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IN FOCUS

Environment Conservation and Indian Heritage

Environment Conservation and Indian Heritage

From time immemorial in ancient India the relationship between people and the environment has been one of harmony, coexistence, mutual care and concern; the two supporting and complementing each other in their own way.

Indian civilisation has always been a nature friendly and nature inclusive civilisation intertwining the culture and traditions. The worship and reverence offered to various elements of nature like the earth, rivers, mountains, trees and various animals were and are ways of consciously protecting and conserving our environment, flora and fauna.\

India is also a nation of diverse ethnic communities living in varied landscapes which have thrived well through ages, with our varied social structures evolving with need and time. The requirement, knowledge, understanding and management of nature has been passed down generations through traditions and religious activities based on regulations of natural resources. Maintenance and preservation of water bodies, protection and respect of animal wealth and developing sacred groves of plants of medicinal, economic and environmental values have been an integral part of village and city settlements.

Today with concerns of environment protection looming large on the horizon lets delve into the explanations and values of our rich traditions and culture; recognise their uniqueness; collectively and scientifically uphold the consciousness for eco-conservation in the present age.

In Story

Save Tree, Save Forest, Think for the Nature

The Lion That Sprang to Life

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful forest. Two brother trees named Chintu and Pintu, lived in that forest, along with many other friendly trees, plants and climbers. Chintu and Pintu had many animal friends like the rabbit and his brothers, a group of monkeys, a family of birds, the Bunky bear and the wise old wolf.

One fine day, all the tree and animal friends were chatting and enjoying the weather. Suddenly Pintu saw a woodcutter coming toward them. Pintu said "Hey look a woodcutter is coming towards us. Run! Run! Save yourself!" Chintu said to the animals. But no one ran. They said "Friend! you give us food and shelter, you give us fresh air to breathe. How can we leave you in danger and go?" Chintu and Pintu thanked them for their consideration and said, "OK you all hide behind us" said the two brother trees. So, the monkeys and the birds hid inside the leaves of the tree and the other animals hid behind the tree.

When the woodcutter reached close to them, he was very confused because there were so many trees and he was unable to decide which one to cut first. Suddenly he saw Chintu and Pintu, the huge trees and said "Be ready to be cut you trees." The wise old wolf had already told his plan to the other animals. As soon as the woodcutter came near the trees, the group of monkeys jumped on him and the family of birds started pecking at him. The rabbit and his brothers started jumping around him to divert his attention and the Bunkey bear started roaring to scare him away.

When all animals were busy at their work, the wise old wolf ran to the lion king to help save the trees. The lion king quickly reached the spot with the wolf. He roared and chased the woodcutter who ran away for his life. Chintu and Pintu said "thank you" to all their friends for saving their life.

Later the woodcutter thought "I never thought that trees give animals so many things like food, shelter etc and share so much of love and bonding between them," and decided never to cut trees.

UNSUNG HEROES

NBT

Jadav Payeng -The Forest Man of India

Jadav Payeng popularly known as "The Forest Man of India" belongs to the 'Mishing' tribe who lived in Aruna Sapori, a small river island lying between the mainland and one of the largest river islands in the world, Majuli, in Assam.

His journey of planting trees started back in 1978, when he witnessed hundreds of lifeless snakes lying looped and twisted on a deserted sandbar, due to lack of tree cover in the area. Since then he has been working tirelessly to plant and tend trees on a sandbar of the river Brahmputra turning it into a forest reserve. His man-made forest is located near Kokilamukh of Jorhat, Assam and is called "Molai" meaning 'forest' which encompasses an area of about 1,360 hectares today.

The forest is now home Royal Bengal tigers, Indian rhinoceroes, deers, wild boars, monkey, hundreds of vultures and several species of birds.

Fondly known as Jadav "Molai" Payeng, the environment activist, has been a great inspiration for people and has been the subject of several documentaries in recent years. Based on his inspiring story a book for children 'Jadav and the Tree Place' has been written and illustrated by Vinayak Varma. He was honored with Padma Shri for his tremendous work to save our environment in 2015.

Unsung Heroes like him have faced a lot of struggle but they have invested their heart and soul to do best for our environment.

INTER ACTIVITY

WORD POWER

Illusion
  1. The process of minimising waste by recovering materials and transforming them into new product.
  2. The phenomena of the physical world collectively, including plants, animals, the landscape, and other features and products of the earth
  3. Protecting, maintaining or improving natural resources, to keep them safe from destruction or degradation and conserve them for future generation.
  4. Fulels such as oil, coal & Natural gas.
  5. Capable of being broken down or decomposed by natural biological processes.
  6. The study the relationship of living thing(plant, animal and humans) with each other and with their environment)
  7. The process of eroding or being eroded by wind, water, or other natural agents
  8. The usual condition of the temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, and other meteorological elements in an area of the Earth's surface for a long time
  9. The action or practice of using something again
  10. It is a structure with walls and roof made chiefly of transparent material, such as glass, in which plants requiring regulated climatic conditions are grown
  11. The process of planting trees, or sowing seeds, in a barren land devoid of any trees to create a forest.

