8 yrs into venture, V Hakeem has over 150 cows and supplies 650l of milk daily, reports A SATISH
Palakkad :
By 2am, V Hakeem is on his feet. He then goes to his coconut grove, located more than a kilometre away, and wakes up his eight migrant workers. And they begin work at his dairy farm in the village of Kamblichungam near Chittur. Hakeem’s foray into dairy farming happened with the cost of purchasing manure for his coconut grove becoming unaffordable. “So I decided to set up a dairy farm inside the grove,” he recounts.
Eight years down the line, Hakeem now has more than 150 cows and supplies 650 litres of milk daily to the Panniperunthala milk society, of which he is the president.
On Friday, he received the district’s best farmer award instituted by the dairy development department. Last year, he supplied 1.36 lakh litres of milk. Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development Minister J Chinchurani gave away the award. “It is the involvement of the farmer that brings in the results,” Hakeem says.“Apart from high-breed varieties like Holstein Friesian and Jerseys, we also have native varieties like Sahiwal, Vechur and Gir.”
He decided to set up the shed there as the cows can be housed in a cool place. “There are coconut palms on all sides, which helps the cattle stay cool and produce more milk. The only issue is that I have to replace the sheets of the shed occasionally as dry palm leaves fall on them.”
He now plans to install a machine that can automatically milk 20 cows in seven minutes. “It will reduce the workload,” he points out. Hakeem says dairy farmers should be given at least Rs 50 per litre to ensure a minimum return on investment, with the cost of feed and other inputs increasing substantially.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Good News / by A Satish, Express News Service / April 03rd, 2022
The ‘winged beauties’ are a good indicator of the ecological health of a habitat
Butterflies are excellent communities to monitor the ecological health of a place. A team of researchers from Mangalore University, in collaboration with other two institutes, has identified and documented 43,118 butterflies (individuals) belonging to 175 species in Dakshina Kannada.
Of them, 22 species were habitat specific. The researchers were pursuing the ‘winged beauties’ for the past two years.
Yellow Pansy (Junonia Hierta)
The team comprised M. S. Mustak, Associate Professor, Department of Applied Zoology, Mangalore University and Deepak Naik, a PhD student at Mangalore University. The study was done in collaboration with Shyam Prasad Rao, a researcher at Yenepoya Deemed to be University, Mangaluru and Krishnamegh Kunte, a researcher from the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bengaluru.
The butterflies were identified at eight heterogeneous landscapes ranging from coastal sand dunes to agricultural fields to botanical gardens to semi-evergreen forests on the foothills of the Western Ghats.
Sahyadri Lacewing (Cethosia Mahratta)
“Using indicator value analysis, 22 habitat-specific and several shared indicator species were identified. The study also documented larval host plants, and over 283 habitat-specific host-butterfly species pair interactions,” Mr. Mustak told The Hindu.
Their research paper – study on abundance and habitat preference of butterflies of the Western Ghats – has now been accepted for publication by the Journal of Insect Conservation, an international journal devoted to the conservation of insects and related invertebrates.
Shiva Sunbeam (Curetis Siva)
The researchers said that butterfly communities indicate the type and state of a habitat, and can easily be conserved by the restoration of habitats with diverse host plants. They have great public appeal and easy to work with, and are the indicators of a healthy ecosystem.
Mr. Mustak said, “People usually cherish abundant and widely distributed butterflies, but fail to appreciate less common or habitat-specific species. Our study gives quantitative data on the butterflies of the Western Ghats, which is essential for public awareness and outreach.”
Malabar Tree Nymph (Idea Malabarica)
The team conducted a systematic transect survey for two years to get baseline data on the abundance patterns and habitat preferences of butterflies of the Western Ghats. The study gives an important dataset for future assessment, monitoring and conservation of butterflies of the Western Ghats.
Sahyadri Birdwing (Troides Minos)
The study showed interesting patterns. Some of the most abundant species are Common Crow (Euploea Core), Common Emigrant (Catopsilia Pomona), Common Four Ring (Ypthima Huebneri), Tawny Coster (Acraea Terpsicore), Lesser Grass Blue (Zizina Otis), Rustic (Cupha Erymanthis), and Chocolate Pansy (Junonia Iphita)
Blue Oakleaf (Kallima Hosfieldii)
Some species, though very abundant, are restricted to specific habitats. For example, Tawny Coster (Acraea Terpsicore) is common in coastal regions, Common Bush Hopper (Ampittia Dioscorides) in found in agricultural habitats, and Malabar Tree Nymph (Idea Malabarica) in semi-evergreen forests. Some species, such as Common Mormon (Papilio Polytes) and Common Leopard (Phalanta Phalantha), though rare, are found everywhere.
