The Lalit Blog

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Fluorosis strikes rural areas in Madhya Pradesh When contacted for inputs on this vital issue, a state Pollution Control Board spokesman said  that the CGWB findings are based on tests conducted a few years ago. He also pointed out that most the fluoride related tests by his organization have been conducted only in the urban and semi-urban areas. On a broad assessment, he emphasised, the situation would not have improved in the last few years as there has been a progressive increase in demand for ground water mainly for irrigation purpose and the water table has been dropping at a rapid pace.. Excess intake of Fluoride through drinking water and food crops irrigated with fluoride contaminated water causes fluorosis. In the initial stages, moderate ingestion of fluoride leads to dental mottling but long term ingestion affects the bones, body organs and some of the body's critical biological functions. Hence the control of drinking-water quality is critical in preventing fluo

 I have something to say....Just wait and see how by 2030, the great Narmada River, which is at least 350 million years older than the Ganga, will be battling for survival as those who cry from rooftops about India's progress have been squarely responsible for vandalizing, looting and destroying the forests in the catchment of the great Narmada. By 2030 the Narmada river would be mostly dry and the process of desertification in many districts would be complete. On reading this, one might casually remark: "it is only a matter of how you look at a glass, whether you see it half full or half empty." In my opinion it is only this tendency of looking at half the picture that is responsible for most of the malaise we see around us 64 years after Independence. It is high time we bring in focus the total picture and start addressing all connected issues.   Lalit Shastri

World Migratory Bird Day was observed by organising a birding camp at Van ViharNational Park in Bhopal on Sunday, May 15, 2011. On this occasion a documentary on migratory birds titled "Water Birds of Bhopal" produced by Raajshri and Lalit Shastri was screened by CREW, an NGO devoted to wildlife conservation.

Photo: Lalit Shastri Profile by CREW The Laughing Dove ( Stigmatopelia senegalensis ) is a small pigeon which is a resident breeding bird in India, Southern Asia, the tropics in Africa south of the Sahara, and the Middle East. In India it is also known as the Little Brown Dove . Probably as the result of stowaways from Africa or India, the bird is also found in a localised area of Western Australia

Photo: Lalit Shastri Profile by CREW The Jungle Babbler , Turdoides striata , is an old World Babbler found in South Asia. They are gregarious birds that forage in small groups of six to ten birds, a habit that has given them the popular name of Seven Sisters or Saath bhai in Hindi with cognates in other regional languages which means "seven brothers". The Jungle Babbler is a common resident breeding bird in most parts of the Indian Subcontinent and is often seen in gardens within large cities as well as in forested areas.

click here for video>>>>> Ringnecked Parakeet The Rose-ringed Parakeet (Psittacula krameri), also known as the Ringnecked Parakeet, is a gregarious tropical parakeet species that has an extremely large range. Rose-ringed parakeets are popular as pets. This non-migrating species is one of few parrot species that have successfully adapted to living in 'disturbed habitats', and in that way withstood the onslaught of urbanisation and deforestation.

HT Correspondent Bhopal, June 05, 2006 A number of programmes were organised across the City on Monday to mark the World Environment Day. In a function organised by Environmental Planning and Coordination Organisation (EPCO), Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that the State Government was considering formulating an Act to prohibit the use of harmful polythene. In another function, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan released a short duration film on ‘Water Bird’ here today. Based on environment, the film has been produced by the journalists Lalit Shastri and Rajshri Shastri .

Photo: Lalit Shastri Profile by CREW Coucal is one of about 30 species of birds in the cuckoo family . All of them belong in the subfamily Centropodinae and the genus Centropus . Unlike many Old World cuckoos, coucals are not brood parasites . On the other hand they do have their own reproductive peculiarity: all members of the genus are to varying degrees sex-role reversed so that the smaller male provides most of the parental care. Coucals generally make nests inside dense vegetation and they usually have the top covered but some species have the top open. Some coucal species have been seen to fly while carrying their young.

Photo: Lalit Shastri Profile by CREW The Purple Sunbird ( Cinnyris asiaticus ) is a small sunbird . Like other sunbirds they feed mainly on nectar, although they will also take insects, especially when feeding young. They have a fast and direct flight and can take nectar by hovering like a hummingbird but often perch at the base of flowers. The males appear all black except in some lighting when the purple iridescence becomes visible. Females are olive above and yellowish below. The species is distributed widely from the Persian Gulf through South Asia and into Southeast Asia. They are resident birds in most parts of their range and do not move large distances. They are found mainly on the plains but going up to 2400 m in southern India and up to 1700 m in the Himalayas. They are found in thin forest and garden land, including those in dense urban areas

Photo: Lalit Shastri Profile by CREW This genus occurs throughout the Americas , Africa , China and India . Their caterpillars feed on certain Fabaceae , for example vetches ( Vicia ). While most are thus beneficial by keeping weeds at bay, some occasionally become nuisance pests on crops like alfalfa . In some species, the wings of males have brilliant ultraviolet reflection, while those of females do not.

