One-man crusade against bad governance

Vijaysinh Parmar TNN/3 May/ Junagadh: Here is one crusader,who considers o t h e r s problems his own.Q u i e t ly but diligently using RTI as a tool,JP Shah,59,a re t i re d bank manager,has helped hundreds across the country get their rights.Be it widows not getting their dues,pensioners who have been struggling for many years,educated unemployed youths waiting for jobs in government departments,senior citizens and people who are struggling with various government departments his list has endless success stories.Shahs weapon is his computer and his phone that are live every hour in the day.He could be reached by phone calls,emails,blog posts and letters and he promptly replies to them too.Shah tags a line in all his letters,Hate RTI and perpetuate bad governance for the next generation. When TOI went visiting Shahs home four days back,a certain Geetha Kumari of Kerala was on line.Kumari complained that she had four children to feed,but was not getting her family pension after her husband died in 2007.Her husband was an employee of Food Corporation of India (FCI).Shah immediately emailed an RTI application to her.In just few days,Kumaris file was recommended for pension disbursal.Chandrika Thakar from Junagadh lost her husband to illness in 2003.It came as a big blow to this 40-year-old widow,who had also lost all hope of getting back her husbands 16-year-old Rs 2.29 lakh fixed deposit.Shah helped her file an RTI application and she got her fixed deposit with an 11-year interest in a few months.Shahs blogs and articles have had 1.4 lakh hits in the last two years.He has already guided 5,000 persons from all over the country on matters of RTI.Interestingly,Provident Fund status,income tax return and Provident Fund refund gets maximum hits.Two years ago,Administrative Staff College of Assam had invited Shahs suggestions on RTI training for their personnel.People from Chennai,Thiruvanathapuram,Chandigarh,Ambala,Phagwara,Ujjain,Mumbai,Udaipur,Byawar,Bengaluru,Delhi,Noida,Agra,Ghaziabad and Rajamundry are in regular touch with Shah.Iwould not have lived had JP Shah not helped us.His help came at a crucial juncture in our life.I had lost everything.But,Shah gave us hope,says Thakar.JP Shah has been guiding force for many like me.He helped me tirelessly fight the charity commissioner to get permission to non-CA to audit the trust whose income is up to Rs 3,000 per year.Now,this has helped numbers of youths in the state, says Rakesh Shah,a resident of Junagadh.For the first time since Independence,an ordinary Indian feels empowered,thanks to RTI.I wish everybody feels the same, says Shah.

Applications reveal collectorates' apathy to RTI awareness

Vijaysinh Parmar/TNN/15 June/KHAMBHA (Amreli): Are district administrations across the state indifferent about creating awareness on Right to Information Act 2005? A look at the utilisation of funds allocated by the state government for this purpose certainly indicates so. This major revelation came from series of RTI applications made by activists from Khambha taluka of Amreli district to know the status of funds which were meant to be used to create public awareness of the RTI Act under section 26. It also issued a guideline about the utilisation of funds to create awareness about the Act. The communiqué asked the collectorates to form a committee headed by the respective collector. The deadline for utilisation of funds was March 31, 2010. "Our RTIs revealed that in most of the districts the fund was either under utilised or not utilised at all. There are districts that have not used a single rupee till end of March,'' said Yusuf Juneja, a member of Mahiti Adhikar Nagrik Mandal in Khambha. "We started filling RTI queries on February 10 this year at all district collectorates. Interestingly, in many districts, officials started convening meetings to discuss the allocated funds with their respective officials after our queries were filed," Juneja said. Among the worst cases were Valsad, Gandhinagar, Kutch, Kheda, Anand, Navsari and Surendrangar. In Surendranagar district, on March 16, collectors started allocating funds to mamlatdars and other district officials. "The mamlatdars were given a deadline to utilise the funds, giving them just 15 days to spread awareness. In many cases, we did not get information from the first applications. So, RTI applications are pending with at appeal level and Gujarat Information Commission,'' he added. "We have seen that funds are either being under utilised or misused. In fact, government agencies should encourage citizens for more participation in order to create greater transparency, which will serve the objective of the Act,'' said JP Shah, RTI crusader in Junagadh.

