Biodiversity and Environmental Sustainability (BEST)

Vanishing Ponds of Punjab Virat Jolli: There was a time when ponds used to be the lifeline of Indian people. They are the source of food and water for animals including human beings. These ponds are colonized by variety of aquatic plants, animals and water birds. When these ponds dried up the nutrient and organic matter rich soil was collected and were used by the farmers in their agricultural fields. They also collect the clay soil and used them for repairing and making mud houses. Apart from this the villagers took animals to the ponds for bathing and providing them water. However, with the passage of time importance of ponds started diminishing and people moved on from pond to ground water obtained from wells which were subsequently replaced by tube wells. In the State of Punjab, the tube wells are so popular that in every village you will find at least 15-20 tube wells (e.g., approx. 70000 tube wells were reported by CGWB in Jalandhar District). The changing cropping pattern along ...

  Story of Two Brothers and Their Pigeons       Virat Jolli: This is a story of two brothers and their love for birds.  The story begins few years back when Devender Kumar and his younger brother Ravinder Kumar from Lamba Pind, Jalandhar lost their mother in 2016 due to illness.  They felt alone and depressed. To overcome this, they developed an interest in birds.  They bought a pair of pigeon which they called Chinnae Kabootar  चिनी कबूतर a type of domestic pigeons generally raised and kept for their acrobatic and flying skills. From this pair they started their journey and learnt the art of raising and breeding from Youtube channels and their Guru (undisclosed). They have developed variety of pigeons with red eye and white eyes of domestic pigeons. Now, they have around 40 pigeons which are kept in their self-made permanent enclosures. Both the brothers take care of these pigeon with utmost care. They clean them regularly, sp...

Taj Mahal: Through The Eyes of Ornithologist Virat Jolli: Taj Mahal a wonder on earth is India’s finest monument. Considering its historical, cultural and unique architectural design, UNESCO has enlisted it as a World Heritage Site in 1983. It was built by 5 th Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in the year 1632 A.D in memory of his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal. This monument is built on the banks of River Yamuna. The monument is a marbled mausoleum and has well managed gardens planted with variety of fruit bearing and medicinal trees. Taj Mahal is known for its unique Mughal architecture but current article aims to highlight much less talked about natural aspect i.e. birdlife. Taj Mahal  The Yamuna River, a majour tributary of River Ganga originates from Himalayas descend down at Poanta Sahib, Himachal Pradesh and enters plains of Northern India. This is one of the most important River of India as 70% of water requirement of Delhi NCT is fulfilled by it. River Yamuna fall...

Revisiting Wetlands of Hoshiarpur, Punjab #Wetlands #Birds #Ecosystem #Landuse Virat Jolli: Last year in the month of November, 2017, we visited a specialised wetland ecosystem in North Eastern part of Punjab in Hoshiarpur District. These wetlands are locally known as chos (seasonal nallahs). During our past visit, we documented some important rare and large sized waterbirds in these wetlands and surrounding areas along with other terrestrial birds and animals. This has fascinated us and raised our curiosity to further explore the region and know more about this relatively little and unexplored region. Chos of Punjab Keeping this in mind, this year in the month of October, 2018, we planned to revisit the site and document its biological wealth. It was a sunny day, I along with a local villager named Gurpreet  explored chos of this region. These chos received water from Himalayan rivulets which recharge them and flooded them during monsoon season. Gurpreet, told me...