Category Archives: Nature

Where faith matches medicine

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Nature, Science & Technologies
Free mental health camp in progress at Sivakasi.
Free mental health camp in progress at Sivakasi.

Plan to extend model to Puliyampatti where people throng St. Antony’s Church

Treatment of mental illness has witnessed a paradigm shift with community involvement in the southern districts in a big way. The ‘Sivakasi model,’ experimented since 2002, has inspired psychiatrists to replicate it in other districts.

This model is the most viable to treat psychiatric illness as it involves the community, a service organisation and the government. It has also successfully got rid of the stigma associated with mental illness by taking treatment away from medical institutions to the doorstep of patients, says C. Ramasubramanian, State Nodal Officer, District Mental Health Programme.

It all began in 2002 when a group of psychiatrists, led by Dr. Ramasubramanian, began the free mental health camp, with the involvement of Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisations (SSSSO), Tamil Nadu, M. S. Chellamuthu Trust and Research Foundation, Madurai, and local philanthropists. It is organised on the fourth Sunday of every month.

In the beginning, patients from Virudhunagar district attended the camp where free consultation, medicines for one month and food are provided. Now, patients from seven southern districts benefit from it. The added feature is the presence of District Differently Abled Rehabilitation Officer to sanction maintenance grant, identity card and bus pass to persons with mental illness. The all-India president of SSSSO, V. Srinivasan, said at the 150th camp that similar camps would be organised in all districts of Tamil Nadu. The M. S. Chellamuthu Trust will train volunteers for the camps.

Problems of follow up, absence of local psychiatrists, after-effects of medicine and expenditure are addressed in the Sivakasi model. Volunteers of the service organisation are trained as lay counsellors by exposing them to causes, symptoms and myths of mental illness; medicines and their side-effects and how to identify relapse, says K. S. P. Janardhan Babu of M. S. Chellamuthu Trust. A reliable monitoring mechanism has been put in place by entrusting 10 families of mentally ill persons to each of the trained volunteers, who make periodic home visits. Efforts are on to provide vocational rehabilitation locally for those cured of their illness.

An amalgam of the Sivakasi model and the ‘Dava Duva’ model of Mira Datar Dargah of Ahmedabad is the ‘Margamum Maruthuvamum’ model, a marriage of faith and medicine.

The trust plans to extend this model to Puliyampatti in Tuticorin district where people throng the St. Antony’s Church to get their mental illness cured, says Mr. Babu.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Madurai / by S. Annamalai / Madurai – November 13th, 2014

Now, diabetes clinic at Siddha Research Centre

Nature, Science & Technologies

Arumbakkam-based Siddha Central Research Institute will launch a special outpatient service on Friday to mark World Diabetes Day.

The service will be offered every Monday from 8 a.m. till noon.

Further research

The institute will also take up further research on one of its medicinal product — the D5 choornam — used to treat diabetes.

“We conducted a year-long study on a group of patients that included only those who had been detected with diabetes within six months of its onset. We found that the medicine was effective on the control group. From tomorrow we have decided to provide the choornam to all patients coming to the clinic but we will continue our research to test the medicine’s efficacy on chronic diabetics,” said institute director general R.S. Ramaswamy.

The study was conducted in three centres — Chennai, Puducherry and Palayamkottai.

The next step in the study, which will be launched on Friday, will include long-term diabetic patients with diabetes-related complications, Dr. Ramaswamy said.

The institute is a unit of Department of AYUSH.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National / by Special Correspondent / Chennai – November 14th, 2014

Gandhigram University scientists save tree from extinction

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Green Initiatives/ Environment, Nature, Records, All

Madurai :

If researchers at Gandhigram university are successful in their endeavour, the rudraksha tree, which is endemic to the Western Ghats, can soon be saved from extinction.

Researchers from the university have germinated seeds of the species ‘Elaeocarpus blascoi Weibel’ under laboratory conditions and the saplings reared by them are slowly taking root in their natural habitat of the shola forests in the Western Ghats.

