16SCIENCE REPORTER, JULY 2011

Spectrum

THE medicinal plant sectorcan provide an importantsource of income to ruralinhabitants of theHimalayan region includingUttarakhand. At present,resource-poor people inUttarakhand collect plantsfrom the wild for use intraditional healthcare andcomplement their meagerincomes. However, due tocontinued collection andincreasing market demand,numerous plant species arethreatened. So agricultureof medicinal plants is apromising sector.

The main advantage ofmedicinal plants for smallproducers lies in the factthat compared to bulky andperishable commodities;they have a higher value perunit volume. The farmers ofthe area are well awareabout the utility and valueof medicinal plants andabout 10-15 high valuemedicinal plant species likeSaussurea costus, Swertiachirata, Dactylorrhizahatagirea, Aconitumheterophyllum, Picrorhizakurrooa, Arnebia benthami,Rheum emodi, Carum carvi,Angelica glauca, Alliumstracheyi, Allium humile,Nardostachys grandiflora etcare being cultivated by someprogressive farmers of highaltitude villages with thehelp of researchinstitutions to meet theirown requirements as wellas to earn cash on a smallscale.

The government ofUttarakhand hasformulated a policy tosupport commercialcultivation, processing andmarketing of medicinalplants. These are beingimplemented through theForest Department andvarious research institutesof the state such as Forest

THE Bombay NaturalHistory Society (BNHS), apremier organisation inenvironment conservation,has successfully completed25 years of monitoring ofthe rare ground bird –Jerdon’s Courser – that isfound only in one place inthe entire world – theKadapa district of AndhraPradesh.

Based on the studydone by BNHS, the AndhraPradesh Forest Departmentrecently submitted a SpeciesRecovery Plan (SRP) to theMinistry of Environmentand Forests (MoEF),Government of India for theinclusion of Jerdon’sCourser as one of thespecies for Recovery Planunder the centrallysponsored scheme“Integrated Development ofNational Parks andSanctuaries”. The threemajor components of thisscheme are assistance toprotected areas, assistanceto outside protected areasand assistance for initiatingrecovery plans.

Jerdon’s Courser,which was considered to beextinct, was rediscoveredby BNHS in January 1986.BNHS director Dr AsadRahmani said: “This is the25th year of the rediscoveryof Jerdon’s Courser. TheAndhra Pradesh Forest

Department and BNHS haveprepared a Species RecoveryPlan for the protection ofthis critically endangeredbird.”

Jerdon’s Courser wasfirst recorded by modernscience in 1848 by anaturalist and surgeon, T CJerdon in the “hilly countryabove the Eastern Ghats offNellore and in Kadapa

district” ofAndhra Pradesh.Later it was alsorecorded inG a d c h i r o l idistrict ofMaharashtra andAnantapur andBhadracha lamdistricts ofAndhra Pradesh.After this therewere no signs ofthe restrictedrange endemic

and elusive species for 86years until it wasrediscovered by BNHS on13 January 1986 in Kadapadistrict. Subsequently theregion was declared as SriLankamalleshwara WildlifeSanctuary in 1988 andthe Government of Indiaeven released a postalstamp depicting the bird in1988.

Ever since it wasrediscovered, there havebeen only a few sightingsof Jerdon’s Courser in andaround the sanctuary.There is no data on itscurrent population size orgeographical distribution.In 2000, a project fundedby the Darwin Initiative forthe Survival of the Species,UK and sponsored byAndhra Pradesh ForestDepartment, Royal Societyfor Protection of Birds(RSPB) and the universitiesof Cambridge and Readingin UK was initiated byBNHS to undertake

ecological research on thebird.

Under this project forthe first time in 2002 thecall of Jerdon’s Courser wasidentified and recorded byDr P. Jeganathan and histeam. Many innovativemethods of camera trapswere developed and used tolocate the species. Cameratrapping greatly helped inunderstanding thedistribution of the speciesand detecting its presencefrom three new places in itshabitat. New technology ofdigital camera traps wasintroduced in 2010, whichhas been helping inhighlighting variouspressures on its habitat. Ithas also helped generateinformation on otherwildlife of the region.

In November 2010 aSpecies Recovery Plan(SRP) was developed withthe help of the government,NGOs and local communityleaders. The SRP hasincluded aspects such asprocuring baselineinformation, populationecology, conservationstatus, legislation, plan ofoperation, habitat recoverythrough sustainabledevelopment, recoveryaction and monitoring. Italso includes advocacy,education, training andfunding. Hitesh Malhotra,the Chief Wildlife Wardenof Andhra Pradesh, and hisstaff in the ForestDepartment have beenactively taking severalinitiatives for carrying outthe various project

objectives.