Mating season: Lesser floricans reach Velavadar

Vijaysinh Parmar 19-June/TNN Rajkot: Come monsoon,and one of the most endangered bird species of the world,the lesser florican,will make the Blackbuck National Park (BNP) in Velavadar their abode.These birds flock to the sanctuary in Bhavnagar for mating.Its a rare sight to watch the spectacular courtship of this bird,which is unique.According to assistant conservator of forests,BNP,J S Solanki,lesser floricans have already started arriving in the sanctuary.They start arriving at the onset of monsoon and start marking their territories in the grasslands, Solanki said.Wildlife lovers say the male can jump over a metre high to impress the female and attract her,sometimes up to 500 times a day.During breeding season,males also change plumage to dark black and the neck with white elongated belt on the edge of the wings, said wildlife photographer Bhushan Pandya,adding,Feathers on the back are pinkish black and they have prominent neck,which can be seen easily from a distance. Females are bigger in size,but shy.They are attracted by the vertical leaps of the male florins,forest officials said.One of the bustard family,the floricans,are recognised as highly endangered species.Its one of four critically endangered bird species of India,and one of the 50 rarest birds of the world.The species is protected under Schedule I of Wildlife (Protection ) Act,1972, said Solanki,adding that this species is regarded as endangered because its population is declining primarily as a result of loss and degradation of dry grassland.The grassland in Velavadar park provides an ideal and safe place for breeding to this bird.These birds start laying eggs in August to September period.After breeding,these omnivorous birds move into peninsular India.Every year,forest department conducts a population estimation of this rare bird.The numbers could be more than the sightings as it is difficult to sight these birds during the mating in grasslands, foresters added.

Rajkot village to set green record this monsoon

Vijaysinh Parmar/TNN/June-21/RAJKOT: They won't be looking for greener pastures elsewhere. For, 6,000 villagers of Virnagar in Rajkot district have decided to create green cover in their own village. Led by an initiative by Rajkot District Co-operative Milk Producers Union Limited, known as Rajkot dairy, members of the village co-operative of Virnagar have taken it upon themselves to plant 1 lakh saplings this monsoon. Says Arjan Ramani, a villager and board member of Rajkot Dairy, "Though this is a part of an initiative taken up by district dairy union, villagers have decided to take this initiative to new heights and create a model green village." To execute their green goal, these men and women of Virnagar, located 47 km away from Rajkot in Jasdan taluka with farmers comprising majority of its population, have begun working round the clock. They have chalked a detailed road map to their success. According to Ramani, this will be the first-of-its-kind village in the state where plantation at such a grand scale will take place on private land. Plantation on private lands doesn't take place in villages as farmers fear for their crop life. Interestingly, to clear such misconceptions from minds of villagers, environmentalists, forest officers and even saints were roped in to create awareness in the last few weeks. "We had organised seven camps in the village specially for this purpose," says Ramani, explaining, "Farmers have a misconception that by planting trees on the border of their field, their crop yield is negatively affected. And so, during these camps they were made aware about the consequence of climate change and importance of the green cover. Villagers are now ready to plant saplings in the village." Besides their fields, farmers will plant saplings on the banks of lakes and ponds among other places. Twenty committees have been formed to distribute responsibility of the growth of each tree in different areas in village. "We have made a plan to distribute the number of saplings to be planted area-wise. According to our estimate, we have enough land to plant 1 lakh trees as private land is also available. In addition, we have an added advantage of 101 check dams in the village," says Ramani. "We have contacted government officials to provide sufficient saplings and also approached nature lovers and groups for financial aid," he adds.

