Transmission line in Northeast India going through gibbon habitat

Gibbons on power tightrope - Arunachal okays transmission line through crucial habitat

ROOPAK GOSWAMI

An adult male and female eastern hoolock gibbon. Telegraph picture A proposed high tension transmission line is posing a threat to the habitat of the eastern hoolock gibbon, a “vulnerable” species according to the IUCN Red List, in Arunachal Pradesh, with environment activists asking the government to keep the animals in mind while clearing development projects. Arunachal Pradesh power minister Tanga Byaling, however, told The Telegraph: “They won’t be affected if the line passes through.” The project in question is a Power Grid Corporation transmission line that will cut through the habitat of the primarily arboreal (tree-dwelling) species found in Arunachal Pradesh’s Lohit, Dibang Valley and Changlang districts and Sadiya sub-division of Assam’s Tinsukia district. The corporation has sought approval for diversion of 108.937 hectares in favour of Power Grid Corporation of India Limited for laying a single circuit 132KV transmission line from Roing to Tezu in Lower Dibang Valley and Lohit districts of Arunachal Pradesh. The proposal envisages establishment of a power transmission network system associated with the gas-based power projects, being implemented by the ONGC and Tripura Power Company Limited for uninterrupted distribution of power among the constituent states of the Northeast. The proposed line will pass through three reserve forests. The forest advisory committee under the ministry of environment and forests is scheduled to discuss the project in New Delhi tomorrow. The estimated population of the eastern hoolock gibbon in the forest stretch between Roing and Tezu is around 1,000 — around 30 per cent of the state’s total population of 3,500. Two species of hoolock gibbons, the western hoolock gibbon (Hoolock hoolock) and the eastern hoolock gibbon (Hoolock leuconedyes) are found in the Northeast. With long and slender arms, gibbons are swift — they can swing from tree to tree at speeds up to 55km per hour, covering up to 6 metres in just one swing. Of the two, the western hoolock is listed as endangered in the IUCN Red List, while the eastern hoolock is listed as vulnerable. Dilip Chetry, programme head, primate research and conservation initiative of Aaranyak — a biodiversity conservation society of the Northeast — said, “There are scientific papers stating that the said area is a habitat of the eastern hoolock gibbon. Any development project in that area should be taken up keeping the hoolock gibbon in mind.” Sources said habitat fragmentation and hunting were the major threats to gibbons in the country and added to this situation was the lack of basic information and poor conservation awareness about the species among different sections of people, including the frontline forest department staff. “The project, if it gets cleared, will fragment the habitat of eastern hoolock gibbon, which will be dangerous,” said a senior official of the Wildlife Trust of India, which is working on gibbon conservation at Dello, 20km from Roing. According to sources, the state government has forwarded the proposal without any specific recommendations, stating that the assessment officer had not given any adverse comment on the matter. It said the project would not affect any stream, sea, waterbody or forest eco-system and the bio-diversity of the area. The government said no unique eco-system was reported to exist on the land being diverted in both Lohit and Namsai forest divisions. Interestingly, even the state forest department stated in its site inspection report that the area proposed for the transmission line was not significantly important from a wildlife point of view. Justifying the proposal, the state government said the transmission line would serve as a stable and reliable source of power for the remote districts of Arunachal Pradesh, which have a sizable population. These areas are currently facing power scarcity, which is coming in the way of development and progress. eom

Muga silk has a sanctuary now too...

