Byline

Kerala needs to do some homework on LNG

2010-08-31T21:07:00.000-07:00

The Hindu dated September 1, 2010
http://www.hindu.com/2010/09/01/stories/2010090162970400.htm

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala is pinning very high hopes on the liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal that may be commissioned in Kochi in a couple of years, but there are issues that may have to be sorted out at the current stage itself.

The envisaged capacity of the terminal of Petronet LNG Limited in Kochi is 2.5 million metric tonne per annum (mmtpa). Of this quantum, Petronet has struck tie-up for the supply of 1.2 mmtpa. The plan is to expand the capacity to 5 mmtpa later.

A top official of the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) told The Hindu that the State's power sector alone was working on plans requiring the supply nearly 6 mmtpa of LNG. The supply of 1.2 mmtpa of LNG for which the terminal has established linkage is fully booked by the Kayamkulam unit of the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), which plans to expand its power generation capacity by 1,050 MW, besides switching its existing 360-MW plant from naphtha to LNG.

Another issue concerns the pricing. Besides the power sector, State's industries, city gas supply programmes and also the industries and other fuel consumers in the districts of neighbouring States close to the borders with Kerala are counting on LNG being available from Kochi.

The cost of LNG from Kochi under the present tie-up between Petronet and the foreign company is linked to international crude oil prices. According to a calculation done by the NTPC, a unit of electricity generated using LNG at Kayamkulam when the crude oil price is $80 a barrel will cost Rs.6.83. This is double the average price at which KSEB supplies energy to its consumers.

“The likely volatility of the prices can upset the hopes of the power sector if the cost of LNG from Kochi is linked to international crude oil prices. There is a thinking at the national level to fixed a ‘pooled price,' which will make LNG relatively cheaper for the Kochi terminal since natural gas produced in India is cheap. Kerala will have to start pressing for that now itself,” the KSEB official said.

The NTPC has already started making efforts to insulate its Kayamkulam unit from price volatility of LNG by offering Qatar Petroleum, which can ensure the supply of LNG at an agreed to price, stakes in the unit.

*****

LNG hopes spur Kerala's power sector plans

2010-08-31T20:58:00.000-07:00

The Hindu dated August 30, 2010
http://www.hindu.com/2010/08/30/stories/2010083054560400.htm

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Four power projects are in different stages of planning in Kerala on the expectation of liquefied natural gas (LNG) becoming available from the LNG terminal expected to be commissioned in Kochi in another couple of years.

These include a new plant of National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) at Kayamkulam (1,050 MW), a new plant of Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) at Brahmapuram (1,026 MW), a plant being planned by Petronet in Kochi (1,200 MW) and a plant being contemplated at Cheemeni with Kerala State Industries Development Corporation (KSIDC) as the nodal agency for finding promoters (1,200 MW). In addition to these, the existing 360-MW NTPC plant at Kayamkulam and 157-MW Reliance plant in Kochi are also hoping to shift from naphtha to LNG when LNG becomes available for them.

The envisaged LNG-based power generation from all these plants would thus come to 4,983 MW, a substantial jump in power generation in a State where the total installed capacity, hydel and thermal inclusive, is 2,546 MW at present. The State also has access to 1,046 MW of power from the Central pool.

Since the entire installed capacity (within the State and that available to the State under the Central pool) will not translate into day-to-day flow of energy into the grid, due to technical reasons and occasional plant shutdowns, Kerala is now only just about managing its peak-load demand, which is around 3,000 MW at the moment. The peak-load demand is expected to go up to 3,500 MW by 2012, according to the latest power survey. By then an additional capacity of around 500 MW will become available to the State from new Central stations and capacity additions at existing Central stations outside the State.

The planning wing of the KSEB now sees a situation close to power sufficiency for a couple of years, provided the monsoon also behaves normally. However, after 2012 or may be 2013, the State may experience power shortage unless the new stations, currently at different stages of planning, too fall into position in a phased manner. In addition to the LNG-based plants in the plan, a 1,300-MW coal-based plant of the KSEB, to be established at Cheemeni, too is in the pipeline in the State.

“The key is in going ahead with these plans in a phased manner,” a top KSEB official told The Hindu. “The planned capacity addition is of a gigantic proportion and if the plants come up too soon it may turn out to be a big financial burden for the State's power sector since power purchase arrangements will be on ‘take or pay' principle.”

*****

Flood threat looms over Kuttanad

2010-06-14T15:16:00.000-07:00

http://www.hindu.com/2010/06/15/stories/2010061562500500.htm
My monsoon story in The Hindu on June 15:

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Water level in the backwater stretches of the rice bowl of Kuttanad was inching towards danger mark on Monday as the rivers Pampa, Achenkoil, Manimala and Meenachal began emptying their flood flow into the region.

Villages in this low-lying region are already waterlogged and the Alappuzha district authorities have declared two days’ holiday for schools in the area. Rough sea conditions along the Kochi coast prevent the flood waters from draining smoothly out of the Vembanad Lake, which stretch from Kochi up north to Kuttanad towards the south.

At the southern end of Kuttanad, the Irrigation Department has opened the Thottappally spillway and cut open the narrow stretch of sand bar separating the sea and the backwaters to facilitate the drainage of floodwaters from the region. The sea was rough along the Thottappally stretch also. There are no reports about the collapse of any of the bunds that protect the sprawling paddy fields of the region. Farmers who have launched Kuttanad’s second crop are on a day-night vigil on the bunds.

Reports from upstream areas in Idukki and Pathanamthitta districts, from where the rivers emptying into Kuttanad originate, spoke of a decrease in the intensity of rainfall on Monday. The shutters of a couple of smaller reservoirs in Idukki district that were opened on Sunday following heavy rains were once again closed on Monday.

In the northern districts, where several centres came under very heavy rainfall on Sunday, there was a relative respite in the downpour on Monday, allowing the flood waters time to drain out of low-lying areas.

During the 24 hours ending at 8.30 a.m. on Monday, very heavy rainfall was recorded in Thaliparamba and Vadakara (15 cm each), Vythiri (12 cm), Thrithala (10 cm) and Kannur, Perinthalmanna, Pattambi and Peerumede (10 cm each).
India Meteorological Department (IMD), in its outlook for the next two days, has warned about the possibility of heavy to very heavy rainfall in isolated places in the State.

Four persons lost their lives in rain-related mishaps in the State during the 24 hours ending at 12.30 on Moinday, according to the calamity monitoring cell of the State government. Two of these deaths were in Pathanamthitta district and one death each was in Alappuzha and Ernakulam districts.

The government released Rs.19.10 crore to the rain-affected districts for relief operations, Revenue Minister K.P. Rajendran said on Monday. The district collectors have been directed to release an assistance of Rs.1 lakh to the relatives of each of those who had died in monsoon-related incidents.

*****

Monsoon strengthens over Kerala

2010-06-13T21:37:00.000-07:00

http://www.hindu.com/2010/06/14/stories/2010061457830400.htm
My monsoon story in The Hindu on June 14:

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The weather models of the India Meteorology Department (IMD), based on Sunday's atmospheric conditions, forecast continued heavy rainfall for Kerala during the next three days.

Heavy rainfall is likely in isolated places, especially in north Kerala. The winds from the Arabian Sea have been blowing at velocities touching 45 to 55 km across the breadth of the State during the last couple of days and substantial rainfall could therefore occur in the high ranges of the State also.

There have already been a couple of cases of landslides during the current surge of the monsoon. Landslide-prone areas in Kottayam, Idukki, Kozhikode and Wayanad districts may require attention during the remaining phase of the ongoing surge.

The IMD's models on Sunday dropped the expectation of the formation of a depression in the Arabian Sea off the Karnataka coast by Saturday/Sunday. But the low pressure system in position over west central Bay of Bengal for the last three days was still persisting on Sunday, siphoning the southwest monsoon flow across the peninsula. An offshore trough is also in position along the west coast causing the rain clouds to churn and precipitate.

The IMD's models indicate the possibility of the monsoon flow intensifying during the next 2-3 days. Very heavy rainfall was recorded during the 24 hours ending 8.30 a.m. on Sunday in Kozhikode and Perinthalmanna (18 cm each), Kozhikode airport and Mannarkkad (17 cm each), Manjeri (11 cm) and Koyilandy, Thrissur, Vellanikkara and Peerumedu (10 cm each). Rainfall was evenly spread out across the length and breadth of the State, although the heavier of the downpours were mostly in north Kerala.

The Chennai Regional Meteorological Centre in its bulletin for the day said the winds could touch speeds ranging between 50 km and 60 km an hour along and off the coast of Kerala during the next two days. Fishermen have been warned.

A fisherman, Sunil Babu, drowned in the seas off the Kozhikode coast on Sunday when high waves shattered his boat.

Landslips in the hills near Thodupuzha in Idukki district destroyed crops on nearly 50 hectares, besides damaging a few houses. High waves are eroding stretches of the coast in Thiruvananthapuram, Alappuzha, Kollam and Thrissur districts.

The rivers Pampa, Achencoil, Manimala and Meenachal flowing into the paddy belt of Kuttanad are beginning to rise threateningly.

*****

Heavy rainfall likely for three days

2010-06-11T18:36:00.000-07:00

http://www.hindu.com/2010/06/12/stories/2010061257440400.htm

My monsoon story in The Hindu on June 12:

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The southwest monsoon entered a dynamic phase over Kerala on Friday with the flow of winds from the Arabian Sea strengthening in speed and taking a direction from the west to drive the rain clouds far inland.

The State received widespread rainfall for the third day in succession, heavy in many places. The heaviest recorded during the 24 hours ending 8.30 a.m. on Friday was 7 cm at Koyilandy. Places such as Kudalur, Kannur, Kozhikode, Kochi airport, Piravam, Mancompu and Kumarakam received 5 cm of rainfall each. The catchments of the reservoirs in the high range areas of Idukki district received rainfall of varying intensity.

The numerical weather prediction models of India Meteorological Department (IMD) suggest the rains further intensifying to reach the peak of the ongoing surge by Monday.

The winds even inshore could touch a speed of 45-55 km an hour on occasions during the three days till Monday.

A low pressure system was in position over west central Bay of Bengal on Friday drawing the monsoon flow from the Arabian Sea across the peninsula.

The IMD's models show the likelihood of this ‘low' rolling swiftly across the peninsula to merge with an offshore trough on the west coast by Saturday to become a stronger system.

The models predict the system growing in strength to a depression and moving towards north parallel to the west coast to make its landfall across the Gujarat coast by June 17. Kerala will be within the active range of the system till Monday/Tuesday as it moves north spreading rainfall along the entire west coast.

*****

Prospects bright for a rainy week

2010-06-09T10:14:00.000-07:00

http://www.hindu.com/2010/06/09/stories/2010060952280400.htm

My monsoon story in The Hindu on June 10:

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The cross equatorial southwest monsoon flow into the Indian subcontinent is strengthening, promising a good spell of rain that could last for at least a week for Kerala, judging from the weather prediction models of the India Meteorological Department (IMD), based on Tuesday's atmospheric conditions.

The models indicate the possibility of a low pressure system developing over the Arabian Sea centred at a point some 400 km off the Karnataka coast by June 13.

The system shows the potential to strengthen into a depression and even a deep depression.

It may move parallel to the west coast northwards pulling the monsoon currents into Konkan and Goa and even Mumbai in Maharashtra by the beginning of next week, exposing the regions to the south, including Kerala, to unhindered flow of the monsoon currents.

The winds are also seen to pick up in speed during the course of the week, propelled by the evolving system in the Arabian Sea. This means substantial rain in the midlands and high ranges of the State.

Rainfall occurred at most places in the State during the 24 hours ending at 8.30 a.m. on Tuesday. Kottayam and Aryankavu received 5 cm of rainfall each and Piravam and Vaikom 4 cm each. Rainfall was more or less evenly distributed over the entire length and breadth of the State, except in Palakkad district, where some places received only drizzles.

The IMD sees the possibility of heavy rainfall in isolated places in the State during the next three days.

