No bird ‘dropping’ for GIB this year!

Numbers of Great Indian Bustard in state have increased compared to 2010. Bird-lovers and authorities relieved, but vow to continue efforts

    The move to denotify around 80 per cent of the Great Indian Bustard (GIB) sanctuary in Nannaj district in Solapur, in order to protect the numbers of the bird seems to have worked for the state government. A bird census carried out by the Great Indian Bustard Foundation (GIBF) has brought out encouraging results for the bird, declared ’critically endangered’ in February this year.
    However, bird-lovers and forest department officials are cautious in their reactions, acknowledging that fears of the GIB’s extinction haven’t been allayed completely.
    The GIB census is carried out in September each year, during the breeding season of the bird. The census was carried out in conjunction with the forest department and locals in the GIB sanctuary in Nannaj and Karmala districts and the Rehekuri sanctuary in Ahmednagar district.
    Over 100 bird watchers from all over the state participated in the census, which was carried out simultaneously at 38 points, from 6am to 6pm on Sunday.

    The census claims to have spotted ten females and three males of the species in the Nannaj section of the sanctuary.
    The results give some hope for the bustard’s survival, especially when compared to results in 2010 which found only three males and six females.
    A look at the trajectory of bustard spottings through the last few years however, tells a different story, as 2011’s results are marginally better since last year, but a marked dip from census results before 2010.
    Dr Pramod Patil, founder president of GIB Foundation, told Pune Mirror, “The results have shown that the movement of GIB has increased in this area. But that it was found only in Nannaj area shows that other parts of the sanctuaries are to be watched carefully.”
    Mirror had reported on August 1 on how environmentalists and bird-lovers were striving to keep the GIB from extinction.
    The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) had declared the GIB as 'critically endagered' , February this year.
    In a bid to encourage locals and boost conservation efforts for the bird, the state government had denotified about 80 per cent of the area from sanctuary.
    The move seems to have had a positive effect, if census results are to be believed.
    M K Rao, Chief Conservator of Forests, however, explained, “It is not the numbers which are important. We were successful in conserving the habitats of GIB. The situation last year, compared to this year, was different. Yet the results of this year’s bird count are encouraging for us to keep efforts going on.” 

THE SCHOOL BUS STOPS

Since a week now, Delhi Public School has been closed citing a strike by its bus drivers, forcing 3,000 students to stay at home. Parents say closing the school should have been last option

    Since five days, Maj (retd) Matthew Oommen has been making an unaccustomed journey every morning to the gates of the Delhi Public School in Mohammadwadi to find out if and when the school will reopen. Since September 16, school authorities have shut down saying the school bus drivers are on strike.
    When he returns home without any definite information, Oommen’s daughter asks him why she is at home while the neighbourhood kids go to school everyday. He has no answer, he says, because the school authorities keep telling him to check the school website for further information.
    Like the parents of 2,999 students who attend DPS, Oommen too has just got an SMS from the school on Thursday asking them not to send their wards on account of the strike. Besides, of course, a similar message posted on the school website. 

    “I am willing to take my daughter to school on my own till the strike is resolved, but school authorities haven’t given me that option. I am feeling sad. It is supposed to be the best school in Pune. The school’s adamant stand against its bus drivers is causing serious hardship to parents as well as school children,” he told Pune Mirror.
    Oommen added: “Like many parents, I go to the school everyday but unfortunately, nobody is there to guide the parents. My daughter keeps asking me when school will reopen. She sees our neigbour’s children going to school everyday. I just don’t have words to tell her what is happening. The school authorities have a standard reply: log on to the website and find out details. Who will visit the website everyday? They ask children to log on as well. How can small children log on to the website?”
    “I have started getting a feeling that the money we are spending on quality education here is not coming back. Who is going to account for the loss? Closing down the school should have been the last resort. The school should follow the highest standards of morality and ethics and live upto its brand image. Autorities should have burnt the midnight oil and not slept over such a basic problem. Can anyone imagine a school remaining closed for five days?” he said.
    He also pointed to parents’ reluctance in speaking up. “If parents speak up they are threatened that their ward would be asked to leave school,” Oommen said.
    When contacted, DPS driver Prasad More said, “We are working for the school since eight years. Rising prices have impacted us tremendously. We can’t meet household expenses with the current salaries. New drivers have a take home salary of Rs 6,000 while the seniors have Rs 8,500. We had submitted a charter of our demands through a memorandum two months ago, but the school management has not taken a decision till date. We conducted a meeting and decided to go on strike. It was a collective decision that we will go to work but not drive. We went to the gate but found it closed to us, with policeman on guard. Since that day, we have been denied entry. There are 52 drivers for the 26 school buses besides other staff who have struck work for their legitimate demands of increase in salaries,” he said.
    The school management has outsourced drivers employment to Satyasai Human Resource Solutions. Its spokesperson, Sumati Arora, said, “The drivers have been given increments from time to time but still they want a hike, which cannot be granted as per contractual obligations. Drivers who are employed with us for the past eight years earn Rs 13,000. We cannot give them more. I need to talk to the school management before providing further details to the media,” she added.
    The parental circular for the primary school stated that the school shall remain closed on Tuesday as well. “We plan to begin regular classes from Wednesday (September 21). However, the changed schedule for classes as well as transport will be intimated through a circular to be uploaded on our website at 5:00 pm on Tuesday. Our faculty has made some interesting worksheets for the children of Nursery to Class III, so that this unscheduled absence from school does not result in boredom. The students can work on these exercises, which are based on the respective theme for each class,” the circular stated.
    School principal Neelam Chakrabarty in a special circular posted on the school website on Thursday stated that the discontent amongst the drivers was being orchestrated by “some outsiders”. “Needless to say, there will always be such outsiders who will have an axe to grind against a successful institution and toward this end will foment trouble but remain behind the scene themselves,” she stated.
    Chakrabarty could not be contacted despite repeated attempts by Mirror. School administrator Col (retd) Sudheer Sinha could not contacted.