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October 2011 VANA PREMI

49

LIfe Time Subscription - Rs. 2000/- Single Copy Rs. 20/-

OCTOBER - 2011Vol .12 No. 10

JOURNAL OF THE ASSOCIATION OF RETIRED FOREST OFFICERSANDHRA PRADESH

Yearly Subscription - Rs. 200/-

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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 : 23340585

4. Member : A.H. Qureshi, IFS (Retd.)

5. Convenor : Ex-officio Secy.of Assn

VANA PREMI

Vol : 12 No.10October 2011

Editor : Qamar Mohd. Khan Associate Editor : Sardar Navratan Singh

The Association of Retired Forest Officers,

Andhra Pradesh(Regd. No. 557/1990)

President : Sri. S.D. Mukherji, I.F.S. (Retd.)

Tel : 23551065, 9885236493

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

Tel : 23743774, 9866307808

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

Tel : 27962929, 9848808101

Jt. Secretary : Sri. P. Upender Reddy, Dy. C.F.(Retd.)

Cum Treasurer Tel. 23342582, 9848754778

Editoriral Board

Contents

TARIFF RATES FOR ADVERTISEMENTS

Back side of front and last cover page

(Colour) for one year ...................................... Rs. 20,000/-Outer Cover half (Colour) for one year ........... Rs. 15,000/-Inner Center Spread (Colour) for one year .... Rs. 20,000/-Inner full page (B&W) for one year .............. Rs. 15,000/-Inner half page (B&W) for one year .............. Rs. 10,000/-Inner full page One Time (B&W) ....................... Rs. 2000/-

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VANA PREMI

1

Excutive committee members

1. Sri C. Subba Rao, I.F.S. (Retd.), 9848018796

2. Sri Sultan Mohiuddin, I.F.S.(Retd.), 9440057333

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 2

2. letters to the Editor...... 3

3. Wildlife Management-Need for

rethinking..................M. Kamal Naidu 44. Conservation of Olive Ridley

Turtles in Andhra Pradesh

......................Hitesh Malhotra 9

5. The Humble 'Yanadi'

.................................... A.V. Joseph 12

6. Did You Know? ......... 15

7. My experience with tour diaries

......................Surendra Pandey 16

8. Jarring Notes in Judicial Symphony

.................................... J.V. Sharma 19

9. Invitation ................... 24

10. A Spiritual Piligrimage to Holy Kailash-

Manasarovar ............. Surendra K. Bali 25

11. Congratulations ........ 29

12.A jewel in the crown of northcoastal A.P...

........... V. Santhaseelababu 29

13. Helping Sparrows

Come Home to Nest . 31

14. The Turtles on Picnic 32

15. Bounty of Birds in Desert 33

16. Your Yearly Dementia Test 35

17. Islam and Animal Rights

...............Menaka Gandhi 36

18.Anna Hazare's Crusade Against

Corruption ................ V.S. Joshi 39

19. Innovative Method of Water

Supply for wild Animals .......QMK 40

20. Birthday Greetings ... S.S.S 42

21. News & Notes ........... 43

18. Obituary .................... 48

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Wildlife Conservation: - Wildlife Week has been

celebrated in India from 2nd to 7th October

every year for the last 56 years with a view topreserve the fauna of India, particularly to take

urgent steps to prevent extinction of any species.

The Government of India established an Indian

Board for Wild Life in 1952. The Board has since

been trying to arouse public consciousness in

favour of wildlife preservation. In order to arouse

a general awakening in the common man in

favour of protection of wildlife, the IBWL decidedto observe the Wildlife Week in the first week of

October every year. This years i.e.2011 wildlife

week is unique because there are so many

campaigns. There are three major campaigns,

International Year of Forests (2011), Year of the

Bat(2011-2012), and the UN Decade on

Biodiversity(2011-2020). Wildlife Week starts

every year on Mahatma Gandhis Jayanthi, who

was a staunch supporter of Ahinsa (non-

violence)throughout his life.

At the turn of the 20th century, according to

estimates, India probably had many thousand

tigers in the wild (approximately 40000 tigers).In

2002, based on a census using the pug mark

technique, this number were 3,642.As per themonitoring exercise by Wildlife Institute of India

in association with National Tiger Conservation

Authority (NTCA), Government of India, using

camera traps, in 2008 we were left with only

1,411 tigers. This number is so small that they

will be gone soon if we dont wake up to the

crisis.

EDITORIALThe tiger is not just a charismatic species or just

another wild animal living in some far away

forest. The tiger is a unique animal which plays apivotal role in the health and diversity of an

ecosystem. It is a top predator which is at the

apex of the food chain and keeps the population

of wild ungulates in check, thereby maintaining

the balance between prey herbivores and the

vegetation upon which they feed.Therefore, the

presence of tigers in the forest is an indicator of

the wellbeing of the ecosystem. The extinctionof this top predator is an indication that its

ecosystem is not sufficiently protected, and

neither would it exist for long thereafter.

If the tigers go extinct, the entire system would

collapse. For e.g. when the Dodos went extinct

in Mauritius, one species of Acacia tree stopped

regenerating completely. So when a species

goes extinct, it leaves behind a scar, which affects

the entire ecosystem. Therefore, its not just

about saving a beautiful animal. It is about

making sure that we live a little longer as the

forests are known to provide ecological services

like clean air, water, and temperature regulation

etc.

From time immemorial, our wildlife has been

closely associated with our legendary beliefs

and our folk lore, with our epics and our history.

Our lives would be very much poorer without

these varied forms that build up the balance of

nature. Preservation of wildlife need not and

does not mean the blind perpetuation of all

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species and without any limit on numbers.

Wildlife preservation in fact implies active and

planned wildlife management under which all

forms of life would progress side by side with

human progress, each in its own sphere ofinfluence, utility and without any detriment to

human interests.

In the Constitution of India it is clearly stated

that it is the duty of the state to protect and

improve the environment and to safeguard the

forests and wildlife of the country. It imposes a

duty on every citizen to protect and improvethe natural environment including forests, lakes,

rivers, and wildlife {Article 51A (g)}. Reference to

the environment has also been made in the

Directive Principles of State Policy as well as the

Fundamental Rights. (Article 48A)

The constitutional provisions are backed by a

number of laws, acts, rules, and notifications,

which provides for the protection and the

conservation of the forests and Wildlife. Nature

has assisted always in making the mankind

prosperous however we are not talking about

what it gives to us but it is what the human being

gives back to nature in return. Is the human being

really concerned for this wildlife? We are

continuously destroying the forests for many

reasons.The main reasons for the decline of the

wildlife is habitat destruction, continuous

grazing of the cattle in the forest, annual fires,

shortage of drinking water and fodder in the

forest, competition between wild animals and

our cattle for space, fodder and water. In therecent past we have handed over lakhs and lakhs

Hectares of our forests under The Scheduled

Tribes, and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers

(Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006alone.

The beneficiaries have encroached upon forest

lands wherever the soil is good and suitable for

farming, which fragmented the forest and they

have occupied the habitat of the wild animals in

the middle of the forest. This will create man

animal conflicts which will harm both man and

wild animals.If we destroy the habitat of the wild

animals, including the habitat of Tigers than how

can we expect the population of wild animals

to improve or increase?

Even after providing huge budget allocationstowards wildlife conservation and sincerely

performing duty by our devoted staff, have we

achieved our goal?We leave it to our readers to

decide whether the measures taken up by our

Governments for protection of, our wild life are

enough and whether our Governments have

succeeded in protection of our countries

wildlife? QMK

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Dear Sir,

The tiger painting on the back cover of Vana premi September 2011 by the reader Mrs Y.

Usha is excellent. K.Mrutyumjaya Rao

Kakinada.

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Wildlife management strictly speaking is

management of a designated areas sanctuary /

national park and even reserved forests----for the

harmonious blend of animals and environment

in healthy, continuing conditions. This would

mean, and include culling of animals, if they are

likely to upset the ecological balance and bethe cause of decline of other animals, and the

deterioration of environment.

