I am really surprised at this campaign. We have always felt that every one
has a right to be a tourist, and this is a democratic right. The industry on
the one hand uses ingenuity to defraud the govt. and on the other protests
low spending tourists. They want only high spenders. Then tourism to the
Andamans is only for the elite, so why should peoples movements bother about
the impact of tourism there, if the industry and the local people are so
elitist?
Nina Rao


On 28/09/2007, Pankaj Andaman <psekhsaria@...> wrote:
>
>   Hoteliers protest against low-budget Andaman tourism
> http://in.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idINIndia-29748020070927
>
> Thu Sep 27, 2007 7:28pm IST
>
> PORT BLAIR, India (Reuters) - Hundreds of tour operators and hotel
> owners in the Andaman islands protested on Thursday against a scheme to
> fly budget tourists to the islands, saying it had stopped wealthier
> travellers from visiting.
>
> India recently allowed all level of government employees to use their
> leave allowances to fly to the Andaman and Nicobar islands, the remotest
> part of its territory, as it tried to boost the tourism-dependent
> economy following the catastrophic tsunami of 2004.
>
> Many low-wage workers jumped at the chance to take their first flight
> and visit the islands' famed beaches, forests, coral reefs and tribal
> cultures -- a perk once reserved for only senior state employees.
>
> But islanders working in the tourism industry say crowds of
> cost-conscious tourists are straining resources without generating much
> income.
>
> "They visit the Andamans for at most a day and go back hardly spending
> any money," said G. Bhasker, general secretary of the Andaman Chamber of
> Commerce and Industries.
>
> "Agents are blocking tickets in bulk, preventing up-market tourists who
> are genuinely interested in visiting our islands."
>
> Hundreds of protesters chose World Tourism Day to shout slogans outside
> the tourism directorate in Port Blair, the archipelago's capital, and
> threatened further protests if the government did not listen.
>
> The island's chief secretary promised to look into their complaints.
>
> Authorities expect more than 150,000 tourists will visit the islands
> this year, but some estimate that around 80 percent of those are
> low-wage state employees.
>
> --
>
> http://pankaj-atcrossroads.blogspot.com
>
> C/o Kalpavriksh
> Apt. 5, Sri Dutta Krupa,
> 908 Deccan Gym
> Pune 411004
> India
> Tel: 020 25654239
> Mob: 09423009933
> Email: psekhsaria@... <psekhsaria%40gmail.com>
>
>
>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Kudos to the staff reporter and LOA for bringing these
issues into print. I was also sickened at having to
see a place i knew in a completely different light on
a recent visit to the islands. A box article by
Basudev Das on the 'jumpin' LTC tourist and the
'Basmati' foreign backpacker are issues that are being
dealt with local people in Port Blair as also so
called pristine beaches that are slowly being
converted into islands with mineral water bottles and
other trash.
Who benefits is still a big question mark, and for how
long will these pristine beaches exist for those
golden geese and its eggs to fill those few
pockets?...after that what next...look for another
excuse?
I hope more people get to read such print as in the
LOA, and that change can take some shape for the
better.
--- zubair ahmed <zubairpbl@...> wrote:

> The Light of Andamans :: Issue 36 :: 24 Sept 2007
> *LTC Tourism Under Fire*
>
> By Staff Reporter
>
> In the aftermath of tsunami, tourism industry had
> hit the nadir. The hotel
> occupancy had dropped to zero. The central
> government came to the rescue of
> the islands by extending the Leave Travel Concession
> to Andamans. The
> employees of Public Sector Undertakings could go to
> Andamans by air instead
> of their home towns. The employees lapped up the
> opportunity to travel by
> air – a rare chance in the lives of many of them.
> The hotels offered discounts to the extent of 60% -
> just to survive. The LTC
> tourists were unable to pay more. But soon the
> things started to sour.
> Unscrupulous traders and travel agents on the
> mainland jumped into the fray.
> They found out short cuts to siphon off public money
> in connivance with the
> PSU employees. Airlines were willing partners in it.
> Deal Code came into
> existence. The employee could manage to earn about
> Rs 5000 per return ticket
> worth Rs 27300. He could make some more through fake
> bills for journey to
> Diglipur, Havelock and other places. This way, he
> could take home Rs 25000
> after a trip to Port Blair.
> Local taxi and autowallahs have hired flats at Lamba
> Line and Dollyganj. The
> tourists come, stay put in a jam-packed flat 20-25
> in each, eat in roadside
> eateries, collect fake travel bills and return after
> two days. They come
> with names and phone numbers of the phoney agents to
> contact at Port Blair.
> They do not hire the services of any tour operator.
> 70-75% air travellers these days are LTC tourists.
> Local people don't get
> tickets even at the full fare. Neither the local
> ticketing agent nor the
> hotels/lodges nor travel agents get any business out
> of these tourists.
> G. Dinakaran, President Andaman Nicobar Tourism
> Guild was fuming when LoA
> contacted him. He was positive that the industry
> would sustain and 'sustain
> very well' if the LTC tourism was stopped tomorrow.
> "LTC is driving away the
> upper-end tourists. Airfare is the largest component
> of a trip to Andamans.
> Once the 70% load is taken off the airlines,
> genuine, upper-end tourists
> would flock to the islands as tickets would be
> available for Rs 4000-6000.
> Now, one is not sure if he would get even the full
> fare ticket. The
> occupancy in hotels has gone down since the LTC
> people don't go to hotels.
> They rarely travel. They don't buy air tickets. It
> was a boon that has
> turned into a bane for the industry in the islands.
> "In the short run there will be some problem for a
> few months. But the
> business will pick up. The prospects are very
> bright. But if we delay, the
> damage would be permanent. Prospective tourists
> would strike off Andaman
> Islands from their itinerary" said Dinakaran. He
> agreed that one can't stop
> anybody from coming to the islands as a tourist.
> "Let them come. But come to
> visit the place like others do. Not to make money
> and dupe the exchequer"
> explained Dinakaran
> He also said that they trade delegation had an
> audience with the Lt.
> Governor who expressed his inability in the matter.
> The Guild and the
> Chamber of Commerce had taken up the matter with the
> Chief Vigilance
> Commissioner. If nothing came out of it, they were
> prepared to file a PIL,
> said Dinakaran. "We are prepared to come out into
> the streets and launch an
> agitation to save the industry" "There is no dearth
> of genuine upper-end
> Indian and foreign tourists. The LTC people are
> pushing them out. They do
> not get the services they are prepared to pay for"
> said Ashraf Ali, an
> hotelier.
> "LTC Tourism is killing the industry. Andaman is the
> only destination in the
> world where the tourists make money" said M. Vinod,
> President Association of
> Tour Operators of Andaman.
> The local people too have turned against the LTC
> tourists as the prices are
> going up, the quality of food in small restaurants
> have gone down and above
> all, they have pushed up the cost of air travel.
> The tourism industry has launched a campaign and it
> is determined to go to
> any length to salvage the industry. It might take an
> ugly turn if nothing is
> done to stem the tide in time.
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been
> removed]
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>     (Yahoo! ID required)
>
> mailto:andamanicobar-fullfeatured@...
>
>
>



      
________________________________________________________________________________\
____
Tonight's top picks. What will you watch tonight? Preview the hottest shows on
Yahoo! TV.
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Hoteliers protest against low-budget Andaman tourism
http://in.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idINIndia-29748020070927

Thu Sep 27, 2007 7:28pm IST

PORT BLAIR, India (Reuters) - Hundreds of tour operators and hotel
owners in the Andaman islands protested on Thursday against a scheme to
fly budget tourists to the islands, saying it had stopped wealthier
travellers from visiting.

India recently allowed all level of government employees to use their
leave allowances to fly to the Andaman and Nicobar islands, the remotest
part of its territory, as it tried to boost the tourism-dependent
economy following the catastrophic tsunami of 2004.

Many low-wage workers jumped at the chance to take their first flight
and visit the islands' famed beaches, forests, coral reefs and tribal
cultures -- a perk once reserved for only senior state employees.

But islanders working in the tourism industry say crowds of
cost-conscious tourists are straining resources without generating much
income.

"They visit the Andamans for at most a day and go back hardly spending
any money," said G. Bhasker, general secretary of the Andaman Chamber of
Commerce and Industries.

"Agents are blocking tickets in bulk, preventing up-market tourists who
are genuinely interested in visiting our islands."

Hundreds of protesters chose World Tourism Day to shout slogans outside
the tourism directorate in Port Blair, the archipelago's capital, and
threatened further protests if the government did not listen.

The island's chief secretary promised to look into their complaints.

Authorities expect more than 150,000 tourists will visit the islands
this year, but some estimate that around 80 percent of those are
low-wage state employees.

--

http://pankaj-atcrossroads.blogspot.com

C/o Kalpavriksh
Apt. 5, Sri Dutta Krupa,
908 Deccan Gym
Pune 411004
India
Tel: 020 25654239
Mob: 09423009933
Email: psekhsaria@...

The Light of Andamans :: Issue 36 :: 24 Sept 2007
*A Blueprint for Tourism Development*

By M Krishnamachari

The Islands are ˜New Andamans and should be developed as a world class
destination, Prof. Ram Kapse, the then Lt. Governor had said visualizing the
Andaman Islands in post tsunami scenario.
The pristine beaches, the ever green forest, creeks, backwaters, scuba
diving grounds, historical locations, the peace loving people and the
perfect harmony are the main menu to promote these islands as a world class
destination.
To achieve it, the first step to be taken is to organize both the government
and private tourism sectors.  Unfortunately not even a beginning has been
made so far. This is not healthy for an up-coming destination, particularly
because disorganized and mushroom growth of tourism can lead to extensive
damage to the fragile eco-system and perfect social set up in the islands.
If the tourism sector has to get organized,   it is important to introduce
norms/ regulations for each and every activity of travel, tourism and
related services.  The Administration should formulate an exclusive tourism
policy for the Islands and the same should be implemented rigorously. Since
we did not have any policy, the LTC tourists have flooded the market.
Another important step is to have a system of Registration /Recognition at
Administration level for Hotels /Lodges /Tour Operators /Travel Agents/Car
Rentals /Tourist Boat operators /tourist guides and also to set up a
mechanism to monitor that the laid down standards in services are provided
and there is accountability from service providers.
A tour operator was arrested issuing fake bills to tourists. This case
highlights the lack of norms or regulations that leads to malpractices in
tourism industry.
In addition to Indian Airlines, Jet Airways,   other airlines Air Deccan,
Air Sahara introduced operations and very soon Spice Jet and King Fisher are
expected to commence operations on mainland -Port Blair sector.
Many new hotel properties are being constructed to meet the increased demand
for Hotel accommodation.  However our resources with regard to water and
electricity, even the essential commodities remain the same.  Keeping this
in view the Government of India and the Andaman & Nicobar Administration
should shift focus from non-remunerative mass tourism to quality up market
tourists from both domestic and international markets.
Good roads, luxury transport vehicles, special boat services for tourists
are the need of the hour.
To provide services to quality and up market tourists, we should also have
professionally qualified and skilled manpower available locally. The local
population should be aware of the ecological and environmental problems so
that we earn our livelihood without destroying our surroundings.
Last but not the least ˜Andaman as a destination should be promoted both by
Government and Private entrepreneurs in mainland and abroad with special
skills.   There are certain problems peculiar to these islands which we
should bring to the knowledge of the prospective tourists and at the same
time focus more on the unique features the islands can offer to a tourist
during his stay in the islands.  This type of market strategy is applied by
other tourist destinations.
On the occasion of  World Tourism Day on  27th September, 2007,   all of us
engaged in Travel & Tourism Industry in the islands  should  rededicate
ourselves and pledge that we  shall   put all our heads together  and list
out the ways and means to ˜organize  the tourism sector. If this is   not
done immediately, instead of prosperity to the islands, tourism may cause
extensive damages to the society in the future when the islanders might hate
tourism like it happened in many other destinations in our country and
abroad. The process has already begun.
In Andaman Islands, the fruit & vegetable venders are organized, the barbers
and washer-men are well organized, even the fish market is organized, then
why not the tourism sector?


