Our Himalayan by Balipara Foundation

Vol 22: November 2018 - January 2019

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

Our Himalayan Successor of Myanmar Matters FOOD FOR THE FUTURE

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

FOREWORD 05

BEEJ SWARAJ FOR PURNA SWARAJ

....................................... 09

NEWS 12

EASTERN HIMALAYAS ARUNACHAL PRADESH:

NORTH EAST CONNECTIVITY FORUM ...............................................

ASSAM:

19 22 TEZPUR – LUNGS OF INDIA WITH PUREST AIR .................................... 26 NRC DRAFT CREATES FEAR AND FURY IN ASSAM ................................ LINKING YOUR CUP OF ASSAM TEA TO ELEPHANT CONSERVATION ..........

MANIPUR:

CC TEA IN MANIPUR ....................................................................

MIZORAM:

ENVIRONMENT POLICIES THAT BENEFIT FARMERS COULD HOLD KEY TO VOTES IN MIZORAM ........................................

SIKKIM:

SIKKIM’S FIRST AIRPORT: A VISUAL PARADISE AND AN ENGINEERING MARVEL ........................................

MYANMAR MATTERS BAGAN AWAITS TO BE A PART OF UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE ............................................

CONSERVATION

FOOD FOR FUTURE ................................................................ HOW IS BHUTAN MAINTAINING ITS ZERO-CARBON POLICY? ...................................................

WHAT IS NORTH EAST INDIA DOING TO IMPLEMENT CLEAN ENERGY? ...........................................

FLOODS IN ASSAM AND HOW IT IS AFFECTING KAZIRANGA NATIONAL .......................................

BIODIVERSITY BATMAN OF MEGHALAYA: CAVING AND CATALOGUING TO SAVE BATS ................................................

ART & CULTURE VILLAGE ROCKSTARS’ JOURNEY FROM ASSAM TO OSCARS .....................................................

OUR HIMALAYAN

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

IN CONVERSATION WITH PRIYANKA YOSHIKAWA, BALIPARA FOUNDATION’S BRAND AMBASSADOR ..................

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

COVER STORY

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHANGING THE FUTURE: ENVIRONMENT & ECONOMY IN THE EASTERN HIMALAYAS – PART II ..................

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

CHANGING THE FUTURE: ENVIRONMENT & ECONOMY IN THE EASTERN HIMALAYAS â&#x20AC;&#x201C; PART II

OUR HIMALAYAN

FOREWORD

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

CHANGING THE FUTURE: ENVIRONMENT & ECONOMY IN THE EASTERN HIMALAYAS – PART II

The current economy is propelled by snarge – the destructive human-centric industrial landscape, currently designed for the accelerated movement of humans and goods to the exclusion of all else: but is it the only way? China has demonstrated it is possible to grow economically while centering the environment, reducing carbon emissions and air pollution by restoring forest cover, transitioning to green energy and implementing stringent emissions guidelines for factories. Despite this, their GDP grew by 6.6% in 2018, proving good environment is good economy.

- Research support by Joanna Dawson

The Eastern Himalaya’s current growth trajectory has been marred by severe ecological damage, but corrective action and a quick transition towards a nature capital centred economy could reverse this, while powering sustainable long-term growth in the region. By Ranjit Barthakur, Founder of the Balipara Foundation (17/01/2019)

of our economy and the natural world. Its greatest asset is its rich nature capital and diversity, at present, highly underused assets which could be leveraged to propel the region into the fourth industrial revolution – a decarbonized economy, completely independent of fossil-fuel derived growth and material. Creating Natural Assets Burgeoning population and agricultural pressures, expanding

industrialization, mining and persistent timber logging have degraded the Eastern Himalayas’ natural assets. Despite this degradation, the forest capital value of the Eastern Himalayas – timber, non-timber forest produce, fuelwood and carbon stocks – is a quarter of India’s total forest capital value. Careful management through multicrop-based agroforestry such as the Rural Futures habitat restoration project, will regenerate natural capital and improve

Shaping the Economy Tapping into the Eastern Himalayas’ natural capital to create a thriving green economy requires taking a Naturenomics™ approach: recognizing the interdependence

Garo community basti

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

he Eastern Himalayas – including Northeast India, Bhutan, North West Bengal and Bangladesh – is one of the richest biodiversity hotspots in the world, one of 18 such hotspots globally. In India alone, they account for a quarter of the country’s forest cover and hold India’s largest carbonstock. Today, mounting deforestation and environmental degradation threatens its rich but fragile biome. Arunachal Pradesh has lost over 3300 square kilometres of forest in the past thirty years and by 2028, projections indicate Assam and Arunachal Pradesh will lose 9000 square kilometres of forest cover. The impact of this loss will be catastrophic.

OUR HIMALAYAN

FOREWORD

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

FOREWORD

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

food security, soil health and local livelihoods, crucial especially in forest-fringes or national park buffer zones. Additionally, the rich natural capital of these forests could be leveraged to create universal basic income, recognizing these assets’ economic value and the labor of those who care for them and liquidating them in a way that serves both forests and communities.

Garo Community Village Homestay

botanical tourism to add value to the NSDP. Meanwhile, daily tariffs, travel restrictions and standardized tour operator codes could manage tourist inﬂows to reduce environmental and infrastructure pressures. Sustainable Tea Agroforestry The region’s large-scale plantations are unsustainable in the face of climate change, soil health and labour rights concerns. The future is small: increasingly, communities are turning to the small tea-garden as a means of generating stable

AGRICULTURAL & PASTURELAND

WATER

incomes and retaining control over values created by tea production. This shift must be accompanied by a move towards organic cultivation, with minimal use of soil and water damaging pesticides and fertilizers. Multi-cropping with horticultural products such as oranges, avocadoes, turmeric or ginger diversiﬁes and augments incomes, while creating greater soil resilience through the diversity of crops. Production processes must draw entirely on clean energy whether through solar, or miniature-scale

BIODIVERSITY ENDEMIC/ RARE SPECIES

34% of India’s water wealth 37% of India’s hydropower potential

ECOTOURISM National Park investments Flagship species

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

Tourism is one of the biggest drivers of the Eastern Himalayan economy; its multiplier effect feeding capital back into the local economy – except where demand exceeds local capabilities. Mindful tourism deters economic leakage and ensures the regeneration of natural assets by giving local communities ownership and fostering support for conservation efforts. Nature-centred home-stays are ahead of the curve in implementing these principles, but there is scope for newer forms of rural tourism. Agricultural tourism, farm-stays and small-scale tea garden tours drive support for locally owned business and create value for rural agriculture based natural assets. The still undeveloped value of botanical natural assets in the region can be developed and improved

BIOECOSYSTEM/ PROSPECTING ECOLOGICAL SERVICES Genetic diversity Pharmaceutical research Patent creation

Pollination Forest regeneration

FORESTS MOUNTAIN ECOSYSTEM SERVICES TIMBER GEOLOGICAL RESOUCRES Soil Minerals Biogeochemical processes

CARBON STOCKS 25% of India’s carbon stock

ECOSYSTEM/ NON-TIMBER ECOLOGICAL FOREST PRODUCE Fodder SERVICES Soil conservation Water Augmentation Flood prevention

Fodder, Dye,Broom grass Nutritional security Handicrafts & building materials Ethnomedicine Oil extraction

Snowline to sea line: the natural assets of the Eastern Himalayas

OUR HIMALAYAN

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

Towards Mindful Natural Tourism

Flying Birds on a river in Kaziranga. Photo courtesy: Kaziranga National Forest Park

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019 OUR HIMALAYAN

FOREWORD

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

hydroelectric projects that A New Economy use gas as a fuel to halt The history of economy is marked degradation of both air and by revolution and innovation, each local ecologies. new innovation unlocking new opportunities. Quality of life indices Enhanced Eco-Friendly and the GDP belong to an old Connectivity technology-driven economy, heavily Growing these industries demands dependent on borrowed time and a better connectivity, to maximize market high natural capital debt. Increasintegration nationally and internationally. ingly, green accounting initiatives However, this must not come at cost to are revealing this hidden cost and the environment: accelerated logging, the toll they take on incomes in the permanently altered biodiversity and present. Financial infrastructure, led habitats, severely restricted wildlife by organizations like Credit Suisse, movement and snarge – the cumulative are slowly recognizing the value of biomass of roadkill, annually. natural capital and assets as an integral part of ﬁnancial markets. The Eastern Himalayas have rich water- The fourth industrial revolution is ways that are presently underleveraged. coming, whether we like it or not. Developing ports and cargo-handling facilities to shift a larger tonnage – water- China’s key lesson for the Eastern ways contribute to only 2.4 MTPA in Himalayas is the light it shines on Assam’s 91 MTPA trade – is essential, potentials for a new environbut ports and transports must be ment-centred economy. Green eco-friendly, with minimum dependence bonds for investment in creating a on fossil fuels to reduce carbon emissions green, closed-loop economy that and prevent water pollution. Road ecology meets the challenges of climate methodologies must drive planning and change while building natural implementation of roads, moving away assets must propel the future. The from the anthropocentric snarge- fourth industrial revolution is green: creating model, to reduce disruptions to with immediate action, the Eastern the natural habitat and facilitate free Himalayas can lead the way. animal movement. Infrastructure must use alternates to sand and other building materials to minimize environmental damage and dependency on mining.

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

BEEJ SWARAJ FOR PURNA SWARAJ

OUR HIMALAYAN

COVER STORY

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

BEEJ SWARAJ FOR PURNA SWARAJ

She also invited esteemed invitees, global delegates, environmentalist and conservators attending the event to join hands to do something to promote rural economics as it is 150 years of Gandhi’s birth anniversary and he always reminded us that India really is a land of villagers and he worked very consciously at the concept of the rural economics, nature-based economics, gram Swaraj and viable economics. Dr. Shiva is a trained physicist, acclaimed teacher, environmental activist, food sovereignty advocate as well as an awarded author of more than 20 books. Her organisation, Navdanya translated as “nine seeds” does the grassroots work and is based on the philosophy of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, which means “the world is one family”. She has been honoured with many awards for her noble work in the ﬁeld of biodiversity and food sovereignty, including: The Right Livelihood Award, the Order of the Golden Ark, Global 500 Award of the UN, Earth Day International Award, The Lennon Ono Grant for Peace and the Sydney Peace Prize 2010.

Content Courtesy – Nupur Bajpai

Dr. Vandana Shiva, Organic Rural Futures; Picture courtesy: EHNF 2018 Rural Futures

At the 2018 Naturenomics™ conference on 1st November in Guwahati, the Balipara Foundation was fortunate enough to have an in-depth conversation on “seeds of life” with Dr. Shiva. Here is the complete interview: Balipara Foundation: “We are all Seeds”/ “Seeds for life” – what do you signify through this statement? Dr. Shiva: We are seeds because we are part of life. All life begins a seed: it could be you, when you were a little embryo in your mother's womb or it could be the

amazing foods that we have. It all began in seed or the trees in the forests. Life begins a seed and seed in our language is “beeja” that from which life evolves and multiplies for ever and ever and ever. It’s the permanence of nature and the permanent renewal of nature. Balipara Foundation: Tell us more about the work and philosophy of Navdanya? Dr. Shiva: Navdanya actually does grassroots work. Navdanya saves seeds, we've created 120 community seed banks, we’ve helped more than a million farmers make

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

ndian scholar, inspirational leader and ecofeminist, Dr. Vandana Shiva addressed the 6th edition of Eastern Himalayan Naturenomics™ Forum 2018, where she italicized the importance of organic farming for rural futures and underlined the urgent need for conservation of the web of life. Tracing India’s history, she pointed out that community-based nature’s economy is what has sustained the civilization over millennia, and not the commodiﬁcation and industry centric extractive economy.

OUR HIMALAYAN

COVER STORY

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

COVER STORY

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

Balipara Foundation: According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), almost 1 billion people suffer from chronic hunger and almost 2 billion are under or over nourished. How do we surpass this continuing prevalence of hunger around the world? Dr. Shiva: Okay, ﬁrst is chronic hunger is a new phenomenon and it's a gift of the industrial agriculture system which pretended to be feeding the world. We've had hunger before, but it was only when there were times of total rainfall failure, an extended drought and you had hunger, or it was a huge exploitation like the British Empire's exploitation of the peasantry of India which created the Great Bengal famine which killed 2 million people. As Amartya Sen has written there was enough rice, it was not lack of rice that led to hunger, it was excessive exploitation. That’s what the Tebhaga movement said; take one-third taxes not 50% taxes. It's the taxation and the Lagaan that created the hunger then, all wars create hunger but that's always limited in space and time. The war comes, and the war goes, the drought comes, and the drought goes. Chronic hunger is in the structure of an

A woman farming in Jhum ﬁeld in Assam Picture courtesy: Alex Treadway

industrial system designed on greed, it's not feeding the world. The billion people hungry are because of this. Undernourished, everyone's undernourished because we are not producing food; we are producing nutritionally empty commodities. Nutritionally empty commodities will not nourish you. No one is over nourished; even the ones who are called over nourished or obese and having diabetes are undernourished because they're not getting the right food. So, good food for all is my new passion in life because I've realized that everything is connected through food. The web of life which is the nature's web is a food web. As our Taittiriya Upanishad says, “Everything is food, everything is something else's food” so all life is connected through nutrition and today the poisoning of our food system is not just poisoning human beings giving them diabetes and cancer, it is poisoning our ﬁsh out of existence; it's poisoning our pollinators and bees out of existence; it's poisoning our Birds out of existence. Silent Spring by Rachel Carson was a wake-up call more than 50 years ago. Poisons are genocide, poisons are ecocide. That's why I'm dedicated to a Poison free world by 2050 and organic world by 2050 and I hope all movements will join and the Balipara movement will lead this transition in the Northeast because after all our Prime Minister came to Sikkim which is 100% organic and announced that the whole North East will be organic. Let's take him to his word.

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

I'm the one who does the philosophy and why do I do philosophy because I believe you must reﬂect on things and I'm a physicist trained as a physicist but then I realized there was a huge deep gap between a mechanistic physics and its mechanistic philosophy. I was studying quantum theory and I wanted to understand its foundation, so I did a PhD in the foundations of quantum theory and you could now say that with all my work on biodiversity and agriculture, I’ve done the philosophy of the seed. I’ve done the philosophy of farming. I’ve done the philosophy of soil. I've done the philosophy of life and life is about reﬂection and acting the thought and thoughtfulness and for me nature is something you can't put at the back of your mind, you can't be something you trample on and conquer. Nature has to be the heart of your very consciousness because we are part of it.

Balipara Foundation: How can we make organic food accessible to the people since population is growing but there is not enough food that is growing in fast pace? Dr. Shiva: The ﬁrst issue is when you think of organic as a commodity, as a product that some businessman can sell at a higher price; you get the thesis that organic is costly. Organic production is cheaper; for the peasant who grows it, going organic is the better option. Every farmer who has committed suicide in India - three hundred thousand and more is the list from the National Bureau of Crime Records - has got into debt for chemicals and seeds. Those are the two primary reasons for debt. You get rid of that chemical and you get rid of book purchase seed and you go to your desi seeds. You will not just have zero debt and zero suicides; you will actually have more nutrition. We measure nutrition per acre in Navdanya. We can feed two times

OUR HIMALAYAN

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

organic farming and because it's no point just growing the organic food, they need to be distributed; we've created fair economies, food sovereignty economies that are based on economic sovereignty and the Navdanya farmers are earning ten times more than the farmers growing commodity crops to earn more money.

