Sunderbans

Historically, tourism in India has been important and in fact is encouraged by Hindu scriptures. Nevertheless, international tourism to India and South Asia generally has languished in recent times in contrast to the growth of international tourism in the Asia-Pacific which has experienced the fastest tourism growth rate of any· region in the world. Paying particular attention to India and Bangladesh, some of the economic and other reasons for this lack-lustre performance are outlined, e.g., government regulations, restriction of competition in the tourist and travel industry, state provision of tourist services, currency restrictions. Now that India, and to some extent, Bangladesh have embarked on economic reforms to help liberalise their economies some of their previous impediments to international tourism will be reduced.
Both in India and Bangladesh, the government has played a major role in the provision of tourist services. This not only includes the provision of transport facilities such as air ·and rail transport, but also hotels, lodges, guest houses and tours themselves. Although the governments of India and Bangladesh have played a major role in tourism, with the economic structural adjustments that are occurring or planned the relative role of the government in the tourism sector can be expected to decline. In India for example, greater competition is to be expected in the provision of airline services and some government owned hotels are to be sold to private industry. Some reduction in 'red tape' faced by tourists might also be anticipated.
Apart from considering general economic issues and policies involved in tourism development in India and Bangladesh, the study draws on a survey of the development· of ecotourism in the Sunderbans. This is a major area for ecotourism both in West Bengal and in Bangladesh. Many of the problems encountered in this region also are encountered for ecotourism in other countries, both less developed and developed. ·
Amongst the economic problems encountered in operating tourism enterprises in the Sunderbans are: (1) The fact that tourism ·to the area is seasonal; the tourist facilities cannot be used during the hot monsoon period and so they remain idle for a large part of the year. This is a major cost component. (2) Virtually no local persons are employed in the tourist industry in the Sunderbans, so there are very few employment benefits to locals. (3) Most commodities for tourism in the Sunderbans are sourced from outside the Sunderbans. In the case of the Indian Sunderbans, most of the supplies come from Calcutta. (4) Permits are required for entry to the Sunderbans both in Bangladesh and India. These must be issued by the Ministry of Forestry and often there are delays in their issue which can frustrate tourists. (5) Wild animals, especially tigers, are very difficult to see. Therefore, many tourists may feel disappointed. Tourism in the Indian and Bangladesh Sunderbans is compared and contrasted

In this technical session 9 papers by the postgraduate students (M.Sc. 4th Semester) of the Department of Anthropology, Vidyasagar University were presented which were based on their recent fieldwork experiences among the Mundas in two villages of Satjelia Island of the Sunderbans area of South 24 Parganas of West Bengal. The papers deal with the (i) demographic, (ii) socio-economic, (iii) educational, (iv) religious, (v) developmental and (vi) recreational aspects of the Mundas in Sunderbans. The introductory paper, which will also be presented by a student would give a brief overview of the glimpses of the field area which began with the journey of the students from outside Sunderbans right into the Munda villages and the world’s largest biodiversity park. There is also a paper on the methodological issues arising out of the fieldwork experiences of the students in the Munda villages.
Dr.Abhijit Guha pointed out that this kind of technical session on the INCAA platform is unique and first of its kind because of the following reasons: 1. All the papers in the session are presented by students who have not yet earned their M.Sc. degrees in Anthropology 2. All the papers in the session dealt with a single village and on a single community, viz. Mundas. The two most important commentators of this session were Professor Jagannath Dash of the Department of Anthropology, Utkal University and Professor Vinayak Srivastava, of Delhi University. Prof. Dash pointed out the various loose areas of the papers which he suggested should be tightened up for further improvement. Prof. Srivastava highly admired the effort of the students and their teacher for carrying out a team ethnography which is becoming popular now-a-days.

The tourism industry is frequently referenced in Bangladesh as a highly important stakeholder/user group with the potential to provide extensive benefits to the Sundarbans Reserve Forest. However, there is no consistent analysis of tourism’s impacts on the ecosystem or neighboring communities. And there is no existing tourism plan in effect to help measure how tourism management is functioning at present, nor is there any management authority within the reserve that has tourism management as part of its mandate. This SWOT analysis of the Sundarbans has been developed to guide decision making on the means to develop tourism in the Sundarbans Reserve Forest in a sustainable manner. It will reveal opportunities for further research and investigation, and help decision makers to review what options exist for improving tourism’s benefits while reducing its negative impacts. It is not a strategy, but should be used by those seeking to develop a strategy with further research and investigation.