BRAIN TEASERS

BRAIN TEASERS
BRAIN TEASERS

ILLUSION

Illusion
Grass Ball Illusion outside Paris City Hall

In Formation

HIDDEN GEMS OF INDIA

HIDDEN GEMS OF INDIA
Hidden gem - Deoria Tal

Have you ever wondered to explore heaven on earth? If you have, Deoria Tal is the place you need to travel over. A feeling of positivity will descend on you, and that's what heaven is all about.

Deoria Tal is a lake about 3kms at an altitude of 2,438 meters from the villages of Mastura and Sari on the Ukhimath-Chopta road in Uttrakhand. It's one of a hidden gem, and it is known for its holy significance in our country. Deoria Tal is amidst snow-covered mountains in the backdrop, and the lake reflects the mountains covered with a sheet of snow.

There are a lot of fun activities that you can do in Deoria Tal, such as Camping & bonfire next to the lake, skiing, and people passionate about photography would for sure love to capture heart touching views. Can you imagine your footprints there, and never coming back?

Locals living nearby this heaven have taken a lot of steps to conserve nature such as they have banned the usage of plastic completely, a minimum amount of vehicles in nearby villages and tourists are only allowed to carry minimum eatables to the top. Such steps could bring a major change to save environment!

Hindu faiths averred that Devas bathed in the lake, and hence the name. Also, according to the locals in the village of Sari, it was said that the lake was built by the strongest among Pandavas, Bheem. Bheem built the lake to satisfy his thirst, and this idea was suggested by Yudhister, the wisest Pandav of all.

This place should be definitely on your bucket list and bless your eyes as soon as possible.

HAPPENINGS

  1. The UNCCD (United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification) held its Conference of the Parties - COP14 in New Delhi, India between 2-13 September 2019. A range of issues like ecosystem restoration, climate change, peace, forest initiative and recovery of 26 million hectares of degraded land in India were taken up.

  2. According to a report filed by an expert committee formed by the Madras High Court, expanding exotic plantains like tea, eucalyptus and other invasive species in the Nilgiris can wipe out the Shola vegetation, the tropical montane forests found in the Western Ghats separated by rolling grasslands in high altitudes.

  3. Nepal's government and mountaineering groups this year organised a six-week clean-up of Mount Everest, scaling almost 26,300 feet from base camp to the closest camp to the summit. A team of 14 volunteers retrieved more than 10 tonnes of trash that was flown or driven to recycling centres in Kathmandu.

  1. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Iraqi government have rolled out a project to use naturally occurring soil bacteria to decontaminate land poisoned by oil spills. The soil bacteria are fed nutrients from manure and bulking agents such as wood chips and water to thrive and then devour oil spills.

  2. Engineers from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) have developed a new way to remove carbon dioxide from air which could provide a significant tool in the battle against climate change.

  3. Pangti village in the Wokha district in Nagaland, is a roosting ground of a million of the famed migratory visitors � the Amur Falcons, migrating between Russia, China and Africa. It has earned Nagaland the name - the falcon capital of the world.

IN ENGLISH

Etymology of words related to Environment

Etymology is the study of the history and origin of the particular word.

The word etymology is derived from the Greek word (etumología), "étumon" meaning "true sense or sense of a truth", and the suffix-logia, denoting "the study of".

  1. Environment is derived from the French word "Environ" which means "surrounding". Our surrounding includes biotic factors like human beings, Plants, animals, microbes, etc and abiotic factors such as light, air, water, soil, etc.
  2. Climate is derived from Old French “climat” or late Latin “climaclimat-“, from Greek “klima” ‘slope, zone’, from “klinein”  ‘to slope’. The term originally denoted a zone of the earth between two lines of latitude, then any region of the earth, and later, a region considered with reference to its atmospheric conditions.
  3. Nature is derived from the Latin word "natura" and from "old French nature" which means natural constitution or quality.
  1. Pollution is derived from a French word ‘Pollucion’ which means filth and dirt and from Latin “polluere” meaning "to soil, defile, contaminate", which means the presence of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change.
  2. Erosion is derived from Latin word “erosionem” (nominative erosio) "a gnawing away," which means the result of having been worn away or eroded.
  3. Ecology is derived from from Greek “oikos” "house, dwelling place, habitation + -logia "study of". The word was coined by German zoologist Ernst Haeckel as “Ökologie”, referring to a branch of science dealing with the relationship of living things to their environments.

ANSWERS

WORD POWER
WORD POWER
ILLUSION
ILLUSION
BRAIN TEASERS
BRAIN TEASERS

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