*****

Monsoon revival likely in 5-6 days

2010-06-03T18:12:00.000-07:00

http://www.hindu.com/2010/06/04/stories/2010060453420400.htm

My monsoon story in The Hindu on June 4:

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The monsoon flow over Kerala has gone haywire under the distracting influence of the “very severe cyclonic storm Phet,” now hovering over the Oman coast, but the flow is set to fall into its pattern in another five or six days, according to the numerical weather prediction models of India Meteorological Department (IMD).

Almost from the very day the IMD announced the onset of the monsoon over Kerala on May 31, the weather system that quickly developed into a cyclonic storm, from its tentative beginning as an upper level circulation over the southeast Arabian Sea, had started siphoning off to its centre all the moisture feed from the sea robbing the State of the kind of rainfall usual at monsoon onset.

From the southeast Arabian Sea, the system kept moving northwest and, on Thursday, was set to cross the Oman coast in a day's time. It is then traced to move in a northeast direction to cross the Pakistan coast and the adjoining coast of Gujarat by Sunday, the IMD's cyclone tracking and forecast bulletin said.

On entering the land, the system is forecast to quickly spend itself out spreading rainfall in Gujarat, Rajasthan and even parts of Uttar Pradesh, according to the IMD's weather prediction models.

By the beginning of next week (Monday/ Tuesday), the ripples set off by ‘Phet' in the atmosphere over the Arabian Sea are seen to begin the process of settling down, leaving Kerala and the southern peninsula open to the free play of the monsoon currents blowing in from southwest.

*****

Low pressure system forming over Arabian Sea

2010-05-30T17:10:00.000-07:00

http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/31/stories/2010053157240400.htm

My monsoon-watch story in The Hindu on May 31:

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The upper air cyclonic circulation over southeast Arabian Sea noticed a couple of days ago by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) was found gathering in strength on Sunday.

In its bulletin for the day, the IMD said this evolving system would turn into a low pressure area during the next two days. It would by then move slightly in the northwest direction to be located over southeast and east central Arabian Sea.

The weather models of the IMD trace the system gaining further in strength (to become a depression and a deep depression) over the next seven days to make a landfall along the Gujarat coast. The models also show the system dragging rainfall activity along the entire western coast during this period. But a bulk of the precipitation under the influence of this system is seen to occur in the sea.

The outlook for the period up to June 4 favours widespread rain/thundershowers in Kerala, Lakshadweep Islands and coastal and south interior Karnataka. Rainfall occurred at many places in Kerala during the 24 hours ending 8.30 a.m., with Kanjirappally receiving a downpour of 7 cm. Kochi airport received 6 cm of rainfall and Kottayam, Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram 5 cm each.

*****

Increase in rainfall forecast

2010-05-28T18:36:00.000-07:00

http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/29/stories/2010052960370400.htm

My monsoon-watch story in The Hindu on May 29:

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Friday saw the beginnings of a cyclonic circulation in the upper levels of the atmosphere over the southeast Arabian Sea holding promise of an increase in the intensity of rainfall in the coastal areas of Kerala.

The experimental Global Forecasting System products of the IMD show the winds perambulating over the region turning anticlockwise the monsoon flow from the southwest Indian Ocean into the southern part of the peninsula over the next two days from its present orientation from west to east very close to the southern tip of the State.

The model also indicates a progressive strengthening of the winds over the next two-three days, which would mean the high range areas of the State getting their first substantial rain of the unfolding season by the beginning of next week as the winds blow the rainclouds deep inland.

The IMD in its bulletin for the day announced its expectation of the monsoon onset over Kerala on May 31. Models indicate the development of organised convection over the south Arabian Sea from May 30 and the convection growing into a monsoon onset vortex close to the State's coast.

Although the vortex subsequently is traced to spin away from the coast in a north-northwest direction, it is expected to strengthen the southwesterly monsoon flow into the State's coast.

Nedumangad received heavy rainfall of 9 cm during the 24 hours ending 8.30 a.m. on Friday. Mancompu received 6 cm of rainfall, Koyilandy 3 cm and Alappuzha and Kanjarappally 2 cm each.

The catchments of Idukki hydroelectric project received moderate widespread rainfall, with Peerumedu getting 2 cm and Idukki town 1 cm. Aryankavu deep inland also received 1 cm of rainfall.

*****

Monsoon onset likely in 3-4 days, says IMD

2010-05-27T21:43:00.000-07:00

My monsoon-watch story filed on May 27. It was not published on May 28 since our New Delhi bureau had also filed a report based on IMD sources:

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Thursday announced the likelihood of the southwest monsoon setting in over Kerala any time during the next three-four days.
In its bulletin for the day, the IMD said conditions were becoming favourable for the monsoon onset. The outlook for the period up to June 1 favours a steady increase in rainfall activity over Lakshadweep, Kerala and south Karnataka.
The IMD’s atmospheric pressure charts show a trough (channel of drop in atmospheric pressure) looping from the near offshore areas of the State into the inlands, suggesting ideal conditions for the precipitation of water vapour. The winds from the Indian Ocean too have assumed westerly direction almost up to the very southern tip of the peninsula.
Along the length of the State’s coastline, the winds are beginning to churn. Numerical weather prediction models indicate the possibility of an upper air cyclonic circulation forming over the southeast Arabian Sea close to the State’s shore within the next two-three days.
This could spin the monsoon flow anticlockwise on course into the peninsula from its present west-to-east direction past the Comerin area, besides causing heavy rainfall within the range of its perambulating movement.
Rainfall occurred at many places along the coast of the State on Thursday. During the 24 hours ending at 8.30 a.m., Thalassery and Kottayam received 4 cm of rainfall each, Kannur and Vadakara 3 cm each and Thiruvananthapuram airport 2 cm of rainfall. Midland places such as Piravam, Mavelikara, Konni and Nedumangad also received 1 cm of rainfall each. Deeper inland, Aryankavu received 1 cm rainfall.

*****

Monsoon keeps Kerala waiting

2010-05-26T17:49:00.000-07:00

http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/27/stories/2010052759390400.htm

My monsoon-watch story in The Hindu on May 27:

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The sun moved in and out of rainclouds over Kerala on a day of rain and sunshine on Wednesday.

Aluva received a heavy downpour of 14 cm during the 24 hours ending at 8.30 a.m. on Wednesday. Kanjirappally (8 cm), Kochi airport and Kottayam (7 cm each) also received heavy rainfall. Several other centres spread across the length of the State received rainfall measuring between 4 cm and 1 cm on the gauge.

The rains have not penetrated beyond the midlands so far this week. There have been a few good spells of rainfall during the course of the week along the plains stretching towards the Palakkad gap and also very isolated downpours in the highlands of Idukki.

The month of May so far has been 10 per cent deficient in rainfall in the catchments of Kerala State Electricity Board's hydroelectric projects.

The winds from the seas are yet to attain sufficient power to drive the rainclouds up the mountain areas of the Western Ghats.

Wind direction

The wind direction too is yet to fall into the monsoon pattern, with a northwesterly flow pressing into the seasonal southwesterly winds. An eddying of currents is taking place around the meeting place of the two flows off the Kerala coast causing widespread rainfall in the coastal and midland areas of the State.

India Meteorological Department (IMD) in its bulletin on Wednesday predicted an increase in rainfall activity in Kerala and coastal Karnataka in the latter half of this week, suggesting its expectation of the monsoon breaking out over the subcontinent by then.

*****

Low pressure may lead to more rainfall

2010-05-25T19:06:00.000-07:00

http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/26/stories/2010052659740600.htm

My monsoon-watch story in The Hindu on May 26:

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chennai Regional Meteorological Centre's weather models on Tuesday showed a low pressure system persisting off the Kerala coast over the Lakshadweep Islands, causing an eddying of the water vapour currents at different levels of the atmosphere leading to precipitation.

This churning brought widespread rainfall in Kerala during the day. The system is seen to remain over the area for the next three days covered by the models and, therefore, the prospects are for more rainfall, heavy in some places, into the latter half of this week.

Satellite pictures at different hours during the course of the day showed rainclouds flowing from the westerly direction into the State's coastline, which is as it should be under ideal monsoon conditions (unless the direction is from the south-westerly direction).

During the 24 hours ending at 8.30 a.m. on Tuesday, Thiruvalla received 8 cm of rainfall, Varkala 6 cm and Irinjalakkuda, Cherthala, Chengannur, Vaikom, Aryankavu and Punalur 4 cm of rainfall each. More than a dozen other centres received between 3cm and 1 cm of rainfall on the gauge.

*****

Conditions favourable for the onset of monsoon

2010-05-24T20:19:00.000-07:00

http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/25/stories/2010052556570400.htm

Text of my monsoon-watch story published in The Hindu on May 25:

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Monsoon-like weather prevailed over Thiruvananthapuram, the gateway of the southwest monsoon into the Indian subcontinent, on Monday, with the city and its neighbouring areas receiving a steady drizzle punctuated by pattering bouts of rainfall since noon.

The whole of the State too received rainfall during the day, heavy in some places. A low pressure system was in position over the Lakshadweep Islands drawing rain clouds to the region.

The winds have still not started flowing from the west or southwest into the State's coast for the initial establishment of the monsoon current over the subcontinent. The northern limit of this streamlined seasonal flow from the Indian Ocean had been passing through a point around 500 km south of the southern end of the State since Friday.

With Kerala receiving widespread rainfall over the last couple of days and conditions favouring the same weather to continue into the week, scientists at the India Meteorology Department (IMD) were meeting in New Delhi on Monday to review their earlier forecast of the likely date of monsoon onset over Kerala. They had earlier forecast the onset to take place on May 30, with a margin of variation of four days either way.

The onset conditions can now be ignited by two weather systems now active over the seas off the subcontinent. The first is the mild low pressure system that has fallen into place over the Lakshadweep Islands, which is the cause for the present widespread rainfall.

The second is another low pressure system, the remnant of the erstwhile severe cyclonic storm Laila, which was hovering over northwest and adjoining west central Bay of Bengal far away from Kerala on Monday. Taliparamba, Kozhikode, Piravam, Mavelikara, Mancompu, Chengannur, Kumarakom, Kollam and Thiruvanthapuram airport received 3 cm of rainfall each during the 24 hours ending 8.30 a.m. on Monday. The State is likely to receive isolated heavy rainfall during the next two days, director of Thiruvananthapuram Meteorology Centre K. Santhosh said.

*****

Cloudy, rainy days ahead

2010-05-22T20:06:00.000-07:00

http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/23/stories/2010052354820500.htm

My monsoon-watch item in The Hindu on May 23:

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Shifting clouds enveloped Kerala on Saturday, with rainfall occurring scattered with different intensity, as the southwest monsoon continued to stay around 500 km south of its southern end.

The erstwhile intense cyclonic storm Laila on Saturday lay docile as a low pressure area over north coastal Andhra Pradesh, releasing far-flung Kerala from its spell.

A high pressure system in the middle of the Arabian Sea was pushing the southwesterlies flowing from the Madagascar region in the Indian Ocean outward, forcing them to swerve round the tip of the peninsula into the Bay of Bengal.

Weather models of the Chennai regional meteorology centre on Saturday showed the possibility of widespread rainfall with heavy rainfall in some locations in north and central Kerala on Sunday. They showed the trend spreading by degrees to south Kerala over the next three days.

The highest rainfall recorded during the 24 hours ending 8.30 a.m. on Saturday was 2 cm at Punalur, Thiruvananthapuram airport and Varkala.

*****

Monsoon advances further

2010-05-21T20:03:00.000-07:00

http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/22/stories/2010052254160400.htm

The following is the text of my monsoon-watch story in The Hindu on May 22:

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The southwest monsoon is virtually at Kerala's doorstep, with the development of a convective system over the southeast Arabian Sea and nearby Comorin area on Friday.

The India Meteorology Department (IMD), in its bulletin for the day, announced the further advancement of the monsoon from the southern tip of Sri Lanka to the Comorin area. The northern limit of the monsoon, arcing from southwest to northeast below the peninsula, was on Friday lying about 500 km to the south of Thiruvananthapuram.