In India what we practice is not wildlife

management, but only a small segment of it

wildlife protection. Wildlife conservation would

mean not only the animal, but also the

environment protection. Therefore we are

approaching wildlife management from a

narrow viewpoint of protection, or at times

conservation. We tend to exclude the human

element from designated areas, and often tend

to ignore the tribal, who form a part of the

environment, and prevent them from

performing their legitimate roles, which they

had been carrying out for centuries for theirbonafide, legitimate uses. The approach to

wildlife management thus appears to be the

cause of more destruction and anti-

development. We are excluding the

involvement and participation of the people for

protection, conservation and management of

designated areas, and from enjoying the gifts of

WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT-NEED

FOR RETHINKINGBy

M.Kamal Naidu

nature; rendering it as the exclusive privilege of

only the wildlife manager, and often tend to get

into conflict even with his fellow wildlife

managers. This had been the outcome of narrow

selfish outlook of the managers of wild-lifer till

in the recent past.

Wildlife in India has passed through a series ofphases. Earlier years when there had been an

abundance of wildlife as the reports state, for

instance in case of tiger it was reported that

40,000 existed in beginning of century, and

declined to below 1000 by 1969. Therefore till

the fifties it had been an adage that a forest

officer is one who has killed a tiger. This changed

to one who has seen a tiger in the sixties and,

one has booked a case against poacher in the

seventies. This reflects the mind and trends of

wildlife management towards protection

attitude, and this had played its role in stabilizing

the animal population in many species, and

prevented the decline in many others, and saved

a few from extinction.Now the question is, for how long, and for how

far more are we going to exclude the people,

and keep the designated areas for the exclusive

managers only. Has this approach really

benefited, and would it continue to do so for long.

We are already hearing of the rumbling at

Ranthambore, Corbett, Rajaji, Gir, etc. of the

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conflicts between Park Managers and the

people. Before it gets to be too late, let us re-

think on our efforts for the future from some of

my observations as drawn from Kenyan Wild life

National parks, their management vis--vis the

tourists, its impact and the benefits.

In Kenya the wildlife staff, manage only for the

protection, to prevent poaching and habitat

management. In the habitat management they

have by experience come to understand the

carrying capacity of the parks, and accordingly

regulate the animal population by culling thesurplus---be it the herbivore or carnivores. In

carnivore they regulate the number and species

like the lion if they are tending to be detrimental

for the cheetah and the leopard. Recently they

had culled a number of elephants when their

population pressure became high in some parts

of the park. Of course in most Indian conditions

cattle grazing is the greatest menace in the parks,

they destroy and compete with wild herbivores,

and if any one of them is killed by a carnivore,

the carnivore is done to death. Fortunately this

is not the situation in Africa.

In Kenya they believe in the adage Eco-tourist

is nature friendly. They believe the best way to

prevent poaching and illicit trade in wildlife is

by nature education and nature appreciation,

which in turns brings in more sympathy for the

animals, and therefore gives more support to the

field staff. In this context they believe in opening

up many routes, paths and making the area very

accessible. This enabled a quicker and better

mobility for the protective staff. They believe

that with more tourists moving about the area,

the chances of smugglers is proportionately

reduced. In this regard, I often thoughtare we

actually protecting the interiors from smuggling

and poaching by not opening it up. I feel and

believe that we are only living content with the

thoughtwhat I do not see, I do not believe. In

actual fact often the smuggling and poaching

takes place in the interiors by the determined

people, for the watch and ward do not go there,

and they cannot go there, because of lack ofcommunication and roads.

It is another pre-conceived belief that animals

like to have an undisturbed core area where they

can breed and multiply. We also believe in the

concept of territory of animals. When the

territory concept is believed, where is the

question of all the animals going to the core area

only and nurture their young, and spill over into

the buffer to exhibit themselves. Animals breed

everywhere and anywhere, and we know that in

zoos, once they are psychologically set, they

breed often, at times unbelievably in the most

artificial surrounding without any privacy. In this

regard in Kenya I was told that there had been

no decline in the breeding of animals due tohuman visitation stress. They believed regarding

the adaptability of animals, and acceptance of

large groups of people as long as they do not

disturb them, and leave them alone.

In one park, there was a regular army shooting

range. The wildlife managers did not try to

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dislodge the army from it. The army was equally

adamant not to leave the area because of the

convenience of location. The wild-lifer observed

that every time the range was used, the animals

moved away from the site temporarily, and would

come back after their exercise is over. It appears

the frequency of use of the range increased, but

the animals got used to the noise of firing. The

wildlife warden told me soon the animals got so

used to the firing that they would come back

and watch the firing as something interesting.

At Masai Mara Park, a part of the famousSerengeti, there are many landing strips for small

6-12 seats aircrafts, for reaching the various

resorts by small planes, especially for those who

could afford from the wealthy. Fortunately I was

taken for an air trip from Nairobi to a strip in the

Park I found as nearing to land at the strip, the

zebras and antelopes never bothered on seeing

the aircraft approach, and I got scared. However

these on hearing the aeroplane coming to land

with great noise and speed, just moved away

from the strip, and immediately continued to

graze unperturbed a little away around the strip.

After I got down, the aircraft took off, and the

animals moved back to the air-strip, as though

nothing happened. A little later another aircraftcame in to pick me up, and take me to Masai

Mara. I noticed the same unperturbed reaction.

The animals seemed to have accepted the

aircraft to be some other strange animal or bird.

They never bothered for this strange creature,

which never harmed them.

They had introduced balloon safaris at Masai

Mara for quite some time prior to my visit. The

balloon made a lot of noise from the jets of

flames. They themselves were a huge mass. It

seems that initially there was a chaos among

the animals, and they would run frightfully hither

thither. They gradually got used to them, rather

took them for granted. When I traveled in the

balloon, the animals were well used to the

balloon and it noise, and the Warden explained

the animals accepted it as a part of their

environment, for it took off every morning at acertain fixed time. There were three colorful

balloons flying daily. When I looked down at

them, gliding slowly at a fairly low height, I felt

the animals were amused at the strange

creatures, daily a different set of them of different

hues and shapes in the suspended basket.

I had seen motor vehicles designed to carry 8

passengers, with facilities to open the top, and

view animals. There were quite a large number

of these vehicles moving around, criss-crossing

all over the Park. These are operated by private

travel agencies from Nairobi and Mombasa. I

have seen from 30-40 such vehicles operating

at a time in each park, moving about all around

the parks till as far away as the eyes could see,for these forests are mostly open grasslands with

scattered trees. In our forest the density is high,

their number is low and our animals are more

secretive. This was the off-season, but during the

season, more than double the number, of

vehicles operate, I was told. The moment any of

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these vehicles sight an interesting member of

the big five star attractions, the driver

communicate to other vehicles, and soon the

other vehicles around, rush to congregate like

the vultures for a carcass, for successful viewing.

In such cases I did not see the animals getting

disturbed. They probably understood the

vehicles and persons within were some other

animals moving around in their vicinity, they

probably thought these were some kind of

hyenas, rushing for the kill of the lion, but

keeping a safe distance for the lions to moveout. The animals must have found the curiosity

of the people clicking away their cameras very

humorous, and so started posing for them with

their young running and moving around very

normally. Lions and rhinos moved between

vehicles to join other group or for their comfort.

They never bothered, just accepted as a part of

the environment keeping a rhythmic timed

movement. At one instance I counted above 80

elephants in a herd. In case of zebras and

antelopes we could not count their number, for

they were in hundreds and thousands. However

the ostrich, giraffe, rhino, cheetah, and lion were

countable. The trips are conducted thrice a day-

--morning 6.30 to 8.00A.M. next from10.00A.M.to 12.00 noon, and the last trip from

4.30 to 6.30PM. No night trips are permitted. This

seemed adequate to give the animals freedom

to escape from the monotony of being looked

upon by the drab human beings; or an escape

from the annoyance of the inquisitive disgusting

human beings.

What do all the observations boil down to? Are

we not overplaying about our concepts of core

area, visitor limitation, animal stress, etc. We need

to re-think on these aspects, and I am sure

protection with better awareness, smuggling

and poaching will improve with improved

mobility, and presence of visitors and naturalist

in the vicinity.

Regarding facilities, apart from reaching the

places in the park, the best of facilities are made

available to the people,likewell-furnished

campus, with cottages, electricity, water, beds,and furniture etc. Cottages are generally rustic

looking as seen from externally, but are 5-star

inside. In the campus 5-star facilities hotels are

available with swimming pools, shopping

complexes, bars and restaurants, etc. I sadly

missed educational publicity like availability of

museum, reading materials, video and film

presentations. I had suggested to the warden,

but they did not seem it necessary. I did and do

feeling it was a great necessity. Many visitors with

whom I discussed also expressed these facilities

would have been nice if provided.