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

The Light of Andamans :: Issue 36 :: 24 Sept 2007

*Tourist Trade Regulation dead on the track*

The last straw that broke the camel's back was the Tourist Trade Regulation.
The department gets flak on a regular basis for turning a blind eye to the
malpractices indulged in by the hoteliers, lodge-owners and tour and travel
agents. Everyone admits that the industry is in a state of perpetual chaos
and holds the department responsible for all the ills. The department on the
other hand seldom gets a sympathetic year. It has its own woes to tell.
The department prepared a Tourist Trade Regulation after going through the
rules and regulations adopted by various states and tourism development
corporations. It was a painstaking and laborious job and demanded a lot of
study and understanding about the trade.
It dealt with all the aspects about the quality of accommodation, services
offered and tariff charged by the hotels, lodges and paying guest
arrangements etc. It addressed the entire gamut of verification and
registration of tour and travel operators, do's and don'ts, penalties for
violation etc. Once implemented, the regulation would have put the trade on
track for a healthy development.
It was an exhaustive piece of work that would have taken care of all the
ills the tourism industry suffers from. The Regulation was sent to Finance
department of the Administration for vetting. After careful consideration
and study, the Finance cleared it.
Thereafter it was sent to the Law department for final vetting from legal
points of view. After meticulous deliberations, the Law Department thought
it fit to send it to the Govt of India for approval and final notification
in the official gazette to turn it into law. Otherwise, the Regulation would
not have the force of law and if challenged, any court would throw it out of
the window.
But the Chief Secretary thought otherwise. The exercise stopped dead on the
track and the department's efforts to regulate the trade was nipped in the
bud.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

The Light of Andamans :: Issue 36 :: 24 Sept 2007

*Tourism: A Victim of Ad-hocism?*

By Staff Reporter

Tourism department has become a punching bag both for the media as well as
the industry. And rightly so! It has not covered itself with glory over the
past decade or so; particularly after tsunami when, under the new
non-existent policy planning it was supposed to take giant strides. Prof.
Ram Kapse had given the clarion call to turn the devastated islands into
'new Andamans - the ultimate tourists' destination'. But the dream merchant
did not last to ensure the realization of his dreams.
Speaking to a cross section of the employees and officers revealed that they
too have zeal to achieve something for the department. But they do not find
the general atmosphere very encouraging. There were many proposals and
projects devised by the department. But nothing was considered serious
enough to give a try. Houseboat was a concept that was laughed off by the
secretaries. Now, a nationalized bank has sanctioned loan to a private party
for fabrication a houseboat. It would do wonderfully well in sheltered
creeks, feel the officials of the department. "A houseboat with 5-star
facilities can be put together in six month whereas the same is not possible
in case of a 5-star hotel" said one of them.
"We worked out tour circuit, for instance Neil-Havelock-Baratang with one or
two days halt. It would have given a tremendous boost to lodges, hotels and
restaurants in the area. But lack of boats with shipping department put paid
to that scheme. The same goes for North and Middle Andamans" said a
disgruntled junior subordinate. If a tourist wants to see Neil island after
he is through with Havelock, he would have to come back to Port Blair and
plan again. "Connectivity is the biggest hurdle in promotion of tourism. But
nobody seems to concentrate on it."
The department had also broached the subject of inviting private players in
shipping exclusively for tourism. But, like everything else, it also got
caught in a quagmire.
An interesting story was cited in the course of discussion. Luxury Cruise
Liners call at Port Blair frequently. They look for luxury coaches to take
the passengers to important tourist sites. Money is no consideration in such
cases. In addition upmarket tourist groups too look for luxury coaches. The
department prepared a scheme and got the sanction to acquire 9 coaches of
different capacities at a cost of Rs 1.40 crores.
The proposal went to the secretariat. The first objection was that the
Tourism department did not have the expertise to evaluate a luxury coach, so
the purchase should be done by transport department on its behalf. The
department agreed. Next finance questioned about the availability of
drivers. The department informed that they had approached the Home Ministry
to relax ban on appointments allowing it to hire drivers for luxury coaches.
Till then the coaches would be operated by drivers hired on contract basis.
Finally, the finance department returned the file with direction to put it
up after the Home Ministry relaxes the ban on appointment of drivers. The
project has been put on hold; maybe eternally.
Plans and schemes change with a change of guard. Since there is no night
life for the tourists, VV Bhatt chief secretary had thought onboard casinos
and discotheques would provide a diversion to the tourists. But DS Negi
thought it would not be a good influence and the idea was shelved. Pradip
Singh was interested in promoting yachting and he wanted to develop Blair
Reef for the purpose. But his departure ensured the death of the idea
itself.
Such vacillation at the highest level does not augur well for any
department. It breeds despondence and neglect. The employees and junior
officers feel humiliated. And that is exactly what is eating the tourism
department.
Another factor is a clear thinking on the part of the highest authority.
Chief Secretary is the authority where the buck ends. A senior officer of
another department felt that continuity was a must for the development of
any area; be it tourism, fisheries or agriculture. Chief Secretaries on a
year long term reinforce ad-hocism only.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

The Light of Andamans :: Issue 36 :: 24 Sept 2007
*LTC Tourism Under Fire*

By Staff Reporter

In the aftermath of tsunami, tourism industry had hit the nadir. The hotel
occupancy had dropped to zero. The central government came to the rescue of
the islands by extending the Leave Travel Concession to Andamans. The
employees of Public Sector Undertakings could go to Andamans by air instead
of their home towns. The employees lapped up the opportunity to travel by
air – a rare chance in the lives of many of them.
The hotels offered discounts to the extent of 60% - just to survive. The LTC
tourists were unable to pay more. But soon the things started to sour.
Unscrupulous traders and travel agents on the mainland jumped into the fray.
They found out short cuts to siphon off public money in connivance with the
PSU employees. Airlines were willing partners in it. Deal Code came into
existence. The employee could manage to earn about Rs 5000 per return ticket
worth Rs 27300. He could make some more through fake bills for journey to
Diglipur, Havelock and other places. This way, he could take home Rs 25000
after a trip to Port Blair.
Local taxi and autowallahs have hired flats at Lamba Line and Dollyganj. The
tourists come, stay put in a jam-packed flat 20-25 in each, eat in roadside
eateries, collect fake travel bills and return after two days. They come
with names and phone numbers of the phoney agents to contact at Port Blair.
They do not hire the services of any tour operator.
70-75% air travellers these days are LTC tourists. Local people don't get
tickets even at the full fare. Neither the local ticketing agent nor the
hotels/lodges nor travel agents get any business out of these tourists.
G. Dinakaran, President Andaman Nicobar Tourism Guild was fuming when LoA
contacted him. He was positive that the industry would sustain and 'sustain
very well' if the LTC tourism was stopped tomorrow. "LTC is driving away the
upper-end tourists. Airfare is the largest component of a trip to Andamans.
Once the 70% load is taken off the airlines, genuine, upper-end tourists
would flock to the islands as tickets would be available for Rs 4000-6000.
Now, one is not sure if he would get even the full fare ticket. The
occupancy in hotels has gone down since the LTC people don't go to hotels.
They rarely travel. They don't buy air tickets. It was a boon that has
turned into a bane for the industry in the islands.
"In the short run there will be some problem for a few months. But the
business will pick up. The prospects are very bright. But if we delay, the
damage would be permanent. Prospective tourists would strike off Andaman
Islands from their itinerary" said Dinakaran. He agreed that one can't stop
anybody from coming to the islands as a tourist. "Let them come. But come to
visit the place like others do. Not to make money and dupe the exchequer"
explained Dinakaran
He also said that they trade delegation had an audience with the Lt.
Governor who expressed his inability in the matter. The Guild and the
Chamber of Commerce had taken up the matter with the Chief Vigilance
Commissioner. If nothing came out of it, they were prepared to file a PIL,
said Dinakaran. "We are prepared to come out into the streets and launch an
agitation to save the industry" "There is no dearth of genuine upper-end
Indian and foreign tourists. The LTC people are pushing them out. They do
not get the services they are prepared to pay for" said Ashraf Ali, an
hotelier.
"LTC Tourism is killing the industry. Andaman is the only destination in the
world where the tourists make money" said M. Vinod, President Association of
Tour Operators of Andaman.
The local people too have turned against the LTC tourists as the prices are
going up, the quality of food in small restaurants have gone down and above
all, they have pushed up the cost of air travel.
The tourism industry has launched a campaign and it is determined to go to
any length to salvage the industry. It might take an ugly turn if nothing is
done to stem the tide in time.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

The Light of Andamans :: Issue 36 :: 24 Sept 2007

*Tourism: A Stillborn Mongol*

By Govinda Raju

Fifty sites in 15 islands to be thrown open to tourists' - screamed the
newspaper headlines. It created such hullabaloo in the national and
international media that a national debate ensued on the environmental
safeguards, fallout of massive tourist influx on socio-cultural aspects of
the islands, the strain on the meagre resources and the degradation in moral
life and so on and so forth. Environmentalists in particular, cried foul,
sought explanations and questioned the audacity of the administration to
frame such a policy without taking them into confidence. Dharam Pal, the
then Secretary (Tourism) was in the news every third day allaying fears of
all and sundry, assuring adequate safeguards and enumerating the dizzying
heights this revolutionary move in tourism would take the islands to. He
cried hoarse convincing the detractors that the integrity of reserve and
protected forests would be preserved at all cost. He stated on numerous
occasions that the projects in the reserve and protected forests would be
conducted by the forest department and that no permanent structure would be
raised in the forests. DS Negi, the dynamic chief secretary talked of
integrated infrastructure development as a precursor of a revolution in
tourism industry to attract high end tourists.
The Departmental of tourism hired three best advertising agencies of the
country to launch a marketing blitzkrieg to promote tourism in general and
the new destinations in particular. The cost; whopping Rs 2.50 crores in a
year!
The Island Development Agency, an equally incompetent body directly under
the chairmanship of the Prime Minister of the country took the wind out of
the sails of the '15 islands: 50 sites'. In the Action Taken Report of the
10th IDA meeting, the administration admitted that nothing came out of the
entire exercise as some of the locations fell under reserve forest, some in
protected forests and the others in Marine National Parks or Biosphere
Reserves. In the process the department succeeded in burning a big hole in
the national exchequer's pocket in identification of the sites, survey and
reports.
The Department is left with four sites that it owns; Radhanagar in Havelock,
Bharatpur in Neil Island, Lalaji Bay in Middle Andaman and Little Andaman.
Even there it is not in a position to take a decision. The files are kicked
up and down and everyone expects someone else to take a decision.
On the other side of the spectrum, when the island tourism was raising a
storm of sort in the media, Kuldeep Singh Gangar, Director (Information,
Publicity & Tourism) was setting up one group of his subordinate staff
against the other, finding fault with those who were trained to promote
tourism, humiliating capable officers and instigating nincompoops to launch
smear campaign against capable officers and members of staff. He had time
for everything other than tourism. Back in Delhi he was in-charge of
demolition squad. He carried the expertise to the islands and effectively
demolished the department of IP&T. The department itself was bifurcated into
Tourism and Information & Publicity during his tenure.
He was succeeded by Sharad Kamini Prabhu Sodhi who, it is alleged, spent
more time on renovation and furnishing of her bungalow than promoting
tourism. However, once through with her bungalow, she did try to understand
the nitty-gritty of the department. But before she could get her toehold,
the Bhopinder Singh avalanche crashed her on the shores of tribal and social
welfare - two low priority departments without any clout. However, her and
many others' personal status was given a boost as they were designated
Special Secretary-cum-director…
Sodhi was replaced by a reluctant DR Tamta as Special Secretary-cum-director
of Tourism. He was also saddled with the Department of Rural Development; a
job that he enjoys. Tourism is not his forte nor does Tamta intend to learn
it at his mature age. And why should he? The fickle minded administration
might transfer him to some other department in the next six months, as it
did with Sodhi, Sumaal and Udai Kumar etc without any apparent reason,
purpose or justification.
'Tourism is the mainstay of islands economy' - it is more a slogan with the
administration and the Govt of India than a conviction; like secularism in
politics. It was a conviction with Vakkom Purushothman who had such able
officer as Dr. Banerjee to head the department. Inspite of the CBI cases and
the vilification campaign against him, he was the last director who ably
supported the conviction of his administrator and translated his vision on
the ground.  Thereafter, it has been a string of incapable or reluctant,
uninspiring and dispirited officers working under administrators not very
enthusiastic about tourism development.
The properties created by the department during its golden period under
Vakkom are in shambles. The Hawksbill Nest in Cuthbert Bay, the Turtle Nest
in Kalipur in Diglipur, the Hornbill Nest in Goodwill estate, the Waves at
Corbyne's Cove are glowing tributes to the apathy shown by the successive
directors. The department is not able to run it successfully yet it is not
prepared to lease it out to credible parties who would turn them around and
contribute towards the cause. The reason, it is alleged, to hold on to it as
it generates income as well as, hospitality for self, relatives and friends
at state expenses. There might or might not be substance in it. But looking
at the things, some mud does stick.
Inspite of the hype the department could not come out with a tangible policy
on tourism and the enabling regulations to achieve the objective. There is a
total chaos in the tourism front. As far as infrastructure is concerned; the
condition of roads is pathetic, connectivity to various destination abysmal,
power-inadequate and water - on perpetual rationing. Whatever little moves,
it does in spite of the department and not because of it.
Contrast the lacklustre performance of the department of tourism with that
of Andaman & Nicobar Islands Integrated Development Corporation Limited.
Whereas the tourism department is kicking files around to decide on the fate
of four sites that it owns, ANIIDCO went ahead, invited tenders for the lone
site at Radhanagar in Havelock , got four bids, two qualified and Taj Group
of Hotels have emerged the winners. In a matter of days it would come to the
Board of Directors and if everything goes well, with the approval of Lt.
Governor, an agreement would be formalized. The Taj offer: Rs 2.25 crores
annual lease rent for the plot of land!
This is how deals are struck: clear vision-decisive action and fast
decision. The department of IP&T has plenty of capable officers and
dedicated members of staff who can pull it from the morass that it has
landed itself in. All it needs is a willing and committed head who can
stimulate, encourage and support their efforts. Occasional appreciation and
also whip cracking by the administrator would add more substance to the
efforts. Conversely, it would be in the interest of the taxpayers to
handover the assets to ANIIDCO and wind up the department. The industry
itself would take care of the trade.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

