JAMNAGAR: Central Zoo Authority (CZA) has asked the Jamsaheb of erstwhile princely state of Jamnagar, who privately owns and maintains Sir Peter Scott Nature Park, to spare wild animals for other zoos in the country.

The CZA officials have asked various zoos across the country to spare their surplus animals for other zoos to facilitate an exchange programme. The CZA's website said the nature park in Jamnagar has several surplus animals, including 121 blackbucks, 200 spotted deer, 215 nilgai, four great Indian hornbills, five lesser whistling teals along with one albino, white pelican, nukta, west African crowned crane and marsh crocodile each.

The present Jamsaheb Shatru Shalyasinhji said there is an ambiguity about when and how the CZA will take away all these animals.

He said he has nurtured all these wild creatures with utmost care and it is sad to be parted from them.

"It is not clear who will bear the cost of the upkeep of these animals till they are distributed," he said.

----------Jamrunmahali is part of the Adarsh Gaon Yojana (AGY), Maharashtra’s Ideal Village Scheme, made famous by its patron activist Anna Hazare​, and practicable by its charismatic figurehead, Popatrao Pawar, sarpanch (village council head) of Hiware Bazar, Ahmednagar. The scheme has been running since the 1990s in Hazare’s hometown, Ralegan Siddhi, and nearby Hiware Bazar, but Jamrunmahali is one of the newer recruits to the project.

--In the absence of groundwater, local women would have to walk 2km to fetch water during winter. Ninety-eight per cent of the population would migrate from the village seasonally. “The village was a sort of punishment posting for government servants,” Pawar says, describing a community alcohol addiction so bad that teachers would be found getting drunk with their students during lessons. “Families would marry a daughter off with a bottle of booze as dowry.” --

------------To provide the out-of-work villagers with employment, Pawar approached the forest planning department and implemented a tree-planting scheme in the hills around the village. “We ensured that the money came to us to help the local people,” he says. In the process, the new trees would help prevent further soil erosion and retain water in the rocky soil. In 1992, the state government announced AGY for 350 blocks. Hiware Bazar was quick to apply and became the designated ideal village for its block. It began to access funds for education, roads and sanitation. --------

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Encouraged by the number of butterflies visiting the JNU campus, the Jawaharlal Nehru University is all set to develop a Butterfly Park within its premises to attract more species.

More than 50 species of butterflies can be seen fluttering around the University in the Spring season. Rare species like Red Pierrot, Common Jay and Peacock Pansy are often spotted.

Source: The Indian Express, 11 April, 2007