The State continued to receive good rainfall on Friday under the distant spell of the cyclonic storm ‘Laila' over the Bay of Bengal flank of the subcontinent. This system has weakened by degrees from the status of a ‘severe cyclonic storm' to a ‘cyclone' and then to a ‘deep depression' and to ‘depression' over the 24-hour period from Thursday noon. The depression lay centred at a point some 100 km inside the Andhra Pradesh coastline around noon on Friday.

According to IMD's numerical weather prediction models, there is the possibility of the weakened ‘Laila' emerging once again into the seas somewhere off the Orissa coast.

In that case, the system could regain its intensity. Its location in the Bay of Bengal at the time of its possible emergence into the seas could hamper the early progress of the monsoon into Kerala.

*****

Drenching bouts of rainfall in State

2010-05-20T20:31:00.000-07:00

http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/21/stories/2010052162030400.htm

(My monsoon-watch story in The Hindu on May 21)

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The whole of Kerala snuggled under a blanket of swirling rainclouds on Thursday to enjoy drenching bouts of rainfall.

The severe cyclonic storm Laila battering Andhra Pradesh and northern Tamil Nadu was spinning centred at a point close to the coast of Andhra Pradesh at 2.30 p.m., according to an India Meteorological Department (IMD's) bulletin for the day. It was slated to cross the Andhra Pradesh coast and turn right into Orissa and weaken.

Animated charts of the IMD tracing its movement showed the system drawing the winds from southwest Indian Ocean into a streamline across south Kerala towards northeast by Sunday, an ideal situation for the monsoon conditions to set in over the State. The northern limit of the monsoon on Thursday was still more than 1,000 km to the south of the southern tip of the State. Its progress into Kerala earlier than the usual June 1 call date now hinges on the dynamics of Laila up the country's east coast.

Heavy rainfall

Alappuzha and nearby Cherthala received a heavy rainfall of 8 cm during the 24 hours ending at 8.30 a.m. on Thursday. Kozha in Kottayam district received 7 cm of rainfall. Several other stations measured rainfall ranging between 6 cm and 1 cm on the gauge. ‘Most places' is the term used by the IMD, which means hardly any station had gone without measurable rainfall during the day.

The prospects are for continued rainfall during the next two days.

*****

‘Laila' to bring in more rain

2010-05-19T20:33:00.000-07:00

http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/20/stories/2010052061320400.htm

The following is the text of my 'monsoon watch' story in The Hindu on May 20:

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The cyclonic storm ‘Laila' in the Bay of Bengal gained in strength overnight and spun closer to the eastern coast of the country to lie centred around a point some 150 km northeast of Chennai on Wednesday afternoon, sucking into its vortex the rainclouds of the entire seas around.

Satellite picture on Wednesday showed the outer bands of the cyclone circling from north to south tangential to the Kerala coast and not the ideal southwesterly or westerly direction that could send the clouds thudding into the Western Ghats to bring heavy rainfall in the State.

The pressure charts of the India Meteorology Department on Wednesday, however, showed an atmospheric trough looping from the near offshore regions into the hinterlands of the State and this is as ideal condition for precipitation.

Wednesday's record

The heaviest recorded rainfall in the State during the 24 hours ending at 8.30 a.m. on Wednesday was 5 cm at Kunnamkulam in Thrissur district. Many other stations recorded rainfall ranging from 1 cm to 3 cm on the gauge. The prospects are for continued rainfall, because the cyclone is traced to roll up the ridge of the eastern flank of the peninsula drawing moisture from southeast Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean and the entire Bay of Bengal.

The flow from southeast Arabian Sea could take a direction across the breadth of the State to bring Kerala under more rainfall over the next two days.

*****

Bay cyclone impacts weather in Kerala

2010-05-18T21:19:00.001-07:00

http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/19/stories/2010051954790400.htm

The following is the text of my monsoon-watch story in The Hindu on May 19:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Depression over the bay takes the form of a full-fledged cyclonic storm, named ‘Laila.'

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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A full-fledged cyclonic storm, ‘Laila,' was spinning over southeast and the adjoining southwest Bay of Bengal on Tuesday, impacting the weather over Kerala.

Monday's depression over the bay had graduated into the cyclonic storm and had been moving towards the east coast of the peninsula. Around noon on Tuesday it lay centred over a point nearly 570 km east-southeast of Chennai.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Tuesday said the system was likely to intensify further and move in a west-northwest direction for some more time and then move in a northwest to north direction during the next 72 hours towards the Andhra Pradesh coast.

Satellite pictures showed rainclouds spinning towards the storm from the seas all around, even from southeast Arabian Sea. Within the far outer rings of the influence of the cyclone, a trough was in position off the north Kerala coast precipitating widespread rainfall in the area.

Pattambi in Palakkad district received a heavy downpour of 7 cm during the 24 hours ending at 8.30 a.m. on Tuesday.

More than a dozen other rain measuring centres of the IMD in the State measured rainfall ranging between 4 cm and 1 cm.

Director of the Meteorology Centre in Thiruvananthapuram K. Santhosh said the prospects were for continued widespread rainfall in the State for the next two or three days.

*****

Monsoon round the corner

2010-05-17T19:47:00.000-07:00

http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/18/stories/2010051853490400.htm

Text of my monsoon-watch story in The Hindu on May 18:

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The upper level cyclonic circulation that hovered over southeast Bay of Bengal on Sunday morning intensified into a low pressure system by the same day evening and thence by degrees strengthened into a depression by Monday noon, causing heavy rainfall in the territory.

The system also floated closer to the country's east coast, moving in a northwest direction during the one-day period and lay centred on noon on Monday about 930 km east-south-east of Chennai, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) says in its bulletin.

It is likely to intensify further into a cyclonic storm and move initially to northwest and hit the Andhra Pradesh coast in a couple of days.

The significance of the system for Kerala is this: It can orient the direction of the flow of winds from the Arabian Sea across the length of the State, speeding up the onset of the monsoon over the State.

The system promises to lend a measure of dynamism to the start of the season in Kerala and the country as a whole, but much will depend on how it behaves during the next three or four days.

In the Andamans

The IMD on Monday announced the start of the monsoon over parts of south Bay of Bengal, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and most parts of the Andaman Sea.

The monsoon usually sweeps into the Indian region in an anti-clockwise and northward direction from the south, its first outpost being the Andaman Islands.

*****

Early onset of monsoon likely

2010-05-16T20:49:00.000-07:00

http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/17/stories/2010051755020400.htm

This is the text of my report on the monsoon in The Hindu on May 17:

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The southwest monsoon is likely to break over Kerala, the gateway of the onrush of seasonal rainclouds over the Indian subcontinent, in the next few days.

The numerical weather prediction charts of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) have begun to show cross equatorial wind flow at lower levels beginning over the Indian Ocean towards the subcontinent from the southern hemisphere, a condition that sets the monsoon engine chugging.

Two weather systems too were in position on Sunday — a low pressure area over southwest Arabian Sea and an upper air cyclonic circulation over southeast Bay of Bengal. Satellite picture showed rainclouds climbing up on both sides of the subcontinent.

But the ideal southwest orientation of the winds to drive the clouds across the west coast was yet to fall into place.

The IMD on Sunday said conditions were favourable for the onset of the monsoon over south Andaman Sea, Nicobar Islands and southeast Bay of Bengal during the next two days.

Usually it takes a week after the setting in of the monsoon over the Andaman Sea for the rain to rush into the Indian mainland through Kerala. The gap could be shorter this time, judging from the numerical weather prediction charts of the IMD that simulate the possible evolution of the atmosphere conditions for seven days to come.

The wind speeds off the Kerala coast are seen to pick up and the low pressure system in the Bay is traced to move closer to the eastern coast of the subcontinent orienting the flow of the winds from the Arabian Sea in a more ideal direction than now across the Kerala coast, bringing the State under the first onslaught of monsoon rain by next Saturday or Sunday, more than a week ahead of the usual schedule.

*****

The Smile that Wins

2010-04-27T19:05:00.000-07:00

There is an excellent short story by P.G. Wodehouse titled "The Smile that Wins" on the physiology of the smile. The day after the polling in the 2001 Assembly elections in Kerala, I had written a report in The Hindu inspired by the Wodehouse story. I searched it out when reminded of it during a conversation with a friend yesterday. This is the link:
http://www.hinduonnet.com/2001/05/13/stories/1513211o.htm
*******
And this is the text:

Smiling their way to victory
By P. Venugopal

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, MAY 12. In a keenly contested election, what a candidate fears most in his or her opponent is the ability to sport a superior smile.

Strategies can always be countered with counter-strategies, manipulations with counter-manipulations. The candidate can confidently leave this aspect of the electoral contest to the wily campaign managers.

However, when it comes to the smile, outside agencies cannot be of much assistance. The candidates have to handle it themselves, each according to his or her skill and upbringing. The catch here is that some people are natural `smilers', while some others just do not look their best with a smile on.

Now that the polling process is over, there is no harm in narrating the predicament of the LDF candidate in Alappuzha constituency, Mr. A. M. Abdul Rahim, while attempting to compete with his UDF rival, Mr. K. C. Venugopal, in the matter of wooing the voters with a smiling face.

The first batch of election posters of the LDF had Mr. Rahim looking down from the walls with a wistful expression on his face. A keen observer could have even noticed the traces of a smile on his lips.

In the LDF circles, however, there was a widespread feeling that this was was not enough. The feedback was that it was far short of what the situation demanded, because, the rival candidate, Mr. Venugopal, was virtually beaming like a rainbow from his posters.

To prevent Mr. Venugopal carrying this edge to the polling booth, Mr. Rahim had a second batch of posters printed midway into the campaign. These posters bring out his supreme effort before the camera. The smile he could extract out his unyielding facial muscles was, at best, the grimace of a dyspeptic wincing from a sudden pang in the stomach.

According to the story doing the rounds in Alappuzha, Mr. Venugopal was so ecstatic about these posters that he even offered to foot the entire printing cost.

Mrs. Mercy Ravi, the UDF candidate in Kottayam, also came across a similar predicament during the campaign. In her case, the problem did not pertain to her ability to smile. But her smile, in the first batch of UDF posters, had a supercilious sniffing expression about it.

Her husband, Mr. Vayalar Ravi, who had been managing her campaign, was quick to notice the danger and had a second batch of posters printed. In these posters, she comes out with her lips parted slightly, the expression being that of a woman who is not only supercilious, but also amused at what is happening around her.

Some politicians like Mr. K. Karunakaran and Mr. Vakkom Purushothaman are virtually born with radiant smiles on their faces. The famous picture of Mr. Vakkom, smiling from ear to ear while immersing an urn containing the ashes of the late V. K. Krishna Menon in the tri-sea at Kanyakumari several years ago, must be still fresh in the memory of all newspaper readers in the State.

In political circles, Mr. Vakkom's smile, by itself, is considered worth at least 5,000 votes in any election. It must have been the cause of many a nightmare for the LDF candidate, Mr. Kadakampally Surendran, who took on Mr. Vakkom in Kazhakkuttom constituency this time.

Mr. A. K. Antony's smile is a twitch at the left corner of the mouth and it makes him appear as though he is flinching at some damaging remark about him by Mr. Karunakaran. The Speaker, Mr. M. Vijayakumar, reminds you of the Cheshire Cat in Alice's Wonderland. His smile lingers in the air long after he had flashed it at a campaign meeting and vanished.

Mr. V. S. Achuthanandan prefers to retain the unsmiling expressing of a true revolutionary, but in exceptional cases he is willing to concede a smile, though grudgingly.

The man you can never trick into a smile is the CMP leader, Mr. M. V. Raghavan. Even in his election posters, he carries the expression of a television news reader announcing the latest toll of a hooch tragedy.

*****

Clouds over Indian Ocean hold promise of rain

2010-03-15T23:18:00.001-07:00

This is the link to my story with my colleague Basheer in The Hindu on 16.3.2010:
http://www.hindu.com/2010/03/16/stories/2010031662860500.htm

The text is as follows:

(Picture caption: Topsy-turvy:Children of a seaside hamlet in the State show how to beat the heat. Temperatures have been hovering close to record levels for the past couple of weeks.)