The Light of Andamans :: Issue 36 :: 24 Sept 2007

Fifty Sites in 15 Islands
Eco-tourism Project Dumped

By Staff Reporter

*The 50 sites identified for eco-tourism are found to be unfit for tourism
development. A number of them are part of protected/reserve forest
reserved/wildlife sanctuary. Many others are not attractive enough to
justify spreading department's limited resources thinly"   *

*- Action Taken Report on 10th IDA meeting updated till June 2007*

It was a real dampener on the euphoria created among the investors, the
stakeholders and the tourist trade circles.
About a year ago, Dharam Pal, Secretary (Tourism) had casually mentioned to
a reporter of the Express Group of Chennai that the administration was going
to throw open 50 sites in 15 islands to the tourist. Incidentally, at the
time massive media campaign was on in the national and international media
beckoning tourists to Andamans. Tsunami had, even otherwise, brought Andaman
& Nicobar Islands at the centre stage. It generated such hype that inquiries
kept pouring both from potential investors and up-market tourism agencies.
Many large players in hospitality industry paid personal visits including
none other than Ratan Tata.
Replying to a query,  Vinod Deputy Director (Tourism) contested the claim
and said that the issue was not closed by any means. The IDA report is a
reality, he said. He however explained that after sending the reply, the
Chief Secretary had asked the Special Secretary (Tourism) to hold meeting
with the forest and revenue officers and salvage as many sites as possible.
He also explained that the 50 sites were initially identified from various
maps. During actual visit it transpired that in some cases, the beaches
shown in the map did not exist any more. In other cases, the actual site
demanded crossing 25 kilometers through the forest. Some were at the heart
of sanctuary or Marine National Park. The Marine National parks, Biosphere
Reserves, Wildlife Sanctuaries are sacrosanct. The forest department was not
prepared to budge on them.
Replying to another query, Vinod agreed that massive tourism activities go
on in the Sanctuaries all over the country, he said that the matter demanded
discussion at a higher level where the forest department could be asked to
take a more pragmatic approach rather than continue to veto every proposal.
Asked if the announcement was not premature; the Deputy Director maintained
a studied silence.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Survey finds poor health awareness in Andaman Schools
http://www.newkerala.com/oct.php?action=fullnews&id=5719

Port Blair, Sep 26 : A recent base line survey by a few schools in
Andaman and Nicobar Islands have found that the health awareness level
is very poor in almost all schools of this remote archepelago.

The survey, conducted by Voluntary Health Association of India (VHAI)
‘Aparajita’ in April, was made public today at Port Blair by the
non-profit society during a one-day Health Promotion Media Workshop.

The survey found many interesting facts like none of the schools was
imparting health education in these remote islands and only 12 per cent
children were washing hands before going for lunch in the school.

No student was using soap for washing their hands in school and only 2
per cent children brushed their teeth before going to bed.

''There is poor knowledge also on prevention of communicable and
non-communicabie diseases according to our survey,'' Shisir Ranjan Dash,
the Project Manager of VHAI-Aparajita told reporters.

According to the survey, all the schools have trained Physical Education
Teachers (PET) but there was no examination for physical education.

VHAI is operational in Andaman and Nicobar Islands soon after the
devastating tsunami of 2004. Mr Dash said students were over-burdened
with curriculum based education. ''In a situation like this, there is
possiblity that students will go through tremendous physical and mental
pressure,'' Mr Dash told UNI.

To deal with the crisis situation, the VHAI has initiated its health
promotion activites in nine schools of Port Blair, South Andaman and the
worst tsunami hit islands of Nancowrie.

However, some organisations have raised finger at the survey saying the
sample size was very small.

With more than 400 schools in these remote islands, survey of only five
schools can never match the factual position, said Mr Basu Dev Dass,
Director of Shyamprasad Institute for Social Services.



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C/o Kalpavriksh
Apt. 5, Sri Dutta Krupa,
908 Deccan Gym
Pune 411004
India
Tel: 020 25654239
Mob: 09423009933
Email: psekhsaria@...

Fishermen Meet on advanced fishing technique held

THE DAILY TELEGRAMS, Sept. 23, 2007
Port Blair, Sept 22

     The Zonal base Fishery Survey of India, in association with
Department of Fisheries, Andaman and Nicobar Administration organized a
fishermen meet at Neil Island on Sept 20, 2007 for the benefit of the
local fishers. About 68 fishermen besides PRI members participated in
the meet which was conducted in the Anganwadi centre of Neil Kendra.

     The meet was organized to create an awareness among the fishers
regarding the marine fishery resources such as Tunas (kihata bhangdi),
Bill fishes (hawa bill machi), Sharks (badmas machi) and bottom
resources such as Snappers (katla and rui), Groupers (gobra), Emperors
(kushal machi) and the advanced fishing techniques for harvesting these
resources.

     The meet was chaired by Smt A Tamilarasi, Up-Pradhan and was
presided over by Shri Govind Mallick, Block Samity member, Neil Kendra.

     The Secretary, Fishermen Association, Neil Kendra, Shri Mani Mohan
Biswas stated that due to non-availability of gear and proper boat, the
fisher folk of the Neil Island are unable to exploit the resources
available nearby.

     Shri A Anrose, Zonal Director, Fishery Survey of India briefed about
the mandate and activities of FSI and explained in details regarding the
resources available in the surrounding seas. He urged the fisher-folk to
form a cooperative society so as to acquire bigger fishing boats and
gears, in order to exploit the deep water resources such as tunas, bill
fishes etc.

     He also informed the fisher folk that the interested fishermen can
get trained onboard FSI survey vessel MFV Blue Marlin on tuna long line
and bottom set vertical long line. Regarding tuna tagging programme held
at Lakshadweep last year, he pointed out that fishermen doing tuna
fishing can keep an eye on the tagged tunas which might have migrated
from Lakshadweep to Andaman sea. On catching and reporting of such
tunas, they will suitably be rewarded. Similar tagged tunas were also
caught and reported from Sechelles and Maldives seas.

      Later in the questionare session, many questioned related to
fishing techniques, resources, fishing grounds raised by the fisherman
were answered by FSI Scientists and officials of Department of
Fisheries, A&N Administration.

      The meet came to an end with the vote of thanks proposed by Shri
Sujit Kumar Pattnayak, Scientific Assistant, Fishery Survey of India.

Plans afoot to construct 19 fish landing centres
THE DAILY TELEGRAMS, Sept. 26, 2007

Staff Reporter,

Port Blair, Sept 25

    The Department of Fisheries has proposals for construction of Fish
Landing Centre for the benefit of the fisher folk covering the length
and breadth of these Islands. The Central Institute of Coastal
Engineering for Fishery (CICEF), Ministry of Agriculture, Bangalore have
identified 19 sites for construction of Fish Landing Centers out of
which 12 sites are in South, North and Middle Andamans while the
remaining 7 are in Southern group of Islands.

     Among the 12, one fish landing centre has come up in Junglighat in
South Andaman at a total project cost of Rs. 468.85 lakhs including the
escalated due to the impact of earthquake followed by tsunami, said the
Director Fisheries, while speaking to “The Daily Telegrams”, adding that
the work has been completed and the handing over and taking over is
under progress in consultation with the ALHW, the construction agency of
the project.

     The Director further disclosed that the other sites identified in
South, North and Middle Andamans include Diglipur (Durgapur),
Mayabunder, Uttara, Betapur, Neil Island, North Wandoor, Guptapara,
Panighat, Rangat, Yeratta and Havelock Island while site identified in
Southern group of Islands including Little Andaman and Nicobars are
Campbell- Bay, Kamorta (subject to site availability), Katchal, Teressa,
Car Nicobar, Little Andaman and RK Pur (Hut Bay).

     Informing about the status of these projects, the Director said that
the preliminary works related to construction of Fish Landing Centre at
Durgapur (Diglipur), Mayabunder, Rangat Bay and Yerrata have been
entrusted to ALHW which has completed Rapid Environmental Impact
Assessment Studies and also prepared Detailed Project Reports. The
construction work for the Fish Landing Centers at these sites is
proposed to be taken up during this year, Dr. V Krishnamoorthy added.

Comprehensive Survey by India Post for Streamlining Door Delivery
THE DAILY TELEGRAMS,  Sept 23, 2007

Port Blair, Sept 22

    Home delivery of letters in the islands have been suffering for long
due to absence of house numbering, street names, locality names etc.,
especially in the congested urban areas of Port Blair and Garacharma.
Recently, the Department of Posts has undertaken a massive initiative to
survey each and every address in the islands and give an address slip to
the residents mentioning how their present address should be written on
correspondences so that the postmen can give doorstep delivery to them.

    The first phase of the survey was kicked off in Port Blair and
surrounding areas on Sept 8 and now the survey is underway all over the
islands. More than 2000 addresses have already been surveyed by the
delivery staffs, who have also been giving information about various
beneficial schemes available through their post office and asking the
residents their requirements from the department. A hearty response has
been forthcoming from the public who have given many constructive
suggestions.

    Acting on some of the suggestions of the public, another pilot
project has been launched in Port Blair and Garacharma, under which the
postmen have been authorized to facilitate opening of savings bank
accounts, philately deposit accounts, insurance policies, mutual fund
investments, speed post booking, collection of bills etc from the
doorstep of the residents. Depending on the response to this pilot
project and drawing from the experience thereof, the department will
consider extending the scheme to other parts of the islands as well.

     In this regard, the Director of Postal Service here sought the
Cooperation of the residents of various localities where the survey is
being carried out to achieve the desired target. The department once
again requests all residents of the islands to cooperate with the postal
staff doing the survey work and bring their correct address to the
knowledge of all their correspondents to enjoy the facility of doorstep
delivery.

Police detects trafficking of labourers to southern group
THE DAILY TELEGRAMS, Sept. 25, 2007

Port Blair, Sept 24

     The Police have busted a racket involved in trafficking labourers to
Car Nicobar. On 22/09/07, HC/978 T. Arogyaswamy and PC/2375 Tamil Selvam
of Special Branch (CID) developed intelligence about boarding of workers
of M/s A.V.Pandhe Construction on the strength of ship tickets and
tribal passes issued in the names of other persons by the office of DSS
and DC Andaman respectively in TSS Yerewa at Chatham Wharf scheduled to
be sailed for Car Nicobar on the same day at 0700 hrs. After developing
this information, both the SB staff reached embarkation point of TSS
Yerewa at Chatham Wharf immediately and detected 11 numbers of workers
embarking in TSS Yerewa for Car Nicobar with tickets issued on the names
of others and also impersonated tribal passes. On enquiry, it is
revealed that these labourers were being taken to Car Nicobar for
construction of permanent shelters by Mr. Makhan Lall Biswas,
Sub-Contractor of M/s A V Pandhe Constructions, 157 Railway Line,
Sholapur. Mr. Sanjay Patil and Krishna Mallick, both Supervisors of
above construction supplied ship tickets and tribal passes affixed with
photographs of other persons.

     On the basis of the above, a case crime No. 929/07 dated 22/09/07
U/s 419/34 IPC was registered at P.S.CCS against all the 14 accused
persons who committed an offence of cheating by impersonation. While 13
accused persons were arrested on the spot and brought to Police Station,
Central Crime Station. Makhan Lall Biswas, who had left for Car Nicobar
earlier along with other labourers is yet to be arrested. Further
investigation is in progress, a communication from SP (CID) said here.

Observance of wildlife week; elaborate progs. drawn up

THE DAILY TELEGRAMS, Sept. 24, 2007
Port Blair, Sept 23

     Together with the rest of the country, the Wildlife Week will be
observed in the islands with befitting programmes drawn up to mark the
celebration from October 2 to 8. The week is observed every year
coinciding with the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the father of
the Nation, with a call to the people rededicate themselves towards
conservation of rich floral and faunal wealth, which always have been a
part of our natural and cultural heritage.

     According to the Wildlife Wing of the Department of Environment and
Forest, to begin with, a rally for the cause of wildlife conservation
will be organized on Oct 3, 2007 at 6.30 am from Van Sadan to Netaji
Stadium. Release of Special envelope and cancellation stamp will be
organized on Oct 3, 2007 at 1100 hours in the Conference hall at Van
Sadan. An Elocution competition for school and college students will be
held on Oct 4, 2007 at 10.00 am in the Auditorium of JNRM on the
suggested topics namely Scope of eco tourism in A&N Islands, Coastal
pollution and Marine life. An inter-school quiz competition will be held
on Oct 5, 2007 at Govt. Girls Sr. Sec. School Port Blair at 10 am.

     A nature interpretation competition for school children will be held
at Chidiyatapu / Mount Harriet/ Wandoor on Oct 6 & 7, 2007. The
participants will be exposed to the flora and fauna including avian
fauna of A&N Islands. The principles and concepts of wildlife
management, the policies and law related to wildlife management and the
management practices adopted by the department in managing the wildlife
resources of these islands will be discussed. At the end of the visits
the participants will list out the important characteristics / features
/ observations of the area visited which will be evaluated to identify
the best interpretation of nature made by the participants.