The concepts of climate change and biodiversity are interrelated and there is a cyclical relationship between the two. While climate change causes biodiversity loss, the devastation of biodiversity, in turn, contributes to climate change. Bangladesh, as a coastal and developing country is vulnerable to the threats from climate change-induced biodiversity loss. The country is endowed with very rich natural resources which are evident from its species diversity profile, particularly for angiosperms and avi-fauna. The country possesses 3,611 species of angiosperm out of which 2,623 belong to 158 families of dicotyledons and 988 to 41 families of monocotyledons. 1 Since the Sundarbans continues to be one of the richest hubs of biodiversity in Bangladesh, this paper analyzes the effects of climate change on the biodiversity of that mangrove forest. Why should the effect of climate change on the Sundarbans' biodiversity matter, and which theoretical perspective in international relations can be used to study this issue? We argue there are compelling reasons for studying the biodiversity of the Sundarbans. Although it is the largest mangrove forests spanning Bangladesh

AbstrAct: Being a developing nation, rural India is still facing a serious health problem in form of undernutrition particularly among young children. To optimize this problem, the Central Government has been operating a nationwide nutritional intervention programme in the form of Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS) scheme. Unfortunately, it has failed to achieve the desired goal during last four decades. Therefore the present study was designed to measure the seriousness and severity of overall undernutrition using Composite Index of Anthropometric Failure (CIAF) among the rural Bengalee preschool children of Sagar Block, South 24 Parganas, West Bengal, India. This cross-sectional study was conducted among 656 preschool children (326 boys and 330 girls) aged 3 to 5 years. Height (cm) and weight (kg) measurements were taken according to standard procedure, age and sex specific 2 z-scores values of height-forage , weight-for-height and weight-forage were used to assess stunting, wasting and underweight, respectively, as per the World Health Organization Guidelines. CIAF was also computed as per standard methodology to assess the degree of undernutrition among the studied children. The overall age and sex combined prevalence of stunting, wasting, underweight and CIAF was 26.2%, 35.4%, 51.1% and 61.3%, respectively. CIAF showed a higher prevalence of undernutrition (61.28%) in comparison to other three indicators i.e., stunting, wasting and underweight. We conclude that the nutritional status of the subjects was not satisfactory. It was also established that the CIAF is a better indicator of nutritional status than traditional measures of stunting, wasting and underweight, because it determines overall (total) anthropometric failure. Assessment of nutritional status by composite index of anthropometric failure (CIAF): a study among preschool children of Sagar Block, South 24 Parganas District, West Bengal, India

People’s urge to see and experience the environment around them has led the tourism industry to become one of the fast-growing industries all around the globe. Sunderbans Tiger Reserve has always been alluring to the tourist to experience the scenic beauty of the mangrove forest and see the Royal Bengal Tiger. Successful execution of Project Tiger for protecting this endangered species from getting extinct has put India on the international platform. The aim of the research paper is to (1) identify the contribution of conservation plan in boosting tourism, (2) conduct the strengths, weakness, opportunity and threat analysis of the study area, and (3) estimate the potential of tiger tourism in the study area. The study concludes that the conservation plans are helping in building the product image, financing the study to area which is upgrading the surroundings for tourism along with other benefits. Trend analysis result predicts a continuous rise of tourist footfall in the reserve, which suggests big potential of the reserve.