Manas haven for muga

ROOPAK GOSWAMI

The muga silkworms that give Assam its famous golden thread now have a sanctuary on the fringes of Manas National Park. A senior official of Central Silk Board said the move aimed at conserving the germplasm of muga silkworm as its habitats were fast eroding because of rapid deforestation for agriculture and human habitation. The initiative is a collaboration of Central Silk Board and the department of sericulture, Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC). Altogether 100 acres of land have been demarcated in the Rangijora area of Kuklung forest range in Chirang district in Manas National Park. The sanctuary was inaugurated on June 5 in the presence of Deven Boro, executive member, department of sericulture, BTC, Prafulla Kumar Hazowary, secretary, BTC, Kokrajhar, and Sarat Deori, joint secretary, Central Silk Board, ministry of textiles, among others. “Being a single species silkworm, rearing of the stock in the same place for more than three to four generations shows an inherent tendency of inbreeding depression as indicated by the loss of its tolerance capacity to environmental variations. The germplasm is also fast depleting due to unabated deforestation and human intervention. To check further erosion of the valuable genetic resource of muga silkworm, there is an urgent need for conservation of muga in its wild habitat and to establish a sanctuary to conserve this valuable resource in its natural habitat,” Deori toldThe Telegraph here. Another problem is that muga silkworm had always been grown outdoors and is prone to die in large numbers because of factors like global warming, climate fluctuations and pollution besides predators and diseases. Muga, the golden yellow silk, is obtained from semi-domesticated silkworm, Antheraea assamensis. Earlier, several attempts were made by the line departments to conserve muga silkworms in the wild by demarcating a specific reserve forest as wildlife sanctuary. The attempts, however, failed because of administrative reasons. The sanctuary has been set up in the BTC area, as it is an important seed pocket of muga and contributes about 30 per cent to the state’s silk output. Weaving is an integral part of Bodo culture and many families rear their own silkworms, the cocoons of which are spun into silk. Bodo girls learn to weave from a young age and no Bodo courtyard is complete without a loom. “The present local (semi-domestic) stock is less tolerant to environmental factors causing diseases. For revitalisation of the existing stock, evolution of a variety or developing a vigorous breed is required for which exploitation of the genetic resource in the wild is required,” a scientist at Central Silk Board said. Of the total Assam silk production of 2,019 metric tonnes in 2011-12, the production of muga was 115 metric tonnes. Muga provides self-employment to more than 44,000 families, including ancillary units, in the state. “It is an excellent initiative for conservation of muga germplasm and the area is suitable,” the divisional forest officer of Chirang, Suvasish Das, said. eom

Assam arecanut leaf plates eye global market

Assam arecanut leaf plates on global route ROOPAK GOSWAMI After foraying into the country’s retail market and getting a toehold abroad, producers of Assam’s arecanut leaf plates are eyeing a share of the global market. “We plan to net a turnover of Rs 10 crore from the present level of Rs 70 lakh in the next five years and also get into the export market, which will constitute 20 per cent of the plate sales,” Arindam Dasgupta, CEO of Tamul Plates Marketing Private Limited, told The Telegraph. The Barpeta-based company has already bagged orders from the US and Canada, encouraging it to further tap the export market besides increasing its domestic presence. Dhriiti, an NGO, started the areca nut leaf plate project in 2005. Subsequently, the villagers of the area who produced disposable plates using the areca nut leaf sheath teamed up with entrepreneurs to found Tamul Plates Marketing Pvt Ltd, which now looks after the marketing and other aspects of the business. The company provides 100 per cent buyback guarantee to the plate producers and purchases their products on a weekly basis. Payments are made immediately based on a price set jointly by the two sides. “The company has a very stringent quality control process where each and every product procured is checked and graded according to quality. It absorbs the market shocks and lets the producer concentrate on the production aspects,” Dasgupta said. He said demand was huge for the plates and there was an urgent need to increase production. “We sold 25 lakh pieces in 2012-13.” The company has 10 wholesalers — one each in Guwahati, Tura and Dimapur, two in Delhi, two in Punjab, one in Patna, one in Mumbai and one in Calcutta. The retail chain, Spencers, is also selling the company’s plates in some of its stores, while plans are afoot to make it available in more retail stores across the country. Its main competitors are producers based in Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. “There is also a suppy shortfall of bio-degradable disposables in the food service industry. It is estimated that eco-friendly biodegradable material manufacturers will occupy close to 10 per cent of the $32-billion disposables’ market in the food service sector. We would like to tap the huge natural resource potential available in this region and promote an eco-friendly product to provide employment to rural youth of this region,” Dasgupta said. While admitting that their pricing was much higher than plastic or styrofoam products, being almost double in some cases, he said, “We are not catering to that market. Our target is the high-end market and to provide quality products to the customers. Our pricing is even higher than our southern competitors as we pay a fair trade price to the producers and raw material collectors. The procurement prices have increased by more than 200 per cent over the last five years. “We do not have any fear of declining areca nut cultivation. At present, we are not even tapping 10 per cent of the available plantations in Assam. So we have lot of ground to cover,” Dasgupta added. eom

