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April 2011 VANA PREMI

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APRIL - 2011Vol .12 No. 4

JOURNAL OF THE ASSOCIATION OF RETIRED FOREST OFFICERSANDHRA PRADESH

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1. President : Ex-Officio President of Assn.2. Editor : Qamar Mohd. Khan

Tel : 40121132, 9849233624e-mail : [email protected]

3. Associate Editor : Sardar Navratan Singh,

: Tel : 233405854. Member : A.H. Qureshi, IFS (Retd.)5. Convenor : Ex-officio Secy.of Assn

VANA PREMI

Vol : 12 No. 4April 2011

Editor : Qamar Mohd. Khan Associate Editor : Sardar Navratan SinghThe Association of Retired Forest Officers,

Andhra Pradesh(Regd. No. 557/1990)President : Sri. S.D. Mukherji, I.F.S. (Retd.)

Tel : 23551065, 9885236493Vice President : Sri. Krishna Bhoopal Rao, I.F.S. (Retd.)

Tel : 23743774, 9866307808Secretary : Sri K. Santokh Singh, I.F.S. (Retd.)

Tel : 27962929, 9848808101Jt. Secretary : Sri. P. Upender Reddy, Dy. C.F.(Retd.)Cum Treasurer Tel. 23342582, 9848754778

Editoriral Board

Contents

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VANA PREMI

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Excutive committee members1. Sri C. Subba Rao, I.F.S. (Retd.), 9848018796

2. Sri T. Rama Krishna, I.F.S. (Retd.), 9849180078

3. Sri M. Padmanabha Reddy, I.F.S. (Retd.), 9849269105

4. Sri J.V. Subba Rao, 9848486146

5. Sri A. V. Govinda Rajulu, 9440764611

Totla pages 48

1. Editorial ..................... QMK 22. Letters to Editor

........................................V. Santhaseela Babu 4

............................... ............... Q.M.K. 43. Lure of The Himalayas

............... ............................ M. Kamal Naidu 54. Visit to GIR National Park

.............................S.D. Mukherji 175. Forests in Crisis II -

Threats to Contend with.................................... J.V. Sharma 20

6. Drag in to the Net ...............................V. Santhaseela Babu 26

7. Invitation ................... Secretary 288. Roll of Honour .......... K.B.R. 309. Climate Change Reconsidered

...................M. Padmanabha Reddy 3110. Laughter the Best Medicine 3411. Minutes of 59th Gdneral Body

Meeting Held ............ Secretary 3512. Birthday Greetings ... S.K. 3713. News and Notes ....... 3814. Central Government Health Scheme

.........................T. Narayana Swamy 4315.Draft Will ..................... 4716. Obituary (M. Hussai Khan) 48


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Natural Calamity: - A massive 9.0 magnitude

earthquake hit Japan on Friday March 11, lasting

for about 6 minutes triggering a deadly tsunami

and widespread devastation. The earth quake

was the largest to hit Japan in a hundred years

and sent a wall of water inland across Japan's

northeast coastline, engulfed everything – and

almost everyone in its path devastating entire

cities and triggering multiple nuclear crises. It is

reported that “the disaster has left more than

11,000 people dead, many thousands homeless

and millions without water, power, heat or

transportation." Though the full extent of the

damage will not be known for some time, we

know that it will be large and we all have to

support Japan.

Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the

world's most seismically active areas. The country

(Japan) accounts for about 20 per cent of the

world's earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.

This earthquake occurred before the 'super

moon' date is still eight days away. The

earthquake triggered extremely destructive

tsunami waves of up to 10 meters (33 ft) that

struck Japan minutes after the quake, in some

cases traveling up to 10 km inland with smaller

waves reaching many other countries after

several hours. This earthquake's magnitude make

it the most powerful known earthquake to hit

Japan, and one of the five most powerful

EDITORIAL

earthquakes in the world overall since modern

record-keeping began in 1900. It is said that "in

the 65 years after the end of World War II, this is

the toughest and the most difficult crisis for

Japan. Initially the magnitude of the earth quake

was reported as 7.9 the magnitude was quickly

upgraded to 8.8 and then to 8.9, and then again

to 9.0. ‘Save the Children’ reports that as many

as 100,000 children have been uprooted from

their homes. Some of whom were separated,

from their families because the earthquake

occurred during school time.

Most of us in India first heard the word Tsunami

when one hit our east coast on December 26,

2004. Tsunami is a Japanese world, tsu means

harbor and nami means wave.

Nuclear power stations, were shut down

following the earthquake which caused severe

problems including large explosions and

leakage of radiation. Over 200,000 people have

been evacuated. Helicopters were used to dump

water on the nuclear plant to attempt to cool

the reactors.

Officials from the Japanese Nuclear and

Industrial Safety Agency have reported that

radiation levels inside the plant are up to 1,000

times normal levels, and that radiation levels

outside the plant are up to 20 times the normal

levels, . The highest level in the Kanto region


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was 40 times the normal level. The damage

caused due to nuclear power stations will

continue for indefinite period as we have seen

the damage caused due to leakage of gas in

Bhopal.

Our Central Government and State Governm-

ents should think twice before allowing the

nuclear power stations to come up in our country

APPEAL

Thousands of Birds die every summer without water. Save these thirstybirds by providing water during summer. Please keep water in tubsof three to four liters capacity for birds, on roof tops, sunshades, bal-conies or nay other suitable place till end of July and save thousandsof birds.

What is earthquake?

The earth’s crest consists of many large and

small “tectonics plates” which have been

floating about on the very hot, thick, gooey mass

for millions of years. In some of the places the

boundaries of the plates rub against each other

as they move. At some point the pressure is so

much that one or both of the plates suddenly

jerks. This takes place several kilometers

underground. On the surface where we live, we

feel the ground shaking under us. This is what

we experience as an earthquake.

What is a Tsunami?

Earthquakes also occur underground below the

ocean floor. When this happens, the ocean is

as these nuclear power stations will create loss

of human life as happened in Japan during

natural calamities. We pray almighty God to

give strength to Japanese to bear this huge and

great loss of life and property and may the

Almighty God rest the noble souls in peace that

died in this calamity. QMK

jolted. This causes the water above the

earthquake point to be violently and suddenly

pushed with a tremendous amount of force.

A huge wave forms out on the open ocean.

When this wave travels and encounters a

coast, it bumps into the land. Coastal areas

are very shallow. When this bump occurs, the

water rises high and crashes on to the land. If

the land is flat, the water floods inland with

extreme force and wipes out everything in

its path.

(Source : The Hindu, with thanks)


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Sir,

You Editorial highlighting the importance of Forests and the role played by human beings in their deliberate

destruction is quite befitting on the eve of the celebrations of “World Forestry Day”. You have rightly said that

“without forests and wildlife we cannot live even for a minute, but without human beings forests and wildlife can

survive in a much better way.”

In the article “Forestry at Cross – Roads” Dr. Kesava Reddy had appropriately analyzed the Forestry practices

in India right from the days of Imperial Forest Service during the British period to the present stage of JFM/CFM. I

fully concur with the views expressed by our learned officer about the present scenario of degenerate phase of

forests consequent on the implementation of JFM and CFM. Peoples’ participation is the main essence in these

programmes but it is a myth in majority of the areas. As Special Officers and Nodal officers of the greatly advocated

programme “Janma Bhoomi” the attitude of people we found was “you came to my house, what did you bring and

I came to your house, what are you giving”. At the same time as Forest Officers implementing and inspecting the

JFM/CFM works we have also noticed the same attitude among the public. The staff has been suffering like anything

to muster the presence of people for executing the works taken up in these schemes. When VSSs members were

requested to attend the meetings they were asking who will give us the wages for this day? This was the actual way

of so called peoples’ participation. It is quite true that whenever VIPs visit the VSSs, they were asked to make glorious

presentations giving rosy pictures about the schemes.

I whole heartedly congratulate Dr. Reddy garu for having meticulously analyzed the present sad state of

Forestry practices in the country which are going to land the entire posterity in a melancholy.

DETROIT, Michigan, USA sincerely yours,

Date: 10-03-2011. V.SANTHASEELA BABU

Respected readers

The article written by Dr. Keshava Reddy garu and presented to the 85th Foundation Course for Civil

Service Officers as Late Sri P. Srinivas IFS Memorial Lecture is very interesting and he has analyzed the different

phases of Forestry in our country. The JFM, CFM and the present Scheduled Tribes and other Forest Dwellers Act’

period is the worst period in the history of Indian Forestry. We have carried out experiments like JFM and CFM on a

very large scale and destroyed our natural Forests instead of, experimenting this in a smaller area for a very long

time and if that is successful than only we should have taken it on a large scale. The handing over of the forest areas

under Forest Rights Act has destroyed lakhs of hectares of forests.The destroyed forests cannot be regenerated in

a short period. It takes hundreds of years to regenerate. Time has come now for Retired and in Service Forest

Officers who are technically qualified to raise against the wrong policies of the Governments as far as Forestry is

concerned, through journals, news papers and bring awareness among the public about the importance, and the

roll played by the forest for the survival of mankind, instead of remaining as a silent spectator. If we fail to rise to the

occasion our next generations will not excuse us..

Hyderabad Yours sincerely

Qamar Mohammad Khan

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR


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In 1974 November I took charge of the “Special

Refresher Course” (SRC) under the purview of

Indian Forest Academy. This course was for

brushing up of Asst. Conservator of Forest’s on

promotion from Forest Range Officers, mostly in

new trends in forestry after their training at

Forest Ranger Colleges, some 15-20 years back.

Before the commencement of the new course

in January, I discussed with Mr. DC Pande, Director

of Forest Education that I wished to have a more

flexible touring program, instead of the stereo-

typed tours, as was being done for last five years.

I expected a rejection to my proposal, as it is the

usual trend in forest service to stick to the beaten

track, particularly at the Academy. Mr. Pande was

all game to the suggestion, and so I decided to

tour areas I had not seen as a probationer, or as

the junior in-charge of SRC course, since I joined

the Academy instructional staff in May 1973.

Since Mr. Pande was from UP, I asked if there was

an alternative to Himachal tour, besides Chakrata

in UP. He promptly suggested we see the forests

and erosion control measures, in the outer and

middle Himalayas of Uttar Pradesh (now

Uttaranchal). He said this was one of the most

beautiful and enchanting regions of northern

India, where Nature endowed this land with so

much beauty and spiritual bliss, that it is known

as ‘Dev Bhoomi’, the ‘Land of Gods’ graced by the

LURE OF THE HIMALAYASBy

M. Kamal Naidu

two major rivers Ganga and Yamuna, was a land

in harmony and proportion, and the original

home of the Indian culture, giving it a universally

rich history and well preserved heritage.

Thanks to my northern deputations to Dehra Dun

and Delhi, I was able to make pilgrimages to

many of the most holy sacred places very

unexpectedly. I had been thrice to Badrinath and

Kedarnath, twice to Gangotri and Yamnotri, and

thrice to Vaishno Devi in Jammu. These were

further reinforced, thanks to my present

unexpected assignment, by seven calls to

Kamakhya in Assam, and two to Lord Shiva

(tallest natural Shiva Linga discovered in 2004)

near Ziro in Arunachal Pradesh. Thus I was able

to traverse the holy shrines from the Eastern to

Western Himalayas. I sometimes think, and

vaguely feel that there had been some divine

reasons for these calls to the Himalayas, for I

never dreamt or imagined, nor would have

deliberately undertaken such journeys in my

normal course. Added to the above purification

rites, my knowledge of ‘Karma Yoga’, had been

laid and acknowledged with a ‘First Prize’ by

‘Allahabad Gita Ashram’ for an essay at an ‘Inter-

Universities Competition’ conducted by them

in 1961, for my essay “Karma Yoga---Philosophy

of Action”. This happened after attending lectures

by Swami Chinmayananda on Chapter III of Sri


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Bhagwada Gita, reading Swami Vivekananda and

Tagore on related topic. Now having become

such a very frequent returnee from the land of

‘Rishis’, recollect my visits to the ‘Punyabhoomi’,

added on with interesting episodes I gathered

over my several visits, and having the privilege

of several baths in the innumerable holy hot

springs and rivers of the Himalayas, I think I am

more than sufficiently purified as per the index

of general belief by us mortals; I wonder if I am

adequately qualified to be looked upon as

Swamy Kamalanandaji? May be too tall an order

or imagination for a materialistic being. Probably

I am too repeatedly being drawn to a

materialistic lifestyle, being repeatedly imposed

on me inadvertently, that keeps me away from

attaining the possible destined divine end.

Everything has its time. I look forward plenty of

time to score a century and full pension.

We, in the Forest Academy, normally stick only

to the fringes of Himalayas, like the Siwaliks and

outer Himalayas. So with Mr Pandeji’s help and

guidance, I chalked out a modified tour plan

confined to only UP, sticking partly to traditional

Corbett NP, Haldwani Wood industries, and to

Nainital as a necessity, and deviated there from

on to the divine path traversed by the many

mythological persons in the past, and the many

less divine of the present. Once there, my

intimate enquiries from the locals, and the

folklore intimately associated with different

places visited, made me feel I am blessed at

those moments, until back to the ‘Samsara’.

However, as a Forester, I had seen so many other

places of lesser sacredness, but the visit to the

Himalayas was the most divine for its sheer

majesty and grandeur.

1st day: Starting from Dehra Dun in three good

ambassador taxis driven by sturdy Sardars, the

nine trainees, and I with family departed for

Chilla, in Rajaji National Park via Haridwar.