( This warning was issued by CREW and boldly published by The Hindu in 1999--much before Sariska. ) A report by Crusade for Revival of Environment and Wildlife, (CREW) on the Tiger crisis in Madhya Pradesh warns that the State is perhaps the last hope for the survival of tiger species in India and leaves a stern message that "if the slide down is not arrested immediately, the magnificent tiger could soon be on the verge of extinction."The report crisis titled "The Vanishing Stripes" was released to the press here today.CREW is a non-Government organization(NGO) set up two years ago. Date: 14/06/1999 Source: Hindu (New Delhi) Tags: Wildlife

Lalit Shastri In his zeal to put the State on the fast track of development, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had announced at the Global Investors Summit at Khajuraho in October 2010 that he would personally monitor the outcome of MoUs inked for investment at these summits but a close appraisal of the Government's much hyped initiative has revealed major chinks reflecting attempts by the State authorities to by-pass statutory requirements only to benefit the chosen ones. On the sidelines of the Khajuraho Investors' Summit, one saw Iqbal Singh Bains, a senior bureaucrat, in a private discussion  with chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Incidentally,  their tête-à-tête was in earshot and the CM was fully in agreement and gave the approving nod for the blatant move to parcel out the Gwalior SADA land to a private party at a throwaway price. Bains is considered a blue eyed boy of the Chief Minister. Follow up investigation revealed that Bains with the backing

CREW Report April 25: Bhopal will soon have a notified bird watching zone in the area adjoining Van Vihar National Park along the picturesque Upper Lake , which is a perfect habitat for hundreds of species of resident and migratory birds. This was announced by Madhya Pradesh Minister for Urban Administration and former state chief minister Babulal Gaur after he inspected the suitability of the location with a team of senior officers this weekend. It is an important migration area for Storks, grebe, bar headed goose and numerous ducks. In the winter season, this area becomes the home for the birds from Siberia and Himalayas . Talking to CREW, Mr. Gaur said: “after it is developed as a Birding zone, the area adjoining Van Vihar National Park, including Gora Bisenkhedi village would become one of the top locations in Central India for viewing winter migrations of birds that arrive here from Ladakh, and even northern Europe . The idea is to treat this project as a specializ

These houses at Bariam village near Pachmarhi have been declared as illegal Violation of Wildlife Protection Act Booker Prize-winning novelist Arundhati Roy received a jolt this Thursday when the court of the divisional commissioner of Bhopal and Narmadapuram quashed an appeal against a lower court order declaring as illegal the purchase of land and construction of bungalows by her film maker husband Pradip Krishen and three others at Bariam village near Pachmarhi in Madhya Pradesh. The court of Bhopal and Narmadapuram Divisional Commissioner Manoj Shrivastava quashed the appeal of Mr. Krishen and three others challenging the November 2010 order of the Piparia sub-divisional magistrate declaring as illegal the bungalows constructed by Mr. Krishen, along with those built by renowned novelist Vikram Seth’s sister, a doctor Jagdish Chandra Sharma and a retired forest officer M.K. Jadhav. The divisional Commissioner’s court has issued the order quashing the appeal in this case by addr

Click >>> Tigers-are they safe in Tiger Reserves On 14th December, 2006, tourists found a large male tiger in Kanha dragging an iron trap attached to one of its legs. Fortunately, there was timely action after the tourists had raised an alarm and the male tiger was tranquilized and rescued from the trap. Next year on October 27, a large male tiger was once more trapped by poachers in Kanha Tiger Reserve. This tiger also had a miraculous escape. The poachers had set three iron jaw traps on one of the main tracks passing through Kanha, near Chimpta Camp in Kisli Range. Some laborers sent there to repair the road and cut the grass along the track noticed the tiger caught in a trap. When the laborers came very close, the huge tiger, using all its strength, could manage to extricate itself free from the jaw trap. These two instances clearly show that the poachers strike their targets at will inside the Tiger Reserves. When contacted this is what the Kanha Park director, K. Nayak,

