Vulture conservation at Bejjur, Telangana

 

Today, I am writing the fourth blog post about vultures! What have we done to the world?

These cliffs are called Palarapu and the waterbody is called Peddavagu. They are located in the Bejjur forest, in Komaram Bheem Asifabad district, close to Kagaznagar in the northern part of Telangana, bordering Maharashtra. Apparently there were more than a hundred long billed vultures (Gyps indicus) here earlier, but owing to several reasons, the numbers dwindled. Some of the reasons, apart from deaths caused by feeding on diclofenac-injected cattle, were: water pollution because of effluents from Sirpur paper factory, lack of carcasses because most farmers sold their cattle away and never waited for them to die a natural death, and predators such as the peregrine and shaheen falcons.

This habitat was discovered in 2013. At that time, there were only about eight birds. The present count is about 24 adults and 6 chicks, taking the total to 30, which was very encouraging.. Perhaps it was the time of the day . The birds are up on the cliff, and are well camouflaged. It is therefore very difficult to spot them even through the binoculars. Here's a photo taken by S. Harpal Singh - The Hindu's Special Correspondent from Adilabad (full article here).

The hatching of eggs and birth of every new chick is a reason for celebration, and encourages them to persist in this mission. It is a painstaking effort, but the conservation project now seems well established. 

As is done at other similar sites across India and elsewhere, there is a 'vulture restaurant' - basically a feeding site where carcasses are placed for the vultures to feed on. At first the vultures did not come to eat the animals placed there, but there was some success subsequently. This is what the site looks like -

The remains of a carcass at the feeding site

The area surrounding this is pristine and beautiful, proclaiming the absence of a certain intrusive species called homo sapiens. Peddavagu, which we had to wade through, to get to Palarapu, is clear and unpolluted, and eventually flows into the river Pranahita. You can see the Sahyadri mountain ranges from this spot - very dry at this time, but the trees of many shades made it look like a watercolour painting. 

Similar efforts have been on for much longer at the Chamorshi forests in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra, about 70 km from Bejjur, and have been very successful, as mentioned in this report. 

Being in wilderness does great things to one's soul. A break from the city is always welcome! 

LEARNING FROM THE DAYS OF WORLD WAR TO HANDLE THE WAR WHOLE WORLD HAS BEEN BATTLING WITH

Extra ordinary times need extra ordinary effort is easy said then implemented. Amid these unprecendented condtion where more than 5 million lives are lost to a microscopic organism  

the medical infrastructure is not just under serious stress but is facing a grave question of sufficiency 

to handle what could be a more compounding effect it is today.....

Even the greatest army world has ever witnessed gave up the conquest of world out of exhaustion which ended conquest of Alexander the great before conquering whole world. Will the present day war give similar result if the present medical staff exahust before we conquer the most contagious virus the world has ever witnessed ???!!!!

When we compare the present conditons to that of 1920s can we learn whichNOVEL ways did they use used during those days to fight present day NOVEL CORONA VIRUS is the question that flashed before me.

tackling the twin problems of plummeting economy and health crisis lets see how the mighty british have deal with great depression, spanish flu and world war have concided at same time.

Adressing the issue of economy:

The national war bonds, which paid out a rate of interest of 5%, were issued in 1917 as the government sought to raise more money to finance the ongoing cost of the first world war, which started with the issue of the first war loan in November 1914. The bonds were sold to private investors in 1917with the advertisement  “If you cannot fight, you can help your country by investing all you can in 5 per cent Exchequer Bonds ... Unlike the soldier, the investor runs no risk.”

Present day donations are non refundable which means the financial burden is shared.

But after being paid 5% interest for a complete century a recpient said It is the people of Great Britain who must provide the cash with which to finance the war, and there is little reason to doubt that they can do it if only they will. A large part of the nation, instead of being impoverished by the war, has been enriched.

what can present day govt do?

