No Naxals, yet forest cover down

By U Sudhakar Reddy

Contradicting the claims of the Centre which blame the Naxals for the loss of forest cover, the latest report of the AP forest department says that around 130 sq. km. of forests have vanished in a year.

The state report says that the loss of forest cover is due to encroachments. “Maoists and other Naxal groups have been cleared out of the state’s forests. They have been restricted to the state’s borders with Odisha and Chhattisg-arh. The forest cover is declining though there are no naxals,” said a forest official.

The State of Forest report, 2011 says that there is degradation of forests from higher canopy density class to a lower density in 130.95 sq. km in a year. The report claims that a positive change has been seen in 23.64 sq km in the same period. “By removing the positive cover, the loss is fixed at 104.97 sq. km. Out of this, 56.73 sq. km. is lost due to fresh encroachments and balance 48.24 sq. km. due to plantations, harvesting of matured plantations and to some extent diversion of forest land for non-forestry purposes. The net loss of forest cover during one year is 56.73 sq. km, mainly due to encroachment

Bt brinjal in bio-piracy row

By U Sudhakar Reddy

The controversy surrounding Bt brinjal, the first genetically modified food crop developed in India, has turned murkier with the National Biodiversity Authority planning to launch prosecution against a seed company for alleged bio-piracy. The National Bio-diversity Authority, which regulates matters pertaining to biodiversity protection, conservation and use in India, will lodge a complaint against the alleged violators of the Biological Diversity Act for “bio-piracy in promoting Bt brinjal”.

The commercial launch of Bt brinjal has already been kept in abeyance by the Central government following concerns over health, biological and other issues. According to information provided to the Environment Support Group (ESG) in response to a Right to Information query, the NBA admitted that the “matter was under advanced stage of lodging a complaint”. The filing of the complaint against this serious environmental crime assumes launching of criminal prosecution against the violators.

Leo F. Saldanha, coordinator/trustee of the Environment Support Group had filed a complaint accusing, the world’s largest agritech company, Monsanto, along with its Indian partner, Mahyco, and several government institutions, of accessing over 16 varieties of brinjal endemic to India in comprehensive violation of the Biological Diversity Act while promoting the commercial release of transgenic Bt brinjal.

Man kicks wife to death allegedly for delivering baby girl

Written by J Sam Daniel Stalin, Edited by Samira Shaikh | Updated: July 27, 2012 13:46 IST

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Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu): In what appears to be a case of gender bias, a young woman in Coimbatore was killed by her husband allegedly for giving birth to a baby girl for the second time. 

According to the victim's family members, twenty-year-old Nagadevi delivered a girl baby 40 days ago. This allegedly resulted in her daily harassment by her husband, Pandiarajan, a driver. 

The couple, who reportedly fell in love and married, already have a one-year-old girl child; but the man wanted a baby boy. On Wednesday, the husband, who is known to be an alcoholic, allegedly kicked the young mother in her stomach. The injury resulted in bleeding and she died in hospital yesterday. 

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Police have arrested her husband of murder and her mother-in-law on charges of abetting murder. The new born girl and her sister Aishwarya are now under the care of their aunt Manjula Devi. 

The family says they would fight for justice. Manjula says, "This has happened when Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has launched the cradle baby scheme to save the girl child. We need justice". 
  

Study finds Lead in Patancheru battery units affect male fertility

U Sudhakar Reddy
Toxicology lab of Osmania University College for Women study on the 
semen mobility of workers at Patancheru battery manufacturing units found that lead is 
causing infertility among them. Researchers say Lead compound interferes with the 
testicular function, inducing its activity and also by exerting its effect on sperm DNA, 
leading to fragmentation. Study also found that antioxidant treatment with Vitamin C may 
offer   protection against the DNA damage, which is a major cause of male infertility.
The research paper was titled ”Clinical Relevance of Vitamin C Among Lead-Exposed 
Infertile Men” Ms K Vani , M Kurakula , Syed R and Alharbi K was published by National 
Centre for Biotechnology Information of US.

In the study the researchers targeted 120 male workers occupationally exposed to lead 
from a battery-manufacturing industry situated at the Patancheru industrial area in the 
city outskirts to to see the impact of lead on testicular dysfunction with reference to 
infertility.
“Further, the study was designed to see effect of an antioxidant in the form of vitamin 
C, administered at the dose of 1000 mg per day for five consecutive days in a week for 3 
months,”
Researchers collected the blood samples and semen samples were collected from 120 men in 
the study group exposed to lead, and 120 healthy human beings, who have no history of 
exposures to chemicals, with their consent. The workers are aged from 25 to 55 years. The 
conventional semen analysis and the measure of sperm DNA fragmentation were done. After 
vitamin C administration industrial workers showed increased in sperm mobility and total 
count and decreased in abnormal sperms.

Deccani Breed sheep 'Gongodi's are back, locals act as gene keepers

U Sudhakar Reddy
The threatened species of Deccani breed sheep conservation is taken 
up as a community initiative on scientific basis in the State where local shepherds are 
acting as gene keepers. Deccani Breed was known for its black wool and its gene pool has 
been affected by cross breeding with various other indigenous.  With the revival efforts 
of the pure breed in Medak district in the State and in Maharasthra the  making of 
traditional 'gongadi'(blanket) with the deccani sheep wool is again catching up and city  
residents showing interest to buy the small size Gognadis.
The deccan breed is found in four states in AP, Karnataka, Maharasthra and parts of North 
Tamilnadu in the Deccan plateau. Ms. S Ashalatha a conservationist from an organization 
Anthra working in Medak says ,”shepherds selected the breed over the years for its 
tolerance to drought, fodder and water shortages, capacity to migrate long distances and 
ability to endure large variations in diurnal temperatures. The wool has traditionally 
been spun into yarn by women and woven by men into blankets known as gongadi. Now with 
city residents are asking for small sized Gongadis so that they can use them 
conveniently. The market for the special wool blankets of Deccani sheep is now showing a 
positive sign,”
The Deccani breed was losing its traits as it was rapidly out-crossed with other 
non-wool, primarily, meat-sheep breeds like the Red Nellore. The coarse wool was out the 
market after it was flooded with cheaper imported wool products. AP has been loosing 
several indigenous live stock like Ongole bull which is now popular as Brahman bull in 
America and Europe and Malaysia.
 According veterinary scientist and Anthra director Ms Sagari R Ramdas the collapse of 
the local wool market was a consequence of imports of cheap wool from Australia and 
Europe. This has also resulted in loss of Deccani breed.,
The shepherds are trained to identify the best breed among the local livestock and they 
use them for  breeding purpose. Breeding festivals are also conducted for Deccan breed 
sheep to bring back the pure breed again.
 Ms. Sagari Ramdas says,” we are mobilising local communities to conserve the local 
Deccani sheep breed and Osmanabadi goat breed, native to the Deccan plateau. In Andhra 
Pradesh, about 400 pastoralist and agro-pastoralist families spread across 24 villages in 
Hathnura, Jinnaram, Narasapur, Narayankhed and Shivampet mandals of Medak district are 
involved in the project.  It revealed that Hathnura, Jinnaram, Narasapur, Shivampet along 
with Veldurthy in Medak district are amongst the handful of remaining geographic 
locations in the state which continue to have significant numbers  of the total sheep 
population of ‘pure Deccani breed population’.
Special exhibitions are being conducted in the city to ensure that a market is available 
for the sale of gongodis. K Rajini a lecturer resident of Banjara Hills says ,"these wool 
blankets are good and keep warm. The imported ones and those available now are not that 
efficient,"