Ecological Heritage and Sacred Sites of India

  by  Aishwarya Mohanty Banner image : A women’s self help group (SHG) from the Badasialini village display two types of millet – ragi (left) and sorghum (right). Photo by Aishwarya Mohanty. Millets are being revived in the state of Odisha, on a large scale under its flagship Odisha Millets Mission. Millets grow well in dry zones as rain-fed crops and are considered low-duty crops. The revival is helping women farmers in the tribal districts of the state to enhance their livelihood opportunities and become financially independent. In Mayurbhanj, the third most populous district in Odisha, the number of women farmers involved in millet cultivation has gone up by 104 percent since 2019. Kalpana Sethi, 30, exuberantly shows around her two-acre land, which was once a wasteland but now aids in her children’s education. Situated on a moderate slope, in the Bisoi village of Mayurbhanj district in Odisha, the land was used for cattle grazing until two

  A cheetah after being released inside a special enclosure of the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh, Saturday on September 17, 2022. | Photo Credit: PTI When cheetahs run again in Kuno National Park, the grassland ecosystem will be restored, biodiversity will increase further, the Prime Minister said When cheetahs run again in Kuno National Park, the grassland ecosystem will be restored, biodiversity will increase further, the Prime Minister said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 17 released  cheetahs flown in from Namibia  into special enclosure in Kuno National Park of Madhya Pradesh, as part of the programme to reintroduce the feline in India seven decades after it was declared extinct in the country. “Decades ago, the age-old link of biodiversity that was broken, had become extinct, today we have a chance to reconnect it,” the Prime Minister said in a recorded address. “Today the cheetah has returned to the soil of India,” he added. “I would also say that along with t

  They will be released on PM’s birthday at Kuno National Park Source:  The Hindu Chennai, 13/09/2022, pg.11.

  ‘Special bird’: Indian aircraft lands in Namibia to bring home big cats. A group of eight cheetahs, comprising five females and three males, will first reach Jaipur in Rajasthan on Sept. 17, and then make another hour's journey to Kuno National Park in MP. Source:Hindusthan Times

  Source:  The Indian Express New Delhi, 09/09/2022, pg.9.

  Source:  The Indian Express New Delhi, 07/09/2022, pg.9.

  Sanjeevani – from legend to cultivation at Himalayas Source:  The New Indian Express Chennai, 04/09/2022, pg.9.

  Effecting the ban on single-use plastics What are single-use plastics and how do they impact the environment? What are the amended rules and are alternatives available?   Source:  The Hindu Chennai, 02/09/2022.

                                            Protecting shrinking sacred groves   Source:  The Times of India Chennai, 30/08/2022, pg.6.