It was not necessary as all visitors stayed

overnight, some would arrive during the day, spin

around and go back in the evening. Such visitors

had to pay for use of facilities like swimming

pool, club, etc. Those who visited on package

deals are provided these facilities with a buffet

lunch soon on arrival, and ending with breakfast

the next date. Drinks and mineral water are

available on purchase basis.

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Daily charges with above facilities varied from

$40-50 per individual, some cheaper joints are

also available like tented accommodation.

The park charges fairly exorbitantly forforeigners. They charge $20 for individuals, and

was only half rate for kids below 12 years, while

it being $3-5 depending on individual or in

groups with prior permission. Apart from these,

vehicles are charged $5-10 depending on size

of vehicle. At one park, I even saw a large truck

with tourists, built specially without anyrestrictions.

The park dept. has a interesting mode of revenue

collection, apart from gate fee, from the hotel

setup. The hotels have 150-200 with 2-3 per

room capacity. In Masai Mara there are a number

of hotels, there being upto 5-star category. In

total there is a bed capacity toaccommodate1000 persons per night, and in

less frequented areas for 400-500 persons. There

are areas for tent and toilet facilities available.

All these campuses are protected by electric

fencing. The park dept. leases out the facilities

with long term leases of 3 years, hence the

structure were built by hotel management, andthey pay rent for use of structures in the parks.

This is determined by the number of overnight

stayers registered, and crossed checked by gate

entry registers,. The rates fixed at, $0.50, per

person per night, and are revisable every three

years, subject to a maximum of $0.25 at a time.

This makes a very big money for the park as

revenue on annual basisa typical little drop

of water makes a mighty ocean approach---

without sounding big by saying only $0.50 pernight.

It general is seen that tourist are prepared to

pay, but they want good facilities to stay, to go

around preferably with a guide, and get the thrill

of seeing animals in the wild.

As regards the rules of management, they are

very strict and rigid. The vehicle operators are

scared to deviate from regular paths by a few

meters. They are scared their organization will

be black listed, and banned from operating in

all the parts, for any violation of park rules, that

means they will have to close down. The drivers

are experienced, and function as guide, are fairly

knowledgeable about the birds and animals

seen.

In conclusion I feel there is plenty of scope of

eco-tourism in India both from view of revenues

including foreign exchange and the awareness

and security of wildlife, which is very much under

exploited. Sky is our limit. Are we prepared for

change and acceptance, instead of the hard-fast

clinging on like the Dog and the Manger to close

all doors in the name of animal privacy and

security----not knowing the cancer that is eating

away our precious wildlife from the inside to

result in another SARISKA.

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I feel Wildlife Management can be best defined

as an art of undoing the activities of man which

are directly destructive to wildlife. Wildlife was

best managed when God created it. With the

arrival of man on earth, there was slow and

continuous occupation or destruction of nichesoccupied by wild animals. Sea turtles are an

example which is facing severe threat of

extinction from the activities of man. Turtles are

designed by God to defend themselves by a

protective carapace but it is in no position to

defend its off spring.

Turtle biology forces it to lay its eggs in sand and

about 60 days of incubation period makes it

impossible to defend its eggs on sand and the

female turtle is forced to leave the eggs on their

own after laying. As a measure of continuing

these species, nature has given huge capacity

to the turtles to lay eggs. Each female laysanywhere between 100 to 200 eggs in one go in

a sand pit and cover it with sand to provide the

protection. Even if some of these eggs are

poached by the Natural enemies some off

springs will be produced to continue the

species.

CONSERVATION OF OLIVE RIDLEY

TURTLES IN ANDHRA PRADESHBy

Hitesh Malhotra

Man not only unnecessarily kills turtles while

fishing, he also poaches on its eggs. Even some

animals associated with man like dogs and rats

also poach on unprotected eggs of turtles.

Because of these activities of man the

probability of a turtle hatchlings surviving and

reaching the sea has reduced to almost zero in

most of the beaches in India. Almost entire

coastline of India has enough presence of man

to see that turtle hatchlings don't reach the sea.

Added to this the number of turtles caught in

fishing nets in the sea are increasing many folds

as most fishermen don't use the TED or Turtle

Excluding Device when they go for fishing in the

seas. With no fresh blood added and older turtles

dying in the fishing nets the population of turtles

are bound to go down. I am quite sure if a study

of turtle populations in Indian seas is carried out

we will end up in getting very high average age

of turtles like that of forest officers in A.P. State.

No wonder the Govt. of India has placed these

turtles in most protected list.

We cannot change the biology of the turtles and

with this biology the survival of turtles in nature

appears to be very difficult. In this scenario the

wild lifers have taken up the conservation of

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turtles. The same biology of turtles has been

made use by the wildlifers to undo the

destruction which man has caused to the

existence of turtles. It is the huge clutch size

which may ultimately come to the rescue of the

turtles with the intervention of wildlife

managers. If the nests are protected we can

ensure that all the hatchlings reach sea thus

ensuring a much higher percentage of survival

for turtles than what is possible in the best

natural scenario. Survival with good care could

reach very close to 100% also.

In Orissa where there is mass nesting of turtles

the wildlifers only protect the turtle nests and

after hatching the young ones travel towards the

sea on their own. In Andhra Pradesh there is

sporadic nesting all along the A.P. Coast. A few

years back sporadic efforts started by one N.G.O.call TREE FOUNDATION in Southern coast of

Andhra Pradesh. With the help of this N.G.O. we

trained some of our staff in conservation of

turtles. Our efforts were slow and unorganized

till Mr.A.K.Sinha, IFS, Conservator of Forests,

Wildlife Management, Eluru got interested in this

work during a turtle conservation workshopwhich he attended. After the workshop while

touring his areas he came across an island near

Sacramento where he found lot of destroyed

eggs and signs of dead turtles. He decided to

take up organized turtle conservation in that area

and investigate other areas where similar

activity could be taken up.

In localities where nesting activity was more in

a small locality in situ protection of nests was

done. In-situ means that nests were kept wherethe turtle laid the eggs. Only a dog and rat proof

fence was erected around the nest. Date of

nesting was recorded on the nest and the whole

area was kept under a close watch by the

Protection Watchers and our staff. The watch was

kept day and night.

The protection watchers were selected from the

local people who were earlier involved in egg

poaching activities. Rat poison was used to

control the rats. Rats emerge immediately after

the mother turtle leaves after laying the eggs.

There is a characteristic smell for sometimes

after the eggs are laid. This vanishes after

sometime and after this animals missed orignored the nest but man does not leave even

older nests.

In places where very little nesting takes place

and nests are very far from one another, ex-situ

conservation was followed. Ex-situ means such

nests were shifted to a protected place in an in-

situ conservation area where base camps were

established for day and night protection of the

nests.

Following statistics are important as some useful

results can be drawn.

The result of 2009-10 season is as follows:

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Period of Sea turtle Conservation : 11-02-2010 to 28-04-2010

Number of eggs collected : 2019 (only ex-situ conservation was taken up)

Number of hatchlings released into sea : 1023

Total expenditure incurred : Rs.1,21,500/-.The results of 2010-11 are :

Inferences drawn

Krishna District

1. Turtle nesting is sporadic as there is very little in-situ conservation.

2. Average number of eggs per nest 32852/294 = 112.

3. Peak nesting is 22nd February to March 5th.

4. % survival is 50.66%

East Godavari

1. Sacramento is having the status of mass nesting. 1094 in-situ nests against 34 ex-situ nests.

2. Average number of eggs per nest is 6723/58 = 116.

3. Peak release time is 1st April to 7th April.

4. % survival 154734/199407 = 77.6%

This even in best natural conditions may not go beyond 15 to 20%.

End result of Eluru wildlife Conservator's conservation effort during 2010-11 is that 1,54,734 Olive

Ridley Turtle hatchlings were released into the sea which without his effort would have been either

spoiled or would have become food of some predators or human beings. This way our people have

undone the destructive work of several years which man had been doing for quite some time.

Three cheers for the great effort by the protection watchers, wildlife staff under the able leadership

of Sri A.K.Sinha, I.F.S. I hope that this programme will be expanded in the coming years to all other

areas where we have such a possibility.

Sl.No Name of theDivision

No.of EggsCollected

No.of TurtleNests

No.of In-situNests

No.of HatchlingsReleased into sea

1 2 3 4 5 6

1 WLM, Eluru 32852 294 34 23726

2 WLM, Rajahmundry 6723 58 1094 131008

3 Total 39575 352 1128 154734

(Please see last cover page for photo)

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12

I was on my usual field visit to Bakarapeta rangein Chittor east division accompanied by the

Divisional Forest Officer and Forest Range Officer.

