles including stucco work, arched pillars, flat ceiling, and a courtyard with a water garden pond. The fort was part of the celebration of the marriage function of Upasana Kamineni (a scion of the family that built the fort) and actor Ram Charan in 2012.

“I am feeling very proud as it was a challenging project and its has been a rewarding experience. I worked with local craftsmen, sourced local materials, so that it is a sustainable project with low-carbon footprint. We trained the craftsmen and had workshops from the time I began working on the project in 2011,” said conservation architect Anuradha Naik about the award for Domakonda Fort.

The citation for Domakonda fort recognises: “The project applied original construction techniques and authentic materials and trained local artisans in traditional building skills. The involvement of villagers during the restoration process and in the operations of the fort ensures direct benefit for the community.”

thehindu.com

Himalayan yak gets FSSAI food animal tag

The categorisation is expected to check the decline in the population of the high-altitude bovine, the National Research Centre on Yak said.

The Himalayan yak has earned the food animal tag from the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI).

The categorisation is expected to help check the decline in the population of the high-altitude bovine animal by making it a part of the conventional milk and meat industry.

Mihir Sarkar, the director of the National Research Centre on Yak (NRC-Y) based in Arunachal Pradesh’s Dirang, said his institution had submitted a proposal to the FSSAI in 2021 for considering the yak as a food animal.

The FSSAI responded with an official approval a few days ago after a recommendation from the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying.

“The yak plays a multidimensional socio-cultural-economic role for the pastoral nomads who rear it mainly for earning their nutritional and livelihood security due to the lack of other agricultural activity in the higher reaches of the Himalayan region where it is difficult for animals except the yak to survive,” Mr. Sarkar said

Yaks are traditionally reared under a transhumance system which is primitive, unorganised and full of hardship. But the yak population in the country has been decreasing at an alarming rate, data provided by the NRC-Y said.

According to a census carried out in 2019, India has some 58,000 yaks – a drop of about 25% from the last livestock census conducted in 2012. Apart from the government and the local users, the drastic drop in the yak’s number has become a major cause of concern for animal genetic diversity conservationists.

The drastic decline in yak population could be attributed to less remuneration from the bovid, discouraging the younger generations from continuing with nomadic yak rearing. It is mainly because yak milk and meat are not a part of the conventional dairy and meat industry, their sale is limited to local consumers.

NRC-Y scientists believe the commercialisation of yak milk and meat products will lead to entrepreneurship development. But for that the yak has to be included as a food producing (milk and meat) animal in the Food Safety and Standards Regulation, 2011, they said.

“The FSSAI’s recognition will help farmers rear the yak economically and open up several vistas of economic benefits for both farmers and food processors,” Mr. Sarkar said.

Nutrient-loaded

Research at the NRC-Y has revealed yak milk is highly nutritious, rich in fat, contains essential minerals and has medicinal values. According to the nutritional analysis, yak milk contains 78-82% water, 7.5-8.5% fat, 4.9-5.3% protein, 4.5-5.0% lactose and 12.3-13.4% solids-not-fat. The products which are traditionally produced from yak milk are churkum, churpi, ghee and paneer.

Mostly consumed locally, yak meat is known to be lean. The meat contains 74.8% moisture, 21.7% protein, 1.5% crude fat and 1.2% ash.

Specialists said yak husbandry needs to be more remunerative for attracting the younger generations.

“NRC-Yak has developed a semi-intensive model of yak-rearing in which yaks are maintained in an open area as well as in paddock round the year. Now that the yak is a food animal, this model can go a long way in making yak-rearing a commercial success,” Mr. Sarkar said.

thehindu.com

Indian wildlife biologist honoured with UN’s highest environmental award

Dr Purnima Devi Barman leads the “Hargila Army”, an all-female grassroots conservation movement dedicated to protecting the Greater Adjutant Stork from extinction.

