Tourist friendly Manas India and Bhutan

India, Bhutan suggest a seamless Manas - Officials of both countries decide on national park without borders to make it more tourist-friendly

ROOPAK GOSWAMI

The Indian and Bhutanese forest officials at the meeting. Telegraph picture Guwahati, Nov. 20: Tourists to the Manas National Park would soon be able to move freely into its Bhutan-based portion, thanks to a joint initiative by park officials of both countries to promote Manas as a composite entity. This, among many other issues, was discussed at the India-Bhutan Manas coordination meeting on tiger conservation held at Gelephu in Bhutan on November 18-19. Indian park officials also visited the Royal Manas National Park during their stay in Bhutan. Royal Manas National Park field director Tenzing Wangchuk told The Telegraph over phone from Bhutan, “Attempts should be made to form a tourist circuit connecting both the parks to attract more tourists.” He agreed that this was for the first time that groundwork had been done to encourage tourist movement in the entire park. At present, foreign tourists visiting the Royal Manas National Park have to get a visa to visit the Indian side. Even Indian tourists have to fulfil several norms to visit the Bhutan side. “The idea is to simplify the procedures so that movement of tourists becomes easy from one park to another,” Manas National Park field director A. Swargiary said. In fact, the Royal Manas National Park has opened its gates to tourists only a few months back. “In terms of international cooperation, Manas National Park in India just had its world heritage site in danger status removed and plans to carefully develop the wildlife sanctuary as a sustainable unique tourist destination. Together with Bhutan’s RMNP, the two parks can now work together to provide and promote more eco-tourism opportunities in the region,” a WWF Bhutan report said. Sources said the decision could be formally implemented only after being cleared by the ministries concerned, adding that more meetings would be held next month to simplify the procedures involved. The meeting also decided to start joint patrolling in a coordinated manner and start information sharing. “If there is information about illegal activities on either side, the park directors will call each other. Earlier, it was done at a local level,” the official said. Camera trapping of Manas tigers, carried out in the Bansbari and Bhuyanpara ranges on the Indian side in November last year and the Manas range on the Bhutan side in January this year, had revealed that tigers roamed freely across the border. “Four common tigers were caught on camera, which proves that they migrate from one park to another,” a forest official said. Both countries have agreed to come out with a joint report on the camera trapping, with pictures and population estimates. Sources said 10 tigers were spotted in Manas range of Royal Manas National Park, while nine were spotted in the Manas National Park. A report prepared on camera trapping in lower foothills of Royal Manas National Park by the Bhutan-based Ugyen Wangchk Institute for Conservation and Environment said camera-trapping exercises were under way in Umling and Gomphu ranges, which could be supporting 15-20 tigers.

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Guwahati-- the new luxury destination

Guwahati-- the new luxury destination

ROOPAK GOSWAMI

Guwahati-- the gateway city to Northeast India is fast turning into a hot destination for international luxury brands, services and assets. This fact was highlighted in the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)-AT Kearney Indian Luxury Review report released last month. While focussing on car brands with more than 50 per cent of their dealerships outside the metros, it said Guwahati was a potential destination of luxury products as well as services and assets. Multinational automobile giant Volkswagen, which debuted in the city this year, said it was already selling more than 40 cars a month — a sales figure which is a pointer to the fact that the city is growing in terms of demand and a taste for luxury. The report also said the luxury market in India was gaining increasing visibility with each passing year. “While the ‘buzz’ generated by this sector is disproportionately high compared to the size of the market today, it does indicate that most global luxury brands recognise the potential of India’s luxury market. Giv-en the high growth rate of the Indian market compared to mature economies, it is only likely that interest in the Indian market will increase in the days ahead,” it added. The country’s luxury market witnessed a robust growth of 20 per cent in the past year and is estimated to have reached $5.75 billion in 2010. Another pointer to its growing desirability of the city in particular and the region as a whole is upcoming five star hotels to be set up by hospitality majors like Taj, Hyatt and Marriot groups in different parts of Assam and Meghayala. In keeping with this trend, Sohum Shoppe Limited, a leading multi-brand retail chain of the region, is opening the Sohum Emporio — a multi-brand mall. The mall, which is coming up on the GS Road, is scheduled to open for customers on November 19 and will have company outlets of 48 top national and international brands under on roof. Sohum Shoppe CEO Siddarth Jalan said the company had made a proper survey of brands to shortlist the hot-selling ones. “The best part was that we were recognised. When we approached people to open outlets here, they knew of Sohum, which was a plus point,” he said. “The Northeast is a fashion-oriented market and dressing sense of the people here is better than many others. This gives us hope that there is market for luxury products. We are bringing in products which would sell in the Guwahati market,” Jalan said. He said the company was looking at Rs 10-crore turnover in the first year and there were plans to enter Shillong later. Some of the brands that would be on display are Body Shop, Tommy Hilfiger, FCUK, Calvin Klein, Swarovski, Veromoda, Jack and Jones, Esprit, Gant, Mothercare and Nike. A senior official of Jack and Jones India said Guwahati was a place where brands could come up in a big way. “If we do not have brands in the market, how do we know the strengths of the market,” the official said, adding that the Sohum Emporio outlet would be the company’s first in Guwahati. “We also look at the brand mix where we set up our outlets,” the official added. Amit Dhanjani, marketing head of GAS India, a premium jeans brand, hoped it would be a good debut in Guwahati. Tommy Hilfiger, a market leader in the highly competitive premium imported designer apparel sector, also has a showroom in the mall. Tommy Hilfiger India CEO Shailesh Chaturvedi said they were excited to make their debut in Guwahati and hoped to do well. “A lot of customers from Guwahati are buying our brand in other places and when it is available in Guwahati, the response should be good. We have been doing extremely well in non-metro cities,” he said. The apparel brand was launched in India in 2004. eom

