PALNI HILLS CONSERVATION COUNCIL, NUTSHELL, CONVENT ROAD, KODAIKANAL FOURTH ANNUAL (1988-89) REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE The Executive Committee of the PHCC met 12 times between June '88 and May '89. At present the members of the Committee are: 1. M.S. Viraraghavan - President 2. K.M. Matthew - Vice-President 3. Navroz Mody - Vice-President 4. Zai Whitaker - Secretary 5. T. Rajkumar - Joint Secretary 6. C. Jeyakaran - Treasurer 7. Pippa Mukherjee - Member 8. Rom Whitaker - Member 9. Girija Viraraghavan - Member 10. V.R. Rajagopal - Member 11. J. Nath - Member 12. George Roshan - Member 13. R. Kannan - Member 14. Chandra Shankar - Member 15. Jean Pouyet - Member 16. David Nagel - Member 17. V. Sampath - Co-opted Member 18. C. Krishnamurthi - Co-opted Member 19. Jaima Mani - Co-opted Member The PHCC's membership now totals 160. A breakdown of these is : Life members - 89 Annual members - 69 Institutional members - 2 ---- Total - 160 ---- An effort is being made to have increasing contact with members, through informal get-togethers with them after the monthly Executive Committee meetings. A brief summary of our activities during 1988-89: 1. NEWSLETTER: An issue is brought out every four or five months and an attempt made to make it of general interest, with articles, wildlife sightings by local hikers/naturalists and reports of PHCC projects. A second-hand cyclostyling machine has been recently purchased and this will make the task easier. Members are encouraged to contribute articles and notes. 2. CSE VIDEO FILM: As reported in the last Annual Report, the Centre for Science and Environment funded a video tape on the environmental problems of the Palnis. This has now been completed, with commentaries in English, Hindi, and Tamil. It has been widely commented as a welledited and valuable account of the problems that beset this watershed. A slide presentation on the same subject has also been prepared and PHCC plans to show these programs to local people. Executive Committee members Mr. T. Rajkumar and Mr. C. Jeyakaran spent considerable time and effort along with Joss Brooks, to produce this video. The PHCC has copyrights to two other films, one on sholas and the other on the NWDB tree planting project. Soon these will be available as a package on one tape, and this will be important in the public education/awareness area. 3. WASTELAND SUB - COMMITTEE REPORT: 4 new centres at Nilakottai, Athoor, Shanthipuram and Kudhiraiyar were set up during this financial year, making a total of 5 centres. Around 8.95 lakh seedlings of over 100 varieties were raised and make available for planting in 1989. Water conservation works were carried out in land belonging to 136 farmers covering an area of 386 acres including lands belonging to Dindigul Municipality and the PWD in Kudhiraiyar. The target of planting all the seedlings in 700 acres could not be achieved in 1988 on account of the failure of the North-East Monsoon and the late arrival of funds from the funding organisation (National Wastelands Development Board). Around 12 lakh Palmyra seeds and 1.41 lakh seedlings were planted during this year. The balance of 7.54 lakh seedlings are being carried over for planting during 1989. A seed centre has been established at Odukkam, and seed gathering is a yearround activity. The seeds are used for the nurseries in our 5 centres, as well as being distributed to people raising tree nurseries. Over 134 varieties of seeds totalling 543 kilos were gathered. Around 157 people have come and collected seeds from us. Around 81,175 man-days of work has been generated in our 5 centres during 1988. The sub-committee is working on a proposal to set up 10 new centres in the hills and foothills. Training programs for NGO's, farmers and schools are being held regularly. 4. NATIONAL PARK: The PHCC's proposal for a Palni Hills National Park was incorporated in a recent report, "Planning a Wildlife Protected Area Network in India", compiled for the DOE by the Wildlife Institute of India. No funds have been received by the PHCC so far for the ground and wildlife surveys in spite of an assurance given by the Indo-German Society. However, Skeletal funds were provided for six students, three from the AVC College in Mayiladuturai and three from the Salim Ali School of Ecology, Pondicherry, to provide baseline data on the topography and ecology of the proposed national park area. There is urgent need for funds for this project as the information which is being collected will be crucial for pressing our case for the creation of the national park. 5. The PHCC now owns basic water testing equipment gifted by the "Bund fur Umweltund Naturschutz Deutschland e.V.(BUND)" through Jurgen Becker Sparenborg, one of our members. 6. Four students from St. Olaf College, U.S.A., spent a month at the PHCC working under T. Rajkumar's guidance. They drew up detailed maps of the lake area with reference to tree species, electricity, and telephone lines and vehicular traffic. This data will be a great asset for a discussion with the authorities during the open meeting planned in May. 7. PHCC members have participated in several seminars and workshops on the environment, among others the "SPADE" seminar in October, another in St. Joseph's College, Trichy, and a workshop on Forestry in Dehra Dun. In September, the President and Mrs. Girija Viraraghavan attended the meeting of the Save Western Ghat March Committee. 8. Ongoing work includes representations for the National Park, printing of the proceedings of INTACH seminar (only now handed over to PHCC), the NWDB tree planting program, the legal stand aganist water pollution relating to Sterling Apartments, and the ecological survey of the Palni Hills. The Executive Committee feels that in spite of financial and personnel constraints, the PHCC has made some headway in this past year and has gained credibility in government and non-government circles. Zai Whitaker Secretary