     Painting competition will be held for school students of Class I to
V on the topic of Any Bird and Class VI to VIII on the topic of
Crocodile in natural surrounding or Turtle or A scene in Zoo. The
painting competition will be conducted by the respective schools. The
paintings shall contain information on name of participant, class and
name of school etc on the reverse side of the painting with the
signature of Class Teacher as well as the Head of institution. The
selected best five (5) entries from each school will be submitted by the
concerned schools at the office of the Deputy Conservator of Forests,
Wildlife Division-I, on or before 1600 hours on Oct 5, 2007. Poster and
Photo competition will be organized for open to all category. The theme
for Poster competition is Tribals and Forests or A view of Mangrove
Eco-system. The theme for Photo competition is Any Wildlife/Eco-tourism
sites or Any Endemic Bird in A&N Islands. The size of the Poster should
be 28"/22" and the Photograph should be 10"xI2". The name, address and
contact number of the participant should be written at the reverse side
of the entry. Each participant can send a maximum of two entries on each
theme. The last date of submission of entry for both Photo and Poster
competition will be on Oct 5, 2007 before 1600 hours, a communication
received here from DCF, Wildlife said.

for informatioon...

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<mailto:o.heffernan@...>> wrote:

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Yahoo! Groups Links







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http://pankaj-atcrossroads.blogspot.com

C/o Kalpavriksh
Apt. 5, Sri Dutta Krupa,
908 Deccan Gym
Pune 411004
India
Tel: 020 25654239
Mob: 09423009933
Email: psekhsaria@...

there are several attempts at trying to create community cnetered tourism,
but I think one must carefully investigate the claims that these are good
practices in fact and not simply because NGOs and industry want us to
believe in them.Those who are operating in sunderbans have identified
problems and issues, as have others in different parts of India, so tourism
has to be crefully handled. Under Capitalism, consolidation and
concentration are the laws by which tourism operates. This should be
understood, and the odds against the poor benefiting and controling tourism
are great.
Nina Rao


On 24/09/2007, rina mukherji <rina_mukherji@...> wrote:
>
>   Tourism can work for the poor, provided efforts are made by civil
> society organisations and individuals. There are some very good eco-tourism
> ventures by WWF in the Sundarbans, north Bengal and the northeast. In Manas
> and some other parts of the northeast surrendered extremists have been
> trained to prevent poaching and protect resorts. In Nepal, there is an
> organisation training poor women in Pokhara to work as guides for European
> lady tourists. Each of these ventures has been very successful indeed.
>
> It is when locals are employed at hotels, restaurants and the like that
> tourism can work for all. Otherwise, in the absence of alternatives, and
> with more and more land being seized or cordoned off to become out of bound
> for locals, sex tourism rears its ugly head.
>
> Rina Mukherji
>
> Pushpendra Rana <pushpendra_rana@...<pushpendra_rana%40yahoo.co.in>>
> wrote:
> Unless and until we make our tourism work for
> improving the overall environmental values of the
> landscape alongwith with sharing its benefits all over
> equitably encompassing poor sections mainly women, we
> can not do justify spending huge expenditures on
> infrastructure creation for tourism purposes. Mainly
> the present day tourism is mostly relying on creating
> conditions what we think tourists like. Cann't we
> bring changes all over in tourism activities and its
> values so that it serves all and mainly women who
> share large burden of the negative impacts of any
> ambitious tourism policy? In Himalayas, Cann't we go
> for environmental friendly eco-tourism or some other
> form with minimal impact to the environment preserving
> local values with locals' right to have first charge
> on the profits out of tourism and a portion of it to
> be spent on enhancing local environmental values with
> improving livelihoods of the local villagers linking
> their economic activities with survival of the
> landscape and its features.
> Thanks for your thoughts.
> Pushpendra Rana,
>
> --- Julia Schonharl <contours@... <contours%40ecotonline.org>>
> wrote:
>
> > TOURISM OPENS DOORS FOR WOMEN – DOES IT?
> >
> > The UN provides an useful service to the world
> > community when it
> > frequently declares special Days to focus on issues
> > that are of
> > concern to communities and nations.
> >
> > The UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) marks 27
> > September as a
> > World Tourism Day, with Sri Lanka as a host country.
> >
> > The Ecumenical Coalition on Tourism (ECOT) believes
> > that the theme –
> > Tourism Opens Doors For Women – hardly reflects the
> > reality of women
> > in tourism. While ECOT acknowledges instances when
> > women do benefit
> > from tourism, this unfortunately does not apply to
> > the majority of
> > women involved in the world of tourism. Even the
> > facts listed in the
> > UNWTO Message by Secretary-General Francisco
> > Frangialli point to the
> > sheer disadvantage women face on a global scale.
> > There is a plethora
> > of statistics and reports around the world that bear
> > this out.
> >
> > ECOT strongly believes that a Tourism that is
> > associated with
> > prostitution, and the human trafficking that
> > accompanies it
> > increasingly, in no way `opens doors for women'. A
> > Tourism that is
> > propped up by images of women and the lure of sexual
> > pleasures is
> > not one that liberates women.
> >
> > Yes, handicrafts and other items produced by women
> > do attract the
> > tourist dollar. But is the price paid for these
> > products just? Are
> > the wages of women in these enterprises fair? Is the
> > trivialization
> > of culture that occurs in various tourist
> > destinations when women
> > are dressed in indigenous dress as if in a costume
> > to attract the
> > tourist camera the way to open doors for women? Do
> > women have a
> > voice in the decision making that determines the
> > nature of tourism
> > in their environment?
> >
> > Would it be more appropriate to conclude that
> > `tourism closes doors
> > for women'? How else could one view a reality
> > wherein women are
> > treated on the basis of sexual and gender
> > stereotypes, with most
> > women not sharing power and resources equitably?
> > Such a situation is
> > not helped when there is serious conflict as is the
> > case with the
> > host country for this year's World Tourism Day. Sri
> > Lanka has seen a
> > violent conflict rage for years while the control of
> > its tourism is
> > not widely shared.
> >
> > It is well demonstrated that poverty is a major
> > reason that drives
> > women to tourism. If the quality of life of women
> > improved,
> > conventional tourism will be less attractive to
> > them. The UN has
> > given the world a set of goals known as the
> > Millennium Development
> > Goals (MDGs) with the hope that world poverty will
> > be halved by
> > 2015. Any real progress towards such an outcome
> > would truly open
> > doors and opportunities for women.
> >
> > The UNWTO is `committed to Tourism, Travel and the
> > MDGs'. ECOT calls
> > on the UNWTO to reflect the perspective of women who
> > are
> > disadvantaged and discriminated by tourism.
> >
> > Caesar D'Mello - ECOT
> >
> > ECOT - ECUMENICAL COALITION ON TOURISM
> > 9/1 Ratanakosin Road, T Watget
> > Amphur Muang, Chiang Mai 50000, Thailand
> > Tel/Fax: + 66 53 240 026 contours@...<contours%40ectonline.org>
> >
> >
> >
>
> 5, 50, 500, 5000 - Store N number of mails in your inbox. Go to
> http://help.yahoo.com/l/in/yahoo/mail/yahoomail/tools/tools-08.html
>
> ---------------------------------
> Check out the hottest 2008 models today at Yahoo! Autos.
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

The new Inland Vessel Act
24 Sep, 2007, 0151 hrs IST,Comdr MK Banger VSM, (Retd),


http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Transportation/Shippin\
g__Transport/The_new_Inland_Vessel_Act/articleshow/2396313.cms


   Write to Editor
The recent Inland Vessel Act amending the existing Inland Vessel Act of
1917 passed by the Lok Sabha on August 30, 2007, has come too late but
nonetheless is welcome. The new Act envisages to increase existing
inland vessel (IV) limits, thereby giving a boost to the IV operators.

This applies specifically to coastal states such as Goa, Maharashtra,
Karnataka, Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and
Lakshadeep Islands. The new legislation also seeks to address the
grievances of many retired personnel of the Navy and Coast Guard who are
seeking an opening in the maritime sector. The induction of such
experienced personnel will surely prove to be a great asset for the
inland water transport (IWT) sector.

On the anvil, there is also a proposal to permit IV vessels to undertake
voyages from one port to another during daytime keeping themselves
within 20 nautical miles from the shore. It is felt that once if this is
passed as an Act in the not too distant future, it shall surely act as a
great incentive for more IV operators to come into the sector. Also
working in conjunction with coastal transportation, it will to a certain
extent make a dent on the road traffic congestion so acutely felt in
cities like Mumbai.

With the replacement of the old IV act, a lot will depend on maritime
states for successful implementation of the Act from the point of view
of registration, survey, certification and periodic inspection of
vessels from time to time to ensure sea worthiness and competency of the
crew manning in such vessels. This is all the more called for in view of
the increasing scope of operations of IVs under the new Act. The
examination of IV personal for award of certificates, which hitherto
being undertaken by government of India through the mercantile marine
departments, would now evolve on the respective state government
agencies namely viz. maritime boards. This would call for additional
positioning and strengthening of IV staff at state levels.

The notion that emerged, more so with the Inland Waterways Authority of
India (IWAI) headquarter located up North in Noida, that inland
waterways is predominantly a maritime activity restricted to the states
of West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. This notion should be corrected
by suitable remedial measures. One such measure recommended could be to
locate a branch office of the IWAI in Mumbai which shall look after IWT
of the southern maritime states and also afford accessibility for
potential IV entrepreneurs. There also exists an anomaly in that fishing
vessels are governed under the Merchant Shipping Act 1959 which
primarily deals with ocean going vessels whereas the IV vessels are
covered under a less rigorous act. This needs to be urgently reviewed at
the highest level.

Further, there is an urgent need to progress with the prototype design
of a 600 TEU carrying vessel for which a project report was prepared by
the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, more than a year ago. The
National Ship Research Design Centre should be adequately funded to
develop a modular design software to enable undertaking of this
prototype vessel.

The author is advisor to the Maharashtra Maritime Board, Mumbai
(The views are personal)

Weekly News September 24, 2007


Alayathi, TRINet's Tamil Newsletter, dated September 2007 is on tourism
and can be downloaded from
http://www.trinet.in/modules/mydownloads/visit.php?cid=38&lid=408

GENERAL
India for Asian emergency response system to tackle disasters : Seoul,
Sept 17: Warning that a natural calamity like 2004 tsunami could have
"serious consequences" for all the economies of the region in the
future, India today proposed setting up of an Asian Emergency Response
System to tackle such disasters. "Natural disasters and consequent
economic and environmental consequences is a common challenge," he said
in a lecture on 'India's Look East Policy' here on the second day of the
three-day visit to South Korea. He noted that the tsunami of 2004 was a
"wake-up call" for closer cooperation among Asian countries in the
Indian Ocean. "Can we look to establishing an Asian Emergency Response
System? It is one that we will all have to ponder over," he said.

http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articles.asp?rep=2&aid=395513&sid=NAT&sname=&news=I\
ndia%20for%20Asian%20emergency%20response%20system%20to%20tackle%20disasters


Ministerial Conference on Disaster Management on Nov 7-8 : New Delhi,
Sep 18 : The Second Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Management
would be held here on November 7 and 8, Home Minister Shivraj Patil said
today. In a high level meeting, Mr Patil reviewed the preparations for
the meet in which many Asian countries including China, Nepal, Sri Lanka
and Malaysia would participate. The countries of the region would take
up serious measures to prevent disasters and provide timely relief and
rehabilitation to the victims. The first such conference was held in
Beijing a few years back.

http://www.newkerala.com/oct.php?action=fullnews&id=2231


Quake survival, not foresight, needed, say experts : Mitigation and
education — not early warning systems — are the keys to making
earthquakes less lethal in rapidly urbanising developing countries, say
experts. The comments were made yesterday (12 September) at the
Geological Society of London's conference in London, United Kingdom.
James Jackson, professor of active tectonics at the University of
Cambridge, United Kingdom, said that many communities, particularly in
Arab and Asian countries, have long existed in areas with good water
supplies, strategic defence positions or trade routes. But he added that
such features are often the result of geological phenomena such as
earthquakes. But early warning systems for earthquakes are not the way
to save lives in developing countries, said Brian Tucker, president of
Geohazards International, a nongovernmental organisation for global
earthquake safety. Buildings in developed nations are now vastly better
able to withstand earthquakes, but buildings in the developing world are
actually getting worse, he said, adding "Many are high-rise buildings,
made of unreinforced masonry". Tucker called for a global standard for
constructing new buildings and reinforcing existing ones in
earthquake-prone areas.

http://www.scidev.net/News/index.cfm?fuseaction=readNews&itemid=3893&language=1


Tsunami funds: UDF walks out of Kerala Assembly : Thiruvananthapuram,
Sept. 17: The Congress-led UDF opposition today walked out of the Kerala
Assembly, in protest against the government's reluctance to discuss
'irregularities' in utilisation of central funds for tsunami
rehabilitation. Alleging that there had been diversion of funds,
opposition leader Oommen Chandy led his colleagues out of the house
after the Speaker K Radhakarishnan refused leave for the adjournment
motion sought by the UDF on the issue.