Assamese cuisine goes global

Eatery busts a food myth - Axomi plans to open outlets in US and Britain ROOPAK GOSWAMI People dine at Axomi restaurant in Bangalore. Telegraph picture  The “myth” that Assamese food cannot go global seems to be on the way out. The first Assamese speciality restaurant outside Assam, Axomi, which has opened in Bangalore, is spreading out and is planning to open branches across the shores. “We will be opening more branches across Bangalore followed by other places in India. We are also looking at opening at least one branch in the US and in the UK in the next three to five years,” Srimanta Sharma, one of the three owners of the Axomi restaurant, told this correspondent. He said, however, the current focus of the management is to nurture the brand to the maximum possible, systematically expand operations in Bangalore first and then venture to other cities of India. “All efforts will be to achieve the ultimate objective of putting Assamese cuisine on the global map” Sharma added. The three promoters of the restaurant — Dipankar Kalita, Pranjal Medhi and Sharma — are from Bangalore. Another advantage of having a restaurant in the garden city is that there is a very big Assamese community present in Bangalore comprising students, working professionals and also many families. So there is a ready clientele from day one. Located at Koramangala (1st Main, 7th block), in Bangalore, the restaurant opened onmakar sankranti. “The idea was to expose and take forward to the rest of India the wonderful cuisine of Assam. In India, cuisine from Bengal, Punjab, Rajasthan and south India have evolved over a period of time and are now known and very successfully accepted across India. We believe that our Assamese cuisine, too, has the same potential and so this initiative. We wish to take Assamese cuisine globally in the next couple of years. Food is an intrinsic part of one’s culture and identity. As an initiative to showcase the beautiful culture and heritage of the Assamese people, we have adopted the route of food and hence the restaurant,” Sharma added. He said it is a myth that Assamese food cannot become commercial. “From day one (Uruka morning) our restaurant in Bangalore has been stormed by crowds and people have been coming back for multiple (three to five times) repeat visits as well. We are overwhelmed with all the response received so far. What is very satisfying is that the people who had come and visited the restaurant were not only from the Assamese community but also from other Indian communities as well as Americans, British, Germans and Nigerians.” “The restaurant has been running to full capacity on all weekends and to about 70 per cent capacity on weekdays in its first month of operation. So it was a myth that Assamese cuisine cannot be commercialised and we are glad we could bust it completely,” Sharma added. Some of the favourite dishes of the restaurant are rou fish in outenga curry, kawoi fish with teel (black sesame) curry, magur fish with skunk vine (bhedailota in Assamese),hilsa fish steamed in white mustard, duck roast with black sesame and hanh aru sal komora (duck meat and white gourd). “The offerings will be always Assamese cuisine at all times and no dilution will ever take place whatever be the market situation. “Speciality also signifies the single-minded objective of sticking to our core and developing a niche for Assamese cuisine,” Sharma said. EOM