We were on a mission of providing permanent

water source for wildlife in Devarakonda area of

Bakarapeta range.

Devarakonda is a beautiful valley located on the

Southern slope of the Tirumala hills forming the

part of Sri Venkateshwara National Park. Though

the valley had excellent vegetation and cover, it

had no permanent water source for the wildlife.

It was not that there are no forest streams to drain

the rain water and form permanent puddles and

ponds, but the geological structure of the area

was such that the quartz and shale stones with

their large fissures could barely hold the moisture

for a few months after which the area becomes

bone dry. The lack of natural stream or spring in

Devarakonda intrigued me to no end and even

the search of the old Survey of India sheet maps

of the area yielded no useful data in locating a

perennial spring. It was in such a situation that

we were bent upon providing atleast an artificial

pond so that wildlife in that area can quench their

thirst and the excellent natural forest habitat can

be inhabited by the wild denizens. In this deep

contemplation we reached the end of

Devarakonda village and were on the fringe of

THE HUMBLE YANADI

the forest. Just as we reached the periphery ofthe village, out darted a tribal man from the

forest carrying a gunny bag load slung on his left

shoulder and perched on his head was a bundle

of green bamboos. It was the green bamboos

that first caught the eye and we hailed the tribal

to halt and enquired as to who was the purchaser

of the green bamboo. The tribal a Yenadi made

no attempt to run and escape but on the other

hand was very cooperative and shared the

details of the purchasers of the green bamboo

in the village. The next item that caught the eye

was the gunny bag and I was curious in knowing

its contents. I asked the Forest Range Officer to

find out what was in the gunny bag and he flipped

it over. Out popped a small dead animal which

turned out to be a mouse deer. The minute the

Forest Range Officer saw the dead deer body he

flung his arms and landed a few quick blows on

the hapless Yenadi. More than rage I was

surprised to see the Houdini Act of the Yenadi

producing a dead mouse deer from the gunny

bag. I was more interested in its, origin, location,

the mode of capture, etc.

The Yenadi was a medium built person, dark

complexioned and he was wearing a dhoti

folded in the middle, tied to his waist. In spite of

the hostile reception he received from us he was

ByA.V. Joseph

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very cooperative and explained in detail the

trapping technique adopted by him. I did not

buy his story of finding a mouse deer in the

waterless landscape of Devarakonda forests andI was sure that he had killed the animal in the

Tirumala forests and had carried it by foot and

brought it to the village. I challenged him to show

me a single wild animal in Devarakonda forests

which does not have any perennial water source!

He took the challenge immediately and stated

that within a trekking distance of 2 K.Ms. there is

a natural spring and further beyond after a steep

climb at a distance of 10 K.Ms. or so is the habitat

of mouse deer. The local Forest Beat Officer was

very confident that there cannot be any water in

that area as he knew the patch of forest very well

and this was his second tenure in the same beat.

We accepted the first challenge in finding the

water source.

The Yenadi lead us from the front and

barefooted as he was, effortlessly took the

undulating climb to the water hole. We were

shod in Hunters boot and stumbled along the

uneven path but the Yenadi with unshod feet,

ambled at a steady pace pausing now and then

to let us catch up with his lead. After a good stiff

walk of 2 hours the Yenadi gestured that we had

reached near the water hole and now we have

to take a diversion and do a steep climb of

250mts traversing rocky boulders and a steep

slope. I had half a mind that all our efforts will be

fruitless and was getting prepared to shield the

Yenadi from the volatile Forest Range Officer

who will not mind landing a further couple of

blows for the fruitless walk. As the Yenadipromised we climbed to a rocky outcrop and

hey! Presto there was the natural spring with

bubbling water coming out of the rocky outcrop.

The water was crystal clear and the Yenadi

quenched his thirst and his eyes had the gleam

of a victorious man who had triumphed in telling

the truth. Now that he had shown the water hole

my next doubt was how the wild animals could

reach the steep spot which we better shod

humans in Hunters boot could scarcely reach

the place with great difficulty! He made me

observe the rocky floor and there were the

scratch mark made by the hooves of the wild

herbivores, boars and sambar deer in their daily

pursuit to quench their thirst. He explained to

me that the Chousinga a small built, lithe animal

with sharp hooves could easily negotiate the

terrain. Other bigger herbivores and wild pigs

with their soft soled hoof can climb the rocky

surface easily. It was a practical education in field

and my respect for the field knowledge of the

Yenadi grew gradually. Since the first mystery

was unravelled we began in search of solving

the second mystery in locating the habitat of

the mouse deer.

The second leg of the journey was very strenuous

and took us a full five hours of steady walk and

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through the forests. Throughout the trekking, the

Yenadi was explaining the technique of

identifying the habitat of the mouse deer,

whether it is in use or not by the animal and afterconfirming the use by the animal, how to tempt

the animal by providing dainty forest morsels

and finally laying a trap to capture and kill the

animal. The entire process of exposition was a

scientific treatise on the behaviour, nature and

habits of the mouse deer which no book on earth

has ever been recorded in such fine details as

has been observed by the Yenadis passed from

generation to generation by word of mouth, the

hunting skills acquired not for sport nor for

commercial exploitation but for their very

survival and for filling the stomach with food. The

Yenadi explained that mouse deer are partial

in their preference to a habitat covered with

bamboo clumps. They are very solitary animaland generally a pair comes together for mating

or a mother and a fawn are found together. The

mouse deer follow a beaten track of path and

regularly use the same path for their daily

perambulation in search for forage. In their

locomotion the animals leave small spoor mark

on the ground, which are the only tell-tale signs

of the presence of the animal in a locality. The

Yenadi scouts and look for these spoor marks

left by the mouse deer in their daily movement

and to confirm the use of the area by the animal

he erases the signs from the ground and checks

back the next day for fresh spoor marks. On

confirmation of the presence of the animal the

Yenadi proceeds to the next step of baiting the

animal by spreading tasty morsels of food

preferred by the mouse deer and watches

whether it is consumed by the animal or not.

Each step is carefully chosen and executed by

the Yenadi whose primordial hunting genes

comes to its fullest expression On the hunt for

the quarry. Like human beings who have a sweet

tooth for rasagolla the mouse deer fait accompli

is the humble gooseberry called Usirikai

(Emblica officinalis) locally. Initially the

gooseberry is strewn around the placefrequented by the animal along with a handful

of a variety of titbits. The temptation of the

gooseberry is so strong that the mouse deer

consumes it with no qualms. Once the animal

takes to eating the gooseberry the Yenadi

proceeds to the next stage of erecting the bait

cum trap wherein the gooseberry is firmly tied

with forest fibres to a joy stick contraption on

the ground while just above the bait are piled

huge rocks balanced by a basket like platform

to a log inter-connected to the joy stick. Along

with the baited gooseberry (tied with plant fibre)

are strewn loose gooseberries which the animal

can consumes freely. Once the animal nibbles

the baited gooseberry and tugs at it, the entiremechanism gets activated and the pile of rocks

balanced above gets triggered to fall on the

unsuspecting animal at one go, killing it

instantaneously by breaking its neck and

crushing its ribs. This local trap mechanism is so

infallible and effective that even forest boars are

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killed in a similar fashion by the Koyas and Konda

Reddies of the Eastern Ghats. The Yenadi showed

me the spot where the bait was set with the

collapsed pile of rocks and baited gooseberry.

He also showed me the spoor signs of mouse

deer which is so small and dainty looking that

only an expert can spot and interpret it. All my

doubts and misgivings of the presence of the

mouse deer in that locality cleared away. Since

the mission was over the long trudge back to

the village commenced. My admiration of the

innocent Yenadi grew by leaps and bounds andI pitied his fate as he will be arrested and a

wildlife case slapped against him for trapping

and killing a Schedule-I listed animal in a

National Park under the Wildlife Protection Act.

I prayed that the Forest Range Officer should

prepare a weak case so that the Yenadi will be

acquitted and not put behind bars. Before

departing from the spot, I gave orders to the

Forest Range Officer that on completion of the

wildlife case the Yenadi should be engaged as

wildlife watcher to assist the forest personnel in

wildlife protection works as he knew the jungle

and the wildlife better than any forest officer I

had come across in life. I salute the unknownYenadi who taught me that day simple wildlife

facts which surpassed the training I had received.

