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Farmers take the silk route
The Coop boost
Man versus beast: Secure corridors only way out
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Couples turn to e-love
Fab India exhibition gets good response
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Farmers take the silk route
Dehradun, February 12 The government announcement is aimed to offset the loses that farmers may have suffered on account of the Chinese invasion and to make silk cultivation, weaving and production a profitable venture. “By fixing the minimum support price for cocoon, the interests of the farmers has been taken care of. According to conservative estimates, a farmer through cocoon rearing can earn a profit of Rs 45-Rs 50 lakh per year. The minimum support price for A-grade cocoon is Rs 110 per kg, for B-grade cocoon Rs 100 per kg, for C-grade Rs 85 per kg , for D-grade Rs 70 per kg , double cocoon Rs 50 per kg and Damaged cocoon Rs 15 per kg,” said IP Badola, Sericulture, Technical Section, Directorate Sericulture, Prem Nagar. Uttarakhand produces two commercial varieties of silk, mulberry and oak tasar or vanya silk. It is estimated that one acre of mulberry can yield direct employment to five persons throughout the year for cultivation, silk worm rearing, silk reeling and silk weaving purposes. Sericulture provides scope for value addition. Oak tasar culture is practiced in the hills and mulberry sericulture in the plains. As many as 12 districts, 34 blocks 34,521 villages and 72 Departmental farms are engaged in silk cultivation and production. The total silk production in the state is is 25,000 metric tonnes and raw silk production (mulberry) is 14 tonnes. Silk from mulberry is silkworm animal protein which is formed of the protein contained in the mulberry leaves. An adult silk moth (bivoltine) lays 450-500 tiny eggs that are spread in wooden trays and left for incubation at a temperature of 25 degree centigrade. From a single bivoltine cocoon, about 1,000-1,500 metres continuous filament can be drawn. Oak tasar, also called wild silk or vanya silk, is the basic food plant of the oak tasar silkworm known as antheraea proylei grown in upper hills. The Tasar is coarser and is useful for making fabrics and even upholstery. For the production of oak tasar, shoots of tree are collected form the forest and fed to oak tasar worms in an artificially developed forest environment. The sericulture directorate is working on developing eri and muga silk varieties, which is still in experimental stages. “The seed that can be procured from Assam is very costly, the state has a complete monopoly on it and we are working on it,” informed deputy director AK Yadav, Sericulture Directorate. As a value addition, the directorate has established the Uttarakhand Cooperative Resham Federation that functions from Prem Nagar. A weaving unit has been established at Kalsi, a few kilometres from Dehradun. A master craftsman at work at the Kalsi weaving unit combines thread of oak tasar silk and wool into a beautiful shawl. “We have been retailing shawls and stoles that have evoked a good response from buyers,” informs Shalini Pawar Weaving coordinator. Uttarakhand is upbeat on the silk front and aiming high. The value addition through sericulture is expected to give a distinct identity to the state. A hosts of steps for farmers with small landholdings have been taken. The cocoon market function has an open auction system. A revolving fund of Rs 2 crore with 50 per cent Central Silk Board share has been created. Truly the Uttarkhand silk has come a long way from the days of Resham Majri, a village on the Dehradun-Haridwar road, the place for where commercial sericulture began in 1881.
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The Coop boost
Dehradun, February 12 The Tasar silk yarn, when combined with wool, produces a golden sheen and shawls and stoles made from the fabric are quite popular among foreigners. “As and when our weavers hone their skills we aim to produce a complete silk fabric. “We have worked on herringbone zig-zag stitch for shawls and stoles that has given a distinct identity to the shawls being sourced from the state,” said Shalini Pawar, coordinator of Cooperative Resham Federation (directorate, sericulture). “In Dehradun, work is on at a weaving centre at Kalsi in which Jaunsari tribesmen and women are involved,” she added. Pawar said largescale weaving activities are expected to create more employment opportunities for women. In Dehradun alone, 18-20 weavers are active and to ensure that they maintain quality, master trainers from the Resham Federation undertake regular checks. Two other weaving centres are active at Timli near Dehradun and in Munsiyari under the active collaboration of the Federation. In addition, the state government has planned a Silk Farm at Prem Nagar, which will be completed by the end of this year. “All activities related to sericulture and components of silk trade, comprising exchange, emporium, testing laboratory and design study, would be housed there,” said AK Yadav, deputy director sericulture.