Dr. Shiva: So, when I did a critique of the Green Revolution in Punjab because Punjab had erupted in violence. It was supposed to be the land for peace. Nobel Peace Prize was given, and it was a land of war in 84. I was among the only voices saying we must go ecological in our farming. Today, not only is the United Nations recognizing that agro ecology is the way forward and it just gave Sikkim the award for agroecology, for being the ﬁrst hundred percent organic state on the 15th of October 2018 and I was there for the ceremony. The organic movement is exploding; it is growing faster than any other economic sector. 25% growth annually and the growth is because the disease epidemic is so high. So, what are the key policy changes?First, costs must be internalized; we've done a study on wealth per acre. What are the costs of chemical farming? 1.3 trillion is what we

So, we must internalize the cost. Second is we must stop the subsidizing of the non-sustainable system that is so destructive. Third, because it would make sense for Assam to be able to grow rice for Assam to eat makes no sense to subsidize pumping groundwater, This interview has been edited destroying the water of Punjab, and condensed. destroying the farmers of Punjab, destroying the rice for the country by punishing farmers and the people by growing subsidized rice with high chemical use, high water Based in Mumbai, use, high subsidy use and a cancer Nupur Bajpai is a train from Punjab. We don't have to Junior Content do that. Writer at Blenheim Chalcot’s research So, we need to see what the team. She is biodiversity endowments of our passionate about different regions are, what are the history and politics food cultures of our different and loves to read. regions. On ecology and culture, we build food sovereignty. That means three principals have to be adopted: the ﬁrst is biodiversity, the second is ecological organic farming and the third is fare local fresh food rather than packaged food that is behind all the mountains of garbage, which our Prime Minister's trying to clean up. We need to begin with clean food and then the outside environment will also clean up.

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

Balipara Foundation: What policies and reforms according to you are needed for good food security governance? Any silver lining in the recent years?

How will we feed ourselves by 2050? Poison free farming produces more food and better food and more diverse food. Local economies generate more livelihoods, local cultures generate dignity and the true identity that is not an identity of killing and clashing and division and violence but an identity of being part of the earth family. In 2050, we will feed ourselves by recognizing that we are part of the earth not outside her and that serving the earth is the best way for us to get food.

Balipara Foundation: How will humanity feed itself by 2050? Dr. Shiva: Humanity is not feeding itself in 2018 on the industrial mode. If we destroy our farmers because the industry that brought us chemicals is now saying, we’ll do farming without farmers. We'll have drones and satellites and robots in the ﬁeld, we don't need farmers. That will totally starve the world and give you toxic food so that the eaters will also go; the producers have gone by design.

OUR HIMALAYAN

Ecology in agriculture; we have industry in agriculture, which has left a mess; 75% planet is under destruction, 75% chronic diseases, 100% of the rural economies crisis. If we shift to agro ecological system, which are ecological principles in agriculture, we can solve the political logic of crisis, we can solve the farmer’s crisis and we solve the health crisis. This is the only affordable way. If you look at the subsidies in the industrial systems, it’s 400 billion dollars per year. More than a billion a day is being spent of our tax money to poison us globally. Same is the case for India. We've to shift that system because our tax money is poisoning the planet and people. Our tax money should reward a transition to protection of the earth and protection of people's health.

found for damage to farmers and damage to environment. You add to it cost to health, it's another 1.5 trillion. We're talking about the costs of chemical farming being 3 times bigger than our GDP. That's not an economy, that's cheating on the economy.

About the author

COVER STORY

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

good diverse organic food. If the systems were not punishing the organic farmers and rewarding the chemical farmers; if the systems were not punishing the local economy and rewarding the globalized commodity trade, where we are exporting everything we grow, and we are importing toxic food and further poisoning ourselves and the ﬁnal shift is all organic systems, all ecological systems because agro ecology is the term the United Nations is using.

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

IN CONVERSATION WITH PRIYANKA YOSHIKAWA, BALIPARA FOUNDATIONâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S BRAND AMBASSADOR

OUR HIMALAYAN

NEWS

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

NEWS

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

IN CONVERSATION WITH PRIYANKA YOSHIKAWA, BALIPARA FOUNDATION’S BRAND AMBASSADOR

riyanka Yoshikawa has been working in partnership with the Balipara Foundation as our ambassador and international representative since 2016, when she won the title of Miss World Japan and became the ﬁrst biracial woman to take the title. She talks to us about her experiences with elephants, her learnings with the Foundation and her vision for the Northeast.

So how did you ﬁnd the experience? I loved it; I loved the immersiveness of it, of being with them in the wild – for a given sense of the wild. They’re so playful and they really connect with you. The elephant I was with kept throwing water on me or playing with me and it was great, it was a lot of fun. Touching and riding these animals is a rare experience and you never get to do it otherwise. They’re really kind and calm and the whole process is great, where it’s not just me

Priyanka Yoshikawa is Balipara Foundation’s brand ambassador and former Miss Japan 2016 Pic courtesy: Mi

giving them commands but we’re working together, they’re working with me to make this happen. Don’t you think elephants are better off in the wild than in captivity? Oh of course. That’s their natural home and I think the wild is where elephants really can ﬂourish, and they can live in their close-knit herds, really build bonds and thrive healthily. I think there’s some kinds of captivity – zoos do great work at helping get fragile populations back on their feet – but it’s the best when elephants can live in the wild, in untouched habitats. So, the natural follow-up question has to be – well how come you opted to do an elephant training course? Well of course saying this means

people always ask me, “but you did this course training elephants” and it’s true, I did, but it’s also true I took my time to go for something where I knew the elephants live in almost their natural habitat. They live in the wild, in the open, so it’s not the same as going for these tours where you get to see the animals up close, or interact with them, but it’s because they’re conﬁned, or they’re drugged. And I think that’s another thing we need to think about. We create these bucket lists where we want to go and see these animals, get this experience of them in the wild. But we want to see them up close, because it’s cool or we’ve always secretly wanted this even as kids and so there are these unethical businesses that crop up around these creatures where they promise you an experience – maybe you get to get up close and

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

They’re my favourite animals – even as a child, I’ve always been drawn to these gentle animals and for the longest time I even wanted one as a pet. But of course, my dad always told me we didn’t have the room and we couldn’t afford it, so I had to let that dream go. I never let go of my love for these gentle creatures though and I’d been looking for ways I could commune with these creatures without harming them. When I heard of this opportunity to see these creatures in their natural habitat, commune with them and learn to communicate with them, I jumped at it.

OUR HIMALAYAN

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

What inﬂuenced you to take that elephant training course in Laos?

I think that’s where organizations like the Balipara Foundation come in, because they’re looking at actively bridging this gap between what tourists want and what is good for these animals. So, you have these mindful tourism initiatives they’ve set up in partnership with national parks like Kaziranga – which are naturally geared towards caring for the animals, because they’re reserves – where you can go on an elephant safari, but you know there’s a standard of care and freedom these animals will have. I think that’s a great way to go about connecting humans and their natural world. Don’t you think communities beneﬁt from having elephants in the forest? Absolutely, I do. Nature is this interdependent cycle and you can’t remove one part from the equation without disastrous consequences. Elephants do keep the forests alive. They’re great seed dispersers, which helps keep the forests diverse and from becoming these insular monocultures that kill the soil. If you lose the elephants, you start losing the forest – and if you lose the forest, we lose something that’s of great value not only to communities but to the world. The remaining forests we have are our last patches of carbon sinks and the Eastern Himalayan biome is one of the largest carbon sinks in India. So if you lose

these animals here, first you begin to lose your largest carbon sink and that creates extreme risk with climate change which of course, impacts communities in fringe regions the most – so on the coastlines, or in the mountains and so on. But you also have these communities who depend on the forest for things like timber or firewood, or food or livelihoods and by losing the elephant, you lose all these things and communities become much more vulnerable and unable to withstand shifting economic pressures. So, if forests are important for both people and elephants – should we be working towards afforestation efforts? Yes, of course! I think that’s one of the best parts of being part of the Balipara Foundation because the Foundation looks at the bigger picture. So, we have these initiatives to protect elephants like the Secretariat or fundraising through the Elephant Country products and protecting communities and elephants from each other through the Man-Elephant conflict insurance scheme – but we’re also explicitly looking at regenerating forests in Udalguri which is Assam’s biggest elephant habitats. This is all part of the Udalguri Landscape Mission, which aims to recreate forest cover in the area while also helping villages find their way to more sustainable livelihoods through agroforestry initiatives. So now the forests serve both the elephants and communities and it’s no longer a zero-sum game where they have to compete over the same tract of land, but where they can share the same space but because there’s more of it – more forests – they’re less likely to clash with each other. But as I said earlier, on another level, it’s crucial because forests are India’s few carbon sinks, especially those of the Eastern Himalayas and if India wants to weather what comes next with climate change, it needs to be thinking long term about its nature capital the way organizations like the Balipara Foundation are doing. The economy exists only because of nature and without it, there wouldn’t be an economy – that’s the driving ethos behind the Balipara Foundation’s adoption of their Naturenomics™ framework, because too often we’re overlooking the importance of nature in our capital and our assets and instead looking at money but at the end of the day, without nature we won’t have anything at all.

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

After all, they’re not ours to control. They don’t belong to us and I think it’s wrong that we think we can control or rule animals. So I’d ask anyone looking at having these wildlife experiences to look at something where you know it’s least intrusive as possible and the animals get to stay in their natural habitat, without interference, as much as possible. All these stressors of being in forced contact with people, or being drugged, or being in confined spaces, contribute to making them ill and that kind of harm – even with safaris, where they’re starting to find that elephants do find jeeps and all these vehicles stressful and part of it is to do with their diminishing habitats – isn’t worth it at all.

OUR HIMALAYAN

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

NEWS

personal with a tiger and you take a photo with them – but there’s a cost to these experiences and the animals are the ones bearing the brunt of it. So, we get these cool Instagram photos out of it, but the animal is suffering, and I think we need to be more mindful of how we want to interact with these animals and whether or not we’re hurting them for our pleasure.

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

And of course, it’s a matter of balance, right? So, the rural areas have these things they bring to the table that you can’t have in an urban space. They have this huge nature capital, they’re providing the country with food and all these other raw materials, they’re regenerating the environment – the whole country. It’s an important function that we tend to ignore, but without rural spaces I don’t think you could even have urban spaces. So, you’ve noted that the Northeast is this biodiverse and nature rich place – there’s an increasing debate about the future of the Northeast – do you

The Northeast needs to be building on its strengths – and it has a lot of strengths, but maybe they don’t ﬁt in with the current economic models and concepts, which derive from this nature-unfriendly mode of production, i.e. industrialization. They’re one of the most culturally rich regions of India – I believe nearly half of India’s indigenous communities come from the Northeast – and they have this incredible diversity of natural wealth, all these rare plants and trees and animals. So, they should be looking to create growth models that regenerate and protect these assets, rather than consume them. Initiatives like agroforestry like I said earlier, which the Foundation is already moving into with its Rural Futures model – where you have natural trees and shrubs grown alongside crops, so the soil is being regenerated because the diversity of species means there’s a good circulation of nutrients through the soil – are crucial. They also need to be looking at tourism as an industry – tourism is one of the largest industries in the world and one of the fastest growing ones – but tourism that builds on nature and cultural diversity. Initiatives like Wild Mahseer, which encourage mindful tourism where you can immerse yourself in nature and commune with it in a non-intrusive and even educational way or where you can have these incredible cultural exchanges with indigenous communities but it’s not an exploitative relationship because this is being done in partnership with them are, I think,

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

I think both parts have their value in a country like India, but it’s also true that most of India lives in the rural areas and it’s also true that this huge swathe of the population doesn’t even have access to some of the most basic indicators on the human development index. So, this is where initiatives like Rural Futures come in, because the Foundation isn’t just looking at saving elephants or restoring forests or creating livelihoods, but it’s also looking, as I said at the bigger picture. So, we’re trying to create access to clean and running water and especially to healthcare and education in these places in the Eastern Himalayas that aren’t exactly easy to access – but where the people deserve to have access to these things because they’re a basic human right.

have any thoughts on how they should go forward?

OUR HIMALAYAN

NEWS

What are your views on community & rural futures – do you think rural areas are more important than urban?

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

I loved it! It’s so serene and peaceful, you can really relax and unwind, and it really restores you. We’re so disconnected from nature in the cities and we don’t realize what a toll it takes on your health, but when I was there at the Ark, I could really feel the healing power of being so complete immersed in nature. Wild Mahseer has some of the purest air in the country, I believe the nearby city Tezpur has won the clean air award for several years running with air pollution at an all-time low of six micrograms of particulate matter. And I strongly believe it’s all down to the incredible number of trees and plants at the Ark – the Ark has something like a hundred thousand plants and trees and you can feel the difference it makes, when you do something like go jungle bathing or when you go hug a tree. One of the absolute highlights of my trip was visiting the local communities and experiencing their way of life. I learned so much from being with them and talking with them – in Japan we don’t really have this kind of diverse indigenous community and we don’t really celebrate this kind of difference, so it was refreshing to experience this and to share in their pride over their heritage. I’ve loved everything about working with the Foundation and all the opportunities its opened up, in terms of learning at the Eastern Himalayan Naturenomics™ Forum and also in terms of being able to take all these things back home and build bridges with organizations and people in Japan, so they can also share in the kind of experiences you get at the Botanic Ark and at Wild Mahseer – and so we can strengthen conservation efforts and communities globally.

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

What did you think of your experience at the Eastern Himalayan Botanic Ark & Wild Mahseer?

OUR HIMALAYAN

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

NEWS

the way forward for the Northeast.

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

- NORTH EAST CONNECTIVITY FORUM

ASSAM:

- NRC DRAFT CREATES FEAR AND FURY IN ASSAM - LINKING YOUR CUP OF ASSAM TEA TO ELEPHANT CONSERVATION

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

ARUNACHAL PRADESH:

MANIPIUR:

- CC TEA IN MANIPUR

MIZORAM:

- ENVIRONMENT POLICIES THAT BENEFIT FARMERS COULD HOLD KEY TO VOTES IN MIZORAM

SIKKIM:

- SIKKIMâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S FIRST AIRPORT: A VISUAL PARADISE AND AN ENGINEERING MARVEL

OUR HIMALAYAN

EASTERN HIMALAYAS

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

BIODIVERSITYNORTH EAST

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

NORTH EAST CONNECTIVITY FORUM

Picture Courtesy: FICCI NE Forum 2018 (Wikepedia)

he 5th North East Connectivity Summit was held between 14 and 16 November 2018 at Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh and was organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). This summit was inaugurated by Arunachal Pradesh’s Chief Minister Pema Khandu. Attendees of the summit included representatives and delegation from neighbouring countries including Bhutan, Bangladesh, Government of India and other representatives from the corporate industry. The other attendees were Power Minister Tamiyo Taga, Tourism Minister Jarkar Gamlin, Lok Sabha MP Ninong Ering, Meghalaya Chief Secretary Yeshi Tsering, Arunachal Chief Secretary Satya Gopal, FICCI North East Advisory Council Chairman Ranjit Barthakur and other dignitaries.