According to Dr Raju Ramasubbu, professor in the department of biology at the Gandhigram Rural Institute, there are 250 species of the rudraksha tree in the world, of which 25 are found in India. Eleven of the 25 are confined to the Western Ghats, and 10 can be seen only in the Palani Hills, Dindigul district. Fruits from the subspecies ‘Elaeocarpus sphaericus’ are used as beads to make rosaries, necklaces and bracelets.

Dr Ramasubbu and his student Felix Irudhayaraj were alarmed at the fact that only a single ‘Elaeocarpus blascoi’ tree was found in the Palani hills when they undertook a study on the trees, which are on the red list of the International Union for Consevation of Nature (IUCN). The study on ‘E. blascoi’ was conducted from July 2012 to May 2014, and was published in the October 26 issue of the ‘Journal of Threatened Taxa’.

On reason for the tree facing extinction is that nuts take very long to germinate due to their hard cover. A mature tree takes 15 years to start flowering and grows to a height of 20 meters. This large evergreen tree was found in the Bear Shola in the Palani Hills in 1970. But another report published in 1999 said it had become extinct. Later, a lone tree was spotted in 2000.

After confirming that the species was staring at extinction, they went to the mother tree and collected seeds. Many seeds were found viable but had not germinated. Some were too old or affected by fungus, and there were no saplings near the mother tree.

The researchers took the seeds to their laboratory and were successful in germinating 80% of them. They planted four saplings that were two- and-a-half months old in an isolated spot in its natural habitat and are happy with the way they are growing. “We visit the spot twice a month and check their growth,” Dr Ramasubbu said.

The researchers collected tissue from the shoots of the mother tree and are culturing them. If successful, they plan to plant more trees in their natural habitat as it aids seed germination, which would help remove the species from the IUCN ‘red list’.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Madurai / by Padmini Sivarajah, TNN / November 12th, 2014

Birding session marks birth anniversary of Salim Ali

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Green Initiatives/ Environment, Nature
Bird watchers at the Government Botanical Garden in Udhagamandalam on Wednesday. - PHOTO: M. SATHYAMOORTHY / The Hindu
Bird watchers at the Government Botanical Garden in Udhagamandalam on Wednesday. – PHOTO: M. SATHYAMOORTHY / The Hindu

As many as 25 species spotted at Government Botanical Garden

Spread over 55 acres and dotted with hundreds of trees and flower beds apart from many ponds, the Government Botanical Garden here played host to a birding session organised by the Nilgiri Wildlife and Environment Association on Wednesday to commemorate the 118th birth anniversary of Salim Ali, the father of ornithology.

With the undulating venue and the occasion complementing each other, members of the association and students of Wildlife Biology in the Government Arts College returned with the satisfaction of having spotted birds belonging to about 25 species.

Pointing out that the most prized sighting of the day was a Kashmir Fly Catcher, the association’s executive committee member K.Vijay told The Hindu that the migratory bird from the Himalayas, which has been classified as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, could not be seen here last year.

Pointing out that its presence now signifies the commencement of the migratory season, he said that among the other birds spotted were the Grey Wag Tail, the Black and Grey Fly Catcher, the Common Hawk-Cuckoo, Pond Heron, Great Pit and the Nilgiri Blue Robbin.

Responding to a query, Mr.Vijay said that the botanical garden with its wild fruits and flowers is an ideal bird habitat.

Birding destination

Expressing the view that it can be promoted as a responsible birding destination, he said that the authorities concerned should regulate the activity and restrict it to one or two days a week. Stating that birding is a very effective stress buster, he said that it also encourages people to walk. Volunteers including students of Wildlife Biology should be engaged to create awareness among tourists about the role of birds in protecting the ecology.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Coimbatore / by D. RadhaKrishnan / Udhagamandalam – November 13th, 2014

On a mission to promote organic farming

Green Initiatives/ Environment, Nature
A. Gnanaprakasam, bio-farmer, harvesting the greens at his field at Kurumbur near Aranthangi.
A. Gnanaprakasam, bio-farmer, harvesting the greens at his field at Kurumbur near Aranthangi.

