Indian law 'strangling' biodiversity research
T. V. Padma
5 February 2008
Source: SciDev.Net
[NEW DELHI] A group of Indian botanists say that the country's stringent biodiversity laws are stifling research.
In an article in the latest issue of Current Science (25 January), published by the Indian Academy of Sciences, the scientists say India's "draconian" rules on free exchange of biological samples could "totally isolate Indian biodiversity researchers and is akin to a self-imposed siege on scientists in the country".
India's biodiversity rules, established in 2002, do not permit Indian scientists to deposit their specimens in international museums and stipulate that specimens must be kept in selected national repositories.
The scientists, including K. D. Prathapan from Kerala Agriculture University and Priyadarsanan Dharma Rajan from the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment, Bangalore, say that while preventing biopiracy and commercial exploitation of biological resources is a legitimate concern, it is equally important to protect the interests of scientists engaged in fundamental research.
They add that fears that India's intellectual property rights might be compromised if the samples are used commercially are "baseless and irrational".
Quality research involves extensive collaboration among specialists and institutions across continents, argue Prathapan and colleagues. And in taxonomy, which involves classifying samples, accurate identification of a plant or animal often requires comparison with closely related specimens that may be present in different countries.
They further argue that depositing specimens in different international institutions would act as "an insurance against loss of specimens in India".
But M. Sanjappa, director of the Botanical Survey of India in Kolkata, told SciDev.Net that stringency is required to fight biopiracy in the country.
"The law itself need not be changed [for research]. Instead one can enter into memoranda of understanding with individual countries of scientific groups," Sanjappa says.
He says several Indian institutes are already engaged in the exchange of plant specimens with the international network of herbaria developed by the Vienna-based International Association of Plant Taxonomy.
The scientists hope the Indian government will follow the example of Brazil, which repealed its initially tough rules for biological specimens after protests by scientists (see New system to boost biodiversity access in Brazil).
Link to article in Current Science 
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Labels: ATREE, conservation, insect, kerala
Kerala Trip after Sabarimala
After the Sabarimala Pilgrim we visited two more places in Kerala, Adoor in Pattanathitta District and Attingal near Trivendrum. We visited a Rubber Estate in near Adoor. Where we got to see how Rubber sap is extracted from Trees and later processed into raw rubber sheets.
In the Rubber plantation, I observed few butterflies and Dragonflies and Damselflies.
After spending couple of hours there, we left for Attingal. In the evening we visited a beach in Varkala called Papanashani. It was a nice location with rock cliffs right next to sea. A well developed tourist place. Due to bad light conditions, I could not take any photographs there.
Next day morning we visited a nice temple premise of Sarkara in Chirayinkil. We could see afternoon procession after we finished darshana.
The temple premise was large, with several small temples around the main temple.
The entrance gate was spectacular too.
After that we went to yet another beach in Chirayinkil. This place is developing into a small port.
There is a scenic creek which has formed an Island.
There was a ferry transporting people across the creek to save distance.
Several fisher folks were busy working in creek as well as sea.
The sea water was clean and had a different greenish color.
The contrasting beach sand was adding to the color effect.
We also saw some brightly colored crabs and plants on the coast.
Houses on the banks were worth printing on picture postcards.
Some restoration work was going on one side of the beach
We interacted few fisher folks there.
Though we were not feeling like leaving, to catch the train back to Bangalore, we had to leave the beach.
Complete Album can be viewed
Here with more pictures.Labels: kerala, travel
Sabarimala Pilgrim
Dear All,
Just returned from Sabarimalai Pilgrim last evening. Here is a brief report.
I started along with two friends Manu and Ajith on 5th December evening bu bus for Adoor. Ajith's in laws say in Addor, where we performed Pooja and put the Mala for the pilgrim. We have to make a kit called Erumudi for it. This contains pooja material like Coconut, Rice, Haldi, Kumkum, Ghee etc. packed in a cloth bag to be held on head. We haired a Car and we three plus Ajith's Parnets-in-laws joined us. Most of the people were black shirt, black Lungi and black Pancha.
We reached the Pamba village, through which the Pumba river flows. We have to walk barefoot form this location about 6 km till the temple through forest. Facilities like drinking water and hotels are available. We started with a dip in the shallow river at about 3:30 pm.
The climb is steep in the beginning. The path is cemented till midway. Hot sun was making us tired, so we had some lemon soda on the way. Medicinal Hot Water was served free of charge on the way. And the volunteers serving the water were really polite and helping. Till midway the path of people going upwards and descending runs parallel. All the people keep on chanting "Swami Sharanam Ayyappa Sharanam" and some other rhyming slogans like we use for Ganesh festival.
After mid way, the slope was gradual, but the path is not cemented. So for people like me, who are not used to walking barefoot, it was bit difficult. Withing a kilometer distance, queue started. There was more rush due to security checking with metal detectors at several places. It took almost 4 hours for us to reach the temple premise through the queue.
The temple premise is beautiful. Initially we need to break a coconut from the Erumudi and then climb 18 steps. These 18 steps are very sacred. There are devasthana personnel to help people to climb and control crowd there. After that we have to take a round in long elevated gallery around the main temple and get the darshan. This time I got a very nice and peaceful darshan of Lord Ayyappa. After that we visited a series of temples in the premises, and performed pooja with Haladi, Bhasma etc.
In one temple, you do the Parikrama with a coconut rolling on the ground with your right hand. This was very interesting. After doing the ghree abhishekam, we went to get Prasad. We exchanges the packet of rice from Erumudi for rice and pickle was served on that. We also got some sweet rice. Looking at the long queues for Aravana Prasad, we dropped the plan and decided to return.
On return we had light dinner of Kanji and Tapioca and reached back Pamba at 12:00 in the night. The pilgrim was enjoyable due to nice Darsha of Lord.
I will write about the trivendrum tour soon.
Labels: kerala, sabaraimala, travel
Vijay Barve