North east in cashew mood

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1111105/jsp/northeast/story_14708735.jsp

Council cashes in on cashew - ICAR shortlists eight varieties from 25 to grow in region

ROOPAK GOSWAMI

Guwahati, Nov. 4: The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) is looking towards the Northeast to increase cashew production meet the growing demand for the cash crop. As a step in that direction, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research is evaluating eight released varieties developed in different cashew-growing states, which will be suitable for the region, a non-traditional area in cashew production. “We are now looking at eight varieties of cashew nuts which can be grown quickly before the onset of rainfall,” an official at the All India Coordinated Research Project on cashew in Barapani said. Altogether 25 varieties were given, but eight were chosen to be grown early in the Northeast considering the rainfall situation, the official said. A cooperating centre has been established under the project at the ICAR research complex for the Northeast at Barapani in Meghalaya. “The evaluation will help identify varieties suitable for the region. Apart from this activity, locally available germplasm — collection of genetic resources for an organism — having desirable yield attributes will also be collected and evaluated at this centre,” the director of Karnataka-based Directorate of Cashew Research, M.G. Bhat, told The Telegraph. Bhat said the promising germplasm lines would be involved in breeding programmes for developing varieties and hybrids suitable for the region. The present area in the Northeast under cashew is about 20,000 hectares with a production of 15,000 tonnes. Meghalaya, Assam and Tripura are the best states for cashew cultivation followed by Manipur barring Jiribam district. “There is good scope in the Northeast but farmers will have to emphasis more on scientific cultivation,” the project official said. The North Eastern Regional Agricultural Marketing Corporation (Neramac) is also setting up a cashew nut processing plant, which will produce four tonnes of raw cashew nuts daily in Mancachar district of Dhubri. “It should get commissioned by April next year,” a senior Neramac official said. The corporation had a cashew nut plant in Agartala, which was producing only 500kg per day, which was not enough. It is looking at a different location with increased production. To meet the growing demand of cashew kernel in India and the international market, every year, 50,000 hectares of area is brought under cashew production by planting 10,000 million grafts at the rate of 200 plants per hectare. India has the largest area under cashew production and stands as the second largest producer of cashew in the world. Vietnam, Ivory Coast and Brazil are India’s competitors for cashew production and export. However, the country requires about 1.3 to 1.4 million tonnes of raw cashew nuts to cater to the needs of large processing units with 5 lakh workers, especially women. The country is producing about 0.70 million tonnes of raw cashew nuts annually and exports about 0.11 million tones of cashew kernels to over 65 countries of the world, which brings about Rs 2,906 crore revenue. eom