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/004200709171221.htm

COASTAL MATTERS
Beach combing with purpose : Ramanathapuram: It was an occasion to
cherish, as hundreds of students and people from various
non-governmental organisations on Sunday showed the way to save the
beaches from garbage and other polluting materials. The call given by
the Indian Coast Guard and the Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve Trust to
clean the widely used beaches at Rameswaram on Sunday, as part of the
International Coastal Cleanup day, was well received. Though it was an
organised event, the participants were keenly interested to clean the
beaches at Agnitheertham and Olaikuda, which were polluted by the cloths
and other materials thrown by pilgrims and tourists.

http://www.hindu.com/2007/09/17/stories/2007091750860200.htm

Coasting to a litter-free beach : Chennai: Several hundred volunteers
came together on Sunday to clean up Chennai's coast from Ennore to
Kanathur. The Marina saw several students from the city's colleges and
schools participate in a friendly competition in which they were judged
on parameters including the amount of litter collected. The sands of the
one of the longest beaches in the world were taken over by small armies
in white T-shirts, combing through their designated areas for litter,
early on Sunday morning. Members of residents' associations and
non-governmental organisations besides personnel of Indian Coast Guard,
Indian Navy, and police participated in the event. Villages on the
coastline were also judged for cleanliness.

http://www.hindu.com/2007/09/17/stories/2007091758510300.htm


FSI's bid to clean-up beach : Port Blair, Sept 17  "International
Coastal Clean-up-Day" was observed here today by the Port Blair base of
Fishery Survey of India with a coastal cleaning operation by its members
at Mazar Pahar. Altogether, 150 Kgs of plastic and cement bags, 50 Kgs
of glass bottles, 50 Kgs of plastic bottles, 15 Kgs of wrappers, etc.,
were collected from the area and was transported through the truck
provided by Port Blair Municipal Council (PBMC).

http://164.100.148.5/telegram/toppage.aspx


Central team detects CRZ norm violation : Puri: A two-member team from
Ministry of Forest and Environment on Saturday made a spot visit of the
damaged marine drive road along Puri coast and examined the revenue
status of the area. The team too visited the local Puri Konark
Development Authority (PKDA) office and verified the building plans
approved by the authority in the concerned area. Following strange
behaviour of the sea, the Beach Protection Council had requested the
Ministry to send a team of experts to ascertain the cause. Tidal waves
threaten a number of new commercial hotels and apartments along the
extended marine drive. Khajjan Singh, regional director and V P
Upadhyaya, additional director, from the Ministry said there was gross
violation of the coastal regulation zone (CRZ) norms by the Works
Department and by the development authority as regards to the
construction of new road on the high tide line (HTL) of the sea and
subsequent approval of mega building plans encroaching the HTL area.

http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEQ20070825211754&Page=Q&Title=ORISS\
A&Topic=0


Documenting the fears of fisher folk : "Resisting coastal invasion" a
documentary by prolific director K.P. Sasi, screened here recently,
chronicles the travails of fishing communities whose very survival is
threatened by the industry lobby and by Coastal Zone Management
notifications. Mr. Sasi, travels along the Kerala and Tamil Nadu coast
where fishing communities marginalised by development projects echo the
same fears: "Where would we dry our fish? Where do we dock our boats and
store our nets? Where do we live?" Fishing villages in Kolavipalam in
north Kerala are threatened by the sand-mining mafia. Haphazard
development in Thiruvananthapuram causes sea water flooding that
destroys homes. Coral reefs are threatened by the Sethusamudram project.
Mr. Sasi analyses the role of the Government, non-governmental
organisations and international politics in pushing the "anti-people"
notification. Even as the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification
meant to regulate development activities gets watered down with every
consecutive amendment; he points out there was one area where it was
used rather efficiently, that was in preventing fishing communities from
returning to their land after the tsunami.

http://www.thehindu.com/2007/09/17/stories/2007091758190200.htm


State wakes up to island tourism : Bhubaneswar: Imagine yourself bathing
in the sun as gentle waves kiss your feet. Not very far away would be a
tent. On a small and solitary island, such a life can be as good as it
gets. Sounds like a travel package offered in the Agatti Islands. But
you need not travel that far. For, three small artificially created
islands in Chilika are ready to play host to tourists this winter.
Island tourism is a big hit elsewhere, but Orissa is waking up to it now
for the first time. The Orissa Tourism and Chilika Development Authority
have joined hands to launch it at three islands near Muggermukh from
November. The three islands near Muggermukh were identified by the CDA.
Created out of dredged materials, the islands are of different sizes -
largest being 21 acre and the smallest spread over eight acre. Called
Dredged Islands 1, 2 and 3, these three are free from forest laws and do
not come under Coastal Regulatory Zone provisions making the task easy
for Tourism Department well as CDA. However, no construction will be
allowed in the islands.

http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEQ20070913170314&Page=Q&Headline=St\
ate+wakes+up+to+island+tourism&Title=ORISSA&Topic=0


Trust set up to implement project in Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve :
CHENNAI: An exclusive trust to implement a Global Environment Facility
(GEF) funded project in the Gulf of Mannar (GoM) Biosphere Reserve has
been formed, Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests S.
Regupathy said here on Thursday. Inaugurating a two-day international
workshop on 'GoM Biosphere Reserve: an ecological model for
bio-diversity conservation, livelihood and sustainability,' he said the
seven-year project was funded under the GEF and the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) and co-financed by the State and Central
governments for conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity of the
GoM Biosphere Reserve. Presiding over the function, Chairman of the
National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) of India, S. Kannaiyan, said the
workshop's main objective was to find more elucidation to conservation
and management of biological resources and open up livelihood
opportunities for coastal villagers along the GoM Biosphere Reserve. In
Tamil Nadu there were three protected areas in the marine environment —
GoM Marine National Park, Point Calimere and Pulicat Lake Bird Sanctuary.

http://www.hindu.com/2007/09/21/stories/2007092162420900.htm


Fishermen panic as sea recedes : Nagapattinam: Fishermen of Vedaranyam
coast in Nagapattinam district panicked over the sudden change in the
behaviour of sea on Thursday evening and Friday morning after it receded
by about 100 metres on Point Calimere (Kodiakarai) coast and advanced in
some pockets like Tarangampadi and Thirumullaivasal.

http://www.hindu.com/2007/09/22/stories/2007092259880300.htm


More land for fishing harbour : Nagercoil: The district administration
will hand over adequate land to the Fisheries Department for
establishing a fishing harbour at Thengapattinam on October 8, according
to Collector, Dev Raj Dev. Speaking to presspersons here on Friday, he
said the Government had decided to construct a fishing harbour at
Thengapattinam at a cost of Rs.30.55 crore. They need not migrate to
Kerala in search of employment. As directed by the Government, the
district administration held a direct negotiation with the landowners
and acquired 4.03.35 acres at Painkulam.

http://www.hindu.com/2007/09/22/stories/2007092253340300.htm

LIVELIHOODS
"Seaweed cultivation will fetch fisherwomen good income" : Tirunelveli:
While fishermen try their luck on the high seas amidst unfavourable
conditions, the female members of their families can easily earn in
thousands by cultivating seaweed, according to president of Aquaculture
Foundation of India, Madasamy Sakthivel. Speaking to reporters here
recently, Dr. Sakthivel said the Gulf of Mannar with an area of 10,500
sq. km is a biological paradise providing livelihood support to nearly
1.50 lakh people. Among several species of seaweeds, Gracilaria edulis
Giverrucosa, Gelidiella and Enteromorpha have been experimentally tried
and techno economic viability is yet to be established for commercial
scale operations. Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute
introduced Kappaphycus alvarezii, a seaweed variety, nearly 20 years
ago, developed the technology and disseminated to the coastal
communities. This is a versatile species and grows fast in open area as
well as bays. Since it is the major source of kappa carageenan and
liquid bio-fertilizer the demand is huge in India and abroad and the
price is increasing.

http://www.hindu.com/2007/09/17/stories/2007091755060600.htm

HOUSING AND INFRASTRUCTURE
Houses for Tsunami affected will be distributed on Sep 29 : Mysore, Sep
17 : As many 152 houses constructed by the Suttur Mutt, at Mudliarkuppan
in Tamilnadu for those who have lost their houses in the devastating
Tsunami in 2004 would be distributed on September 29. In a press
released issued here today it was stated that the Housing project for
Tsunami displaced undertaken by the Suttur Mutt here has completed the
work of constructing as many 152 houses at Mudliarkuppan in Tamilnadu
and would be handed over to the affected on September 29.

http://www.newkerala.com/oct.php?action=fullnews&id=1629


Waiving of house bldg. loan urged : Port Blair, Sept 17  In a letter to
the Lt. Governor a copy which was sent to the Press, and endorsed to the
Prime Minister, UPA Chairperson and others, the State Organizer of DMK
here, Shri A.R. Murudhavanan has urged him to expedite waiving of house
building loan obtained by individuals who were affected by earthquake/
tsunami of Dec. 2004. As the financial institution are pressing hard for
repayment of loan installments, it would be in the fitness of things, he
says, to issue suitable instructions to the banks to keep in abeyance
the recovery process until the reported recommendation for waiving of
loans is accepted, he said.

http://164.100.148.5/telegram/toppage.aspx

Endless wait for houses for Andaman tsunami victims : Bambooflat, India,
Sept 17 - Thousands of tsunami victims on India's remote Andaman and
Nicobar archipelago are still living in temporary shelters almost three
years after the devastating Dec. 2004 tsunami washed away their homes. A
plan to build nearly 10,000 permanent houses has crawled behind several
deadlines with work even at a showpiece project near the capital of the
islands progressing lazily, making victims despondent in their filthy
tin shacks that bake in the tropical sun. They are the forgotten victims
of one of the worst disasters mankind has known due to what aid groups
say is the combined onslaught of bureaucratic ineptitude, avarice,
natural hurdles and the physical and psychological distance from the
mainland. "Housing remains a burning issue for victims and progress
remains very slow," said Anupama Muhuri of voluntary group ActionAid.
"In fact, on some far-flung islands, they are still searching for sites
to build permanent shelters." "Where they have identified sites or
construction has started they have not consulted the victims, taken
their livelihoods into account or promoted joint ownership by couples,"
she said.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/DEL166922.htm

Foundation laid for hall : Nagapattinam: The State Bank of India Staff
Union has decided to construct a community hall at a cost of Rs.15 lakh
in the tsunami-hit Sellur village in the district as part of its tsunami
rehabilitation project. Profullo Kumar Patnaik, secretary of the
All-India State Bank of India Staff Federation, who laid the foundation
for the community hall on Wednesday, said the union and the All-India
SBI Staff Federation were implementing several schemes for the benefit
of tsunami-hit families in several parts of the country.

http://www.hindu.com/2007/09/20/stories/2007092053580300.htm

WATER AND SANITATION
"Toilets in all houses soon" : Nagapattinam: The district administration
is according top priority for construction of proper sewage and toilets
at permanent houses built for tsunami-affected families before the onset
of monsoon, said Tenkasi S.Jawahar, Collector, here on Friday. He said
that nearly 12,000 houses had been constructed and 6,000 more were under
various stages of construction. The difficult terrain owing to high
water table and flood threat posed a challenge. The Government had come
out with different models of toilets to suit different construction
methods. They could be easily maintained and environment-friendly too.
The Government has sanctioned Rs.27 crore for providing proper sewage
disposal facilities in 73 permanent shelters in municipalities and town
panchayats in the State of which Rs.13 crore was for Nagapattinam
district to cover Nagapattinam and Vedaranyam municipal areas,
Tarangambadi and Velankanni Town Panchayats.

http://www.hindu.com/2007/09/23/stories/2007092351410300.htm


Ground Water Quality & Pollution Status : Ground Water Salinity: The
ground water salinity is of two types. i) Coastal salinity due to sea
water ingress in coastal area. ii) Inland salinity due to processes
other than the sea water ingress. The coastal tracts in India cover
parts of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra
Pradesh, Orissa & West Bengal. Besides the Inherent ground water
salinity in the coastal tract Sea water intrusion is also reported. In
certain areas problem of upconing of saline water has also been reported
due to overexploitation of ground water. The coastal salinity problems
have been observed in a number of places in coastal areas of the
country. Problem of salinity ingress has been noticed in Minjur area of
Tamil Nadu and Mangrol – Chorwad- Porbander belt along the Saurashtra
coast. In Orissa, in an 8-10 km. wide belt of Subarnrekha, Salandi,
Brahamani out fall regions in the proximity of the coast, the upper
aquifers contain saline horizons decreasing landwards. In Pondicherry
region east of Neyveli Lignite Mines salinity ingress has also been
observed.

http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=31288

INDONESIA
BRR accused of deceit with funds : The organization responsible for much
of the reconstruction work in the 2004-tsunami-devastated areas of Aceh
and Nias has been accused of mishandling funds and deceiving the public
after it allegedly allocated US$239.8 million of its 2006 budget to
trust funds. The Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) and Greenomics
Indonesia said the Aceh-Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency's
(BRR's) move was against the law and reeked of corruption. BRR allegedly
allocated 14 percent, or Rp 2.213 trillion of its 2006 budget to trust
funds. Deputy coordinator of ICW La Ode Ngkowe and Greenomics executive
director Elfian Effendi said in their presentation before the law
commission at the House of Representatives on Wednesday that BRR should
admit it had been unable spend all of its 2006 budget on reconstruction
works in Aceh and Nias. The agency should instead roll the remaining
2006 budget into its 2007 budget, Ngkowe said.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailnational.asp?fileid=20070920.H02&irec=1