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Indications are in favour of a couple of evening showers in many parts of Kerala towards the second half of this week, provided the volatile interplay of all known and unknown factors that govern the weather systems behave to expectations.

Responding to a question whether there would be any rain soon over the State, P.V. Joseph, former Director of India Meteorological Department (IMD), said on Monday that a long band of clouds had formed stretching over a length of nearly 1,000 kilometres over the Indian Ocean, some 500 km to the south of the Indian Peninsula.

The normal tendency of this cloud band would be to move north. It might come gliding slowly, bringing a couple of showers over Kerala in another two or three days. Do not expect them to be anything more than light evening showers; yet these showers could bring down the temperatures over the State for a while. The summer would stretch ahead, he told The Hindu.

Speaking of the unusually hot weather at the beginning of this summer, Dr. Joseph, an internationally reputable climate expert, said one need not search for its reasons beyond the simple reality of global warming. The summer of 2009 had been the hottest of last 100 years in the country. The months of January and February this year brought hardly any rain over Kerala. In March, the State usually got a couple of widespread showers. That too was confined to a few pockets in the State this time.

K. Santhosh, Director of the Thiruvananthapuram meteorology centre, said the wind-flow pattern over the peninsula so far this month had not been the usual one for this time of the season. Usually, moist north-westerly winds from the direction of the Arabian Sea would meet with southerly or south-easterly winds from the Indian Ocean around this time of the year, forming a trough extending from interior Karnataka to the tip of the peninsula. This would cause clouding and a few thundershowers, keeping a bridle on the temperatures.

This time, there had been stronger northerly/north-easterly dry winds pressing down the warm land mass along the eastern flank of the peninsula, overpowering the flow of the south-easterly winds from the Indian Ocean and thus preventing the latter's interaction with the north-westerly winds for the formation of the usual north-south trough along the peninsula.

The dry northerly/north-easterly winds dominating the overall wind systems over the peninsula was one reason for the higher than usual temperatures in Kerala so far in March this time.

Temperatures so far this month have not crossed the “highest-ever recorded” (as was being reported in some sections of the media) in any place in the State, according to data maintained at the meteorology centre here.

The highest recorded so far this month was 39.4 degrees Celsius in Punalur on March 3. The highest-ever recorded for the centre was 40.6 degrees Celsius on March 29, 1992 and March 31, 1983.

However, the first 15 days of March in Kerala had been, on the whole, hotter than March of 2009.

In 10 of the 11 main temperature recording stations of the IMD, maximum daytime temperatures this March have exceeded last year's by between 0.1 degrees Celsius and 1.8 degrees Celsius.

In Palakkad, where the Revenue Department recorded a maximum temperature of 42 degrees Celsius on a certain day this month, the IMD's temperature recording facility is temporarily non-functional.

*****

On the prowl

2010-03-13T03:20:00.001-08:00

This is the second of the two stories I had written last year about the unusually aggressive behaviour of a tusker in Periyar Tiger Reserve. I searched out this story hearing today the killer tusker could be back. This story appeared in the Sunday Magazine of The Hindu. This is the link:
http://www.thehindu.com/mag/2009/05/10/stories/2009051050130400.htm
And, the following is the text:
*****
Indiscriminate poaching, leading to a drastic reduction of tuskers, may be responsible for a young tusker turning a killer in the Periyar Tiger Reserve.

Photo: Special Arrangement

Unusual aggression: The suspected “killer” tusker (close to the lake), watched by a fidgety herd of cow elephants.
*****

Kannan, a forest watcher in Periyar Tiger Reserve in Kerala, who intimately knows the ways of the wild, says there is something unusual about this tusker. “I saw this young tusker violently bullying a cow elephant in the forests last year. The cow wanted to back off, but the tusker would not let go and the fight went on for a long time down a valley before subsiding,” he says. The next day they found the cow elephant dead some distance away from the scene of the fight.

Off and on during the last couple of years, especially in the months of February, March and April, there have been elephant killings in Periyar. The reserve authorities found the situation assuming a serious dimension when seven elephants were found dead one after another in a particular area within a short span of six weeks from February 26 to April 5 this year. In all the cases where post-mortem examinations could be done in time, no pathogens and no signs such as tusk removal to indicate the role of poachers were found. The deaths were attributed to “injuries sustained in fights with a tusker and subsequent infections.”

Unusually aggressive

And the tusker the forest watcher had seen fighting was seen roaming in the territory with signs of musth, a periodical condition in the elephant when testosterone levels shoot up, raising the animal’s libido and making it aggressive.

An expert team that studied the circumstances of the killings concluded that this tusker in musth, the only one to be seen in the area during the period of the killings, must be the killer. Trackers are behind it watching its behaviour.

“Elephant fights in the wild are not uncommon and some fights lead to deaths. Bulls fight for dominance in a herd. But so many deaths happening in the same locality, apparently in fights with one particular tusker, is uncommon and needs to be looked into,” says Dr. P.S. Easa, a member of the IUCN’s Asian Elephant Specialist Group.

Five of the seven recent killings in the PTR were of cow elephants. One was a sub-adult female and the other a sub-adult male. Dr. Jacob V. Cheeran, veterinary and wildlife expert, who was in the expert team constituted by the State Wildlife Department to study the development, notes that the cows were gored by the tusker from the side, while the sub-adult male victim was gored head-on. “Apparently, this tusker tends to go beyond the normal aggressive behaviour of a musth elephant while accosting cow elephants for courtship,” he says.

Possible reason

Dr. Raman Sukumar, elephant expert and professor of Ecology at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, postulates that the apparent unusual behaviour of the tusker could be due the absence of senior tuskers in the herd.

Poaching was a serious problem in the area in the 1970s, according to him. All big tuskers of the area vanished during that period and the bulls that remained were mostly makhanas, which have no tusks. Some of the male calves of a new generation are just beginning to mature into full grown tuskers. Normally, at this stage, such bulls misbehaving in a herd would be shown their place by a senior bull. “The problem now in Periyar could be due to the lack of this disciplining influence, the proper hierarchy,” he says.

Similar phenomenon

Such aggressive behaviour had been reported among African elephants in Pilanesberg National Park in South Africa. There the young elephants had gone after rhinos on a killing spree in the 1990s after their parents were culled from the herds to control the population. The killings stopped when six big tuskers were introduced to the park, virtually as enforcers of law and order.

“We are putting the animal under surveillance. Let us be sure first before deciding on the best way to handle the situation,” says Kerala’s Chief Wildlife Warden K.P. Ouseph.

According to Dr. Sukumar, the development need not be taken as a threat to the elephant population in the area. The 925-km tiger reserve is also a Project Elephant area with a roaming elephant population of over 1,000, as per the last wildlife census.

*****

Tusker in musth may be the killer

2010-03-13T03:03:00.000-08:00

I searched out this story I had filed last year on hearing today that the killer tusker may be back in Periyar Tiger Reserve once again. Forest officials found the carcass of a cow elephant in the lake there today, with indications of the death being the result of an attack of a tusker. Does it mean the killing spree, which we heard about last year, is not over? I propose to follow up.
This is the link to the first of two of my earlier stories:
http://www.hindu.com/2009/04/13/stories/2009041359510500.htm

And, this is the text of the story:
************************************************

Photo by special arrangement:
Rescue bid: Forest guards tend to a wild elephant incapacitated by injuries sustained in the “attack of a tusker in musth” in the Periyar Tiger Reserve. This elephant, which died on April 5 a couple of days after being spotted in very bad condition by the Periyar lakeside, was the seventh victim of the yet-to-be identified “killer tusker.”

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: An inter-disciplinary expert team that studied the circumstances leading to the death of seven elephants in the Periyar Tiger Reserve (PTR) in Kerala over the last six weeks has concluded that the killings could be the work of a wild tusker in musth.

When in musth, elephants become aggressive and sexually active. This is a periodic condition in male bull elephants (though rare instances of cow elephants coming into musth too have been reported in a few recent studies).

Elephants in musth secrete a thick tar-like fluid from their temporal ducts on either side of the head. Such a full-grown tusker has been spotted in the area from where the killings were reported, but no injuries sustained in fights with other elephants were visible on it.

“Our first challenge is to correctly identify the killer. We can decide on the best course of action only after monitoring the animal’s behaviour and evaluating various options… And the musth condition will pass after running its course,” said PTR Field Director O.P. Kaler.

The team comprising wildlife experts, elephant specialists, veterinarians, pathologists and top conservation officials visited the locations from where the carcasses of the wild elephants were found. The team obtained sufficient evidence to conclude that the deaths were “due to traumatic injuries caused by the attacks of a tusker and subsequent infections,” said forest veterinary officer E.K. Easwaran.

The dead elephants had sustained fatal injuries such as deep wounds (15 to 25 cm deep) in the neck and skull and other parts of the body. No pathogen could be detected in the carcasses subjected to post-mortem examination.

“Similar incidents have been reported from other parts of the world too, both among African elephants and Asian elephants. But a majority of them involved fights between tuskers for dominance as they moved after herds to seek out receptive cow elephants,” said P.S. Easa, a member of the IUCN’s Asian Elephant Specialist Group, who was in the expert team constituted by the State Wildlife Department to study the development.

In the PTR, however, five of the killed were adult cow elephants. One was a sub-adult female and the remaining one a sub-adult male. “For so many cow elephants to die in fights (apparently with a rogue wild tusker) within a short period of six weeks is somewhat unusual,” Dr. Easa said.

Eleven tusker deaths were reported in fights among elephants in the Corbett National Park in 2008. There had also been six cow elephant killings in various wildlife tracts of Tamil Nadu during the last two years.

The team’s report to the Chief Wildlife Warden said the killings in the PTR could be due to the musth elephant slipping “beyond the limits of normal aggressive behaviour” while accosting cow elephants for courtship. Besides being a Tiger Reserve, the 925-sq-km Periyar sanctuary is also a Project Elephant area with a roaming elephant population of more than 1,000, according to the last wildlife census.

Tranquillising the killer and having its tusks trimmed to make it less dangerous is one of the options before the wildlife staff, but the hilly terrain and the lake skirting the hills of the region could make the exercise somewhat dangerous.

The elephant, under the influence of the tranquilliser, could fall down a slope and die or wander into the lake and drown.

*****

A slew of welfare measures in Kerala Budget

2010-03-10T02:58:00.000-08:00

This is the link to my story on Kerala budget published in The Hindu on 6.3.2010:
http://www.hindu.com/2010/03/06/stories/2010030664481100.htm

And, this is the text:

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac has proposed a slew of welfare measures, including rice at Rs.2 a kg to 35 lakh families, in the Kerala budget for 2010-11 presented in the State Assembly on Friday.
All welfare pensions too are being increased to Rs.300 from the present level of Rs.250 a month.
In what he called a “red and green budget,” he also proposed the setting up of a Rs.1,000 crore fund over the next five years for programmes intended to expand the green cover over the land, restore to health ecosystems (such as Kuttanad) that had deteriorated in the recent decades due to human activities, nourish to resplendence the biodiversity of the countryside and keep a rein on energy consumption and carbon emission.
The third characteristic of the budget is its gender sensitivity. It sets apart Rs.620 crore spread across several departments for programmes meant exclusively for women. Making decent women’s toilets in public places, designating more than 200 police stations “women friendly” and building hostels for working women are some of the measures contemplated under this head.
The budget envisages a revenue expenditure of Rs.34,810.37 crore against revenue receipts expected at Rs.31,180.81 crore, leaving a revenue deficit of Rs.3,629.55 crore. The capital expenditure is estimated to come to Rs.4,135.88 crore in the year. It aims at an additional resource mobilisation of Rs.874.14 crore to support the new programmes. A bulk of this additional resource is expected to come from the hard liquor, the duty on which is being hiked by 10 per cent. There is, however, a benevolent prod in the budget for consumers of liquor to shift to healthier drinking habits through a reduction in the duty on soft liquors such as beer and wine.
Welfare measures announced include an income support scheme (Rs.50 crore allocation) for handloom and handicraft workers, general health insurance with an additional coverage of Rs.70,000 for cancer and heart ailments and kidney problems for the poor and a hike in grant to inmates of orphanages and old age homes.
Fifty per cent of the Rs.1,000-crore fund to be mobilised in five years for the green initiatives is to come from the sale of sand from various reservoirs now being de-silted in the State.
Imported sugar is being exempted from duty and the tax on handmade soaps and ghee is being brought down to 4 per cent. Luxury tax on hotel rooms will go down by 2.5 per cent. The tax compounding rates for gold dealers are being revised to 105 per cent, 110 per cent, 115 per cent and 125 per cent for turnovers of up to Rs.10 lakh, Rs.40 lakh and Rs.1 crore and above Rs.1 crore respectively.
The budget also proposes reducing the stamp duty on land registrations to 9 per cent in the cities, 8 per cent in the towns and 7 per cent in the villages. The tax on luxury cars (with engine capacity of 1,500 cc and above) is being increased by 2 per cent.
Dr. Isaac has provided substantial increases in allocation for sectors such as higher education, IT and traditional sectors including fisheries, coir, cashew and handloom.
***

PCCF argues case for notifying Munnar

2010-03-10T02:46:00.000-08:00

This is the link to my story on Munnar published in The Hindu on 10.3.2010: http://www.hindu.com/2010/03/10/stories/2010031054100400.htm

And, this is the text:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Idukki Collector had warned against notifying 17,000 acres

PCCF attributes warning to ‘lack of proper information'
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) T.M. Manoharan has questioned the points raised by the District Collector of Idukki in his letter dated January 25 this year warning the State government against notifying over 17,000 acres of weakly guarded government land in Munnar region as reserve forests.

