Biopiracy
taking place in Nagaland
KOHIMA, May 2: As the spring
begins, one finds orchids, including
endangered and endemic species, being
sold at different points along the
Kohima-Dimapur sector of national highway
in Nagaland.
Rampant
bio-piracy is taking place in the state
with orchids and medicinal herbs being
smuggled out with little being done to
stop it.
Such
plants as also bark are being taken away
by pharmaceutical companies through
middlemen who engage local people to
collect naturally grown species for
paltry sums, Thomas Rengma, media
secretary of Peoples Group, a Naga
environment NGO said.
"Bio-piracy
is something which many of us are not
aware of even though it is taking place
under our very noses," he said.
He said
sheer ignorance about benefits to be
accrued by the people if formal business
in medicinal plants and herbs is
undertaken has aggravated bio-piracy in
the state.
Some years
ago panax ginseng and pseudo ginseng, the
local species of ginseng which have high
demand in international markets, have
been almost been completely wiped out
from the wilds of Nagaland, Rengma said.
Ginseng,
sold in packs both raw and powdered, is
believed to be a cure for all kinds of
ailments by people in south-east Asian
countries, he said.
Similar is
the case for taxus baccata and cephallu
taxus, found in the wilds of Nagaland and
Arunachal Pradesh, which are used in
western countries for making medicines to
cure cancer, he said.
These
plants are being smuggled out to
neighbouring Myanmar in truckloads from
Kohima and Phek districts but none
bothers here about such bio-piracy,
Rengma, an environment
writer-cum-activist regretted.
The latest
medicinal plant to fall prey to
bio-piracy is paris cordifolia, a
poisonous herb used for manufacturing
high value drugs.
It
generally grows during summer under the
shade of woods and spotting it is a bit
difficult.
Although
it generally bears four leaves and is
called quadrifolia in the West, the
Nagaland variety has six leaves that
means, a single stem can give more
products, and so demand is high, he
pointed out.
This plant
is now extensively used for homeopathic
medicines for curing headache, chronic
respiratory and bronchial infections.
Rengma
said local Myanmar drugs companies have
now engaged middlemen to collect
cordifolia from Kohima and Phek districts
after it was completely wiped out from
the hills of Manipur.
The herbs
are taken to Moreh on the Manipur-Myanmar
border trade point on trucks on way to
the neighbouring country.
Although
there exists a medicinal board under the
state forest department hardly any
enforcement is done to check rampant
bio-piracy in the state because of
negligence of sheer ignorance, said a
senior journalist.
Under
Horticulture Technology Mission (HTM),
the Nagaland Government, of late, has
encouraged villagers to grow taxus
baccati because a kg of dry leaves of the
plant fetches more than Rupees one lakh
in the Indian market.
At a
recent consultation between
representatives of Naga tribal councils
and forest officials on forest
conservation here, some NGO leaders asked
the department to strictly check the
rampant practice of collecting orchids
from natural habitats for sale in
markets.
They also
asked the forest officials to strictly
enforce a ban on sale of wild animals in
the markets and regretted that heir are
politicians and bureaucrats.
Village
councils in Nagaland, however, have
restricted hunting and imposed fines for
killing wild animals within their
jurisdictions, particularly during the
breeding seasons. (PTI)
HP
Govt restrained from signing pre-
implementation
agreement
SHIMLA, May 2: The Himachal
Pradesh High Court has asked the State
Government not to sign pre-implementation
agreement (PIA) for two mega projects
with Netherlands-based Brakel Corporation
till May 14.
The orders
were passed by the court yesterday after
the company failed to pay the highest
upfront money for being allotted to Jangi
Thopan and Thopan Powari (960MW) hydro
projects.
The
projects were offered to Brakel company
through international competitive bidding
in December 2006 on the condition that
the company which offered the highest
upfront would be handed the same.
The
company had to pay 50 per cent of the
upfront money to the Government before
the signing of the MoU.
However,
following the company_s failure to pay
the upfront money on time, a rival
bidding company had taken up the matter
to court, which asked the Government not
to sign the PIA with the company till May
14 the next date of hearing.
Earlier,
Brakel company agreed to meet all the
five terms laid down by the Government
for withdrawal of its show-cause notice
and sign the PIA after the State
Government issued a show-cause notice to
it and proposed cancellation of the
project.
Besides,
paying a sum of Rs 173 crore as upfront
money for the projects, it had also
deposited a sum of Rs 20.56 crore as
interest for the period it had not
deposited the money.
The
company also agreed to all Government
terms laid down by the Cabinet for
signing of the PIA and requested the
Government to invite it to sign the
PIA.(UNI)
India
should not play direct role in SL
affairs, says Swamy
CHENNAI, May 2: Janata
Party today said India should not play
any direct role in Sri Lankan affairs
till the Island Government hand over LTTE
leaders wanted in Rajiv Gandhi
assassination case to New Delhi.
"If
at all India had to intervene in Sri
Lankan affairs, the island government
must capture LTTE leader V Prabakaran and
its intelligence chief Pottu Amman to
face trial in the Rajiv Gandhi
Assassination case," party president
Subramanian Swamy told reporters here.
"Only
if these conditions were fulfilled, India
should intervene," he said reacting
to a recent unanimous resolution adopted
by Tamil Nadu Assembly asking the Centre
to "come forward to organise
meaningful talks to find proper
solution" to end the conflict in Sri
Lanka.
The BJP
President Rajnath Singh during his recent
visit to the state also endorsed the
calls for Indian role to work out a
negotiated settlement to end the ethnic
conflict.
Swamy also
said he would implead himself in the
petition filed by Nalini Murugan,
convicted in the Rajiv Gandhi
Assassination case, to oppose her plea
seeking premature release.
He said
the remission of imprisonment, sought by
her, could not be considered at all as
she had already been given remission of
sentence from capital punishment to life
imprisonment. As per law, prisoners could
get only one remission, he said.
He also
said Union Shipping Minister T R Baalu
should resign from the union cabinet
following allegations that he tried to
influence the Petroleum Ministry to seek
favours for the companies owned by his
relatives. (PTI)
Tiger
poaching attempted in Corbett National
Park
NEW DELHI, May 2: An attempt
was made to kill at least three tigers in
the Corbett National Park recently.
However,
one of the culprits was caught by the
Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) and
the Park authorities.
On
receiving information about the dubious
movements of a person from the park
authorities, the WCCB detained him.
He had
entered the Corbett National Park and
assumed the identity of a beggar to
survey the area for the presence of the
tiger. He was accompanied by two more
people, who managed to escape.
Questioning
of the person led the authorities to the
discovery of tools for trapping at least
three tigers, nets, a large quantity of
dry provisions, medicines, nine mobile
handsets and several local contacts. The
seizure indicated the detained person was
a professional in Wildlife Crime.
The joint
efforts of Corbett National Park
Officials, Chief Wildlife Warden,
Uttarakhand, Police Authority,
Uttarakhand, and the WCCB made this
detention possible, an official release
said here.
The Park
Authorities were carrying out further
investigations. The WCCB had been working
out with the Park Authorities to step up
additional measures for the Park security
and protection. (UNI)
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