1. European Mud Olympics:- Over 500

contestants, from all over Europe, gathered at

the Brunsbttel dike, near Hamburg,

Germany, for the 7th edition of the MudOlympics. The event is unique on the North Sea

coast, and features different wacky games, like

mud football, mud volleyball, tug of war, or the

eel relay race, all of which involved getting

covered in mud, of course. And since playing in

mud is apparently one of the most fun activities

known to man, the 2011 European Mud

Olympics drew in contestants from Italy,Switzerland, Belgium or Denmark, all looking

to have a good time.

Prizes were awarded for winning the wacky

events, as well as for the best team name, best

team fans, or the funniest competing team. The

good thing is participants to the Mud Olympics

DID YOU KNOW ?were not only fighting for themselves, but also

for a good cause: the proceedings, over 100,000

euro, will be donated to the Schleswig-Holstein

Cancer Society.

2. The Worlds first portable Church:- Parish

Church of Emmaus (Emmaus-Kirche) , built 750

years ago and located in the German village

Hoyersdorf (Heuersdorf ) , will now have to find

another place for prayer. Building weighing

660 tons will be carried entirely on a special

platform in the nearby town of Bourne (Borna),

which is located 12 km from the previous

location. This decision was made in connection

with coal mining, which is under the church.

Projections of the date of the final move 31

October. The cost of transportation will be

around 3 million euros.

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16

There is a practice in Forest Department to

obtain the tour diaries from the field level

officers. This practice is on weekly basis for the

front line staff and fortnightly basis for the officers

up to Divisional Forest Officers and practice take

shape of monthly D.O letters for the Conservator

of Forests. I also used to be a regular writer of

tour diaries and submitting to the Conservator

of Forests/PCCF.

Writing of these diaries and DOs that too in time

during my period was treated as a mean to

compute the performance or a mean to

correlate performance (as it is tangible and

something real). People, who have not written

diaries /DOs or submitted these in an epic form,

once in one or two years, performed better than

the regulars. The same illusion of concreteness

of having control through diaries is still there.

Usually we are in business of laughing at our

predecessors, but hardly have we realized that

someone will laugh at our beliefs in the near

future. We are sure what is written in the diariesof our front line staff, most often everything is

normal.

I also believe that any extra information does

not add usefulness to our knowledge. I am

holding this conversation without a subject with

all of you is such an act. There is dramatic increase

MY EXPERIENCE WITH TOUR

DIARIESBy

Surendra Pandeyin the speed of decline in the availability of time

with people like you, still I request, this article

to be gone through. Because this type of single

observation will not impact you total and I am

sure, writing of tour diaries and D.O letters may

continue business as usual.

It was a pleasant evening when I was valuing mypresence here on this planet which is a

consequential low probability occurrence,

usually I tend to forget. I had taken a decision to

dispose off one old box in my house, which was

occupying precious space. Before disposing the

box, it became essential to clear out all its

contents, useful or otherwise. My copies of tour

diaries and D.O Letters were one such big

bundle. These have brought a powerful olfactory

nostalgia; these had a physical embodiment, a

smell and a time warp for me.

These diaries were written without knowing what

was going to happen next. I hardly got remarks from

my Senior Officers, except it is lacking details or too

much details were given. Probably they also might

have not gone through these papers by abiding to

the old rule that read books are far less valuable

than unread ones and I was always thankful to them.

I knew diary provide indelible facts recorded more

or less immediately, we feel connected to

everything we feel worth connecting to.

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I have mirthlessly torn out these diaries (my

copies), which I started writing since my joining

the State during 1985 and keeping till the date

as fond remembrance.

On the date I tore down each fortnightly diary

with some vengeance. These tore papers; I gave

to my maid servant which she sold away for Rs.40.

Subsequently she told, she could purchase some

Onions & potatoes from the amount. She was

probably very happy first time with me. What a

worth these diaries were at last. Most probably

these papers will be used for recycling and

protect the Environment in limited way.

Before tearing these diaries, for about 10

minutes, I ruminated on their usefulness even

for historical remembrance and even I asked

opinion of my wife on the course of action which

I was going to take. There was her role in these

diaries too, while writing these diaries, numberof times she had provided tea etc. As probably

she was preoccupied, she seemed to be listening

without hearing, and looking without seeing into

these papers and for what she was laughing at.

These diaries included official events in my

working as Probationer in Anantapur and

Chittoor District, Sub-Divisional Forest Officer,Kunavaram, Divisional Forest Officer, Anantapur,

Guntur, Karimnagar (E), Nizamabad and

Conservator Nizamabad. My experiences of my

formative years, working under great Foresters

like Mr.K.P.Muniswamy,IFS, Sri C.Siva Shankar

Reddy,IFS, Sri C.MadhkarRaj,IFS, Sri P.K.Sharma,IFS,

Sri B.Murlikrishna IFS, Sri M.V.PrakashRao,IFS& Sri

Rajesh Mittal,IFS was really rewarding.

These diaries included contents like visit to

nurseries, plantations (successful or otherwise),saving the people from flood in Kunavaram, after

affects of flood, night patrolling either going after

Charcoal Lorries in Anantapur or Sandalwood

Lorries in Chittoor and Guntur or Teak timber in

Karimnagar and Nizamabad or bullock carts in

Karimnagar. These also included details of Beat

inspections, enumeration of trees felled,

conducting surprise checks of saw mills and

their seizures followed with court cases,

unearthing of fake permits from saw mills and

reports on them, accompanying senior Officers

to the fields and their opinions on the way

protection of forests can be done, requesting the

Government for allotting one battalion of special

police for helping in protection of forests,crossing the way of naxalites, chasing bullock

carts loaded with Teak and their seizures,

conducting Beedi leaf collections spread over

in more than 100 khallas, attending 20 Points

and District Development Committee

meetings, pursuing villagers to form VSS and

their lack of faith in us, supervisory officer for

Prajala Vaddaku Palana details of Neeru-Meeru,

joining campaign for Social Forestry and

awareness generation for wildlife and

Environment and advices to staff which were

followed most of the time. These also included

the works carried out for conservation of water

and one such attempt in Yacharam ( Kamareddy)

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getting the best village/VSS award Jalayagnam

from the Government of A.P in the form of

citation and cash incentive of Rs.50000.

These diaries also had details of disappearingforests and bare concerns of the People who

were living in and around the forests areas. These

were also having details how and where my

colleagues like Forest Beat Officers, Forest

Section Officers, Forest Range Officers and Sub-

Divisional Forest Officers have made great and

painful efforts to achieve the targets with whomI had opportunities to work. My Sub DFO like Sri

Venkaiah (Late), Sri ChiranjeeviChowdhary, Sri Ilu

Singh Meru , Sri Lohitsyadu, Forest Range Officer

Sri Ramdas, Sri P.V.Krishnala Reddy, Sri

A.Subramanyam, Sri Tirupati Reddy, Sri S.Mallaiah,

Sri Gangaram (Late) have taken great pains in

performing the role.

The discussions I had with these staff during

midnights on the roads while in waiting for

suspected movement of Red Sander or Teak is

now of good memory, even sometimes these

discussion were containing mix of fear (other side

if armed or if they are extremists).

I am not sure how many of us believe, tour diaries

are statistically significant. I believe, it is taken

as normal. Senior officers shall spend more time

reading these. We are having a normative idea

that average is normal. If tour diaries are written

in average manner without pointing to any major

(adverse) event/forecast, it was taken as normal.

But facts were in deviance from the average.

I also got a thought, whether it was a wasteful

exercise (writing these diaries) of laboring undera delusion, a mistake that often happened with

us through excess of imagination. All the faculties

of my mind were irresistibly bent in one

direction to prove that these papers are now

worthless and hence to be destroyed. Even as

official records in the respective Divisions and

Circle Offices might have been closed anddestroyed after two years.

In these diaries usually we know and over

emphasize what has been done but we try to

forget what has to be done. These diaries /Dos

shall reflect on what has to be done. All the

concerned shall strive to comply & achieve if

they can do it otherwise opt for other alternative.

Any how the world we have in our mind is

different from the one operating outside.

Ultimately to hit a nail on the head, I felt in heart

of heart, whether it was a misapplication

wherein diaries were used as a tool to count only

their date of submission instead of utilizing theircontents to support the system. Whether it was

a miscarriage of the application of

improvement? If you read this article, how it

matters because no action is anticipated and

business as usual continues.