Gnanaprakasam distributes greens among schoolchildren

His ripe age does not deter him from promoting and popularising organic farming techniques among the masses.

For the 76-year-old A. Gnanaprakasam, promoting organic cultivation practices has been a watchword for the past three decades. He has converted his 33 cents of land into a bio-farm, at Kurumbur village near Aranthangi, using bio-manure and applying bio-pesticides.

Greens has been his primary choice, and, he has been cultivating different greens such asvendhyakeerai, sirukeerai, pasali keerai, arakeerai, and musumusukkai.

Catch them young

Mr. Gnanaprakasam, who is consultant to the Pudukottai District Tree and Herbs Growers Welfare Association, says that schoolchildren were his targeted audience. He had been distributing, free of cost, these greens to schoolchildren. “I just harvest the greens daily and keep the bundles at the entrance to the farm,” he says.

The greens were being used for noon meals at the panchayat union middle school at Kurumbur and panchayat union primary school at Kattuthattanvayal village. “About 300 students benefit through the free supply,” he says.

He regrets that lack of awareness among the masses resulted in poor consumption of greens. To tide over the problem, he has been distributing free of cost, greens to those who visit his farm.

Anyone interested in consuming eco-farm greens can visit his fields and take the bundles available. “I harvest some green or other on rotation basis, depending up on the season and growth,” he says.

Call 9442857292 for details.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Tiruchirapalli / by M. Balaganessin / Puduikottai – November 13th, 2014

Death centenary of a Dravidian leader

Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Leaders, Nature, Records, All, Science & Technologies, Uncategorized

 

Pandit Iyothee Thass / by Special Arrangement / The Hindu
Pandit Iyothee Thass / by Special Arrangement / The Hindu
He had his roots in The Nilgiris: Nilgiri Documentation Centre

The Kotagiri based Nilgiri Documentation Centre (NDC) has pointed out that 2014 marks the death centenary of a pioneering Dravidian leader who had his roots in the Nilgiris.

Stating that not many are aware of this, NDC Director Dharmalingam Venugopal has in a statement issued here on Wednesday pointed out that Pandit Iyothee Thass (1845-1914), who was born in Coimbatore, was brought up in the English household of George Harrington in Ooty. His father worked for the Harringtons. Thass was originally named Kathavarayan.

Tamil scholarThass became a well known Siddha practitioner and Tamil scholar with expertise in the traditional knowledge on astrology and palm-leaf manuscript reading. In 1870, Thass founded Adhvaidhananda Sabha in Ooty. In 1891, he established an organisation called the Dravida Mahajana Sabha, and organised the first conference at Ooty. In that conference, 10 resolutions were passed including the one on enacting a criminal law to punish those who humiliated untouchables, creating separate schools and providing scholarships for matriculation education for untouchable children; providing employment for educated untouchables, and representation for untouchables in District Boards and Municipal Boards.

In 1898, Thass visited Sri Lanka and converted himself to Buddhism under the influence of Colonel Olcott of Theosophical Society and founded ‘The Sakya Buddhist Society’ at Royapettah, Madras. In 1907, Thass launched his journal ‘Oru Paisa Tamilan’ as an organ of this organisation.

After a year the name was changed to ‘Tamilan’. It was edited, published and owned by Thass. The average circulation of the weekly was 500. The ‘Tamilan’ is considered the most renowned journal in Dalit print history because of its rich content and ideology.

In 1881, when the colonial Government planned to carry out the second census, Thass gave a memorandum to the Government requesting that the people of depressed classes in Tamil speaking land should be considered as Adi-Tamilar and not as Hindus.