Indonesia to put 3rd tsunami buoy off Sumatra : JAKARTA - Indonesia will
install a third tsunami detection buoy off the coast of earthquake-prone
Sumatra, an official said on Wednesday, after a strong quake killed more
than 20 people and damaged thousands of homes there last week. The
government decided to set up a warning system after a huge earthquake in
December 2004 off Sumatra triggered a devastating tsunami in the Indian
Ocean. Indonesia, which is situated on a belt of intense seismic
activity known as the "Pacific Ring of Fire", aims to have 11 tsunami
detecting buoys in operation by the end of 2007. The authorities
deployed two buoys off Sumatra island in 2005, but they have been dogged
by technical problems. The government's tsunami warning project aims to
deliver tsunami alerts within five minutes of an undersea quake, but
experts say that cannot be achieved until the archipelago of 17,000
islands has installed at least 22 buoys, 120 tide gauges with digital
recordings, and 160 seismographs. The project has attracted some
international support but implementation and funding has been slow.
Officials say

http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-29616920070919


NOAA, Indonesia to launch second tsunami buoy, Four climate buoys in
Indian Ocean : September 19, 2007 — Representatives of the governments
and scientific communities of the United States and Indonesia marked a
historic moment today in Jakarta, Indonesia, as the two countries
jointly launched tsunami and climate-monitoring ocean buoys in the
region. The ship embarked from Jakarta today to launch the second buoy
to warn of approaching tsunamis and four buoys to monitor climate. The
buoys are the latest additions to the expanding Global Earth Observation
System of Systems, an international effort to monitor and predict
changes in the Earth to benefit the environment, human health and the
economy.

http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2007/s2919.htm

SRI LANKA
How building and knitting help crisis survivors : Shortly after the
Indian Ocean tsunami, a planeload of European counsellors landed in Sri
Lanka to help survivors deal with their mental trauma. The trouble was,
none of them could speak any of the three commonly used languages. The
counsellors were not only useless, they got in the way and wasted other
people's time. This is a glaring example of how not to provide mental
health care in a humanitarian emergency. Last week U.N. agencies and
major aid organisations agreed for the first time on a set of guidelines
on the best ways to prevent or minimise potential mental health problems
in a crisis - whether in a conflict or a natural disaster. Research
suggests there's a 5 to 10 percent increase in the number of people with
mild or moderate mental health problems after an emergency and a 1
percent increase in those with severe problems. In other words, millions
of people are affected every year. "In the past there was chaos - a mix
of helpful and unhelpful forms of assistance which wasted a lot of
resources and time," says Mark van Ommeren of the World Health
Organisation. The guidelines, meant to steer everyone towards a more
coherent approach, strongly emphasise the importance of involving people
in their own recovery. To read the guidelines, go to
http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/iasc/content/products/docs/Guidelines
IASC Mental Health Psychosocial.pdf

http://www.alertnet.org/db/blogs/19216/2007/08/20-155851-1.htm


Text messages help get tsunami alert out : Unlike in the 2004 tsunami,
when no warnings were issued, on 12 September those living in coastal
communities were given quick notice. The government had learned the
lessons of 2004. Only a month after it hit, the government, with
financial and technical assistance from the UN Development Programme
(UNDP), set up the Disaster Management Centre (DMC), which monitors
potential natural disasters around the clock. "We have an integrated
system," Gamini Hettiarachchi, the DMC director-general, told IRIN.
"Once we decide to issue a warning we make use of this system," he said.
"We tried to get the message out to government agents in all 25
districts, the military, the police and the media." DMC coordinators are
present in all districts and coordinating units are located in nine
districts, Hettiarachchi said. In addition to text messages, many people
learned of the tsunami alert through TV and radio networks which cut
into their regular broadcasts to air warnings. In remote locations in
the north and east, the armed services sent personnel onto the streets
to convey the warning. There was, however, one new lesson learned after
phone networks became jammed due to heavy traffic just after the warning
was announced: The national telecommunications authority has now asked
subscribers to stick to text messaging during national emergencies.

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/EKOI-7783L6?OpenDocument&rc=3&emid=\
TS-2004-000147-LKA

THAILAND
Fund set for building tsunami warnings : Prime Minister Surayud
Chulanont, six governors of southern provinces and chairman of National
Disaster Warning Centre (NDWC) Smith Dharmasarojana agreed to set up
warning centres in six provinces along the Andaman coast to restore
confidence of foreign tourists and to warn them of tsunamis. A budget of
109 million baht will be set aside to build the safety buildings in
Phuket, Phang Nga, Krabi, Ranong, Satun and Trang. Gen Surayud also
assigned Mr Smith to work with organisations in India to link the
tsunami warning system to the one at Nicobar islands.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/breakingnews.php?id=121823

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Languages Threatened
http://www.nysun.com/article/62893?page_no=1
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID
Associated Press
September 18, 2007 posted 2:54 pm EDT


WASHINGTON - When every known speaker of the language Amurdag gets
together, there's still no one to talk to.

Native Australian Charlie Mangulda is the only person alive known to
speak that language, one of thousands around the world on the brink of
extinction.

  From rural Australia to Siberia to Oklahoma, languages that embody the
history and traditions of people are dying, researchers said today.

While there are an estimated 7,000 languages spoken around the world
today, one of them dies out about every two weeks, according to
linguistic experts struggling to save at least some of them.

Five hotspots where languages are most endangered were listed today in a
briefing by the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages and
the National Geographic Society.

n addition to northern Australia, eastern Siberia and Oklahoma and the
American Southwest, many native languages are endangered in South
America — Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Brazil and Bolivia — as well as the
area including British Columbia, and the states of Washington and Oregon.

Losing languages means losing knowledge, says an assistant professor of
linguistics at Swarthmore College, K. David Harrison.

"When we lose a language, we lose centuries of human thinking about
time, seasons, sea creatures, reindeer, edible flowers, mathematics,
landscapes, myths, music, the unknown and the everyday."

As many as half of the current languages have never been written down,
he estimated.

That means, if the last speaker of many of these vanished tomorrow, the
language would be lost because there is no dictionary, no literature, no
text of any kind, he said.

Mr. Harrison is associate director of the Living Tongues Institute based
in Salem, Ore. He and institute director Gregory D.S. Anderson analyzed
the top regions for disappearing languages.

   Mr. Anderson said languages become endangered when a community decides
that its language is an impediment. The children may be first to do
this, he explained, realizing that other more widely spoken languages
are more useful.

The key to getting a language revitalized, he said, is getting a new
generation of speakers. He said the institute worked with local
communities and tries to help by developing teaching materials and by
recording the endangered language.

Mr. Harrison said that the 83 most widely spoken languages account for
about 80 percent of the world's population while the 3,500 smallest
languages account for just 0.2 percent of the world's people. Languages
are more endangered than plant and animal species, he said.

The hot spots listed at today's briefing:

— Northern Australia, 153 languages. The researchers said aboriginal
Australia holds some of the world's most endangered languages, in part
because aboriginal groups splintered during conflicts with white
settlers. Researchers have documented such small language communities as
the three known speakers of Magati Ke, the three Yawuru speakers and the
lone speaker of Amurdag.

— Central South America including Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Brazil and
Bolivia — 113 languages. The area has extremely high diversity, very
little documentation and several immediate threats. Small and socially
less-valued indigenous languages are being knocked out by Spanish or
more dominant indigenous languages in most of the region, and by
Portuguese in Brazil.

— Northwest Pacific Plateau, including British Columbia in Canada and
the states of Washington and Oregon in America, 54 languages. Every
language in the American part of this hotspot is endangered or moribund,
meaning the youngest speaker is over age 60. An extremely endangered
language, with just one speaker, is Siletz Dee-ni, the last of 27
languages once spoken on the Siletz reservation in Oregon.

— Eastern Siberian Russia, China, Japan — 23 languages. Government
policies in the region have forced speakers of minority languages to use
the national and regional languages and, as a result, some have only a
few elderly speakers.

— Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico — 40 languages. Oklahoma has one of the
highest densities of indigenous languages in America. A moribund
language of the area is Yuchi, which may be unrelated to any other
language in the world. As of 2005, only five elderly members of the
Yuchi tribe were fluent.

The research is funded by the Australian government, U.S. National
Science Foundation, National Geographic Society and grants from foundations.

———

On the Net:

www.languagehotspots.org

www.livingtongues.org

www.nationalgeographic.com/enduringvoices

Tourism can work for the poor, provided efforts are made by civil society
organisations and individuals. There are some very good eco-tourism ventures by
WWF in the Sundarbans, north Bengal and the northeast. In Manas and some other
parts of the northeast surrendered extremists have been trained to prevent
poaching and protect resorts. In Nepal, there is an organisation training poor
women in Pokhara to work as guides for European lady tourists. Each of these
ventures has been very successful indeed.

   It is when locals are employed at hotels, restaurants and the like that
tourism can work for all. Otherwise, in the absence of alternatives, and with
more and more land being seized or cordoned off to become out of bound for
locals, sex tourism rears its ugly head.

   Rina Mukherji

Pushpendra Rana <pushpendra_rana@...> wrote:
           Unless and until we make our tourism work for
improving the overall environmental values of the
landscape alongwith with sharing its benefits all over
equitably encompassing poor sections mainly women, we
can not do justify spending huge expenditures on
infrastructure creation for tourism purposes. Mainly
the present day tourism is mostly relying on creating
conditions what we think tourists like. Cann't we
bring changes all over in tourism activities and its
values so that it serves all and mainly women who
share large burden of the negative impacts of any
ambitious tourism policy? In Himalayas, Cann't we go
for environmental friendly eco-tourism or some other
form with minimal impact to the environment preserving
local values with locals' right to have first charge
on the profits out of tourism and a portion of it to
be spent on enhancing local environmental values with
improving livelihoods of the local villagers linking
their economic activities with survival of the
landscape and its features.
Thanks for your thoughts.
Pushpendra Rana,

--- Julia Schonharl <contours@...> wrote:

> TOURISM OPENS DOORS FOR WOMEN – DOES IT?
>
> The UN provides an useful service to the world
> community when it
> frequently declares special Days to focus on issues
> that are of
> concern to communities and nations.
>
> The UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) marks 27
> September as a
> World Tourism Day, with Sri Lanka as a host country.
>
> The Ecumenical Coalition on Tourism (ECOT) believes
> that the theme –
> Tourism Opens Doors For Women – hardly reflects the
> reality of women
> in tourism. While ECOT acknowledges instances when
> women do benefit
> from tourism, this unfortunately does not apply to
> the majority of
> women involved in the world of tourism. Even the
> facts listed in the
> UNWTO Message by Secretary-General Francisco
> Frangialli point to the
> sheer disadvantage women face on a global scale.
> There is a plethora
> of statistics and reports around the world that bear
> this out.
>
> ECOT strongly believes that a Tourism that is
> associated with
> prostitution, and the human trafficking that
> accompanies it
> increasingly, in no way `opens doors for women'. A
> Tourism that is
> propped up by images of women and the lure of sexual
> pleasures is
> not one that liberates women.
>
> Yes, handicrafts and other items produced by women
> do attract the
> tourist dollar. But is the price paid for these
> products just? Are
> the wages of women in these enterprises fair? Is the
> trivialization
> of culture that occurs in various tourist
> destinations when women
> are dressed in indigenous dress as if in a costume
> to attract the
> tourist camera the way to open doors for women? Do
> women have a
> voice in the decision making that determines the
> nature of tourism
> in their environment?
>
> Would it be more appropriate to conclude that
> `tourism closes doors
> for women'? How else could one view a reality
> wherein women are
> treated on the basis of sexual and gender
> stereotypes, with most
> women not sharing power and resources equitably?
> Such a situation is
> not helped when there is serious conflict as is the
> case with the
> host country for this year's World Tourism Day. Sri
> Lanka has seen a
> violent conflict rage for years while the control of
> its tourism is
> not widely shared.
>
> It is well demonstrated that poverty is a major
> reason that drives
> women to tourism. If the quality of life of women
> improved,
> conventional tourism will be less attractive to
> them. The UN has
> given the world a set of goals known as the
> Millennium Development
> Goals (MDGs) with the hope that world poverty will
> be halved by
> 2015. Any real progress towards such an outcome
> would truly open
> doors and opportunities for women.
>
> The UNWTO is `committed to Tourism, Travel and the
> MDGs'. ECOT calls
> on the UNWTO to reflect the perspective of women who
> are
> disadvantaged and discriminated by tourism.
>
> Caesar D'Mello - ECOT
>
> ECOT - ECUMENICAL COALITION ON TOURISM
> 9/1 Ratanakosin Road, T Watget
> Amphur Muang, Chiang Mai 50000, Thailand
> Tel/Fax: + 66 53 240 026 contours@...
>
>
>

5, 50, 500, 5000 - Store N number of mails in your inbox. Go to
http://help.yahoo.com/l/in/yahoo/mail/yahoomail/tools/tools-08.html





---------------------------------
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

What about the indigenous groups and road building? And the megapod?
Lotika Varadarajan