The waters of the Bay of Bengal intrude into the Sunderbans over flooding the creeks and dal courses for years as a result of sea level rise due to climac changes. This situaon causes ecological disaster for the man and environment. Erosion and inundaon, as a result of sea level changes removes sediments from the flood plain and river banks by the current and wave accons. Islands of Sunderbans face inundaon that somemes results flood in the agricultural lands and gradually become a low lying land because of submergence. Hazards as a result of climac changes affect the geographical locaon, structure and funccon of biooc community, livelihood of the rural islanders of Sunderbans. Further, changes of ecosystem of the Sunderbans have the major impact on the tourism, fisheries, biodiversity, fresh water supplies, and ground water availability due to intrusion of salinity. Sea-level Rise Connuous subsidence of the Bengal basin results much more sea level rise than that of eustac rates of 2.2 mm/year. Global climac change causes the sea-level rise, although the sea-level rise girdling the coastal areas of the Sunderbans is alarming. Current trend of sea-level rise along the Indian Ocean is 2.5 mm/year against the long-term sea-level rising trend of 1.0 mm/year. IPCC (Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change) predicts their expectaon on sea-level rise of about 15-38 cm by 2050 and 46-59 cm by 2100 around Indian subconnent. World Bank Report (2000) projected the sea-level rise for the Sunderbans step by step by menoning the percentage of inundaon for the Sunderbans which is published by Lund University, Sweden (2000). Projected height of the sea level rise and percentage of inundaon of the Sunderbans Sea-level rise (in cm) Inundaon (%) 10 cm 25 cm 45 cm 60 cm 15 40 75 100 Bangladesh faces about the double of the sea-level rise of 30-50 cm by 2050, on contrary to the 15-38 cm of the global average. Much greater sea-level rise of about 1 m for the Bangladesh Sunderbans coincides with the local sea-level rise of 10 cm due to subsidence with the 90 cm sea-level rise for global warming due to climac change. About 20 islands of both Bangladesh and Indian Sunderbans including emerging New Moore Island (Purbasha) are to be undergone submergence. Subsidence It was not a tale of a tub when everybody who was anybody at all was at the gathering of experiences of finding in-depth tree-trunks in the Sunderbans in the past century. The local inhabitants at present are going out of their depth observing these sediment-sunk tree trunks over the centuries. Series of tree trunks are seen scaered in the most of the excavated ponds in the depth of eight to eighteen feet in the blocks of Canning, Patharprama, Gosaba, Mathurapur, Namkhana etc. of the Sunderbans region. And they are all idenfied as the tree trunks of the Sundari trees. The similar incident of the occurrence of tree trunks at the depth of 30 feet below the surface level was experienced during excavaon at Khulna and Sealdah in the Briish period. The then Director of the Botanical Gardens confirmed idenfying those in situ tree trunks as Sundari trees. Experts describe both of these incidents of past and present as the evidences of subsidence. Evidence of subsidence is the existence of Sundari trees at a much lower level (3 to 6 m) than the present surface near Calcuua (presently Kolkata) and Khulna proves that the old forest areas must have subsided to that depth where tree trunks are available. Burial of earlier mangroves layers by subsequent alluvial deposits is a common and rouune phenomenon in the Sunderbans. Further, llng of landmass eastward as a result of a crack developed in the connental shelf of the Bengal basin during the Cretaceous period has created a shallow marine condiion at the southern boundary of the Sunderbans and the mangroves tend to shii northwards due to natural pressure. Shiiing of mangroves about 130 km north was happened to be occurred around 6500 BP as a result of transgression. Sunken tree trunk of mangroves found in the Sealdah and Khulna during excavaon is the evidences for both subsidence and shiiing of mangroves from the south to the north. The reality of the facts of subsidence phenomenally is correct with respect to the geology of the Bengal Basin. The Sunderbans occupies the lower (dal) delta plain of the Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta (GBD) of the Bengal Basin which is slowly subsiding as a result of isostac adjustment of the crust due to rise of the Himalayas and dewatering of the Proto-Bengal Fan sediments. Further, in the Sunderbans,

The Sunderbans is the largest mangrove vegetation in the world. Changes in the environment, particularly driven by climate change, forewarn us of the dwindling diversity of exclusive mangrove plants and the charismatic animal species – especially the tiger. The Sunderbans, with its fast-changing geomorphic and hydrological character, is creeping towards its doomsday.

Aim: Undernutrition is one of the most important problems facing developing countries, including rural India. However, there exists scanty information on the prevalence of undernutrition in the form of stunting, wasting and underweight among preschool children of Sundarban area of West Bengal, India. Methods: This study was carried out among 656 (326 boys; 330 girls) 3-5 years old rural preschool children of Bengalee ethnicity at 28 Integrated Child Development Services centres of Sagar Block, South 24 Parganas District, West Bengal, India. Anthropometric measurements were recorded according to standard procedure and <-2 z-scores of height-forage , weight-for-height and weight-forage age were used to evaluate the level of stunting, wasting and underweight, respectively, following the World Health Organization Guidelines. Results: It revealed that boys were significantly taller and heavier than girls at age combined and also at age 4 & 5 years, except at age 3 years when girls were taller. The overall age and sex combined data showed that rates of stunting, wasting and underweight were 26.22%, 35.37% and 51.07%, respectively. The rates of stunting, wasting and underweight were higher among boys (stunting = 28.22%, wasting = 40.80%, underweight = 53.37%) compared with girls (stunting = 24.24%, wasting = 30.00%, underweight = 48.79). Based on the World Health Organization classification of severity of malnutrition, the overall prevalence of wasting (35.37%) and underweight (51.07%) was very high (≥15%; ≥30%). Conclusion: The nutritional status of the subjects was unsatisfactory. There is scope for improvement in the form of enhanced supplementary nutrition.