Thass died in 1914. The institute for Siddha Research in Chennai is named after him.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Coimbatore / by Special Correspondent / Udhagamandalam – November 13th, 2014

CIBA’s experiment on mullet proves a success

Business & Economy, Nature, Records, All

MulletANDHRA13nov2014

The cultivation period of the fish, which is considered an alternative variety to shrimp, was brought down from one year to barely seven months

The Central Institute of Brackishwater Aquaculture (CIBA), Chennai, in collaboration with Nagayalanka-based progressive farmer has scripted a success story by bringing down the cultivation period of Gold Mullet (Liza Parsia) and Grey Mullet (Mugil Cephalus) fish with the help of ‘formulated feed’.

The feed was developed by the CIBA and tested for the first time in Nagayalanka in Andhra Pradesh in the country. The cultivation period of the fish, which is considered an alternative variety to shrimp, was brought down from one year to barely seven months, drawing the attention of the worried shrimp farmers.

On Wednesday, CIBA Principal Scientists K. Ambasankar and J. Syama Dayal came with up their findings following harvesting of the mullet species on an acre of pond here.

The seed grown in the pond was collected from estuary and brackish water canals.

“Findings of our research on cultivation of the spices indicate disease free and high rate of survival of the seed, apart from very low input cost,” Mr. Syama Dayal told The Hindu. However, the CIBA scientists experimented on these two species in their quest to come out with alternative to the shrimp, which was driving the farmer into irreparable loss in recent years.

Experiment

“The experiment on Liza Parsia and Mugil Cephalus in abandoned ponds where earlier shrimp was cultivated is a way for those failed to reap profits in shrimp cultivation. Farmers have already begun slowly inquiring about details such as input cost,” said Mr. Ambasankar.

Beyond expectations

According to Raghu Sekhar who cultivated the fish in his pond, growth of the mullet species was beyond expectations, wooing other farmers to try their luck. “No disease is found during the seven-month cultivation period, withstanding changes in the weather and the soil of the pond,” added Mr. Sekhar.

Given the market value for value added to the Mullet Roe (egg) of the species, European countries and Japan are importing it in a large scale.

On the other hand, the CIBA was engaged in developing seed of the mullet species by the end 2016, according to scientists.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Vijayawada / by T. Appala Naidu / Nagayalanka – November 13th, 2014

Scientists come together to bring about changes in villages through renewable energy

Green Initiatives/ Environment, Nature, Science & Technologies

Coimbatore :

Thalinji, a small village near Tirupur where electricity is being generated using biomass, is a model for mitigating climate change using renewable resources.

“Four years ago, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) set up a 100 cubic metre biomass plant to generate electricity for 120 houses and 28 streetlights in association with an NGO named non-conventional energy and rural development society,” said S Kamaraj, head of bioenergy department.

The village generates 12 units of power every hour using the biomass plant which is maintained by SAG Federation and women self-help groups. There are seven solar-powered street lights as well.

Eleven scientists from across the country have come together to bring about a change in Indian villages and to give them facilities without disturbing the ecosystem or affecting the climate.

They will participate in the 21 days winter school organised by Agricultural Engineering College and Research Institute in the city and learn methods of using renewable energy to mitigate climate change.

“In Gujarat, there is abundant availability of biomass, so I am looking to learn the various methods of using it as an energy source and implement the most viable one in our state by education the students and researchers there,” said Modi Vijayesh Mahendrabhai, assistant professor, Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, Gujarat.

A participant from Raipur is looking forward to learn the latest technologies and replicate them in tribal villages in Vellore district.

“We are working on a project on using wasteland and waste water to create an algae and extract bio-fuel from it. This winter school will definitely give us more insight to our project,” said S Joshua Davidson, assistant professer, KVK, Vrinjipuram, Vellore.

With India generously being endowed with renewable resources, there exists a potential of the order of 80,000 MW, according to Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.