GDP-linked bonds

The GoI may issue listed, Indian rupee denominated, 25-year GDP-linked bonds that are callable from, say, the fifth year. The coupon (interest) on a GDP-linked bond is correlated to the GDP growth rate and is subject to a cap. The issuer, the GoI, is liable to pay a lower coupon during years of slower growth and vice-versa. The callable feature from the fifth year till maturity allows the GoI to effect partial repayments during high growth years and when it earns non-recurring revenues such as proceeds from disinvestment of public sector enterprises (PSEs). The listing of bonds provides investors an exit option. Costa Rica, Bulgaria and Bosnia-Herzegovina issued the first pure GDP-linked bonds in the 1990s. Argentina and Greece issued warrant-like instruments similar to GDP-linked bonds in 2005 and 2012 respectively. India could learn from their experience.

Potential risk:

Specualtions on GDP projections that govt of india publishes may break trust of overseas investors Publishing reliable and timely GDP data is a prerequisite for the successful issue of GDP-linked bonds, which the GoI may use to part-finance the COVID-19 rescue package and to diversify its borrowing sources.

Adressing medical crisis

Mary Merritt Crawford, the only woman doctor at the  Hospital during the war, later noted that war brought death and destruction, yet also opened the path to progress: “A war benefits medicine more than it benefits anybody else. It’s terrible, of course, but it does.”

What inspired these major advances in medicine? There was a deep need, and people stepped up to find solutions. The new technology of war—heavy artillery, long-range cannons, barrage shelling, and machine guns—rained devastation at unprecedented levels. Medicine had to try to keep up. One good example of this evolution is in facial reconstruction surgery. Soldiers survived having jaws and noses shattered by artillery fragments, so surgeons at the American Hospital and Val-de-Grace Hospital pioneered maxillofacial techniques, and at the same time, brought dentistry into the medical sciences in France.

Present day advancements to produce low cost yet effective ventilators and other equipment to abridge the gap of infrastructure is commendable and comparable to those advancements. But what about the just begining crisis of exhuasted and acute shortage of medical staff??? are we reaching that draconian stage of the warriors of Alexander??

What was done during world war:

All those who have perused a minimum of three years of medicine course were urged to step in those senior doctors to help. After the war those para medics had essential and all the necessary feather of war medalion and perfect experience whch helped them to transform themselves into great doctors human kind have ever produced...yes they were asked to step in to real practice with just a month of training.... 

Emulate those steps to fix human resource gap

I feel todays MBBS final year students could step in to assist the senior doctors in bare minimums like checking BP and fixing ventilators and which could keep the senior doctors aloof of the exaustion .... we have as many as 31920 doctors persuing the medical education who would come out to be house surgeons for an year... why cant we advance their arrival to the real feild not to take critical cases but atleast the milder ones and bare minimums of health checkups and moderations as an when required... it would be a great lesson to learn from the history.

Is Farmer Suicide a matter of economics?

Farmers’ Suicides in India

No matter the race or age of the person; how rich or poor they are, it is true that most people who commit suicide have a mental or emotional disorder”. Suicide is not a matter of economics.


The surge in input costs: A major cause of the farmers’ suicides in India has been the increasing burden on the farmers due to inflated prices of agricultural inputs. The culmination of these factors is seen in the overall increase in the cost of cultivation, for wheat, the cost at present is three times than it was in 2005.

