At a glance

Seer denies involvement

A seer, whose car was allegedly driven to a gathering of devotees triggering a stampede, told investigators that the vehicle he had travelled was not involved in the incident during the Kumbh Mela in Haridwar. The car accident and consequent stampede had left seven pilgrims killed and several others injured on the day of the last royal bath on April 14 and as per preliminary investigation the vehicle of Guru Pilot Baba had overshot the way triggering the mishap. State police quizzed the seer yesterday and he informed investigators that his car was not responsible for the accident, police said here. Appearing before the Haridwar Circle Officer (City) Pankaj Bhatt, Baba said his car neither hit pilgrims nor he had any knowledge about the car which actually caused the accident, police said. The stampede occurred on Birla Ghat Bridge area during a procession of Joona Akhara when the Sadhus and seers were going to take royal bath at Har-ki-Pauri. Baba's name figured in the preliminary investigations and police arrested Sudhir Kumar, the driver of the car, which caused accident. Baba also told the police that he did not know Kumar.

Satellite during Kumbh

For the first time in the history of Kumbh Mela, scientists used satellite data to arrive at an authentic figure of pilgrims taking dip in the Ganges at Haridwar - which was 1.66 crore on April 14. On the request of Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank, a team of 12 scientists of ISRO and state space centre took the help of satellite to count the number of pilgrims, an official statement said here. The scientists also documented the management of the huge crowd of pilgrims as well as the infrastructural facilities in the form of a report which would help in effective conduct of future Kumbh melas and other such big gatherings, it said. According to the report, 1.66 crore pilgrims took bath in the river on the day of fourth and last royal bath on April 14, 2010. Officials said that over five crore pilgrims took bath during the three-and-a-half-month-long Mahakumbh Mela which concluded on April 30.

Cow urine improves yield

Apiculturists in Uttarakhand are making use of cow urine to prevent bees from contacting microbial diseases during the rearing process. Researchers at the Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology in Pantnagar have taken to using cow urine extensively while breeding honeybees. "This is proving to be a sure-shot treatment for the honeybee rearing. Also, when one can get four percent increase in profits by the use of cow urine, what else does anyone want? Honeybee helps in the production and from the last two years, their population had decreased. Despite using medicines and pesticides, there was no increase in their population. The honeybee keepers are now totally depending upon cow urine," said Ruchira Tiwari, a researcher at the Govind Vallabh Agricultural University. In the course of rearing, bees are kept in fixed-frame boxes for better commercial extraction of honey, which makes them susceptible to microbial diseases during the process. The medicines used for killing the microbes have had a bad effect on the production of larvae but cow urine does not have such side-effects. "Medicines used to cost us a lot. The expenditure of medicines and other pesticides was very high. Cow urine is free and further, there is an increase in profit by three to four percent," said Puran Chandra Joshi, a beekeeper. An average bee colony yields about 10-15 kilograms of honey, which is produced by 20,000 to 60,000 bees. Bees being fast breeders lay as many as 800 to 3,000 eggs daily, which help breeders multiply their flock and yield without any expenditure. They also get beeswax as an additional by-product. Honey has numerous uses such as medicine, food and an ingredient in various compounds. It is also an excellent medium for vitamins.

19 more tigers killed

As many as 19 tigers were killed in the country in the first four months of this year, taking the number of tigers below the official figure of 1,411, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh informed the Lok Sabha. The highest mortality of three each was reported from Uttarakhand and Kerala, Ramesh said. The minister said that 66 tigers were killed in the country in 2009 while 31 were killed in 2008. Ramesh also apprised the house of the steps taken by his ministry for protection and conservation of tigers in the country. The Public Accounts Committee, in its report tabled in the Lok Sabha last week, had criticised the ministry for failing to take adequate measures for the preservation of tigers.

Badri-Kedar varsity

Sri Badrinath- Kedarnath temple committee, responsible for the management of two famous Hindu shrines, will set up an university here. A proposal in this regard was passed by the temple committee unanimously in a recent meeting, Temple Committee Chairman Anusuiya Prasad Bhatt today said, adding the proposal has been sent to the Uttarakhand government for its approval. The University, being christened as Badri-Kedar University, would be nestled in the Garhwal Himalayas and impart degrees in various religious subjects like Vedas, Purans, Brahm Nirupan, Srishti Vigyan, Adhyatmic Vigyan, Jyotish, Bhakti and Medical Education, Bhatt said. The varsity will be managed by the temple committee, while talks with experts and educationists were going on to finalise other modalities, including the land and estimated expenditure, he said.

A star attraction

Whether alive or dead, a snow leopardess remains one of the main attractions of the G B Pant High Altitude Zoo in Nainital. Rani, the snow leopardess, died last week at the zoo, but her body is being preserved using taxidermy techniques. "This snow leopardess was the main attraction of the zoo for years, and it is also a very rare animal which is only found in snowy regions. And generally, people don't get to see these snow leopards in forests, too. Therefore, taxidermy is a very important method of preserving such rare animals," said Parag Madhukar, District Forest Officer (DFO). Even though there are a lot of stuffed animals on display at zoos and museums in India, many are decades old, and have started showing signs of decay. "I appreciate the efforts made by the Forest Department of Uttarakhand to preserve the body. Because, be it state museums or national museums, the taxidermic specimens kept there are from the British era, and that is what the public views. But the life of those specimens is also ending now; it has been more than 60-70 years. They have started cracking. So, instead of burning the dead bodies of animals, if we can preserve the bodies and display them in museums, and use them for research, education and forensic purposes," said S A Gaikwad, a taxidermist.

In sync with ecology

Power utility NTPC said the construction of an underground tunnel for the 520-MW Tapovan Vishnugad hydel project is not affecting sources of water near Joshimath area. "We have conducted a survey with the help of the Geological Survey of India. The survey did not find any relation between the tunnel and drying of water sources in Joshimath area," NTPC Regional Executive Director Arvind Kumar told reporters here as the project is facing the ire of locals and politicians amid reports that it is affecting sources of water in the area. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal had earlier ordered an inquiry and asked the state power secretary Utpal Kumar to submit a report in this regard. There has been a series of protests against the project located in Chamoli district in the last two months.