Dear Rawat ji, Forwarding pl. for your kind clarification pl. as advised by Madhav Gadgil ji along with some of our views.
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: J.M. Garg <[email protected]> Date: 2009/9/18 Subject: Re: BSI/ZSI TF To: indiantreepix <[email protected]> Cc: [email protected], Tabish <[email protected]>, Dinesh Valke < [email protected]>, Gurcharan Singh-sify <[email protected]>, "L. Shyamal" <[email protected]>, Ashwin Baindur <[email protected]>, Asad Rahmani <[email protected]>, Swapna Prabhu <[email protected]>, santhosh kumar es <[email protected]>, "Dr. Pankaj Kumar" < [email protected]>, Rajesh Sachdev <[email protected]>, vijayasankar <[email protected]>, Stephen A <[email protected]>, pradeep krishen <[email protected]>, Shrikant Ingalhalikar < [email protected]>, Rani Bhagat <[email protected]> *Dear members,* *The relevant aspects from the draft report, which require serious attention of this group, along with my views are reproduced below. I seek your independant opinions on the report as well as on my views so that these are finalised before submitting to the Task Force:* "*Flora and Fauna of India* The primary mandate of the BSI/ZSI is to document the plant/ animal resources of the country. Hence an important focus of their activity would be to complete the Flora/ Fauna of India. India has produced a large number of fine taxonomists, many of whom work outside BSI/ZSI, e.g., universities, research organizations and as emeritus scientists. Therefore, it is important that BSI/ZSI now take on the role of coordinating and pooling the expertise of all the taxonomists including those working outside this organization to consolidate the *Flora and Fauna of **India** volumes*. This is particularly important because the local field biologists and experts who have spent a considerable amount of time in a particular geographical area can add tremendous information on habitat, associations, biogeography and population status. Floras/ Faunas written by the individuals having limited field knowledge, merely based on the museum/ herbarium specimens lack in such information. Coordinated work on Flora/ Fauna of India should also include all the works on various taxonomic groups done through AICOPTAX Project of MoEF. Such coordination would of course require a strong editorial board and a few full time dedicated executive secretaries. This should be achievable in 10 years and should figure out as *Priority I *in BSI/ZSI’s Vision 2020 document. This could be achieved in the following phases: i. Establish a panel of experienced and active taxonomists for each state and take their consent on participation in Flora / Fauna Project, ii. Prepare an annotated checklist of vascular plants and other taxa under consideration for each state / UTs based on all published documents and herbaria, giving local names, if any, locality and habitat, iii. Circulate the electronic version of checklists among the panel of botanists/ zoologists who would, in turn, check for omissions, ambiguities, localities and habitat through active consultation with other local botanists/ zoologists, iv. To begin with, state floras/ faunas should be published electronically giving correct names, basionyms, localities, habitat, sketches and photographs of important species preferably on an interactive ‘ *Flora/ Fauna of India Blog’*. On this page all naturalists, photographers and biological artists should be encouraged to contribute information on taxonomy, distribution, natural history, biology, ethnobiology, etc. This will also act as an outreach programme for all the biologists. The ethnobiological surveys should be done mainly by the local biologists, college and university teachers, working with local Biodiversity Management Committees under technical guidance by BSI/ZSI. *v. *An editorial board may be constituted at the national level to decide the format of the flora/ fauna and also assign plant/ animal families for compilation which should include nomenclature, description, ecology, natural history, distribution, sketches and photographs." *I am not clear what it means by ‘Flora/ Fauna of India Blog’ & seek Madhav ji's guidance in the matter particularly w.r.t the word Blog. Also it is not clear whether it will be accessible to all or not. I think any restriction on its access as far as its contents are concerned, should go away in view of the '**Approach**' followed in the paper (as subsequently highlighted). While it is encouraging to see " To begin with, state floras/ faunas should be published electronically giving correct names, basionyms, localities, habitat, sketches and photographs of important species preferably on an interactive ‘Flora/ Fauna of India Blog’. " in the draft, there is hardly anything which talks of creating e-flora of India on the lines of e-flora of China & other neighbouring countries. I feel* *'AICOPTAX Project' of MoEF should be sufficiently strengthened with a mandate for simultaneously creating of e-Flora/ e-Fauna of India on lines of e-Floras of different countries of the world. How to go about creating e-floras is evident at link: http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/china/PDF/misc/eFloras_Taxon_55_188-192_2006.pdf * *This becomes all the more important as the report in its 'Approach' rightly talks of* "......Finally, the culmination of evolution of artifacts to the present day Information and Communication Technology has brought us to the threshold of a tenth major transition: x] Language based human societies –to- Human societies with global access to the entire stock of human knowledge, and engaged in an endeavour of collaborative knowledge generation." *This approach will remain an illusion until & unless we are able to create e-Flora/ e-Fauna of India which is accessible to all human community & appear in top 10 while searching as far as 'Indian species' are concerned. The need of the hour is to move fast in this regard, if India is to be visible on the world map. It is said that we have to refer to 'e-Flora of China', 'e-Flora of Pakistan' etc. when we search on net for information about any Indian plant species.We hardly find any inf. on search in our "......