NRI alumni restore iconic Ranavav alma mater

Vijaysinh Parmar TNN/Ranavav/ As high school kids,the lessons they learnt here left deep impressions on their soul.No wonder when their alma mater needed them,they rushed to their native village from different corners of the world.Two families played a pivotal role in restoring the village high school,which got damaged in the earthquake in 2001.By doing this,families of Muljabhia Madhvani,sugar kings of Uganda and Aroon Samani,75,have restored 100 years of glory.The Sarkari High School building was restored at the cost of Rs 2.5 crore,pooled in by the two families,and handed over the state government last year.Ranavav,a coastal town,located about 180 km from Rajkot has a population of about 22,000.The government high school,formerly known as Ranawad Gujarati School was founded in April 1903 by the then ruler of Porbandar Bhavsinh Madhavsinh.In 1903,the school had only four classrooms,one office and one staff room and a central hall.The total cost to build the school stood at Rs 11,927.It was a beautiful heritage structure.We were really shocked when we learnt that it had been damaged in the earthquake.It was our duty to restore it, Samani,an alumni of the school now based in Nairobi,Kenya told TOI over telephone.Samani studied here between 1942 and 1947 before flying to Kenya where he worked as a consultant engineer.We wanted to preserve it in its original glory.We decided to restore and extend the building without altering the structure, says Samani.When he hired a contractor to do the job,he advised that it would be cheaper constructing a new building instead of restoring the old one.But we wanted the same school back, said Samani.After the restoration,the school has been named after Muljibhai Madhvani government school.It was a remarkable efforts made by past students to restore it.They frequently travelled to this village just to supervise restoration work.They are an inspiration for the present students,who can carry forward the legacy, said school principal B M Chudasama.

Change adoption policy to favour NRIs

Vijaysinh Parmar/TNN/25 June/RAJKOT: The rules of adoption should not differ for Indians, whether they are living abroad or in the country. There are many childless NRIs who would like to adopt a child from India, but are deterred because they have to follow intra-country guidelines meant for foreigners, often delaying the entire procedure. This is a suggestion of Kathiawar Nirashrit Balashram in Rajkot, one of the most popular adoption centres in the state, to Central Adoption Resource Authority (CARA) in a letter written recently. "At present, intra-country guidelines of 2006 for adoption apply to those who have Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) or are NRIs. For example, I know of an engineer couple that has immovable property in Ahmedabad and both hold Indian passports. But under the current guidelines, they have to go through the intra-country guideline (2006) which makes the task of adoption difficult," says CT Parikh, a retired district and sessions judge and chairman of the adoption committee of the orphanage. "In 2006, when the adoption guidelines were issued, concepts like dual citizenship for NRIs and other Indians living abroad did not exist. However, now the central government has started giving out dual citizenship and also OCI cards. The question therefore is whether such Indians with dual citizenship can be treated as foreigners when they are being given the same status as an citizen living in the country," Parikh added. Foreign nationals who want to adopt children from India have to apply through CARA, an autonomous body under the Union ministry of social justice and empowerment, which has a list of recognised institutions from which children can be adopted. CARA sends the applications to the various orphanages in the country. Indian nationals, on the other hand, can apply straight to the various institutions and pick up the child they like.

Dust-free chalk on its way

Vijaysinh Parmar/14 April/2010/BHAVNAGAR: Teachers across India can now heave a sigh of relief. Finally, they will get dust-free chalk, thanks to scientists at Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSMCRI) in Bhavnagar. According to CSMCRI director PK Ghosh, the teaching community and students have been suffering for long due to exposure to chalk dust. ''CSMCRI began working on calcium carbonate-based superior quality writing chalk nearly seven years ago,'' said Ghosh. ''Chalk in India is mainly manufactured by small-scale industries using gypsum as raw material. Unfortunately, the bulk of the products in the market rarely meet the desirable attributes of a good chalk like minimum dust, improved resolution of writing, reduced tendency of breakage, enhanced visibility under high humidity conditions and ease of wiping," Ghosh told TOI.