Contributed by Mr Mrityunjay Bose,Special Correspondent-Mumbai,Sakal Times, Sakal Media Group,Mumbai; Address: 102, A-Wing, VKTower, Evershine City, Vasai (East),Thane District–401208; Email:mrityunjaybose@gmail.com

Recovery Plans for a Rare Bird

17 SCIENCE REPORTER, JULY 2011

Spectrum

Research Institute (FRI)Dehradun, High AltitudePlant Physiology Centre(HAPPRC), SrinagarGarhwal, G.B. PantInstitute of HimalayanEnvironment andDevelopment, Almora,Wildlife Institute of India(WII), Dehradun,Uttarakhand ParvatiyaAajeevika SavardhanComponey (UPASaC),Dehradun and HerbalResearch DevelopmentInstitute (HRDI),Gopeshwar. Specificmeasures to endorsecultivation compriseactivities to make farmersaware of the potential ofmedicinal plants as cashcrops; developing,demonstrating anddisseminating cultivationtechnologies and practice,setting up nurseries topropagate and supplyingplanting material tofarmers.

Some of the emergingissues in this sectorinclude: (1) the need tostrike a balance between insitu management/harvesting and ex situconservation, (2) provisionof economic incentives forsustainable harvesting, (3)internalizing good sourcing,good harvesting and good

agriculture practices, (4)adopting organic productionpractices of medicinal andaromatic plants (MAPs), (5)preparing for qualityassurance and certificationof MAP production systemand (6) development ofequitable benefit sharing/buyback partnershipsbetween collectors/cultivators and buyers/industries.

Due to a variety ofreasons people are unableto undertake large-scalecultivation of MAPs:� L a c k o f c o n s i s t e n tsupport in terms oftechnical know-how. Lackof good cultivationpractices, technology forharvesting etc.� Prob lems in ge t t ingplanting materials (seeds/seedlings) to start nurseryand cultivation.� Farmers are not awareof the subsidy structure forMAP-based farming.� Lack of institutionalsupport: This is importantto provide a buybackarrangement for growers.Thus, traders throughmiddlemen, exercise strongcontrol over the collectors/growers because the latterdepend on them for loans.This limits the directaccess of growers to market.

� I n e n t i r eU t t a r a k h a n d ,illegal harvestingis a majorproblem. Due tovery limitedi n v e s t m e n t srequired by localcollectors forcollection fromwild they sell themedicinal plantraw materials at avery low price.The farmer incontrast has toinvest both interms of time andmoney andcannot competein prices with theillegal collectors.

Uttarakhandhas establishedthe HerbalR e s e a r c hD e v e l o p m e n tInstitute (HRDI) tolook after themedicinal plants e c t o rd e v e l o p m e n t .HRDI is setting upnurseries to propagate andsupply planting material tofarmers. It is also providingregular training tointerested farmers toimprove their skillregarding cultivation andharvesting practices. HRDI

Cultivating Medicinal Plants in Uttarakhand

also provides loans andsubsidies for cultivationof medicinal plants andalso distributes projects(upto Rs Four Lakh) onMAPs to progressivefarmers.

Medicinal plantcultivation andconservation could turnout to be a promising sectorof livelihood in the nearfuture. All that is requiredis some awareness andsupport to farmers.

Contributed by Mr. Vikram S. Negi,Senior Research Scholar, Dr. R. K.Maikhuri, Scientist ‘E’ and Mr P.C.Phondani, Research Scholar at G.B.Pant Institute of HimalayanEnvironment and Development,Garhwal Unit, Post Box No. 92,Srinagar Garhwal-246174,Uttarakhand; Email:vikramsnegii@gmail.com

Cost and income from cultivation of some medicinal plants in Uttarakhand

Name of medicinal Production/ Agriculture Total Net profit(Rs)plant species Nali*(Kg/nali) cost/Nali(Rs) IncomeAconitum heterophyllum 3.5 kg dry rhizome 2000 5250 3250

