Dehradun, August 19
The nationwide peafowl census will begin next year as Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India (WII) has already started working on its finer details towards the conduct of this massive exercise. It involves four to five years and will cover as many as 24 states including the North-East.

Presently, there is lack of proper estimation of peacocks in the country. This National Bird keeps close proximity to humans which often brings them into direct conflict with villagers.

But there have been few efforts to explore its real strength in the country and its relationship vis-à-vis humans. Even in Protected Areas, there have been little efforts.

But the Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India (WII) for the first time is making attempts to assess the presence of peacocks in the country and has come out with various findings.

Following an all-India questionnaire-based survey, the WII, an year earlier, strongly recommended a comprehensive census for peafowl in the country.

The survey was carried out over a period of two years and has for the first time revealed detailed information about peacocks inhabiting national parks, sanctuaries and other areas in the country.

A proposal entailing details of the survey including the required manpower and also of the partner organisations is being submitted to the Union Environment and Forest Ministry.

Another major project for the WII after the tiger census, the peafowl census will bring to the fore the true strength of peacocks in the country. It will also deal with its relationship with villagers in the periphery of its habitat and also the condition of the habitat.

The all-India questionnaire-based survey was done in 1,720 sites across the country which included 448 protected areas (national parks and sanctuaries).

The WII had also contacted as many as 350 District Magistrates, a huge number of voluntary organisations and bird-watcher groups to ensure that some estimates on peacocks could be achieved.

The survey, at the very outset, had come up with startling results revealing the apathy on part of both wildlife authorities and civil administration towards peacocks as only 52 per cent of the 448 protected areas deemed it fit to respond to the WII concerns.

Senior scientist and head of Department of Endangered Species Management of the WII S Satyakumar who along with his colleague BC Chowdhary had been instrumental in the conduct of the survey had recorded the presence of peacocks to be as a high as 82 per cent in protected areas while 345 out of 519 districts too registered its presence in civil areas.

After successful completion of the survey, the WII had proposed to the Union Environment and Forest ministry for a comprehensive census of peacock population in the country.

"There is hardly any assessment of the population of peacock in the country despite it being a National Bird," said Dr Satyakumar, who led the WII survey.

He said that the peacocks stood to be a bird most ignored in the country despite being of national stature.

He said that the WII as part of the proposed census plans to divide the country into six zones to ensure a comprehensive and full-proof census.

With no census of peacocks in the country, WII scientists will have now to begin afresh and the entire exercise will be a Herculean one.

They had resorted to the encounter rate system as the basis of assessment during the survey. The encounter rate system entails the number of peacocks sighted in one hour of travel in any peacock habitat.

But during the census, the WII scientists will be working with more accuracy.

Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa had in the survey revealed commendable status of peacock presence as the encounter rate here touched as high as 50 peacocks per hour.

For Karnataka, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand, the encounter rate varied between 31 to 50 peacocks per hour. As of remaining states, it stood somewhere between 5 to 30 peacocks per hour.

Protected areas comprise a meagre five per cent of the country and the survey has tried to at least look for the peacock’s presence in reserve forests, revenue land, institutions, industrial campuses and others. There are several areas that may have the presence of the peacock but they are beyond the reach of assessment like the defence area of the country.

Poaching definitely has not been a big problem with peacocks as the national bird is revered due to religious reasons.

Rajasthan and Gujarat have religious attachment to peacocks. Viramalai Lord Subramanium temple in Tamil Nadu has also been a perfect example of bonhomie between human and peacocks.

The farmers, who grow millets and paddy in fields adjacent to the temple, never harm the peafowl. They have installed reflective ribbons to ward off the peacocks from the fields rather than resorting to any physical harm to these beautiful birds.

Mussoorie, August 19
One ornamental tree which is indigenous to the mountains is the pine, locally known as cheer. Pine trees very rarely grow in solitude and often cover large forests. They gain a height of 40 to 60 metres.

The highest tree in Asia was pine tree in Mori block of the Rawaeen Patti of Jaunpur which recently fell after a storm.

Pine trees make a wonderfully scenic forest with no other vegetation on the ground. The floor of the pine forest remains covered with a cushion of dried pine needles which enhances the beauty of the same.

The aromatic pine forest is very much an enchanting sight like a jungle full of its cousin, the deodar. Just as Dhanaulty is acknowledged as a serene deodar forest, the unexplored Khanaalty pine forest beside the Tibetan monastery in Happy Valley, Mussoorie, is a hidden haven waiting to be unveiled.

