News……………..
Have you ever seen young Tibetan monks trying to learn their lessons? Outside the classroom, in sprawling verandas or lawns they form into small groups and debate and argue all that they heard in the previous class. The arguments 'for and
against ' get so heated up that to an outsider it will seem like a fight in swing. Needless to say the lessons are fully internalized and become part of their world view. The Internet's biggest gift to education is its interactiveness. While attempting an
online quiz we may absorb more about the topic than by just reading about it. Also the various alternate options given to confuse the person attempting the quiz provokes thought. Our quiz this month is on threatened species.Click
here to attempt it online. Informal chats are another way to provoke thought. We may ask/say anything about the topic without being judged about our ignorance/or knowledge.
The moderator himself/herself is no expert and the idea is to share views and experiences. Please go through our
chat transcripts every month. IWC.com do have wildlife experts as members and even if they do not find time to participate in the chat, we welcome their ideas / contributions which can be mailed to
iwc@indianwildlifeclub.com copy to
susan_sharma@hotmail.com. Our chat topic for October 03 was " deer and antelope".
November to April is the best time to visit national parks and wildlife sanctuaries. John Eickert of
NumBum Adventures tempts the readers with his trekking account to Valley of Flowers.
The tiger contest is still on. The tigers at Ranthambhore are known to be most casual towards tourists. Yet, in this
audio visual they sure seem to tell a story.
and Views…………..
" The recent changes in the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 were supported in an extremely positive and non-partisan way by Members of Parliament of all political parties. These changes have been widely
acknowledged by experts, officials and even human rights groups to be a vast improvement on the older legislation. For the first time we have, for instance, added a category called Community Conserved Reserves, which will encourage a large number of local
communities to lend their purpose and genius to the task of protecting our wildlife.
But all is not smooth sailing. By some estimates perhaps over Rs. 50,000 crores annually may be extracted, legally or illegally, from forests land alone! We know that less than Rs. 500 crores is ploughed back each year for real protection of this natural diversity.
Alarmingly, insurrectionist and separatist groups have taken advantage of ineffective and inadequate government mechanisms, to generate funds from forests and from the trade in wildlife contraband to finance their anti-national agenda. "
-Mr. B.G. Deshmukh, President, Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS)