New Births in Eravikulam National Park

The first birth of Nilgiri Tahr, has been reported on 29th from Eravikukam National Park,the stronghold of highly endangered Nilgiri Tahr. The births have been delayed this year due to vagaries of rainfall. Usually it occurs smack on 1st week of January.The rutting season coincides with the arrival of monsoon. This ensures birth in January- February before the onset of summer. This year things have been thrown out of kilter. Conservationists are worried about this.
The Tahr babies are called Kids. Hence the calving is referred to as kidding.

Shri T M Manoharan IFS back at the helm of affairs in Forest Department

After completing a phenomenally successful stint in KSEB as Chairman, Shri T M Manoharan IFS, has come back to the Forest Department as Principal Chief Conservator. His stint in KSEB was marked by a remarkable turn around in the fortunes of KSEB. The public sector enterprise was an ailing baby when he took over with a whopping Rs 3000 crores losses every year. The losses have been wiped out during the course of last 5 years and when he left, the coffers recorded a surplus of Rs 1000 crores. This is akin to a miracle in a state like Kerala.

The reputation of Forest Department of Kerala has taken a beating in recent years and lot of high hopes is pinned on the calibre Shri T M Manoharan to turn things around.

Highrange Tidings Salute this magnificent officer for his achievement in KSEB and wish him Godspeed.

Hilarious experience

I was in Nilambur last week and went to the Cholanaikkar colony to have a first hand look at them. I was bowled over by the earthy wisdom of the tribals. Their knowledge about the environment is amazing. Thorough knowledge about the flora and fauna of the area. Their grasp of animal behaviour was spot on target. I had a tete e tete with the tribal chief.The tribal chieftain gave me an account of some of the "welfare" measures initiated by the Government with a glint in his eye.The tribals live near the river. The water is crystal clear, uncontaminated, and fish is aplenty. Things were hunky-dory in their private world. In comes the tribal welfare department with a development agenda.The tribal welfare department decided that the best way to ensure pure drinking water is to dig a well, and they dug a well near the river. The Cholanaikkan chief was baffled. He scratched his head many times but could not come up with anything to explain the rationale behind digging the well, so close to the river. The chief ultimately found a good use for the well. Use it as a dumping place of waste. The Cholanaikkars now dump their waste with glee in to the well. The officials of the tribal welfare department have met their target of providing pure drinking water to tribals. I had a hearty laugh with the chief over a drink.