Moreover, a drive on the serpentine road through miles of vast pine jungle of the Jarmola Dhaar (Tons Forest Division) ahead of Purola in Jaunpur and through Raadi Ka Daanda on the Barkot-Dharaasu highway is an experience of a lifetime.

Pine plays an important role in the life of the people of the mountains. Being highly inflammable from the root to the tip, the elders use its fragrant bark as charcoal in Hukka in which they smoke sweet tobacco.

The dried needles are used as roof thatches, brooms and beddings for poultry and the young ones of cattle.

When lit up, the chiselled pine wood works wonders as a torch and helps people cover long distances in the dark.

They also use pine wood for ‘chhulla’ to light up gatherings and rituals such as the village Ramleela.

The essential oil found in pine needles, cones and the resin, which is gathered by making cuts on the trunk, is of high medicinal value.

People in the hills have been using its soothing oil boiled in water to cure respiratory problems like cough, cold, sinusitis, bronchitis and being an antiseptic and anti-bacterial too, the oil is considered beneficial to flush down the urinary tract.

Elders in the mountains recommend a warm bath infused with dried pine needles to ward off cold and fever.

The oil is applied to attain relief from headaches, backaches and joint pains. The oil forms a base in the pharmaceutical industry and the resin is made into excellent turpentine oil.

Due to its high inflammability, pine trees often add fuel to raging forest fires which have become an annual ritual in the mountains that have so far claimed acres of forest of the fragile pine.

Dehradun, August 19
Last month, a butterfly migration had overwhelmed Dehradun. Another movement of butterflies is being recorded these days, this time in the opposite direction. While the first was from east to west, the butterflies that were less in number this time took the west to east route.

According to RS Bhandari, head of Entomology Division, Forest Research Institute, migration of butterflies is a very common phenomenon during this time of the year as this is the season of moth breeding. While the male dies after the mating, the female perishes after laying of eggs, informed Bhandari. The butterflies now in action could be the young ones of the butterflies that were part of the migration that took place last month.

On July 21, Doonites had woken up a huge number of butterflies spread all over. These butterflies mostly green in colour could be seen in the ‘sal’ forests and fields.

Catopsilia (Emigrants) prominently figured among the migrating butterflies as their flight was observed in Chandrabadni, Vasant Vihar, FRI, downtown Dehradun and Nehru Gram areas of Dehradun.

Entomologist Dr VP Uniyal too described the migration of butterflies as quite natural during this time of the year.

He, however, admitted that those engaged in study of butterflies have failed to come up definite reasons behind this phenomenon. However, studies suggest that offsprings of butterflies generally take to migration.

Studies also reveal that these butterflies mostly go in compass direction for navigational purposes. Their migration is a response to unfavourable conditions such as lack of food, insufficient food of the right quality and overcrowding. As many as 60 species of butterfly in the country are migratory by nature.

Dehradun, August 19
Dr Rajendra Dobhal, director, Uttarakhand State Council for Science and Technology (UCOST), has called upon youngsters to take time off their daily routines to dream and innovate ideas that could be scientifically translated for betterment of mankind through hard work.

Inaugurating the workshop for ‘Enhancement of Scientific Temper and Innovation Skills in School Children’ organised by the Lokhit Foundation and supported by U-COST here today, Dr Dobhal said the nation had great hopes from the students as most of the scientific inventions worldwide had been done by youngsters in so called informal laboratories.

Congratulating the Lokhit Foundation for organising science awareness promotion training programmes in different regions of the state, Dr Dobhal said such programmes were aimed at identifying and nurturing talent at all levels.

Describing scientific temper and innovation skills in schoolchildren as a real resource that could change quality of life at different levels, foundation chairperson Bithi Chandramohan called upon teachers and family elders to encourage children to dream and innovate.

India would be a much more vibrant country the day our youngsters daring innovations are supported by the society, she said.

Scientific temper and urge to innovate had become all more important as rapid advancement in the science and technology over the decades has increased the need for further innovation, challenge to inventions, psychological discoveries of nature of individual differences and emphasis on real-time achievements, Chandramohan said.

Over 100 students from various government and public schools were taught the scientific way of knowing things and how it was different from the traditional method of knowing.

Lectures by experts from Lucknow, Meerut and Dehradun were followed by a very lively interactive session, where young boys and girls sought to learn many scientific truths and clarify doubts about various phenomenons.