Enroute we first touched Rishikesh, a celebrated

spiritual town on the bank of Ganga, surrounded

by Shivalik range of the Himalayas on three sides.

It is said that here when Raibhya Rishi did hard

penances, God appeared by the name of

"Hrishikesh ", and so the name. Here Rama,

Lakshmana and Bharata are believed to have

spent a good part of their early days. We saw the

Ram and Lakshman ‘jhulas’, very unnerving

swaying suspension bridges, spanning the

swirling, crystal clear Ganga, where the fish could

be seen clearly. These bridges join the famed

Sivananda Ashram and the Swargashram and

Tryambakeshwar on the either banks. The latter

‘jhula’ is believed to be the spot where

Lakshmana crossed the river with the help of a

rope. Between these two bridges is the Triveni

ghat, immortalized by Bharat mandir. Just 15 km

away, we visited the Neelkant Mahadev temple,

where Lord Shiva as in our mythology, swallowed

the poison being churned by the gods and

demon from the sea, and thus saved the life of

the world from a great disaster. Starting from


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here we made a beginning, delving into the

divine and divinity of the famed ‘Dev Bhoomi’.

From here we moved on towards Haridwar.

A visit to Haridwar is believed to fulfilling one’s

life ambition. The place is shrouded with so many

mythological stories. One remembers the

stories heard as a child, on the lap of

grandmothers of yesteryears. It is believed to be

one of the seven holiest places according to

Hindu mythology, and a major Shaktipeeth of

devotees. According to ancient scriptures it was

called Gangadwar, Mokshadwar and Mayapuri. It

is here the Holy Ganga emerges out from the

mighty womb of the Himalayas, through the

‘Shiva Hills’ called Siwaliks, into the fertile

Gangetic plains. Thus, are the most sacred places

for the Hindus being the ‘doorway to Hari’ or ‘Hari-

dwar’. The whole region beyond it into the

Himalayas is called the ‘Char Dham’ or the start

of pilgrimages to the ‘spiritual source’ of the four

sacred rivers Yamnotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and

Badrinath, which have spectacular locations in

the snowy Himalayas. Here, Lord Vishnu is said

to have left his footprint on a rock called ‘Hari-ki-

pairi’, at the main bathing ‘ghat’, so that every

human being can follow the ‘path to salvation’

after touching this rock. It is also believed that

the Suryavanshi Prince Bhagiratha performed his

penance here to salvage the souls of his

ancestors, who perished due to the curse of Sage

Kapila. In response to his penance, Lord Shiva

sent Ganga gushing out, cascading through his

matted hair locks, which in today’s parlance, we

consider was a good soil conservation measure.

This bountiful holy Ganga water revived the sixty

thousand sons of king Sagara. In the tradition of

Bhagirath, devout Hindus stand in the sacred

waters, and pray for salvation of their departed

elders. It was an opportunity to at least

remember them in great gratitude. We waited

till the evening to attend the ‘aarthi’ worship,

considered very auspicious. We saw the pilgrims

in great devotion and sincerity leave lighted

‘diyas’ floating down into the river by the

hundreds, making the Ganga virtually glitter like

the starry galaxy on a dark night.

Little away from the city is Daksha Mahadev

temple, the spot where Daksha, Sati’s father had

a family sacrifice, to which he refused to invite

Shiva. Sati was enraged at the insult to her

husband Shiva, so immolated herself in protest.

Shiva in great sorrow for His beloved carried her

body around, performing His ‘Cosmic Dance’,

threatening to destroy the world. It was then Lord

Vishnu came to the rescue of the world by

cutting Sati’s body into several pieces with his

disk, and flung them all over the country.

Wherever these pieces of Sati, fell have become

important places of pilgrimage to devotees of

Durga.

After all these visits at Haridwar, we traveled

through the dense forest where the elephants

roamed to reach Chilla late in the evening.


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Day 2: Early next morning leaving Chilla, we

traveled through the dense virgin forest to

Kotdwar, thence via Kalaghar to Dhikala on

Ramganga, the core of Corbett National Park.

Enroute we saw a wide array of animals like the

elephants, chital, wild boar and barking deer in

plenty on the wide flats bisected by a multitude

of tributaries of the Ganga, accompanied by

shimmering carpets of dizzy butterflies in

thousands. At evening the elephant ride at

Corbett gave the trainees an opportunity of

seeing a tiger for the first time. Oh! What thrill it

had sent through them. After the ride, before a

late dinner, we were enlightened by the DFO,

my batch-mate Mr. Ashok Singh, on the park

management, together with spirits for our tired

limbs.

Day 3: Leaving Corbett early in the morning, we

drove through the park hoping to sight the tiger,

via Kalaghar. We saw a lot of ungulates, and came

out at Ramnagar, and drove down to Kaladungi.

This place housed the famed Corbett Museum

with his personal effects, rifles, fishing gear,

letters and books. Here I saluted the soul of the

greatest of all wild lifers, who enlightened the

readers of his books with an excitement and

thrill. He ultimately settled down in Kenya at his

luxurious “Tree Top Machan”, which I saw in

recent years before retiring. It was here that he

had his proudest moment in 1952, when Prince

Phillips and Princess Elizabeth were his honored

guests, when King George V died. He wrote of

the occasion “For the first time in the history of

the world a young girl climbed into a tree one

day a Princess, and climbed down the next day a

Queen”. He died in 1955.

Leaving Kaladungi, we reached Haldwani, with a

large forest complex, training school, etc. This

place is renowned to forester for having the first

large scale mechanized plantations of

eucalyptus and poplars, which I had seen in 1963

as a probationer. It was now a fabulous sight of

regimented greenery from the height of the tall

watch-tower. After a thorough study and

discussions on Forest management with the DFO,

we proceeded to see a few forest-based

industries based on resin, and its several bi-

products, before proceeding to ascend the

mountain slopes to Nainital via Kathgodam,

absorbing the beauty and enormity of the

receding view of the plains.

Day 4: Nainital is famed for the Naina Devi

temple, where as per mythology the eye (in

Sanskrit ‘naina’ means eye) of Sati, wife of Shiva

had fallen when Lord Vishnu flung the several

pieces of her body in different directions. It was

told that the emerald green lake now famous

was the blue-green eye of Sati.

We set of fairly early in the morning to Naina

Peak (8560 ft) studying the changing vegetation

starting with the ‘Himalayan subtropical pine

forests’ below 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) elevation,

seen while reaching Nainital. From here up the

hill we saw the transition to ‘temperate


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broadleaves forest’ to 2600m (8500) along with

deodar, kail and the three species of oaks

depending on aspect and altitude. As we got to

the peak, we saw the ‘Temperate conifers’ of fir,

spruce with rhododendron and the ‘western sub-

alpine Western Himalayan alpine shrub and

meadows’ beyond 2600m (above 8500ft) at the

peak. This was a very vital exposure to the

trainees on the distinct change in the vegetation

and their management by the DFO, which made

a good understanding of the forests beyond to

Bhadrinath and Kedarnath. In the process of the

climb we went past the Governors summer

residence, a relic of past British style structure.

From the top of the peak the view of the wide

spreading Himalayas, the abode of gods, across

the horizon was a spectacular sight of the

majestic chain of peaks, in pure white of the

highest mountains on earth. Nanda Devi (25,650

ft or 7816m) considered as the ‘Goddess of Bliss’

towered above all, as the proud highest peak in

Indian territory. This was flanked by a cavalcade

of sister peaks, stretching to the east and west,

with Trishul (23,360 ft) standing out amongst

them with its cluster of three peaks, named after

‘Shiva’s trident’.

Leaving Nainital after a small boat ride in the

lake, we went to the Kumaon Regimental Center

at Raniket, where in the Regimental Museum

we saw the country’s first ‘Param Vir Chakra’

exhibited, awarded to late Major Somnath

Sharma of this regiment. Thereafter proceeded

and went past Almora (1650 m), a very old town

dating back to over 500 years, famed for the

sacred Nanda Devi temple. We reached Binsar

(7910 ft or 2,310 m) fairly late, and in the darkness

passing through deodar trees, clustered with

fireflies, were like the lighting of Christmas trees.

This gave us the feeling of a child getting lost in

a fairy tale on a Christmas night.

Binsar got its name from the Shiva temple

Bineshwar. Binsar is now declared a National Park

being a very beautiful dense wildlife area with

conifers and expansive broadleaves in the

valleys, and scattered oaks among the conifers

in a greater mix than other areas, with beautiful

succulents blooming in scattered wide

openings. The high light of this place are the

enchanting melodious music starting off the day

from birds which makes the place a bird

watchers paradise. This was a favorite haunt of

late PM Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. The sunrise

seen from the heights here of the snow-clad

mountains was a great mystic experience giving

a brilliant distant view of Gangotri, Kedarnath

and Badrinath, besides the much closer gigantic

Nanda Devi and its associated peaks, the Trisul,

Nand Cot (22,650 ft), Nandaghunti (20,700 ft) and

Panchuli, a conglomerate of five peaks, believed

to have been used as a ‘chulla’ by Bhima for

cooking food, while on the Pandavas trek to

heaven.

Day 5: After feasting our eyes of the beauteous

Himalayan ranges, we left Binsar through never


10

ending stretches of moss covered deodar forests

for Kausani via Jageshwar (1870m) with a huge

ancient temple complex of over 100 temples,

representing almost the entire pantheon of

Hindu deities, some of these dating back to 7th

century AD, set amidst beautiful tall deodar

forests. One gets confused here as to which deity

one should give importance too without

annoying or courting displeasure of another.

Therefore I did not enter the abode of anyone of

the ‘Mukoti devathalu’, but passed through the

place hoping for the best from all of them, and

set foot only on the holy soils at the confluence

of Nandini and Surabhi. In this journey we went

past a number of large and small waterfalls and

cascades hidden in the mountains. Thereafter we

reached back to Almora, where we were

explained the management of forests and the

several soil conservation activities being

undertaken. We then proceeded to Kausani via

Someshwar.

Day 6: At Kausani (1890m) the view from the top

was breath taking, especially it having been a

clear sunny day. The weather generally at

altitudes is unpredictable. The panoramic view

of the mountains filled the entire horizon from

east to west, a grand 350 km kaleidoscopic

landscape etched across the heaven. Looking

down into the valley was the young Gomti. Here

perched atop the ridge at 6200ft into the sky, it

exuded a charm unrivalled by any other place in

Kumaon hills. The view of greater Himalayan

peaks is either soothing or daunting depending

on the way one viewed it. I felt that I could spend

hours admiring the Nanda Devi in complete

silence. It was here in this serene beauteous

surrounding with its healing environs that

Mahatma Gandhi spirited away his rigorous

imprisonment days and wrote his ‘Anasakti Yoga’.

His love for this place has been well preserved

at ‘Anashakti Ashram’ by his devoted disciple

Sarlaben (Katherine Heilemen). There was a

magic in the bracing air of Kausani, it remained

lingering long after the stay here.

The names of places around like Almora, Mohan,

Champawat and Mukteshwar conjured my

memory in this soft silent surrounds of my young

days at Ooty in the Nilgiris, when I first read “Man

Eaters of Kumaon” prescribed as a non-detail in

my middle school at Lovedale. I wondered as to

how Jim Corbett traversed these places with

lesser transport facilities, often all by himself to

get rid of the menace of ‘a tiger’, which was as

good as the needle in a haystack. No wonder he

was revered and worshipped as a god by the

people of the territory, for in every new creature

born in this vast area, every roar of a tiger, and in

every sweet birdsong, his legacy lives on.

Day 7: Leaving Kausani on the way to Gwaldam

(1830m), we passed through Baijnath famous for

its 12th century sikhara style stone temple, with

impressive carvings dedicated to Lord Shiva at

the confluence of Gomti and Sarayu.

Day 8: Gwaldam rest house was a glorious place.

The sight from the verandah made us feel that


11

we were right at the foot of Trishul across the

Pindar river, originating from the Pindari glacier

on the southern rim of Nanda Devi. The gigantic

Trisul and the adjoining Nanda Cot virtually

camouflaged the most majestic Nanda Devi

behind them. It was a almost full moon night,

and these snow covered mountains kept us

stupefied deep into the night, till sleep

overpowered us in their grandeur. The sight is

vividly etched in me even today as an aid to

meditation. Trisul at such closeness was

awesome; I wondered what it would have been,

had Nanda Devi been in its place.

Here at Gwaldam, we were entertained at the

BSF Officers Mess by ‘Ponca’ Joshi, my batch-

mate of Himachal Cadre, on deputation with the

BSF for high altitude training in snowy terrain,

for a very spirited dinner, and a gala time,

recollecting a decade experience in our

respective careers.

Day 9: Leaving Gwaldam a little late in the

morning after having drenched and soaked

ourselves in Trisul’s glorious fascination, we

moved down along the river Pindar to

Karanprayag, at its confluence with Alakananda,

coming down from Badrinath. Here we stayed

put with DFO Mr Harbola, who was the son-in-

law of Mr Bachketi, the founder Director of Delhi

Zoo, finally retired as IGF. Mr. Harbola had been

responsible for organizing the successful trip

from Kausani onwards, through this unexplored

terrain by probationers of IFA. At Karanprayag,

leaving the Kumoan region we got into the main

pilgrimage route from Haridwar to Garhwal

region of Badrinath and Kedarnath.

Day 10: Leaving Karanprayag we set out for

Badrinath, one of the four ancient temples that

mark the spiritual sources of the four sacred

rivers of Hinduism. These four temples are

referred to as the “Char Dhams”, and have

spectacular locations, visited by thousands of

pilgrims every year during the ‘yatra’ season. The

routes to these places are well organized and

connected by roads, transport, ponies,

accommodation, etc. One cannot feel lost or

inadequate during the season; starting from mid

March to early October, unlike the less

frequented route, we just traversed from Almora

to Karanprayag.