Tree Flitter (Hyarotis Adrastus)
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Mangaluru / by Raviprasad Kamila / Mangaluru – December 04th, 2021
Abdul Khadar Nadakattin, was on Tuesday named among the winners of the Padma Shri award.
He is an innovative farmer from Annigeri town in Dharwad district. Being a mechanic by hobby, he developed an interest in agriculture in his inherited land of 60 acres falling in dry area.
His experiments started with planting mango, sapota with intercrops like chilli and ber in the 1980s. His innovative ideas turned into reality in 1994 when he developed a device to separate tamarind seeds from the pulp after spending Rs 3 lakh and six months. In one day, this device can carry out the work equivalent to 500 labourers per day.
Nadakattin started innovating in 1974 soon after he left school as he could not get up early in the morning and his father wanted him to become a farmer. At that time, he had developed a kind of bullock drawn tiller capable of deep plouging in which whetting was not needed. He also invented a multi–purpose sowing machine in 1985.
He established Vishwashanthi Agricultural Research and Industrial Research Centre in 1975.
Now agricultural equipment named after ‘Nadakattin’ are famous across the country.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> News> City News> Hubballi News / by TNN / January 26th, 2022
Bagged State Biodiversity Board’s Custodian of Traditional Knowledge Award
Kerala State Biodiversity Board has conferred their award for the year 2019-20 for“custodian of traditional knowledge/ citizen scientist” to Sri. Salim Pichan, an employee of MSSRF.
The award is given to persons who have an excellent track record in biodiversity conservation, environment protection and traditional knowledge.
As a zealous para taxonomist, Mr Salim Pichan accrued the knowledge pertaining to the plants, uses and modalities of its applications through his association with traditional healers and tribal communities over a period of two decades. Mr Salim Pichan, a person with intermediate qualification has first become a lover of nature then a para taxonomist and eventually a custodian of traditional knowledge!
This is what his life’s journey is all about.
He has contributed to the discovery of eight new species of plants to science, seven new plant records to Kerala and has also published several books and articles.
As a dedicated conservationist, his 30 cents of land is protecting 300 plant species, of which 100 of them belong to the Rare Endemic and Threatened (RET) category.
A collection of Ceropegia, a unique climber is what makes his garden exceptional along with protection of 11 species in addition to 130 numbers of Orchids, 13 numbers of Dioscorea spp and 123 numbers of medicinal plants.
Most of these plants are collected from different forests and vegetation types across the state and are carefully protected with utmost care.
Many awards and recognitions have reached him in the past as well with the notable ones including Vanamithra award by Kerala State Government in the year 2012 and Swami Vivekananda Yuvaprathibha Puraskaram in 2015, Wayanad District Youth Award in 1998.
To honour his efforts in biodiversity conservation, some taxonomists also named a plant endemic to the Western Ghats as a tribute with his name Seidenfadenilla salimii.
source: http://www.mssrfcabc.res.in / M S Swaminathan Research Foundation / Home> News Room / July 30th, 2021
Ornithologist Dr. Salim Ali’s forgotten radio-casts now come ‘alive’ in a book. / In memory of Ornithologist Dr Salim Moizuddin Ali.
Dr Salim Moizuddin A. Ali (November 12, 1896-June 20, 1987) was the first Indian to conduct systematic bird surveys across undivided India and even later, and then penned several bird books which popularised ornithology in the sub-continent.
Mumbai :
In a unique initiative, the forgotten radio broadcasts of legendary ornithologist, the late Dr Salim Ali have been compiled and brought ‘alive’ in a book form, which will be released on November 12, marking the 125th birth anniversary of the ‘Birdman of India’.
Dr Salim Moizuddin A. Ali (November 12, 1896-June 20, 1987) was the first Indian to conduct systematic bird surveys across undivided India and even later, and then penned several bird books which popularised ornithology in the sub-continent.
The book — “Words For Birds” — edited by renowned author Tara Gandhi, comprises all the 35 broadcasts of Dr Ali on All India Radio (AIR) — from British India to Independent 1980s — probably unheard of by most people in the current century.