On 9/21/07, Pankaj Andaman <psekhsaria@...> wrote:
>
>   Dear Friends,
> This is a posting by John Robert of the group Parirakshak from Campbel
> Bay, Great Nicobar Island. Many thanks to John. It would be our
> endevour now to bring a regular update on news and information from the
> southern most island in the group.
> pankaj
>
> 1. Govt. still searching land for permanent shelters in Gandhi Nagar.
> The Govt is still searching land for permanent shelter site in Gandhi
> Nagar. A team from the National Institute of Ocean TEchnology (NIOT)
> visited on 17/9/2007 for the purpose
>
> 2. No public announcement about the recent tsunami warning:
> All public address (PA) systems in Campbel Bay were not working on the
> day that the tsunami warning was issued followed the recent earthquakes
> off the coast of Sumatra. There was no PA system working in the AC's
> office. There were two megaphones but there were also not working.
> Residents then visited the police station, where again they found that
> the two systems available there were also not operational.
>
> 3. No Chemistry teacher in school:
> It is nearly four months since the Sr. Secondary school was reopened in
> Campbel Bay and yet there is no teacher to teach chemistry here.
>
> Contact: John Robert. Email:
parirakshak@...<parirakshak%40yahoo.co.in>
>
> DELETE button is history. Unlimited mail storage is just a click away.
>
>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Unless and until we make our tourism work for
improving the overall environmental values of the
landscape alongwith with sharing its benefits all over
equitably encompassing poor sections mainly women, we
can not do justify spending huge expenditures on
infrastructure creation for tourism purposes. Mainly
the present day tourism is mostly relying on creating
conditions what we think tourists like. Cann't we
bring changes all over in tourism activities and its
values so that it serves all and mainly women who
share large burden of the negative impacts of any
ambitious tourism policy? In Himalayas, Cann't we go
for environmental friendly eco-tourism or some other
form with minimal impact to the environment preserving
local values with locals' right to have first charge
on the profits out of tourism and a portion of it to
be spent on enhancing local environmental values with
improving livelihoods of the local villagers linking
their economic activities with survival of the
landscape and its features.
Thanks for your thoughts.
Pushpendra Rana,

--- Julia Schonharl <contours@...> wrote:

> TOURISM OPENS DOORS FOR WOMEN – DOES IT?
>
> The UN provides an useful service to the world
> community when it
> frequently declares special Days to focus on issues
> that are of
> concern to communities and nations.
>
> The UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) marks 27
> September as a
> World Tourism Day, with Sri Lanka as a host country.
>
> The Ecumenical Coalition on Tourism (ECOT) believes
> that the theme –
> Tourism Opens Doors For Women – hardly reflects the
> reality of women
> in tourism. While ECOT acknowledges instances when
> women do benefit
> from tourism, this unfortunately does not apply to
> the majority of
> women involved in the world of tourism. Even the
> facts listed in the
> UNWTO Message by Secretary-General Francisco
> Frangialli point to the
> sheer disadvantage women face on a global scale.
> There is a plethora
> of statistics and reports around the world that bear
> this out.
>
> ECOT strongly believes that a Tourism that is
> associated with
> prostitution, and the human trafficking that
> accompanies it
> increasingly, in no way `opens doors for women'. A
> Tourism that is
> propped up by images of women and the lure of sexual
> pleasures is
> not one that liberates women.
>
> Yes, handicrafts and other items produced by women
> do attract the
> tourist dollar. But is the price paid for these
> products just? Are
> the wages of women in these enterprises fair? Is the
> trivialization
> of culture that occurs in various tourist
> destinations when women
> are dressed in indigenous dress as if in a costume
> to attract the
> tourist camera  the way to open doors for women? Do
> women have a
> voice in the decision making that determines the
> nature of tourism
> in their environment?
>
> Would it be more appropriate to conclude that
> `tourism closes doors
> for women'? How else could one view a reality
> wherein women are
> treated on the basis of sexual and gender
> stereotypes, with most
> women not sharing power and resources equitably?
> Such a situation is
> not helped when there is serious conflict as is the
> case with the
> host country for this year's World Tourism Day. Sri
> Lanka has seen a
> violent conflict rage for years while the control of
> its tourism is
> not widely shared.
>
> It is well demonstrated that poverty is a major
> reason that drives
> women to tourism. If the quality of life of women
> improved,
> conventional tourism will be less attractive to
> them. The UN has
> given the world a set of goals known as the
> Millennium Development
> Goals (MDGs) with the hope that world poverty will
> be halved by
> 2015. Any real progress towards such an outcome
> would truly open
> doors and opportunities for women.
>
> The UNWTO is `committed to Tourism, Travel and the
> MDGs'. ECOT calls
> on the UNWTO to reflect the perspective of women who
> are
> disadvantaged and discriminated by tourism.
>
> Caesar D'Mello - ECOT
>
> ECOT - ECUMENICAL COALITION ON TOURISM
> 9/1 Ratanakosin Road, T Watget
> Amphur Muang, Chiang Mai 50000, Thailand
> Tel/Fax: + 66 53 240 026 contours@...
>
>
>





       5, 50, 500, 5000 - Store N number of mails in your inbox. Go to
http://help.yahoo.com/l/in/yahoo/mail/yahoomail/tools/tools-08.html

>> All public address (PA) systems in Campbel Bay were not working on the
>>day that the tsunami warning was issued followed the recent earthquakes
>>off the coast of Sumatra.

This once again highlights the futility of setting up 'dedicated' systems
for disaster warning. The only time they work is when they are installed and
tested. Six months down the line, everybody forgets about them and they fall
apart.

For disaster and early warning messaging, we are better off using existing
media channels like radio and cable television (that are on air 24 x7, and
have a considerable audience). It would be far simpler to interrrupt regular
programmes on AIR Port Blair or local cable TV channels than to send out
warning messages on loudspeakers or other dedicated systems. At best, one
needs sirens to wake up sleeping islanders, and radio could take over from
there.

This is a lot simpler and cheaper than PA systems that never seem to work.
It's a pity that we don't have Community Radio (CR) stations in the islands
that could also address the issue of disaster warning. Maybe Parirakshak
should apply for a CR License in Campbell Bay.

Sajan Venniyoor
UNESCO / Community Radio Forum


On 9/21/07, Pankaj Andaman <psekhsaria@...> wrote:
>
> Dear Friends,
> This is a posting by John Robert of the group Parirakshak from Campbel
> Bay, Great Nicobar Island. Many thanks to John. pankaj
>
> 12. No public announcement about the recent tsunami warning:
> All public address (PA) systems in Campbel Bay were not working on the
> day that the tsunami warning was issued followed the recent earthquakes
> off the coast of Sumatra. There was no PA system working in the AC's
> office. There were two megaphones but there were also not working.
> Residents then visited the police station, where again they found that
> the two systems available there were also not operational.
>
> 3. No Chemistry teacher in school:
> It is nearly four months since the Sr. Secondary school was reopened in
> Campbel Bay and yet there is no teacher to teach chemistry here.
>
>
> Contact: John Robert. Email: parirakshak@...
>
>
>
> DELETE button is history. Unlimited mail storage is just a click away.
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Tsunami survivor gives back
By Dana Williams  September 20, 2007
	
http://www.liherald.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18838647&BRD=1601&PAG=461&dept_id=4\
77132&rfi=6

Dr. Dipak Nandi, a co-founder of the New York Kali Mandir Hindu Temple
in Baldwin, made every effort to utilize his medical expertise in
December 2004, in order to help the victims of the South Asia tsunami.
Advertisement
While vacationing in his hometown of Port Blair, India, Nandi said, he
awoke one morning to discover that the town was engulfed by floodwaters.
He said that the tsunami - which was caused by an undersea earthquake in
the Indian Ocean and affected coastal communities across South and
Southeast Asia - destroyed most of the islands surrounding the town.
Port Blair is the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a
territory of India.
As the third anniversary of the tragedy approaches, Nandi said, it is
important to remember the toll the tsunami took on countless families
and on many nations' infrastructure. The Old Westbury resident, who
specializes in pain management, is continuing to help tsunami victims by
helping to rebuild the area's economy.
Nandi witnessed firsthand the catastrophic effects the tsunami had on
the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which lie in the Andaman Sea between
India and Thailand. "I did whatever I could to help the people in the
islands by working with the [territory's] one member of India's
Parliament to provide medicine and other medical assistance to the
people there," Nandi explained, adding that he was grateful to have
survived the disaster. "The tsunami caused the water pipes to break, and
that caused waterborne infectious diseases to spread in the islands, so
I tried to do what I could to help."
The tidal wave destroyed many factories in the islands, Nandi said,
which decimated the area's lumber and fishing industries.
"Right now, the islands have a lot of unemployment, whereas the rest of
India has prospered in the last five years ... and I'm working with the
one member of Parliament to put up an outsourcing call center in the
area," Nandi said. "The center is going to give jobs to a lot of people,
because the tsunami also destroyed the beaches, and that caused tourism
to decline. There's a lot of employment in the islands."
The effort to give back to his homeland, Nandi said, helped make him the
person he is today. As a child in the islands, he grew up in poverty,
but he was determined not to let that keep him from achieving his goals.
Nandi studied medicine at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences,
graduating in 1981. He later moved to the U.S. as a psychiatry resident
at the University of Missouri, and eventually completed his neurological
research studies at Columbia University.
Having lived on Long Island for more than 20 years, Nandi said that the
opportunities in America have enabled him to give back to his community.
He joined Triboro Health Care Management in 1995 to help bring health
care to those in need in New York City. For nearly 20 years he has been
involved as well with Street Children International, a non-profit
organization based in Great Neck that helps provide food and schooling
to children in the destitute areas of Calcutta, India.
Nandi is now hoping to build the New York Kali Mandir Temple and
Community Center's presence in Baldwin. The temple, which currently has
more than 1,000 members, has been a place for residents of the North and
South Shores to meet, learn and work together, he said. "We have people
from all religions and faiths coming in to visit the temple, which makes
it very exciting and interesting," Nandi said.
Since the temple's opening in August 2005, he said, the members have
aimed to make it "a center of peace in the Baldwin area." Temple
officials are currently planning a fund-raiser in order to build a new
auditorium in the temple.
"We are so happy to have the temple in Baldwin, and it's also a center
for tolerance and learning for the next generation of kids," Nandi said.
"The community members, business owners and neighbors in Baldwin have
all been supportive of the temple, and we hope to continue the temple's
success here in Baldwin."
Comments about this story? Dwilliams@... or (516) 569-4000 ext.
207.

specially spaces like Andaman that are under pressure from various aspects
relating tourism to women is dangerous, just as much as it takes its toll on the
environment.
   regards and wishes
   chanda




---------------------------------
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

This is regarding "Govt was still searching for land for permanent
shelters in Gandhi Nagar". Well I wonder what NIOT has to do with site
selection. Site selection if any is to be done by the Andaman & Nicobar
Goverment not by NIOT. seems to be wrong conclusion based on incorrect
observation. NIOT must have visited thesite for some other purpose not
for site selection.

17 August 2007
Tsunami, Earthquake Detection Improved Since 2004 Disaster

U.S. expertise, technology contribute to fledgling global warning system

By Cheryl Pellerin
USINFO Staff Writer

http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2007&m=Augus\
t&x=20070817112121lcnirellep0.9808618

This is the first in a series of articles about U.S. contributions to a
global early warning system for tsunamis and other hazards.

Washington -- Peru is two continents and an ocean away from the Indian
Ocean, but the speed and accuracy with which a massive earthquake near
Lima recently was measured is a direct result of the global response to
the 9.1-magnitude temblor and tsunami that struck South and Southeastern
Asia on December 26, 2004.

The deadliest disaster in modern history caused the loss of nearly
230,000 people. At the time, the United States and Japan were the only
nations whose shores were protected by tsunami early warning systems,
and people around the world looked to experts in those countries for help.

Today, in an effort coordinated by the UNESCO Intergovernmental
Oceanographic Commission (IOC), a global tsunami warning and mitigation
system slowly is taking shape in the world's oceans and along its
coastlines. (See related article.)

EARTHQUAKE IN PERU

One hundred to 200 kilometers off the Peruvian coast, tectonic plates
that cover the planet are active. There, the Nazca Plate grinds under
and pushes up the South American Plate, releasing energy that sometimes
becomes an earthquake.

In the early evening on August 15, an 8.0-magnitude earthquake occurred
near the coast of central Peru, about 145 kilometers southeast of Lima,
according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The earthquake killed
more than 500 people, injuring 1,600 and left tens of thousands homeless.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Pacific
Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii issued and later cancelled a tsunami
warning and watch for the Pacific coast of South and Central America,
which experienced small tsunami waves less than a meter high.

Among the seismic stations that helped pinpoint and characterize the
major earthquake were five new stations that USGS has installed in the
Caribbean over the past two years. The agency plans to install four more
seismic stations there by the end of 2007.

"These newer instruments are making available the kind of data that
makes a difference when trying to estimate the kind of earthquake and
the magnitude," seismologist Walter Mooney, lead coordinator for the
USGS Indian Ocean tsunami warning system program, said during an August
16 USINFO interview.

"The correct magnitude probably came significantly faster and more
accurately than it would have in 2004," he added.

Another difference since 2004 is the expanded use of deep ocean
assessment and reporting of tsunami (DART) buoys, designed by NOAA’s
Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) in Seattle to detect
tsunamis as they move across the ocean.

The Peruvian tsunami was detected by a Chilean-owned DART buoy that sent
tsunami data to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center within one hour of
tsunami generation. The data were used to provide experimental tsunami
forecasts for 13 U.S. ports within two hours of tsunami generation.
Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii
The U.S. Geological Survey plans to add more seismic stations like the
Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii. (© AP Images)

“The DART data and forecast were instrumental in the quick cancellation
of the warning,” said PMEL Director Eddie Bernard, in an August 17
e-mail. “This is the big difference from 2004 to now. With DART data,
tsunami forecasts are now possible. Good forecasts lead to good decisions.”

