Ajoba

A leopard, who famously trekked unscathed from Pune to Borivli's Sanjay Gandhi National Park two years ago, died on Thursday night, ironically in a road accident while trying to cross National Highway 8 on the outskirts of Mumbai. The wildcat, Ajoba, whose miraculous 120-km journey was mapped with the help of a radio transmitter around his collar, until he mysteriously broke free from the tracking device in July 2009, was hit by a heavy vehicle at Chinchoti Phatak, near Vasai. Ajoba was still writhing in pain at 10:30 pm last night when he was discovered by Hitendra Mota, a Jogeshwari resident, who was returning from Palgarh. Mota noticed that traffic was moving slowly, and got off from his vehicle to see a group of people gathered around a wildcat, clicking pictures. "I saw the leopard was in agony. There was blood oozing from his mouth, but it was still alive. I thought I might be able to save him," he said. Mota, a wildlife enthusiast more used to rescuing stray dogs, loaded the leopard into to his car with the help of some of the people, and rushed to SGNP. By the time they reached, however, Ajoba had already passed away. Forest officers who examined the body noticed dark marks around his neck, which are generally found on animals that have been radio collared, and a microchip in his tail. "We contacted Wildlife biologist Vidya Atreya in Pune, who had radio collared Ajoba and tracked him. The chip number matched. The leopard we had been looking for for so long was right in front of us, lying dead," said Sunil Limaye, Chief Conservator of Forests. Dr Vinaya Jangale, a wildlife veterinarian for SGNP, said there were no major external injuries, "but his chest region had developed fractures and his brain was damaged". Ajoba had been rescued in April, 2009 from a well in Takli Dhokeshwar village, not too far from Pune. In the first week of May, when he was declared fully fit, he was fitted with the tracking device and released at Malshej Ghat, 80 km from where he had been found. Over the next 78 days, a GSM/GPS tracker gave a thrilling pug-by-pug account of wherever he was roaming: through the hilly Ratangarh area, the busy Mumbai-Agra Highway, the rail tracks near Kasara station, the Wada village near Dahanu, and the Vasai industrial area. On the fifth week of his journey, Ajoba reached the forests of Nagla Block in SGNP, leaving his pug marks all over the place until July 17, when his collar began to malfunction, and no more readings could be recorded. Wildlife biologist Atreya, who led this first-of-its-kind project in Maharashtra, said she named the wildcat Ajoba because he had seemed gentle and wise. "When he was rescued from the well at Alephata near Pune-Nashik Highway, the vet and I thought he was a very mild-mannered leopard despite weighing 63 kgs. Once he went off the radar, we always wondered where he might be. We were hoping he would appear in our camera traps put up for studying leopards in Mumbai. Then, late last night, forest officials called asking for his chip number. Sure enough, it was him."

AJOBA TIMELINE

APRIL, 2009: Full grown male leopard rescued from a well in a village near the Pune-Nashik Highway

MAY 1, 2009: Fitted with a radio collar and released at Malshej Ghats

MAY-JULY, 2009: Tracked crossing tracks, highways, and pockets of civilisation, swimming across the Vasai creek, and entering one of the main areas of SGNP

JULY 17, 2009: No reading from collar as tracking device malfunctioned

DECEMBER 1, 2011: Killed in an accident with a heavy vehicle on NH 8

First view

The Hollywood films released in India before the US
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Lion King (in 3D released a month before its US release)
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Somewhere in Srinagar....

A boatman rows amid fog on the partially frozen Dal Lake in Srinagar.

Somewhere off the Odisha coast....

Nuclear capable Agni-I strategic ballistic missile, with a strike range of 700 km, being test-fired at Wheeler Island off Odisha coast.

Karnataka's agri push

Karnataka’s effort to revitalize its agricultural sector with money and technology from business has borne fruit. On the first day of the Global Agri-business and Food Processing Summit 2011, chief minister D V Sadananda Gowda announced that MoUs for around 30 investment proposals worth over Rs 50,000 crore have been signed. The event, the first such in Karnataka – indeed, the first in the country – has brought investment commitments into agri-business projects, post-harvest infrastructure, agri-industrial clusters, food processing and an agri corridor of excellence. The biggest commitments came from SREI Infrastructure Finance (Rs 15,000 crore), Wadhawan Mega Infrastructure (Rs 10,000 crore), Welspun Infratech (Rs 5,000 crore), and Marg (Rs 4,000 crore). Anand Mahindra, vicechairman and MD of Mahindra & Mahindra, said the event showed that Karnataka is seeing a quiet revolution. “The business opportunities are tremendous as the Karnataka government is working in a spirit of collaboration and a positive mindset of partnering the private sector.” However, farmers — who Gowda called the centre point of the initiative — appeared unconvinced about the benefits of the programme. Several farmer groups protested outside the venue of the summit, decrying what they called corporatization of agriculture. They said farmers’ livelihoods are being sacrificed for the benefit of corporates. A number of farmers were taken into preventive custody and later released.

iLokSabha

Parliament may be in a state of paralysis these days but it has not deterred the authorities from taking a digital leap of faith. Aiming to make its office paperless and the members tech-savvy, the Lok Sabha secretariat has sanctioned Rs 50,000 for each member to buy an iPad. “We are encouraging MPs to use iPads. This would save a lot of paper,” Lok Sabha secretary general T K Vishwanathan said. Officials said the MPs can buy either Apple iPads or Android-based Samsung Galaxy Tabs. Following a decision to this effect by the Lok Sabha committee on paperless office, the lower house secretariat has also held a familiarization drive for the MPs. According to officials, they send daily notices, emails, questions and answers and details of House proceedings to the MPs in printed format.The paper used for such communication can be saved if the MPs start checking out this information in a digital format using iPads, they said. “It is easier to retrieve and rearrange information in a digital format,” said Vishwanathan. As part of the digital drive, the Lok Sabha secretariat has already reduced printing of many reports tabled in the House and has instead started uploading them on the official website.

Somewhere in Gujarat....

Insulate high tension cables or put them underground when they run close to the breeding grounds of the migratory Greater Flamingos in the Khadir region of Kutch. The state forest and environment department issued this order to the Gujarat Energy Transmission Company (Getco) on Thursday after it was reported that 400 flamingos had been killed here in the past 10 days because they came in contact with the cables. Principal secretary for forests and environment SK Nanda said, “Getco will have to complete the work by September next year, before a new batch of flamingos arrives.” He has also asked senior forest officers to identify other such sites in the state where the birds may be in danger. “We will ensure the cables are laid underground at all sites used by the flamingos.” The officials have already identified an eight km stretch in Khadir where the maximum birds have been killed. The flamingoes may have been startled by a passing vehicle or by the attack of a predatory bird and, in panic, flown straight into the high tension cables which may be difficult to see in the dark. Gujarat's principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife) S K Goyal held a series of meetings with Getco officials to find ways to immediately reduce the ‘bird-hits’. Surinder Kumar Negi, Getco’s managing director, said, “We are sending a team of experts to the area to find a solution.” Till the cables are put underground, Getco will cover them with reflector tape which will shine at night and hopefully keep the birds at bay. In June this year, a large number of flamingos were killed in similar fashion in Bhavnagar and had become easy fodder for stray dogs.