This present communication reports Mimegralla albimana (Doleschall, 1856), a dipteran species under family
Micropezidae, for first time from the Indian part of Sunderban and this species is also the first representative of the
family Micropezidae from the Sunderban Mangrove ecosystem.

The age-combined mean values of HC were 47.63 (± 2.13) cm and 46.82 (± 1.32) cm among boys and girls, respectively. A significant sex difference was found in age-combined mean value of HC (t = 5.86, p<0.001). The age-combined rates of undernutrition among boys and girls were 28.83% and 42.12%, respectively. This sex difference was statistically significant.

The present study was carried out to studyage and sex variations in body composition characteristics among preschool children of Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS) Scheme from Sagar Island, South 24 Parganas, West Bengal. This cross-sectional study was undertaken at 28 Integrated Child Development Services scheme centres of this area. Subjects were randomly selected from these centers. A total of 656 (Boys: 326; Girls: 330) preschool children of 3-5 years were measured. It was found that boys were taller and heavier than girls at all ages except 3 years. With increasing age, there was a gradual decline in mean skinfolds thickness. ANOVA revealed that there existed significant age variations (p< 0.001) in all anthropometric measurements, body mass index (BMI) and body composition variables except for fat mass (FM) among boys. Mean Percentage Body Fat (PBF) values among boys decreased with increasing age, but among girls mean PBF values increased with increasing age. A similar sexual dimorphism trend was observed with fat mass (FM) and fat mass index (FMI). Results of the sex specific correlation coefficient between anthropometric measurements and body composition variables showed that majority of the body composition variables were highly correlated with the anthropometric variables. In conclusion, the r esearchers observed that there was sexual heterogeneity in the relationship between age and body adiposity as measured by PBF, FM and FMI.

A disaster is said to be a social construct because its sudden occurrence disrupts the functioning of a society, causing human, material, economic, cultural and environmental losses that exceed the community's ability to cope using its own resources. Thus, any natural hazard that leads to loss of human lives and property and damages the surrounding resources and nonhuman entities can be called a disaster (Wisner et al, 2014; Nadiruzzamam, 2016). Historical evidence has shown that the region of Sundarbans has faced cyclones and their never-ending fury through time.

Natural disasters (NDs) experienced by women and their children during prenatal and infant growth may have long-lasting effects on offspring's development. Handgrip strength (HGS) is one of the measures of muscular strength and an indicator of health status. This study compared HGS in children exposed to cyclone Aila in India during their prenatal and infant growth compared to a control group from a non-affected, adjacent area. The total sample involved 444 boys and 423 girls aged 7-9 years, categorised into 3 groups: prenatally exposed to Aila, exposed to Aila in infancy, and the control group, non-exposed to Aila. Results revealed that prenatally exposed children of both sexes had significantly lower HGS than the controls (at least, p < 0.001 in boys; p < 0.05 in girls). On the other hand, the postnatally exposed boys, but not the girls, showed lower HGS than the controls. A significant effect of a group factor (ND exposure) on HGS was observed even after controlling for confounding variables (age, height, BMI, birth weight, gestational age; at least, p < 0.05). Our findings indicate that prenatal or early postnatal experience of a ND may have association with impaired HGS in prepubertal children.