We passed through Chamoli, Gopeshwar along

the difficult, rugged and steep route besides the

Alakananda, and halted for the night at Joshimath

(1845m), called as the gateway to Badrinath. This

place is perched high above the confluence of

Saraswati, flowing down from far beyond

Badrinath, and the Dhauliganga arising at the

Milam glacier on the north western rim of Nanda

Devi, to become the holy Alakananda. This ‘Math’

was established by Shankaracharya in the 8th

century and has a very brightly painted Narsingh

temple, dedicated to Lord Vishnu in his lion form,

besides the temples of (nine) ‘Nav Durga’.

Here the DFO enlightened us on the snow

erosion, and the impact of glaciers, and gave an


12

insight to “Valley of flowers” and the vegetation

in general. He explained the highest elevations

are covered by ice and bare rock, and below

them, between 3,000 and 5,000 meters (9,800

and 16,000 ft) occurred ‘Montane grassland

meadows and shrub-lands’ where many high

altitude animals occurred like snow leopard,

Himalayan bear, ibex, etc.

Day 11: Leaving Joshimath, while enroute to

Badrinath, we diverted at Govind Ghat to the

famed “Valley of Flowers” nestled in the valley

framed by the high snowy ranges peaking at

Kamet peak (7756m) and Mana peak (7272m)

on either side. As we neared the valley, we

experienced the beauty of the shining peaks

fully covered with snow, and the beautiful view

of the immediate surrounding greenery, and

several streams with crystal clear water. This

valley is renowned for its meadows of endemic

alpine flowers, and outstanding natural beauty.

The gentle landscape of the Valley

complemented the rugged mountain

wilderness of Nanda Devi. The park stretched

over an expanse of 87.50 sq kms.

We visited the valley little before the season, in

May, when the flowering had already begun,

though spectacular, but not yet literally a

‘paradise on earth’. It was just getting to be

carpeted with an astonishing variety of wild

flowers, with splashes of color taking on various

shades, as it bloomed with hundreds of different

beautiful flowers. The valley is home to many

celebrated flowers like the Brahmakamal, Blue

Poppy and Cobra Lily, besides others, mostly

orchids, poppies, primulas, calendulas, daisies

and anemones. Alpine forests of birch and

rhododendron covered parts of the park area.

The local graziers believed that the valley was

inhabited by fairies. This valley was made a

National Park in 1982, and now declared a World

Heritage Site, and forms a part of Nanda Devi

Biosphere Reserve. We were told to come again

in July-August, when it would be spectacularly

beautiful. We were told that this is the place

where Hanuman searched for ‘Sanjivani’ to cure

Lakshman, when he was injured by Indrajit

(Meghnada), son of Ravana. I wished there was a

nice temple, or a huge statue of Hanuman,

carrying the mountain, to commemorate his

legendary visit.

After this breathtaking feast to the eyes, while

getting back to Govind Ghat, we took a detour

to the high altitude lake Hem Kund at 4329m,

where the Sikh Guru Gobind Singh is believed

to have meditated. Our Sardar drivers were

overwhelmed, and gave us a treat at their

expense, for having got the opportunity of

visiting the place for their first time. At Govind

Ghat, we once again joined the convoy of

vehicles to travel the remaining 44 km stretch

to Badrinath, along a very narrow and steep

single road, often on top gear to cross the several

causeways in snow bound valleys. We reached

Badrinath at 3,415 metres (11,204 feet), about


13

300 km north of Rishikesh at late evening, and

set about exploring and gathering details of the

place. The weather was salubrious; we never did

feel tired at any point of time in the entire

journey. Truly as the verse goes “Mountain air is

sweet, pleasant cold or heat”.

The town was situated between the Nar and

Narayana mountain ranges, which went of to

flank the stupendous, awesome Nilkantha peak

(6,560m). We gathered that Bhagavata Purana (in

verse 3.4.22) states "There in Badrik-ashram of

Vishnu, in his incarnation as the sages Nara and

Narayana, who underwent great penance since

time immemorial for the welfare of all living

entities" and the Padma Purana mentioned the

area around abounds in spiritual treasures,

particularly with Vishnu in His dual form of Nara-

Narayana. The Pandavas are said to have passed

through Badrinath on their way to ‘Swarga’

(heaven). There was a cave nearby in Mana,

where the great scholar sage Vyasa, was said to

have written the Mahabharata. However, the

name of the place is of a very simple origin having

been derived from ‘Badri’ (the Sanskrit name for

the Indian Jujube tree), an edible berry, which

was said to have grown here once in abundance.

However another legend we were told was that

goddess Ganga, when she descended to earth to

help the suffering humanity, descended with

great fury. The earth was unable to withstand the

force of her descent. She therefore split into

twelve holy channels, Alaknanda being one of

them, sacred to Lord Vishnu.

According to the local legend, Shankaracharya

discovered a black stone image of Lord

Badrinarayan, made of ‘Saligram’ stone in the

Alakananda River. He enshrined it in a cave near

the hot spring Tapt Kund, on river Saraswati,

arising from the Manas pass, at the Tibetan

border, in the 8th century. This ‘saligram’ stone

was shifted to its present site by a Garhwal king

in 16th century and made a temple to enshrine

it. The temple underwent several major

renovations because of age and damages by

avalanches. In 17th century, the temple was

expanded considerably by the latter kings of

Garhwal. It was again badly damaged in the great

1803 Himalayan earthquake; when it was rebuilt

by the King of Jaipur. This present temple is

approximately 50 ft tall, having a small cupola

on top, and covered with a gold plated roof. The

temple has a broad stairway leading to a tall

arched gateway, which is the main entrance. The

architecture in general resembles a Buddhist

‘vihara’ (temple), and brightly painted as in

typical Buddhist temples. The walls and pillars

of the ‘mandapa’ are covered with intricate

carvings.

Day 12: Early next morning I g ot up at 4.00AM

for we were told one could see the glory of the

Neelkanth (6558m). It was very dark all around. I

went to the rear window of my room, Wow! What

a spectacular sight I saw, it was awesome.

Neelkanth stood out in the midst of darkness as


14

a massive golden peak. It was all commanding

and captivating. The morning rays of sunrise from

some unseen distance lit it up, and I was wonder

struck. It was sheer Divine; I for a moment was

mesmerized at sighting the Divine. I stood at the

window watching for more than forty minutes,

till when the surrounding brightened; during the

time it gradually turned from golden red to

golden, and finally to shimmering silver, merging

away with the surrounding snowy mountains.

This is a sight to be experienced; it cannot be

described, for as the adage goes “Beauty lies in

the eyes of the beholder”.

After dawn we went down to the bathing place,

where the natural steaming hot springs was

channelized to joins into the Saraswati, to

moderate its temperature for an exhilarating

bath. After bath, we followed the queue entering

the temple, and had a nice ‘darshan’. Frankly

speaking, I did not get that divine feeling one

should get after all that we are impressed upon.

I felt the Lord had deserted the temple, and

resided atop the Neelkanth I saw in the early

hours of the morning. Yes, He was there

spreading all His radiance.

We left after breakfast, buying myself a memento

of Shri Hanuman carrying the mountain made of

brass, which I had wished was set-up at the

‘Valley of Flowers’. The memento still adorns my

study room, taking my mind of frequently to

Badrinath. We visited the few places around,

about which we gathered information, before

getting into the convoy going down to

Joshimath.

Day 13: Leaving Joshimath very early, we came

down to Chamoli, and had a sumptuous lunch of

hot ‘puries’ and ‘subji’ followed by hot tea. This

was, for we were advised, this shorter route we

proposed to take, was very isolated and rugged,

though had a very rich beautiful pristine deodar

and related forest, with great chances of seeing

a tiger. We took this deviation for Kedarnath at

Gopeshwar, via Anasya Devi, through a much

curving, rising and dropping gradient route, but

missing the tiger, reached Ukhimath, on the

Mandakini river, coming down from Kedarnath.

After cooling the car engines, and refueling

ourselves with hot ‘chay’, proceeded on towards

Gaurikund. Here we left our vehicles, and

proceeded on the 14km trekking to Kedarnath

on foot, while porters carried our limited

baggage.

The route from Gaurikund was littered with tea

stalls selling snacks, so we could trek up easily

and leisurely, though we kept a pony as a standby.

As we approached Kedarnath, we could sight it

from a distance, but actually it was far, with

having to traverse a lot of ups and downs, not

visible to the eyes. As a result we always felt so

near, but it was yet long way off, until the last lap,

when we heaved a sigh of relief. We reached

Kedarnath temple, a very scenic spot, situated

against the backdrop of the majestic Kedarnath

peak (6970m) in the background, and so also our


15

place of stay. Here we got to know that Mandakini

actually originated at a place yet another 12km

up the mountain ranges of Kedarnath. However

it was only on ascending this mountain slope to

the temple, we could absorb the beauty and

enormity of the view around. Kedar is another

name of Lord Shiva, the protector and the

destroyer. The Kedarnath shrine is reputed as one

of the ‘Twelve Jyotirlingas’ of Lord Shiva. This

temple we were told opens on ‘Akshaya Tritiya’

(April end or first week of May) and closes on

‘Bhai Duj’ (October end or 1st week of November)

due to heavy snowfall, and extreme cold weather

during winter.

We heard another legend about Kedarnath as

being named in honor of King Kedar, who was

said to have ruled in the ‘Satya Yuga’ period. He

had a daughter named Vrinda, who was a partial

incarnation of Goddess Lakshmi. She was said to

have performed austerities for 60,000 years. The

land around was named Vrindavan in honor of

her.

Day 14: This temple is however revered as the

source of Mandakini, and is dedicated to Lord

Shiva, and is located at the highest elevation of

the ‘Char Dhams’ at 3548m. Here we realized

that the temple was on a protruded dome

shaped hillock, which was said to be the hump

of a bullock, for Lord Shiva had taken the form of

a bullock at this place, and tried to hide away

into the ground to escape from the Pandavas on

their passage to heaven. The legend behind the

hiding was, since the Pandavas after having won

over the Kaurava in the Kurukshetra war, felt

guilty of having killed their own brothers, and so

sought the blessings of Lord Shiva for

redemption. Therefore Pandavas are supposed

to have ultimately pleased Lord Shiva by doing

penance here in Vrindavan. This reminded me of

a similar hide away act by Lord Shiva at Srisailam,

when Sri Rama was searching for his consort Sita

Devi. Probably here also it must have been the

clever advice of Sage Narada to Him, for keeping

out of controversies of destiny. It was in the

process of hiding the hump was left behind. The

remaining portions of Lord Shiva are seen at four

other places, and are worshipped there as his

manifestations. The ‘arms’ appeared at Tungnath,

the ‘face’ at Rudranath, the ‘belly’ at

Madhmaheshwar, and his ‘locks (hair) with head’

at Kalpeshwar. Thus Kedarnath and the four

above-mentioned shrines are treated as ‘Panch

Kedar’.

The temple here was built by Sankaracharya in

the 8th century, after having traversed the entire

country starting from Kerala to Kashmir, and he

was ultimately buried here behind this shrine.

Here the holy water of ‘Udak Kund’, about which

is written in ‘Kedar Khand’ of Shiv Mahapurana as


16

a mixture of all the five Oceans. It is said this

water remains fresh even when kept for many

years, and is used for purification rituals. After a

bath in this water of Mandakini, we had the

‘darshan’ at the temple, once again enjoyed the

superb surrounding scenery, admiring the

massive Kedarnath peak, and made our descent

down to Gaurikund.

On reaching Gaurikund, which was fairly easy

going and fast, we drove along the winding road

along the river Mandakini via Ukhimath to the

confluence with the turbulent Alakananda

coming down from Joshimath. Here I stopped

for several moments, recollecting about the

‘Man-eating leopard of Rudraprayag’ by Jim

Corbett, again read by me in childhood after

being fascinated by ‘Man-eating tigers of

Kumaon’. I recollected the towers at the gate to

the suspension bridge, where Jim Corbett spent

several sleepless nights waiting for the elusive

leopard, moving in the terrain on either side of

the bridge, and its ultimate tame ending. We

moved on via Srinagar on the winding path along

the precipitous Alakananda, and thence reached

Deoprayag, where it met the Bhagirathi coming

down from Gangotri through Uttarkashi, to

become the holy Ganga. Seeing the turbulent

Bhagirathi, and the legend for its descent from

Mt. Kailash, roused my passion to follow it to the

source; but it had to be for another occasion. We

reached back late in the evening at the FRH in

Rishikesh, after the long circuitous route. This

FRH was located high on the hill-top

overlooking the town, the surrounding regions,

and the Ganga down below, roaring and fuming,

in its pristine purity.

Day 15: After getting up leisurely, followed by

breakfast at the FRH, we made our way back to

Dehra Dun via good old Lachiwala, the training

ground of Foresters.

Reminiscing the trip at the FRH, my mind went

wandering to the ridge after ridge of untouched

pristine vegetation, crevices in the mountains

with gushing waters, birds chirping on tree tops,

and the trees themselves towering over the

trails and roads, all provided a refreshing time

spent in the mountains. The enormity of the

mountains and the insignificance of the visitors,

both in stature and time span, was a contrast

that awed me.

