Rajiv what?
What’s in a name you may well ask after the hungama created by the Telugu Desam Party in Parliament and the State Assembly over the naming of the international airport in Hyderabad.
Plenty, I say. Plenty of politics, of the variety practised by the ruling party and the Opposition. One takes a decision. The other opposes it. One protests. The other protests too, more loudly this time. One condemns the disruptive behaviour and irresponsible talk. The other goes further. Both get plenty of newspaper space and air time. Does it really matter if one more building is named after Rajiv Gandhi? Or N T Rama Rao? In reality, there is no dearth of government programmes, roads, buildings and institutions named after these sons of India. Here’s the Rajiv list: Rajiv Palle Bata, Rajiv Nagara Bata, Rajiv Gruha Kalpa, Rajiv Village Internet, Rajiv Sagar, Rajiv Gandhi Ethipothala Pathakam, Rajiv Punarvasam, Rajiv Munneru Vanthena, Rajiv Gandhi Cricket Stadium, Rajiv Varada, Rajiv Puraskaralu. Now for the NTR list: NTR Stadium, NTR Marg, NTR Gardens, NTR University of Health Sciences, NTR Pushpa Vihara Kendram, NTR Manasarovar Park, NTR airport (domestic terminal)... The trend is not the fallout of a dearth of heroes or poor imagination.
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It simply means there is excessive confidence among politicians across party affiliations in their ability to take citizens like you and me for a ride.
R Akhileshwari
in Hyderabad
Vanishing lichens
Kolkata has lost 20 lichen species in 140 years, according to botanists who have surveyed Kolkata. Air pollution, they say, has resulted in the disappearance of more than 20 species of lichens in the last 140 years. A comparison on the profile of lichens – found in abundance – in Kolkata reveals that while in 1865 there were as many as 53 species in the City of Joy, the number dwindled to 25 in 2004. “Even assuming that some species have been renamed, it’s safe to conclude that Kolkata has lost 20-odd lichen species in 140 years,” Dr DK Upreti, a botanist at the National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow, said. A team of botanists were in Kolkata to survey the lichen landscape in the city and Howrah where the century-old Indian Botanical Garden is located. They spotted only 25 species, out of which 15 were in the botanical garden. “Lichens are very sensitive to pollution as it stops their food-making activities. Only eight species of lichens are reported to be found in the Kolkata border, while the garden has 15 species. Its return cannot be expected in Kolkata as the city streets are almost devoid of trees,” he said. His findings have been reported in ‘Current Science’.
Lichens are tough organisms, and can grow on mountain tops, Arctic waters. “While the fungi frees the nutrients from rocks, soils or tree barks for the algae to make food, pollution destroys the algae which make the food,” Dr Upreti said.
Kalyan Ray
in New Delhi
Sunday, April 3, 2005