click>>>> Tiger Crisis-where lies the problem For long the central Indian State of Madhya Pradesh, blessed with the Satpura-Maikal landscape, has commanded the "Tiger State" status which has now gone to Karnataka. Till now, Madhya Pradesh was ahead of all other states in the country in terms of the estimated tiger population. The latest tiger figures that have put Madhya Pradesh in the second place behind Karnataka were released by Union Minister for Environment and Forest Jairam Ramesh in New Delhi on March 28, 2011. This interview by Srinivas Murthy, director Panna Tiger Reserve was recorded for CREW before he took up his present assignment at Panna. A CREW presentation. Category:

click>>> Black shouldered kite Black shouldered kite is found all over India till about 1500 meters in outer Himalayas. Its habitat is light forest, open scrub and grass country,

click >>> Glossy Ibis black ibis is a resident found throughout India from south of Himalayas (Terai to South). It It is gregarious and feeds with storks, spoonbills, egrest and other ibises in marshes and along riversides.

click >>> Grey Hornbill These birds are found in Haryana and Kumaon to extreme North-East; Central India-Madhya Pradesh, Bastar in Chhattisgarh and northern Andhra Pradesh.It lives around forests, orchards and groves

From CREW archive Students target group is always very sensitive to nature conservation issues and bird watching is an important tool to attract young kids and student groups so that they can be sensitized on these issues along with the awareness campaign. Summer vacation is a right period when this activity can be taken up when the specified target group is having some free time with them. Academy campus is very rich in flora and Shahpura Lake in front of the campus makes it a birdwatchers heaven where majority of the arboreal and water birds are available. IIFM campu

Save Upper Lake of Bhopal

From CREW archive Sahara Time STATES THE TROUBLED TIGER SANJAY SHARMA, BHOPAL 21 - Jan - 05 Poachers are the biggest threat to the survival of the tiger in its natural habitat in Madhya Pradesh," Crusade for Revival of Environment and Wildlife (CREW), an NGO devoted to the cause of environment and wildlife, had warned the State Government in its hard hitting investigative report "The Vanishing Stripes" that was released in the first fortnight of June 1999. The situation in the tiger state, home to over 30 percent of the Indian tigers, is no better even now. As per the population estimates of 2002, there are 711 tigers and 1,086 panthers in the state. The recent recoveries of the carcass of a tigress and her cub and the remains of a tiger within days of each other are an indicator of the dismal picture. The remains of a tiger killed by poachers inside the Pench National Park were found last week. Only three days prior to it the carcass of a tigress and her cub were found

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

Environment and Climate Change Environment and climate change are complex issues. As we grope for answers to dilemmas of development while trying to preserve the purity of the environment, the Centre attempted to create awareness of the different issues involved. The Centre has been collaborating with an NGO, Toxics Link, for several years to organise lectures on environment and related issues, both topical and popular. The areas covered in the lectures were: ‘Bhopal–Tragedy Lingers On’; ‘Must the River Die?’; ‘Urban Sewage: A Dirty Reality’; ‘Bio-Fuel: An Alarm Bell on Food Safety?’ ; ‘Gharial–On the Verge of Extinction' ; ‘Use Renewable Energy. Make your House Energy Efficient’; and ‘Preserve the Future’, films from the UK Environment Film Fellowship on wildlife and environment.

The Hindu June 29, 2008 Staff Reporter "Study will yield vital new information on their habitats " NEW DELHI: "We could be closer than ever before in understanding the real cause of the death of more than a hundred gharials at the National Chambal Sanctuary since December 2007," said Gharial Crisis Management Group chairman Ravi Singh here . Participating in an Environment and Public Health Lecture Series organised by Toxics Link and India International Centre, he added: "Fundamental gaps in the knowledge of gharial biology were highlighted in the course of investigation and we are hopeful that telemetry test now under way on gharials will fill in gaps in our understanding of this species." Mr. Singh said the study would yield vital new information on gharials and their habitats including assessment of health and status of population in the crisis zone. More than 100 gharials have been lost in the National Chambal Sanctuary since last December. Team set up

The Hindu 24/12/2004 By Our Staff Correspondent BHOPAL, DEC. 23. One more tiger was killed in the Thuepani beat falling under the Gumtara range of the Pench National Park on Sunday night. With this latest killing, the total number of tigers found killed inside the Pench National Park and its buffer area has gone up to four within just one week. Earlier the carcass of a tigress and her cub, slaughtered by poachers, was found in the buffer area of Pench National Park on December 17. On the basis of information passed by an informer after this poaching incident, a resident of Kurai village was arrested as he was found possessing few tiger nails. During interrogation, he passed information that led to the seizure of another tiger's skeletal remains from Kurai Ghati deep inside the Pench National Park on Sunday. The number of tigers poached or killed under mysterious circumstances in the Pench National Park and its buffer area has gone up to four after the villagers fro