The theme for this year’s summit was ‘Tourism Connectivity.’ The Chief Minister Pema Khandu welcomed the delegates and other attendees and asked them to explore the opportunities Arunachal Pradesh had to offer. This summit offers a platform for exploring opportunities to maintain the connectivity between North East India and South East Asia. He further stated that the Government is willing to support investors who wish to invest in the state or region. Road connectivity has been the biggest challenge for the state with road density of 25 km per 100 square km area in comparison to India’s average of 142 km per 100 square km area. In the last four years, the Central Government has been supportive towards the state and continues to bring about visible transformation. Khandu also said

that Arunachal Government has prepared a roadmap for connectivity by 2022 which would ensure connectivity to various administrative and commercial centres. Railways are developing and are going to bring about impetus in the movement of passengers and cargo as well as tourists to the state. Speaking about the air connectivity, the Chief Minister also stated that the UDAN Scheme, Pasighat has occupied a significant spot on the Indian aviation map apart from the six helicopter services to Aalo, Itanagar, Tuting, Walong, Yingkiong, and Ziro. Advanced Landing Ground at Tezu and Ziro will soon become operational for fixed wing aircrafts. With respect to its tourism, Arunachal Pradesh is known for its eco-tourism, its unique flora and fauna, its bio diversity, rolling hills, green valleys, virgin forests and its

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

Tawang Gate

OUR HIMALAYAN

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

Content courtesy - Schynell Rodrigues

The North East Connectivity Summit 2017 which was held in Kohima covered the ‘Nagaland Declaration’ which released four crucial aspects for the North Eastern states to focus upon. They are – - The North East Implementation Agency

- High Powered North East Economic Forum This forum will become a think tank and will include the chief ministers, ministers and other relevant stakeholders who wish to create more opportunities for the north east with regards to connectivity. - North East Ring Road A ring road that connects the north eastern states and simultaneously runs parallel to the international borders should be developed in order to simplify the border logistics like never before. - Connectivity led infrastructure revolution in North East The State capitals in the North East need four lane road connectivity and the ongoing four lane creation of Dimapur- Kohima would leave a positive impact on the state. To attract investments, the state needs to develop its internal infrastructure including roads, bridges, and other amenities.

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

The Chief Minister mentioned that in this year, the state has seen nearly 350000 tourists only till September 2018; the numbers will rise higher during the season from October. In addition to this, the Arunachal Pradesh Police has also initiated Tourist Police. He went on to state that the industry friendly policies adopted by the government will lead to the launch of various land reforms which gives lease for 33 years and is renewable. The landowners will be given land possession certiﬁcates so that the industries can directly buy the land from the landowners. The state is also looking to create policies for industries that are non-polluting and support the state in achieving its potential. Khandu added that the state is open to receive fresh ideas from private sectors to harness the potential in Arunachal Pradesh.

Based in Mumbai, Schynell currently works as a Research Trainee for Blenheim Chalcot. She is passionate about reading and travelling.

OUR HIMALAYAN

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

Seeking for more investments from the power sectors, Khandu further added that the state will witness the commissioning of two hydro power plants of 110MW in Pare and 600 MW in Kameng. He further threw more light upon Arunachal’s inland waterways transport, and that the state is exploring possibilities of developing ﬂoating terminals on the major rivers like Dibang, Lohit and Siang in collaboration with Inland Waterways Authority of India.

of the projects and monitor its progress. It will further become a mediator between the Government and all other relevant agencies. The objective of this agency will be to ensure effective implementation and ensure the timeliness of the project completion. It will also strategize plans to open up new connectivity routes with neighbouring countries such as Myanmar, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal.

About the author

BIODIVERSITYNORTH EAST

varied culture and tradition that mark it unique as compared to the other states. This tourism potential of the region has remained untapped and that’s what makes it potential for developments such as hotels and other destination infrastructure.

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

This agency will look after the funding

ASSAM

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

NRC DRAFT CREATES FEAR AND FURY IN ASSAM

The election saw a sudden soar in the number of voters compared to the previous elections. Following this, the All Assam Students Union went on a 12-hour strike demanding 3Ds – Detention, Disenfranchisement and Deportation - of all foreigners living illegally in Assam’s soil which ultimately lead to the signing of the 1985 Assam Accord – the soul of NRC. According to the updated NRC list, published on July 30, four million people don’t have their names on the list. The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is a list of all bona ﬁde Indian citizens residing in Assam; the ﬁrst list was prepared after the Census of 1951. According to the NRC, all immigrants who have entered Assam between 1951 and 1961 would be given the citizenship of India, along with the right to vote.

Picture Courtesy: NRC official site

Those who entered India between 1961-1971 will be offered full citizenship but without voting rights for 10 years. However, all the undocumented immigrants who came to India after 1971 will be deported. Many amongst them claim that they have been born in India and have been living in Assam since then, but their names haven’t made it to the list – which has raised the question of the genuineness of the process along with other questions such as – What will happen to the 40 lakh homeless people? Will they be sent to detention camps, or if not, then how long will it take them to prove their nationality and live in India with all the rights and respect? Bangladeshi Government has been continuously denying the illegal presence of any Bangladeshi in India. In this case, even after the NRC process is complete, Government can’t deport the undocumented immigrants directly to their respective countries due to lack of documents as well as unacceptance from the

source countries. Now, the only option which remains is turning Assam into a refugee dumping ground. And, to add more substance to this, there is the “Citizenship Amendment Bill”, which provides citizenship to non-Muslim immigrants who have stayed in India for 6 years. The bill is not just contradictory to the NRC draft but is attracting criticism due to its religious biasness. It has raised rage and fear in Assamese as it will reduce the whole community to a minority in their own homeland, dilapidating their culture and economy. To address the rising concern of indigenous people over the land rights, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said, “A committee has been formed to formulate new land policy in the state as per recommendation of Hari Shankar Brahma Committee in order to protect the land rights of indigenous people,” According to the data released by the committee, 90% of Assamese do not possess legal document for land ownership, while almost 8 lakh of them are landless.

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

The whole disquieting episode of NRC draft is ingenerated out of an almost four-decade old incident – the death of Assam’s MP Hiralal - which was followed by a by-poll.

Verification of forest encroached areas under Lala circle, Hailakandi.

OUR HIMALAYAN

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

ssam has been a focal point for illegal immigrants – providing its unveiled geography and porous borders it faces interregional and international migration from different directions. The State has been a part of two major episodes of migration – one around the time of India-Pakistan partition: when Syed Saadulah – Prime Minister of Assam under British India was assured that Assam should become a part of East Pakistan and vigorously promoted Muslim migration from Bengal. The other signiﬁcant episode of Migration was during the 1971 Bangladesh war – which changed Assam’s demography forever.

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

Politicising the issue even further, the ruling party has promised to implement NRC across the country after 2019 polls. Assam’s Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonwal applauding the move made a statement that he wants to implement NRC in other states too. Statements of the same tone came from BJP leader Om Mathur and Paresh Rawal. On the other hand, the opposition parties are condemning the whole process of NRC – calling it “BJP politics of polarisation”. West Bengal’s Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee showing her rage, cited, "This divide-and-rule policy will ﬁnish the country." She alleged that it was a BJP game-plan to throw out Bengalis and Biharis from Assam. Home Minister of India, Rajnath Singh defying all the allegations, assured citizens of India and Bangladesh that no deportations will take place in the aftermath of the NRC process. As a response to it, former Chief Election Commissioner, Hari Shankar Brahma asked, "What is the point of releasing an NRC if you are not going to address the ultimate issue? Why has the government spent Rs 1,300 crore if they're not going to send them back?” NRC with its communal undertone is divisive in nature, pushing Muslims out of India and separating families and communities – living together for years. It impacts 4 million of those - who didn’t make it to the list as well as the rest of the Assam for the matter is socially humiliating and morally degrading. The centre should take the onus of the perils and complexities that are there in the draft and should not make it more political as it already is. It’s noteworthy that the draft is not only impacting Assam, but its repercussions are felt all across India. In West Bengal, minority wings are launching campaigns on NRC to

Assam is a land of serenity and cultural diversity; being a home to an intermixture of various racial stocks, surrounded by picturesque Himalayan landscapes and antecedent Brahmaputra braided along its boundaries. It has been a target of annual floods and immigrants and has been fighting long battles against ethnic violence and military insurgencies. Due to the unending influx, its culture, lands and livelihood are under severe threat. The entire matter of NRC should be taken forth as a humanitarian matter, preserving and guarding the rights and values of both - the natives and the immigrants.

Field verification at Nowboicha circle in Lakhimpur. Picture Courtesy: NRC official site

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

The process of ﬁling claims and objections started from 25th September for 60 days. It was both difficult and tricky as to ﬁle objections one needs to know the unique Application Receipt Number (ARN) – a 21-digit number linked to each application number, which is not publicly available and NRC Seva Kendras are uninterested and unbothered to share it.

warn people about the severity of it and to be ready with all their IDs and documents. Several northeastern states which share borders with Assam have kept their police forces on alert to circumvent possible inﬁltration of illegal immigrants after the NRC draft is published.

OUR HIMALAYAN

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

ASSAM

Bangladesh, on the other hand, is already accommodating thousands of Rohingyas persecuted from Myanmar. As of December 2017, an estimated 655,000 to 700,000 Rohingya people have ﬂed to Bangladesh since 25 August 2017. Dhaka – the capital city of Bangladesh – is one of the most densely populated cities in the world – with a density of 23,234 people per square kilometre. The NRC process which aims to deport those excluded from the draft to Bangladesh will exacerbate the population problem of the povertystricken country.

LINKING YOUR CUP OF ASSAM TEA TO ELEPHANT CONSERVATION

reas where the pachyderms seek refuge outside of protected areas, such as tea and other agricultural plantations could be manipulated to manage human-elephant conﬂicts

world deliberate on the perfect cuppa, tensions mount as habitats shrink and sprawling tea estates block historic migratory passages of the jumbos, stoking incidences of man-elephant conﬂicts in the state.

ﬁrst elephant-friendly tea farms under Elephant Friendly™ Tea program, a partnership of Wildlife Friendly Enterprise Network and the University of Montana Broader Impacts Group.

• The Elephant Friendly Tea programme serves as an incentive to tea producers to reduce the impacts of tea agriculture, such as ditch hazards and fencing, on elephants

As recent as last month (October 2018), tea garden workers laid siege at the residence of the garden’s manager after a herd of wild elephants reportedly trampled a labourer engaged in plucking leaves, in Assam’s Udalguri district, along the scenic India-Bhutan border.

Bodosa, who switched to organic farming methods around 10 to 12 years ago maintains a small refuge patch like a forest as an extension of his farm. Unlike other growers in the area, there are no drainage ditches where the ambling pachyderms can fall into or fences that hinder their progress.

• Tea plantations are generally used as ‘stepping stones’ or ‘rest stops’ by elephants as they move through a human-dominated landscape • Communities in proximity to elephant refuges were signiﬁcantly more likely to experience conﬂict with elephants, predominantly in the form of crop raiding or damage to granaries With forest cover projected to shrink in the elephant landscape of Northeast India, conservationists and a handful of growers of the iconic Assam and Darjeeling teas are experimenting with a mix of ideas to link tea farming to conservation.

But small tea farmer Tenzing Bodosa, who owns two gardens in Assam’s Udalguri district, takes pride in the fact that his farm produces certiﬁed elephant-friendly tea. Transboundary walking routes Herds of wild elephants move back and forth with the seasons across the international border between India and Bhutan. Bodosa’s farms totalling 40 acres have been certiﬁed as the world’s

“I preserve plants such as bamboo, elephant grass and different fruit plants that elephants prefer in their habitat. I have a buffer area where I maintain forest patches where the elephants come. We do not use pesticides or poisons. During day-time they take shelter and then towards evening they move out,” Bodosa told Mongabay India. The certiﬁcation program serves as an incentive to tea producers to reduce the impacts of tea

India is the second largest tea grower after China and the 172-year old Assam tea industry in Northeast India leads the country’s tea production. According to 2011 census, the population of Assam forms 2.58 percent of India. Assam with an elephant area (15, 050 square km) the size of East Timor, is India’s prime elephant range state, harbouring 5719 jumbos, the highest population of wild elephants in the country after Karnataka. While connoisseurs across the

Tezing Bodosa’s tea farms produce Certified Elephant FriendlyTM Tea. Photo by Certified Elephant FriendlyTM Tea programme.

OUR HIMALAYAN

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

Content courtesy Sahana Ghosh

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

ASSAM

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

“With a percentage of every sale going back to support elephant conservation in the communities where the tea is grown, tea drinkers can directly support humanelephant co-existence.” From your cuppa to elephant habitat Apart from Bodosa’s farms, the 1200-acre Naxalbari Tea Estate in Darjeeling in northern West Bengal has become the ﬁrst large tea estate in the world to be certiﬁed as elephant-friendly this year. West Bengal, on the east coast, is intersected with inter-state and inter-country elephant corridors.

The book “Playing with Nature: History and Politics of Environment in North-East India” states that “in the face of huge expanse of forested areas and the discovery of tea, imperial interests came to include forests within the connotation of ‘wastelands’, something that is waste and so becomes necessary to put to productive use.” “These plantation areas were government lands on lease to the tea companies, they do not belong to the tea gardens. It was a condition given by the British government initially that we are giving you this plot of land on lease for tea plantation, but you have to leave ten percent of the area for wildlife. But people forgot about it and only a handful of tea gardens are following this,” Sarma told Mongabay-India.

Sonia Jabbar, who runs the organic tea estate, had initiated human-animal conflict “When we started our conservation mitigation and conservation steps seven work we realised that elephants years before coming across the need a place to rest, they need certification programme. some food and water. Tea is not palatable to the elephants. We “We have made a commitment to abstain formed the idea of communityelefrom violence and protect elephant herds phant refuges where people can as they visit our gardens. It is heart maintain a forest of couple of wrenching to see how elephants are hectares with a perennial source of hounded and chased away with sticks, water which we can do with the help stones and fireworks in what was once of the bigger tea gardens and the their migratory routes. We would have whole area can be replanted with continued with our efforts whether we food trees for the elephants,” received the certification or not,” Sarma said. Jabbar said. Tea gardens as part of For instance, the estate’s “Haathi Saathi” elephant-friendly landscape? (elephant is a friend) initiative educates and sensitises workers’ children while Elephants see tea gardens as an security guards are trained to let the extension of their forest habitats, but jumbos pass through unharmed. it is difficult to convince people to act on it by introducing refuge patches, India with 27,312 elephants is also home Sarma concedes.

“We have managed to convince some good tea garden managers in Udalguri and Sonitpur districts. They have earmarked areas for wildlife. These areas are frequented by elephants,” observed Sarma. Scott Wilson, co-author of a 2013 study that analysed elephant occurrence and related instances of human–elephant conflict from two sites in Assam, said tea plantationsin themselves could potentially be considered as part of a larger more elephant friendly landscape. He iterated that areas where the pachyderms seek refuge (tea and other agricultural plantations rather than National Parks or other significant natural habitats) could be manipulated to manage human-elephant conflicts. But these measures are more of “firefighting” mechanism, according to Wilson and Sarma. “Realistically, resources are probably better focussed on protecting and expanding the core elephant habitats within India and protecting elephant populations providing the best probabilities of long-term persistence,” Wilson, Head of Field Programmes, Chester Zoo, told Mongabay-India. Chester Zoo’s Valerie de Liedekerke who manages the Assam Haathi Project adds that there may be instances where key elephant habitats could be effectively ‘connected’ using mitigation and improved refuges, but she suspects these instances will be rare.

