News Coverage

27-JUL-11
Gangtok: Cho-Lhamu lake, located over 18,000 feet above sea level in North Sikkim, has been declared the highest lake in the country after a survey conducted by the Central Government. The Wetland Atlas, prepared by the Ministry of Environment and Forest, has stated that Cho-Lhamu is the highest lake in the country and the sixth highest lake in the world, State Tourism Minister Bhim Dhungel said here. The Teesta river, stated to be the lifeline of Sikkim, has its origin in Cho-Lhamu lake, located near the Donkiala Pass and only about five km from the Indo-China border. Dhungel said the recognition for Cho-Lhamu lake would boost the tourism industry.

27-JUL-11

Cochin: A bi-weekly passenger-cum-ferry service between Cochin and Male (Maldives) will start soon. The ferry service is to be run by a private operator but facilities on either port of call would be arranged by the concerned ports.

Request for Proposal (RFP) documents with possible terms and conditions for the service are to be considered and approved by the nodal Ministries of both the countries. Ministry of Shipping, Government of India and the Ministry of Transport and Communication, Government of Male will initiate work on getting all necessary clearances to operational the service at an early date.

Pending finalization of the RFP, the two sides will invite Expressions of Interests (EoI) from the interested private parties for starting the ferry service. Shipping Corporation of India under the Ministry of Shipping will assist on the technical side in operationalising the service.


This was agreed upon at the senior official level meeting between India and Maldives to improve bilateral maritime cooperation. The Indian delegation was led by Mr. K. Mohandas, Secretary, Shipping and the Maldivian side was led by Mr. Mohamed Latheef, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Transport and Communication, Government of Maldives.

New Delhi: Boeing 787, popularly known as “Dreamliner' and dubbed the world's most advanced passenger jetliner, touched down at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here while on a test flight. As the “Dreamliner' landed here and taxied to the parking bay, the aircraft was given a water cannon salute. Boeing 787, already delayed by three years, can operate non-stop ultra long haul routes up to 16,000 km with 250 passengers according to a newsitem in The Hindu.

State-owned Air India has ordered 27 Dreamliners and Jet Airways is the only other Indian carrier that has placed orders for 10 aircraft. Boeing 787, when pressed into service, will enable airlines to operate direct, non-stop flights to North America or Australia from any Indian city. Air India, which placed the order in 2005, expects the delivery of the first aircraft in October this year, followed by two in November and one more in December. Jet placed its order in 2007 and is likely to get the deliveries from 2014.

Boeing officials have said the first plane would be delivered to Air India in the fourth quarter of this year. The original delivery schedule was to have started in 2008. Coming in from Seattle via Tokyo, the Boeing 787, which is on a test-flight to those destinations where airlines have placed orders, will fly off to Mumbai on Thursday to continue its onward journey.

After Japanese airline All Nippon Airways, which is the launch customer and has ordered 50 Boeing 787 planes, Air India will be the second customer globally to receive the aircraft. Air India will begin training its pilots to fly this plane by next month, Boeing officials said.

 

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-newdelhi/article2225629.ece

TheSundarban is not all about tigers and tidal creeks . In fact,there could be much more to the mangrove forest than has so far been discovered, suggests research by the School of Oceanography, Jadavpur University. After a two year study,researchers from the school have chanced upon there varieties of algae which are rich in food value. One of them, ulva lactuca, was found as rich in protein as soyabin and a growth inducer, fit for human consumption. While studying the bio-diversity of the region the researchers found out that they were rich in vitamins and anti oxidants. None had  any toxic effect.

The algae - - Entromorpha Intenstinails, Ulva Lactuca and catenella Repens are already been cultivated in the Jharkhali Region of Sundarbans. While Enteromorpha is about to be marketed as fish food.

20-APR-12

A Mysterious cat has been captured outside of the core area of Sundarban mangrove forests during the camera trap exercise between January 23 and March 18 conducted by WWF-India and Bengal forest department in the South 24-Parganas . The camera trapped two tantalizing images of a never-before-seen cat along with 18 Bengal tigers. It is black in colour with a long tail yellow strip in whole body. It is bigger than a wild cat and smaller than a leopard. It could be another species altogether. It is great news for animal lovers and wild life enthusiasts.

Though it is yet to be clarifying about this new species, Forest official’s suspect it is a melanistic leopard-cat. Mr. Pradeep Vyas, director of Sundarbans Biosphere reserve Said, ”We have never seen any animal like this in Sundarbans.If it is indeed a melanistic or black-leopard cat, it is the first sighting in mangroves. Melanistic cats are rare but not new. They are generally spotted in the forest of north Bengal”. WWF-India’s Sundarbans chapter head Anurag Danda said that though, it looks like a black panther, the tail is very much like that of a fishing cat. International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) cat Specialist group will identify it and publish the name of the species in their journal cat news soon.