Picrorhiza kurrooa 20 kg dry roots 1000 3000 2000

Saussurea costus 70 kg dry roots 500 3500 3000

Nardostachys jatamansi 25 kg dry roots 2500 3750 1250

Swertia chirayita 22 kg whole plant 2000 4400 2400

Allium stracheyi 5 kg dry leaves and flowers 500 6250 5750

Carum carvi 5 kg dry seeds 800 12500 11700

Podophyllum hexandrum 8.8 kg dry rhizome 2500 3380 880

Source: Herbal Research and Development Institute, Gopeswar, Uttarakhand*1 Hectare = 50 Nali and 1 Acre = 20 Nali

18SCIENCE REPORTER, JULY 2011

Spectrum

News Briefs

� A new study provides the first look at brain activity of depressed women respondingto recordings of crying infants, either their own or someone else’s. Non-depressedmothers activate much more strongly than depressed mothers. The important messageof the study is that depression can exert long-lasting effects on mother-infantrelationships by blunting the mother’s response to her infant’s emotional cues.

� Researchers at Stanford University havedeveloped a special wound dressing that theyreport was able to significantly reduce scartissue caused by incisions. After sutures areremoved, the edges of a healing incision arepulled in different directions by the taut,surrounding skin, causing scar tissue tothicken and spread. The novel dressing,referred to as a stress-shielding device, eliminates this tension and hence a considerableamount of scarring.

� Scientists have for the f irst t imeaccomplished a laboratory synthesis of a rarenatural product isolated from the bark of aplant widely employed in traditional medicine.This advance may provide the scientificfoundation to develop an effective alternativeto commonly prescribed narcotic paintreatments. The rare natural product isderived from the bark of a tropical floweringplant Tabernaemontana divaricata (also knownas crepe jasmine).

� Researchers have devised a new technique that helps couples affected by or carriersof genetic diseases have in vitro fertilized babies free of both the diseases in questionand other chromosomal abnormalities. Gynaecologists optimized a technique theycall “modified multiple displacement amplification” that allows them to amplifyDNA obtained from an embryo to do multiple tests. The strength of this techniquelies not only in its ability to detect two different kinds of genetic alterations whilecausing minimal harm to the embryo, but also in the speed with which it can becompleted.

� Researchers have demonstrated a proof-of-concept for a new and clean technologyto produce high purity hydrogen from natural gas. This allows hydrogen to beproduced in an elegant technique at much lower temperatures, and without releasingcarbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The conventional technology for hydrogenproduction from natural gas is a highly energy intensive process, operated at highpressures and high temperature, with multistage subsequent separation andpurification units. Moreover, huge amounts of CO2 have to be handled in post-processing steps.

� Two UK astronomers have found that thegiant black holes in the centre of galaxies areon an average spinning faster than at any timein the history of the Universe. There is strongevidence that every galaxy has a black hole inits centre referred to as ‘supermassive’. Usingthe radio observations, they were able tosample the population of black holes,deducing the spread of the power of the jets.By estimating how they acquire material (theaccretion process) the two scientists couldthen infer how quickly these objects are spinning.

Can Animals be

Indicators of

Disaster?

UNTIL now, we have not been ableto design a mechanism to predictnatural disasters. Could someanimals be of any help? It seemssome animals are able to perceivesmall changes that take place in theenvironment just prior to an eventand start emitting peculiar sounds orbehaving in a frantic manner, whichcould most certainly alert us of theapproaching disaster.

Though no clear knowledge isavailable regarding the animals thatcan predict earthquakes, someanimals like dogs, cats, horses, birdsand fish seem to respond to changesthat take place in the earth’s magneticfield or even the slightest movementthat we are unable to detect.According to some scientists, rareradioactive gases (radon) are releasedfrom the ground minutes or hoursbefore an earthquake is about tostrike. Animals also have anincreased sensitivity when it comesto sensing changes taking place inthe electric field.

Schreiber, a geologist at theUniversity of Duisburg-Essen, whois conducting research on tectonics,found that hill-building red wood antsbuilt their nests at the very spotwhere he did research on tectonics.According to him, ants liked to settleon fault systems, which is whatgeologists call the earthquake proneareas of friction between tectonicplates. Gases rising from the deepcrust warm the ants’ home. Moreover,cavities within the faults may providehumidity near the surface, which theants can use.

Schreiber also found that antsdisplayed unusual nocturnal activityand appeared more frequently thannormal on the surface when minorsubterranean earthquakes occurrednearby. He also opined that quakerelated electromagnetic signals mayplay a role.

Contributed by Dr. K. Venkataraman, Retd. Readerin Zoology, Madura College, Madurai. Address:A-T-2 Porkudam Apartment, Bypass Road,Madurai-625010