Orissa government's move to trap temple monkey may hit roadblock

By Akshaya Kumar Sahoo



Bhubaneswar, Feb. 9: Orissa government's plan to trap and relocate the commensal monkeys of Lord Jagannath temple at Puri is likely to hit roadblocks as wildlife activists have started dubbing the move as "cruel" and "harmful" to the simian species.

In spite of their best efforts, the Mankadia tribals, who were engaged for trapping of monkeys, could manage to catch only eight of them.

"The state government is clueless about the entire trapping operation. Monkey catching and relocation is a scientific work and can only be done with proper technical advice and assistance from experts. It is unfortunate that no primate scientist or expert in wildlife relocation has been involved in this operation," Wildlife Orissa secretary Biswajit Mohanty said on Friday.

Urbanisation and monoculture of forest species had irreversibly affected their environment and hence there is a rise in the number of commensal monkeys in Orissa.

Since the species is protected under the Wildlife Protection Act - 1972, the state government is under obligation to ensure that these monkeys are not subjected to needless pain and suffering.

Wildlife experts say Makadia tribals do not have any scientific knowledge about monkey groups and social structure and they need to follow certain practices to ensure the safety of the monkey. "They are not bothered about monkey deaths as they normally kill the monkeys they catch for food. Ideally they should have been used along with some experts to carry out the exercise. It is wrong to permit them to do the work single handedly," Mr Mohanty argued.

He suggested that sterilisation could be a viable option since it would keep the population growth in check. Maintaining a predetermined number of male monkeys at a particular place can also be used as a means of sterilisation, Mr Mohanty pointed out.

Mr Mohanty has advised that a detailed study be conducted to identify the groups of monkeys present in the area.

"Monkeys live and feed in closed social groups and hierarchies. Any monkey cannot be caught at random. The entire group has to be trapped when the operation is done. Leaving out one or two individuals which are members of the groups will lead to unnecessary stress and even death for them because no other group will accept them," he said.

The Mankadias normally use nets and are not familiar with the use of traps. Instead of nets, bamboo or iron should be used to traps the monkeys. The size of traps should be appropriate and depend upon the size of the monkey group to be trapped, Ashok Baral, president of Association for Agricultural and Environmental Protection, said.

Intellectuals oppose IIT shift proposal, seeks PM's intervention

Dipti Ranjan Kanungo

Bhubaneswar, Feb. 6: Intellectuals, including the non-resident Oriyas, have opposed the Union government's move to shift the proposed Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) to Andhra Pradesh.

The intellectuals led by professor Chitta Baral of the USA's Fulton School of Engineering, have written a letter to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urging him to reconsider the shifting proposal and establish the institute in Orissa as early as possible.

A copy of the letter has also been sent to the Congress president Sonia Gandhi for her perusal.

On Agust 28, 2006, the Union human resources development ministry had announced an IIT for Orissa. This news was very positively received by the people of Orissa, as having an IIT has been a long standing demand of the people. Its importance has dramatically increased in the current context as many industries of various kinds such as steel, aluminum, ports, power and have recently come to Orissa.

The intellectuals have said establishment of an IIT will certainly help feed the human resources to these industries.

"Orissa has no IITs, IIMs,IISc, IISERs, central universities or any institutions of national importance; and the state desperately needs an IIT type engineering college granting post-graduate degrees so that its 40-plus engineering colleges in the state can improve their faculty quality by sending these faculty to pursue part-time M. Tech and Ph.D degrees at a nearby IIT," the letter mentions.

It needs to be mentioned here that the Union government has sanctioned three new IITs to Bihar, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh. Each IIT would be set up at a cost of Rs 4,000 crore.

"We Orissans still believe in peaceful, non-violent, and

non-disruptive protests and hence we are writing to you. We

sincerely hope that you will annul the punishment of taking away an IIT from Orissa and allocate a new greenfield IIT for Orissa in the 11th plan, and remove any roadblocks from IIT Kharagpur's plan for a branch campus in Bhubaneswar and thus have the IITs in Orissa as was announced by your union minister of state for HRD M.A.A. Fatmi on August 28, 2006, in Patna.