“I had worked with Dr Salim Ali for long… I have even worked on his other papers and documents and I came across these broadcasts that are well-preserved by BNHS,” the book editor Gandhi told IANS briefly, as the book awaits official release.
It will be unveiled as part of the ongoing 125th birth anniversary celebrations of the great ornithologist conferred with the Padma Vibhushan (1976), at the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS, founded 1883), said Education Officer Raju Kasambe.
The 35 talks that comprise “Words For Birds” were broadcast over 45 years, between 1941-1985, revealing Dr Ali’s exceptional skills both as an oral communicator and a passionate bird propagandist.
“The object of these talks is really to interest listeners, in the first instance for the healthy pleasure and satisfaction bird watching affords rather than for its intrinsic scientific possibilities,” the ornithologist had said of his radio transmissions.
The enthralling radiocasts, in a story-telling style, cover a wide range — bird habits and habitats, risks they face, the crucial role of avian in nature’s cyclic processes, how they benefit agriculture, unseen or little understood contributions to the economy, etc.
On his passion, Dr Ali said how 50 years ago bird watching in India was nowhere as popular, or indeed respectable, as it has become now, and in his younger days he would time and again fall in with persons who left him with a feeling, as they withdrew, that they were inwardly tapping a pitying finger on their foreheads.
“Their first glimpse of me very often was, it is true, of a distinctly shabby khaki-clad individual of the garage mechanic type, wandering leisurely and rather aimlessly about the countryside and surreptitiously peeping into bushes, and holes in tree-trunks and earth banks…” said the legend modestly.
Though he had focussed mainly on birds in his radio talks, it is evident that he was interested in all forms of wildlife and contemporary conservation issues, too, with each talk reading like a short essay, and the reader can even glance randomly through it to be immensely educated and entertained.
Dr Ali’s best-sellers from his massive collection include “Book Of Indian Birds” and the monumental 10-volume “Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan” (co-authored with S. Dillon Ripley), “The Birds of Kutch”, “Indian Hill Birds”, “Birds of Kerala”, “The Birds of Sikkim”, and his autobiography, “The Fall of a Sparrow”.
The book editor Gandhi was guided by Dr Ali for MSc (Field Ornithology), and she works for biodiversity conservation, conducts surveys to document birds and other wildlife in India.
Besides scientific and popular articles on nature and ecology, she has penned several books like “Birds, Wild Animals and Agriculture: Conflict and Coexistence in India” and edited the two-volume “A Bird’s Eye View: The Collected Essays and Shorter Writings of Salim Ali”.
Published by Black Kite and Hachette, “Words For Birds” (256 pg/Rs.599) will soon be available from BNHS and Amazon platforms. — IANS
source: http://www.clarionindia.net / Clarion India / Home> India> Life> Books / November 05th, 2021
A youth from Chennai has invented a flying car, while a schoolboy from Aurangabad has invented an e-Cycle
Chennai:
Indian Muslims are silently making their efforts for innovative development in the country. A youth from Chennai has invented a flying car, while a schoolboy from Aurangabad has invented an e-Cycle. Their achievements tell the story that Muslims are second to none in the innovative development of the country.
Muhammad Furkan Shoaib, an aeronautical engineer, has fulfilled the dream of million Indians of riding a flying car in the sky. He along with his technical team has innovated India’s first flying car. Furkan Shoaib is a certified UAV pilot and the Chief Technology Officer at VINITA – an Aero-mobility company in Chennai.
The model of this flying car was shown at the London Helitech Exposition on October 5, 2021. Many of India’s news channels showed the car launch in their news coverage. They gave credit for this innovation to the “Make in India” project and failed to mention the promising young engineer’s contribution to this innovation.
The gap was filled by a US website called ‘Future Flight’ that gave coverage to this innovation and also appreciated Muhammad Furqan’s abilities for his stellar contribution to the field of aviation.
Undoubtedly Muhammad Furqan has made the whole country proud. His innovation is a morale booster and inspiration for the youth, especially the Muslim youth, who too want to be on such work of innovation in the country.
Aurangabad :
“e-Cycle”
The second story is of a talented high-school boy Mohammad Faizan from Aurangabad in Maharashtra. Faizan is making waves in social media for his innovation of an e-bike that has made people rushing for a glimpse of him and his invention. Its video is available on YouTube.
Faizan, the tech-savvy student of 8th grade, has transformed a paddle bike into electric one. He actually has transformed the common paddle bike into a motorbike. Attached to the bike are a self-starter switch, accelerator, clutch, breaks, and other features.