I thank you for your time and reading this paper.

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There is an article by Mr. T. R. Andhyarujina, a well-

known senior advocate of Supreme Court titled

Premier High Court at 150 published in The

Hindu dated 25th August 2011. It is about

Bombay High Court on the eve of its completion

of 150 years existence. The High Court started

functioning from 14th August 1862. The

construction of the magnificent Gothic-style

building which houses the High Court was

started in 1873 and completed in time to begin

its sittings from 10th January 1879.

Of the information provided by the author in the

article, a few incidents stand out for theirimportance. Firstly, it is said that the building

cost the exchequer a mere Rs. 16,44,528.

Assuming that the materials and labour was

cheap and the money value was high in those

days, the cost of construction must be considered

as low. The accounting was so perfect as to give

out the expenditure figure to even the last threedigits. What will be more surprising to the

present generation is the final cost was well

below the estimated cost!

The second fact of great historical importance

is, besides a galaxy of several English judges, the

High Court had the distinction of having Indian

JARRING NOTES IN JUDICIAL

SYMPHONY

ByJ. V. Sharma

judges of erudition and broad and liberal

thinking like BadruddinTyabji, Mahadev Govind

Ranade, Telang, Chandravarkar, M. C. Chagla,

Hiralal Kania etc. In an instance cited by the

author, BadruddinTyabji paid a moving tribute

to his brother judge Ranade on his death quoting

lines of Urfi, the court poet of Emperor Jehangir:

Live thy life in such a manner that, on thy death,

the Mussalman may wash thy body with sacred

waters of Zamzamat at Mecca and Hindu may

burn it on the holy ghats of Kashi. How noble

and tolerant were that generation! As for the

lawyers who made the High Court proud, the

list can be endless. Suffice it to mention stalwarts

like Bhulabhai Desai, K. M. Munshi, M. R. Jayakar,

Sir Dinshah Mulla, M. A. Jinnah, Sir Jamshedji

Kanga, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, H. M. Seervai, M. C.

Setalvad, S. H. Kapadia, C. K. Daphtary, N. A.

Palkiwala and N. P. Engineer of the past era. Each

one is a legend.

Another interesting fact cited is the famous trial

of Lokamanya Balagangadhar Tilak in 1909 for

seditious writing. When the jury returned the

verdict of guilty and he was sentenced to six years

in jail, he said the famous words All that I wish to

say is that, inspite of the verdict of the jury; I still

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maintain that I am innocent. There are higher

powers that rule the destinies of men and nations;

and I think, it may be the will of Providence that

the cause I represent may be benefited more by

my suffering than by my pen and tongue. It is no

surprise that these words are inscribed at the

entrance of the Central Court.

The author also mentioned of comical figures of

monkey judges and fox advocates wearing

lawyers bands with one eye blind-folded

peeping from the top of pillars blended withthe architecture of the building. He attributed it

to be the mischievous handiwork of a

disgruntled sub-contractor, a Parsi, who avenged

himself on law and justice by libelling the

lawyers and judges of the High Court. The

existence of the comical figures being a

verifiable fact even now, it is too naive to ascribeit to a non-descript sub-contractor as the work

in question was a part of architecture based on

approved drawings and diligent execution. There

is no way it could miss the watchful eyes of the

authorities in charge of the work. The symbolism

of the comical figures is perhaps a truthful

depiction of the grey area of the system, tocaution to posterity that despite all the sanctity

attached to law and justice, there is the

possibility of existence of lesser mortals even

among the judges and lawyers. One eye blind-

folded may be conveying that there could be

deliberate infractions in dispensation of justice.

While fox advocates do not spring any surprises,

the monkey judges may need some explanation.

Does it mean to convey that their behaviour is

not always stable and dignified? Mercifully, the

comic figures were only few in numbers to

denote that the judicial indiscretions were only

an exception than common. If we are to go by

present day standards, it may become necessary

to display monkey judges and fox advocates in

architecture more prominently and on a larger

scale, for the construction new court buildings.

While celebration of occasions like completion

of time slabs and like Silver Jubilee, Golden

Jubilee, etc. of such great institutions serve as

milestones to recall all the excellent traditions

evolved over long periods to serve as guidance

for future, they should also be the occasions for

introspection to see whether there had beenany grey areas which need attention and

rectification. After all, evolution is nothing but a

continuous quest for improvement. It also

implies that the effort should always be to strive

for better life and better values and healthier

environment, figuratively as well as factually.

There is a common belief in the country that ofall the institutions of public domain, the judiciary

is the best. We have any number of examples

where the judiciary rose to occasion to reassure

the people that they could bank on judiciary

even when all other organs of the State fail to

deliver. It is really gratifying that the judiciary

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21

had earned the confidence of the people and

they consider it the most potent force to ensure

the rule of law. There is also an obligation on the

judiciary, unlike for other organs, to be 100%perfect in its working and the same should also

be seen to be so. This is the acid test the judiciary

has to contend with. Even as the judiciary

remains the tallest among all other sister organs

of the State, it is being increasingly criticized

these days for various reasons.

A very senior Chief Justice of a High Court, whohad also been cleared for elevation to Supreme

Court, has been stopped midway on allegations.

Another senior judge of a High Court is currently

going through impeachment proceedings and

the Rajya Sabha had already held him guilty. He

has since resigned as a Judge and his resignation

has been accepted by the President of India tosave blues in LokSabha. A very senior advocate

of the Supreme Court and a former Union

Minister of Law stood up in Apex Court and told

the Chief Justice of India that a sizeable number

of his predecessors were corrupt and the

statement remains un-rebutted till day. Cases

which have come out into public domain maybe few but sly comments against judges are a

common experience at most of the places. This

being the position in respect of higher judiciary,

it can only be worse in the case of lower judiciary.

Advocates are the most important component

of the legal framework, next only to the judges,

in dispensation of justice. They are expected to

help the Courts in the process to ensure that

the truth is vindicated. But the image they hold

in public eye is something different. More than90% of the litigants I had spoken to have no kind

words for the advocates. General feeling,

whether expressed or not, is that the judiciary,

by and large, is insensitive and the advocates

are heartless. This puts the litigants permanently

at the receiving end making their position

unenviable. They can neither stay away from

knocking at the doors of judiciary nor be

comfortable with the process of litigation. In

olden days when approaching the Court itself

was difficult, the elders used to advise their

children not to approach the courts for justice

and to settle the disputes by compromise. To

add emphasis, they used to ironically explain

that the winner in a court case will be a loser

and the litigant who lost the case is as good as

dead. The perils of seeking judicial relief were

so obvious even in the past. However

sophisticatedly the author tried to explain away

the architecture of monkey judges and fox

advocates, it is not that difficult to understand

the reason behind it.

One point on which everyone agrees is that

there is drastic erosion in values of life in general.

The degradation in ethics during the past 150

years must have been obviously phenomenal.

Only some upright judges and some dutiful

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22

lawyers serve as sentinels of legal field and it is

their fruits of labour that keeps its flag flying. Else,

the language normally heard in legal circles is:

The judge on Admission Bench is strict. Wewill file it after the new man comes.

The present judge is against granting bail

or any interim relief. Let us wait for a liberal

judge.

Let us not push the case for early disposal.

The judge is harsh. Better to wait for a good

judge. It is better to engage an advocate of high

stature. Lesser mortals cannot make

impression on the judge.

Such and such advocate carries lot of weight

with judge.

And such and similar refrains.

Such comments are worrisome. These

impressions point out to the rot the legal system

is afflicted with. A judge is expected to be a judge

nothing more and nothing less. Adjectives like

good, bad, harsh, liberal, considerate etc. are

certainly not compliments to a judge. Granting

adjournment on frivolous grounds is as bad ofrefusing a genuine request for another date.

Being liberal is as bad as being harsh. Favourable

disposition towards a particular advocate is as

bad as being hostile to some. What all is required

in a judge is; he should be well conversant with

law; he must have the patience to hear and learn

from the bar if there is anything to learn and

decide his course of action without fear or favour

and bias or prejudice. The judge unfortunately is

a loner. A judge thus has to sacrifice manypersonal liberties, comforts and pleasures to

make it appear that he is a judge and above all,

he has to be free from the burden of conscience.

As for the advocates who are expected to help

judges enrich the judicial ambience, the

emphasis appears to be to win the cases at any

cost than the means adopted to win them.Sometime ago, we had seen the unpleasant

spectacle of the lawyers going into agitation

mode to protest against a law made to simplify

the procedure and expedite disposal of cases. It

would be an encouraging and welcome sight to

see the lawyers being role model of ideal

citizens so that the common man can emulate.