UNITED NATIONS: Indian wildlife biologist Dr Purnima Devi Barman is among the honourees of this year’s Champions of the Earth award, the UN’s highest environmental honour, accorded for their transformative action to prevent, halt and reverse ecosystem degradation.

Barman has been honoured with the UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) 2022 Champions of the Earth award in the Entrepreneurial Vision category.

A wildlife biologist, Barman leads the “Hargila Army”, an all-female grassroots conservation movement dedicated to protecting the Greater Adjutant Stork from extinction.

The women create and sell textiles with motifs of the bird, helping to raise awareness about the species while building their own financial independence.

Barman is also Senior Project Manager of the Avifauna Research and Conservation Division, Aaranyak.

The UNEP website said that at the age of five, Barman was sent to live with her grandmother on the banks of the Brahmaputra River in Assam.

“Separated from her parents and siblings, the girl became inconsolable. To distract her, Barman’s grandmother, a farmer, started taking her to nearby paddy fields and wetlands to teach her about the birds there. I saw storks and many other species. She taught me bird songs. She asked me to sing for the egrets and the storks. I fell in love with the birds,” said Barman, who has devoted much of her career to saving the endangered greater adjutant stork, the second-rarest stork species in the world.

“Barman’s pioneering conservation work has empowered thousands of women, creating entrepreneurs and improving livelihoods while bringing the greater adjutant stork back from the brink of extinction,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP.

“Dr Barman’s work has shown that conflict between humans and wildlife can be resolved to the benefit of all. By highlighting the damaging impact that the loss of wetlands has had on the species who feed and breed on them, she reminds us of the importance of protecting and restoring ecosystems.”

According to information on the UNEP website, to protect the stork, Barman knew she had to change perceptions of the bird, known locally as “hargila” in Assamese (meaning “bone swallower”) and mobilised a group of village women to help her.

Today the “Hargila Army” consists of over 10,000 women.

They protect nesting sites, rehabilitate injured storks which have fallen from their nests and arrange “baby showers” to celebrate the arrival of newborn chicks.

The greater adjutant stork regularly features in folk songs, poems, festivals and plays.

Since Barman started her conservation programme, the number of nests in the villages of Dadara, Pachariya, and Singimari in Kamrup District have risen from 28 to more than 250, making this the largest breeding colony of greater adjutant storks in the world, UNEP said.

“In 2017, Barman began building tall bamboo nesting platforms for the endangered birds to hatch their eggs. Her efforts were rewarded a couple of years later when the first greater adjutant stork chicks were hatched on these experimental platforms,” it added.

Barman said on the UNEP website that one of her biggest rewards has been the sense of pride that has been instilled in the Hargila Army and she hopes their success will inspire the next generation of conservationists to pursue their dreams.

“Being a woman working in conservation in a male-dominated society is challenging but the Hargila Army has shown how women can make a difference,” she said.

UNEP said that since its inception in 2005, the annual Champions of the Earth award has been awarded to trailblazers at the forefront of efforts to protect our natural world.

It is the UN’s highest environmental honour.

To date, the award has recognised 111 laureates: 26 world leaders, 69 individuals and 16 organisations.

This year a record 2,200 nominations from around the world were received.

The other honourees include Arcenciel (Lebanon); Constantino (Tino) Aucca Chutas (Peru); Sir Partha Dasgupta of the United Kingdom and Cecile Bibiane Ndjebet (Cameroon).

newindianexpress.com

BHU IIT faculty wins in bamboo innovation challenge

Pradyut Dhar, an assistant professor at the School of Biochemical Engineering, IIT(BHU) Varanasi, is among the top five winners in prototype development stage category in the recently-conducted National Bamboo Innovation Challenge 2022.

The award was conferred to Dr Dhar and his team for the recent technological innovation and development in the bamboo sector which opens up new business opportunities for industries and start-ups.

The programme has been supported by the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India and managed by Finovista on behalf of the Foundation for MSME Clusters (FMC).