The bike is powered by an electrical motor. Faizan has connected the motor with a rechargeable battery that takes two hours to get fully charged. A single charge lasts for about 50 kilometers and there is a digital indicator that displays remaining battery levels. The speedo-meter tells the speed of the bike. The innovator claims that the top speed of the bike is 30 kilometers per hour.
These two positive stories from the much-maligned Muslim community show mirror to those who accuse, the 14 percent Muslim minority community of a drag on 84 percent Hindu population.
The negative stereotyping of the Muslims likes “puncher chaap” or “love jihadi” are corona jihadi are dutifully circulated in the media, while the story of these two characters has never been told even though they inspire a whole generation of youth of the country.
[Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba2007@gmail.com.]
source: http://www.ummid.com / Ummid.com / Home> Science & Technology / by Syed Ali Mujtaba / October 18th, 2021
A team of naturalists participating at a forest department survey | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
A new species of fruit fly discovered for the first time has been named after Siruvani in the Western Ghats
A fruit fly has created a buzz with its maiden show in Siruvani, a biodiversity hotspot of the Western Ghats. It turns out to be a new species that has been reported, named, and documented for the first time ever. The fruit fly is now scientifically named as Euphranta siruvani, after the place where it was first collected.
A research student at Annamalai University, H Sankararaman, first spotted this unusual visitor on a light trap which he had set up to capture moths at a non-forest space near Siruvani. “The fruit fly was attracted towards light and I was lucky enough to have spotted it. It has a distinct V-shaped black band on its forewing,” recalls Sankar.
The discovery now appears in Zootaxa journal in a paper authored by David K J and Sachin, K, ICAR-National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources (NBAIR), Bengaluru, DL Hancock from the UK, Sudhir Singh from Forest Research Institute, Dehradun and H Sankararaman from Annamalai University. According to David, there are 104 recognised species in the genus Euphranta that are distributed across the world. “Of this, 14 are recorded so far from India. The discovery of Euphranta siruvani is the brand-new addition to the checklist.”
“This fruit fly is a rare species and a valuable addition to the diversity,” says David K J, scientist at ICAR-NBAIR, one of the National Institutes with several taxonomists of international repute. “We first check with the regional/world catalogue, then refer to available literature, and connect with authorities around the world over mail before confirming it as a new species,” explains David.
A species can be named after the ‘type locality’ (the place from where the holotype was collected), a specific characteristic feature, after the collector or after an eminent taxonomist for his contributions. In this case, they chose the place, a thriving ecosystem of rich fauna and flora and also the source of drinking water for Coimbatore.
Apart from the fruit fly, additionally a brand new fairy fly species was found at Siruvani. The species Omyomymar hayati is named after Professor Mohammad Hayat of Aligarh Muslim University for his contributions to insect taxonomy.
“I have described several species after the type locality for example Acidoxantha galibeedu in 2014 based on specimen collected near Coorg. Later, I had collected the same species from other parts of Karnataka and Kerala. Similarly, may be the E.siruvani can be seen across the Western Ghats and Kerala in South India. We have to study further to understand its distribution,” explains David, who has identified and described 28 new species of fruit flies of India.
The genus Euphranta comprises many fruit/seed infesting species, including Euphranta cassiae that feeds on the pods of Kanikonna (Cassia fistula) trees. “There are 5,000 species of fruit flies across the world. In India, we have nearly 290 species so far; we keep adding to the list.”
K D Prathapan, an expert on beetles, who works at Kerala Agricultural University, says fruit flies have an average lifespan of three to four weeks. “By infesting fruits, they damage the reproductive capacity of plants. Some species breed in bamboo shoots. And then there are cucurbit fruit flies that are pests of cucurbits such as cucumber, gourds, and pumpkins.”
The study of fruit flies is important for the agricultural economy, as they infect mangoes, melons, gourds, and guavas, says Sankararaman. “It lays eggs in fruits and the larvae feed on the pulp. We are yet get insights about the biology of the species discovered in Siruvani.”
K Mohan Prasath, founder of Act for Butterflies, says there are also many parasitic insects that are helpful to farmers in pest control. Mohan and his team have compiled a list of over 1,000 species of moths across Tamil Nadu and plan to bring it out in a book form soon. “We hope such discoveries build interest in entomology that covers insects, butterflies, and moths. Identification of new species is especially relevant now as there is habitat destruction of many species because of climate change.”