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

It also replaces habitat loss with habitat recovery and supporting landscape connectivity and foraging opportunities for far-ranging wild elephants in a humandominated landscape.

“They say ‘why to bring the trouble to your courtyard’ but we counter them by pointing out that the trouble is already here. These elephants are hungry, they are on empty stomachs, they are like tsunamis, they break through your houses and raid crops. But if you create a refuge, they will visit your villages, but they will visit like gentle ocean waves,” he said.

OUR HIMALAYAN

ASSAM

agriculture on elephants, to 60 percent of the global observed Lisa Mills, liason population of Asian elephants. for University of Montana on this project. Kushal Konwar Sarma, noted elephant veterinarian and veteran Adherence to certiﬁcation conservationist, explained that vast standards helps wild elephants by reduc- swathes of forests were alienated ing the blockage of elephant corridors, for tea plantations in 19th century lowering human-elephant conﬂict, Assam under the then British eliminating electrocution and poisoning risks government as part of their and mitigating ditch hazards, Mills said. “wasteland grants.”

inevitable

A 2018 study that monitored the reduction of forest cover in parts of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh over 42,375 square km in an elephant landscape falling in the Lesser Himalaya in the northeast, predicted a further likely decrease of 9007.14 square km by 2028.

“Everyday elephants are dying of electrocution, poisoning, farmers are killing them, somebody is killing them for ivory, trains are running over them across the country. If you target one species like this then how The analysis which covered a long will they survive,” he wondered. vast elephant landscape spread across West Bengal-Assam, Official ﬁgures show nearly 800 people Assam-Bhutan and Assamwere killed by wild elephants in Assam Arunachal Pradesh borders in between 2006 and 2016. As many as 72 the lesser Himalayas, found “an elephants were killed between 2013 and alarming, continuous” loss of 2014, with more than 100 killed in 2012. about 7,590 square km (17.92 per cent) of forest cover from Forest cover in Lesser 1924 to 2009. Himalayan elephant landscape predicted to fall The area under tea gardens also increased during the study period. Assam’s forests and its elephant corridors Other non-forest categories too are reeling under encroachment pressure. showed progressive increase in Studies by the Wildlife Trust of India reveal area in time and space, and a that in northeast India 52.2 percent of further increase is expected by elephant corridors are under settled 2028. Area under tea gardens is cultivation and 43.4 percent under slash expected to increase from 713. 97 and burn cultivation. square km in 2009 to 720.54 square km in 2028, the study said. Indian government data has linked tea gardens to a decrease in forest cover in Wilson, whose study extended to some Assam districts. the tea garden dominated Sonitpur district, also referred to as the

ground-zero of human elephant conﬂict, said the animals used the tea plantations (in Sonitpur site) as ‘stepping stones’ as they move through a humandominated landscape. “Taking refuge in the plantations during the day and then moving out during the night to continue their migration or sometimes to just use the tea plantations as a ‘base’ for periods from which they will then forage in outlying cropland during the night,” Wilson told Mongabay-India. There is evidence to show that they raid crops or grain stores of communities that surround tea plantations, said Wilson. Wild elephants also use the elongated and narrow gardens along the southern banks of the Brahmaputra river while moving to and from the Kaziranga National Park and Karbi-Anglong hills, observed Sarma. The problem of plenty Wilson’s study elaborates that the tea garden communities are largely composed of immigrant labourers, and such communities may not have the experience of dealing with elephants or share the local tolerant attitude towards elephants, which is inﬂuenced by religion.

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

Sarma said the already happening.

“The decrease in forest cover in some districts is mainly due to rotational felling in tea gardens, shifting cultivation and developmental activities,” the environment ministry’s State of the Forest report said in 2017.

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change highlights that development a ctivities and houses in movement path of elephants (especially The Gaj Mahotsav, held in mid-August, is a public event celebrating the Asian Elephant as India’s National Heritage Animal. It is organised by Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) and partner International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) and the United Nations Environment (UNEP). Photo from Wildlife Trust of India.

OUR HIMALAYAN

ASSAM

“I wouldn’t advocate that efforts shouldn’t be made to improve elephant conservation and welfare in these plantations, just that they need to be r ealistically assessed when considering the wider elephant landscape and where strategic investment of effort should be,” Liedekerke said.

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

ASSAM

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

labour lines in tea gardens) are also causes of encounter between human and elephants leading to conﬂict.

“Our study found that communities in proximity to refuges (whether this be forest patches or tea plantations) were signiﬁcantly more likely to experience conﬂict with elephants (predominantly in the form of crop raiding or damage to granaries),” said Wilson.

Tea garden workers returning home after a morning’s work at Kalaigaon, Assam in northeast India. Photo by Dheerajdeka11/Wikimedia Commons.

Such an undertaking would therefore need very strong stakeholder support and mitigation measures to enable communities to coexist with elephants.

Elephants in a tea plantation. Photo by Anshuma Basumatary.

Sarma said we have collectively allowed human population to grow beyond the carrying capacity of the land. “This is an ecology fragile area and is a biodiversity hotspot and we need to preserve sanctity of the place. Politically motivated trans-migration of people (preand post-Independence) was engineered. In addition, almost one crore of tea garden labourers come from Bihar, Jharkhand and Chattisgarh. So when people are here, they need land for survival and now elephants have nowhere to go,” Sarma bemoaned.

Based in Kolkata, Sahana is a journalist for Mongabay India. She is passionate about science, science in rural areas and gender equality.

OUR HIMALAYAN

But in many areas the domination of people in the landscape makes this prospect very difficult – in terms of acquisition of land to make into refuge but also the fact that it potentially invites greater conﬂict for the communities surrounding these refuges, Wilson said.

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

Ideally refuge areas need to be forest corridors rather than tea plantation – these would have wider wildlife and ecological beneﬁts, he added.

About the author

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

These communities live on the edge of tea gardens, which function as refuge areas, and are therefore situated in high-risk areas for human–elephant conﬂict.

Kalia Bhomora Setu in Tezpur Picture Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons

ezpur in Assam has once again topped the list for best air quality in India. According to The World Health Organization’s (WHO) report, only one city in India came in under the limit of 10 micrograms/m3, which is the annual limit of WHO. In Tezpur, the annual mean PM2.5 was 6g/m3. The report by WHO took into consideration 122 cities across India and in about 2,973 cities in 103 countries across the globe. Considering the report, it can be pronounced that Tezpur has the best air quality in India followed by Pathanamthitta in Kerela, trailed by Hassan in Karnataka. The cultural capital of Assam – Tezpur is historically and culturally affluent and boasts of a rich biodiversity and breath-taking lush beauty. Enveloped by Himalayas

Himalayas and adorned by fast-ﬂowing mighty Brahmaputra River, it attracts tourists from across the world. Ancient sites such as Bamuni hills, Da-Parbatia Gate, Mahabhairab temple, Agnigarh and many more in and around Tezpur are worth visiting and are a paradise for history lovers.

There is a wide variety of ﬂora in Chitralekha Udyan that attracts locals as well as tourist from around the world. The 3.02 kms long Kalia-Bhomora bridge over the Brahmaputra is a very popular spot, especially among photographers who come there to

Inside Nameri National park

Picture Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

TEZPUR – LUNGS OF INDIA WITH PUREST AIR

OUR HIMALAYAN

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

ASSAM

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

According to World Health Organisation, air pollution kills an estimated 7 million people worldwide every year from exposure to ﬁne particles in polluted air. WHO data shows that 9 out of 10 people breathe air containing high levels of pollutants like black carbon which penetrate deep into the lungs and cardiovascular system resulting in several respiratory illness, provoking progression of chronic illnesses including lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and emphysema. The residents of the town of romance have only themselves to thank for the clean air that they are breathing. Over the years, they’ve been making conscious efforts to go green and eco-friendly. More trees are being planted; for the last 30 years, activist Jadav Payeng,

CNN’s “Eco Solutions” visited the Matiapahar tea plantation during the harvest season and witnessed the change first hand. Here, heavy duty machinery that had been powered by coal now runs on liquefied petroleum gas. Even though LPG is produced from fossil fuels, it produces virtually no particulate pollution compared to burning coal. In other words, it’s basically smokes free. Arabhinda Bhattacharjyam, the manager at Matiapahar Tea Garden, tells us it’s a win-win for the environment, the workers inside the factory, and for the product itself. “We have used liquefied petroleum gas since 2002,” he says. “Now the quality of the tea is much better. Now we are selling good quality tea in the market.” “Compared to before, the pollution has gone down by 50 percent,” says Motilal Sipani of Star Paper Mills. “Every year, the people from the Air Pollution Control Board come to check on the air quality. They bring

Tezpur’s Kalia Bhomora Setu

Picture Courtesy: Kangan Hazarika

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

The Nameri National Park, the Orang Sanctuary and the Kaziranga National Park - habitat of the great Indian one horned rhinoceros are near the town that not only boast of a great biodiversity and varied ﬂora and fauna but also help to keep the air clean, fresh and pollution free. The cold breeze coming from the snow-capped Himalayan helps to maintain the atmosphere refreshing and pleasant.

famously known as India’s forest man has planted trees covering 550 hectares (2.1 sq. miles) of land. By opting for proper waste management and segregation techniques, residents are contributing to reduce pollution; they are spreading awareness and are speaking up about various environment-related issues. But above all, the local tea plantation industry has cut back on or switched entirely away from coal to cleaner energy.

OUR HIMALAYAN

ASSAM

capture the beautifully illuminated bridge. Other important tourist spots around Tezpur include Bhalukpung (64 kms), Tipi (68 kms) which are famous for the largest orchid garden in Asia.

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

ASSAM

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

machines and keep it on for 48 hours [to open ﬁres have stopped – even in the workers’ collect their sample]. From that, they see quarters,to cook or burn waste,” Eastment says. “That makes a really big difference.” how much has been released.”

In producing and implementing renewable energy, India ranks 2nd after Chile according to the 2018 Climatescope report by energy researcher Bloomberg NEF. Due to increased investments in clean energy and as the world’s largest renewables auction market, India is aspiring to become a world leader in renewable energy. However, due to heavy urbanisation, rapidly multiplying population and poor Eastment estimates that better technology and waste and pollution management, it’s one of the more easily available LPG have saved thousands most polluted countries in the world with the very of tonnes of coal in recent years. “We make around poor air quality. 100m kilos of tea a year, and for each kilo of tea we burn around 1kg of coal. But it used to be much Tezpur and other regions of North East India more – 1.6, 1.8 kilos a few years ago. Now we have have set an example for India by coming out with new boilers that are more energy efficient and our innovative and unique ways to minify pollution. incinerators are fuelled by LPG,” he says. “We still Community participation, environmental education, need to use coal for our tea dryers though.” awareness, proper waste management and governance are thereal game changer in maintaining According to Eastment, the company switched from the cleanliness of air and surrounding and to ﬁght coal to LPG because it was cheaper. “After all we’re with the evil of pollution. in the business of tea to make money,” he says.

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

Strong regulation and demands from foreign countries to meet production standards have also contributed to the change. Foreign countries have become less willing to accept tea imports unless they are certiﬁed by the Rainforest Alliance. “It means that all

Tea Leaves Plantation Photo by Ram Wangkheirakpam.

OUR HIMALAYAN

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

Sanjiv Eastment, a manager for McLeod Russel, the world’s biggest tea producer, says he can feel the improvement in air quality since the company started using LPG in their incinerators. “Not just outside, you can feel it in the factory itself,” he says. “There’s no more dust, no more breathing problems.”

MANIPUR

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

CC TEA IN MANIPUR

Lemongrass leaves for CCtea

he question of how one can achieve sustained and sustainable economic growth in one of the least economically developed State of India, Manipur remains no longer a mystery to Ragesh Keisham. His fundamental insights into the causes and consequences of unemployment in the state has led to a company, SuiGeneris Agronomy, in 2011. It has now become a major player in the Green Industrial Revolution in the state of Manipur. Under the brand name of CC Tea, the company sells a new variant of organic and naturally caffeine – free instant tea made from lemongrass aka Cymbopogon citratus (CC). The main objective behind it is to improve the present economic condition prevailing in the state by utilising the already available resources and manufacture world class products. The company's contributions have thus considerably revolutionized an entire

generation of tea drinkers and are ﬁnding insightful penetration in the lives in and outside of Manipur. It is by giving impetus to the hundreds of underprivileged women across the State who would otherwise be lost in the war of survival to take up meaningful jobs in and outside the CC Tea farms by generating income for them. The company has created alternative agricultural livelihood by providing Cymbopogon Citratus plantation for people involved in various illegal

plantations like poppy and cannabis in the hills of Manipur. It is noteworthy to say that the company has provided 1000+ jobs for the underprivileged men and women of Manipur bringing stability to thousands of households. Not only that, the gender disparity problem is addressed by keeping the minimum wage level equal for both male and female.

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

Photo Credit- Darwin Photography

Notably in 2006, a scientiﬁc research at the Ben Gurion University, Israel discovered citral (a substance in Cymbopogon

Photo Credit- Darwin Photography

OUR HIMALAYAN

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

Content Courtesy - P Susma Devi

Founded on the principles of triple bottom line equally committed to people, proďŹ t and product, the company sticks to organic, chemical free sustainable agriculture.

Woman working on CCTea farm Photo Credit- Susmina Maisnam

Woman selecting leaves for CCTea Photo Credit- Darwin Photography

OUR HIMALAYAN

P Susma Devi is based in Imphal. She is the concept head at the SuiGeneris, a passionate advocate of clean environment, loves cycling and swimming.

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

CC Tea, a way of life in Manipur.

About the author

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

MANIPUR

citratus) caused Apoptosis in malignant cancer cells meaning the cancer cells would kill off themselves (a cell suicide) while causing no harm to normal cell that were present. More amazingly the quantity of citral used in this experiment was equivalent to one cup of tea using one gram of Cymbopogon citratus in hot water. Furthermore, CC tea helps lower blood pressure and cholesterol level. It is also worth saying that CC Tea as beverage does not only aim at promoting a healthy lifestyle but also provide solutions to mitigate social issues which outclass it from other beverage companies.

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

ENVIRONMENT POLICIES THAT BENEFIT FARMERS COULD HOLD KEY TO VOTES IN MIZORAM

he New Land Use Policy (NLUP) scheme of the Mizoram government distributes funds to the farmers to take up alternative livelihood and give up the traditional shifting cultivation practice of jhum. The scheme has got mixed reactions and results.

practice. Despite being an ardent Congress supporter, the ruling party in Mizoram, he is highly displeased with the scheme and wants to return to jhuming, the practice of shifting cultivation. His two sons are likely to do the same to earn their daily bread.

• As the State goes to polls this month, the currently ruling Congress party in the State is banking on the scheme to clinch power for the third consecutive term in the agrarian State of Mizoram and has prioritised NLUP in its election manifesto.

“The major problem is the delay in receiving the funds allocated to us (farmers). I took up broom making as an alternative livelihood but the delay in receiving funds coupled with lack of market for selling the product has made it difficult for me to continue with NLUP. I am planning to return to the traditional method of farming that my ancestors had done,” he says while sitting in a single room of his bamboo house that has been partitioned with a curtain to accommodate ﬁve members of his family, including a daughter.