In a 20-page letter dated February 25 in reply to the Collector's letter, Mr. Manoharan said he was “constrained to conclude… the letter is the result of a lack of proper information or lack of proper appreciation of the real facts and history of the issue.”

History of Hills

He described the whole history of the Kannan Devan Hills from the 19 {+t} {+h} century — how an extent of 227 sq miles of these vast mountainous tract of forests and grasslands had come into the hands of J.D. Monroe on lease from the Poonjar Chief in 1877, how tea plantations came up in a portion of the area, how most of the plantations were purchased in 1895 by James Finlay and Company, how the rights of Poonjar Chief were vested in the Government of Travancore in 1899 and how the Government of Kerala, in 1971, resumed possession of the entire region through the Kannan Devan Hills (Resumption of Lands) Act.

The Land Board constituted under the Act had allowed Kannan Devan Hills Produce Company (owned by the James Finley Group) to retain 57,359 acres of the land vide its order in 1974, while vesting 70,522.12 acres of land with the government, free from all encumbrances. An expert committee was constituted by the government in 1975 to decide how the area vested with the government should be utilised.

Land Board award

Following the Land Board's award and subsequent government orders, one modifying the other, an extent of 43,242.55 acres was finally ordered to be left undisturbed as forests and wilderness.

The order also demarcated an extent of 17,922 acres for afforestation, 5,189 acres for assignment to the landless, 3,824.85 acres for dairy development initiatives and 272.21 acres for housing. The modified order put the total area thus with the government as 70,450.61 acres.

Mr. Manoharan described various events that had happened over the ensuing years in the case of the 43,242.55 acres ordered to be left as it is. The Eravikulam National Park had come up in part of the area.

There had been quite a lot land assignments in Mankulam, forming another part of the area, and there had been encroachments too in Mankulam, according to inquiry committee reports. An extent of 22,253.37 acres of land in Mankulam was notified as reserve forests on May 16, 2007.

The proposed notification the Collector had warned the government against issuing, without fresh verification, related to the extent of 17,922 acres that was ordered to be used for afforestation as per the Land Board award and subsequent government orders.

Referring to this central issue, Mr. Manoharan said that the Forest Department had taken over [on record] this area of 17,922 acres on the strength of government orders issued in 1980 and 1988. Though this area was taken over by the Forest Department, it had not been notified as reserve forests to bring it under the protective umbrella of the Kerala Forest Act of 1961.

Legal aspects

Describing how, with mounting pressure on land, there had been complaints of encroachment in this area, Mr. Manoharan said the shola forests, grasslands and valuable forest plantations of the territory, “if not notified immediately as reserve forests, are likely to be encroached upon and the rich species and habitat diversity of these forests are likely to disappear.”

Discussing the legal aspects of the issue, Mr. Manoharan said the Supreme Court, in its judgment in WP(C) 202/95 dated 12.12.1996, had defined the term ‘forests' as an area to be understood according to the dictionary meaning. The Supreme Court had gone on to say that the term ‘forest land' would also include any area recorded as forest in government records irrespective of ownership, when the term comes up for interpretation in the context of the Forest Conservation Act.

‘Revenue lands'

In both these senses, this area of 17,922 acres of land would come under the definition of forests. But the land records continue to classify the area as ‘revenue lands.'

“History of protection of revenue purambokes in Kerala would indicate that the laws relating to their protection could not be implemented strongly and strictly due to various socio-political and demographic pressures,” Mr. Manoharan noted.

He described the legal pressures that had been brought on the government to review matters relating to Munnar. A non-governmental organisation called One Earth One Life had filed a public interest petition (PIL) in October 2005 before the Central Empowered Committee constituted by the Supreme Court.

The main prayer of the PIL was for an order urging the government to declare the 17,922 acres, originally set apart for afforestation, as reserve forests. The petitioner had also prayed for action against “misappropriation and alienation of forests” in the area.

High-level meet

Mr. Manoharan mentioned the high level-meeting held on November 11, 2006 which discussed the issue. The Chief Minister, Forest Minister, Revenue Minister, Advocate-General and Chief Secretary were among those who attended the meeting. The notification relating to Mankulam was an outcome of this meeting. It was also decided by the meeting that steps should be taken to notify as reserve forests the 17,922 acres of land that was originally earmarked for afforestation.

The government, vide an order on February 17, 2007, had also accorded sanction to notify the said area as reserve forests. The proposal for notification, along with boundary descriptions, was submitted to the government in 2008. The proposal was later restricted to 17,349.9 acres following a Cabinet subcommittee meeting on October 9, 2008 in Munnar, with the Chief Minister in the chair.

The Ministers of Forests, Home and Tourism and Welfare of Backward and Scheduled Communities too were at the meeting. The others in attendance included the Revenue Principal Secretary and the District Collector himself.

Mr. Manoharan said the procedural initiatives on the part of his department to notify 17,349.90 acres of land in Munnar region as reserve forests should be seen in the context of all these developments.

In his reply to the Collector, he also referred to various expert committee/inquiry committee reports that had brought up the enormity of the problem of encroachment in Munnar. He asked the Collector to view the implications of his letter (warning the government against going ahead with the notification) by placing it against this background.

‘Glaring' issue

In his reply, Mr. Manoharan gave his response to each “glaring” issue the Collector had raised in his letter. Responding to the Collector's view that there should be a fresh verification, he described the procedures subsequent to the declaration of an area as reserve forests. Even if notification is published, the Forest Settlement Officer, who will be designated for the notified area, can consider, inquire into and settle the claims of any person who has right over any piece of land in the notified area. The Kerala Forest Act stipulates this.

Mr. Manoharan mentions in his reply the reports of various expert committees and also the promises the government had given to the judiciary in the matter of notifying the referred to area as reserve forests.

*****

Lucky tiger sighting in Parambikulam

2010-02-21T02:03:00.000-08:00

(This is the link to my story on tiger sighting published in The Hindu on February 20, 2010:
http://beta.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/article109900.ece
And the text is given below.)
*************
It was almost as though the news had reached them. Just over a fortnight ago - February 2 to be exact - five tigers were sighted close to the tourism zone in the Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary, Kerala, which was declared the country’s 38th tiger reserve on Friday.

Forest watcher Srinivasan, who spotted the tigers, managed to capture all five together in a single frame with his small digital camera. The big cats seemed to be moving with a new confidence in the open, by a stream.

It is extremely rare, for even the most diligent watcher, to sight a tiger in the south Indian forests because the vegetation allows the animal to move under cover. Sighting five tigers together in the wild is rarer still because tigers are solitary animals. Each one moves within its own, well-demarcated range, which other tigers do not trespass. They are usually seen together only during the mating season or when the cubs are not grown-up enough to leave the mother.

On his way back to the camp, Mr. Srinivasan met wildlife photographer N.A. Naseer. The photographer had set his tripod high up on a branch of a tree to take photographs of a Great Indian Hornbill in its nest on another tree nearby. On being told about the sighting, Mr. Naseer decided to try his luck. With the watcher’s help, the photographer proceeded to the place where the tigers were seen last.

“We approached the stream carefully, taking care to move in absolute silence. The tigers were still there — all five of them. I cannot describe what it was like,” Mr. Naseer said.

At the very first click of the camera, he said, one tiger, who was lying by the stream began twirling its tail, sensing something. It got up and the rest too seemed to sense the intrusion. Two tigers were in the thickets and not within the camera’s range. The visible ones too slipped into the vegetation and disappeared, he said.

The photographer presented his pictures to Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh when the latter came to declare the sanctuary a tiger reserve on Friday.

“He [Mr. Ramesh] was pleasantly surprised when told that there were five tigers in a group,” said the photographer.

According to the last tiger census using the pug-mark identification technique, the Parambikulam forests (of which, 390.89 sq. km. has now been declared the core area of the new reserve and 252.772 sq. km. its buffer zone) is home to an estimated 15 tigers.

*****

How toads conquered the world

2010-02-08T18:14:00.000-08:00

This is the link to my story on a new research find on toads published in The Hindu on February 7:
http://www.hindu.com/2010/02/07/stories/2010020750761600.htm
And, this is the text:

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Through an extensive analysis of 228 toad species, constituting nearly 43 per cent of the known toad species of the world, scientists have now come up with a list of special traits that could have enabled these amphibians to conquer the world.

Ines Van Bocxlaer, a graduate student of the Free University of Brussels, and her associates list these special traits in the February 5 issue of the journal Science.

In a period of less than 10 million years — which is a relatively short period in the history of the evolution of life — toads have been able to spread across almost all continents of the world. Toads (Bufonidae) originated in the tropics of South America. The roughly 500 known species populating a wide range of habitat types are incredibly diverse in their characteristics, and some species have a larger distribution range than others.

The researchers looked at these characteristics and correlated them with their distribution range. “When we linked adult and developmental traits with the past distribution of toads, we could see that ancestral toads having a combination of certain traits were the ones that expanded their range and spread over the world,” Franky Bossuyt of the Free University of Brussels, under whose joint supervision the study was done, told The Hindu.

S.D. Biju, Associate Professor at Delhi University who collaborated with the study as research supervisor, says these traits could help determine which species of toads could become an invasive presence in a particular environment. He cited the case of the cane toad, which was introduced in Australia in recent times and had by now become infamous for its “invasion” of the whole of the island continent.

One common trait of the wide-populating toads is the ability to live away from water instead of being in high humidity, damp and even wet places to survive.

Other traits that facilitate spreading include the possession of parotoids or poison glands, which deter predators, and inguinal fat bodies, which provide extra energy to hop around expanding range, Dr. Bossuyt said.

The researchers also say that the toads that have come to colonise large parts of the world have relatively larger body sizes. They balloon in size and have greater body volume than other toads to store water, relative to the skin area from where to lose water.

The ability to lay eggs in all kinds of water bodies, large clutch sizes of eggs laid at a time, and the ability of their larvae to feed off nutrients in the environment (which means reduced dependence on the mother toads) are the other common traits found in toads that have been successful with range expansion.

“Much of the research on molecular evolution so far explains the past, but links between geographic expansions and speciation have rarely been demonstrated. This study will probably lead to further discussion about this adaptation,” Dr. Biju said.

In India, the common toad Bufo melanostictus is able to adapt to a diverse range of habitats and is hence able to have a large distribution throughout the country.

