Bird Watching at IIM Campus

Which lazy person would ever want to wake up at 6 AM on a Sunday? But this Sunday, I had decided to do it, as the Nature Club of IIM Ahmedabad, Prakriti, was organizing a Bird Watching Trail around the campus. I got up at 6:15 and went to Café Tanstaafl, which was the assembling point for all of us (Like the ANC Circle in BITS). A lot of photography and bird enthusiasts had cut-short their long Saturday night sleep, which included IIM students, Profs, Academic and Research Associates and also Foreign Exchange students.

We were first of all briefed about Birding or Bird Watching by Mr. Sandeep from Conservation Consortium of India, an NGO that works for Wildlife Protection. He told us that all over the world there are about 30,000 species of birds. India has around 8,000 out of which nearly 2000 are found in Gujarat. Ahmedabad is a host to some 600 species of Birds, and IIM in particular serves as abode for nearly 60 species. IIM serves as an important nesting venue for many birds, especially Vultures. Nearly 50% of Ahmedabad’s Vultures reside on IIM Campus.

A lot of us had no idea about IIM Campus being host to such a rich diversity of Birds, so began our trail with a lot of excitement to discover something that had always been in front of us, but we chose to ignore it, in our fast moving lives. To begin with, we spotted common birds, which all of us usually see every day like Pigeons, Crows and Mynahs. Just after a 5 minute walk, we were able to spot a nest of vultures, on one of the highest branches of a tree, just above our heads. We could see it properly with the help of Binoculars provided by Prakriti Club. We moved ahead, clicking photographs on the way, seeing some more species of Birds. Next we saw a variety of Parakeets, some, snooping out of tree trunks, others, calmly sitting on branches. They were mainly of two types – rose ring and alexandrine.

Vulture

Parakeets

Dove

We came to a garden near faculty quarters, where we spotted birds like Bulbul and Babblers. There was also a Kite, sitting on the top of a tree. We could also see some aquatic birds, flying across the sky in a group. Roaming around the campus, seeing some more birds, we came near FPM Houses. It was then, I realized that for the last 1 and a half months, there had been a Vulture’s nest right outside my room’s window, but we were totally unaware of it. Towards the end, we spotted another specie called Shikra, which had a large body but small head.

Another Vulture

Kite

Aquatic Birds

Shikra

The trail was followed by a small presentation by Aditya on Wildlife Conservation who was doing his Ph.D. in Vulture Ecology, which emphasized on the causes of extinction of vultures and how why should we save them. After this enriching Bird Watching session, we thanked the organizers for widening our view, and move towards the Mess for our Breakfast. Thankfully, due to this session, this was my 2^nd Breakfast in this month :P.

My Opinion Published in The Hindu

If only we had a responsive police force, there would have been no need for two young men to take the law into their own hands — which provided the spark for the communal riots. The police show no empathy for victims of sexual harassment. It is this indifference that makes people think they themselves should “teach a lesson” to the culprits. Had the police been sensitive, the two young men would not have killed the man who harassed the sister of one of them, they wouldn’t have died themselves, and there wouldn’t have been any riots. The incident was not the result of any Hindu-Muslim rivalry. It was later given a communal colour by vested interests for political gains. And the way the issue has developed has shifted our focus from the main issue — security for women.

Link to online Article - http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/letters/a-shame/article5113417.ece

Snippet from the Newspaper on 11th September 2013.

Could the Muzaffarnagar Riots have been prevented ?

Sometimes, the biggest of the problems, have the easiest solutions. Let’s look at a turn of events, which led to Riots in Muzaffarnagar. A Hindu girl was harassed by two Muslim youths. Upon which, the brothers of the Hindu girl, beat the Muslim guy to death. This infuriated the members of Muslim Community, who in turn killed the Hindu Brothers. And the cops reportedly registered an FIR against the girl’s parents. Now, was this a matter of Hindu Muslim divide? I don’t think so. I think the Brothers could have reacted in pretty much a similar manner if the alleged harassers were not Muslim.

How could the government have stopped the riot?

I believe, that in first place, if our Police was pro-active in protecting our citizens, there would not have been any need for the brothers to take law in their own hands. We have repeatedly seen in Delhi over last few months (and it happens all over India) that Police shows no empathy, whatsoever towards rape victims, and out rightly refuses to register FIRs. Almost every week, an AAP candidate is beaten up, trying to get the Cops to register FIRs against the Rapists. But, if this is the response of our Police in Rape cases, just imagine what would they do in cases of harassment?

There have been cases, where victims have given the photos of harassers to the Police, yet our Police have not been able to take any action against them. And it is this failure of our Police, which led the brothers to teach a lesson to the harasser themselves. Had there been an active Police, the brothers would not have killed the harasser, they wouldn’t have died themselves, and there wouldn’t have been any Riots.

A careful examination of the incidence shows that this was not initially a Hindu-Muslim rivalry. Some people later converted it into one, for their political gains. And the development of this issue has totally shifted our focus from solving the root cause of this riot, i.e. "Providing security to our women from unwanted harassment".

Improving the PDS Delivery

The amount of Money Central Govt. loses annually due to Pilferage of PDS = 24,000 Crore Rupees.
Annual Budget of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (RTE) = Rs. 21,000 Crore.
If our government had cared to fix the PDS Distribution before passing the Food Security Bill, they could have doubled the spending on Primary Education.

But can the PDS Distribution be really made leak-proof ? If yes then to what extent ?
We believe, that it is very much possible to make our PDS System 100% Leak Proof, but it cannot be achieved without strong will of Administration.

And here is our solution to the Problem  Leak Proof PDS.pptx