Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], September 16 (ANI/BusinessWire India): South First, a South-focused news portal, is holding a live event here on Saturday, with a galaxy of speakers airing their views on the topic, "Is India a Truly Federal State?"

Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], August 15 (ANI): Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Sunday slammed the BJP on the slipper hurling incident and said that the party has exposed their fake patriotism.

Nagpur Feb 22 PTI People of 45 villages falling in the buffer zone of Pench Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra have been counseled about the need to prevent and control forest fires an official said on Tuesday The Pench Tiger Reserve has seven ranges spread over 741 square kilometres comprising a core area of 430 square km and a buffer zone of 311 square km he said There were 15 incidents of fire in PTR in 2018 in which 28517 hectare area got burnt In 2019 there were 26 fire incidents in which 29145 hectare area got burnt In 2020 there were seven fire incidents reducing an area of 1305 hectare to ashes In 2021 the number increased to 54 leaving an area of 61914 hectare singed he said PTR has organised a competition among 45 villages of the buffer area for prevention and control of forest fire Since most fires are man-made it is imperative to involve people The programme will start on March 1 and continue till May 31 It will be assessed by an evaluation committee with fortnight reports being collected from villages said Kulraj Singh deputy director of Pench Tiger Reserve He said scoring will be on points such as formation and performance of the team of local youths in fire prevention and control farmers not burning fire in their farm land no use of fire in tendu and mahua collection use of net for mahua collection avoiding grazing in forest land developing fodder bank in villages etc The three best performing villages will be given Rs 51000 Rs 31000 and Rs 21000 he added PTI CLS BNM BNM BNM

New Delhi Jan 19 PTI East Delhi Municipal Corporation has cracked the whip against such municipal school teachers who have been absent on duty for an inordinately long time including termination of services of some of them officials said on WednesdayThe action has been initiated in the last few days they saidThe EDMC in a statement on Wednesday said In a bid to streamline and improve the performance of its schools the East Delhi Municipal Corporation has started taking action against such teachers in EDMC schools who have been absent for more than five years without any satisfactory reasons for the sameAll the teachers who had been on long leave have been given notices to resume work or give valid reasons for continued leave or absence Some of the teachers had remained absent after taking leave initially it saidConsequently in some of the cases where no satisfactory replies had been received under the provisions of amended Leave Rules and DMC Regulations 1959 the services of the teachers have been terminated after following due procedure the EDMC saidIn the remaining such cases due process is in progress for termination of the services of teachers who are no more interested to join back or willfully absenting themselves officials saidHowever the corporation did not reveal the number of teachers whose services have been terminatedThis process will also help EDMC identify the actual gap in sanctioned strength of teachers and actual strengthEDMC will recruit new teachers based on the final assessment of the gap which in turn will ensure that the corporation provides better and quality education to the students in primary schools and maintain the requisite PTR pupil teacher ratio and the quality education of the children is not affected the statement saidIt is the primary responsibility of the corporation to provide quality education to the children studying in corporation schools and all efforts will be made to ensure the same officials said PTI KND RHL

Itanagar Nov 24 PTI For Ruma Anushka Gueng Kala and Kalee each day starts with morning walks deep inside the jungle of Pakke Tiger Reserve PTR of Arunachal Pradesh They play and fight with each other and are encouraged to climb trees and feed on fruits and insects before returning homeThey are five motherless Asiatic bear cubs rescued by the Arunachal Pradesh forest department from different parts of the Northeastern state this year and rehabilitated at the Centre for Bear Rehabilitation and Conservation CBRC under Wildlife Trust of India WTI a conservation charity organisationExperienced forest department workers accompany them during their exercise which is part of a plan to release them in the wild when they are ready for itThe Walk the Bear programme helps the orphaned cubs to acclimatise themselves to the wilderness where the keepers help them learn various life skills to survive CBRC head Panjit Basumatary saidThe five young animals were shifted in two batches to a pre-selected site four kilometres away from Upper Dekorai camp of the PTR in September on vehicle foot and elephant backs he saidThe PTR is situated at Seijosa in Pakke Kessang district about 200 kilometers from state capital ItanagarDuring the ex-situ walks which are monitored by animal keepers accompanied by a biologist the young bears learned to forage and gradually developed their wild instincts Body morphometry and weight were recorded periodically Basumatary saidOnce the cubs become reluctant to follow their keepers back to the camp they would be ear-tagged micro-chipped and radio-collared for soft release in the wild Eventually if they do not return to their cages anymore they would be considered wildHowever they would still be monitored for six more months the CBRC chief saidThe cubs are currently being taken care of by their keepers Duluk Dagang Pitar Lagun Jemi Chawiriya Antony Ngorang and field biologist Asish Immanauel BaglaryThe role of the rehabilitators is limited to protection and guidance during the acclimatisation process Basumatary saidAnimals take time to adjust to a new environment and overcome the proximity to humans at the rehabilitation centre said Suraj Singh Divisional Forest Officer DFO of the tiger reserveThe nature of bear cubs differs from one another as they sometimes do not adapt to the new environment In such cases we send them to zoos for captive rearing However we are successful in majority of the cases he saidWhile 44 cubs were released in the wild only one was sent to Itanagar zooThe rehabilitation programme for Asiatic bears started several years agoThe Asiatic black bear is the most commonly found bear in Arunachal Pradesh Their population is on a decline due to anthropogenic pressures and poaching PTI UPL NN SOM SOM

Bhopal Aug 25 PTI Fishing cat one of the endangered animals in India has been spotted in Panna Tiger Reserve PTR in Madhya Pradesh the state government said on Wednesday The fishing cat was captured on a camera installed in the tiger reserve an official release by the government said The evidence of the fishing cats presence was also witnessed earlier around the Ken river which covers a 55-km-long stretch within the PTR but this endangered animal was captured on the camera for the first time recently it said This species of cat which mostly eats fish as its food is becoming extinct it added The hunting of fishing cats is prohibited as per Schedule-1 of Indian Wildlife Protection Act 1972 the release said The biologists who are interested in research and study on the fishing cat can come and study here it added PTI ADU NP NP