IN NEWS

''Threat' of critical wildlife habitat worries Cotigao

TNN, Oct 2, 2010, 11.49pm IST

Cotigao villagers were among the few human settlements in India on September 30, 2010 who had a more pressing issue at hand than the verdict on the Ayodhya title suit to be pronounced at 3.30pm that day. The wildlife sanctuary is to be accorded the status of a critical wildlife habitat (CWH) and fears are rife over the repercussions this will have on the residents.
Despite the unusually humid weather, from which even the lush green of the Cotigao Wildlife Sanctuary could not provide relief, around 300 villagers huddled in groups under whatever shelter was available around the Cotigao panchayat. It was 10am, an hour-and-a-half before the state-level expert committee which is to carry out hearings on the proposed CWH status to the sanctuary was scheduled to arrive…………….

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/Threat-of-critical-wildlife-habitat-worries-Cotigao/articleshow/6674132.cms

India: Anthropologist Ambika And Arunachal's Wildlife

By SOP newswire2

Taflagam, Arunachal Pradesh (Women`s Feature Service) - As she trekked to Taflagam, the last village on the Indo-China border in eastern Arunachal Pradesh, in February 2006, anthropologist Ambika Aiyadurai was in for a shock. This is a terrain probably never visited by a city dweller so far.Accompanied by her guide and interpreter, Lobinso, a young man from the indigenous Mishmi tribe, she passed by rows of curious, 1.5 metre-tall bamboo huts on stilts (to keep flood waters as well as wild animalsout), before climbing up a carved wooden log - that served as steps - leading into one of the homes. The reason for her visit: A local religious ceremony. She recalls, "It took a while for my eyes to get adjusted to the darkness inside the hut. A strong smell of rice beer, meat and opium hung in the air. The walls behind the men had rows of tar-black objects." A villager casually explained to her that they were animal heads…………

http://thesop.org/story/20101002/india-anthropologist-ambika-and-arunachals-wildlife.html

Forestry students have no jobs

Jayashree Nandi, TNN, Oct 3, 2010, 12.06am IST

BANGALORE: If this had been an engineering or medical college, the cry would have reached far and loud, but not with students pursuing forestry. Nearly 400 students at the two forestry colleges -- Government Forestry College in Ponnampet (Kodagu) and in Sirsi -- have stopped attending classes, protesting against a recruitment policy of the forest department that gives more opportunities to general graduates than forestry graduates. According to the policy, only 50% of the forestry graduates are recruited to the posts of range forest officer (RFO) or assistant conservator of forests (ACF). The remaining 50% are usually recruited from general streams or are even engineers. This has led to a huge number of forestry studentsnot getting recruited to the forest department, despite having a specialized knowledge of the field.
RTI REVELATION
According to an RTI filed by an MSc forestry student, Harsha K G, in the past 10 years only 138 forestry students were recruited to the positions of RFO and ACF…………

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/Forestry-students-have-no-jobs/articleshow/6674250.cms

Anti-Veerappan force chief is new CRPF boss

Published: Sunday, Oct 3, 2010, 1:06 IST
By Mayank Aggarwal | Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA

In what seems to be the fallout of the Dantewada massacre in Chhatisgarh earlier this year where 75 personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were killed by Maoists, the union government on Saturday transferred CRPF’s director general Vikram Srivastava………………

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_anti-veerappan-force-chief-is-new-crpf-boss_1446781