• Jhum cultivation is a traditional farming practice in Mizoram where farmers clear a patch of jungle by burning it. The ashes left behind become the fertiliser and burnt area is used for the cultivation. However, once the produce is harvested, the land becomes barren and cannot be reused until a decade or so has passed and a new patch of land has to be cleared and burnt every year. Hrangthangmawia has been a farmer at Aibawk village in Mizoram in Northeast India for the past 30 years. The sixty-year-old owns two hectares of land in the village where he practised jhum cultivation for growing rice for his livelihood, up until a few years ago. He then took up the New Land Use Policy (NLUP) scheme, the ﬂagship programme of the State government that promised to distribute funds to the farmers to take up alternative livelihood and prevent the destruction of the environment by burning the forests which is part of the jhum cultivation

A few metres away, another farmer, Biakthean Sanga is a happy man. The 56-year-old farmer has managed to buy a two-wheeler and some accessories for his farm from the money he received under NLUP scheme. The much-hyped NLUP project of the State Government has evoked a mixed reaction among the farmers in the State that goes to polls on November 28. Political parties cannot ignore farmers in Mizoram, a primarily agrarian State with around 70 percent of the total population (1.09 million as per census 2011) involved in farming. The farmers have been practising jhuming (also called the slash and burn method) cultivation for ages under which they clear a patch of jungle by burning it. The ashes left behind become the fertiliser and burnt area is used

Photo by Gurvinder Singh.

Sixty-year-old farmer Hrangthangmawia gave up the traditional practice of jhum cultivation to pursue an alternative career under the New Land Use Policy scheme. Displeased with the scheme, he wants to return to jhum farming.

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

- By (Mongabay) – Gurvinder Singh

OUR HIMALAYAN

MIZORAM

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

MIZORAM

for the cultivation of main staple rice and other subsidiary crops such as tobacco, cotton, chilli and vegetables.

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

NLUP gets priority on Congress party’s manifesto in Mizoram According to India State of Forest Report (2017), the state spread over an area of 21,087 sq. km had 91.6 percent of forest cover till 2011 that dropped to almost 86 percent in 2017. The sharp decline is attributed to jhuming, encroachments and development activities. With an aim to minimise the impact of jhum farming and save environment, the Congress government came up with NLUP when it acquired power in 2008. It had tried to implement the similar policies during its previous two tenures from 1985-1992 and 1993-1998 but without much success. The NLUP was implemented in 2011 with some modifications and a better framework following the suggestions from the Government of India that envisaged a five-year-project with a staggering budget of Rs. 2,800 crores (Rs. 28 billion). The major objectives of the scheme were to provide sustainable income to farming families by weaning them away from the destructive and unprofitable shifting cultivation practice and the protection and restoration of environment. Around 1,33,000 families were selected who were to be paid Rs. 100,000 each in instalments for adopting alternative livelihood that comprised mainly of rubber plantation, broom making, oil palm and automobiles among others. A marketing cell under NLUP Implementing Board (NIB) was also created to find buyers for the products. Cut to the present, the Congress terms its pet project as highly successful and is banking on

Photo by Gurvinder Singh. Photo by Anish Bhattacharyya

Mizoram had 91.6 percent of forest cover till 2011 which dropped to almost 86 percent in 2017. The decline is attributed to jhuming, encroachments and development activities.

it to clinch power for the third consecutive term in Mizoram. In fact, it has accorded top spot to NLUP in its election manifesto, “We have covered over 76 percent of the households in the scheme. We promise to amend the guidelines for its better implementation and quantum of assistance will be enhanced to take into account the challenges of inﬂation if voted to power again,” assured Lallian Chhunga, spokesperson of the state Congress. The NLUP Implementing Board (NIB) cites statistics to back their success story. They claim that the area utilised under jhum cultivation came down to 19,851 hectares in 2015-16 from 40,792 hectares in 2008-09. As per NIB, the numbers of families practising jhum have also decreased from 68,433 during 2010-11 to 48,417 during 2015-16. “The project has been a huge success. We have almost covered all the eligible beneﬁciaries and have distributed the money allocated to them. Most of the farmers have stopped jhum and have taken up alternative livelihood but it would take at least a generation to totally curb the traditional practise as some crops take time to grow and also it would take more efforts to change the mindset of the farmers and shift them to other means of livelihood,” pointed out James Lalrinchhana, secretary of NIB sounding visibly happy with the project. He even claimed that the total area under rice cultivation, the main staple crop of the state, including jhum during 2015-16 was 37,153 hectares out of which 15.68 percent was contributed by NLUP. Subsequently, the total rice production in Mizoram that stood at 47,201 metric tonnes in 2010-11

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

As a result, Mizoram’s lands have, over the decades, lost their fertility and wooded areas to an alarming degree. This has resulted in drying up of springs and rivers and depletion of underground water reserves and loss of precious fertile top soil. During the recent years, the fallow period of shifting cultivation has been reduced to 2-3 years from the previous 15-20 years thus decreasing the per hectare yield of crop.

OUR HIMALAYAN

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

The problem with jhuming is that once the produce is harvested, the land becomes barren and cannot be reused until a decade or so has passed and a new patch of land has to be cleared and burnt year after year.

jumped to 62,089 metric tonnes in 2015-16. Environment issues play an important role in Mizoram state politics

V.L. Bela, the President of Mizoram Environment & Forest Consultative Forum (MEFCOF), a non-profit working for the environment that has been supervising the RGS scheme says that the aim is not only to protect the biodiversity but also to train people about ways to protect the water bodies for their better utilisation. The political opposition, however, has been terming the NLUP and other efforts by the state government for environment as a gimmick to gain votes and expand its vote bank. “The NLUP has been a big disaster for the farmers and the beneficiaries have been mostly the voters of the ruling party. The funds have been misused and distributed mostly to the Congress party supporters. The chief aim was to save the environment, but farmers are going back to jhum after feeling cheated by the scheme. We are raising these issues among the voters during the campaigns,” said H. Rammawi, former state agriculture minister and senior leader of Mizo National Front (MNF), the main opposition party in Mizoram. Similar sentiments are shared by the All Mizoram Farmers’ Union (AMFU), the biggest non-profit working for farmers, who has been staging protest accusing the state government for the shoddy implementation of the NLUP. “The success rate is just 10-15 percent with most of the farmers unhappy with the scheme. The NLUP has not at all been conducive for the environment. It has helped

Photo by Gurvinder Singh.

Biakthean Sanga is happy with the NLUP scheme. He managed to buy a two-wheeler and some accessories for his farm from the money he received under the scheme.

the Congress to gain power and who enjoys a sharp memory will now facilitate its exit from the despite the advancing age. state,” said Zion Lalremruata, the general secretary of AMFU. Professor V.P. Sati, head of department of Geography in Even Lalkhama, a retired IAS Mizoram University advocates officer and former state chief a strong necessity to save the secretary considered to be an environment as the temperaarchitect of NLUP has also tures are soaring. “We found a expressed its strong displeasure 0.4 degree rise in the temperawith the scheme. “The project ture till 2015 in our study done was envisaged to help farmers for the past 26 years of the and save environment, and state. The rainfall has everything looked so good on decreased by 1.4 percent on the papers, but the implementa- an average during the same tion has been unsatisfactory. period as the state normally The farmers would certainly gets 2400 mm of rainfall every switch to jhum if the funds are year. The climate is changing not given on time. There has and becoming warmer now been a gross misuse of funds as with rains turning erratic.” people used money for buying vehicles and other items. In He concluded that the need of some cases, beneﬁciaries were an hour is to strongly implepaid based on their political ment the environment related affiliations and lack of markets policies so that Mizoram made farmers unenthusiastic remains the abode of scenic towards it,” said the octogenarian and breath-taking hills.

Environment policies need to be strongly implemented so that Mizoram remains the abode of scenic and breath-taking hills.

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

The importance of environment issues in Mizoram and its effect on state politics can only be understood from the fact that the Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla launched a Rain Garden Scheme (RGS) to preserve community reserve forests (locally known as Zotheihuan) on October 1, 2018, nearly two months before the scheduled polls.

OUR HIMALAYAN

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

MIZORAM

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

Photo by Gurvinder Singh.

SIKKIM’S FIRST AIRPORT: A VISUAL PARADISE AND AN ENGINEERING MARVEL

ikkim finally gets its first airport – Pakyong, after 43 years of officially becoming an Indian state. The Greenfield airport at Pakyong is located 30 km from Sikkim’s capital city Gangtok and is built at a cost of over 600 crores. Situated at an altitude of 4,500 feet, Pakyong airport is among the five highest airports in the country and is lauded as an engineering marvel due to the state-of-the-art soil enforcement and slope stabilisation techniques used for its construction. The reinforcement wall of the project is 80-metre-high, one of the tallest in the world. The Italian company Maccaferri – employed to do the work - won the International Project of the Year award at the Ground Engineering Awards at 2012. The ambitious project was sanctioned by the central government in 2008 and its foundation stone was laid in 2009 by the then civil aviation Minister, Praful Patel. Finally after 10 years from its approval, the airport started its commercial operations of flight from the first week of October immediately after Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the airport on 24th September.

Low-cost airline Spicejet, operating under the Civil Aviation Ministry’s regional connectivity scheme UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik), started the first flight services between the Pakyong airport in Sikkim to Calcutta for Rs. 2600 as the starting price. Spicejet Bombardier aircraft on 10 March 2018 made the first landing at the airport during a trial run, officially making it the 100th operational airport in the country. The water cannon salute was performed by the Airport Authority of India (AAI) team to greet the first flight. It might be Sikkim’s flight debut, but the state has long ago started helicopter services between its capital city Gangtok and Bagdogra airport in West Bengal, which is the nearest airport from Sikkim. Right from its inception, the completion of the project as well as its inauguration has been constantly delayed due to several infrastructural and legal reasons. The mountainside land carved for constructing the airport has been a residing place for around 164 families living in Karthok, Dikling, Bhanu Turning, Pushpanjali and

Sometimes an airport is just a strip of asphalt on a ﬂat bit of land outside of town. Other times, as with India’s new Pakyong Airport, it’s a breath-taking piece of engineering on the roof of the world.

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

Picture Source: Ministry of Civil Aviation

- CNN Damlakha areas. The protests by the people demanding compensation and rehabilitation from the government along with the occasional landslides have resulted in suspension of work multiple times, increasing the overall cost of the project from ₹3,090 million to ₹6,050 million. Houses and lands belonging to 164 families have been damaged and

OUR HIMALAYAN

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

SIKKIM

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

belonging to the 17th and 18th century as it used to be a Buddhist Kingdom in the past. It has more than 200 Buddhist monasteries in Sikkim and it is the only state to have five sects The small Himalayan state of 6 lakh of Buddhism. residents has no railway connectivity (even after the foundation for its first S Sanyanl, a veteran tourism railway project was laid down in 2009) consultant said: "Air routes are and its hilly roads are an easy target to availed more by the foreign usual landslides which have never failed visitors, who contribute more to to prevent the travellers from reaching the tourism business volume by their destination on time. Before the com- way of higher spending mencement of the flight services, the compared to domestic tourists. only easy way to reach Gangtok was 4-5 Hence, an increase in the hours of uphill road journey from the number of foreign tourists directly nearest airport, Bagdogra. With its large pushes up business volume. As natural potential and transcendent per Ministry of Tourism statistics, beauty, Sikkim is a trendy tourist spot but India received 101.8 lakh due to poor connectivity, it has been foreign tourists during 2017, a losing number of tourists over the years. 15% growth over 2016. Around 5% of them visit Darjeeling in Boost to tourism and trade West Bengal while adjoining Sikkim receives near 50 Adorned with valleys of flowers and thousand. Interestingly, almost scintillating high altitude lakes, Sikkim is every foreign visitor wants tovisit undoubtedly every traveller’s paradise. both the places. In case of any The tourism and trade are the two problem in that, they prefer thriving industries in Sikkim as it has avoiding entire region." attracted Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) equity inflows worth US$ 4.19 Air connectivity will also give a billion during the period of April 2000 to flip to the casino industry in December 2017, according to data Sikkim, which is one of the three released by Department of Industrial states in India, beside Goa and Policy and Promotion (DIPP).The Daman to legally allow casino Promotion of village tourism, homestay, gambling. Casino Sikkim and cultural tourism, trekking tourism, Casino Mahjong are the two ecotourism, wellness tourism, flori– casinos in Sikkim, with blazing tourism and adventure tourism has given lights and chattering crowd, a charge to the tourism and trade in unlike the rest of the Sikkim that the state. is serene and sleeps peacefully as the dusk descends. Casinos On the religious tourism front, Sikkim offer a great night life in Sikkim boasts of various Buddhist monasteries

Picture source: PMO India/Twitter

for tourists and party lovers, who want to balance their trip by cuddling in the lap of nature and serenity but also enjoy few drinks and music while socializing. The local Sikkimese cannot enter the casinos as per the state government’s amendment of the Sikkim Casinos (Control & Tax) Rules to ban residents from playing. Casino Industry in Sikkim solely depends on tourism and tourists coming to the casinos do not like to travel four hours by road from Bagdogra airport in Bengal. Pakyong airport will also help in propagating and spreading Sikkim’s culture around the world through exchange of thoughts, ideas, music and culture in various international festivals and cultural programs. The new airport will make Sikkim an entrance, making the Eastern Himalaya – its culture, beauty and people accessible and exposed to the rest of the world. With international festivals like Red Panda Winter Festival, the state tourism department is trying to get more international participation from Britain, Australia, America, Nepal and Bhutan. Also, gradually, the airport will bridge Sikkim with other countries in the region like Bhutan, Kathmandu and Thailand where people from the state usually go on vacations.

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

Two months after its inauguration, the airport faced some disturbance when around 30 people staged Dharna in front of the main entrance that led to heavy traffic jam in the area outside the Airport. The protesters demanded compensation, as per the rules and rates applicable for the land sold by them for the airport claiming that the compensation paid to them is not appropriate.

OUR HIMALAYAN

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

SIKKIM

families have been damaged and have developed cracks causing seepage in the house during monsoon deteriorating the living state of the people. The Airports Authority of India has been appointed by the state to assess the damage and compensate the affected families.

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

BAGAN AWAITS TO BE A PART OF UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE

OUR HIMALAYAN

MYANMAR MATTERS

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

BAGAN AWAITS TO BE A PART OF UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE

The ancient city of Bagan is a capital city of the ﬁrst Myanmar kingdom and contains 3,822

monuments; including temples, stupas, monasteries and pagodas, according to a 2017 survey by the Association of Myanmar Architects. Bagan, often recognized as The Land of a Thousand Temples is an emblem of Burmese divine religion, archaic history and rich culture. Ethereal and exquisite plains of Bagan are flooded with tourists from across the world, which come to attain spiritual contentment and find solace in the transcending natural beauty of the place. With Bagan becoming a world heritage site, tourism in the area is bound to flourish and put the city on the world heritage map. On the flip side, it will put enormous strain on country’s economy as it requires large sums of money to upkeep the sites that are acknowledged by UNESCO and puts pressure on countries with indigent economy. Many archaeological experts are

opposing the idea of making Bagan a world heritage site due to excessive anachronistic reconstruction conducted under Myanmar’s military government. Materials used in rebuilding temples have compromised their structural integrity and was one of the reasons for serious damage caused in the 2016 earthquake to the Sulamani Temple, among the most signiﬁcant of the thousands of monuments recorded at Bagan. The construction of hotels in the archaeological zone has been another major source of contention and criticism. Richard Mackay, an expert from the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), who conducted an inspection to consider Myanmar’s application for World Heritage listing, pointed out that authorities are still mismanaging Bagan. “We are concerned that this will affect the decision to include Bagan on the

Stupas and temples in Bagan Picture courtesy: Plabon Dutta

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

agan – the heart of Myanmar – is counting on to make it to the coveted listing of United Nations Educational, Scientiﬁc and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) world heritage sites. The cultural city of Bagan is among the proposed sites to be considered for listing at a meeting of UNESCO’s world heritage committee in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, from June 10 to July 10, 2019. The country has submitted its initial request in 1996 nominating Bagan along with seven other properties for UNESCO world heritage site status. The request was turned down by the organisation due to poor management strategies and legal framework. Burmese Government received massive criticism for undergoing new constructions in Bagan compromising its architectural value and archaeological integrity.