*****

'Too early to say how sustained the global economic turnaround will be'

2010-02-01T06:36:00.000-08:00

(This is an interview I did with Vinod Thomas, Director-General and Senior Vice-President at the World Bank, when he visited Thiruvananthapuram recently. Since I am a journalist who is familiar only with Kerala-specific issues, I had approached this work assigned to me with some trepidation. The topic of the interview was actually beyond me. I received a good set of questions from above and familiarised myself with the topic surfing the net for about four hours, enough to aquire just about the basic background of the subject. Then I approached Dr. Vinod Thomas with the emptiness of an empty vessel. On completion of the assignment, I frankly found that this is a good approach for us journalists to take all the time, because we are constantly called upon to write on topics new to us. If you do not have any theories of your own and pre-set positions, and if you do not know much about the subject and is EMPTY to receive everything as it is, you don't distort even unconsciously. With such an approach of total surrender, a journalist covering just the city police beat can cover even international diplomacy.)
This is the link to the interview, published in the opinion page of The Hindu:
http://beta.thehindu.com/opinion/interview/article33548.ece

And, this is the text of the interview:

P. Venugopal

India may have to watch out for further decline in remittances from Indians working abroad because of the lagged impact of the recession, says Vinod Thomas.

Vinod Thomas, Director-General and Senior Vice-President, Independent Evaluation Group at the World Bank, spoke to The Hindu, during a recent visit to India, on why it was too early now to expect a quick and sustained turnaround of the global economy, despite signs of the recession having ended.

In this interview, he says that, with China, India and a few other emerging economies leading the recovery, changes are bound to come in their roles in the global economy and in institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). As an economist and international development expert, he says that what India will have to watch out for in the year to come may be a further decline in remittances from Indians working abroad because of the lagged impact of the recession. He says that Kerala's initiatives to take care of those returning home jobless from a broad and provide conducive conditions for the flow of remittances are positive, but such initiatives have to be pushed further, not only by Kerala, but also the other States similarly affected by the crisis.

The World Bank has generally been more pessimistic than the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in reacting to this crisis, often downgrading its earlier growth forecasts. Should there be such a divergence in the approaches of the two Bretton Woods twins?

Of course, there can be differences in perception. However, if you look at it closely, there is no significant divergence in the assessment of the crisis and the recovery process; the direction indicated by both institutions is the same. The IMF has forecast three per cent growth for the global economy in 2010 and the World Bank a little less. There are also technical reasons for this difference. In its growth forecast, the IMF uses what is called purchasing power parity figures, whereas the World Bank uses the Atlas method. The combined share of the economies of India and China in the overall global economy is larger in the former case than in the latter. The IMF's method takes into consideration the lower cost of living in India and China, which pushes up the real income and thence the size of their economies. The World Bank's method relies on dollar exchange rates and not rates adjusted against the cost of living.

The IMF, in its latest update to the WEO (October 1), has said that the global economy is out of recession and that world output has turned positive. How do you see that from the World Bank's perspective?

Although the global economy is turning around at the moment, it is too early to say how quick and sustained the turnaround will be. The assessment is that the global economy will shrink by about one per cent in 2009, followed by a growth of little less than three per cent in 2010, driven mostly by China, India and some other emerging economies. China is expected to return to its pre-crisis growth rate of eight - nine per cent and India to six-plus per cent. The growth of industrial countries will remain low. Even with the signs of recovery, however, the unemployment situation continues to be serious. Unemployment reached nearly 10 per cent in the United States this month. The labour market is still not confident. And global poverty has increased by 90 million because of the crisis. So the overall global situation, which will impact India also, is still a matter of concern. And the banking crisis that had inflicted severe damage on the economies of the West needs time to evaporate. The loose regulatory regime that had brought in the banking crisis is being tightened everywhere, wiser by the experience. Also, with more regulations now, its ability to hit a quick turnaround too has been curtailed intentionally. The cleaning up of the old bad portfolios is bound to take time. Part of the reason for the present recovery trend is the increased government spending everywhere. The world economies combined have increased their fiscal deficits by five to six per cent - something unprecedented in history - to stimulate themselves out of the depth of the recession. This cannot go on. Because, increased expenses mean deficits and debts that you have to pay later. Last, but not the least, is the issue of consumer confidence. Consumers are wary; they would rather wait for some more time.

An important outcome of the G20 Summits, especially the last one at Pittsburgh, is the agreement to democratise the World Bank and the IMF. There will be a rebalancing of the quotas in the IMF to give India, China and others five per cent more voting rights. Do we see the emergence of a bigger picture in which developed countries cede their overwhelming influence over the two institutions? Do you see a Chinese or an Indian at the helm of IMF or World Bank in the foreseeable future?

Changes are happening. You know, India and China combined now account for 16 per cent of the world economy. China is now the second largest economy in the world and India, the fourth. The G20 in which they belong is now more influential than the G7, the club of the most developed. The rebalancing is bound to happen. But, with the rebalancing, new responsibilities too will come. Contributions will have to increase. The positions they take on issues such as global poverty, global warming and global trade will all have to evolve. The question of a bigger role for emerging economies should not make us lose sight of the need for greater representations for the poor countries too.

Migrants' (workers') remittances to India have been a major source of strength for India's balance of payments. According to the World Bank, remittances worldwide are likely to decline from $328 billion in 2008 to $304 billion in 2009. How significant is this reduction, which, in any case, is smaller than the decline in private capital flows?

A reduction in remittances can be very significant for India. Developing countries are affected in different ways by this crisis. It can be from decline in trade volumes, private capital flows, remittances, or all these. For instance, China is affected more by trade decline than a decline in private capital flows. I fear that there may be a lagged effect in the year to come, a further reduction in remittances, because many migrants who had lost jobs are somehow managing to keep the flow going, doing part-time jobs or something, waiting for the crisis to blow over. India's remittances in 2008 calendar year was $52 billion, which is 4.3 per cent of India's 2008 GDP of $1,218 billion. You see, there is a serious social angle too in the issue of remittances from migrant workers.

As you know, workers' remittances have benefited the economies of Kerala and a few other States. What steps should the recipient States take to bolster these remittances? The downturn in West Asia has caused job losses especially at the lower end.

Very true. Job losses at the lower end are a real problem. I feel that the recipient States and the country can put in mechanisms for smoother flow of workers' remittances from abroad. The governments should also probe ways to ensure productive investment opportunities for the use of the remittances. Both the money and the skills of the returnees should be used effectively. Kerala has made certain promising initiatives in these directions by announcing new schemes for the returnees to start self employment ventures and small and medium enterprises. Kerala's efforts to use financial instruments to attract remittances for financing profitable projects are also very promising. This is a direction along which Kerala, and also the other States facing the same problem, can go even further.

*****

Collector advises against notifying Munnar forests

2010-02-01T06:28:00.000-08:00

Link to my edited story on Munnar published in The Hindu on January 29, 2010: http://www.hindu.com/2010/01/29/stories/2010012950100100.htm

This is the text of the published article:

P. Venugopal

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Even as the Kerala High Court’s directions to the State government on January 21 to initiate action against illegal encroachments in Munnar remained, the District Collector of Idukki on January 25 wrote to the State government not to go ahead with its plan to declare the unreserved forests of the region as reserved forests based on the existing survey records, informed sources in the government have revealed.

The faxed letter said he had “come to know from press news and reliable sources that the government wants to notify 17,985 acres of land as reserved forests,” apparently a reference to reports quoting Forest Minister Benoy Viswom that appeared on January 25 and 26 saying that the government was attending to the legal formalities related to handing over 17,922 acres of unreserved forests in Munnar, now with the Revenue Department, to the Forest Department.

The Collector also stated that the “extent of area arrived at [by the] forest [department] suffers from infirmity and resurvey records prepared [by the Revenue Department] do not have any credibility and lacks integrity.”

Seven ‘glaring facts’

He listed seven “glaring facts which had come to my notice” to point out why the “boundary and area mentioned in re-survey records may not be relied upon.” He added that the “actual area going to be notified may be verified on ground, as a lot of area has been notified in KDH village which is outside the custody of forest department.”

The Idukki Collector, it has been stated, faxed the letter to the Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, Private Secretary to the Revenue Minister, Secretary to the Forest Department, the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and the Chief Conservator of Forests based in Kottayam, who has jurisdiction over Munnar in Idukki district.

*****

Green scribes flag conservation issues

2010-01-27T03:33:00.000-08:00

This is the link to my story in The Hindu on an 'ecologue' (dialogue on conservation between green journalists and forest officials and environmentalists) held in Shenduruney Wildlife Sanctuary from January 22 to 24, 2010:
http://www.hindu.com/2010/01/27/stories/2010012753440400.htm
And this is the text:
P. Venugopal
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
‘Stop work on new road across wildlife corridor’
Plea to take over forest lands with expired lease
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A three-day workshop on conservation issues, organised by the Jaiji Peter Foundation, an organisation of green journalists in the State, in association with the Forest Department, has urged the State government to abandon the move to turn a 20-km stretch of forest road in the Konni Forest Division into a shortcut highway for pilgrims visiting Sabarimala.

Nearly 40 journalists covering conservation-related issues for around 20 visual and print media organisations in Kerala, along with top conservation officials and environmentalists, met in the Shenduruney Wildlife Sanctuary in Kollam district at the workshop discussing the conservation issues of the State in general and the Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve in particular. The workshop ended on Sunday.

In its recommendations to the State government, handed over to Forest Minister Benoy Viswom, the workshop noted that the proposed wildlife corridor between the Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve and the Periyar Tiger Reserve, which stretched along the Achencoil-Konni-Ranni forests, was a region of very high biodiversity. The corridor was also the region from where the rivers Pampa and Achencoil, which were virtually the lifeline of Central Kerala, originated.

Work on the construction of a new road was fast progressing from Achencoil to Kalleli Mukku and thence to Chittar, right across this wildlife corridor. The State government had also announced its intention to turn the new road into a shortcut highway for pilgrims visiting Sabarimala from the Tamil Nadu side. The workshop noted that this road project would cause alarming disturbance to the wildlife and the verdant forests of the region and urged the government to immediately abandon the road construction.

Land distribution

The Ponmudi Hills were also extremely sensitive so far as the Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve was concerned, both in terms of biodiversity wealth and water security. Streams that fed the Kallada River and Vamanapuram River in South Kerala originated from the Ponmudi Hills. The workshop noted that that the State government was going ahead with a programme to distribute large tracts of ecologically sensitive land in this area to landless families in the State. The workshop pointed out that this initiative was totally against the interests of conservation in this very sensitive area and therefore strongly urged the government to drop it.

Mathikettan shola

Although forest encroachers had been evicted from the Mathikettan Shola in Idukki district and the region declared as a National Park, in the recent times, there were reports about new problems from the area. The workshop urged the government to take sufficient precautions to ensure that the shola recovered from the encroachers was not once again alienated due to want of diligence in fighting some of the cases now before various courts.

Railway line

At Murukappanchal near Aryankavu, within the Agathyamala Biosphere Reserve, there was the possibility to remove the existing break in the free movement of wildlife between the southern and northern side of the rail and road links between Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The railway line in this route was now being converted from metre-gauge to broad-gauge and the Indian Railways were laying the track across the Murukappanchal stretch along a long over-bridge. The workshop suggested that, if the road along this stretch too could be laid along a new flyover, parallel to the railway over-bridge, it would facilitate the free movement of wildlife in the region.

Border realignment

The workshop further recommended that the borders of the Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve might be realigned in such a way as to include the contiguous forest areas stretching up to the Periyar Tiger Reserve to the existing territory under the biosphere reserve. Such realignment would be in the larger interests of macro-level conservation of an extremely significant ecosystem in the Western Ghats, considered one of the 34 biodiversity hotspots of the world.

It also noted that the State Forest Department was heavily understaffed, especially the field staff. It was also evident from the very low allocation of funds the department was getting in the State budget that the State government was giving very low priority to the conservation of forests. At a time when the forests were facing consistent threat from various forces destabilising the ecosystem and the forest protection officials had to effectively carry out new responsibilities emanating from new conservation concepts such as Participatory Forest Management, there was an imperative need to strengthen the department at the field level. Further, the government needed to devise all possible measures to keep the morale of the protection staff at a high level by removing the disparity between their remunerations and those of other uniformed forces such as the police.