Colombo shows the way for tea industry

Tea forum makes history

ROOPAK GOSWAMI

History was made in Colombo yesterday as six tea producing countries joined hands to form the International Tea Producers’ Forum which will help them to raise issues of concern unitedly. “It is a very significant development for the tea industry and one which will help it to put up a united forum to raise issues of concern,” chairman of Tea Board of India M.G.V.K. Bhanu told The Telegraph from Colombo. The ministerial level meeting that started yesterday concluded today. D. Purandeswari, Union minister of state for commerce and industry led the Indian delegation. The setting up of the forum had been on the agenda earlier but somehow could not materialise due to various factors. One of the most important issues has been the issue of different levels of maximum residue levels (MRLs) in tea. Sources said the problem of MRLs is an important one as different consuming countries have different standards of judging MRLs in tea and this will keep on happening unless there is an agreement among tea producing and consuming countries on the maximum residue level (MRL) in pesticides being used. The meeting was presided over by plantation industries minister Mahinda Samarasinghe and organised by the ministry of plantation industries and Sri Lanka Tea Board. The main brief of the forum is to safeguard interests of tea-producing countries and deliberate and evolve collective solutions on problems affecting producers. The countries which signed the joint communique are India, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Rwanda and Malawi. Kenyan and Sri Lankan delegations were lead by ministers of the respective countries. Iran and China were represented by officials from respective embassies in Colombo but they did not sign. Vietnam did not attend. “The idea is to make tea as the most preferred beverage universally through stimulating its consumption by facilitating and execution of generic promotional campaigns and raising awareness of the health benefits of tea” Bhanu said. Five strategically important markets — the US, Russia, Kazakhstan, Iran and Egypt — have been selected for extensive and intensive promotional intervention through execution of five specific activities over five years. For the Indians, the activities identified are extensive promotion of the India Tea logo, engagement with the local trading community, consumer-oriented promotion, utilisation of social media and focus on export of value-added teas by putting in place infrastructure enablers. A source said the constitution of ITPF was adopted subject to ratification by cabinets of respective countries and the forum will be initially headquartered in Colombo. Any country producing more than 2 million kg in a year can become a member of ITPF. “Consuming countries may also be invited to the meetings in future but they will not have voting rights,” the source said. The forum was required as sustainability of tea industry is important for all producing countries because of employment, income generation, foreign exchange earnings, livelihood of workers and growers. ITPF will be initially an independent body and in future may try for affiliation under Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. Election of general council and executive committee will take place in the next meeting sometime in November. Three tea producers of Assam were in the 15-member Indian delegation — Bidyananda Barkakoty (chairman North Eastern Tea Association), Rajib Barooah (chairman of Assam Tea Planters’ Association) and Prabhat Bezboruah (past chairman of Assam Tea Planters’ Association). “It offers a platform for discussing issues worldwide and come to a consensus and these developments only strengthen the industry,” secretary of Assam Branch of Indian Tea Association Dhiraj Kakati told The Telegraph. eom

Namdapha--- a tiger reserve left to its own devices

From "nominal"  protection to no guns for fear of militants, this is Namdapha tiger reserve

ROOPAK GOSWAMI

The National Tiger Conservation Authority has painted a bleak picture of Namdapha tiger reserve with “nominal” protection measures coupled with rampant poaching. “There is little presence of the authorities/management in the reserve and protection has been minimal, indeed nominal, and it has pretty much been left to its own devices. As one understands, this has been the plight of Namdapha — as is evident from reports of other teams that visited the park and personal visits — for many years, and is the root of much that ails the reserve,” the report said. Protection and enforcement in the park is almost non-existent. “For one, there is no permanent protection camp in the reserve. The management says attempts to set up permanent camps have been futile,” it revealed. “Even the staff is reluctant to patrol the interiors of the reserve and it was clear from our various interactions that patrolling was not a regular feature, but sporadic and occasional. They cite fear of retaliation from Lisus, lack of equipment, facilities and infrastructure. Another reason is lack of direction from superiors,” the report said. Lisus are a hunting tribe and known to indulge in poaching inside the reserve. “There is no provision for rations and despite this being a malaria-affected area, no preventive medicine is given. The guards are not armed, except with rifles/shotguns. Guns are not available either,” it said. The tiger conservation authority had sent a five-member team to Namdapha tiger reserve after it got reports about rampant hunting and feeble protection measures and a senior forest officer being shot. In February last year, camera traps set up by Aaranyak, a wildlife NGO, succeeded in capturing an adult male tiger — the first time in Namdapha. The 1,985 square km sanctuary in Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh was declared a tiger reserve in 1983. Most tribes living around the reserve are known to be involved in poaching. According to local sources and previous information, poachers from Myanmar are known to seek tigers, leopards, clouded leopards, bears and elephants. “Reportedly, traders from Myanmar supply traps and also buy contraband wildlife derivatives. Poachers who come in from Myanmar also take help from local communities,” the report said. It said it was an “open secret” that bush meat or venison is available at Miao town, the headquarters of Namdapha tiger reserve. “It is not openly sold in the bazaar as was done earlier, but supplied directly to regular clients and influential people in the town,” it said. The five-member team recommended that the reserve required good, effective and committed leadership, priority filling up of staff shortage, getting support from local communities, voluntary relocation of 84 Lisu families and audit of the expenditures of at least the last five years. “Namdapha faces a number of issues, not least of which is poaching and the fact that the best grasslands have been encroached upon. If we are to save Namdapha, the current state of apathy cannot continue,” said Prerna Singh Bindra, a member of the National Board for Wildlife. eom

