10-Dec-2019: Odisha awarded 'World Habitat Award' for Jaga Mission
Odisha won the 'World Habitat Award', global recognition for its ambitious initiative -- Jaga Mission. This award is given by World Habitat, a UK-based organization, in partnership with United Nation (UN)-Habitat, every year, in recognition of innovative, outstanding, and revolutionary ideas, projects, and programmes from across the world.
Jaga Mission is a slum land titling project, benefiting a million urban-poor living in the slums.
Ratan N Tata, Chairman of Tata Trusts, said, "I extend my congratulations to the Chief Minister of Odisha and his team at this proud moment. The World Habitat Award is a recognition for the vision and commitment of the Government of Odisha to improve the lives of the urban poor. The Tata Trusts are privileged to partner with the Government of Odisha in this noble initiative."
Recently, this project was also awarded the 'India Geospatial Excellence Award' for technological innovation in transforming the lives of urban poor.
7-Oct-2019: IFS officer Ramesh Pandey to be given Asia Environmental Enforcement Award by UNEP
Senior Indian Forest Service officer Ramesh Pandey has been selected for the prestigious Asia Environmental Enforcement Award by the United Nations Environment Programme.
The 1996-batch IFS officer, posted as Chief Conservator Forests in Lucknow and Secretary, UP State Bio-diversity Board, is known for his investigation and intelligence gathering on poachers. Pandey will receive the award on November 13 at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok.
The purpose of the Asia Environmental Enforcement Awards are to publicly recognise outstanding achievements by public organisations and individuals in Asia to combat transboundary environmental crime.
The central government had picked him as one of the officers to be part of the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau at the time of setting it up. During his tenure at the Bureau, Pandey busted several tiger poaching gangs and ensured a strict vigil on the airport to restrict wildlife smuggling.
Pandey also introduced M-Stripes (Monitoring System for Tigers — Intensive Protection & Ecological Status), a novel software-based patrolling in Dudhwa Tiger Reserve on the recommendation of National Tiger Conservation Authority.
5-May-2019: Purple frog to be crowned Kerala’s state amphibian
Purple frog, an odd-looking species endemic to the Western Ghats, also referred as the ‘Maveli’ frog could soon be designated as Kerala’s state amphibian.
According to mythology, Mahabali, or Maveli, was a benevolent asura king who ruled over the region of Kerala but was banished into the netherworld by Lord Vishnu in order to appease the gods. But Maveli was granted one wish: he could return to Kerala for a single day and meet his subjects. This day in Kerala came to be celebrated as ‘Thiruvonam’, the most auspicious day of Onam when people would greet their old king. Quite similar to the lore of King Maveli, researchers have found that the Purple frog (Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis), which lives almost its entire life in underground tunnels, comes out to the surface for a single day in a year to breed. Once it lays its eggs, the bloated frogs characterised by a protruding snout and powerful hind legs return to the earth’s deepest layers.
If all goes well, this intriguing frog species, listed as endangered on the red list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), could soon be designated as Kerala’s state amphibian – a title that researchers hope would go a long way in protecting it’s fragile habitat and knowing more about its rich antecedents.