*national networks like DBT’s India Biodiversity Information Network (IBIN) and NBA’s India Biodiversity Information System (IBIS)." *as talked about in the report.* *Further if the dreams of its 'Approach' *"......Finally, the culmination of evolution of artifacts to the present day Information and Communication Technology has brought us to the threshold of a tenth major transition: x] Language based human societies –to- Human societies with global access to the entire stock of human knowledge, and engaged in an endeavour of collaborative knowledge generation." *are to be fulfilled in this e-age, it has to speak loudly about increasing participation & expertise in on-line community activities like those of 'Indiantreepix' google e-group, regarding which it is totally silent. Here information is shared on real time basis for the benefit of all stakeholders, minimising delays & fastening processes, following multi-disciplinary approach with membership from diverse background. This should also help in the process of constant learning in ones' career & creating passionate scientists/ taxonomists aided/ guided by other willing scientists/ taxonomists. This should also help in "*Capacity building: scientists" & "Capacity building: district level scientific community and barefoot taxonomists under "7)Human Resources" ** 2009/9/17 J.M. Garg <[email protected]> > Thanks, Madhav ji, for your prompt reply. > May I requests experts on this group to go through the attached draft > report and > providing your inputs by making suitable additions- deletions in the > existing version. Any suggestions made at this stage will go a long way in > helping any sincere worker who is associated with Indian Flora in any way. > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Madhav Gadgil <[email protected]> > Date: 2009/9/17 > Subject: BSI/ZSI TF > To: "J.M. Garg" <[email protected]> > Cc: indiantreepix <[email protected]> > > > Dear Dr Garg, I will certainly follow the literature you suggest. But > since you and your colleagues have given this much more thought, I > would appreciate your going through the attached draft report and > providing your inputs by making suitable additions- deletions in the > existing version. > > On Thu, Sep 17, 2009 at 1:54 PM, J.M. Garg <[email protected]> wrote: > > Thanks, Madhav ji, for giving us an opportunity to express our opinions. > > You & the task force may like to go through the following threads from > > 'Indiantreepix' (a google e-group with more than 1025 members from all > over > > India & 18500 messages to > > date- http://groups.google.co.in/group/indiantreepix) on Quest for > > 'e-flora' of India, discussed between experts & laymen alike, which is of > > prime importance not only to experts but to thousands of laymen also: > > > http://groups.google.co.in/group/indiantreepix/browse_thread/thread/9cf05f448b3f2b4b/a9c949c11578b530?lnk=gst&q=Quest+for+%27e-flora%27+of+India+#a9c949c11578b530 > > > > > http://groups.google.co.in/group/indiantreepix/browse_thread/thread/7aba8eb1b7d99b56 > > > > > http://groups.google.co.in/group/indiantreepix/browse_thread/thread/616e12b1838a1854/007f0d08357d7a1f?lnk=gst&q=Offtopic+but+relevant+to+all+amateur+naturalists+#007f0d08357d7a1f > > > > If e-flora of India is created on lines of e-flora of China > > ( > http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/china/PDF/misc/eFloras_Taxon_55_188-192_2006.pdf > ), > > Pakistan, Nepal etc. with in a suitable time frame of say five to seven > > years, your team will certainly deserve numerous accolades not from the > > current generation but also from the future one. > > -- > > With regards, > > J.M.Garg ([email protected]) > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Jmgarg1 > > 'Creating awareness of Indian Flora & Fauna' > > Image Resource of thousands of my images of Birds, Butterflies, Flora > etc. > > (arranged alphabetically & place-wise): > > http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:J.M.Garg > > For learning about Indian Flora, visit/ join Google e-group- > > Indiantreepix:http://groups.google.co.in/group/indiantreepix?hl=en > > > > > > > > -- > With regards, Sincerely, > कळावे, लोभ असावा, आपला स्नेहांकित, > माधव Madhav > Madhav Gadgil, > Res: A-18, Springflowers, Panchavati, Pashan, Pune 411008, Tel 020-25893424 > Office: Agharakar Research Institute, G G Agarkar Road, Pune 411004, > Tel 020- 25652970, Fax 020-25651542 > Mobile: 9881153413 > माधव गाडगीळ, > आघारकर संशोधन संस्था, आगरकर रस्ता, पुणे ४११००४ > ए-१८, स्प्रिंगफ़्लॉवर्स, पंचवटी, पाषाण, पुणे ४११००८, > निसर्गाने दिला आनंदकंद । केवळ सौंदर्य, केवळ आनंद। > > > > -- > With regards, > J.M.Garg ([email protected]) > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Jmgarg1 > 'Creating awareness of Indian Flora & Fauna' > Image Resource of thousands of my images of Birds, Butterflies, Flora etc. > (arranged alphabetically & place-wise): > http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:J.M.Garg > For learning about Indian Flora, visit/ join Google e-group- Indiantreepix: > http://groups.google.co.in/group/indiantreepix?hl=en > > -- With regards, J.M.Garg ([email protected]) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Jmgarg1 'Creating awareness of Indian Flora & Fauna' Image Resource of thousands of my images of Birds, Butterflies, Flora etc. (arranged alphabetically & place-wise): http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:J.M.Garg For learning about Indian Flora, visit/ join Google e-group- Indiantreepix: http://groups.google.co.in/group/indiantreepix?hl=en -- With regards, J.M.Garg ([email protected]) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Jmgarg1 'Creating awareness of Indian Flora & Fauna' Image Resource of thousands of my images of Birds, Butterflies, Flora etc. (arranged alphabetically & place-wise): http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:J.M.Garg For learning about Indian Flora, visit/ join Google e-group- Indiantreepix: http://groups.google.co.in/group/indiantreepix?hl=en --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "indiantreepix" group. 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