• Cost of chemicals and seeds: Be it the fertilisers, crop protection chemicals or even the seeds for cultivation, farming has become expensive for the already indebted farmers.
• Costs of Agricultural equipment:  The input costs, moreover, aren’t limited to the basic raw materials. Using agricultural equipment and machinery like tractors, submersible pumps etc adds to the already surging costs. Besides, these secondary inputs have themselves become less affordable for the small and marginal farmers.
• Labour costs: Likewise, hiring labourers and animals is getting costlier too. While this may reflect an improvement in the socio-economic status of the labourers, driven primarily by MGNERGA and hike in minimum basic income, this has not gone too well with boosting the agriculture sector.
• Lack of direct integration with the market: Although initiatives like the National Argriculture Market and contract farming are helping integrate the farmers’ produce directly with the market, cutting the role of intermediaries, the reality is still lagging behind.
• Lack of awareness: The digital divide, as well as the literacy gap, has made the marginal and small farmers particularly vulnerable due to their inability to utilise the positives of government policies. This is reflected in the continued unsustainable cropping practices – like cultivating sugarcane in water-deficit regions.
• Water crisis: The concentration of these suicides in the water-deficit regions of states like Maharashtra, Karnataka is a manifestation of how the water crisis and thereby failure to meet production demands have intensified the menace. This is particularly true in the backdrop of continued failed monsoons.
• Inter State water disputes: What has added to the already prevalent crisis is the unwillingness to cater to each other’s water needs amongst the states. A case in point is the recently resurfaced Kaveri dispute that saw Karnataka and Tamil Nadu battle out water shortage both in and outside the tribunal even to the extent of non-compliance with the tribunal award.
• Climate change has acted as the last nail in the coffin by resulting in furthering of the uncertainties associated with the already uncertain monsoon system and hence agricultural production. While incidents like flash floods have led to crop losses, deferred monsoons have seen production shortfall year-in and year-out
• India’s urban consumer driven economic policies: The political economy of India is driven more by the urban consumers than the rural producers. This is reflected in the urgency to impose price controls in case of price rise (imposing Minimum Export Prices, bringing items under Essential Commodities etc) and a lacklustre withdrawal once the price is under control. Contrast this with how we have been imposing minimum import price to secure our steel sector. This differential treatment to primary sector also limits profit margin and thereby hinders farmers’ chances of breaking free from the cycle of indebtedness.
• Some of the major relief packages and debt waiver schemes announced by the government are summarised below:
  • 2006 relief package – primarily aimed at 31 districts in the four states of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Kerala with a high relative incidence of farmers suicides.
  • Agricultural debt waiver and debt relief scheme, 2008 – Agricultural Debt Waiver and Debt Relief Scheme in 2008 benefited over 36 million farmers at a cost of 65000 crore rupees  This spending was aimed at writing of part of loan principal as well as the interest owed by the farmers.
  • 2013 diversify income sources package – In 2013, the Government of India
  • Apart from these Central Government initiatives, there are many efforts from the state governments side like Maharashtra Bill to regulate farmer loan terms, 2008 and Kerala Farmers’ Debt Relief Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2012.
  But farmers suicides didnt stop... Beacuse solution has to be solved from grassroot level it should not be superficial.

Here i Propose a few solutions:-

• Policies of integrated pest management to prevent pest damage – An all-inclusive approach that integrates biological, chemical, mechanical and physical methodology should be used to prevent crop damage. In this case, seeking inspiration from Vietnam’s no-spray early rule (predatory beetles are sustained for a biological pest control, cutting pesticide requirement by 50%) can be a good way to start.
• Lower fertilizer costs – Helping fertiliser industries cut down on costs, through internal funding rather than external borrowing should lower the input costs.
• Leveraging advancements in Science and Technology by ensuring that state seed policies focus on new genotypes, contract farming and sensitization to adverse weather conditions.
• Precision farming techniques like SRI (Systemic rise intensification ) must be encouraged.
• Farm equipment policy must focus on imported equipment to provide for cheaper local manufacture, some incentives like grant of duty credit scrips may be tried.
• Subsidies must be rerouted towards capital generation and entrepreneurial Custom Hiring Centers (CHCs) and the implementation must be ensured in a timely fashion.
• Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) must be encouraged in the agricultural sector, particularly towards capacity-building, skill development and the establishment of CHCs.
• Institutional financing must also be ensured to be adequate and inclusive rather than catering to the elites within the farming community.