The Hindu Sunday, Dec 19, 2004 By Lalit Shastri BHOPAL, DEC. 18. Poachers continue to strike at will in Madhya Pradesh and the latest case of poaching has been detected in Seoni district where the carcass of a tigress and her cub were found lying just outside the Pench National Park on Friday. When State Tiger Cell sources were contacted here, they told The Hindu that the tigress whose carcass was found outside the Pench National park on Friday had been poisoned two or three days ago. They said that the tigress and her cub had been skinned and their flesh had been left behind. One person belonging to the Pardi tribe had been rounded up for interrogation and further investigations were on. The latest tiger poaching incident is a pointer that the local contacts, who are mainly tribals carry out the real killings. They are in turn linked to international gangs having contacts in Nepal and China. During a short period in May-June this year, the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPS

The Hindu 28/03/2005 By Lalit Shastri BHOPAL, MARCH 27. Wildlife experts have questioned the official claim — based on a census conducted in the protected area (PA) from March 18 to 24 — that there are 34 tigers and a cub in the Panna Tiger Reserve of Madhya Pradesh. A spokesman of the wildlife wing of the State Forest Department told The Hindu that a large team, including officials from the Kanha, Pench and Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserves, joined the census operation. On analysing the pugmarks and other evidence, the team confirmed the presence of 20 female tigers, 14 male tigers and a cub in the Panna Tiger Reserve. Raghunandan Singh Chundawat, who has done extensive field research in the Panna Reserve, has reacted sharply to the latest census projection. He says the authorities claim to have counted 13 tigresses within the territory of a single, monitored tigress. The "absurd claim" flies in the face of everything that is known about the natural history of tigers, he said. &q

The Hindu 30/07/2005 Staff Correspondent Is alleged to have links with Sansar Chand BHOPAL: In a major breakthrough, the Chhattarpur police on Friday arrested an alleged tiger skin smuggler who has reportedly confessed to his involvement in the smuggling at least five tiger skins and 30 leopard skins during the last few years. The Chhattarpur Superintendent of Police, Yogesh Chaudhary, told The Hindu that Mohammed Raees of Bandhni village was arrested on Friday. He had allegedly admitted to being engaged in the smuggling of wild animal skins for five to seven years and was also linked with the recently arrested international tiger skin smuggler Sansar Chand. The last tiger skin smuggled out of the area by him was sometime in the last quarter of 2004. Describing the modus operandi of the accused, Mr. Chaudhary said he used to procure tiger skins from poachers belonging to the Pardhi tribe by paying Rs. 50,000 for each skin. These were then packed and routed to Delhi and o

The Hindu 19/12/2004 By Lalit Shastri BHOPAL, DEC. 18. Poachers continue to strike at will in Madhya Pradesh and the latest case of poaching has been detected in Seoni district where the carcass of a tigress and her cub were found lying just outside the Pench National Park on Friday. When State Tiger Cell sources were contacted here, they told The Hindu that the tigress whose carcass was found outside the Pench National park on Friday had been poisoned two or three days ago. They said that the tigress and her cub had been skinned and their flesh had been left behind. One person belonging to the Pardi tribe had been rounded up for interrogation and further investigations were on. The latest tiger poaching incident is a pointer that the local contacts, who are mainly tribals carry out the real killings. They are in turn linked to international gangs having contacts in Nepal and China. During a short period in May-June this year, the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI)

The Hindu 21/12/2004 By Lalit Shastri BHOPAL, DEC. 20. The poaching menace has raised its ugly head inside the Pench National Park in Madhya Pradesh where the remains of a tiger, said to have been killed by poachers, were found on Sunday. This is the second poaching incident inside or in the vicinity of the Pench Tiger Reserve within a short span of just one week. In the earlier incident, a tigress and her cub were slaughtered by poachers. Their carcass was found lying just outside the Park area on Friday. The latest poaching incident surfaced following interrogation of Vijay Singh, a villager from Bichwa-Kurai. He was rounded up on December 17 after he was found having four tiger nails. On the basis of information provided by him, the remains of a tiger were found from a spot at Kurai Ghati overlooking the lush forested valley. This place is about five kilometres from Rukhad. The area is also being projected as Mowgli Land by the Madhya Pradesh Government to promote eco-tourism an