OUR HIMALAYAN

MYANMAR MATTERS

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

The UNESCO committee adheres to its strict policy that underscores the need to keep the site’s outstanding universal value as inscribed without meddling with its archaeological authenticity and tarnishing its natural beauty. Due to the same reason, Germany’s Dresden Elba Valley was removed from the list after German government built a bridge across the valley compromising the integrity and originality of the landscape, in spite of the several warnings by the committee. The constitution of UNESCO underlines that it will maintain, increase and diffuse knowledge, by assuring the conservation and protection of the world’s heritage, and recommending to the nations concerned the necessary international conventions.

Balloons over Bagan

Picture Courtesy: Christopher Michel, Flickr

For Myanmar the approval is Photo by Sahana Ghosh/Mongabay-India significant as it will put it on the world’s heritage map and to revitalize its economy. If the application is approved by UNESCO, Bagan will become Myanmar’s second entry to the World Heritage list after the Pyu ancient cities of Hanlin, Beikthano and Sri Ksetra that wereadded to According to UNESCO, “Myanmar the list in 2014. application targets 3 categories to which Bagan site is eligible. These However, the major problem three categories – concern legacy with the World Heritage status “displaying a unique or at least is the overly commercialization exceptional testimony to a cultural of the site and massive influx tradition or to a civilization which is of tourists, which in the long run living or disappeared, outstanding may deteriorate the social quality building, architectural or technologiof the indigenous community. cal ensemble or landscape with An overwhelming 92.3% of illustrates, a significant stage in heritage professionals pointed out human history directly or tangibly that World Heritage status ‘has associated with events or living become more important for the with ideas or with beliefs with purposes of the tourism industry artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance.” than for conservation’. • Significance in human history • Heritage associated with events of universal significance • Natural phenomena or beauty • Major stages of Earth's history • Significant ecological and biological processes • Significant natural habitat for biodiversity

As of July 2018, a total of 1,092 World Heritage Sites (845 cultural, 209 natural, and 38 mixed properties) exist across 167 countries. There are 10 possible categories to join UNESCO’s world heritage list, out of which six concern the world heritage-cultural site section, to which Bagan has been submitted. Nominated sites must meet at least one of the ten criteria. The ten selection criteria include – • Human creative genius • Interchange of values • Traditional human settlement • Testimony to cultural tradition

Follow Balloons over Bagan Picture Courtesy: Paul Arps, Flickr

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

Despite the concern and warning by UNESCO, Bagan authorities are planning to build 17 gardens to beautify the compounds of some well-known pagodas. The move purportedly could affect Bagan’s bid to be declared a world heritage site. The authorities are also keen on planting the artiﬁcial grass near the Tharabar Gate, the last wall of the ﬁrst kingdom of Myanmar, which could impact on the strength of gate when they pour water or chemical fertilizers on the grass, as pointed out by some archaeologists.

OUR HIMALAYAN

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

MYANMAR MATTERS

World Heritage list,” he said. A World Heritage listing application has two parts: one is devoted to the heritage area, its monuments and mapping, and the other is a comprehensive management plan. Mismanagement has been a long-term barrier to Bagan’s UNESCO listing and still continues to exist.

HOW IS BHUTAN MAINTAINING ITS ZERO-CARBON POLICY?

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

FOOD FOR FUTURE

WHAT IS NORTH EAST INDIA DOING TO IMPLEMENT CLEAN ENERGY? FLOODS IN ASSAM AND HOW IT IS AFFECTING KAZIRANGA NATIONAL

OUR HIMALAYAN

CONSERVATION

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

CONSERVATION

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

FOOD FOR FUTURE Content courtesy - Jenita Gandhi

“

As per Dr. Vandana Shiva, nature is something we cannot put at the back of our mind, it can’t be something that we trample upon and conquer. Nature has to be the heart of our very consciousness as we are a part of it. Keeping this agenda in mind, Dr. Shiva founded an organisation - Navdanya meaning “nine seeds” that does the grassroots work; and is based on the philosophy that the world is one family. The organisation saves 120 community seed banks and helped millions of farmers to make a transition to organic farming. Agriculture, in India, dates back to the Indus Valley Civilisation era when mainly rice and cotton were cultivated in along the Indus Valley

Rice farming

Picture Courtesy: Alex Treadway

Valley for the motive of consumption and small-scale trading. During this period, farming techniques were conventional and organic. Organic farming, as a whole, was coined early in the 20th century in reaction to rapidly changing farming practices describing what other species use, and used, to farm without synthetic chemicals. It relies on fertilizers of organic origin such as compost manure, green manure, and bone meal and places emphasis on techniques such as crop rotation and companion planting. Biological pest control, mixed cropping and the fostering of insect predators are also implemented. The end goal of organic farming is to make production more nature-friendly, provide clean and organic produce, and reduce the depletion of resources as well as wastage of agricultural land. The primary focus is to farm without the use of synthetic chemicals to ensure that only healthy produce is achieved and does not deteriorate either the resources in terms of land and farming equipment, or the health of the consumers. However,

there

are

certain

challenges that are faced by farmers who are willing to adapt organic farming practices. Organic farming is an expensive process that involves continuous expenditure. Availability of certiﬁed organic seeds is the main issue in organic farming, hence most of the times the farmers are forced and advised to use the conventional seeds only, as they could be treated with chemicals. Therefore, the ﬁnal prices of organic produce are higher than other products. From expensive organic farming methods, limited production, supply chain irregularity, storage and preservation to market competition, organic produce generally costs higher, but with government support and proper supply chain mechanism, the prices can be reduced. Organic agriculture has fed India for centuries and it is again a growing sector in India. According to Dr. Shiva, humanity is not feeding itself in 2018 on the industrial mode. We are willing to destroy our farmers because the industry that brought us chemicals is now saying we will do farming without farmers. We will have drones and satellites and

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

In the words of Dr. Vandana Shiva, seeds are the basis of life. We enter the world oblivious of what will follow. Evolving from the form of beeja, we assimilate into the nature’s state of renewal throughout our lives. The most vital thing for survival is food. Food is at the bottom in Maslow’s hierarchy of our needs. It showcases the creativity of humankind as it exists in the richest variety of ingredients, forms, shapes, tastes and colours.

OUR HIMALAYAN

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

e are seeds because we are part of life. All life begins a seed: it could be you, when you were a little embryo in your mother's womb or it could be the amazing foods that we have. Life begins a seed and seed in our language is beeja that from which life evolves and multiplies for ever and ever and ever. It’s the permanence of nature and the permanent renewal of nature.” – Dr. Vandana Shiva

Industrialisation and technological advancements

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

methods. Accelerated growth of population and demand resulted in traditional techniques being farming is getting new challenges from biotic and abiotic factors. Contributing to this, the widespread utilisation of chemicals, pesticides and machineryoriented farming is depleting the natural resources and causing a high level of deterioration in the soil quality; ultimately resulting in the decline of calibre of the food we consume today. India currently possesses the 10th-largest arable land resources in the world, with 46 of the 60 soil types in the world; and has 6, 50,000 organic producers, which is more than any other country. Agriculture is the most important sector of Indian Economy. Indian agriculture sector accounts for 18 per cent of India's gross domestic product (GDP) and contributes employment to 50% of the countries workforce. Additionally, India is the world’s largest producer of pulses, rice, wheat, spices and spice products.

Agridrone

Picture Courtesy: Agridrones Solutions Israel

Among other organisations causing a transﬁgurationin the agricultural scenario today are Healthy Buddha started by techies Gautham PB and Anurag Dalmia in 2014, with an aim to ensure that urban dwellers gain access to wholesome food that was 100 percent organic.The Department of Agriculture organized a function to felicitate the farmers of Bangund hamlet which was declared ﬁrst model Organic vegetable village in the State in 2017. From government monitored organisations to NGOs, all are adopting organic farming and aiming to make it a nationwide practice.

Jenita Gandhi Based in Mumbai, Jenita is a Research Trainee for Blenheim Chalcot. Apart from this, she is a fashion & lifestyle blogger

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

with baked, crispy mealworms, dry-roasted crickets, strawberries and chocolate sauce. We will resort to artiﬁcial meat, whether made from plants or grown from animal cells in vats. Or food printers will potentially prepare a wide range of meals from a handful of basic ingredients, which could be handy for time-pressed parents, the elderly, and astronauts.

OUR HIMALAYAN

By 2050, our futuristic menu will begin with breakfast

Organic farming is the only way we can prevent starvation or consumption of preternatural foods in the future. Realising the importance of conserving our natural resources and preventing usage of toxic substances for agricultural practices, organisations are implementing organic farming at a galloping rate. Most recently, Sikkim bagged the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation's (FAO) Future Policy Gold Award – often termed as "Oscar for best policies” for becoming world’s ﬁrst complete organic state. The award was co-organised by the FAO and the World Future Council (WFC) and IFOAM-Or ganics International and recognises the world's best laws and policies promoting agroecology. Sikkim achieved the prestigious award beating 51 other nominations from across the globe.

About the author

robots in the ﬁeld, we don't need farmers. That will utterly starve the world and give us toxic food so that the eaters will also go; the producers have gone by design. Poison free farming produces more, better food and diverse food.

About the

CONSERVATION

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

CONSERVATION BHUTAN

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

HOW IS BHUTAN MAINTAINING Content courtesy - Nupur Bajpai

“

he Government shall ensure that, in order to conserve the country’s natural resources and to prevent degradation of the fragile ecosystem, a minimum of sixty percent of Bhutan’s total land shall be maintained under forest cover for all time.”

Situated amidst the mighty Himalayas and surrounded by 2,700 glacier lakes, Bhutan –also called a Shangri La – a mythical paradise nestled in the mystical harmonious valley of Himalayas – is the only carbon negative country in the world. The zero-carbon policy of the Thunder Dragon land has an interesting history; the ﬁrst time Bhutan pledged in 2009 during the 15th Conference of Parties (COP) in Copenhagen to remain carbon neutral, no one paid attention to it. Finally, in 2015 at COP 21 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Bhutan’s promise to remain carbon neutral received international attention when it signed the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and it was celebrated as the “most ambitious pledge” worldwide. "It is important to recognize Bhutan's extremely ambitious climate change policies. We know that Bhutan emits the impacts of climate change,”

Bhutan - On DochuLa Pass

Picture Courtesy: Göran Höglund, Flickr

said Miguel Arias Cañete, EU Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy. A small country with barely 700,000 people living in it has the most impressive ways to tackle the problem of climate change. Where most of the developed countries in the world are not even carbon neutral, Bhutan has become a carbon sink as the amount of carbon dioxide it absorbs is three times more than what it generates. According to Proudly Carbon Neutral, it generates 1.5 million tonnes of carbon annually while its forests absorb over 6 million tonnes. The applauding move by Bhutan is the vision of its great monarchs who want the country to be economically stable, culturally ﬂourishing and environmentally developed. The government prioritizes on environment sustainability over economic growth and to sustain this they have framed the 3G model which consists of Gross National Happiness (GNH), Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Greenhouse Gas (GHG). GNH

– Gross National Happiness is a unique way of measuring the country’s progress by keeping its people’s happiness as the yardstick. After implementing GNH, rates of happiness and satisfaction in Bhutanese took a stride. In a 2015 survey, it was found out that 91% of Bhutanese were narrowly or completely happy with their lives. GDP – Gross Domestic Product helps to determine its economic growth. While GHG – Greenhouse Gas has to be maintained at a carbon neutral level (and in the case of Bhutan, below that). Currently, 72% of the country’s land is under forest cover with over 800 million trees, which absorb every bit of carbon emitted by it. Every year millions of trees are planted by its natives; trees also hold sacred values for the Bhutanese. In 2015, Bhutan Eco Green Initiative Network (BEGIN) under Peoples Initiative in Celebrating the Sixtieth anniversary (PICSA) with the help of 100 volunteers, comprising civil servants, DeSuung which translates to Guardians of Peace

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

pronouncement of Bhutan’s- green way of living. For Bhutanese, the idea of being green does not just mean the environment; it is a philosophy for life.

OUR HIMALAYAN

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

The article 5 section 3 of Bhutan’s constitution is mentioned in the above statement which mandates the need to keep a minimum of 60% of country’s land under forest cover

(volunteers have been trained to in basic disaster response) and students planted 49,672 trees in one hour creating the world record. In 2016, 10,800 trees were planted to celebrate the birth of Bhutan’s Prince Jigme Namgyel Wangchuk.

powered by fast-ﬂowing mountain streams and is exporting tons of renewable electric energy to other countries expanding the sphere of its scheme. Around 75% of the total electricity generated in Bhutan is exported to India. The Government of Bhutan has come up with many ingenious ideas to adhere to its plan of no greenhouse gas emission and no waste production. It has decided to go completely paperless and has switched to sustainable transport by subsidising electric cars. It has partnered with Nissan and Mahindra to get hundreds of electric cars and even more in future, with the hope to run all the country’s vehicles on electric power. Almost all the revenue Bhutan earns from selling electricity is spent on fuel imported from India to run the nation’s existing vehicles, which number some 36,000 vehicles in Thimphu alone. Replacing fuel cars with electric cars carries dual advantage with it; as it will not only be environmentfriendly but will also give the much-needed boost to Bhutan’s economy. The Bhutanese Government aims to completely replace traditional incandescent and CFL light bulbs long-lasting. The initiative is ﬁnancially backed by the Norway Government which will help to convert 2650 incandescent bulbs to LEDs. By 2020, it aims to grow 100 percent organic food and to produce zero waste

One of the major contributors to environmental pollutions are automobiles. In order to cut down the carbon emission coming from vehicles; the governing authorities of Bhutan took a rigid move in 2014 by imposing a 100% tax on the import of foreign cars. It took another major initiative by partnering with the World Wildlife Fund. The collaboration aims to work on the “Bhutan for Life” project that intends to raise $40 million from a group of donors – mainly large companies and opulent institutes – to help Bhutan’s conservation work. It has launched the Green Bhutan program which is a national initiative to plant trees and to stop deforestation. Through the Clean Bhutan program, solid waste management is taught and practised across the country, which has also been added to the curriculum of schools. Alongside, rural farmers are given free electricity so that they don’t have to use ﬁrewood, which generates carbon dioxide in abundance. There are pedestrian days, once every week, when no vehicles are allowed on road and people walk and make a small contribution towards environmental conservation. The Low Emission Capacity Building Program (LCBP) is another ingenious move by Bhutanese Government to reduce emissions analysing the gender issues. This vital work in Bhutan is demonstrating that there is an important role for women to play in addressing climate change mitigation. Understanding women’s perspectives and proactively engaging them can foster even greater development gains. One of the soaring concerns for Bhutan is melting of its glacier lakes, which holds the destructing capability of sinking the whole of Bhutan. The occurrence of

Picture courtesy: Tourism Council of Bhutan

OUR HIMALAYAN

C ONTENT

C OMPILED AND EDITED F

R OM V ARIOUS SOU

R CES FOR NON

- C OMME R CIAL RESEA

R CH AND PRI

V A TE STU DY. FOR PRI

V A TE CI R CUL A TION ON LY

In order to maintain its zero-carbon scheme, it has put a ban on export logging – to conserve its forests further and to provide timber for local people at

and greenhouse gas by 2030.