We were back at 4.00pm after hectic 15 days

through heat and cold, rough and smooth, from

plains through rugged mountain roads, amidst

forests, barren hills and snow, being fully satisfied

at seeing something new, different from the

routine. My colleagues were highly envious, for

we did the tour royally in ambassador cars, unlike

IFA staff and students do so by buses, often

rickety.


17

From Gandhinagar, the capital city of Gujrat, we

(my wife and I) went by road, about 425 km, to

Sasan Gir, the headquarters of Gir National Park

& Sanctuary. The road passed through Rajkot and

Junagadh. With the courtesy of the Forest

Department, we stayed in an Air Conditioned

room at Sasan Gir. In the evening there was a

film show on the wild life in Gir National Park

&Sanctuary. During this time of the year (third

week of January) the days were little warm,

comforting breeze in the evening and cool night.

We had a very comfortable sleep.

Next day morning an open jeep took us inside

the sanctuary. The driver and the Forester

accompanying us were very experienced

persons with sharp eyes to detect the

movement of wildlife inside the forests. They had

good knowledge about the area. There were

number of different tracks to move in the

sanctuary. Wildlife trackers, employed by the

department, go to the sanctuary very early in the

morning to track the movement of Lions and

other wildlife. They provide direction to the

drivers, going with the visitors, of possible

locations for sighting the Lions. Our jeep was

moving deep in to the forests and the driver was

getting signal from the trackers about the

movement of Lions. While passing through the

VISIT TO GIR NATIONAL PARKBy

S.D.Mukherji

forests we came across number of Peacocks and

Spotted deer. After about thirty minutes of

driving jeep was stopped where two trackers

were waiting. The driver, Forester and the

trackers moved inside the forest and warned us

not to climb down from the jeep. After

sometime the Forester and the driver came

back and took the jeep little more inside and

stopped. They showed us the direction where a

lioness was sitting and her two cubs were

playing a little distance away. Seeing the

movement of trackers and others the lioness

moved close to her cubs. We were assured by

the staff that there is no danger as we were afraid

to see the lioness with cubs at such a close

quarter. We watched the family of three for some

time and I tried to take pictures on my mobile.

The lioness and the cubs were unconcerned of

our presence. They remained in their own style

without caring for the onlookers. It was a thrilling

experience to be remembered.

We then moved to another location where a

buffalo had died, may be due to old age. A Lion

had visited the dead buffalo and moved inside

the forests a little while before we reached the

spot. There were crows hovering around the

dead animal that might have disturbed the Lion.

The driver moved the jeep on a curvature with


18

the expectation that the Lion would move out

of forest and cross the road. We waited for a while

but the Lion was not seen. We were told it had

moved on the other side away from the road. We

were told that for the present there is no

information about sighting the tigers at this hour.

It was passed 10 AM. We started our backward

journey.

On our way back we came to a settlement,

Dudhara Ness, inside the sanctuary where four

families of Maldharis, akin to Gujjars of north

India, were residing. They have been living here

for generations and form integral part of the Gir

eco system. However, with the increasing

population of wild animals and cattle population

accompanied with improvement of forest cover

and spread of weeds, like Lantana and Cassia tora,

the fodder has become scarce to meet the

demand of wild fauna and cattle. This was

adversely affecting both the wild life and the

cattle. Forest department successfully

rehabilitated 254 Maldhari families from 1970

to 1990 by providing them land and other

facilities outside the sanctuary. The remaining

54 families are also keen to move out of sanctuary

provided suitable rehabilitation package is

provided, as done earlier. Presently each

Maldhari family lives in a sprawling house site of

about 0.5 acres with rooms for the family

members and shelter for the cattle. On an

average each family keeps about 40 animals,

mostly buffalos. Selling milk is the major source

of their income. They also sell the cow dung.

During our presence a milkman came in his van

and collected 125 liters of milk. He measured

the fat content that was 8.5 and entered it in a

booklet provided to each family. The rate was Rs

3.60 per unit of fat per liter and payments were

generally made on weekly basis. The milk is

collected again in the evening. Maldharis were

complaining about the scarcity of fodder making

cattle raring difficult and uneconomical.

Unemployment among the young generation

is another matter of concern. However, I was

pleasantly surprised to see a teacher taking 7

kids from the four families residing in Dudhara

Ness to near by school building. The school is

being run under the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan of the

Government of India. The teacher was also from

the Maldharis. Although the people from old

generation are mostly illiterate the young

generation is becoming literate, mostly they end

studies by the 10th class.

We returned to the guest house by about 11AM

and left again to see the Lion at 3.30 PM. It seems

the trackers had located a Lion taking rest. The

jeep covered about 25 km to reach the spot.

Already number of private vehicles were there

with tourists, both Indian and foreigner. One by

one each vehicle was allowed to go near the

spot, keeping a safe distance from the Lion that

was taking rest. We were last to move close to

the Lion. The jeep was kept at safe distance and

from where we were able to see the Lion clearly.


19

It was lying on its back, eyes closed with right

leg resting on the ground and the left leg was

lifted in the air. While we were watching the Lion

it moved its left leg and for once it glanced at us

giving an opportunity to see the full face. It

resumed its posture without bothering for the

onlookers. We watched the fully grown Lion for

some time as it continued resting with no sign

to move. We were told the Lion would get up

only after the sun sets and then move through

out the night. It prays only when hungry.

Generally, the Lions eat once in three or four days

and not daily like human being. There are about

43000 spotted deer and 411 Lion in Gir Forests

(census 2010).

After a satisfactory sighting of the Lion we

proceeded to another spot about 3 km away

where a Lioness was resting. Before we reached

near her it got up and started moving. We were

advised to wait on the road. Soon we saw the

Lioness coming out on the road in front of us. It

slowly crossed the road and moved inside the

forest. It again appeared on the road, on the back

side of our jeep. The Lioness then started walking

on the road with measured strides of a cat-walk.

It roared and moved. The driver turned the jeep

and followed the big cat slowly. We continued to

follow her for some more time and watched its

slow movement till it disappeared into the

forests. It was a wonderful sighting and we

enjoyed every moment watching the majestic

animal moving freely in the wild. Dusk was

approaching and with the fading light it was time

to go out of the Sanctuary.

On our way back we spotted a male and fully

grown male Sambhar. It had antler only on the

left side. It might have lost the other antler in

fighting. We also saw a family of wild Boars

crossing the road. The dusk was nearing. The

western sky was looking red as the sun was

approaching the horizon. The birds were

returning to their home and there chirping was

resounding that filled the forests. Soon the sun

was set and we returned to the guest house with

full satisfaction.

I am thankful to the Gujrat Forest Department,

and especially to Sri Pradip Khanna, IFS, PCCF

Gujrat, for providing this opportunity. The

ambience at Sasan Gir was very beautiful with

good facilities for stay, including facilities for

meals. I convey my special thanks to Dr. Sandeep

Kumar IFS, DCF Sasan Gir and his staff for making

my visit a memorable one.

As Gold is tested in four ways by rubbing, cutting, heating andbeating-so a man should be tested by these four things; his

renunciation, his conduct, his qualities, and his actions. (Chanakya)


20

In the earlier article titled “Forests in Crisis”

published in March 2011 issue of Vana Premi, an

attempt has been made to argue that there were

no justifiable reasons for Government of India to

place reliance on the facts incorporated in the

“Statement of Objects and Reasons’ in support

of the Forest Rights Bill presented to the

Parliament in December 2005 and that the

reasons given are least convincing. It otherwise

means that the legislation i.e. Forest Rights Act

materialized on the basis of untenable grounds.

We have dealt to some extent the circumstances

that compelled the Government in power to go

for the legislation and there are some other

reasons which need mention in this context.

Unless the entire story is known and understood

in its right perceptive, it will remain an unsolved

puzzle.

The view held by the Ministry of Environment &

Forests, GOI, as could be seen from their letter

No. 13-1/90/-FP (1) dated 18th September 1990

addressed to the Secretaries in charge of Forest

Departments of various States, was that

“Encroachments of forest land for cultivation and

other purposes continues to be the most

pernicious practice endangering the forest

resources throughout the country. Statistical

"FORESTS IN CRISIS” – II

THREATS TO CONTEND WITHBy

J V Sharma

information compiled by the then Ministry of

Agriculture during early eighties revealed that

nearly 7 lakh hectares of forest land was under

encroachment in the country about a decade

back. This is despite of the fact that prior to 1980

, a number of States had regularized such

encroachments periodically and approximately

43 lakh hectares of forest land was diverted for

various purposes between 1951 and 1980, and

more than half of it for agriculture. The decisions

of the State Governments to regularize

encroachments from time to time seem to have

acted as strong an inducement for further

encroachments in forest areas and the problem

remained as elusive as ever for want of an

effective and concerted drive against this evil

practice. ”

What is more significant is that the GOI made it

abundantly clear in this very document that “In

no case encroachments, which have taken place

after 24.10.1980, should be regularized.

Immediate action should be taken to evict the

encroachers.”

It needs to be remembered that “Forests” was a

subject included in the State List of Seventh

Schedule of the Constitution of India. The


21

damage caused to the forests while they were

under exclusive State Control was highlighted

by the GOI in the letter referred above. Contents

of the said letter were an indictment of the

management of forests by States and an

expression of displeasure over the way the forest

wealth was abused.

In fact the GOI was aware of the mismanagement

of forests in States much earlier. But no tangible

action could be initiated to stem the rot as the

issue was totally in States’ domain. Imposition of

Emergency in 1975 provided great opportunity

to environmentalists and nature lovers to

highlight the importance of forests and the issue

caught the imagination of the Central

Government and it was accepted as one of the

priority items for development. The Prime

Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi and her son Sanjay

Gandhi were ardent believers in conservation

of forests. Despite bitter political differences and

divergent opinions on several vital issues during

and after the Emergency, the importance of

forests was never a bone of contention between

the feuding politicians. There was some healthy

and constructive debate over the forests &

environment identifying the grey areas and legal

inadequacies which paved the way for ‘corrective

actions’ resulting in 42nd Amendment to the

Constitution. The following were the most

momentous and notable developments of the

Emergency Period as far as forests are

concerned:

1. Article 48-A reading “The State shall

Endeavour to protect and improve the

environment and to safeguard the forests

and wildlife of the country” was added in the

Constitution by 42nd Amendment w.e.f.

03.01.1977.

2. Part IV-A of Fundamental Duties as Article

51-A containing clauses (a) to (f ) was

inserted in Constitution by 42nd

Amendment w.e.f. 03.01.1977. Art. 51 (g)

reading “It shall be the duty of every citizen

of India to protect and improve the

environment including the forests, lakes,

rivers and wildlife, and to have compassion

for living creatures.” is particularly

important.

3. Insertion of 17-A Forests and 17-B

Protection of wild animals and birds as

subjects in Concurrent List of Seventh

Schedule under Art. 246 of the Constitution

by 42nd Amendment w.e.f. 03.01.1977.

It is of significance that all the three events

occurred during Emergency Rule. Though Ms.

Indira Gandhi lost power in General Elections

that immediately followed Emergency and

some of the legislative provisions brought in by

her were reversed during Janata Party Rule, the

changes in policy in respect of forests made by

her remained undisturbed. It is a tribute to her

capacity to appreciate of ground situation and


22

the courage & sagacity to do what she believed

in. She stands fully vindicated on this score. But,

having lost power, she could not take her agenda

of enacting a Forest Law and enabling legislation

to fruition.

In a way, the period Ms. Indira Gandhi was out of

power, made her more pragmatic. Forced leisure

permitted her to see and understand the Nature

better. She felt there is the need to ensure

accountability and transparency in dealing with

forests. No sooner she was back in power, she

brought in the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980.

The Statement of Objects and Reasons

accompanying the Bill introduced in Parliament

are self speaking; “Deforestation, which causes

ecological imbalance and leads to

environmental deterioration, had been taking

place on a large scale in the country and it had

caused wide-spread concern.” “With a view to

checking further deforestation, the President

promulgated on 25th October, 1980, the Forest

(Conservation) Ordinance, 1980. The Ordinance

made the prior approval of the Central

Government necessary for de-reservation of

reserved forests and for use of forest land for non-

forest purposes. The Ordinance also provided for

the constitution of an advisory committee to

advise the Central Government with regard to

grant of such approval.” The Bill was passed by

both the houses of Parliament, received the

assent of the President and came on the Statute

Book as Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980.

It can be seen that the Government of the day

was convinced that deforestation was taking

place on large scale and that it was expedient to

bring in Forest Conservation Act to check further

damage. At the same time, being a shrewd

politician, she was also conscious of the fact that

developmental needs had also to be addressed.

A delicate balance had to be struck and she

succeeded in making it a regulatory legislation

rather than a prohibitory law. It is a very simple

law wherein approval of Central Government

was mandatory whenever forest land was

diverted for non-forestry use. A mechanism for

compliance was also put in place. In other words,

forest land will be available for genuine

purposes. The Act however made it difficult to

get forest land for unjustifiable causes.

Unrest in Punjab followed by her assassination

pushed the forest agenda to background. Her

son Rajiv Gandhi, despite unprecedented

mandate in his favor, did not have the steely

determination or commitment his mother had.

His priorities were to prepare the nation for 21st

century and the forests did not figure high on his

agenda. People, who hoped that the draft

comprehensive Forest Act gathering dust in

some obscure corner of Paryavaran Bhavan

would see the light of the day, were sorely

disappointed. However, it was during his tenure


23

as Prime Minister, the National Forest Policy,

1988 was unveiled in place of earlier 1952 Policy.

Post-Rajiv Gandhi period did not witness

anything that can be considered good for forests.

Thus the forests received good attention only

between 1976 and 1984.

