Inaugurating the programme, the Nilgiris Collector Archana Patnaik urged the farmers to switch to organic farming. The government will extend a helping hand in marketing their products, she said.

Underscoring the need to bring about a mindset change among farmers, she said that they should personally take care of their lands and become technology savvy. Over dependence on subsidies should be eschewed.

‘Concerted efforts necessary to prevent human-elephant conflict'

A day-long sensitisation programme under the Tamil Nadu Biodiversity and Greening Project for members of Village Forest Councils and anti-poaching watchers was organised by the Nilgiris North division of the Forest Department here on Friday.Listing the objectives and use of such programmes, District Forest Officer, the Nilgiris North, S. Ramasubramaniam said that without the support of people particularly those residing in villages located in and around the forests, conservation would become an uphill task.

A team of researchers from the University of Calicut has discovered a new species of wild ginger endemic to the Silent Valley National Park on the Western Ghats, one of the biodiversity hotspots in India.

The discovery, reported by M. Sabu, V.P. Thomas, and K.M. Prabhu Kumar of the Department of Botany, has been published in a recent issue of Phytokeys , a journal on biodiversity research. The new species, named Amomum nilgiricum , is a member of the ginger family (Zingiberaceae) consisting of 53 genera and over 1,200 species, many of which are widely used as spices, in medical formulations, or simply for decoration.

Student researchers and Mumbai residents, Rajesh Sanap and Zeeshan Mirza — both aged 23, have discovered two new species of a genus of trapdoor spiders from the southern Western Ghats.

An ailing tiger found by passerby under a tree at Kurumbar Pallam near Bokkapuram adjoining the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) was provided medical help at forest veterinary centre on Friday.

Though the area is part of the tiger habitat, spotting the animal early in the morning was unusual.

In a place like the Nilgiris, natural calamities cannot be prevented but if sincere and concerted efforts are made their impact can be minimised. This was emphasised by D.V.

Conservation measures in the Nilgiris are satisfactory, observed the Conservator of Forests, Coimbatore Circle, V.T. Kandasamy here on Wednesday.

Work on implementing a major Solid Waste Management (SWM) scheme here will commence soon, said the Chairman, Udhagamandalam Municipal Council (UMC) R. Rajendran here on Monday.

With concern growing among the officials and green activists over the direction in which the anti-plastics campaign is heading in the Nilgiris, the district administration has decided to step up measures to make it more effective.