The credibility of judiciary takes the maximum

beating for delayed justice. While we are never

tired of parroting that justice delayed is justice

denied, our approach gives out an unmistaken

impression of only denying the justice as it is

delayed invariably in every case. The stock

explanation is dearth of courts and paucity ofjudges. They say the backlog is so heavy that it

takes decades for cases to become ripe for

adjudication and the Courts are helpless. Very

often the discussion stops at this point of huge

pendency and does not somehow extend to

explore why such unduly large number of cases

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came to be filed and which of them are in the

much frequented areas of litigation. It may be

possible to reduce litigation to some extent by

addressing causative factors and limiting itsscope. For example, the State is the biggest

litigant. Cant the State design its character and

functioning to create a situation where there will

be no need for the Citizen or the State to enter

into compulsive litigation?

Another distressing aspect is the insensitivity

towards the importance and urgency of thematter under scrutiny. The bench and the bar,

very often than not, behave alike in this aspect.

Innocent litigants are baffled at the way the cases

receive attention of the court. Some cases are

heard with unbelievable urgency while many

others gather dust for years and decades. I

mention below two typical illustrations to drivehome the point:

(a) A & B are husband and wife married in

1992. B deserted her husband in 1995 and is

living separately. A approached the Court for

divorce in 1999 and the Family Court granted

judicial separation instead of divorce in 2002.

Decree for divorce was granted by the FamilyCourt in 2004. B preferred an appeal with the

High Court and the case is pending. In all, it is 12

years the matter is pending before one court or

the other. 12 precious years of the litigants life

in prime youth is already spent in litigation and

the loss is irreparable. Staying away from

litigation fearing judicial delay is not right in that

it amounts to compromising on justice. If

seeking justice from courts also becomes

hazardous, what is the choice before the citizen?Right to life in Part III of the Constitution also

means life with dignity and without fetters.

Provision of reasonable restriction cannot be

applicable in the instant case as the matter is in

judicial domain and it is its responsibility to

discriminate urgency and administer justice. The

courts should devise a mechanism to keep tab

on this aspect instead of waiting for the litigants

to invite attention through mention and

expedite petitions. What is the remedy available

to the victims of the delay? If the Courts say after

a decade and half that A and B should live

together, will it be fair and practicable? As

against this, surprisingly some cases receive

unusual expeditious attention.

(b) A approaches the Court for issue of

directions to B, a Government officer in respect

of a matter within his domain. The Court passes

an interim direction which B says would render

the entire litigation infructuous. The judge

admonishes B orally and threatens to arrest him

for contempt. B had to approach higher Court

and obtain a stay. Issues that come for

consideration here is whether it is proper for the

court to grant the relief sought as main prayer in

the form of an interim direction, giving finality

to the dispute under adjudication and secondly

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the harassment and hardship meted out to the

officer for no fault on his part.

The models presented above smack of some

inherent deficiency in the system and themanner it is addressed. These models portray

that the monkey judges and fox advocates

depicted in the architecture of Bombay High

Court is no fluke or accident. There is reason to

believe that a message was sought to be

conveyed to posterity to warn of possible

aberrations or fallibility in the judicial system,its commitment to the high moral ground

notwithstanding. All those persons, architects,

sculptors, the judges, the bar and the

Government of the day, deserve accolades for

their vision, magnanimity and courage to permit

depiction of weaknesses without any ego or

vanity. It took 150 years for the countrycontemplate follow-up action to such

aberrations in the form of Judicial

Accountability Bill which is in the offing, if at all

it contains the measures to tackle the

deteriorating values.

(NOTE: The views expressed in this article are

the views of the author and he takes fullresponsibility for them. The Journal or its

management are not responsible for the same.

Author)

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

who are retiring from service on attaining the age of super- annuation on the dates mentionedagainst 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.

Name of SFSOfficer Date of Retirement

1. Sri M.Parvatheesham Naidu 31/10/2011

2. Sri U.Govinda Rao 31/10/2011

For further details they may contact the following

Sri. K. Santokh Singh, Secretary Mobile Number. 9848808101Sri. P. Upender Reddy, Jt.Secretary Mobile Number. 9848754778

Crossed Cheque for Rs.2000/= drawn in favor of The Association of Retired Forest Officers may be

sent to the undersigned towards Life Membership of Association

P.UPENDER REDDY

Jt.Secretary cum Treasurer

Quarter No.2/B , P.S.Nagar, Hyderabad-500 057

INVITATION

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The waters of the Manasarovar are like

pearls.Whosoever touches the soil of the

Manasarovar, or bathes in the lake,shall enter

Brahmas paradise; And whosoever who drinks

of its water, shall enter Shivas heaven and be

cleansed of the sins of a hundred lifetimes. (From

the Ramayana Saga)

INTRODUCTION: Mount Kailash and

Manasarovar, the abode of Lord Shiva and Parvati-

a pilgrimage is not only a life time experience

but a fulfillment of a life-time dream. So it was

during the spiritual pilgrimage to Kailash-

Manasarovar-2004, sponsored by Ministry ofExternal Affairs (MEA),GOI, New Delhi who are

the only official tour operator from Indian

Territory. A short description of the yatra will not

be out of place, before the yatri actually embarks

on this yatra.

DURATION AND FORMALITIES: The Yatra

duration is of total 27 days, and another four days

are spend at Delhi for undergoing medical tests

for your cardiovascular and respiratory fitness,

briefing by MEA, GOI, collection of Visa and

foreign exchange. Approximately 13 days the

yatriis in the Indian Territory and the rest 14 days

A SPIRITUAL PILIGRIMAGE

TO HOLY KAILASH-MANASAROVAR

BySurendra K.Bali

are in Tibet-China.

TREKKING: It is arduous at an altitude ranging

from 4000 metres(mts) to 5000 mts. The yatri is

to be physically and mentally fit for this

strenuous journey. It is not unusual that the

doctors of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) andUttaranchal State Government are continuously

monitoring the fitness of the Yatris as they trek

towards a higher altitude.

PLANNING AND ACCLIMITASTION: The yatra is

planned in such a way that the Yatri starting from

Dharachula(India)base camp located on the

bank of Kali River, prepares the Yatri foracclimatization for trek at the higher altitudes

step by step. Whereas the actual trekking, on foot

starts from Mangti(2240 mts) to Gala(2048mts)

and then to Budhi(2740mts) and to

Gunji(3500mts).

Before getting into Tibet we had to cross over

Lipulekh Pass (5344 mts=17,600ft.). Prior to this

passover there are two halting places at

Kalapani(2740mts) and Nabidang(3987mts).

At these places administrative formalities like

checking of passports are completed by the

Indian government authorities. All these part of

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Indian Himalayas are covered by trek so that the

Yatri is acclimatized to the higher altitude

conditions in these parts of the mountains.

There is small field hospital of ITBP who checkup all the medical parameters of the yatris

before they crossover to Tibet.

IN CHINA/TIBET: From Lipulekh pass we cross

over to Tibet by trek and by road with the

support of the Chinese authorities and reach to

the government guest house at

Taklokot(4000mts) and camp there for

completing the formalities of passport checking

and getting the Chinese currencies and

exchange of US dollars. From Taklokhot the real

journey starts for Mansarovar and Mt. Kailash. It

takes another 14 days for return journey to India.

The journey is covered by road as well as by foot.

Now the average altitude of trekking is around

4000mts going to the highest Dolma

pass(5550mts).The trekking is very arduous and

is to be performed by Yak/pony,as well on foot.

From Taklokot the entire batch of Yatris go by

bus to Qihu from where the yatris split into two

batches. One of this batch takes the

circumambulation (Parikarma) of the

Manasarovar lake by bus and the other batch

goes to Darchen(5182mts) for parikarma of Mt.

Kailash.which takes another 2-3 days.

The most difficult part of parikarma of Mt.

Kailash is before crossing the Dolama LA pass,

we had to camp at Deraphug which is the

coldest area during the trek. On way to Darchen

we also crossed the Rakshaktal.

SOME FIELD EXPERIENCES: Lipelukh pass, as

we crossed early in the morning, it suddenlystarted raining along with a heavy snow fall. We

had to cross the snow cover to the depth of 1

meter and the weather became extremely bad

due to snowing.We all crossed the pass with the

support of Tibetan officials before we could go

to the waiting bus on way to Taklokot. The entire

road tract was bumpy because as such there

were no roads except these big boulders.