Forest Conservation Act had effectively curtailed

the unfettered liberty of States to misuse the

forests. With phenomenal increase in

population, the pressure on forest land increased

and the government lands outside forests were

already (mis)used up. Attention then turned to

forest land but the States could not dole out the

forest land on account of Conservation Act. At

the same time, the States were not prepared to

deal with encroachments firmly for reasons of

electoral gains. A sort of unwritten

understanding materialized between the States

and Centre according to which people could be

encouraged to resort to large scale

encroachments and Forest Departments could

register cases but were not permitted to evict

the encroachers treating it as human problem.

Persons at helm after Indira Gandhi did not have

the awareness or knowledge or temperament

or courage to deal with the situation firmly. Lack

of political will and pathological incompetence

of the ruling elite to curb the illegal trends, ably

supported by pliant bureaucracy and timid

forest set-up have virtually thrown the forests

open for pillage and occupation. All this

happened in the face of clear policy enunciation

“Encroachment on forest lands has been on the

increase. This trend has to be arrested and

effective action taken to prevent its continuance.

There should be no regularization of existing

encroachments” (Para 4.8.1. of National Forest

Policy, 1988). It will not be incorrect to say that

the Governments at Centre and States have

wantonly allowed the illegal occupation of

forest lands for electoral benefits in utter

disregard to the prevalent laws. There may be

some black sheep in the ranks of the Forest

Department who went soft over the issue to

please their political masters, but there is ample

evidence on record to show that the Department

was effectively prevented from discharging their

legitimate duty by the Governments in power.

Once it was clear that no punitive action and

evictions were forthcoming, the fig leaf of fear

for law dropped and illegal encroachments in

forests became common and widespread.

An encroachment in forest is an offence under

Forest Law. Whenever an encroachment takes

place, self-appointed lobbies of the offenders

try to paint it as a rightful act by poor tribals and

it is their land. What needs to be understood in

this context is that all the forest area is not a

tribal area (schedule area) and all the

encroachers are not tribals. Any action taken

against the offenders is painted as an “excess”

against the tribals.


24

Coming back to the story of encroachments and

the clandestine support extended by the State,

the malady snowballed into an uncontrollable

situation and the Government could not afford

to continue the uncertainty over illegal

occupations indefinitely. The encroachers are

bonafide citizens of India. The politicians need

their votes and a quid pro quo had to emerge.

Having created the Frankenstein, it had become

necessary for the polity acquiesce to its demands.

As the National Forest Commission under Justice

B N Kirpal lamented, the trees have no votes. It is

to regularize these encroachments the

Government brought in the Forest Rights Act.

Traditionally identified factors which harm the

forests are human, grazing and fires. The damage

perpetrated by the man is so colossal; the other

factors pale into insignificance. Besides

encroachments, the man is responsible for the

damage to forests in several ways which defy

imagination. Smuggling, poaching, mining, saw

mills, wood based industries, defective

management practices injurious to forests are

some of the visible causes.

“Ignorance is bliss” said some wise man in the

past. So long as one is unaware of the quantum

of damage, it does not mean much to him. If one

wantonly contributes for manifestation of

environmental hazards, it is no less than a crime.

The State stands accountable in this regard. The

State is duty bound to protect and improve

environment and forests under Art. 48-A of the

Constitution and similarly, the citizen is duty

bound, under Art. 51 (g),to protect and improve

the forests and environment. These two

provisions, read together, convey an

unmistakable message that the forest land

which is an essential component of environment

can neither be given by Government nor taken

by a citizen. The Forest Rights Act, therefore, does

not measure up to the test of Constitutional

validity.

The Central Empowered Committee (CEC),

appointed by the Supreme Court of India, had in

its report as far back as 2002 itself, identified the

following 14 reasons for continuing

encroachments on forest land and extremely

slow pace of their removals:

(i) Lack of political will

(ii) Victimization of officials

(iii) Expectation of regularizations

(iv) Totally inadequate punishments

(v) Inadequate provisions of law

(vi) No punishment for abettors

(vii) Poor boundary demarcations

(viii) Mutation in revenue records

(ix) No compensation for environmental

losses

(x) Diversion of staff for miscellaneous

activities

(xi) Law and order problem linked with

encroachment removal


25

(xii) Immunity under Section 197 of Cr. P C.

(xiii) Misuse of the SC/ST Atrocities Act

(xiv) No administrative control over notified,

deemed forest

There is yet another reason which the CEC did

not mention and it is ‘political interference’. In

fact political interference in day to day

administration is by far the most important factor

for degeneration of values in public life. Political

interference in events like evictions is only

common. Gone are the days when the

Department chose its personnel on the criterion

of suitability. Decisive action as per stipulated

procedures cannot be expected from persons

hand-picked for posting by politicians in their

areas. Thus the Department is in a kind of

paralysis unable to do what it should do.

According to the CEC report, the environmental

value of one hectare of fully stocked forest of 1.0

density is Rs. 126.74 lakhs over a period of 50

years as per the assessments made by the

Ministry of Environment & Forests. An extent of

14.44 lakh acres of forest land is lost so far in

Andhra Pradesh due to implementation of Forest

Rights Act. The environmental loss sustained at

the average density of 0.5 works out to a mind

boggling figure of Rs. 3,66,000 crores.

The Apex Court has said a lot already on

environment. Evidently all that had fallen on deaf

ears. Or else, we wouldn’t see the abuse of nature

as it is now happening. The lead for a change for

better has to come from the Government. But

that does not seem possible given its

insensitivity to environmental issues. I find it

appropriate to quote the first few sentences of

an Order dated 30.10.2001 of the Supreme Court

of India in I.A. No. 670 of 2001in Writ Petition (C)

No. 202 of 1995:

By destroying nature, environment, man is

committing matricide, having in a way killed

Mother Earth. Technological excellence, growth

of industries economical gains have led to

depletion of natural resources irreversibly.

Indifference to the grave consequences, lack of

concern and foresight has contributed in large

measures to the alarming position.”

That the Government ignored this caution for

almost a decade now does not inspire any

confidence for future. Let us have at least the

‘mother sentiment’ if not any other.

That knowledge is different from that derived fromtestimony or through inference, because it relates to

particulars of objects. (Yoga Sutra)


26

While I was working as Forest Range officer

Flying Squad Party, Rapur in Nellore District

during 1975, this incident took place. It was again

the operation ‘Secret Service’ contemplated by

Mr. K. Rajasekhara Reddy and operated by myself

on the stage and Mr. Ch. Syamasundaram from

behind the curtain.

On an evening while I was at Tirupati, Mr.

Syamasundaram came to me along with a driver

of an Ambassador car owned by a retired Sub-

Inspector of Police and informed me that some

Redsanders wood smugglers belonging to a

village Dodlamitta near Renigunta have

approached the driver for transport of

Redsanders wood to Madras and that the driver,

who is an informant set up by Mr.

Syamasundaram, came away saying that he

would obtain permission from his owner for the

same, came to Mr. Syamasundaram and

informed him about the fact. So both of them

came to me to discuss about it and plan the

further course of action. It was an established

fact that even if this driver refuses to take up the

transport, they would approach somebody else,

pushes through their activity and we will not

know about their further movements.

In view of the above, I and Mr. Syam decided to

grab the opportunity and try to take control of

DRAG IN TO THE NETBy

V.SANTHASELA BABU

the situation in a manner that is advantageous

to the Department. We planned in detail and

asked the driver to agree for the transaction

and follow them to the scene of storage of the

Redsanders wood. After seeing the location and

the material, he was advised to project a

technical snag in the car and tell them that the

car can not take the load due to the breakdown.

He was advised to convince them that he would

bring another car from Tirupati and take up the

transport. We also warned him that under no

circumstances he should load the material in

his car but bring back the persons along with

him and on their return, we will intercept his

vehicle and catch them and while interrogation

he should reveal about the place of loading and

take us to the place and show the material.

The driver agreed for the same and left the

place. The approximate place of location of the

produce, as mentioned by the persons who

approached the driver, was informed to us by

him.

Then we went to my D.F.O Mr. B.Venkata Narayan

and informed him about the facts. The D.F.O was

annoyed as there was a risk of forcibly loading

the material in to the vehicle by the smugglers

as the driver would be alone. Once the material

is loaded and if the vehicle is caught by us how


27

can we leave the vehicle and justify the booking

of the case without the vehicle? He said that we

will be giving room for leveling of unnecessary

allegations if something went wrong. He said

that he would come along with us and supervise

the raid so that he can tell anybody that

everything was organized in his presence. That

was the bold attitude of our Officers in those days

in protecting and guiding their staff.

As planned, myself, our D.F.O and Mr.

Shyamasundaram along with the staff

proceeded to our predestined point at about 10

PM to intercept the vehicle and lay in wait by

ambushing ourselves, for the arrival of the

vehicle. At about 11 PM we noticed the car

entering in to the kutcha road nearby. We were

attentive and waiting for the car to return.

Around 12 midnight we noticed the car

returning on to the main road and as soon as it

came nearer to us we blocked the road and

stopped it. As soon as the car was stopped, we

took care to see that none of the inmates of the

car could get down and run away. There were

two persons other than the driver and no

material was found loaded in the car. On

interrogation the other two persons were not

coming out with the truth and they were saying

that they went to a nearby village to see their

ailing relative. I pretended as if I was beating the

driver while interrogating him and the driver

started weeping and asked me not to beat him

and that he would divulge the facts. He said that

on the instance of the other two persons, he went

to load the Redsanders wood in his car and as his

car developed a technical snag, he was unable

to load the material in his car and that they were

returning to fetch another car for transporting

the Redsanders wood.

When asked to show us the place of storage of

Redsanders wood, he readily agreed to do so.

Then I sat in the car and the D.F.O and others

followed in the Jeep and we reached the place

of storage of Redsanders wood. It was covered

under sand and we fetched some crowbars and

spades from the nearby village and unearthed

the same.

Altogether there were 53 Redsanders logs

weighing about 2 Tones. We sent word for

Panchayathdars and conducted Panchanama

and took the measurements and weights of the

logs and booked an Offence case with the 2

accused. After returning to Tirupati, the owner

of the car came to us frightened to know about

the plight of his car. I told him that his car was

engaged by us on hire to organize the raid and

there was no necessity for him to get worried.

The D.F.O congratulated me and Mr. Shhyam for

the efforts put forth by us in booking the case.

But we were highly thankful to our D.F.O for the

support and moral courage he gave us.


28

he accused were arrested and they were

produced in the Court and were remanded to

judicial custody. After a week or so one of the

accused arrested came out on bail and met me

secretly and said that he would pass on the

information regarding the smuggling of

Redsanders wood in his village and also in the

surrounding villages and asked me to help him

in the case. I told him that I will not help him in

the case but pay him some money depending

upon the information passed on by him as an

informant reward. He agreed for the same and

left. Subsequently as long as the case was under

trial he was a source of valuable information to

me who passed on precise information’s in

successful booking of many Redsanders cases.

Finally after conclusion of the proceedings of the

case in the Court, he was sentenced to undergo

an imprisonment for one year along with his

accomplice and I lost touch with him after he

went to Jail to undergo his term of

imprisonment. Thus we dragged the smugglers

in to our ‘Net’ through ‘Secret Service’ and saw

that they were punished according to Law.

INVITATTION The Association of Retired Forest Officers, Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad Congratulates the following

Forest Officers, who are retiring from service on attaining the age of superannuation on the dates

mentioned against their names and cordially invites them to join the Association of Retired Forest

Officers to keep in touch with their old colleagues and to keep themselves occupied.

For further details they may contact the following –

Sri. K. Santokh Singh, Secretary Mobile Number…. 9848808101

Sri. P. Upender Reddy, Jt.Secretary Mobile Number….9848754778

Name of SFS Officer Date of Retirement

Sardar IqbalSingh 30-04-2011

K.Rajendra Prasad 3004-2011

B.Gandhi Reddy 30-04-2011 Secretary

Name of the IFS officer Date of retirement

Sri C. Sammi Reddy 30-04-2011

Whenever you are in doubt or when the self becomes too much with you,apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest

man who you may have seen, and ask yourself, if the step you complete isgoing to be of any use to him…..than you will find your doubt and

yourself melt away. (M.K.Gandhi)


29


30

Late Sri A. Kondal Rao was a conscientious

forester who rose to the rank of Range Officer by

dint of his hard work and sincerity. In 1990, he

was working as Range Officer, Bijjur Range,

Kaghaznagar division in Adilabad district / circle.

He was very sensitive and caring for forest

protection wherever he worked.

On February 24, 1990, he along with his Clerk

and field staff visited the division headquarters

Kaghaznagar and, sitting in a department

building, was working on preparing some data

for making a report to the division office. In the

meantime two intruders with guns entered the

room where the Range Officer was working and

fired at him at point blank range. It was found

that the intruders were no other than naxalites

as revealed by their shouting in telugu, “ Idi

Elkapally Debba” – meaning this is the price the

Range Officer is paying for his work at Elkapally

village.

On coming to know of the ghastly incident, the

D.F.O. rushed to the scene of crime and swiftly

shifted the victim to the ESI Hospital, hardly at a

ROLL OF HONOUR

distance of about 200 meters away. But alas,

Kondal Rao passed away in a short time.

The naxalites have been threatening Kondal Rao

for some time stating that he would be

‘punished’ for his harshness with the public. He

did not care for the threats and went on carrying

his normal functions.

A few days before Kondal Rao was shot to death,

there was an offence of encroachment in

reserved forest at Elkapally village. Kondal Rao,

as a call of duty, booked a case and prosecuted

the offenders. In retaliation, the extremists killed

him mercilessly.

