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STED Project is preparing a plan for Kozhikode. Biju Govind says this has attained importance after the July flooding in the district.The flooding and other calamities that befell Kozhikode during the heavy rain in July call for a disaster management plan for the district. Although the Centre had enacted the Disaster Management Act in 2005 and asked the State governments to set up disaster management units, only a few have done so. The Kerala government entrusted preparation of disaster management plans to the district administrations in January 2009. People believe that casualties and damage to property can be minimised with such a plan. After having experienced flooding year after year, the district administration is now in the process of formulating a district disaster management plan.The Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development (STED) Project has been entrusted with the task.It has drafted a proposal by making a geo-demographical profile detailing housing patterns, roads, means of transport, hospitals and government and private services available in the district.In consultation with various departments, including that of geology, the project officials will record the hazards the district had witnessed.They will do an analysis of the worst cases and find the areas vulnerable to natural calamities.Such steps will help the district administration take preventive measures, says Mohanan Manalil, project director.There will be a non-structural disaster mitigation plan focussing on preparedness methodology, awareness campaign, disaster recovery inventory and enforcing existing codes and laws. The structural mitigation measures include retrofitting and earthquake-resistant constructions, he says.The management plan will concentrate on short- and long-term responses. The short-term plan centres on rescue operations, relief operations and rehabilitation, while the long-term plan emphasises action plans for the departments of Police, Fire and Rescue Services, Revenue, Irrigation, Education, Health Service, Food and Civil Supplies, Transport and Public Works, the Kerala State Electricity Board, the Red Cross, the National Cadet Corps and the Scouts. The Hindu, 1st August 2009
In a daring experiment in Europe, scientists used mosquitoes as flying needles to deliver a "vaccine" of live malaria parasites through their bites. The results were astounding: Everyone in the vaccine group acquired immunity to malaria; everyone in a non-vaccinated comparison group did not, and developed malaria when exposed to the parasites later. Mosquitoes deliver malaria 'vaccine' through bites The study was only a small proof-of-principle test, and its approach is not practical on a large scale. However, it shows that scientists may finally be on the right track to developing an effective vaccine against one of mankind's top killers. A vaccine that uses modified live parasites just entered human testing.Malaria kills nearly a million people each year, mostly children under 5 and especially in Africa. Infected mosquitoes inject immature malaria parasites into the skin when they bite; these travel to the liver where they mature and multiply. From there, they enter the bloodstream and attack red blood cells - the phase that makes people sick.People can develop immunity to malaria if exposed to it many times. The drug chloroquine can kill parasites in the final bloodstream phase, when they are most dangerous.Scientists tried to take advantage of these two factors, by using chloroquine to protect people while gradually exposing them to malaria parasites and letting immunity develop. The Business Line 31st July 2009
Forest preservation, curbing poachers and relocation of forest-dwellers were the three major challenges before the government, Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh said. The Minister said amendments to the Wildlife Protection Act were on the anvil to deter poachers further and for anti-wildlife smuggling activities."We are in talks with the concerned stakeholders to bring comprehensive changes in the Act and also in the process to strengthen Wildlife Crime Control Bureau to develop intelligence," he said. Long judicial procedures and paltry sums as penalty do not help curb this problem.With the help of the Supreme Court, the Attorney General of India and other judiciary members, efforts would be made to introduce heavy fines and sections like attaching property. Mr. Ramesh said the States had got over Rs. 11,000 crore for protection and restoration of natural forest cover under the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) Fund. The fund offers a unique and historic opportunity to invest in forests exclusively since the word 'plantation' did not figure in the guidelines. In the next six years, 6 million hectares of land will be brought under green cover, providing one of the largest carbon sinks in the world.On the relocation of close to 80,000 families living inside the core areas of protected forests, he said they had been offered Rs.10 lakh or a piece of land as a compensation package to move out of the reserves. The Hindu, 29th July 2009
Fishermen in the coastal belt of the district will now be better equipped with information on fishing zones and weather conditions, thanks to a satellite-based system set up by the Kerala State Remote Sensing and Environment Centre (KSRSEC) and the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) under the Department of Space.The digital system uses the data beamed down from the Oceansat 1 (IRS P4) satellite to provide fishermen with real-time information on location of shoals, direction of wind and weather changes. The data will be disseminated through a network of electronic display boards to be installed at select locations along the coast.Fisheries Minister S. Sarma inaugurated the first display board at the Maryanad-Perumathura Fisheries Society on Tuesday. Speaking on the occasion, he said the government would take steps to extend the network across the coastal belt of the State.In the first phase, display boards will be set up at Anchuthengu, Vizhinjam and Pozhiyoor. The Hindu, 29th July 2009