Mangrove plantation to bring back Kashmir tag for Mahuva

Vijaysinh Parmar/26 June/MAHUVA (BHAVNAGAR): Many may not know that Mahuva town in Bhavnagar district was once known as the Kashmir of Gujarat due to its pictursque landscapes. Over the years, with declining green cover the glory was lost. To bring back those days of glory and re-create lost bio-diversity, a motley group of nature lovers and volunteers in Mahuva are waiting for the rains to lash in the region to launch a mega plantation drive of mangroves. While the mangrove plantation drive has been on since three years on an experimental basis, successful growth has prompted the Mahuva Nature Club to grow them on a mega scale around Malan and Nikol bandhara' (water reservoirs) that had been built by state government in order to stop salinity ingress at Mahuva coast. For the last three years, volunteers and nature lovers have been experimenting and planting various saplings on these bandharas' to regenerate its lost bio-diversity and create an environment friendly ambience for its winged visitors. More than 2 lakh birds flock to these bandharas every year. Among the saplings, mangroves grew very successfully on the coast. "We want to create a lush green cover on the bandharas and surrounding farmlands. With the help of local farmers about 10,000 saplings will be planted this year. Farmers have already made preperations and will soon begin the drive,'' said Akshay Kankiya, a graphic designer and member of the club. "Our experiment with mangroves was a success. It was not planned. We collected mangrove seeds and spread them around the area and monitored it regularly," said Kankiya, "When it gave good results we decided to continue the plantation by involving locals and students." "The idea is that the plantation around the bandharas will help create nesting sites for migratory birds. It will give them a safe haven,'' said Ruchi Dave, an ardent nature lover and honorary wildlife warden of Bhavnagar district. Apart from being a green cover, mangroves create a natural barrier against Tsunami-like calamities. "Furthermore, the success of the mangrove drive has given hope for regeneration of many other plant species to regain lost bio-diversity,'' said Dave. "We have also given fruit seeds to sow to farmers. From these, they can earn in coming years. We have mostly selected local species taking note of the area's soil aspects,'' said Kishor Bhatt, a lecturer. "We have planned to hire a local person to look after and monitor the plantation for at least two years, as only plantation drives are not enough,'' adds Kankiya.

Professor brings nature close to children in schools

Vijaysinh Parmar/5 August/BHAVNAGAR: Kishor Bhatt (52), a lecturer at District Institute of Education and Training (DIET) in Bhavnagar is known as Zadwala' because he has taken up an interesting mission besides his seeds distribution work. The mission is to educate the new generation about traditional values and the need to conserve nature. Bhatt, along with industrialist Dilip Shah, has been putting up chabutras' to make seeds and water available for birds in primary schools. They put up chabutras every week in schools in the district. The numbers would increase in coming days to cover entire district. At least 60 such chabutras have been placed in schools. According to Bhatt, the idea struck him two years ago when he visited a primary school amid beautiful natural environment, but found something missing -- feeding sites and water pots for birds. He immediately told his friend Shah about his plan. Shah told him to go ahead with the plan and that he will provide the funds. "Schools students will learn nature's importance and will later on work to conserve it. Also, schools are planting trees in their campuses. The chabutra is part of conservation of nature. Earlier, each village used to have a chabutra in the centre of the village, but slowly the tradition started being neglected. We want to include this in our routine life,'' Bhatt said. "We have seen students bring grains from their home daily and put it on the chabutras for birds. There are water pots in every chabutra as well. Saplings are also planted and all this is part of conservation of nature, which will protect our future. Similar activity has also been started in Rajkot and Mehsana among other districts. A Rajkot-based businessman told us that he wants to place chabutra every day for one year. We are happy that people are taking interest in it,'' Shah said. The specially designed chabutra costs between Rs 3,100 and Rs 3,500 per unit. The design is a replica of traditional ones used in every village square in the past. "Children would get a chance to learn about nature from up close and once they develop an attachment with the birds, then they will protect them,'' Bhatt added.