TOWARD GLOBAL EARLY WARNING

In Paris in 2005, the IOC, already tasked with helping U.N. member
states on the Indian Ocean rim establish a tsunami warning system,
created a framework for developing regional early warning systems in the
Indian Ocean, the Caribbean and the Mediterranean.

Along with the Pacific Tsunami Warning System that IOC established in
1965, these regional systems would conform to the same standards,
ultimately to share data and form a global system for monitoring and
detecting a range of natural and other hazards, including tsunamis. (See
related article.)

With funding approved by Congress in 2005, the U.S. Agency for
International Development Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA),
NOAA, USGS, the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Trade and Development
Agency are lending expertise and technology to these efforts.

For the Tsunami Early Warning and Mitigation System in the North Eastern
Atlantic, the Mediterranean and Connected Seas, the United States is
acting mainly as an observer and technical provider to the lead group,
the Instituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, one of Europe's
largest geophysical research institutions.

"We're working very closely with them," NOAA Tsunami Program Manager
David Green, said in an August 15 USINFO interview, "to develop
strategies and work with the different observing systems."

LAND USE AND HAZARDS

Progress has been made in the Mediterranean region to bolster and
integrate different national seismic and ocean observing networks, and
in transitioning from using the instruments for research to using them
as part of an operational early warning system.

For the sea-level stations, Green said, "the first steps are to identify
the stations that need to be part of the network, then upgrade them to
real time [sea-level reporting], then combine them with the seismic
effort to make a system."

Until a full-fledged system is in place for the Mediterranean, Italy
will provide 24-hour-a-day watch coverage of seismic data from the seas
around Europe. Portugal and Spain are providing access to real-time
seismic data.

In the meantime, contemplating Europe's heavily developed and populated
coastlines, the Mediterranean group brought to IOC's attention the need
to bring hazards and coastal zone practices for mitigation and land
adaptation and use into every aspect of coastal life. (See related article.)

As a result, IOC brought together experts from its member states,
including the United States, and from the World Meteorological
Organization and the U.N. International Strategy for Disaster Reduction.
The group will develop a set of guidelines for including ocean hazards
in integrated coastal zone management.

The concept of integrated coastal area management has been in place
since the 1990s for sustainable management of coastal zones but until
now has not been applied to tsunami planning.

More information about the Tsunami Early Warning and Mitigation System
in the North Eastern Atlantic, the Mediterranean and Connected Seas is
available at the IOC Web site.

An animation of the Peru event is available at NOAA Pacific Marine
Environmental Laboratory Web site.

(USINFO is produced by the Bureau of International Information Programs,
U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

ANDAMAN’S TRIBAL RESERVES: PROTECTING FORESTS, BIODIVERSITY AND THE
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

PANKAJ SEKHSARIA,

Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, 103 (2-3), May-Dec 2006
390-392

PROCEEDINGS OF THE JOURNAL CENTENARY SEMINAR,

Synopsis:

The Andamans has four tribal reserves, one each in the name of its
negrito communities; the Great Andamanese, the Onge, the Jarawa and the
Sentinelese. They were created under the Andaman and Nicobar Protection
of Aboriginal Tribes Regulation (ANPATR) - 1956, and cover an area of
nearly 1,500 sq. km, 25% of the Andaman islands. The largest chunk here
is the 700 sq. km Jarawa Reserve followed by the 520 sq. km Ian Onge
Reserve on Little Andaman Island. Additionally, 3-5 km of the sea
adjoining these land areas, too have been protected as tribal reserves:
marine protected areas that are yet to be measured, but could easily be
a couple of 1,000 sq. km. Significantly and unlike PAs such as Interview
Island the forests of the tribal reserves have never ever been subjected
to any kind of extractive, exploitative, or destructive activity. The
sole inhabitants of these reserves are the hunter-gatherer, forest
dwelling communities that have lived in complete harmony and equilibrium
with these forests for thousands of years. If undisturbed, these
pristine areas are crucial for long term conservation and the
maintenance of viable gene pools, the importance of these Tribal
Reserves cannot be emphasised enough. This paper is about the Andaman
Islands alone, though by extension it is very easily applicable in the
Nicobars too. In fact 100 % of the 1800 odd sq. km of the Nicobar
Islands have been designated as tribal reserves.

Key words: Andaman Islands, Tribal Reserves, biodiversity

THE ANDAMAN ISLANDS are a land where some of the best forests are those
that are protected for and in the name of human communities. These are
the hotspots within the hotspot; substantial chunks of tropical
rainforests that have never been subjected to development or commercial
threats; repositories of biological wealth that have never been
surveyed, let alone documented. Here are the beaches on which endangered
sea turtles have been nesting for aeons and also the creeks and the
mangroves where the endangered Saltwater Crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus)
still survive in significant numbers. The forests here are home to
innumerable species of plants and animals, including endemics like the
Andaman Day Gecko (Phelsuma andamanense), the Andaman Serpent-Eagle
(Spilornis elgini), the Andaman Teal (Anas gibberifrons) and the Andaman
Wild Pig.


The latter two are extremely threatened and the Andaman Teal, in fact,
is considered amongst the rarest of ducks in the world. These forests,
importantly, are also home to a set of remarkable, but very vulnerable
and threatened human communities. Put together, one is talking of a
landscape that is a repository of a priceless natural and human heritage
rolled into one. The areas in question are the four tribal reserves, one
each in the name of the four negrito communities of the Andamans: the
Great Andamanese, the Onge, the Jarawa and the Sentinelese; all created
in the late 1950s under the Andaman and Nicobar Protection of Aboriginal
Tribes Regulation (ANPATR)- 1956. The Jarawa Reserve covers more than
700 sq. km on South and Middle Andaman Islands; the Onge Reserve is
spread over 520 sq. km on the island of Little Andaman; and the entire
island of North Sentinel of about 50 sq. km is reserved exclusively for
the Sentinelese. Put together they constitute nearly 20% of the 6500 odd
sq. km of the total land in the Andamans and protect within them the
finest forests and biodiversity that the islands support. At least 3-5
km of the sea adjoining these forests too have been protected as tribal
reserves: marine protected areas that are nearly 1000 sq. km in their
spread. This is, in fact, the only legal protection accorded to the
coral reefs found off the western coast of the Jarawa Reserve. These are
considered to be among the finest reefs in the Andamans and till date no
one has surveyed or studied them in great detail.

It is also significant to note that large areas of forests in the
islands, including those that are wildlife sanctuaries and national
parks today, have been exploited for timber at some point in the last
100 years of continued extraction operations here. Not the forests of
the tribal reserves though, primarily, because the indigenous
communities never allowed any such extractive and extremely destructive
uses of their forest homes. In the conflict ridden conservation
landscape of the country, here is an example where the needs of
biological and environmental conservation and those of human communities
overlap neatly. The negrito communities in the Andamans have lived in
harmony with their forests and natural resources for a few thousand
years. However, if one looks at the history of these islands over the
last four decades or so, one gets a completely different picture. When
first created in the 1950s, the tribal reserves were, in fact, much
larger than what they are today. In the 1970s substantial chunks of the
tribal reserves were denotified to facilitate the process of the
colonisation of these lands by populations from mainland India and for
the exploitation of valuable resources, primarily timber.

This was the ideal recipe for the destruction of the forests and history
is witness to this fact. Two denotifications in the 1970s took away
about 200 sq. km of pristine forests from the Onge Reserve and turned it
over for clear felling, settling of people from mainland India, timber
extraction and the creation of plantations and agricultural fields.
Similarly, the pristine Jarawa Reserve too was reduced to allow timber
operations and the construction of the Andaman Trunk Road (ATR).


The eastern side of the road was then handed over for large scale timber
extraction operations. The consequences are visible for all to see. The
canopy and the evergreen character in this denotified part is gone, the
Andaman Wild Pig, the largest mammal in the islands is found here no
more, aggressive aliens that thrive in deciduous and dry conditions are
taking over, sea turtles can no longer nest on beaches as sand has been
mined away, coral reefs in the adjoining oceans have been physically
affected and also choked by erosion, groundwater acquifiers have been
depleted and the hydrological cycle has been adversely impacted.

Towards the west, separated by the ATR, lie the forests that are still
protected as the Jarawa Reserve. One has to only stand on this ATR and
look either way. On one hand, we see how the Jarawa use and protect
their forests. On the other side, is evidence of the destruction that we
have wrought upon this fragile and priceless forest ecosystem. If left
undisturbed, these large pristine areas are crucial for long term
conservation and the maintenance of viable gene pools, the importance of
these Tribal Reserves cannot be emphasised enough (See Appendix 1). It
does not take much to realise that the indigenous communities have
little, if any impact at all, on these forests. They are the ones who
have protected these forests from being destroyed by the outside world.
What is critical to understand in this context then, is that the
survival of these communities is as critically dependant on the forests,
as the forests themselves are dependant on the indigenous communities.
These tribal cultures and societies are intricately linked with the
forests and it is they who have ensured their complete protection and
conservation. Lands that are being protected in the name of and for the
indigenous peoples in these islands are as important, probably more
important, than the officially designated system for the protection of
the biological wealth here. Only, ‘protection’ will have to be defined
and understood differently from how we do it presently. This protection
is not being accorded from the outside, as it happens in all PAs. Here
it is these people who are protecting themselves and their forests from
extremely destructive external forces. The concept of ‘threat’, then,
just like that of protection, too needs to be redefined. Here it is the
tribal people and their forests that are threatened by the outside
world. The populations of forest dwelling hunter-gatherer communities
are never very large, but they need a basic minimum area for
subsistence. The same has always been true of the Andaman negritos. A
massive colonisation scheme in which thousands of mainland families were
settled in the islands has over the years completely skewed the balance
against the interests of the tribals. While the population of all the
negrito communities in the islands is only about 500 individuals, that
of the outsiders has climbed to nearly 4,00,000. The pressure that these
people exert on the forests resources like fresh water and the
indigenous people themselves can well be imagined.


It is also not just the physical destruction of the forests and the take
over of tribal lands that is threatening these communities. The dominant
civilisation does not even try to understand, let alone respect the
culture, the way of life and the system of knowledge of these people.
Communities like the Jarawa take just as much as they need, achieving a
system that is probably as close to one of balance and equilibrium as
one can think of. Their needs are limited and therefore the exploitation
of the forests and the resources by them is limited.

A recent, preliminary study has revealed that the Jarawa have knowledge
of about 150 species of plants and trees and over 350 species of fauna.
Many of these are directly used by them in their material culture, as
food or as medicine. This is an excellent indicator of the knowledge
that the Jarawas have, as well as that of the diversity of the forest
itself. For the Jarawa, this knowledge is important if they are to
ensure survival. The wider the base from which they can extract their
survival needs, the better their chances. And that is where the
conservation of the systems and the diversity become important as well.
The same is also true of the Sentinelese and the Onge. The Jarawas, the
Onge and the Sentinelese can certainly protect and save themselves and
their forests, but they need some help from the outside. Not drastic
intervention, not surgical incisions, but something far simpler. The
tribal reserves in the islands are, without doubt, the most significant
repositories of the islands biodiversity. The system for their
management and protection, however, needs to be diametrically opposite
to the principles and philosophies that are the basis of the protected
area network of the country today. The protection of these forests and
diversity cannot be divorced from the indigenous communities that live
there. Their ownership and primary right over the forests has to be
accepted first. That is far easier said than done, but it has to be
done. Their lands and forests have to be protected at all costs, even
restored to them from whom they were taken away. Cultural interaction
has to be regulated, it has to be extremely sensitive and in situations,
even reduced to a bare minimum. There has to be an explicit recognition
of their way of life, a respect for their traditions and knowledge, and
an acknowledgement that they are our most important partners in the
conservation of a unique natural heritage: the forests of the Andaman
Islands.

STATISTICAL OVERVIEW

A statistical overview of biological diversity of the Andaman and
Nicobar Islands The Andaman & Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal are
an internationally recognised hot spot for biological diversity, with
over 3552 species of flowering plants (223 species endemic), 5,100
species of animals (100 freshwater, 2847 terrestrial, 503 endemic) and
4508 marine species (220 endemic), 52 species of mammals (33 endemic),
244 species and subspecies of birds (96 endemic) and 111 species of
amphibians and reptiles (66 endemic).


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Dear Friends,
This is a posting by John Robert of the group Parirakshak from Campbel
Bay, Great Nicobar Island. Many thanks to John. It  would be our
endevour now to bring a regular update on news and information from the
southern most island in the group.
pankaj

1. Govt. still searching land for permanent shelters in Gandhi Nagar.
The Govt is still searching land for permanent shelter site in Gandhi
Nagar. A team from the National Institute of Ocean TEchnology (NIOT)
visited on 17/9/2007 for the purpose

2. No public announcement about the recent tsunami warning:
All public address (PA) systems in Campbel Bay were not working on the
day that the tsunami warning was issued followed the recent earthquakes
off the coast of Sumatra. There was no PA system working in the AC's
office. There were two megaphones but there were also not working.
Residents then visited the police station, where again they found that
the two systems available there were also not operational.

3. No Chemistry teacher in school:
It is nearly four months since the Sr. Secondary school was reopened in
Campbel Bay and yet there is no teacher to teach chemistry here.


   Contact: John Robert. Email: parirakshak@...



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