However the landscape in Tibet was tranquil

with grandeur of holiness.

Derapugh: Beforeparikarma of Mt. Kailash we

had a camp at Derapugh(16,700 ft.), here also

we faced heavy snowfall and rains. This is the

nearest point in the parikarma, where we canget close, clear and complete view of Holy

Kailash. After a steep ascend by Yak/pony we

could reach Dolma LA pass from where trekking

is on only foot because of presence of glaciers

and the rugged terrain.

Mount Kailash: From Dolma LA pass the Holy

Kailash stood before as a great Silver Mountain

in all its austere grandeur. It is the home of Lord

Shiva and Parvati. The scripture say that it is the

holiest of the holy and was unapproachable even

to Gods liken Indra and Siddhas like Kapila. It is

the place of pilgrimage even for Lord Vishnu.

The mountain stood close to us and blessed us

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with a clear and a delightful darshan, as if to offer

us a hearty welcome.

Mt. Kailash is 45 km in circumference at its foot

and rises high into the air like a tapering tower

and its crest covered with snow. It is a beautiful

mass of granite, standing like a gem set in the

middle of chain of mountains.

Mansarovar lake:The lake is 75 km in

circumference and perfectly circular in shape,

on all sides it is surrounded by snow clad

mountains. The water in the lake is sheet of glass,

plain and pure. No contamination by mud or dirt.

The shore is covered with small stones which

glitter like so many precious gems in the water.

At its corner of the lake stand eight monasteries

occupied by holy Lamas, who spend their entire

lives in penance.

Tibet: Tibet is a plateau and is very beautiful and

all sites are delight to watch. Here women work

more tireously then the men. Hard labor is

required to eke out livings in this unfertile region.

The flat table plateau is a barren trek without a

touch of greenery anywhere.

Note: Humbly request you to see the journey

photos at the website:http://goo.gl/b7G8y

I will be covering the other unforgettable

experiences in my next article in the

forthcoming issue.

The following Forest Range officers are promoted as

Assistant Conservator of Forest. Vana Premi congratulates

them and wishes all the best for their future career. (Editor)

1. T.SrinivasaRao.

2. B.DhanajayaRao

3. Ch.Shiviah

4. E.Subrahmanyam

5. V.POPrabhakarRao

6. S.Venkateshwarlu

7. S.MadhavaRao

8. A.Venkateshwarlu

9. K.Ravinder10. V.Anjaneyulu

11. N.KhaderVali

12. P.KrishnamaChary

13. M.GuruPrabhakar

14. P.Sagar

15. R.Srinivasa Reddy

16. N.V.Sivaram Prasad

17. A.Srinivasulu

18. G.P Anand

19. K.Damodar Reddy

20. N.KondalRao

21. C.Vajra Reddy

22. A.Rama Murthy

23. V.SrihariGopal

24. M.RajaRamana Reddy

25. B.VenkateshwarRao

26. Ch.Nagabhushanam

27. G.Srinivasulu28. A. Chandrasekhar

29. R.HanamanthaRao

30. C.SridharRao

31. P.Dhanaraj

32. P.AshokRao

33. Md.Zaheer Ahmed

34. P.Ramulu.

CONGRATULATIONS

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Indira Gandhi Zoological Park, located at

Visakhapatnam The City of Destiny- is

definitely a jewel in the crown of north coastal

Andhra Pradesh. Spread over 625 Acres of natural

forest, the eastern Ghats overlooking the Zoo on

the shores of Bay of Bengal, this abode of wildlife

presents the visitors a spectacular impression

of visiting the wild animals in their natural

habitats.

The establishing of the Zoo was designed from

the year 1972 and went on till 1977 under the

able stewardship of Late Mr. T. Ramakrishna who

was the Curator and the Architect of thisprestigious Zoo for the entire period of 5 years

and was inaugurated on 19th May 1977 by Mr.

Ibrahim Ali Ansari, the then Minister for Forests

and Wakfs. Today the Zoo has about 800 animals

and birds which live in open and in natural

surroundings. About 32 species of Mammals, 44

species of Birds and 10 species of Reptiles are

sheltered here. The latest addition is an

Aquarium named MeenaLokamwith about 45

species of rare Fishes like Piranha, Gold fish,

Rainbow fish, Tiger barb, Flower horn etc. It is

also proposed to add marine animals like

Coelenterates, Mollusks, Sea anemones, Corals

A JEWEL IN THE CROWN OF

NORTH COASTAL A.PBy

V. Santhaseelababu

etc. in to this aquarium.

Most of the inmates of the zoo are either by birth

in this zoo or brought from other zoos or rescued

animals. The highlights of the zoo are the white

Tigers which are 5 adults named Sirish, Kumari,

Giri, Vani, and Veena and the recently born 4 cubswhich are yet to be named. There are 7

magnificent Royal Bengal Tigers which form the

prime attractions of this zoo. Out of them 2 are

Krishna and Rani which are the parents of the

existing population. 2 Lions by name Azam and

Lakshmi are also available here. There are 5

Panthers in this zoo out of which 2 were rescuedlocally and are kept here only. The exotic large

cat exhibited here is the Jaguar. The

Hippopotamus couple has given birth to a

Hippo calf which is one year old now..

The small carnivores like Jackal, Hyena, Wolf,

Jungle Cat, Small Indian Civet and the Wild Dogs

are also seen. Among the herbivores are theIndian Elephant, Barking Deer, Sambhar, Spotted

Deer and Hog Deer. Antelopes like Neelgai,

Chowsingha, Black bucks are accommodated in

large open moat enclosures. The Indian

Porcupine is among the Rodents.

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In the Primates section we can see the Common

Langurs, Macaques and Baboons represented by

Rhesus, Bonnet, Golden Rhesus, Stump tailed

Macaques and Olive Baboons.

The Reptiles consist of Water Monitor Lizard,

Common Monitor, the Indian Crocodiles Muggar,

Gharial and Estuarine Crocodiles and the

snakes,like Indian Python, Cobra and Rat snake,

and Star Tortoises and Terrapins are also seen.

The Aviary consists of Red Jungle Fowl, Grey

Jungle Fowl, Patridges, Rose ringed Parakeet,Pelicans, Cranes, Ibis, Herons, Storks, Sulphur

crested cockatoo, Goffins cockatoo, various love

birds and Budgerigar, Silver Pheasant, Golden

Pheasant, Kalij Pheasant, Ring necked Pheasant,

Lady Amherst Pheasant and Red Spur fowl and

white Peafowl.

It is very common that Panthers very often strayin to the human habitations at Visakhapatnam

due to the proximity of the Reserved Forest to

the city. Forest Department initiated timely

action and the Panthers have been rescued many

a times. Most of them have been let off in the

thick jungles of Rampachodavaram and

Maredumilli except 2 of them which areretained here itself. Sloth Bears were rescued and

a Bison from Rajahmundry was also rescued.

Indira Gandhi Zoological Park is selected by the

Central Zoo Authority, New Delhi, as a

coordinating zoo for conservation and breeding

the Asiatic wild dogs (Dholes) Cuonalpinus in

captivity. At present there are 5 adults and 4

young ones. The Chennai zoo and Tirupati zoo

are the associate zoos for this purpose.

The zoo has an Animal Rescue Center (The Oldage Home of Animals) for the Lions and Tigers

that have been rescued from various Circus

companies. Here the center houses 31 Lions and

12 Tigers. This Rescue Center is considered to

be the best center in the country maintained

and managed for the big cats. Most of the

animals kept here are above 17 years of age anddue to the special care taken on the initiative of

the Central Zoo Authority, their longevity is

increased and they are looking very healthy.

An area of 37 Acres was acquired for establishing

a Marine Land Complex comprising of various

sections of Dolphinarium, Sirenians, Pinnepedia,

Turtles and Crocodiles, Aviary, Aquarium,Invertebrates, Mangroves, Research Laboratory

& Hospital, and Education & Interpretation. The

main idea behind this is to adopt an ex-situ

conservation programme of endangered fauna

of Bay of Bengal like Dolphins, Dugongs, Sea

Turtles, Fishes, Marine Birds and other

invertebrates. Also to develop conservation andeducation programme on Marine Ecosystem

and its fauna, for the local people and especially

the students. The project of Marine Land

Complex was originally conceived in the year

1977 and

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