Address of compassion in Anjar: Panjo Ghar

Vijaysinh Parmar TNN At a time when most middle-class families find it difficult to support two children,community health centre (CHC) superintendent in Anjar Dr Hitesh Thakker and his wife Yamini,have five daughters.Of these three were abandoned by their parents and adopted by the Thakkers.As if bringing up five children was not a Herculean task by itself,the couple found out that three of the children,including one of their daughters had either learning disabilities or were mentally challenged.This would have broken the spirit of any normal family,but not the Thakkers.Not only have they given meaningful lives to their own daughters,but Yamini now runs a home Shree Gauri in Anjar for special children suffering from learning disabilities,behavioural problems,Downs syndrome,cerebral palsy and related ailments.Today,the board outside their house reads Panjo Ghar meaning Our home in Kutchi.It has become the address of compassion in the region as many destitute and dejected persons turn to them for help.Our aim is to help these children become self-reliant and support their parents as they grow up.We train them to make wallhangings,purses,envelopes,dining sets,frames of clay and other such objects,apart from educating them in the ways of life,like developing their attention span,teaching them simple calculations and constructing sentences, says Yamini.But Yamini found out that training just the kids was not enough.We started training their parents as well.Slowly we came across women who were widowed at an early age or divorced and rejected by society.Simple schooling would not have met their needs.The women wanted to be self-reliant.So,we provided them a platform and a separate organisation to help women Shree Durga was born. Panjo Ghar is an umbrella organisation for all the bodies.At present,five children are ready go out into the real world and support their parents.They earn about Rs 1,500 every month.We want them to be capable of taking care of themselves ever after their parents are no longer with them.There are 45 children and 60 women with Panjo Ghar today, Yamini,who takes no financial support to run Panjo Ghar,adds.Interestingly,Yamini has a masters degree in human resource management from the US.But she has left all that to become the godmother of her extended family.Talking about her inspiration,she says,Our first daughter Gauri,11,has learning disability.The second daughter,Aaruni,10,was found near a village,badly injured by stray dogs in 1999.The third,Sambhavi,7,was abandoned by her father.The girl weighed just 960 grams when we found her and we were warned by the paediatrician about possible malformations,but we took her in. Their fourth daughter,Sakshi,4,who was born in 2006,is healthy while the fifth,Devi,3,was found in the common toilet of a market in 2007.When Yamini came to know that three of her daughters suffered from different problems,she left her job and started travelling across the country to get training from psychologists,psychotherapists and neurologist on how to bring up such children.While training our daughters we could imagine the pain and agony of the parents of children with such ailments.I felt lucky because I had the support of my husband who helped me get trained,but not all parents were as lucky as me.So,to help these children and to empathise with their parents,we opened Shree Gauri, says Yamini.She was recently facilitated with the Woman of the year award by the ladies wing of FICCI (Chennai) for being an agent of change.She has now purchased a piece of land in Anjar to open up a nonprofit hospital,full-time residential school for mentally challenged children and an entrepreneurship development centre for women.

Breakthrough for CSMCRI scientists in seaweed research

Vijaysinh Parmar TNN Bhavnagar: A process breakthrough of extracting world-class Agarose a gelatinous substance from Gracilaria dura,a seaweed mostly found on Gujarat coast has burst the global myth that Indian seaweeds are poor in quality and productivity.And,yet again it is the scientists at central salt and marine chemicals research institute (CSMCRI) here who have achieved the feat.According to Dr PK Ghosh,director,CSMCRI,it was a myth among scientists world over that Indian seaweeds are poor in quality and production.However,our scientists,over past eight years,did research in producing worldclass agarose from Gracilaria Dura and achieved the breakthrough, he said.One of the primary uses of agarose is for agarose gel electrophoresis,which is a method used in biochemistry and molecular biology to separate a mixed population of DNA and RNA fragments by length.To test the grade of the agarose developed at CSMCRI,the national-level laboratory sent it to Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB),Hyderabada premier institute of the world in field of cellular and molecular biology and one the constituent national laboratories for testing of molecular biology grade from Indian seaweed.CCMB reported to us that they could make 0.8% gel and electrophoreses human genomic DNA and PCR products respectively.Upon gel preparation and electrophoresis,it was observed that the separation of DNA molecules in the gel was at par with molecular biology grade agarose,which is used routinely at CCMB lab.Good separation of high molecular weight DNA was observed in CSMCRIs agarose gel, Ghosh told TOI.According to AK Siddhanta,deputy director and group leader -natural products group,marine biotechnology and ecology discipline,CSMCRI,the new process reduces substantial time to prepare agarose from seaweed almost one-third of the time is reduced in the new process.Importantly,it is an Indian plant and we have mapped its gene sequence.The quality was found to be at par with agarose available in the market and it would be cheaper once the cultivation is scaled up.The other applications of agarose are in the field of molecular biology,electrophoresis,cell culture works in R&D labs,pharma and biotech industries world over, Sidhhanta said.The patent on the process breakthrough has been filed in India.Moreover,efforts are underway to cultivate this algae in fields using raft method.