Kondal Rao was a disciplined officer, kind and

cordial to his subordinates and courteous to his

superiors.

He lost his life for a simple reason for performing

his duty and reached martyrdom. In the death of

Kondal Rao, the department has lost a sincere

and disciplined officer.

May his noble soul rest in peace!

K.B.R.

Sri A. Kondal Rao, F.R.O.

When you meet someone not as good as you are, look withinand examine your own self.(Confucius)


31

In the year 1986 United Nation Environment

Program (UNEP) established the Intergovern-

mental panel on Climate Change (I.P.C.C.) as an

organ of the United Nations. The role of the

I.P.C.C. “is to assess on a comprehensive,

objective, open and transparent basis the latest

scientific, technical and socio-economic

literature produced worldwide relevant to the

understanding of The Risk of human induced

climatic change is observed and projected

impacts and options for adaptation and

mitigation”. The I.P.C.C. has prepared four

Assessment Reports (AR) the first being in the

year 1990 followed by second report in 1996,

third in 2001 and the Fourth (AR 4) in the year

2007. The reports of I.P.C.C. are marred by

controversy and so frequently contradicted by

subsequent research. Its preconceived agenda

to find evidence of a human role in Climate

Change is a major reason.

When new errors, and outright falsehoods, were

observed in AR4 of I.P.C.C. Nongovernmental

International panel on Climate Change (N.I.P.C.C.)

consisting of large group of international scholars

started working on it to produce independent

evaluation. The N.I.P.C.C. examined the same

original data examined by I.P.C.C. of United

CLIMATE CHANGE RECONSIDERED[In the month of January 2011 Forum for Good Governance conducted a talk on Climate

Change. There was some interesting discussion on the subject. The gist of discussions, leavingtechnical matters is reproduced here for the information of Vanapremi readers]

M. Padmanabha Reddy

Nations and reached to different conclusions.

(For details see www.sepp.org, www.co2

science.org and www.heartland.org) . About

31,748 American Scientists of whom 9029

individuals with Ph.Ds have submitted a petition

to U.S. government. They said “There is no

convincing scientific evidence that human

release of Carbon dioxide, Methane or other

Green house gases (reduction in forest cover) is

causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause

catastrophic heating of the earth’s atmosphere

and disruption of the earth’s climate. Moreover,

there is substantial scientific evidence that

increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide produce

many beneficial effects upon the natural plants

and animal environments of the Earth”.

While the AR4 of I.P.C.C. of United Nations is an

impressive document, it is far from being a

reliable work on some of the most important

aspects of climate change science and policy.

Most of the observed increase in global average

temperatures since the mid 20th century is very

likely due to the observed increase in

anthropogenic green house gas (G.H.G)

concentration. The I.P.C.C., does not apply

generally accepted methodologies to

determine what fraction of current warming is


32

natural or how much is caused by the raise in

G.H.G. The I.P.C.C. continues to under value the

overwhelming evidence that on decade and

century long time scale, the sun and associated

atmospheric cloud effects are responsible for

much of past climate changes. It is therefore

highly likely that the sun is also a major cause of

20th century warming, with anthropogenic

G.H.G making only a minor contribution. These

errors and omissions are documented in the

report of Nongovernmental International panel

on Climate Change. In brief the key findings are:

The I.P.C.C. places great confidence in

the ability of general circulation models to

stimulate future climate and attribute observed

climate changes to anthropogenic emissions of

G.H.G.

The N.I.P.C.C. feels that today the state-of-the-

art Climate models fails to accurately assess

cloud formations and cloud-radiation

interactions, resulting in large differences

between model prediction and observations.

Computer models have failed to stimulate even

the sign of observed precipitation anomalies,

such as monsoons over the Indian region. Yet it

is understood that precipitation plays a major

role in climate change.

The I.P.C.C. claim to find evidence in

temperature records that the warming of the

20th century was “unprecedented” and more

rapid than during any previous period in the past

1300 years.

The N.I.P.C.C. feels that a corrected temperature

record shows temperatures around the world

were warmer during the medieval warm periods

of approximately 1000 years ago than they are

today.

Highly accurate satellite data show a much more

modest warming trend in the last two decades

of the 20th century and a dramatic decline in

the warming trend in the first decade of the 21st

century.

The mean rate of global sea level rise has not

accelerated over the recent past. The

determinants of sea level are poorly understood

due to considerable uncertainty associated with

a number of basic parameters that are related

to the water balance of the world’s oceans and

evidence show that much of the reported

thinning of Arctic sea ice that occurred in the

1990s was a natural consequence of change in

ice dynamics caused by an atmospheric regime

shift totally irrespective of past or future changes

in the air’s co2 content.

The cumulative discharge of world’s rivers remained

statistically unchanged between 1950 and 2000. A

finding that contradicts computer forecasts that a

warmer world would cause large changes in global

stream flow characteristics. Droughts and floods

have been found to be less frequent and severe

during the current warm period than during past

periods when temperatures were even higher than

they are today.


33

The I.P.C.C. predicts that a warmer planet

will lead to more extreme weather characterized

by more frequent and severe episodes of

droughts, flooding, cyclones, precipitation

variability, and wild fires. But has the last century

– during which the I.P.C.C. claims the world

experienced more rapid warming than any time

in the past two millennia – experienced

significant trends in any of these extreme

weather events? The N.I.P.C.C. claims that

droughts have not become more extreme or

erratic in response to Global Warming. Real –

world evidence from Africa, Asia and other

continents find no trend towards more frequent

or more severe droughts. Again, floods were

more frequent and more severe during the little

ice Age than they have been during the current

warm period.

A 300 ppm increase in the air’s Co2 content

typically raises the productivity of herbaceous

plants by about one – third. For woody plants

the response is even greater. The amount of

carbon plants gain per unit of water use

efficiency raises as the Co2 content in the air

raises, greatly increasing their ability to

withstand drought. As the air’s Co2 content

continues to raise, plants will likely exhibit

enhanced rates of photosynthesis and biomass

production that will not be diminished by global

warming that might occur concurrently. Elevated

Co2 reduces and overrides the negative effects

of ozone pollution on plant photosynthesis,

growth and yield.

The I.P.C.C. claims “new evidence

suggests that Climate - driven extinctions and

range retractions are already widespread and the

projected impact on biodiversity are significant

and of key relevance, since global losses in

biodiversity are irreversible.

The N.I.P.C.C. claims that the world’s species have

proven to be remarkably resilient to Climate

Change. Most wild species are at least one

million years old, which means they have all been

through hundreds of Climatic cycles involving

temperature changes on par with or greater than

those experienced in the 20th Century. The four

known causes of extinction are huge asteroids

striking the planet, human hunting, human

agriculture and the introduction of alien species.

None of these causes are connected with either

global temperature or atmospheric Co2

concentrations.

The I.P.C.C. alleges that “Climate Change

currently contributes to the global burden of

disease and premature deaths” and will increase

malnutrition and consequent disorders.

The N.I.P.C.C. feels that the over whelming

weight of evidence shows that higher

temperatures and raising of Co2 levels have

played an indispensable role in making it

possible to feed a growing global population

without encroaching on natural eco system.


34

Global warming reduces the incidence of

cardiovascular disease related to low

temperatures. Mortality due to respiratory

diseases decreases, as temperature raise.

Polar bears have survived changes in climate

that exceeds those occurred during the 20th

century or are forecast by the I.P.C.C. computer

models. Further most populations of polar bears

are growing, not shrinking and the biggest

influence on polar bear populations is not

temperature but hunting by humans which

historically has taken a large toll of polar bear

populations.

The historical increase of the air’s Co2 content

has probably helped lengthen human life spans

since the advent of Industrial Revolution and its

continued upward trend will likely provide

more of the same benefit.

To conclude it is hoped that the study by

Nongovernmental International panel on

Climate Change will throw some light on the

debate over Climate Change.

The local bar was so sure that its bartender was the strongest man around that they had a

standing Rs 10,000 bet. The bartender would squeeze a lemon until all the juice ran into a glass,

and hand the lemon to a patron. Anyone who could squeeze one more drop of juice out would

win the money.

Many people had tried over time but nobody could do it. One day, a scrawny little man came in,

wearing thick glasses.

"I'd like to try the bet," he said in a tiny, squeaky voice. After the laughter had died down, the

bartender grabbed a lemon, and squeezed away. He handed the wrinkled remains of the rind to

the little man. But the crowd's laughter turned to total silence as the man clenched his fist

around the lemon and six drops fell into the glass.

As the crowd cheered, the bartender paid Rs 10,000 and asked the little man what he did for a

living. Was he a lumberjack, or a weightlifter, or what?

"I work for the Income Tax department."

(Contributed by Sri K. Buchi Ram Reddy, with thanks)

LAUGHTER THE BEST MEDICINE


35

At the outset Sri K.Santokh Singh, Secretary of

the Association, welcomed the Members &

Ladies to the 59th General Body meeting. The

President, Vice President, Jt. Secretary and Editor,

Vana Premi were requested to occupy their seats

on dias. The Secretary also welcomed Sri Ch.Iyliah

& Sri.M.Purushotham Reddy, newly joined

members, to the meeting and introduced them

to the members. The agenda was then placed

before the President with a request to preside

over the function.

1). Shraddhanjali: The members stood in

silence for two minutes to pay homage to the

departed souls of Sri P.Kista Reddy, Sri Hussain

Khan, Mrs.S.Appa Rao, who expired recently, and

also to the victims of earth quake in Japan.

2). Action taken Report of the Secretary: The

Secretary presented the action taken report on

the deliberations of 58th GBM held on19 /12/

2010 and 70th ECM held on 13/02/2011. After

due deliberations, the following decisions were

taken-.

A).Welfare Fund - The General Body

appreciated the efforts of the Executive

Committee in collecting an amount of

Rs.1,25000/-with in a short period of about (6)

months and unanimously agreed to the proposal

of involving working officers in achieving the

goal.

Sri Sultan Mohiuddin, who spearheaded this

programme, also appreciated the progress and

promised to hasten up his efforts to contribute

MINUTES OF 59TH GENERAL BODY MEETING HELDon 13-03-2011 at KBR Park, Jubili Hills, Hyderabad

the money promised by him with in next Three

months. Sri S.K.Das once again made a suggestion

to study and present cases of deserving persons

so as to adopt them for help.

B).The General Body welcomed the decision

of approaching all the Corporations headed by

the forest officers in getting advertisements for

VANA PREMI.

C). The General Body agreed to the proposal

of the Joint Secretary cum Treasurer to open a

second bank account in INDIAN OVERSEAS BANK

Vijay Nagar Colony.

D). C.G.H.S : Sri T.Narayana Swamy made a

detailed talk on Central Government Health

Scheme and cleared the doubts expressed by

the members. The President requested the

speaker to prepare brief note on all the points

explained by him and get it published in VANA

PREMI for the benefit of the members.

3. Vote of Thanks- Sri P.Upender Reddy,

Jt.Secretary cum Treasurer proposed vote of

thanks to ladies and members who attended the

meeting braving the hot Sun. Thanks were

extended to the Wild Life Division staff for

providing meeting hall and also for making

necessary arrengements. On behalf of all the

members, sincere thanks were extended to Sri

S.D.Mukherji and Sri K.MuraliKrishna Rao, who

hosted LUNCH to the members. Sri Ch. Iyliah, Sri

V.Ranga Rao and Sri A.V.Govindarajulu agreed to

be the HOSTS for the next General Body meeting

Secretary


36


37

We wish the following born on the dates mentioned

“ A very Happy Birth Day”

Birth Day Greetings

S.No. Name of the member D.O.B.

Sarva Sri

1. Munawar Hussain 09-04-1924

2. A.Ramakrishna 10-04-1923

3. V.Subbaraghaviah 10-04-1935

4. S.Krishnaiah 15-04-1952

5. S.Veerabhadram 17-04-1950

6. N.Manohar Rao 01-05-1942

7. G.Prabhakar Reddy 02-05-1952

8. P.Kanakaratnam 05-05-1949

9. G.Satyanarayana 05-05-1950

S.No. Name of the I.F.S. Oficer D.O.B.

Sarva Sri

1. B.Shafiullah 13-03-01976

1. Smt.Shanthi Priya Pandey 08-04-1972

2. Rakesh Mohan Dobriyal 10-04-1965

3. J.V.K.T.Prabhakar Rao 15-04-1953

4. B.N.N.Murthy 19-04-1979

5. S.V.Kumar 21-04-1953

6. K.N.Benerji 26-04-1954

7. Md.Jalaluddin Akbar 26-04-1962

8. R.U.Kashappa 01-05-1958

9. C.Sammi Reddy 01-05-1951

10. Kallol Biswas 04-05-1964

11. P.Mallikarjuna Rao 04-05-1958

S.No. Name of the S.F.S. Oficer D.O.B.

Sarva Sri

1. G.Kista Goud 08-04-1974

2. Sardar Iqbql Singh 09-04-1953

3. Y.Rajendra 11-04-1955

4. K.Rajendra Prasad 14-04-1953

5. P.Ramakrishna 15-04-1956

6. L.Bheemaiah 17-04-1964

7. K.Rajasekhara Rao 20-04-1968

8. A.Parthasarathy 22-04-1956

9. B.Vijaya Kumar 24-04-1968

10. B.Gandhi Reddy 30-04-1953

11. D.Basava Sankar Rao 01-05-1954

12. P.Srinivasa Rao 01-05-1954

13. P.Venkateshwarlu 01-05-1962

14. B.Nagaraju 01-05-1963

15. M.Joji 04-05-1967

S.K


38

1. Tiger man Fateh Singh passes away: - India’s

best known tiger conservationist Fateh Singh

Rathore who became synonymous with Project

Tiger died of cancer at his home in Sawai

Madhapur in Rajasthan on 1-3-2011, Tuesday.