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Man versus beast: Secure corridors only way out
Dehradun, February 12 Human casualties in the buffer zone of the reserve forced state wildlife authorities to adopt a harsher attitude this time. The death of a woman by a tiger in Dikuli in the buffer zone of Corbett some days back followed by the hue and cry leading to the caging of a man-eater tiger has again drawn attention toward the sorry state of corridors in Corbett. Dikuli is one of the key wildlife corridors that links the source population of tigers in Corbett to the territorial forest division of Ramanagar. This key corridor faces obstacles of many sorts. While there is the natural obstacle of the Kosi river, National Highway 121, which has a great volume of traffic, too passes through it. Artificial constructions have mushroomed all over in the last five years. An authority on corridor studies, Dr Hem Singh Gehlot of WWF, who has been working on Corbett corridors for the past many years, asserted that the sole solution to check the rising incidents of human-wildlife conflict in the Corbett region was to safeguard the corridors. Human activity on Ramnagar-Corbett corridor brings wildlife into direct conflict with humans. Gehlot said while humans have been the occasional casualty, wildlife has suffered on most occasions. Dr AK Singh of the Wildlife Trust of India too backed securing wildlife corridors across the state. “Incidents of tigers coming into conflict with habitations are bound to increase if we fail to secure their corridors,” he said. Significantly, Wildlife Institute of India, whose expertise has always come as a big help in wildlife rescue operations, in its tiger census report has strongly backed protection of tiger corridors across the country. While wildlife including leopards and ungulates have been hit by speeding vehicles on the National Highway and the construction of resorts, which today number around 35, fall in these corridors putting both wildlife and humans, particularly women and children, to big risk.
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Couples turn to e-love
Haridwar, February 12 With the Mangalore pub incident fresh in public memory, the Gen-X has decided to switch over to information technology to thwart any unsavoury reaction by fundamentalists. “I will be sending my friends e-cards and e-flowers rather than real ones as it is the thought that counts and we certainly don’t want to take any risk,” says Bhawna Bhandari, a B.Com student at the local Chinmaya College. But one area in the city that seems oblivious of the threat is the State Industrial Development Corporation (SIDCUL) area. Says Kanishka, a marketing professional with the corporation: “These pseudo outfits only want to demonstrate their power and attract media attention. “So they usually invade city restaurants or parks but as the corporation falls outside the city, for past two years no such incident has been witnessed here.” She says SIDCUL has a cosmopolitan outlook and there is nothing to fear. But Abhay Goel, an intermediate student, is playing safe. He has decided to give Valentine’s gifts to his friends tomorrow itself. “It is safer on the 13th. My friends have decided to hold celebrations a day earlier with no display of gifts or flowers,” he says. Meanwhile, the Youth Congress (YC) has come out in support of Valentine’s celebrations and said it will oppose any form of violence on the occasion. District convener Manish Karnwal has criticised the fundamentalists who, he says, uses this day as an excuse to harass young couples. “The youths are being intimidated and shopkeepers being warned in a free living society,” said Karnwal. The VHP and Shiv Sena along with the Vidyarthi Sena have released statements opposing the Valentine’s Day celebrations in the city. “On terrorism, surging crime rate in the city and corruption, they maintain silence but when it comes to Valentine’s Day, seeing hapless couples, they become warriors. There behaviour is taking the society backwards,” said Kavita, a college student. SSPolice Sanjay Gunjiyal has said the police will remain alert on the occasion and anybody violating law or trying to do moral policing will be dealt with sternly.
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Fab India exhibition gets good response
Dehradun, February 12 Fab India is a one-stop store, as after every few weeks they add variety for people to get options in clothes, household items, cosmetics and jutees “This year we have got a whole new range in darees (mats), bed-covers, lamps, furniture and even organic soups. In furniture we have introduced sideboards, dining table and bookshelves. People have already booked for our furniture and in case of shortage, we do suggest them to choose from our informative catalogues,” said Arati Kohli, manager, Fab India. Earlier, where lamps were made out of mango and sheesham wood, this year A lamp with a soothing blue shade with a base of yellow, red, green and orange adds brightness to a gloomy area, which comes for a price of just Rs 1,040. With over 97 stores across the country, presently 60,000 employees under Fab India are busy working hard to promote use of cotton and other hand crafted materials. “Our main endeavor is to promote use of genuine products. For colour blue, till today we use indigo (neel) and productively even use flower juice for dieing purpose,” said Vandana. Where many new and old companies have ventured into a whole new range of vegetarian and non-vegetarian soups, Fab India has got 100 per cent organic soups, which are tasty as well as healthy. Unlike other synthetic soups, Fab India has introduced tomato, karela and spinach soups. “I adore Fab India products and I am glad that such kind of exhibitions, offer a large variety of products under comforts of one roof,” said Sheetal, a housewife. “Over these three years the response in the city has been excellent and in future we do plan to expand our store, as we want maximum number of people, to get aware regarding the benefits of natural handmade products,” said Arati Kohli.
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Dehradun, February 12
Dehradun, February 12
Dehradun, February 12