Our village fair is remembered for a few evenul turns like selling of ghugni (pea curry), secretly handing over of billet–doux to the young wife of cobbler by Tapan, owner of a grocery, and compeon of tubri (kind of firework). Fair of village lasts hardly four days. AAer fair is over, the fairground once again filled with darkness, leaving the fireflies with the liberty of flying. This type of village fair in the reclaimed areas of the Sunderbans is simply different from the fair of the other part of Bengal. The fair lacking circus, baul songs, luck-try, magic performance, stall of established vendors or businessman from the other areas is supposed to be only due to lack of easy transport and communicaons for network of rivers, creeks and other dal inlets. Fair in our childhood consists of small shops of staonery goods, toys and balloons, ready-made sweets, tele bhaja and ghugni (pea curry), ice creams etc. Once upon a me Paran suggested me on the day before the commencement of one such fair for selling of ghugni in the fair ground as in his words, it was very much profitable. I was then a student of class eight, Paran was in class six. I assisted with the finance to that ghugni project with all of my savings totaling rupees ten. Paran purchased pea and other spices and prepared ghugni in our kitchen and filled enre pea curry in a big vessel. He sold ghugni pouring in the cutout banana leaf as a plate and a small piece of palm leaf as spoon. Any way when we recovered the capital invested for the preparaon of ghugni aer selling of half of its quanty contained in the vessel, we decided not to sell remaining part of ghugni any more and went out of the fair taking the ghugni-vessel along with all other friends. We shared all of its residue and the ghugni was really delicious and spicy. The price to obtain common items such as papad, pea curry (ghugni), ice creams, locally made cakes etc in the village fair was fixed for years, though no price list or catalogues was displayed in the temporarily fixed shops or stalls in the fair ground and nobody was appointed for price-control on behalf of the fair commiiee. We all enjoyed our favourite items available in the fair in the same price for the long period from primary to higher secondary stage of our studentship. Locally made crumpet was costly to us as its fixed price was twenty five paisa. Crumpet, a soo cake of flour, egg, milk and small pieces of green gourd (chal kumra) baked on an iron plate at the local baking mill stood at the bank of Hetania Doania at Namkhana. Ice cream (malai baraf) mixed with the coconut dust were available at the price of five naya paisa (ordinary) and ten naya paisa (special) respecvely. We bought all those items with the fixed price as they were locally made and the sellers had no reputaon or influence over the fair commiiee. Both buyers and sellers belonged to the same category of ordinary and common people. We along with all our friends moved talking with each other in and around the fairground irrespeccve of financial stability, dress-fashion, caste, religion or bars of other backwardness. Above all I recall being moved to the flash back, showing a village fair momentarily when the darkness in the night was lit with the light of hazak. In recent me entering into our village fair aer a gap of more than four decades, on the occasion of Bisalakshmi puja fesval, I stunned watching all of the changed items in almost all stalls from those of our boyhood. Pea curry, ice cream, vepu (play on a toy-trumpet) is replaced with the costly packet food items like kurkure, lays etc and baery driven toys. The fair ground is lit with the tube lights through hooking with well-connected wires from the fixed electric-posts sponsored by the state government. Several tea stalls in the fair make anybody understand that the inhabitants of the village are at present habituated with taking tea regularly. At the intermission of my thoughts, Shyamapada, my childhood friend, stands before me at a tea stall of an unknown owner where I am taking tea siing on a bench. In company with me, he gives a candid explanaon of his own prospects. Shyamapada, once frustrated with his longme unemployment, now is a moderate rich person. He and his spouse are now teaching in the government primary school. Shaking my hand, Shyamapada said, 'Those days are gone.' Spurs tears at his eyes, the village fair united both the childhood friends aer a long interval.