Rathore was 72. A former Field Director of

Ranthambore National Park. Rathore’s lung

cancer had spread to his ribs and the end came

around 10-45 am. Rathore made his last public

appearance in Jaipur in February when he

received World Wildlife Fund’s Life Time

Achievement Award. (Source: Times of India with

thanks. Readers who know Sri Fateh Singh

Rathore are requested to send articles for

publication )

2.Plastic Waste (Management and Handling)

Rules, 2011:-The Ministry of Environment and

Forests has notified the Plastic Waste

(Management and Handling) Rules, 2011 to

replace the earlier Recycled Plastics

Manufacture and Usage Rules, 1999 (amended

in 2003). These Rules have been brought out

following detailed discussions and consultations

with a wide spectrum of stakeholders including

civil society, industry bodies, relevant Central

Government Ministries and State Governments.

Releasing the Rules the Minister for

Environment and Forests, Mr. Jairam Ramesh said

“It is impractical and undesirable to impose a

blanket ban on the use of plastic all over the

NEWS AND NOTES

country. The real challenge is to improve

municipal solid waste management systems. In

addition to the privatization and mechanisation

of the municipal solid waste management

systems must be sensitive to the needs and

concerns of the lakhs of people involved in the

informal sector”.

Source: Ministry of Environment and Forests

3. A mahatma announces fast unto death: -

Anna Hazare has given an ultimatum to the Prime

Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to enact stringent

anti-corruption law – the peoples “Jan Lokpal

Bill”! Jail to the corrupt must happen! We have

been betrayed by those that are leading us!

Anna’s appeal to the people:

• Join me in fasting for one, two, three or

whatever number of days you can

comfortably fast.

• Along with fast, please pray to God

(whoever you believe in) for better and

corruption free India. Collective prayers

from all the people of India would

definitely have a huge impact.

• Write an impassioned plea to our Prime

Minister that we look upon him to pass “Jan

Lokpal Bill”, else we will be compelled not

to vote for his party in next elections.

• Remain calm and peaceful and develop the

courage to go to jail, if required, in this next

freedom movement.


39

4. Plastic for laying of all weather Roads: -

After the city's rain-fed potholes, the transition

to smooth roads within the campus of the

Thiagarajar College of Engineering (TCE) is more

than a treat. The man behind the tar-topped

tracks, is known as Madurai's ‘Plastic Road Man'.

Always sporting a striking namam on his

forehead, he is as much at ease when he

experiments with chemicals in the science lab,

holding beakers over flames as under a peepul

tree when he talks with a bunch of students at

lunch break, teaching them shlokas from the

Bhagavad Gita.

He could easily be mistaken for a Sanskrit pundit

if you heard him quote the holy text as a solution

to any problem in the world. Mesmerized

students remain tuned in to his discourse. Ever

since he joined TCE in 1975, he has carried the

Gita as a manual for leading life and voluntarily

conducted classes uninterrupted for 36 years.

But Dr. R. Vasudevan, Dean and Head of the

Chemistry Department, is better known as a man

with a mission, and. “Clean India” is his campaign.

The low -profile professor says, “I want to change

the general garbage culture of the people.”

After a decade's hard work and persistent efforts,

his simple invention of a technology to use --

plastic waste to lay roads, patented by TCE, finally

got a shot in the arm last month with the Centre

approving its wider application.

The day we met Dr. Vasudevan, the skies burst

open. Yet, students assembled in his office room

for the ‘Gita classes. And it turned out to be a

lucky hour. The professor, at his table cluttered

with samples of bitumen blocks, was waving a

special gazette notification of the Ministry of

Environment & Forests dated 4th February, 2011,

directing all municipal authorities across the

country to “encourage use of plastic waste by

adopting suitable technology such as in road

construction...”

Dr. Vasudevan was elated. “This is the first

response of its kind to waste management.,”

It was in 2002 that Dr. Vasudevan laid the first

plastic tar road within the TCE campus. It remains

intact. His interest in the subject began when

he heard a doctor on a TV programme mistakenly

saying that plastic “dissolved” in water bodies

and caused pollution. “It set me thinking … after

all, plastic's raw material is petroleum only. I

immediately came to my lab and started mixing

some waste plastic in heated bitumen (tar).” And

there and then was born a new idea.

When then President Dr. A.P.J. Kalam visited TCE

in 2001, the professor presented his project on

the good bonding and binding factor of plastic

and its potential use as a coating over pebbles

for laying roads. He recalls with a gentle smile,

“He told me, one day your test will become the

convention. Don't worry if people don't approve

or get convinced. You just do your work at your


40

place. As a sample, lay a plastic road within your

campus first. Once the results are there to see,

people will come automatically.”

Though plastic waste has been a nagging

problem for civic authorities, with thousands of

tones of garbage generated every day, it took

years of discussion for Dr. Vasudevan to be

acknowledged by organizations like the Central

Pollution Control Board, National Rural Roads

Development Agency, Central Road Research

Institute, Indian Centre for Plastic Environment

and the National Highways Authority of India. In

every forum, he painstakingly explained and

demonstrated the benefits of road laying using

a polymer-aggregate-bitumen mix.

Even as his technology was being debated in the

government, Dr. Vasudevan started receiving

offers from private companies both within and

outside the country to sell the patent. “But I think

it my duty to serve my country first and therefore,

I gave it free to the Indian Government.” What

he laments is the slow progress, “the plastic

binding with bitumen is an ideal option for roads

that bear the brunt of torrential rains.” Also, he

underlines, if citizens treat their waste properly

by segregating and collecting the plastic, the

country will soon be free of plastic litter and

boast safer and better roads.

is department is now evolving a cold process

technology as well. The Department of Science

and Technology has sanctioned a ‘green

chemistry' project at TCE for producing a 'cold

emulsion' to coat the aggregate instead of using

hot bitumen. Such a process would be highly

useful in laying roads in cold regions. Widener

University, Philadelphia, has already shown

interest in the cold process.

With a low- cost technology that finds a ready

solution for plastic waste management,

Dr.Vasudevan's invention undoubtedly offers a

lesson for all municipal corporations. “It serves

the twin purpose of increasing quality of roads

and also solves the problem of plastic disposal.

The vision should be to eventually replace all

existing roads and lay every new road with this

technology,” says the professor.

The benefits

* Low cost (using less bitumen)

* Simple technology

* Spot use of waste plastic

* Water proof roads that last up to 60 years

* Doubling of road strength

* Higher load- carrying capacity

* Almost zero maintenance

* A new surface without rutting, cracking or

potholes.

What it takes

To lay one km of plastic road 3.75 m wide, 9 tones

of bitumen and 1 tone of waste plastic are

required for coating.

A normal road requires 10 tones bitumen for

each kilometer. So plastic road saves 1 tone


41

bitumen for every kilometer laid. Each tones of

bitumen costs Rs. 50,000 to 60,000.

One tone of plastic waste is equivalent to 10 lakh

carry bags.

Chocolate and biscuit wrappers, tea cups,

polythene bags or any other form of waste

plastic, can simply be shredded and used.

Different types of plastics collected need not be

segregated.

To make enough plastic available, people need

to sell their domestic plastic wastes instead of

throwing them into the dust-bin.

Nearly 4,000 self-help groups and hundreds of

schools in Tamil Nadu are now involved in

collecting and shredding waste plastic.

The patented process

The gravel is heated at 170 degrees C and

shredded plastic sprayed over the hot stone

aggregate. The plastic instantly melts and coats

the gravel without releasing toxic gases into the

atmosphere. Immediately, bitumen heated at

160 degree C is mixed at 155 degrees C and used

for laying the road. Molten plastic with liquid tar

has proven to be more resistant to water

permeation, heat and high pressure than the

normal mixture of stone aggregate and bitumen,

without the plastic.

Plastic roads laid : With the TCE's patented

technology under Dr. Vasudevan's guidance:

*The first ever plastic road (60 feet long) was laid

inside the TCE campus in 2002, followed by a

700 m road in Lenin Nagar, Kovilpatti, and the

same year.

*Officially, the industrial town of Salem was the

first in the country to lay a 350 m road on an

experimental basis using plastic tar technology

in 2004.

*In Tamil Nadu, the District Rural Development

Agency laid 1,200 km of plastic roads in 29

districts across the state under the TN Urban

Local Bodies Road Development Project 2005.

*A km. of road towards Vilacheri from near

Mannar Thirumalai Naicker College Madurai in

March 2005.

* Sri Sundareswara Vidyasala Matriculation

Higher Secondary School at Attukulam village

near Melur, Madurai, has a road entirely laid with

plastic waste collected by the students.

*Several plastic roads were laid in Wellington,

Chennai, Puducherry, Hindupur (Andhra

Pradesh), Kolkata, Goa, Mumbai, Shimla,

Thiruvananthapuram, Vadakara, Calicut,

Kothamangalam and Kochi) in the last few years.

Plans are afoot to lay demonstration roads in

Hyderabad; Mumbai Municipal Corporation now

proposes to lay longer stretches of tar-polymer

roads across Mumbai. The Jamshedpur Utilities

and Services Company, a Tata enterprise,

approached Dr. Vasudevan last November for

using plastic waste in laying roads in

Jamshedpur. (Please see the photograph of

Dr. Vasudevan on the last cover page)


42

5.The World’s biggest family: -The man with

39 wives, 94 children and 33 grandchildren Ziona

Chana lives with all of them in a 100-room

mansion His wives take it in turns to share his

bed It takes 30 whole chickens just to make

dinner He is head of the world's biggest family -

and says he is 'blessed' to have his 39 wives. Ziona

Chana also has 94 children, 14-daughters-in-law

and 33 grandchildren. They live in a 100-room,

four storey house set amidst the hills of Baktwang

village in Mizoram, where the wives sleep in

giant communal dormitories. (Please see the last

cover page for Photo)

6. Supermoon on March 19, 2011 : - Super

moon is a full or new moon that coincides with a

close approach by the Moon to the Earth. The

Moon's distance varies each month between

approximately 354,000 km and 410,000 km.

On Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. EST (i.e. 00:30

hrs on Sunday March 20, 2011 IST), the moon will

arrive at its closest point to the Earth in 2011: a

distance of 356,575 kilometers (221,565 miles)

away. And only 50 minutes earlier, the moon will

officially be full. The moon has not been in a

position to appear this large since March 1993.

At its peak, the super moon of March may appear

14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than

lesser full moons (when the moon is at its farthest

from Earth), weather permitting. Yet to the casual

observer, it may be hard to tell the difference.

Speculations of a link between the occurrence

of super moons and natural disasters such as

earthquakes and tsunami are extremely tenuous.

Arguments have been made that natural

disasters coinciding with years in which super

moons occurred were influenced by the Moon's

increased gravitational strength, though

because of the monthly alternation between

lunar apogee and perigee such an argument

cannot be supported unless the disaster in

question falls on the actual date of the super

moon.

It has been argued that the Indian Ocean

tsunami and earthquake on December 26, 2004,

was influenced by a super moon which occurred

2 weeks later on January 10, 2005. Most recently,

astrologers argued that the Tohoku earthquake

and tsunami that hit Japan on March 11, 2011,

was influenced by the March 19 super moon,

the closest super moon since 1992.While some

studies have reported a weak correlation

between shallow, very low intensity earthquakes

and lunar activity, there is no empirical evidence

of any correlation with major earthquakes.


43

We have a tradition of inviting a person of

eminence in his field for a guest lecture at every

General Body Meeting. As the Association could

not have a guest at this G.B.M. on 13-03-2011, I have

taken the permission of the President of the

Association and utilized the free time available to

share certain information with the members on

the problems of C.G.H.S and other important

matters. I engaged the members for almost an hour

and quarter. No sooner I completed my talk, the

President of the Association told me that what all I

said was very useful to the members and asked

me to give a gist of my speech to the Editor for

publication in Vana Premi .I talked on the following

topics :

1. XII SFRC ALUMNI MEET 2011 : The meet will

be held at Mysore (Karnataka State) from 25-11-

2011 to 28-11-2011.

2. EXECUTION OF WILL ON PROPERTIES :

There will be many a problem if a person owning

properties dies without executing a will. . It is

advisable to execute a will on stamp paper (not

necessary to get it registered) for all the movable

and Immovable properties. For inherited

properties, all the children (sons and daughters)

have an equal right where as for self acquired

properties it is his own discretion. He may or may

not give a share in the property to his sons or

daughters. A copy of the proforma of the will is

appended ( Courtesy AGOPA). In case of any

difficulty please consult a lawyer.

CENTRAL GOVERNMENT HEALTH SCHEME By

T.Narayan Swamy

5. TOURS & TRAVELS : It is proposed to organize

a visit to DUBAI. Every year Dubai shopping festival

is held from 20th January to 20th February. The

package cost during non festival season for 3

nights and 4 days is about Rs.30,000/-. The package

cost during festival for 4 nights and 5 days is also

about Rs.30,000/-. During festival season there will

be heavy discount on purchases made particularly

on Electronic goods. The package includes Air fares,

Lodging in 3 or 4 star Hotels, Breakfast, and visits

excluding the entry fee for Burj Khalifa which is the

tallest building in the world having 200 floors. The

entry fee for Burj Khalifa is Rs.1,800/- per head. The

visits include city tour, Abu dhabi, Sharjah, Dubai

beach, cruising, desert safari etc. Members

intending to join the tour may contact me in the

last week of November 2011.