“At present the total renewable energy based power generation in India is 28,000 MW out of the total 2,30,000 MW which works out to be 12.7% only,” said K Alagusundaram, Deputy Director General, Indian Council of Agricultural Research.

With concerns for environmental protection and climate change increasing, the importance of renewables for power generation is attracting greater attention, he added.

TNAU vice chancellor K Ramasamy said that that biomass availability in the state should be identified and a data bank should be created.

“Energy plantations and bio mass processing industries should be promoted to promote energy efficient technologies for biomass based power generation,” he added.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Coimbatore / by Komal Gautham, TNN / November 07th, 2014

A pretty ghost along highway near Ooty

Green Initiatives/ Environment, Nature
With petals of its white flowers spread out, this orchid presents a ghostly appearance. / Special Arrangement / The Hindu
With petals of its white flowers spread out, this orchid presents a ghostly appearance. / Special Arrangement / The Hindu

Long, meandering, steep and punctuated with hair-pin bends, the highway connecting Mettupalayam and Kotagiri is a source of delight to tourists.

A fascinating variety of vegetation on either side and favourable weather enhance its beauty. Different wild flowers catch the eyes of the passersby. Among them are Lady’s slippers and even kurinji. However, the most striking are the orchids with the popular name, Spreading Flowered Habenaria (Habenaria rariflora).

Conservationist and nature photographer P.J. Vasanthan says the orchid is an endemic variety restricted to the Western Ghats. It belongs to a group popularly called ‘bog orchids.’ However, in contrast to the popular name of the group, this orchid is usually seen growing on damp and rocky terrain. With the petals of its white flowers spread out, it presents a ghostly appearance. The plant comes to notice only when it is in bloom, and the flowering season coincides with the monsoon.

Once found all over the moist parts of the outer slopes of the district, it is now restricted to a few areas owing to anthropogenic activities. It is quite common around Droog near Coonoor, considered a haven for ground orchids.

It is now seen along the roadside at Muloor near Kunjapanai on the Kotagiri-Mettupalayam Highway. Though unexpected, it indicates the health of the ecosystem as orchids are sensitive to changes in the environment.

The Nilgiris hills were once rich with orchids, with over a hundred varieties being listed in the district manual of 1880. Agriculture and plantation forestry have vastly reduced their numbers.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Tamil Nadu / by D. Radhakrishnan / Udhagamandalam – October 20th, 2014

Nature Forum initiated to study biodiversity, document flora and fauna

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Green Initiatives/ Environment, Nature

Environment and nature enthusiasts in the city convened at the Gandhi Memorial Museum premises here on Saturday to initiate the ‘Madurai Nature Forum’, a collective of NGOs and individuals working for environmental causes in the city.

The forum plans to conduct an extensive study of the biodiversity in the district over the next six months and document the flora and fauna. The biodiversity study, which will have a special focus on birds and the disappearing water ecosystems in the district, will begin on October 26 with a study of the Samanatham tank and the migratory birds which flock to the spot during the monsoons.

Speaking at the launch of the forum, District Forest Officer Nihar Ranjan said that a forum and study like this would not only help people know about the unexplored biodiversity in the district, but would also motivate people to conserve their surroundings.

“As many of the forest areas in the district are unexplored, the forest department will cooperate and help organise treks for enthusiasts who wish to document the biodiversity there,” he said, at the event.

D. Raveendran of Iragugal Naturalists Association said that the study would seek to create awareness among many people who remain oblivious to their surroundings or the harm they might be causing to the environment. The members of the forum further made a mention of villages in the country which had celebrated a cracker-free Deepavali to protect birds in the area and urged the people to follow more such initiatives to conserve the biodiversity.

Badri Narayanan, an avid bird watcher, spoke about the variety of birds in the district with a powerpoint presentation showcasing the various species of birds he had photographed in the district.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> TamilNadu / by Staff Reporter / Madurai – October 26th, 2014