Central policy

The workshop pointed out that the Union government’s policy was to progressively increase the area under forest cover. If this was to be achieved in Kerala, the State government should not let go any opportunity to recover from private individuals the forest tracts given to them on lease. The workshop urged the State government to systematically take over all forest lease lands for which the lease period had expired. The government should adopt the policy that no lease over forest tracts would be renewed in future. Workers employed by the lessees might be suitably rehabilitated.

The workshop appealed to the State government to enforce the terms of all forest leases and also the rules relating to Cardamom Hill Reserve with unwavering diligence. For instance, reports say that there had been large-scale destruction of trees in an estate in Bison Valley in Idukki district recently. Whenever such offences came to the notice of the government, the takeover provisions of the law should be immediately employed in the case of the estates concerned. Punitive action should be such as to discourage all anti-conservation tendencies.

Kurunji Reserve

The full area declared as the Kurunji Reserve in Idukki district had not yet been taken over by the Forest Department. The workshop urged the government to do it as early as possible. The workshop further noted that the basic concept of ecotourism was being violated.

*****

Encroachers make merry in Kannan Devan Hills

2010-01-26T01:59:00.000-08:00

While writing the story 'State braces for Munnar action' posted just before this one, I called a senior officer for some background. He was not free to talk with me over the phone. Then I sought the help of google search and landed on a story I myself had written in 2004, six years ago. I was surprised the issue is the same; The Hindu had done its mite as a responsible newspaper to highlight the problem of Munnar encroachment much before it had become a controversial issue with the eviction measures taken two years ago.
This is the link to the 2004 story in The Hindu:
http://www.hindu.com/2004/01/02/stories/2004010207120400.htm

And, this is the text:

By P. Venugopal

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Jan. 1 . Pristine shola forests forming part of 17,922 acres of Revenue land in Kannan Devan Hills in Idukki district are being razed down by encroachers, according to a report sent to the Government by the Forest Department.

The report mentions five specific cases of forest encroachment, in places called Chokkanadu, Silent Valley (not the Silent Valley National Park), Kurisumotta, Chanduvarrai and Seven Malai. The extent of land encroached upon ranges between 40 acres and 400 acres. The modus operandi of the land-grabbers, as described in the report, suggests the involvement of Revenue officials and Government advocates in the operation.

The land under reference forms part of 70,522 acres of land taken by the Government from the Kannan Devan Hills (KDH) Produce Company under the KDH (Resumption of Land) Act of 1971. The Eravikulam National Park, the home of the Nilgiri Tahr, came up in the area taken over under the Act. But an extent of 17,922 acres still remains with the Revenue Department, despite a 1980 Government Order to hand over this tract also to the Forest Department for conservation. The Government had issued this order on the basis of the report of an expert committee appointed to recommend the land use pattern for the area resumed under the Act.

The area in the possession of the Revenue Department has shola-grassland vegetation with exceptionally rich biodiversity, identical to that of the Eravikulam National Park. These forests are perennial water sources for the tributaries of two major rivers, Periyar and Cauvery. The Forest Department's report to the Government describes the sholas of the area as `ecological relics'.

A study done at the behest of the Forest Department by the French Institute of Pondicherry to devise a `Biodiversity Conservation Strategy and Action Plan for Kerala' places this area on a par with the Eravikulam National Park, which tops the list of 14 protected areas in the State for its `high conservation value.'

Till the early 1990s, there was little threat to this tract of Revenue land, lying outside the Munnar town. But land value in Munnar skyrocketed in the recent years due to tourism boom, making land grabbing in the area extremely profitable. The purpose of the land grabbing, apparently, is to build tourism resorts.

There has been a spate of encroachments in the area during the last five years or so. The Department's report to the Government mentions only a few major ones. The report says "false possession certificates/bogus pattayas have been issued by the Revenue authorities to these encroachers."

Referring to the encroachment in Chokkanad (about 400 acres), the report says that, when the Forest Department tried to free the area, 16 persons approached the High Court and obtained an interim stay on the eviction process. "Armed with this stay, the petitioners entered the thick shola vegetation and started cutting it down. They even started making permanent constructions in the area. A counter affidavit was filed by the Forest Department and the Court modified the interim stay, directing the petitioners not to change the nature of the land...At this point of time, the shola forest has been saved from destruction with much difficulty."

In two other petitions filed before the High Court, the petitioners had produced copies of cases booked by the Revenue Department for encroachment under the Kerala Land Conservancy (KLC) Act as claims to show that they have been in possession of the land. It is a popular practice for land-grabbers to bribe the Revenue officials to get Land Conservancy (LC) cases booked against them and then use these documents to claim possession of the land.

Explaining the legal position of these cases, the report notes that the provisions of the KLC Act are not applicable to the land resumed under the KDH Act. Under the KDH Act, there is provision only for summary eviction when encroachments are noticed. "But it is quite astonishing to note that LC cases have been booked in this area by the Revenue authorities...It is also notable that the OP (Original Petition) cases filed before the High Court claiming possession over the land in question were not brought to the notice of the Forest Department either by the office of the Advocate General, or the Forest Liaison Officer in time even though the Forest Department is a respondent in these cases," the report says, indicating the possibility of an unholy nexus between the encroachers, officials and Government advocates.

The report states that the "alarming trend of encroachment of these shola forests by forging ownership records and trying to legalise the same by filing court cases" can be checked only if the Government notifies 17,922 acres of land in the possession of the Revenue Department as reserved forests.

"Once this area is notified as reserved forests, it will not be possible for anyone to claim ownership over this land and the shola-grassland forests will be preserved for posterity," the report says.

*****

State braces for Munnar action

2010-01-26T01:52:00.000-08:00

This is the link to my story on Munnar encroachment published in The Hindu on January 26, 2010: http://www.hindu.com/2010/01/26/stories/2010012653450400.htm

And, this is the text:
Cabinet to discuss transfer of land soon: Minister
Part of 70,522 acres taken over from KDH Company
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The State government is attending to certain legal formalities required to strengthen its hands in dealing with encroachments in Munnar.

Forest Minister Benoy Viswom hinted about the initiative at an ‘ecologue’ organised by the Jaiji Peter Foundation, an organisation of environmental journalists, and his department in the Shenduruney Wildlife Sanctuary on Sunday.

Addressing the programme, which brought together green journalists and forest officials to discuss conservation issues in the State, Mr. Viswom said he expected the long-pending issue of transferring 17,922 acres of revenue land in Munnar to his department to come before the Council of Ministers within a couple of weeks.

Last week, a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court had made an oral observation expressing its concern over the government’s inability to check encroachments in Munnar.

The court, while hearing a public interest litigation, had observed that the way encroachments were going on in the region, Munnar’s green hills would soon turn brown.

The land being transferred to the Forest Department is part of the 70,522 acres taken over by the government from the Kannan Devan Hills (KDH) Produce Company under the KDH (Resumption) Act of 1971.

Of the total area taken over, 17,922 acres of shola patches, lying interspersed with tea estates, had been remaining with the Revenue Department right from the time of the takeover.

Once this stretch comes under the Forest Department, the strong anti-encroachment provisions of various forest laws will become applicable to it. A study done at the behest of the Forest Department by the French Institute of Pondicherry to devise a ‘Biodiversity Conservation Strategy and Action Plan for Kerala’ had placed this area on a par with the Eravikulam National Park in terms of conservation value.

A major chunk of the encroachments in Munnar had happened in these shola patches. In fact, the government had issued an order in 1980 transferring these shola patches to the Forest Department following the report of an expert committee constituted to recommend the land use pattern to be adopted for the entire area taken over from the KDH Produce Company.

However, intense lobbying by vested interest groups had aborted that order of the government.

*****

Hefty power tariff hike likely this year

2010-01-16T22:55:00.001-08:00

This is the link to my story in The Hindu on January 17, 2009:
http://www.hindu.com/2010/01/17/stories/2010011750020100.htm
and the following the text:

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A hefty hike in electricity tariffs seems to be on the cards for all sections of consumers this year judging from the affidavit the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) has filed before the Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission (KSERC) showing its expected income and expenses in 2010-11.

With the tariffs remaining at the present levels, the KSEB will be left with a huge revenue deficit of Rs.2,219.60 crore in the year 2010-11, according to the 164-page affidavit now before the KSERC.

The current financial year (2009-10) too is set to bring a big revenue deficit of Rs.1,928.66 crore for the KSEB, the affidavit said. The KSERC, while approving the KSEB’s affidavit on ‘aggregate revenue requirement and expected revenue from charges’ for 2009-10, had hoped that the KSEB would close the year with a revenue gap of only Rs.335.30 crore.

The aggregate revenue requirement of the KSEB for the current year is likely to touch Rs.6,881.25 crore, while the income from non-tariff sources and sale of power will come to only Rs.4,952.59 crore, according to the revised estimate for 2009-10. In the coming year (2010-11), the KSEB expects the aggregate revenue requirement to go up to Rs.7,503.98 crore, while the income from all sources, including sale of power at the current tariffs, will come to only Rs.5,284.38 crore, the affidavit said.

“The board had been supplying electricity at the lowest price in the country for several decades. The budgetary support and subsidies for supplying electricity below the cost of supply in the past was not received in cash from the government. The board had to resort to heavy borrowings to meet the expenses. But up to last year, the board was able to contain the borrowings and the burden of interest payment. But during this year, the additional financial liability incurred by the board to purchase high-cost energy has severely affected the financial position and the board had to resort to heavy borrowings from financial institutions,” the affidavit said.

The KSEB had already submitted to the KSERC a petition seeking permission to impose a surcharge of Rs.0.46 on each unit of electricity on all categories of consumers. But, the request for this surcharge is only to recover from the consumers a sum of Rs.311.52 crore spent additionally by the KSEB on high-cost energy till September 2009. The KSERC is holding a public hearing on this request on January 27. The detailed evaluation of the latest affidavit will be done by the KSERC only subsequently.

*****

VSSC fires rockets to study eclipse

2010-01-15T16:23:00.001-08:00

Link: http://www.hindu.com/2010/01/16/stories/2010011661502200.htm

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) launched a total of 10 Rohini series indigenous sounding rockets from the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station here and the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota to investigate the effects of the longest annular solar eclipse of this millennium, which occurred on Friday, on the earth’s atmosphere.

On Thursday, the VSSC launched two sounding rockets each of the type RH 300 Mk II and RH 200, and on Friday, three sounding rockets of the type RH 300 Mk II and two sounding rockets of RH 200 from Thumba. The RH 300 Mk II rockets can shoot to a peak altitude of 116 km above the earth and the RH 200 to a peak altitude of 70 km.

The VSSC also launched a larger Rohini rocket of the RH 560 Mk II series from Sriharikota on Friday. These rockets are capable of reaching a peak altitude of 548 km.

The eclipse assumed annular condition at 1.14 p.m. over Thumba. The maximum obscuration of 91 per cent of the sun occurred at 11.15 p.m. The annular phase of the eclipse lasted about 11 minutes and eight seconds over Thumba.

The firing of the sounding rockets was scheduled so as to collect relevant data on atmospheric structure and dynamics at different altitudes from the earth before, during and after the eclipse.

“Many scientifically interesting phenomena occur in the diurnal equatorial atmosphere [during an eclipse]. Equatorial electrojet, equatorial ionisation anomaly, and equatorial temperature and wind anomaly are examples of such phenomena.

“When a solar eclipse occurs, there will be a sudden cut-off of solar radiation. This cut-off will affect the atmospheric structure and dynamics and there will be a large reduction in ionisation and temperature.

“Today’s eclipse offered a unique opportunity to scientists to investigate the effects of fast varying solar flux on the photochemistry and electrodynamics of the different atmospheric regions, especially the equatorial mesopause and ionosphere-thermosphere regions,” the VSSC said.

The results of the experiments would be correlated with ground-based eclipse observations.