Dhar said his team at the Laboratory of Chem Bio systems and Technology has been instrumental in working on the “SmartyBamboo” project which aims to develop high-performance products, using bamboo as base materials that can be easily translated at a commercial scale.

The objective is to promote bamboo as a sustainable material replacing the petroleum-based products as well as help improve the rural economy.

He said the “SmartyBamboo” project developed four kinds of bamboo based value-added products which help widen the applications of bamboo in various new sectors such as agriculture, smart textiles, healthcare, food packaging, automotive parts, glow road signals at night, smart building and high strength construction materials.

All the products are produced through green and sustainable chemical-based processes which are biodegradable in nature.

Most of the business opportunities for bamboo-based products are confined to the rural areas which reduces the potential market.

The developed bamboo-based products in this project can easily be translated to startups, companies or NGOs for production with help of low-skilled workers and, thereby, may improve the financial return for personnel involved in the sector.

Dhar further said that India is the world’s second largest producer of bamboo, however, the country’s share in the trade and commerce of bamboo-based products globally is merely about 4 per cent.

The advancement of such technological innovations both in terms of bamboo-based products and processing units, coupled with skill development is required to create an entire value chain which is supported through the National Bamboo Mission.

daijiworld.com

Saviour of indigenous seeds & farming style

Nekram Sharma, a modest farmer from Nanj village in Karsog valley in Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh, got the opportunity of his life when he was rejected from a government job in 1984. With 22 bighas of his family land lying unused, he started growing fruits, vegetables and experimented with organic farming before adopting ancient farming techniques as his sole way of farming.

What started as an alternate vocation grew into a full time occupation that led to saving of almost three dozen indigenous varieties of seeds. Now lovingly referred to as a ‘saviour’ of indigenous seeds by the villagers Nekram has adopted Nau-anaj (Nau is 9 and Anaj is crop) practice, an intercropping method in which nine food grains are grown on the same piece of land.

These crops are a combination of lentils, cereals, vegetables, legumes and creepers. His crops are from the indigenous seeds given to him by his elders. Nekram cultivates foxtail millet, maize, finger millet, buckwheat, Amaranthus rajma, urad dal, moong and beans. “In a year one can grow 18 crops (9 Kharif) and (9 Rabi). This cropping pattern has multiple benefits as it raises fertility level of the ground but consumes less water wi th zero input s costs.

Since 2002, he has worked on preserving not only the traditional style of farming but also managed to produce indigenous seeds of all local varieties for future generations. There are around 20 indigenous seeds, including eight types of millets, three varieties of wheat, besides promoting intercropping system. “When I was 25 years old, a public movement had started to save forests.

My elders lamented that the indigenous seeds are also slowly vanishing from the market which made me think. I did some research and realized that these seeds had more nutrition in them than what was available and was in use by all the farmers here. I then started collecting and sowing these indigenous seeds in my own fields,” Nekram says. “The farmers called me mad and taunted me for saving trees and indigenous seeds. But I did get support from few of my friends,” the 59-yearold adds.

With the support from his friends, Nekram approached experts to connect the revival of the indigenous seeds with its health benefits besides from good yields under adverse conditions. Several panchayat meetings were spent on making the farmers understand the value and benefits of the indigenous seeds. Now, Netram also has an indigenous seed bank through which he preserves and distributes the seeds to the farmers. Nekram says that he request farmers to grow traditional seeds along with hybrid seeds of they do not want to sow traditional seeds alone.

In 2010, when he implemented Nau-Anaj practice, it inspired other farmers in the region as well and thus Parvatiye Tikau Kheti Abhiyan (PTKA) a co-operative of farmers was formed. Since then, thousands of farmers have connected with him with demands coming from Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Ghaziabad, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and even Hyderabad. While farmers usually come and visit him to take the seeds but those who can’t, request him for a courier, which he gladly obliges.

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