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

CONSERVATION BHUTAN

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

Based in Mumbai, Nupur Bajpai is a Junior Content Writer at Blenheim Chalcot’s research team. She is passionate about history and politics and loves to read.

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

d. By providing free education, health services and free electricity to rural farmers, its national wealth is on the verge of exhaustion. Even though it ranks high in economic freedom, ease of doing business, and peace; it continues to be a Least DevelopedCountry (LDC). The country’s economy is solely based on agriculture and forestry and its main source of revenue comes from exporting electricity to India. Bhutan, at this point in time, when there is a global ignorance towards environmental issues, requires international attention and ﬁnancial assistance in achieving its core mission of development with values.

EASTERN HIMALAYAS MATTERS

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

Bhutan being a country of 700,000 people and an annual GDP of fewer than 2 billion dollars is making the

About the author

CONSERVATION BHUTAN

glacier lake outburst ﬂoods in Bhutan has become a norm. In 2015, an earthquake in India shattered the Lemthang Tsho glacier lake in Bhutan, sweeping away roads and agricultural land. Constant growth in temperature, untimely rains and no snow in winters are the few consequences of Climate Change, which Bhutanese are well aware of but it demands worldwide attention.

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

Picture courtesy: Tourism Council of Bhutan

CONSERVATION NORTH EAST

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

WHAT IS NORTH EAST INDIA DOING TO IMPLEMENT CLEAN ENERGY?

ndia currently produces 62 GW of Renewable Energy and aims to increase it to 175 GW by 2022. The colossal commitment requires heavy funds and suitable geographic and natural conditions along with the strategic planning. In order to reach this target, the North-Eastern States will play a major role. Often overlooked by the Indian Government, the unexplored paradise due to its clear weather, altitudinal advantage and roaring rivers is highly apt for generating renewable energy. Frequently employed as a synonym for greenery and nature, the North-Eastern region is highly rich in natural and energy resources and can be a game changer in the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s clean energy production. Out of 1.3 billion Indians, almost 240 million do not have access to electricity. Providing electricity to such a huge population is a challenge in itself which is supplemented by the problem of carbon emission. Generating electricity in a conventional way emits carbon in

abundance, which is already increasing at an alarming rate. According to National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE), India is a tropical nation which receives solar energy around 300 days in a year having total solar energy potential of around 750 GW. By implementing clean energy, down-and-out states of North East will not only become self-reliant in the energy sector but will also be able to feed the rest of the country. Under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), six solar cities are to be developed in Northeast to reduce dependency on conventional energy. The six cities â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Guwahati, Jorhat, Dimapur, Kohima, Agartala and Itanagar will run completely on solar power. Tripura has already taken a step ahead and replaced 10 percent of the power use by solar energy. To implement solar energy, the Tripura Government has instructed all hotels, schools, hospitals as well as temples to install solar panels to heat water. The Agartala Municipal Corporation

Limited have joined hands to install LED lights as a replacement to sodium lamps in streets. In order to popularise solar energy, lakhs of solar caps and torches will be distributed amongst rickshaw pullers and students in the state. North East Electric Power Corp (NEEPCO) is running the 5-megawatt solar energy plant in Agartala and aims to increase it to 1500 megawatt by 2020 under Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

Picture Courtesy: Amritendu Mallick

In Nagaland, the denizens are can be used for pumping water in the daytime and to light up homes at night. Solar power packs are being distributed amongst rural farmers to use it when there is no electricity. The future plans include launching air water generator which will use solar energy to convert air into water and creating awareness on solar energy usage and importance in the state. Previously, the state has set up solar powered water

OUR HIMALAYAN

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

Enchanting view of Northeast India

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

The Guwahati railway station is the ﬁrst railway station in the country to be completely solar-powered. The solar panel with total capacity of 700 KW will be providing electricity to the station, coach depot and the railway colony area, saving around Rs 68 lakhs per year, which railway spends in electric bills. With this implementation, North East took a big leap towards sustainable power. The North Electric Power Corporation Limited, a public sector enterprise headquartered at Shillong operates the largest Hydro power plant in the North East region. A state wise analysis by Swaniti initiative, a non-partisan social enterprise has recently revealed that the total percentage of renewable energy production is much higher in North Eastern States than any other parts of India with Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Sikkim contributing to 62%, 65% and 64% respectively. Whereas the neighbouring states West Bengal and Jharkhand contributes only 2% and 0% respectively and are not even in the competition. The North-Eastern region holds immense hydropower potential at 58,971 MW, almost 40 percent of the country's total potential as estimated by the power ministry. But unfortunately, only less than two per cent (1,200 MW) has been utilized till last year. The region carries huge energy potential and is only waiting for opportunities and correct approach from the centre in order to switchcompletely from generating energy from fossil fuels to

Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi with other delegates at COP21

India made great strides in 2018 in terms of increasing the capacity of the Renewable Energy being generated. According to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, the country is now at fifth position in the world for overall installed renewable energy capacity. It is at fourth and fifth positions in wind and solar power installed capacities, respectively. According to the Ministry, a total of 101.83 billion units of power were generated during 2017-18 from all renewable energy sources as compared to 61.78 billion units generated in 2014-15 (an increase of around 65 per cent in the past four years). Also, the share of renewable energy in terms of overall power generation is constantly on the uphill and has reached around 8 per cent from 5.5 per cent in 2014-15. A total of around 73.35 GW of renewable energy capacity has been installed in the country as on October 2018 from all renewable energy sources, which includes around 34.98 GW from wind, 24.33 GW from solar, 4.5 GW from small hydro power and 9.54 GW from bio-power. Further, projects worth 46.75 GW capacity have been bid out or are under installation. Keeping in view of the Paris Accord on Climate Change, India made a pledge that by 2030, 40 per cent of installed power generation capacity shall be based on clean sources. It was determined that 175 GW of renewable energy capacity will be installed by 2022. This includes 100 GW from solar, 60 GW from wind, 10 GW from bio-power and 5 GW from small hydro power. With the accomplishment of this ambitious target, India will become one of the largest green energy producers in the world, even surpassing several developed countries. Meanwhile, the World Bank praised India’s success in renewable energy auctions that delivered record-setting low prices for solar power and said that the number of countries with strong policy frameworks for sustainable energy more than tripled - from 17 to 59 - in the eight years till 2017. Many of the world’s largest energyconsuming countries significantly improved their renewable energy regulations since 2010, said the World Bank’s report titled Regulatory Indicators for Sustainable Energy 2018, charting global progress on sustainable energy policies.

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

es; to tackle the problem the state government had launched a solar thermal scheme which provides 10000 solar heaters to the nine districts of the state, under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Energy Mission. The government of Mizoram in collaboration with Zoram Electricity Development Agency (ZEDA) had set up solar powered lamps and heaters in remote villages.

renewable energy. The North East has encouragedstrong participation by the private sector and regulatory bodies and has initiated projects like small Hydropower Policy. With the Indian Government’s pledge to make India a “Renewable Superpower”, the time has come to learn from the North East to implement clean energy nationwide.

OUR HIMALAYAN

CONSERVATION NORTH EAST

treatment units in the water scarce villages of Kohima.

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

CONSERVATION ASSAM

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

FLOODS IN ASSAM AND HOW IT IS AFFECTING KAZIRANGA NATIONAL

The increased construction of dams in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh are catalysing the intensity of ﬂoods added by the increasing hydropower projects in India and Bhutan which is a curse in disguise. The experts have recognized a similarity between the ﬂoods in Assam and Kerala, both the states consist of a network of dams which are in the control of other states. Also, Assam needs to understand and learn how rampant deforestation, mining, and quarrying have allowed settlement on elephant corridors such as Thirunelli-

Picture Courtesy: Diganta Talukdar

Kadrakote and Kottiyoor-Periya, leading to felling. The consequence has been killer landslides on an unprecedented scale,” said Parimal C. Bhattacharjee, retired Gauhati University professor and environmentalist. More dams coming up in other North-Eastern States and in Bhutan could spell doom for Assam, “all these years of living with ﬂoods” notwithstanding, said Partha Jyoti Das, a water resources specialist. "The Prime Minister has allocated Rs 100 crore to form a highpowered committee that will conduct a study on the behaviour of the Brahmaputra River," said Himanta Biswa Sarma, Assam education and health Minister. As per the Brahmaputra board’s (a central government body which carries out surveys and investigations in the Brahmaputra Valley prepares a plan to control and minimize it.) latest annual report, the main reasons instability of the river are behind the

high sedimentation and steep slopes. Additionally, the entire area falls in an earthquake-prone zone and experiences high rainfall. With ongoing and unstoppable development and urbanization, deforestation is on its peak. Marshy low-lying lands which absorb excess water hold the ﬂoods. But with heavy construction on such lands, it’s unattainable. Every year, due to ﬂoods, more than 100 people die, and millions

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

Where some drought-stricken parts of India suspire for rains, Assam gets its extra share of monsoon. Due to its special geomorphic environment, it receives abundant rainfall throughout the year, which is responsible for its perennial lush beauty as well as the devastation it brings along. Another important factor is uncontrolled deforestation in the region, which causes ﬂood water to ﬂow freely without causing any obstruction.

Great Indian one horned rhinoceros at Kaziranga national park in Assam

wildlife, livestock and poultry. The 2017 ﬂood was the worst ﬂood to hit Assam in three Assamese across 21 districts. About 85% of the Kaziranga National Park was inundated and 225 animals were killed. Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary and Kaziranga National Park, a World Heritage site - submerging the whole land and killing scores of wild

OUR HIMALAYAN

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

he floods in Assam are an annual routine and end up submerging the whole state every year with its cadaverous temperament and tremendous intensity. Nestled in the valleys of Eastern Himalayas and gifted with ethereal beauty and divineness, it is where the ancient Brahmaputra River rushes in fast-flowing from the region of Tibet. Assam, every year falls prey to the cataclysmic deluge created by the unsteady Brahmaputra - which is the fastest flowing river in India.

two-and-a-half-year-old

rhino

home

from

India.

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

"We were able to bring the baby rhino back with the Warden Nurendra Aryal told BBC Nepali. Kaziranga National Park – home to two-thirds of the world’s Indian rhinos, receives maximum protection under Indian wildlife protection laws, but still every year 20-30 one–horned rhinos are poached. The poaching is on its peak during the floods, as poacher gangs take undue advantage of the severe calamity. It’s appalling that Kaziranga loses more rhinos to floods than poaching. The rare and endangered one-horned rhinos are living under constant threat as their horns are in high demand in countries like China and Vietnam where people have the mistaken idea that it has aphrodisiac quality. To counter the poaching, many conservationists have suggested that more highlands should be created artificially inside the park as safe zones for animals to seek refuge in. Another problem is that the National highway - 37 passes through the Kaziranga National Park, making animals more vulnerable to road accidents. Many have protested that the highway should be shut down at least during floods. Assam’s Chief Minister, Sarbananda Sonowal pointed out that rhino poaching had gone down considerably in Kaziranga National Park (KNP) where forest guards are provided with modern weapons to fight the rhino poachers. He said, “170 rhino

Indian Government has taken few distinctive poaching patrol- also hailed as a “milestone in wildlife protection.” loss of Rupees 200 crores due to ﬂoods. As an aftermath of ﬂoods, people end up losing everything they own and even are deprived of clean drinking water. Schools all over the state are turned into relief camps, hampering with student’s education. According to a recent report by Caritas

To solve the problem, Government has been investing in structural solutions like building of embankments instead of focusing on natural flood control mechanisms based on local topography. Embankments don’t provide much solution to the problem instead cause more distress, as hundreds by the government, but long-term solutions still need to be addressed. Alongside, general education and awareness about floods should be given to people, so that they can help themselves instead of waiting for some external help to come. The re-occurring floods in Assam are continuousing huge loss of life and property and it’s frightening that how floods have become a routine in Assam. The ignorance and insensitivity of the powerful has forced Assamese people to accept floods as a part of their lives and to learn to live with it. If serious measures are not taken any soon, then the whole community of Assam will be reduced to a migrating population of economically deprived and culturally bereaved people, with lower happiness rates and self-esteem.

Assam Flood

Picture Courtesy: Pradip Nemane

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

During last year's 2016 monsoon-driven ﬂoods, 21 rhinos, including 10 calves aged between two and six months, drowned after becoming trapped. An endangered one-horned rhino was swept across the Nepalese border into India by ﬂooding. The young female rhino was found 42km (26 miles) from the Chitwan National Park in the Indian village of Bagah. A

poachers had been arrested in the state during the last two years and ten fast track courts have been set up to expedite trial against the rhino poachers. The government has built 33 artiﬁcial highlands within the KNP to provide shelter to animals during the ﬂood that occurs in the park every year.”

OUR HIMALAYAN

CONSERVATION ASSAM

animals. Brahmaputra ﬂoods the national park, forcing wild animals to enter into human settlements, making animals vulnerable to poaching and road accidents.

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

BATMAN OF MEGHALAYA: CAVING AND CATALOGUING TO SAVE BATS

OUR HIMALAYAN

BIODIVERSITY

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

NORTH EAST

BIODIVERSITY: NORTH EAST

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

BATMAN OF MEGHALAYA: CAVING AND CATALOGUING TO SAVE BATS

Content Courtesy - Sahana Ghosh

comprehensive inventory on the bat species of Meghalaya, which is home to about half of the recorded bat species in India, sheds light on the diversity and threats faced by the ﬂying mammals.

convinced a village council to protect a rare bat species. Unlike ﬁctional Gotham City’s Batman and Batgirl, this crew of researchers – some of whom describe themselves as “batman” – did not band up to deal out their brand of vigilante justice. Exploring their way through Meghalaya’s karst caves – some of the longest in the world – cave biologists (speleologists) and bat experts from India and abroad ended up cataloguing the astounding diversity of the ﬂying mammals in the state that harbours half of the recorded bat species in the country. A longing to explore new caves and the thirst to understand bats, brought Zoological Survey of India scientist Uttam Saikia, Meghalaya researcher Adora Thabah and international cave biologists together as part of the multi-country “Caving in the Abode of the Clouds” project that aims to discover and describe

Photo by Manuel Ruedi. Exploring their way through Meghalaya’s karst caves-some of the longest in the world-cave biologists and bat experts from India and abroad helped catalogue the astounding diversity of the flying mammals in the state. and describe the caves in the state in North East India. During their adventures in partnership with Meghalaya Adventurers Association, the researchers also stumbled upon new species in the grottos as also hitherto unknown roosting sites of extremely rare bats. Their explorations also led to a village council dedicating a forest patch to conserve an elusive species. The subsequent inventory discussed in the book chapter “The Bat Fauna of Meghalaya, Northeast India: Diversity and Conservation” not only discusses the impressive diversity (65 species), their distribution but also spotlights the conservation challenges, including indiscriminate mining, faced by the less studied mammals. “Since bats are one of the less studied mammalian groups, com

prehensive diversity and distribution information is not available for most of the Indian states which any conservation told Mongabay-India. The catalogue is rooted in published results, online collection database of museums abroad (especially that of Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, which houses a considerable collection of bat specimens from Meghalaya) and supplemented by recent ﬁeld surveys in the state (2011–2018) and examination of voucher collections deposited at Zoological Survey of India, Shillong (ZSIS). “A faunal inventory is the starting also helps in prioritising conservation action by directing required attention to the threatened species,” Saikia said.