6. PLASTIC BOTTLES DEADLY FOR BRAIN :

Chemicals in Plastic containers can cause

Alzheimers, Schizophrenia which damage Brain

functions such as learning and remembering,

depression etc. A copy of article is appended.

(Courtesy: AGOPA ).

7. SECRETARIAT ENTRY PASS : The Association of

All India Pensioners Association is arranging

permanent plastic card passes to its members for

entry in to Secrtariat. Members of A.I.S.P.A. who

have not obtained passes may contact the

Association Office ( Vasavi Complex near Dwarka

Hotel ) with two stamp size photographs , Date of

Birth and specimen signature on the card .


44

8. FUNERAL EXPENSES/ OBSEQUIES:

Funeral expenses equivalent to last drawn pension

(including DR) are payable on the demise of All India

Services pensioners as well as State Govt.

Pensioners as per G.O.Ms. No. 566, General

Administration ( BSx ) Dept. dated 28-1-1993. The

dependents of the deceased pensioners residing

and drawing pension in Hyderabad District have

to apply to the District Magistrate & Collector

Hyderabad and those residing out side Hyderabad

District have to apply to the concerned District

Collector along with (1) Death certificate issued by

the Municipality and (2) Last drawn Pension

certificate from the concerned Asst.Pension

Payment Officer or the District Treasury Office, as

the case may be.

9. CENTRAL GOVERNMENT HEALTH SCHEME:

1. The Government of India is contemplating

winding up of the CGHS and provide healthcare

under medical insurance because of some

operational problems and financial constraints. The

All India Pensioner Federations and other

Pensioners Associations are strongly opposing the

move and want the CGHS to continue. The

pensioner community is happy with the scheme

as the beneficiary is entitled to avail the facility

without cash payment.

2. The CGHS beneficiaries are facing a lot of

inconvenience in availing CGHS facility from the

recognised hospitals for the last few years. The

Corporate hospitals are demanding upward

revision of package rates fixed in the year 2002 and

also for payment of pending bill amounts.

3. The Government of India finally revised the

package rates in the year 2007 and surprisingly

these revised rates were lower than the rates in

vogue. As such the indifferent attitude of the

private hospitals continues.

4. The Government of India closed the three 24

hour dispensaries existing at Malakpet,

Himayathnagar & Begumpet in the year 2008

attributing it as a policy matter. The powers of

Chief Medical Officers were also withdrawn in

referring the patients to recognised hospitals and

the patients driven to Osmania, Gandhi & NIMS

for consultations.

5. At this stage the All India Services Pensioners

Association of Andhra Pradesh took up the

matter with Director CGHS New Delhi and

requested him to sort out the problems.

6. Finally Mr. Vineeth Choudhary IAS Joint

Secretary, Government of India, visited Hyderabad

and held a meeting at K S Bhavan Begumpet on

09/04/2010. In the meeting, the President of All

India Services Pensioners Association Mr. Gopala

Krishna explained the difficulties faced by the

CGHS beneficiaries. He has also requested to allot

in each dispensary separate slot for consultations.

The Joint Secretary was convinced and promised

to look into the matter.

7. On the advise of Joint Secretary Government

of India, the Additional Director CGHS Hyderabad

issued a circular dated 04/05/2010 and directed

the Chief Medical Officers :

1. To issue medicines for three months in

chronic cases,

2. No substitute medicine to be issued if


45

chemical formula is different,

3. Once a specialist recommends any tests, the

choice rests with the beneficiaries to select a

diagnostic centre.

4. For NIMS no referral permission from

dispensary is required. The beneficiary may

directly go to NIMS with CGHS card for

consultation.

8. On the representation of All India Services

Pensioners Association Hyderabad, the Director

CGHS directed the Additional Director CGHS

Begumpet to appoint one of the members of AISPA

as a member of advisory committee to each of the

dispensaries at Hyderabad. Accordingly, on the

suggestion of AISPA, the Additional Director

appointed the following members of IFS to the

advisory committees.

Sri T. Narayan Swamy – Himayath Nagar Dispensary V

Sri Krishna Bhoopal Ra - Humayun Nagar

Dispensary

Sri Ch. Iyaliah - Tarnaka Dispensary XIII

9. The Additional Director CGHS New Delhi by

a circular dated 21/10/2010 issued instructions that

all OP counters in respect of Dispensaries should

remain open from 07.30am to 11.00am for the

services of CGHS beneficiaries belonging to

department and the counters should remain open

from 11.00am to 01.30pm for the services of Senior

Citizens. However the Senior Citizens may also

attend the dispensaries from 07.30am to 11.00am ,

but the circular instructions are not being followed.

When enquired, it was replied that they are unable

to implement the orders due to shortage of

doctors.

10. The Government of India revised the 2007

package rates on 12/08/2009 and catagorised the

hospitals into (i). Super Speciality Hospitals (ii)

Hospitals that were accredited with NABH (National

Accredition Board for Hospitals) (iii) Hospital not

accredited with NABH and directed the hospitals

to sign MOU before 25/09/2010. As none of the

Hospitals entered MOU within the stipulated time,

the date was extended up to 29/10/2010. The

following few hospitals entered into MOU.

a)SVR Super Speciality Hospital – General incl. Jt.

Replacement Ameerpet, Hyderabad.

b) Apollo Hospital, - Super Speciality Hospital

Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad.

c) Medwin Hospital - Super Speciality Hospital

Chirag ali lane, Hyderabad.

d) Medwin Eye Care Centre - Eye Care Hospital

Humayun Nagar, Hyderabad

e) FMS Dental Hospital - Dental Care Hospital

Koti, Hyderabad

Note: I met the Administrative Officer CGHS

Begumpet, Hyderabad on 12/03/2011 to know the

latest positon. He informed that the following

hospitals have also entered MOU which are in the

process of approval by the Director CGHS New Delhi

a) Care Hospital Nampally b) Care Hospital

Banajara c) Yashoda Hospital d) S u n s h i n e

Hospital

11. When only five hospitals entered MOU, the

Additional Director CGHS took up the matter with

Director New Delhi for sorting out the problems.

The Director issued orders stating that the

hospitals eligible for enrolment under CGHS

Hyderabad be allowed to treat the CGHS

beneficiaries with old package rates.


46

12. Efforts to convince the recognised

hospitals did not yield any better results. The

hospitals including NIMS repeatedly pointed out

that their pending bills to the tune of Rs. 22 crores

are not cleared by CGHS.

13. The AISPA took up the matter with NIMS

and invited the Director of NIMS Dr. Mahapatra IAS,

and a meeting was held on 24/01/2011 with the

office bearers of the Association. The President Mr.

Gopala Krishna informed the Director that many a

member have complained that NIMS are not

entertaining CGHS beneficiaries. The Director

replied that heavy amount of Rs. 9 crores is pending

payment by CGHS. However he desired that the

Additional Director CGHS may send a list of

members with card numbers and on receipt of the

list they will be allowed free consultation.

14. On request from AISPA a meeting was held

at Vasavi Complex on 31/01/2011 with the

Additional Director CGHS and all the Chief Medical

Offices of all the Dispensaries. After explaining the

difficulties, the Additional Director informed that

the matter has been settled with some corporate

hospitals and they agreed to execute MOU and also

said that an amount of Rs. 5 crores has been paid

to NIMS and that all pending bills of corporate

hospitals have also been cleared upto end of June

2010. He requested the Association to send a list of

IAS, IPS and IFS pensioners with card numbers so

that the list could be sent to NIMS for free

consultation in the evening and the consultation

fee will be borne by C.G.H.S. I have sent the list of

members of I.F.S. through A.I.S.P.A. to the Adl.

Director C.G.H.S. In the list members who paid the

membership fee partly were also included. Such of

the members who have paid life membership

partly may send the balance amount to the

Association.

15. The GOI in OM dated 17/08/2010 issued

orders on the entitlement of private, semi private

and general wards depending on their basic pay /

pension. The entitlement is as follows.

1. Basic pay without grade pay upto Rs. 13950 –

General ward

2. do do Rs. 13951 to

19530 – Semi pvt ward

3. do do Rs. 19531 &

Above- Pvt ward

These orders will apply to the beneficiaries who

are joining CGHS after issue of these orders. Those

who have taken life cards earlier to these orders

whatever wards they were entitled to as entered

in the cards will remain unchanged.

16. GOI vide circular dt. 01/04/2010 issued

orders for introduction of plastic CGHS cards in 7

CGHS units for pensioners and serving employees.

Different colour strips are used for serving

employees, pensioners, MPs, and freedom fighters.

The cards are under printing through an agency

from Delhi.

17. For consulting medical specialists hitherto

everyone had to go to Begumpet. But now

benefecieries staying in Hyderabad need not go

to Begumpet for consulting Dr. Rambabu. On every

Tuesday and Wednesday the medical specialist Dr.

Rambabu is available at Excise Bhavan ( Besides

Aayakar Bhavan, Basheerbagh, Hyderabad from

8.00am to 01.00pm). The Gynaecologist is also

available at Excise Bhavan on Thursday, Friday &

Saturdays. We may avail the facility.


47

1. This is last WILL of myself.. ....................., son/daughter/wife of ......................................................

........................................... aged..........................years, resident of ..................................................................

......................... .......................made on this day of ..............................20

2. I hereby revoke all· former WILLS and codicils mady by me

3. I am executing this last WILL and testament of mine voluntarily and without any compulsion

or pressure from any source or person and in sound health and sound state of mind.

4. I Appoint my wife and my eldest/son/daughter to be executors and trustees of ‘Will”

(Executors & Trustee will be different than beneficiary)

5. I own the following movable and immovable properties which are all my self-acquired

properties built or acquired out of my own earning and income without any assistance of any

ancestral estate and have absolute power of-disposal of the same and these are detailed below.

a) House No ..........................situated at ....................................built on a piot of

land measuring .............................................sq. yds.it in................................................

b) Life Insurance Policy(ies) : .............................................

c) Annuity of Lie.

d) Deposit in Public Provident Fund

e) Fixed Deposits, National Saving Certificates, Shares, PPF

i) Post Office National Savings Certificates.

g) Stocks, Shares etc. wherever my name stands first

6. I hereby bequeath all my movable and immovable properties as described above to my

wife, Smt............................(or to my son Shri .................................................or anyone else)

fully and absolutely (Person writing will have every right to dispose of property to anyone even

other than relatives.

7. I also declare that whatever nominations have been made by me shall all form part of

estate and shall be dealt with accordingly and given to my heirs as given above.

In witness proof where of i, the said .............................have put my signature to each sheet of

this my Will, contained in this sheet and in the preceding (one or two three sheets of paper) on the

day and the year first above written i.e the ..................................day of 20 Signed by the above named

testator in our presence at the same time and each of us has in the presence of the Testator signed

this name hereafter as the attesting witnesses.

DRAFT WILL


48

Sri Mohd Hussain Khan, an I.F.S Officer, borne on Andhra Pradesh Cadre, passed

away on February 25, 2011 at Hyderabad. He was ailing for some time and breathed

his last at 83.

Hussain Khan was the eldest son of Sri Mohd. Akbar Khan, a forest officer in the

erstwhile state of Hyderabad, and Smt. Haseemunnisa Begum. He had his school

education in Hyderabad and passed H.S.C. examination from Nampally High School.

Later he did his Intermediate Science from City College, Hyderabad

H.E.H. the Nizam’s Government selected him for appointment as Forest Ranger and deputed him for

training to Pakistan. But he was soon called back after the merger of the state with the Union of India and

was sent to Madras Forest College at Coimbatore. He had his training at the Coimbatore Forest College

during 1949-’51 and passed out of the College with Higher Standard Certificate.

Khan Saheb worked as Range Officer of several Ranges in Khammam, Adilabad, Karimnagar, Mahbubnagar

districts and administered the Ranges very well. He was a hard task master for his staff; disciplined and

obedient with his superiors.

In his youth, he was doing exercises for body building. He has been a keen sportsman and foot-ball was

his favourite game. In fact, he was foot-ball captain for the forest college team.

Hussain Khan was promoted to the State Forest Service in 1965. He was not given his due along with his

batch mates and therefore, he had to struggle consistently. He worked as D.F.O. in special divisions like

logging, sawmill etc. Lately, he was promoted to the Indian Forest Service during the review of promotions

made. He eventually retired on superannuation on August 31, 1985.

Married to Smt Sakeena Begum, a Science graduate of Osmania University, in November1956, the couple

was blessed with three daughters and a son. All of them are married and well settled; first daughter is in

Jeddah, the second one is in Hyderabad and the youngest is in U.S.A. The son is a Mechanical Engineer

working in Saudi Arabia.

Khan Saheb was known for his hospitality and amiability. He was very popular among his colleagues. He

is survived by three daughters, one son and thirteen grandchildren to mourn his death. A large number

friends and relatives will fondly remember him. In his death we lost a good friend.

May the Almighty God rest his noble soul in peace! K.B.R. & Q.M.K

OBITUARYMohd. Hussain Khan

19.8.1927 – 25.2.2011


50

Registered with RNI R.No. Apeng/2002.2185Postal Regn. No.HSE-743/2009-11

BOOK POST

To

If Undelivered, Please return to : Editor : VANA PREMIOffice of the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Aranya Bhavan,

5th Floor, Room No. 514, Saifabad, Hyderabad - 500 004, A.P.

april_2011

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