Mithun Khuro was a self-made naturalist at a small isolated island of remote part of the Sunderbans. It was a rainy day when I met and was acquainted with Mithun Khuro (uncle)-an illiterate universal uncle of the island of aged about seventy years. Although economically not sound, he was very popular among islanders due to his enchanng personality and simplicity as well as his benevolent atude towards inhabitants of the island. Thereaer he liked me very much and used to call me as Notun Master (newly appointed teacher) as there were a few similariies among us parrcularly on some accviies of nature. I used to set forth in the aernoon for surveying flora and fauna specially idenfying mangroves in the flood plain of the Thakuran River when I had had plenty of me aer my duty in school was over. I was usually accompanied by some of my students of curious nature on the way of my day to day survey. One day I found Mithun Khuro meandering from one pond to the other in the vast plain of agricultural land which was not belonging to him. I asked why he was moving like that in the very beginning of the monsoon. Khuro replied that some indigenous fish species like lata, chang, sol, dariya, chanda, bai-tyangra, boyal, folui etc were very much scarce since last four-five years and he observed the degree and dimension of scarcity. I simply astonished hearing such thoughts from Khuro who did not turn into even a primary school in his childhood. AAerthat the accviies of Mithun Khuro was just a tale. He collected fish spawns of endangered species from other islands and released them in the ponds, tanks of this island free of costs which were not of his own during enre monsoon me from June to August. Mithun Khuro used the earthen pitchers for transport purposes of the collected spawns of the said endangered fish species. He connued to create waves inside the pitchers through movement of his hands in order to supply more oxygen within the waters. I had never seen such type of conservator of nature before who carried on such an endeavour in keeping biodiversity with his own interest and expenditure. When the agricultural fields were filled up with monsoonal rain waters, all the ponds and tanks were over flown and the fish-spawns were released and scaered far and wide from one waterbodies to another wetlands. And this was the only idea and mooo of Mithun Khuro for spreading of fish species into every nook and corner of all the water bodies in the island. It was really surprising when we heard in one autumn morning that Mithun Khuro succumbed to suicide at his home. The materials he selected for his suicidal aempt were fruits of Kuchla (Nux vomica) and molasses mixture, both of which were the produce of nature. He knew well the toxic poisonous by-product at the end of biochemical reaccon between any biier substances and a sweet material. Applicaon of all these substances upon himself even for his mortal death never deviate him from a thought maker of nature. The reason for his suicide was that his only son rebuked his father for helping financial assistance to a needy neighbour by taking loan from another. Death of Mithun Khuro, a misfortune to most of the islanders proved that he was an emooonal person even in his sevenes. Perhaps all naturalists are emooonal.

Sunderbans, well-known for its mangroves ecosystem, occupies a vast area of 2108.11 sq. km as mentioned in the India State of Forest Report 2019. Mangrove forest area of the Sunderbans has been changing every year along with its other resources including floral and faunal community due to climate change, deforestation and human encroachment. Climatic change has a major impact on sea level rise and the rise of the sea level is observed quite much more at Sunderbans as a result of continuous natural subsidence of the lower part of the Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta (GBD) of which Sunderbans is a part of it. Saline water will gradually intrude into the coastal hinterland which will reduce the fresh water availability. Both water and soil get salinized with time. Production of crops, fruits and vegetables, even the medicinal plants occurred in and around the wetlands will be decreased. Fresh water fishes will be disappeared, although brackish water fish species will be produced more and more that leads to the conversion of fresh water aquaculture into the brackish water aquaculture. Luxuriant growth of mangroves will be stunted due to the adverse effects of increased salinity and humidity due to sea level rise. Reclamation and cultivation, thereon, has been accelerated in the Sunderbans that reduce the forest areas of the Sunderbans. Even the areas of the Sunderbans is going to be decreased by taking initiatives of the tourism hub project by the government in the tigers and crocodiles breeding ground. As a consequence of such environmental degradation, the forest areas of the Sunderbans has been changing year by year as computed by the Forest Survey of India.

When we began our fieldwork we had no idea that our field site was also spread beyond the boundaries of the village and very near to our camp.

On a Saturday we came to know from the local people that there will be a cockfight just in front of our lodge in a small ground. People were already gathering in a circle
to watch the cockfight. It was also the day for local weekly market at Sardarpara.

Within moments, the birds that were quite large were left by the men who were holding them right on the ground and the fight began. Both the cocks jumped in the
air and tried to strike each other by swinging their legs carrying the knife. At that time people were shouting and enjoyed the fight a lot. It seemed to us that the people were
in their height of excitement, as if they were fully drunk. Some of them might have taken a few doses of the local rice-beer which were being sold by women within the
premises of the weekly market. We have not seen any women during the cockfight.
We asked a number of men about the absence of women. All of them replied: ‘This is the affair of men only.’

In this particular fight, which we watched the cocks were willing and the fight began.Several attacks were made by both birds to each other and both got injuries. Finally,
one cock hit the other severely in the neck of its opponent and the strike was lethal.
While we were interviewing the participants on the different aspects of the cockfight, one man told us: ‘People also bet on the cockfight and the stakes are as high as
Rs.500-1000 or more per fight’. We immediately got interested and began to enquireabout betting but the other men instantaneously stopped him by saying: ‘No..no..
bettings do not take place ..... this man does not know about our place.... he has comefrom outside....’ The man who talked about betting stopped and did not say anything
more on betting and almost disappeared in the crowd of the weekly market.