A redrawing of the buffer zones of Pokkali fields is under the consideration of a subcommittee of the State Coastal Zone Management Authority. The aim is to explore the possibility of permitting construction of houses for fishermen in the land thus freed. At present, 50 metres from the landward side of the fields is treated as the buffer zone. The restriction should be lifted for providing houses for the fishermen, a subcommittee member said.On Pokkali fields, around 5,000 hectares near the backwaters in Ernakulam, Alappuzha and Thrissur districts, paddy- and prawn-farming is carried out in turns. The rice is cultivated in an organic way, the tidal flow nourishing the crop.The Coastal Zone Management Authority has submitted a few recommendations to the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests with focus on housing needs of the fishermen communities. One of these is to reduce by half the no-development zone in Coastal Regulation Zone III areas (panchayats) to 100 metres landwards from the high-tide line. The reduction in the zone area will help to construct houses for fishermen, the member said.As many as 35,000 fishermen families in the State own neither land nor houses. There are 18,000 others who have land but no houses.The recommendations of the authority assume significance in the wake of reports that the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification will be modified with focus on housing issues and space for ancillary activities of fishermen, the member said.The Coastal Zone Management (CZM) notification, intended to replace the CRZ notification, on the basis of the recommendations of the M.S. Swaminathan committee, lapsed last week. It was feared that the new norms would deny a large number of fishermen their livelihood and dwelling areas.The member said CRZ notification had been found effective in protecting the coastal ecosystem and coastal resources and ensuring livelihood security of the coastal population. However, there was a pressing need for incorporating packages to meet housing needs. The Hindu, 27th July 2009
A disaster management plan for the district is taking shape with the collaboration of several government departments, the Centre for Earth Science Studies and the India Meteorological Department. The plan is being prepared by a body called the Science and Technology Entrepreneurship that functions under the Science and Technology Department.The plan was discussed at a meeting presided over by District Collector P.B. Salim. Additional District Magistrate P.M. Babu, Revenue Divisional Officer K.P. Remadevi, Geological Survey of India geologist C. Muralidharan and heads of various government departments were present. The Hindu, 27th July 2009
The Kerala State Remote Sensing and Environment Centre (KSREC) and the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) under the Department of Space are jointly setting up electronic display boards at Mariyanad and Anchuthengu in the district to provide real-time information on fish availability, direction of wind and change in weather to fisher folk.The display boards would have information secured through Oceansat I (IRS P4) The project can also be used for early tsunami warning and predicting adverse weather.The first of the display boards would be inaugurated by Fisheries Minister S. Sarma at Mariyanad on Tuesday, a press release said. The Hindu, 26th July 2009
James P. Mathew has over 60 jackfruit trees in his farm at Kanhirapuzha in Palakkad district. Every year, the farmer and his family watch the fruits ripen and fall to the ground where they end up rotting.Mr. Mathew had half a mind to cut down the trees, but then he thought of processing the fruit into value-added products. Last year, he approached the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment (KSCSTE) with a project to manufacture wine from jackfruit. With an assistance of Rs.3.5 lakh that was sanctioned by the council, Mr. Mathew successfully completed a pilot project, only to discover that he would need a licence from the Excise Department to market the wine that has an alcohol content of 12.4 per cent.The farmer is now awaiting the government's response to his request to exempt jackfruit wine from the purview of the Abkari Act. The pilot project required little investment and employed a simple technology using sugar, water, spices, potassium meta bisulphate and yeast to make wine."Out of the 30 lakh jackfruits that are produced in Kerala every year, more than half are allowed to perish. There are few buyers for this tasty and highly nutritious fruit and farmers earn no income. By processing the fruit into a range of value-added products, the farmers can be assured of a regular income from the trees. Besides generating employment, it will also ensure the survival of this endemic species that requires virtually no care or maintenance".Mr. Mathew, who heads the Kanhirapuzha Grama Panchayat Farm Club, says the seeds of jackfruit could also be used to make food products. "The waste generated from the process could help produce vermicompost", he added.Mr. Mathew is planning to apply for a patent on the jackfruit wine."A couple of companies have approached me for the technology," he said. The Hindu, 25th July 2009
The Indian government admitted this week that nobody has seen a Royal Bengal tiger in Panna National Park since January. Only a year ago, there were calculated to be 24 tiger reserves. A century ago, India had about 40,000 tigers by 1988, extensive hunting and poaching pulled the figure down to just 4,500. now the true figure is probably 1,000 panna, located near Khajuraho is the second reserve in which there are now no tigers. Sariska National Park in Rajasthan lost its tigers in 2005. The New Indian Express, 25th July 2009
Directives to tackle disasters Source: Malayala Manorama, 4th August 2009
Directives to tackle disasters Source: Malayala Manorama 4th August 2009
Source: Malayala Manorama, 4th August 2009
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