Soon, green fuel for Indian cars?

Vijaysinh Parmar/11 June/2010/BHAVNAGAR: In a major eco-friendly step towards renewable energy generation in India, seaweed sourced ethanol (ethyl alcohol), a bio fuel additive in transport fuel, has been used to run a car for the first time. Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSMCRI) in Bhavnagar scientists recently drove an ambassador car with a fuel blend of 10 per cent ethanol and 90 per cent petrol. While this green fuel is already produced and used to run cars in some countries, specially US and Brazil, in India, this was not possible as sugarcane, the main source of ethanol, is a food crop here. To counter this disadvantage, CSMCRI has become the first Indian body to successfully produce ethanol from a seaweed, Kappaphycus alvarezii. Dr PK Ghosh, director, CSMCRI, which is a national laboratory under aegis of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi, said, "This new source of ethanol has opened doors for large-scale production and its use to run automobiles in India." CSMCRI, which plans to be ready for mass-scale production of ethanol in three years, will do offshore cultivation on a five-hectare area on the Tamil Nadu coast. "Major advantages of offshore cultivation of seaweed are that there is no pressure on agriculture land, no requirement of fresh water for irrigation and fertilisers or pesticides," said deputy director and head of process design and engineering cell, CSMCRI, M R Gandhi. Researchers plan to increase the ethanol percentage to 20 in the near future. "We also plan to expand cultivation up to 10,000 hectares in the next five years," Ghosh said. Not only biofuel, the seaweed processing also produces sap, which is used as bio-fertilizer in crops, especially sugarcane. Experience has proved that spraying sap has given 20 per cent more yield of sugarcane. Apart from TN, possibility of seaweed cultivation in various coastal states, including Gujarat, is also being examined. For large-scale cultivation of seaweed, the Union ministry of new and renewable energy has already sanctioned a project — 'assessment of techno-economic feasibility of large-scale seaweed cultivation integrated with bio fertiliser and ethanol production.'

Gujarat's jeera bowl may get bigger

Vijaysinh Parmar/9 June/-10/BHAVNAGAR: Scientists in Bhavnagar have made a major breakthrough — they have been able to genetically transform cumin (jeera) plant with a 'salt responsive gene', thus making the plant resistant to salinity ingress. This is the first successful attempt at this stable transformation of cumin— India is the largest producer of this crop in the world, while Gujarat contributes to 90% of India's production, which is 2.38 lakh metric tonnes — worldwide. This is good news for farmers in India's 'jeera bowl' of Gujarat. This feat was achieved by scientists at Central Salt Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSMCRI) in Bhavnagar. According to Dr PK Ghosh, director, CSMCRI, transformation of the cumin plant was made through direct gene transfer, using particle gene gun. "Our scientists have been working on this project for the last six years. Initially, we identified a 'salt responsive gene' in a local plant 'Salicornia brachiata' and directly put it into cumin. With intensive scientific experiments, we found that not only was the transgenic gene not rejected by the plant, it was also expressive,'' Dr Ghosh told TOI. According to Professor Bhavnath Jha, scientist and head of marine biotechology and ecology, "Salinity ingress and depleting ground water are becoming serious issues in our country. We have to look for options to salinity ingress and depleting ground water for sustainable agriculture. Salt stress is a major limiting factor on plant growth and productivity. We are hopeful that this genetic transformation will help us solve increasing salinity ingress. This salt-resistant cumin crop will be the Indian farmer's first option." While this experiment adequately exhibited the possibility of the stable transformation in cumin, it is big news for genetically modified crops in the country. "We are trying to make similar transformation in other crops like groundnut and tobacco as well," Jha adds. "At present, we are also working on yield growth after regeneration. We are also studying other genes like drought-resistant crops. We have selected crops in which India is the world leader,'' adds Dr Ghosh