Rabbit rearing in Phek

Rabbitry boom in Phek district - Meat deficit spurs trade

ROOPAK GOSWAMI

Rabbit-rearing has become a new way of life for residents of Nagaland’s Phek district, which has been reeling under a severe meat deficit. Three years back, the Krishi Vigyan Kendra Phek, under the aegis of National Research Centre on Mithun, started a programme to introduce rabbits to the indigenous communities as an alternative source of quality meat, and at the same time, a livelihood option for farm women. Krishi Vigyan Kendra Phek programme coordinator R.K. Singh told The Telegraph, “The programme has become a success, as rabbitry (rabbit farming) has now become a commercial venture in the district. It has also become a good source of livelihood for the villagers.” The people of Nagaland are predominantly non-vegetarian in their food habits and relish meat from all possible sources. Common domestic animals like pigs, cattle, buffaloes, goats, poultry and dogs and even some wild animals, reptiles, amphibians and insects are among the traditional delicacies. But despite high demand for animal products in the region, the livestock reared in the state are of inferior genetic makeup and, therefore, production is low. Singh said the aim of the programme was to popularise rabbitry, because rabbits reproduced and grew fast and were thus found to be a good option to address the shortfall in meat production. Two exotic varieties of rabbits — New Zealand White and Soviet Chinchilla — were introduced for this programme. Phek alone has an annual deficit of about 6,520 metric tonnes of meat, and as there was no taboo associated with consumption of any kind of meat, farmers adopted rabbitry enthusiastically. It was introduced in 2008-09 as pilot study programme in two villages of the district — Porbami Upper Khel and Gidemi — and more villages were involved in the next two years. “The success of this venture attracted other farmers to start rabbitry on a large scale and the kendra has trained a batch of 22 rural youths of Phek town to take up rabbitry commercially and 10 of them have been linked with the SBI for loans and to avail the benefits of government of India programme of supporting livestock activity in the state,” Singh said. Singh said economic analysis of the rabbitry was carried out in the targeted villages and the data revealed that one female rabbit gave birth to a minimum of 25 rabbits in a year. Two-month-old rabbits fetched Rs 150 in the market, thereby generating a cumulative income of Rs 3,750 from every female rabbit. “It was estimated that on an average, every family earned a minimum of Rs 2,000 per rabbit as profit in a year after considering all expenditures,” Singh said, adding that the cumulative wealth generation by all families was Rs 27.92 lakh a year. eom

Next stop for footwear giants-Northeast India

Next stop for footwear giants

ROOPAK GOSWAMI

Feet fleet Guwahati, Oct. 27: There is every reason for footwear companies to look towards the Northeast if one can get a branded footwear showroom in a far-flung place like Along in West Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh. Reebok, the Number One sports shoe company in India, opened a showroom in Along two months back and netted Rs 4 lakh in a month, proving that distance was no excuse for companies to stay away from the Northeast. The company has 30 showrooms in the Northeast and will be adding another 10 in a year’s time. “We are looking at the market in hill areas where the indigenous people love to wear good shoes and are looking at branded products,” a Reebok official said adding that the company would also be setting up showrooms in Tura, Pasighat and other areas. Liberty Shoes, a $150 million company, also announced last week that it had plans to expand its presence in the Northeast. This is an indicator towards the region’s potential as a footwear market, which is spurring new players to set up shop here. Currently, Liberty is among the top five manufacturers of leather footwear of the world, producing more than 50,000 pairs a day, using more than 3 lakh square feet of leather per month. Liberty Group director Ayush Bansal said, “We are seeing Assam and the Northeast as a potential market and the company is planning to strengthen its network by opening new stores. The total business in the Northeast is Rs 10 crore and the target is to make it Rs 15 crore in the coming months.” The company, which has a market share of 12 per cent in the region, has six showrooms at present and is planning to increase it to 15 within a year and a half and also to double its market share in the next five years. “We have a wide variety of shoes and are here to stay,” he said. The company has also announced appointment of Hrithik Roshan as its brand ambassador in an attempt to connect with the youths by giving the brand a vibrant and youthful makeover. “Besides, the collection is superbly stylish yet comfortable, just how we all like it,” he said. The special collection will be released after Diwali and will have shoes ranging from Rs 1,600 to Rs 6,000. The footwear sector is a very significant segment of the leather industry in India. Rather, it is the engine of growth for the entire Indian leather industry. India is the second largest global producer of footwear after China, accounting for 13 per cent of global footwear production of 16 billion pairs. India produces 2,065 million pairs of different categories of footwear (leather footwear: 909 million pairs, leather shoe uppers: 100 million pairs and non-leather footwear: 1,056 million pairs). About 115 million pairs are exported. This implies that nearly 95 per cent of all footwear produced in the country is consumed in the country itself. “People in the Northeast want branded shoes and they do not mind spending more money for it. They are brand conscious,” Dhanani Shoes Limited director Washim Dhanani said. He said as the situation had improved in the Northeast, companies were flocking into the region to sell their products. “The footwear market in the Northeast is growing at 15 per cent annually and will greatly improve in the next five years.” Metro Shoes, which opened shop last year in Guwahati, is looking to expand to other places in Assam. “Though we did not do good this year, there are plans to expand,” a manager of the Metro Shoes storeroom here said. Woodland had opened its outlet here in 2007 after thoroughly surveying the shoe market. “Business was good when we started in 2007. After three years, it’s even better. Our customers normally belong to the age group range of 20 to 30 years and the popular shoes range from Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000,” A. Chatterjee, a Woodland employee, said. The formal shoes for men are priced between Rs 2,995 and Rs 9,000, while the casual shoes range between Rs 1,995 and Rs 4,495. Women’s shoes are priced between Rs 1,395 and Rs 7,000. EOM

India-Bhutan wildlife MoU still on paper

ROOPAK  GOSWAMI

New Delhi is yet to respond to Thimphu’s comments on a draft memorandum of understanding on wildlife cooperation between India and Bhutan over a year ago to protect Manas on both sides of the international border.