The interpretation of the eclipse data together with the space data is expected to give new insights into earlier eclipse observations as well, the VSSC said.

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All about a celestial phenomenon

2010-01-13T18:17:00.001-08:00

This is the link to another story by me on the annular solar eclipse falling on January 15:
http://www.hindu.com/2010/01/14/stories/2010011453970400.htm
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And this is the text:

P. Venugopal

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The annular solar eclipse falling on Friday, the longest of the millennium, is a wonderful opportunity for the people of Thiruvananthapuram to understand the celestial phenomenon of eclipses.

Thiruvananthapuram is situated 8 degrees 29 minutes North Latitude and 76 degrees 59 minutes East Longitude. The outline of the moon will start creeping over the bright disk of the sun at 11.05.1 a.m. at this point on Friday.

‘Annularity’ is when the moon, as seen from the earth, does not cover the full disc of the sun when caught in a line. The edges of the sun all the way round will be visible as a bright ring around the dark silhouette of the moon.

A solar eclipse happens when the sun, moon and the earth fall in the same line. The sun’s distance from the earth is about 390 times the moon’s distance from the earth and the sun’s diameter is about 400 times the moon’s diameter. Because these ratios are approximately the same, the sun and the moon as seen from the earth appear to be about the same size.

The moon’s orbit around the earth is an ellipse, as is the earth’s orbit around the sun. So there are periods when the moon is farthest away from the earth and periods when the moon is closest to the earth. The same happens in the case of the sun in relation to the earth.

Total solar eclipse

A total solar eclipse happens when the sun is farther away from the earth because of the earth’s elliptical orbit. The apparent size of the moon as viewed from the earth then is bigger than the sun’s and so the moon’s silhouette, when the three celestial objects fall in a straight line, covers the full disc of the sun as seen from the earth. Annularity occurs when the earth in its orbit is close to the sun and the moon in its orbit is farther away from the earth. On Friday, when eclipse conditions fall into place, the annularity will reach a maximum level of only 91 per cent in Thiruvananthapuram since it is a little to the north of the central line of the path of the moon’s shadow over the earth. The central line of the path of the eclipse is slightly to the south of the southern tip of the Indian peninsula.

The eclipse will start displaying annular condition here by 1.10.50 p.m. and touch the maximum possible annularity level of 91 per cent by 1.14.28 p.m. And the annularity condition of the eclipse will end by 1.18.06 p.m. And the eclipse will end, with the moon’s silhouette completely lifting from the disc of the sun, by 3.05.5 p.m. The annular condition will last for 7 minutes and 15 seconds in Thiruvananthapuram.

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Annular solar eclipse

2010-01-12T18:46:00.000-08:00

This is the link to my story on the annular solar eclipse falling on Janurary 15:
http://www.hindu.com/2010/01/13/stories/2010011354150400.htm
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VSSC expects insights from eclipse

P. Venugopal
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A comprehensive campaign planned
Nine rockets to blaze away from Thumba
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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) has said the analysis of atmospheric-ionospheric parameters being conducted in India during the annular solar eclipse occurring on January 15 will be “one of the most comprehensive [scientific] campaigns ever attempted during a solar eclipse anywhere in the world.”

In a press release here on Tuesday, the VSSC said this would be the longest annular solar eclipse of this millennium.

An annular eclipse occurs when the moon covers the centre of the sun, but not its edges. This leaves just a ring of the sun visible from the earth along the path of the moon’s shadow.

The VSSC will launch four sounding rockets from Thumba, near here, on Thursday to gather data from altitudes touching up to 116 km above the earth. These will be followed by five more sounding rockets on Friday. One larger rocket each will be launched from the Sathish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota on Thursday and Friday to gather data from altitudes touching up to 548 km above the earth.

Close shot

At 1.14 pm on January 15, the eclipse will pass close to Thumba with 91 per cent obscuration of the sun. The edges of the eclipse will touch Sriharikota with 85 per cent obscuration of the sun, the VSSC said.

Although the central line of the path of the eclipse will miss the mainland of the peninsula, the path of the eclipse being 323 km wide, it will still be a unique opportunity to investigate the effects of the fast varying solar flux on the photochemistry and electrodynamics of different atmospheric regions, especially the equatorial mesopause and ionosphere-thermosphere regions, the VSSC said.

“The uniqueness of this eclipse is that it occurs during noontime, when the incoming solar radiation is at its maximum… Further, the obscuration of the sun during this eclipse is exceptionally long, about 11 minutes and eight seconds. The maximum obscuration occurs during noon hours (13:15 IST). As a consequence, it provides an opportunity to study, perhaps for the first time, the solar eclipse induced effects in the noontime equatorial region,” the VSSC said.

The ionosphere above 120 km becomes turbulent on certain days in the post-sunset period with structures or eddies appearing in ionization.

It will be an interesting problem to look into the possible generation of these turbulent structures during the peak eclipse period when the geophysical conditions are likely to resemble those of the post-sunset period, the VSSC said.

“Such a study [being undertaken during this eclipse] would certainly give more insights into the generation mechanism of these structures that pose a major threat to modern day GPS-based navigation systems,” the VSSC noted.

The VSSC expects that the interpretation of space data, gathered with the assistance of the sounding rockets, along with modern ground-based eclipse observations, will give new insights into the earlier eclipse observations also.

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Monsoon

2010-01-06T17:56:00.000-08:00

This is the link to my story in The Hindu on January 7, 2009:
http://www.hindu.com/2010/01/07/stories/2010010754200400.htm
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‘Global warming can alter monsoon pattern’

P. Venugopal

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: What could be the impact of global warming on the behaviour of the Indian summer monsoon, which is the lifeline of the subcontinent?

Scientists in the country are on the job of creating a model that can simulate the likely changes in the flow and sweep of the monsoon as the earth warms up, by small decimals of a centigrade each year, under the influence of global warming.

“We are working on a model… It is the key,” said R. Krishnan, head of the Climate and Global Modelling Division at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) in Pune, while addressing a plenary session on ‘Weather, Climate and Environment’ at the 97th Indian Science Congress in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday.

He spoke of the dynamics of the Indian monsoon, how it flowed in from the southwest at the beginning of June every year with the building up of an atmospheric pressure gradient down to the north, how the temperature factors even in central Pacific and interior Asia had a bearing on its behaviour and how it was all a phenomenon of interrelated global factors.

The hitherto perceived pattern of the monsoon can change as the temperatures over the land and the ocean rise under the global warming phenomenon. The wind speeds and wind directions can change and so also the known and unknown factors that govern the intensity and spread of the monsoon over the subcontinent.

The IITM turned the drought of 2009 into an opportunity to study the wind behaviour that had delayed the monsoon over the central, north and northwest India this time, besides causing long lulls in rainfall activity during the four-month season from June to September. One of the findings was that an aberrant westerly current from the cold and dry central Asia had kept pushing the monsoon currents back from these regions for long periods within the season.

The drought of 2009 was the third biggest drought the country had encountered in the last 100 years, Dr. Krishnan said. There were three long break-spells for the monsoon this time, resulting in 23 per cent deficient rainfall for the country. Dr. Krishnan said it was not India alone that was monsoon deficient this time, but the whole of Southeast Asia.

Speaking in the same session, Shailesh Naik, Secretary to the Ministry of Earth Sciences, said the hottest years of the last 100 years for the country had come during the last one decade. He said his department had stepped up support for research into a whole range of climate-related topics.

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Climate forecast

2010-01-03T16:17:00.000-08:00

Link to my Science Congress report in The Hindu today:
http://www.hindu.com/2010/01/04/stories/2010010455631000.htm

IMD evolving a model for accurate climate forecast

P. Venugopal

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the problem of climate change now turning into an increasing reality, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) is working on the development of a model that can forecast the subtleties of the phenomenon with a fair degree of accuracy into the next five or 10 years, according to Secretary to the Ministry of Earth Sciences Shailesh Naik.

Addressing a session on ‘Science Programme for the Country,’at the 97th Indian Science Congress here on Sunday, Dr. Naik said this would help India plan ahead in agriculture, which depended a lot on weather and climate. Forecast now had to go beyond the weather, which was immediate, to the climate, which was spread over time.

He said weather forecast had to improve in accuracy, especially in the forecast of the summer monsoon. Not all the models the IMD had evolved showed the consistency in accuracy expected of them. In each bulletin, weather forecasts were now being given covering five days and a system was now falling in place for extending the period of the forecast. District-level weather forecast too would become possible soon, he said.

S.K. Brahmachari, Director-General of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and Secretary to the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, said the concern now was on how to take the benefit of science and technology to a large majority of the country’s population that was in a far away orbit from its glow. He said to address this concern, the government worked out a strategy aiming to increase the per capita income at the lowest level by Rs.15 a day.

Director of Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) V.M. Katoch, stressed the need for the States taking the help of the ICMR in setting up their own medical research institutions to overcome the difficulties associated with disease outbreaks frequently. The ICMR had only around 200 medical scientists distributed among all its institutions and the demand on their services was heavy.

T. Ramaswamy, Secretary to the Department of Science and Technology, said that one lacunae he had noticed in the functioning of various research institutions was that the fruits of the toil in one institution were not spreading ‘horizontally’ to the areas served by the other institutions. The department had it as a challenge to ensure the horizontal merging of science and technology research results.

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Indian Science Congress 2010

2010-01-02T22:00:00.000-08:00

This is the link to my report in The Hindu dated January 3, 2010:
http://www.hindu.com/2010/01/03/stories/2010010360030500.htm

The challenge of taking S&T to the next stage
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The Indian Science Congress is an occasion for making a holistic review of the nation’s strengths in science and technology.
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The Indian Science Congress, the largest and most comprehensive annual science event in the country, is being held on the Kariavattom campus of the University of Kerala this time from January 3 to 7 at a crucial juncture in the country’s journey towards progress.

India has been recording a commendable growth rate over the last nearly one decade and is seen worldwide as a nation marching towards the status of an economic superpower. Even the resilience the country is showing in the face of the global economic crisis that began in 2007 is being seen as an indication of the irresistible momentum of the country’s march forward.

Admittedly, however, problems remain. A vast majority of the population is not part of this growth process and the disparity between the poor and the well-off is widening. In the years to follow, science and technology will have to play a bigger role than ever before in the history of the country to satisfy the twin-objective of keeping the growth momentum going and making the growth process an inclusive one.

According to former chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and general chairman of the Indian Science Congress 2010, the task of streamlining the full power of the nation’s scientific intellect and resources to address the challenges ahead is an ambitious one. The nature of the challenges before the nation at this juncture is entirely different from what it had been before and the dimension of the challenges far bigger than it had been ever before. The scientists and policy makers of the country also have before them the task of calibrating the growth process keeping in mind issues such global warming and sustainability.

97th edition

The 97th edition of the Indian Science Congress, being organised under the aegis of the Indian Science Congress Association and hosted jointly by the Indian Space Research Organisation and the University of Kerala, will be an occasion for making a holistic review of the nation’s strengths in science and technology, guiding the direction of future research and development and devising strategies for broad-basing the deployment of science and technology for the welfare of the people.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in his inaugural address to the Science Congress on Sunday, is expected to give his overall vision on how to convert science and technology into a more powerful tool for the development of the country. Stalwart scientists, some of whom had helped evolve and steer the nation’s development initiatives over the past decades, the country’s highest policy-making people including the Secretaries of all departments related to science and technology, the people who hold the reins of all national institutions for research and development, young scientists who are to take the whole national programme forward in the coming years and more than 3,000 students and science teachers are attending the mega event.

The holding of the event in Thiruvananthapuram provides Kerala a wonderful opportunity, according to Vice Chancellor of the University of Kerala A. Jayakrishnan, who is also the co-chairman of the organising committee. He said it would surely inspire the young generation in the State. The most promising of the science students from all areas of the State had been selected to attend the Children’s Science Congress being organised as part of the main event and they would have space scientist and former Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam addressing them.

An exhibition being organised in connection with the Indian Science Congress on the Kariavattom campus of the university also is designed to provide a comprehensive and inspiring picture of the country’s science and technology for the young generation.

P. Venugopal