Here, girls learn ecology via butterfly breeding

Vijaysinh Parmar/Aug 7/ TALAJA (Bhavnagar): If you happen to be around Talaja town in Bhavnagar district, don't be surprised if you come across girls collecting caterpillars from the wilderness along the roads or from orchards while on their way to school. They are most probably students of Navkarmantra Girls High School in Talaja and collecting caterpillars for their school's eco-club project homework. The club members as part of activities, learn about plantations and conserving ecology around them by breeding butterflies and releasing them after their metamorphosis. There are about 1,300 girl students from class VIII to XII. Out of them, at least 500 are actively involved in butterfly breeding activity. According to Ruchi Dave, the teacher who spearheads the eco-club's activity, students mostly come from surrounding villages and have great ecological environment around them. "The idea is to involve students in the process of butterfly breeding and introduce them to the different and exciting world of butterflies. It's important to our nature and conservation. They collect caterpillars to school and put them in boxes. Then, they learn the complete metamorphosis. When the caterpillars become butterflies, it becomes the girls' responsibility to release them," explains Dave, an ardent nature lover herself. The six-year-old eco club in the school started this activity four years ago and has now started getting results. "Students now learn the life cycle of a butterfly, life span, variations, identifications and seasonal variation among other things. Students are taught about its importance in ecology including that it is a food source for many creatures like birds, certain insects and reptiles. They now identify its host plants and try to conserve these plants." "Our motto is to teach them protect what you enjoy'. Once they start enjoying it, they will definitely protect it. Rare butterflies will then not remain rare," adds Dave. "In order to make students understand nature as a whole, awareness should be raised among them about a butterfly. This can be done anywhere by developing butterfly gardens," opines Snehal Patel, president of Nature Club, Surat, a club that has initiated the development of private butterfly gardens by anyone who wishes to nurture them. "We tell people to grow plants that attract butterflies in their gardens. We give them lists and advisories of what not to use, like chemicals and pesticides, to protect these beautiful creatures. With such guidance, we assure at least 50 species of butterflies in a garden," adds Patel

People's interest comes before party's: Dr.Kalsaria

Vijaysinh Parmar/Aug/24/MAHUVA (BHAVNAGAR): Determined to see the agitation against the proposed Nirma cement plant in Mahuva to the finish, BJP MLA from Mahuva assembly constituency Kanu Kalsaria is organising a mega farmers' sammelan' at Doliya village in Mahuva taluka on September 5. Says the doctor-turned-politician, who is facing a probable party suspension after his speech at a Congress meet was termed as anti-party activity: " At the meet, we expect about one lakh farmers from the region to join. We welcome the support from all the people, irrespective of party politics. All those who can join us in the ongoing agitation against the cement plant at Dholiya are welcome.'' Kalsaria has been spearheading the agitation against the proposed plant near Padhiyarka village in Mahuva taluka. Speaking to TOI on the topic of his probable suspension, he says that he has been waiting for it to happen for a long time. "In fact, BJP is getting late in doing so. Since the beginning, I have opposed the plant as it goes against the farmers' interest in the area. I can't tolerate such things, as in my opinion people's interest comes before that of the party," he said. Kalsaria, who has been representing BJP Mahuva constituency for the last three consecutive assembly elections, has openly declared his opposition to the BJP's move to go ahead with cement plant at the site. He goes on to add, "We have been opposing the party's decision, to be precise, since the last one-and-a-half year. It will continue until the cement plant plan is removed from its current location. However, I have not received any formal communication from the party's higher command in this regard. I am waiting to see which words they use for my suspension; then, I will send my reply." "The proposed plant will ruin the agriculture in surrounding villages which is now turning out to be prosperous after the bandharas' (check dams) which we were built by the government itself to fight against the salinity ingress at the Mahuva coastal belt. Now, if the proposed cement plant is built all of these efforts will go to waste and will adversely impact the farmers' livelihood,'' he said.