7 AUGUST 2016

Ø  The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) here will now house the country’s first repository on tigers, under its new Tiger Cell. We have worked with the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) on tiger conservation and population estimation, and in the process we have generated a huge database. The Dehradun-based WII has about 23,000 images of tigers. “This has to be maintained and the Tiger Cell will do that,” Dr. Mathur said, adding that “if a tiger skin is recovered at a place then a properly maintained database can be used to check where the tiger might have come from.” The Tiger Cell could also help with the development-conservation debate. “When a project needs environmental clearance, our spatial data can be used to overlay the project plan on our maps and check whether the project would interfere [with wildlife habitats that must not be disturbed],” Dr. Mathur said. The Tiger Cell was inaugurated on Saturday and will be funded by the NTCA, a statutory body under the Environment Ministry. The Tiger Cell will assist in population assessment of tigers, law enforcement, wildlife forensics, infrastructural development and mitigation, smart patrolling and advisory role in policy formulation. We have been working with the Central government for a long time but this is a formal arrangement where we are institutionalising our contribution.

Ø  The fate of the medium transport aircraft, the planned replacement for the An-32s to be jointly developed by India and Russia, seems uncertain with India having second thoughts on the project, but Russia deciding to go ahead with the initial design on its own following the unending delay. The two countries signed an inter-governmental agreement in 2007 to develop and produce the 20-tonne aircraft to replace the An-32 transport aircraft in service in both the Indian and Russian air forces. In 2009, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) and the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) of Russia set up a joint venture with an investment of $300 million each by the two air forces. However, differences over the nature of the engine stalled progress. Ilyushin Corporation of Russia has started to “blow” the model of what it calls the Il-214 in an aerodynamic tube to optimise characteristics.