(December 29, 2020) (i)Startled at the sight of another human,I growl, I roar, I pounce in defence, My paws hit the bars of the cell where I now live,Perhaps till my death it seems.On a fateful day of February, I was captured; the bagaan ka bagh was caught at last.If you ask me what was my crime, I’d never be able to answer,Was it my enviable adaptability?The land dotted with tea bushes and shrubs was a haven,Elusively I lived, disappearing into the undergrowth. Perfect space to birth a litter,Food ...

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(December 21, 2020) If we delve far back enough, we are all from Africa. And the first visit to the continent is the first return to it, return home. Thus ‘returning home’ in the 1970s was Jonathan Scott, of the ‘Big Cat People’ fame. What was an overland trip turned out to be a life-long tryst with this ancient land. Today, together with his wife, Angela Scott, Jonathan is one of the most renowned names in wildlife photography and conservation in the world. Here, he talks about his life as ...

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(December 18, 2020) In this last part of the two-part interview, Mr. Shashidhar Sastry, a retired officer of the Indian Forest Service talks about community forest management and jhum cultivation practices in Nagaland.3. Could you talk about the community forest management in Nagaland?Given the background of land ownership in the state, with 88% of the forest area under community or individual ownership, coupled with the traditional practice of jhum cultivation, there was pressure on the resources. However, some is...

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(December 08, 2020) Nagaland, a Northeastern state with over 8000 square kilometres of forest cover, a state which has been undergoing insurgencies and inter-faith conflicts since independence, a state where agriculture – as the most important economic activity – covers over 70% of the state's economy, and most importantly, a state which celebrates its wildlife.  Mr. Shashidhar Sastry, a retired officer of the Indian Forest Service talks about his experiences as the Principal Chief Conservator...

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(December 01, 2020) In the early 1900s, the Lebanese-American poet Khalil Gibran wrote in a poem:It is said that before entering the seaa river trembles with fear.She looks back at the path she has traveled,from the peaks of the mountains,the long winding road crossing forests and villages.And in front of her,she sees an ocean so vast,that to enterthere seems nothing more than to disappear forever.But today, in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram, it is the beach which is fighting the fear of disappearing forever, as...

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