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sci-Tech> Environment / by K Jeshi / January 12th, 2021
A faculty member of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), in association with German researchers, has discovered a new protein in plants that will ‘improve the salt stress tolerance of crops.’
This will enable farm land with high salinity soil amenable to cultivation.
Dr Tariq Aftab, assistant Professor, Department of Botany, AMU, together with other collaborators from Germany, have identified a new protein and named it ‘HvHorcH’.
This protein plays an important role in conferring salt stress tolerance in barley plants. Salt stress tolerance of crop plants is a trait with increasing value for future food production.
According to an official release from AMU, the research work has been carried out at Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research, Gatersleben, Germany during the assignment to Dr Aftab as visiting scientist.
After several years of further studies and repeat trials, the report has been published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences.
Dr Aftab said that the identification of this protein will open new horizons in developing stress-resilient crop plants. “Global climate change, which is predicted to be accompanied by prolonged and intensified drought periods, is likely to aggravate this situation even further.
Intensified irrigation attempts to combat drought ultimately increase soil salinity and thus eventually impede farmland cultivation when salinity reaches threshold levels that can no longer be tolerated by crop plants.
“It is therefore an eminent goal for a global sustainable food supply to improve the salt stress tolerance of crop plants in order to push these thresholds of soil salinity upwards so that more farmland with high-salinity soil will still be amenable to agriculture,” he explained.
The ‘Green Walkathon – 2021’ organized by Beary’s Group was initiated in front of Mangala Auditorium of Mangalore University on Saturday September 25 morning.
The Green Walkathon, which is a part of the International Green Week – 2021 that started from in front of the university’s Mangala Auditorium moved towards Beary’s Turning Point at Deralakatte.
Mangalore University vice-chancellor, Dr P Subrahmanya Yadapadithaya, said that the environment will automatically become clean if our minds are clean. “We are following the policy of keeping our lives ahead of nature. For our lives to be saved, nature is very important. Therefore, we should join hands to conserve nature,” he stated.
Speaking after presiding over the programme, Beary’s Group president, Syed Muhammad Beary, felt that there is a need to create awareness to encourage a clean and green city. “Nature offers us several gifts. But it is important what we give in return to nature. We cut down many trees when constructing a house or building but we do not take care to plant a tree. Nature becomes green only if we keep planting the saplings. The walkathon is aimed at creating awareness about love of nature and clean environment,” he stated.
Syed Muhammad Beary said that environment in the world keeps on changing and it has cast grave influence on the hman beings. “Therefore, the humans have to strive to protect our earth. We are nothing in front of nature. We are not bigger than nature. We will survive only if we preserve nature,” he stated.
BIT principal, Dr S I Manzoor Pasha, welcomed, BEADS principal A R Ashok Mendonca, Dr Azuz Mustafa, Venkatesh Pai, Santosh D’Souza, BIT – ECE head of the department, Dr Abdulla Gubbi and others were present.
source: http://www.daijiworld.com / Daijiworld.com / Home> Top Stories / by Mohan Kuthar, Daijiworld Media Network – Mangaluru (SP) / September 25th, 2021
Ruler of Oman, Sultan Qaboos bin Said has honoured Dr. M.I.H.Farooqi, with an award of US$ 25,000 (Rs 12 lakh) in appreciation of his books Plants of the Quran and Medicinal plants in the Traditions of Prophet Mohammad.
Both the books contain scientific descriptions of plants mentioned in the Qu’ran and Sunnah .
Dr. Farooqi is a well-known Lucknow-based plant chemist with more than 125 research papers to his credit, published in Indian and foreign journals.
He is also the author of several books and more than hundred articles in English, Hindi and Urdu on science subjects of common interest like environment, modern technology, medicinal plants, economic plants, Islamic science and Prophetic Medicine.
Plants of the Quran has been translated and published in several languages including Hindi, Urdu, Persian, Kannada, Malayalam and Indonesian languages. Based on Quranic and Prophetic Plants, UNESCO has approved Multimillion Dollars Project of Quranic Botanical Gardens in the Gulf countries.
Works on the establishment of such gardens in Sharjah and Qatar have already started.
(Dr. MIH Farooqi may be contacted at mihfarooqi[@]gmail.com)
source: http://www.milligazette.com / The Milli Gazette / Home> News> Focus / by The Milli Gazette / March 26th, 2011
