Capturing currents

  Digital Discourse Foundation  It is too early to applaud the success in relocating the first batch of Namibian cheetahs to the Kuno Palpur National Park in Northwest Madhya Pradesh where it adjoins the buffer zone for the migration of wildlife in nearby Ranthambore Tiger Reserve. Only political green horns, the ecologically illiterate and the eulogizing tribes will commend the relocation of these cheetahs. On paper, all the boxes are ticked favourably for the Namibian cheetah relocation. They will be reintroduced in batches, first enclosed in protected enclosures for acclimatization, introduced to prey, monitored and satellite tracked etc. Those singing eulogies may even cite the precedent of relocation and reintroduction of tigers into Sariska after poachers slaughtered 22 tigers in the premier tiger reserve. Let’s face facts. Sensitive fragile creatures like cheetahs can suffer serious injuries to life and limb when threatened. Namibian cheetahs thrived on grassla...

  Digital Discourse Foundation   When Karnataka Chief Minister Mr. Basavaraj Bommai blamed the previous Congress governments of the State for the state of urban floods currently ravaging the new residential suburbs in Bangalore, it betrayed his complete ignorance, to say the least. The Chief Minister seemed to lack basic comprehension of the issues, to put it mildly.   Urban floods, be it in Mumbai 2005, Jammu in September 2014, Chennai 2015 or Bangalore 2022 they are all because of bad planning and inequitable urban development. Add Climate Change, El Nino Beziehungsweise La Nina, politically illusory cyclone database, and connivance of the corrupted regime, then the complexity escapes the intellectual horizons of the political green horns completely. Undoubtedly the urban floods in Bangalore are a cumulative impact of bad urban planning, unplanned vertical growth, and disdain for environmental laws and civic laws. It reflects poorly on the state of administrat...

  The assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Mr. Shinzo Abe reiterates the eternal and universal relevance and immortal significance of the Gandhian thought of Ahimsa or non violence. Given that Mr. Abe had gracefully relinquished office because of ill health as against being deposed like it is happening in Sri Lanka right now, Abe indeed epitomized the faith the Japanese have in democratic credentials: this, despite Japan being demilitarized and impounded as punishment for war mongering in the II nd World War. Again, thanks to the war reparations Japan was disallowed to train and maintain an army or armed forces. This has possibly manifested as lack of training and consequently there was a very expensive lack of security for the former Prime Minister. To pay the ultimate prize for his forefathers’ errors is alas a matter of cruel destiny, very cruel indeed. What is the point of human evolution, one wonders, if all it takes to dispute someone’s thought is a weapon… In t...

ಮಾಲಿನಿ ಶಂಕರ್,  ಡಿಜಿಟಲ್ ಡಿಸ್ಕೋರ್ಸ್ ಫೌಂಡೇಶನ್ ದಕ್ಷಿಣ-ಪಶ್ಚಿಮ ಆಂಧ್ರಪ್ರದೇಶದ ಅನಂತಪುರ ಜಿಲ್ಲೆಯು ದೀರ್ಘಕಾಲ ಬರ ಮತ್ತು ಮರುಭೂಮಿಯನ್ನು ಅನುಭವಿಸಿದೆಯಾದರೂ, ಅದರ ಚೇತರಿಕೆ ಈಗ ಅಂತರ್ಜಲ ಮಟ್ಟದಲ್ಲಿ ಹೆಚ್ಚಳವನ್ನು ತೋರಿಸುತ್ತದೆ. ಮರುಭೂಮಿೀಕರಣ ಪ್ರಕ್ರಿಯೆಯು ತೀವ್ರವಾದ ತೇವಾಂಶದ ಒತ್ತಡ, ಅಂತರ್ಜಲದ ಕುಸಿತ ಮತ್ತು ನೀರು ಮತ್ತು ನೈರ್ಮಲ್ಯ, ಅಪೌಷ್ಟಿಕತೆ, ಕ್ಷಾಮ ಮತ್ತು ಬೆಳೆ ನಷ್ಟದಲ್ಲಿ ವ್ಯಕ್ತವಾಗಿದೆ. ಇದು ಅಂತರ್ಜಲ ಮಟ್ಟದೊಂದಿಗೆ ಮಾನವ ಅಭಿವೃದ್ಧಿ ಸೂಚ್ಯಂಕವನ್ನು ಕುಸಿಯಿತು! ಡಾ. ಮಲ್ಲಾ ರೆಡ್ಡಿ ಡೈರೆಕ್ಟರ್ ಆಫ್ ಅಸಿಯಾನ್ ಫ್ರಾಟೆರ್ನಾ ಎಕಾಲಜಿ ಸೆಂಟರ್  Accion Fraterna Ecology Centre (AFEC) (AFEC) ಡಿಜಿಟಲ್ ಡಿಸ್ಕೋರ್ಸ್ ಫೌಂಡೇಶನ್‌ಗೆ "ಮರುಭೂಮಿೀಕರಣವು ಬೆಳೆಗಳ ನಷ್ಟ, ಹಸಿರು, ಜೀವನ ವ್ಯವಸ್ಥೆಗಳು, ಪಕ್ಷಿ ಮತ್ತು ಪ್ರಾಣಿಗಳ ನಷ್ಟದಲ್ಲಿ ಪ್ರಕಟವಾಗಿದೆ ... ಇಡೀ ಪರಿಸರ ವ್ಯವಸ್ಥೆಯು ನಾಶವಾಯಿತು, ಪರಿಸರ ವ್ಯವಸ್ಥೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಯಾವುದೇ ಜೀವವಿಲ್ಲ" . ಆದರೆ ರಾಜ್ಯ ಸರ್ಕಾರ ಮತ್ತು ಸರ್ಕಾರೇತರ ಸಂಸ್ಥೆಗಳ ಪ್ರಯತ್ನ ಕೊನೆಗೂ ಫಲ ನೀಡಿದೆ. 1990 ರ ವೇಳೆಗೆ ಅನಂತಪುರದ ಕೆಲವು ಭಾಗಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಅಂತರ್ಜಲದ ಮಟ್ಟವು ನೆಲದಿಂದ ಸುಮಾರು 300 ಮೀಟರ್‌ಗಳಷ್ಟು (900 ಅಡಿ) ಕ್ಷೀಣಿಸಿತ್ತು. ಇಂದು, ಜಲಾನಯನ ಪ್ರದೇಶಗಳನ್ನು ಹೆಚ್ಚಿಸುವಲ್ಲಿ ಪಾಲುದಾರರಾಗಿರುವ ರೈತರು - “ಕೃಷಿ ಪರಿಸರ ಮಧ್ಯಸ್ಥಿಕೆಗಳು” ಇಂದು ಮಳೆಯ ...