A source said Bhutan has given its comments on the MoU, but there has been no response from New Delhi.

“A senior park official from Royal Manas Bhutan visited Manas National Park a couple of days back and said his government had given its comments on the draft and has agreed to the trans-boundary concept. It was now waiting for India to go ahead,” the source said.

There have been discussions between conservation agencies on the trans-boundary issues which are also supporting the cause and called for expeditious action from the host country. A number of training programmes has been organised in Bhutan to educate officials on wildlife issues.

At present, India has a memorandum of understanding with Nepal on controlling trans-boundary illegal trade in wildlife and conservation, apart from a protocol on tiger conservation with China.

The source said the draft memorandum of understanding has to be vetted by the ministry of home affairs and external affairs.

At present, collaboration and cooperation between the managers and staff of Manas National Park and Royal Manas National Park is very strong but it needs to be formalised.

The Indian and Bhutanese park management and staff regularly visit each other to exchange information and can move freely across the border for this purpose.

Though there was joint camera trapping of tigers in both Manas National Park and Royal Manas National Park in Bhutan, the report has still not come out.

However, officials said before talking on trans-boundary issues — which is required as it will help wildlife conservation on both sides — it is important to put Manas National Park into proper shape.

There are a number of problems that still haunt Manas like the absence of control over the buffer areas. For instance, the field director of Manas has no control of these areas, which causes management problems.

The buffer area forests fall within the jurisdiction of the forest chief of Bodoland Territorial Council, whereas the core area is under the control of chief wildlife warden, Assam.

The joint IUCN/Unesco mission which visited Manas early this year has strongly encouraged both India and Bhutan to do a joint feasibility study on a trans-boundary expansion of the existing property to include larger areas of this landscape on both sides of the international border.

While Manas National Park has been declared out of danger, forest officials said it was time for Bhutan to nominate Royal Manas as a World Heritage Site, which will help both the sides. India has already given its support for helping Bhutan to nominate Royal Manas as a World Heritage Site.

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Two wild habitats on Chandrapur power plant's corridor

Wildlife areas in plant way

ROOPAK GOSWAMI

Chandrapur power plant Oct. 21: The Chandrapur power plant authorities may have to seek a forest clearance since there are two wildlife areas within 10km of the project site. The two wildlife habitats are Amchang and Pobitora wildlife sanctuaries. According to the rules, any project that is proposed within a distance of 10km of a national park or wildlife sanctuary must obtain clearance from the standing committee of the National Board for Wildlife. The 60MW thermal power project, which will now be run on coal, is being executed by the Imperial APGCL Power Limited — a joint venture company comprising Imperial Energy and Construction Private Limited, Imperial Fastners Private Limited, Intelli Mine Incorporated and Assam Power Generation Corporation Limited (APGCL). The ministry of environment and forests had asked the project proponents to provide information about any national park, sanctuary or migratory routes within 10km radius of the project site. Of the entire site area spread over about 314 square km, around 113.52 sq km is forest land (36.2 per cent). In fact, the environment impact assessment report prepared by GIS Enabled Environment and Neo-Graphic Centre is full of errors. The executive summary of EIA report said, “There are no ecologically-sensitive receptors or endangered species within the 10km study area from the centre of the plant site.” The EIA also said wildlife like golden langur and spotted deer, among other animals, were recorded during the study period. Aaranyak representatives, at the public hearing held today, said both Amchang and Pobitora wildlife sanctuaries were barely 2.5km from the plant site. He said the EIA report was wrong in saying that golden langur and spotted deer were recorded in the study area. “It has been scientifically established that the study area has no record of golden langur and spotted deer. Our plea is that such wrong information should not go to the ministry of environment and forests for seeking clearance of the project,” said Ashok Dey, a senior member of Aaranyak. The project implementers will also raise a greenbelt around the plant site, spread across about 23 acres, working out to be more than 33 per cent of total plant area. Trees will be selected based on the type of pollutants, their intensity, location, easy availability and suitability to the local climate. Sources said generation from the 60MW Chandrapur thermal power station will start from January 2013 after reviving it by coal.

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