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

• Cave biologists, caving enthusiasts and bat experts who worked together under the multi-country “Caving in the Abode of the Clouds” project helped add on to

OUR HIMALAYAN

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

• Indiscriminate mining, deforestation and hunting for bush meat have imperilled the existence of the bats in caves and surrounding habitats located in the limestone and coal belts of the state.

As many as 65 species of bats

BIODIVERSITY: NORTH EAST

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

Discovering bats in the caves of Meghalaya The rain, warm climate and extensive areas of limestone, particularly in the southern fringe of the Meghalaya plateau, has provided the perfect mix to create many ﬁne caves, of which at least 1500 caves have been identiﬁed, 970 of them explored and surveyed in excess of 427 kilometres underground.

“Bats are known from most of the caves in Meghalaya and some caves harbour dense bat colonies containing thousands of individuals and also a number of poorly known species,” the book chapter notes. “Compared to other states of Northeast India, the bat fauna of Meghalaya is relatively better known. This is primarily because of the fact that the provincial British administration was based at Shillong, the headquarters of erstwhile Assam Province and naturalists under the patronage of the British government conducted extensive faunal surveys in the Khasi and Jaintia Hills area,” the chapter said.

The inventory also lists new roosting sites of the extremely rare and elusive Wroughton’s free-tailed bats (Otomops wroughtoni) in the Jaintia Hills in south-eastern Meghalaya. Up until the reported discovery of the three new roosts in Jaintia Hills in 2014, the species was “known so far by a single breeding colony in Karnataka in southwestern India and two single individuals recorded in Meghalaya and Cambodia.” The addition (of at least 97 individuals confirmed in the Meghalaya roosts) doubles the known world population of the Wroughton’s free-tailed bats to 200 individuals. Swiss bat biologist Manuel Ruedi, who first participated in the project in 2011 following an invitation from the project’s co-leader Thomas Arbenz, recalled the “amazing” but “underexplored” biodiversity jewels of Meghalaya and how the caving project worked with local tribal community members to get the job done. “I only had to come along with my camping gear, pitch my small tent and then do my job as a batman,” said Ruedi alluding to the partnership. “The results were amazing with many species recorded for the first time in the region, and even for India, underlining the fact that the biodiversity jewels of Meghalaya were clearly underexplored … and even the discovery of two new species of bats, one dedicated to the Jaintias and called Murina jaintiana,” said Ruedi, curator of the mammal collection in the Natural History Museum of Geneva, Switzerland. But all is not well for the bats of Meghalaya. Mining, hunting and human disturbances threaten bat population The caves are mostly located in coal or limestone belts and disturbances to roosting sites through rampant mining, human presence and hunting have caused danger to the nocturnal animals, said Saikia.

A fruit bat species (Magaerops niphanae) Photo by Manuel Ruedi.

“Mining practices in the state is indiscriminate and unscientiﬁc and is also ecologically very damaging. Mining has caused extensive ecological damage in the Jaintia and Garo Hills region including bat populations,” he said.

OUR HIMALAYAN

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

These natural systems of caves, caverns and passages provide ideal roosting habitat for a large number of bat species and for this reason the state of Meghalaya harbours a wide range of bat species, noted Saikia. Though they are adapted to a wide variety of habitats in the state, majority seek the shelter of the caves.

Some of recently added species are the greater bamboo bat (Tylonycteris robustula), Kelaart’s Pipistrelle (Pipistrellus ceylonicus), Miniopterus pusillus, northern tailless fruit bat (Megaerops niphanae) and Tylonycteris malayana.

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

from Meghalaya so far and this number is also likely to increase to some extent with more attention and investigations. Considered as the wettest place on earth, cloud-cloaked Meghalaya is abundant in limestone and coal deposits strewn across three hill regions namely Khasi Hills, Jaintia Hills and Garo Hills.

BIODIVERSITY: NORTH EAST

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

Bats are also prized on the menu. Hunting bats for bushmeat is a fairly common practice in the Jaintia Hills which has certainly caused decline of populations, maintains Saikia.

“There is no study/quantitative data to highlight the role of hunting in bat population decline. However, from my observations during the last few years, it is certainly a major threat,” he said.

Meghalaya village protects a rare bat

Some of recently added species are the greater Saikia said the then Chief Wildlife Warden B.S. Kharmawphlang showed a keen interest for declaring this area as community reserve and also for conservation of bats as a whole. K. Mukhim of Lady Keane College of Shillong also was instrumental in convincing the villagers in the initial stage, he said. “We are now in the process of notiﬁcation,” said Lato.

The ﬁeld surveys dovetailed with communication Hill district in the eastern most part of Meghalaya, to dedicate a small patch of their forest to save the rare Wroughton’s free-tailed bats. “We also, together with locals, taught the villagers what is the role of bats in their environment, and how important they are to help control pest insects and also that they should not only be viewed as potential proteins to eat, but also a creatures of God worth protecting. In particular, we gave an illustrated talk (with my pictures, taken during the ﬁeld work) in the village adjacent to a large cave harbouring a large colony of very rare bats to encourage those villagers to protect their cave, habitat and inhabitants,” recalled Ruedi. The village in question is Pynurkba. “The area where the cave is located is in a forested patch that is looked after by the community. We came to know about the discovery of the free-tailed bats through the researchers. It took us almost one year to convince the village elders to declare the area as a community reserve. It is a 2.4 hectares patch and surrounds the cave,” added H. Lato, divisional forest

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

“Not only bats use the cave systems to roost and the surrounding habitats to ﬁnd their food (insects), but a number of other creatures need this environment, so they need to be protected to continue their role in the natural systems,” Ruedi said.

Unscientific mining in Jaintia Hills has caused havoc to the ecology of the region.

Picture Courtesy: Uttam Saikia

Wroughton’s free-tailed bat (Otomops wroughtoni)

About the author

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

There is still a lot to discover and given the pace at which the natural habitats are being destroyed (both due to agriculture need or to mining activities), it is now absolutely urgent to document this biodiversity before everything disappears, believes Ruedi.

Picture Courtesy: Uttam Saikia

Based in Kolkata, Sahana is a journalist for Mongabay India. She is passionate about science, science in rural areas and gender equality

OUR HIMALAYAN

Meghalaya State Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (draft) mentions “the superstitions associated with bat meat consumption is a major threat to the species of bats in Meghalaya.”

OUR HIMALAYAN

VILLAGE ROCKSTARSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; JOURNEY FROM ASSAM TO OSCARS

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

VILLAGE ROCKSTARS’ JOURNEY FROM ASSAM TO OSCARS

The film has been nominated for the 2019 Oscars, in the best Foreign Language film category by an eminent jury chaired by National award-winning Kannada filmmaker, Rajendra Singh Babu and constituted by the Film Federation of India. It has competed with 29 other entries including Manto, October, Padmavat, Ajji and Raazi to be sent to the Oscars. The film is slated to get its theatrical release in India on 28th September 2018. Rima Das – the writer, director, cinematographer, editor and producer of Village Rockstars hails from a small village of Chayygaon in Assam and moved to Mumbai to fulfil her dream of becoming an actress but eventually turned into a filmmaker after acting in her own film, “Man

A still from Village Rockstars

Photo by Manuel Ruedi.

with the Binoculars”. With no influence or association in the Indian film industry, it was hard for her to make a space in this huge fraternity but all the hardships that came her way, she took them as challenges and decided to take a less-taken longer route towards success. She took four long years to make her pet film, Village Rockstars, which she has shot in her village, took, her niece, Bhanita Das as the protagonist and the entire cast from her village. approach to filmmaking; she forged on her journey of making a 1 hour 27-minute film solely, worked with unexperienced actors and used basic cameras like canon 5D and Sony and recorded sound with a mid-level rode mic. There were times when the shoot used to get cancelled due to excessive rains followed by floods. She went on shooting, creating a homespun, playful environment for the children – her village rockstars. While shooting, she made sure to not stress children and balanced it by playing and having fun with them by taking necessary breaks in between.

She taught them to act in “open sky”. Village Rockstars is a story of dreams and childhood innocence, unrefined and shot partly in documentary style and partly in a way of tone-poem. It’s a heart-warming portrayal of mother-daughter relationship and highlights a plethora of problems faced by people in the village, mainly due to excessive rains. Set in the beautiful village of Chhaygaon, every frame is ethereal with the rustic charm and surrealistic visuals of open sky with floating clouds and wet fields which will keep the audience hooked and awe-engaged till the very last frame of the film. Dhanu is a fun-loving, carefree, tomboyish girl who dreams of owning a guitar and forming her on rock band. She portrays a strong and confident character, which is rebellious to some extent, as the norms created by society doesn’t does she stops hanging out with boys even after been pointed out several times by villagers. The film is powerful and female centric and doesn’t only portrays human dreams and relationships but also focuses on socio-political situation

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

91st Academy Awards which will be held on 24 February 2019. The film made with a shoestring budget has bagged four national awards including: National film Award for best Feature Film, National Film Award for Best Child Artist, National Film award for Best Editing and Fathy Farag Prize for Best Artistic Contribution. By winning the best feature film at National Awards, it has become the second film from Assam after Jahnu Barua’s “Halodhia Choraye Baodhan Khai” to win the prestigious award which is conferred by the honourable President of India. After having its World Premiere at Toronto International Film Festival and Indian Premiere at Mumbai Film Festival, the film has created a buzz across the world and has travelled in more than 70 film festivals worldwide.

OUR HIMALAYAN

C ONTENT

C OMPILED AND EDITED F

R OM V ARIOUS SOU

R CES FOR NON

- C OMME R CIAL RESEA

R CH AND PRI

V A TE STU DY. FOR PRI

V A TE CI R CUL A TION ON LY

illage Rockstars – a ﬁlm by Rima Das was nominated

PROFILED AND PUBLISHED BY

of the country.

Das’ directorial project has won a total of 44 awards and was selected for Oscars among 87 other films from across the world. Village Rockstars further didn’t make it to the top nine films in the Oscars that will advance to the next round and eventually win the best Foreign Language Film title for the year. The film is out of the Oscar race, but it has managed to create a permanent and wide space in people’s heart and mind, also putting Assam on the world map.

SV Rajendra Singh Babu, head of FFI selection committee said, “Many Indian films reach there but because of their rules and perspectives, our films are not eligible. The film which is selected from here should be properly presented at the Oscars, and that needs enormous money. When a film goes there, we need at least two crore rupees to promote the film, to present it to the Academy members. There are many processes, and we may be failing there. There is an acute lack of funds to carry out these processes one crore to Shwaas (the 2004 Marathi film). This time also we at the Film Federation of India want to write to the Assam government and the central government to contribute or create funds for the film.” The only way to perform well at Oscars is to get noticed by all the jury members - which can only be attained by doing rigorous promotion - which requires money. It’s important for the film to be discovered and it’s necessary that people there connect to the film. sense that you need to create a buzz and make sure submission, is out there,” said Chaitanya Tamhane, director of 2015 submission, Court.

Rima Das, Director

Photo Courtesy: Rima Das

After Das’ struggle to raise funds to promote her film in Hollywood as part of the Oscar’s campaign, she received Rs 1 crore from the government of Assam, following several pleas and requests from luminaries from the Indian film industry who stood up in her support. Actor Adil Hussain and Renuka Sahane came forward and requested the film fraternity to join hands and create a fundraiser for the country’s Oscar entry. Jatin Bora, chairman, Assam State Film (Finance & Development) Corporation Ltd, told The Telegraph that the money was transferred to Rima’s bank account. “The Assam government has fulfilled its commitment to her,” he said. Following the Oscar’s outcome, Rima thanked everyone who has been a part of the film and has helped it become what it is today. She received immense support, accolades and abundant love from around the world. With hopes, aspirations and gratitude, she’ll continue to make masterpiece like rockstars or even better than that. Her next coming-of-age drama film 'Bulbul Can Sing' has already embarked on its round-the-world film festival voyage, hoping to surpass Village Rockstars in both, storytelling and accomplishments.

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

According to Anant Mahadevan, jury member of the Film Federation of India, “Village Rockstars is the closest film made by international standards.” In Indian history, only three have made it to the top five nominees for best foreign language film - Mehboob Khan’s Mother India (1957), Mira Nair’s Salaam Bombay! (1988), and Ashutosh Gowariker’s Lagaan (2001). Although the film has great potential and it’s rooted in Indian culture along with conforming to international standards, but due to acute lack of funds required to promote the film at Oscars, the film might not perform well.

OUR HIMALAYAN

C ONTENT

C OMPILED AND EDITED F

R OM V ARIOUS SOU

R CES FOR NON

- C OMME R CIAL RESEA

R CH AND PRI

V A TE STU DY. FOR PRI

V A TE CI R CUL A TION ON LY

Das, who is a self-taught filmmaker, believes that passion is what drives the film and the fact that she has never been to a film school should not restrict her from making films as the first person to make films didn’t go to any film school.

vol 2. Jun-July 2013

vol 3. Aug-Sep 2013

vol 4. Oct-Nov 2013

vol 5. Dec-Jan 2014

vol 6. Feb-Mar 2014

vol 7. Apr-May 2014

vol 8. Jun-July 2014

vol 9. Aug-Sep 2014

vol 10. Oct-Dec 2014

vol 11. Apr-May 2015

vol 12. Jun-July 2015

vol 13. Aug-Dec 2015

vol 14. Jan-Mar 2016

vol 15. Oct 2016

vol 16. Jan 2017

vol 17. Mar 2017

vol 18. June 2017

vol 19. Sep 2017

vol 20. Dec 2017

To read any of the previous editions go to: www.myanmarmatters.com/volumes/ vol 21. Mar 2018

Vol 22: Nov 2018-Jan 2019

vol 1. Apr-May 2013

OUR HIMALAYAN

CONTENT COMPILED AND EDITED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES FOR NON-COMMERCIAL RESEARCH AND PRIVATE STUDY. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY

MYANMAR MATTERS VOLUME 1 TO 21

For contributions, feedback & enquiries on advertising opportunities in Our Himalayan, please contact: editor@myanmarmatters.com www.myanmarmatters.com Presented & published by Balipara Foundation & GMS www.gms.net.in www.baliparafoundation.com President: Ranjit Barthakur Editor in Chief: Priyanka Chowdhury & Neville Chesan Assistant Editor: Nupur Bajpai Produced by: Blenheim Chalcot Advisory Board Members: Nicholos Claxton Prabir Banerjea Kalpesh Popat Paper Plane Tales Akash Chandra Prabudha Barua Varsha Wadhwani Front and back pictures courtesy: Alex Treadway