Colombo meet to chalk global tea forum

International tea producer's forum on anvil ROOPAK GOSWAMI  Ministers of nine tea producing countries will meet for two days starting Monday in Colombo to discuss the setting up of the International Tea Producer’s Forum to address the concerns of tea producing and consuming countries. India will be represented by a 15-member delegation led by minister of state for commerce D. Purandeswari. It will include Tea Board chairman M.G.V.K. Bhanu, Indian Tea Association chairman A.N. Singh, North Eastern Tea Association chairman B. Barkakoty and Assam Tea Planter’s Association chairman Rajib Barooah. “It is a forum through which tea producing countries can exchange their concerns with consumer countries. The issue of maximum residue limit is also important,” Bhanu toldThe Telegraph. The pesticide residue problem is regarded as significant in the tea industry, with different tea producing countries having different norms for the maximum permissible levels. Regarding India, concerns have been raised time and again on the high MRLs (maximum residue level for hazardous substances) of pesticide residues in teas produced in the country. “When we export we have to conform to international conditions and there is no way out,” a tea industry official said, adding that the issue was a complex one, for which discussions were on. The international focus now is on harmonising the MRLs across all tea producing countries and this is one of the main reasons behind formation of the forum. The forum is also being formed to safeguard interests of tea producer countries and deliberate and evolve collective solutions on problems affecting producers. Sources said the idea of setting up of the forum had been doing the rounds since 2006 and was raised at various international fora. Last year, on the sidelines of the 20th Inter-governmental Group on Tea meeting held in Colombo, delegates of the 10 tea producing countries had passed a resolution to proceed with formation of the forum. This group is a Food and Agriculture Organisation subsidiary. A ministerial level meeting, that was supposed to be held in Rome prior to the meeting of the Committee for Commodity Problems on May 28-30, 2012, could not be held because of non-receipt of confirmation from many of the member countries. That meeting is the one being held on Monday and ministers of India, Tanzania, Malawi, Kenya, Sri Lanka, China, Indonesia, Rwanda and Vietnam will be attending it along with Kaison Chang, secretary of the Inter-governmental Group on Tea based at Rome and the FAO country representative residing in Colombo. Another idea behind creating the forum is to globally position tea as the most natural and healthy beverage by promoting its consumption through generic promotional campaigns and raising awareness about its health benefits. It will undertake market studies, surveys and research projects aimed at addressing specific issues concerning tea in general or any variety of tea, including, but not limited to, identifying tea consumption patterns and assessing consumer preferences across continents and countries and disseminating the results of such studies and surveys for the benefit of all members. It will also coordinate technical cooperation, sharing of technology and expertise among member countries and undertake and facilitate programmes for providing training to members or their executives in various aspects of tea marketing in different geographical segments. India is the second largest tea producing country in the world with a global market share of 23 per cent after China, which contributes about 32 per cent. It is, however, the fourth largest exporter after Kenya, China and Sri Lanka. The tea produced by five major countries in the world, including India, in 2011 was 3,422.61 million kg. EOM