After watching the fight, we asked a number of men: ‘Why the knife is tied with the left leg of the cock?’ Everyone answered: ‘During fights, the cocks move their left legfaster and has a greater chance to win!

Objective: To assess the prevalence of thinness among 3.0-5.5 years old preschool children of integrated child development services (ICDS) scheme of Sagar Block, South 24 Parganas, West Bengal, India. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 656 preschool children (326 boys and 330 girls). Height (cm) and weight (kg) measurements were taken according to standard procedure. The body mass index (BMI) of the subjects were categorised according to the new international cutoff point for thinness proposed by Cole et al. Low BMI for age was defined as thinness and age sex specific cut off values of mild, moderate and severe grades of thinness as proposed by Cole et al. Results: The age combined mean BMI were 13.48 (±0.92) kg/m 2 for boys and 13.30 (±1.00) kg/m 2 for girls. Sex combined mean BMI was 13.39 (±0.96) kg/m 2. The mean BMI showed a decreasing trend irrespective of sex up to age of 4.5 year. Over all (age combined) sex difference in mean BMI was observed (t=2.37; p&...

Sunderbans, the largest mangroves forests in the world covering areas of India and Bangladesh for more than 80 km in forming Sunderbans Na onal Park, is declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1987. The present mangroves forest areas of its Indian part is 2108.11 sq km recorded by Indian State of Forest Report, 2019. Other than the Sunderbans, mangroves forests are found in 118 coun es and territories in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. The largest percentage of mangroves can be found between 50N and 50S la tudes. Approximately 75% of world's mangroves are found in just 15 countries, though over the past two decades alone, almost 100,000 hectares, or 6% of the world's mangrove forests have been lost due to deforesta on either for agricultural purposes or for aquaculture prac ces. Other than such anthropogenic interference for loss of mangrove forests, scien sts have found that the mangrove cannot exist in seas rising faster than about 7 mm/year according to a paper published in Science, 5 June, 2020 related to the mangroves, climate change and sea level rise. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) states that the present rate of global sea rise is 3.4 mm/year, but this rate of sea level rise is projected to 5 mm/year by 2030 and 10 mm/year a er a few decades and up to 2100 as depicted in the published paper. And that's the reason for which the salt-tolerant mangroves forests known for managed to keep pace with rising sea level could drown by 2100 due to rapid sea level rise globally. Mangroves forests provide a valuable buffer to the communi es inhabi ng in the coastal stretch against ravaged storm surges due to cyclonic storms off and on, safe nursery ground for estuarine and coastal fin fish and shell fishes and helps declining the carbon dioxide level of the atmosphere by storing it as blue carbon in its substrate sediments. Blue carbon refers to carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere by the world's estuarine and coastal ecosystems, mostly mangroves, salt marshes, sea grasses and poten ally macro-algae, through plant growth and the accumula on and burial of organic ma er in soils. Blue carbon is the carbon captured and stored in ocean and coastal ecosystems. It's blue because it is formed underwater. Mangroves can store up to five mes the carbon of trees on land, provide habitats for wildlife, and boost fisheries at its surroundings. The blue carbon in these unique ecosystems is vital for tackling climate break down, but they are under threat. Mangroves forest serves as the blue carbon storage since its appearance on a me period in between 10000-7000 years before present (BP) when the rate of sea level rise has become gradually slower. Before than that the sea level rise was at the rate of 12 mm/year due to mel ng of ice just a er the peak period of ice age in between 26000-20000 years before present (BP). Mangroves are found to be abundantly occurred in between 8600-6000 years BP and are in rapid expansion globally since then-the scien sts stated in their paper. The researchers predict that the mangroves could not grow if the rate of sea level rise is declined to an average 6.1 mm/year globally. In next 30 years, the rate of sea level rise will be accelerated to 6 to 7 mm/year if the present rate of greenhouse gas emissions con nues. Even in May, 2020, the amount of carbon dioxide in the air hit an average of slightly greater than 417 ppm. This is the highest monthly value ever recorded, and is up from 414.7 ppm in May of 2019 as per readings from the Scrips Ins tu on of Oceanography and the Na onal Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra on (NOAA). Earth's carbon dioxide levels hit record high, despite corona virus-related emissions drop in recent mes. At present, the average concentra on of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is 417 ppm. The average concentra on of carbon dioxide has been accelerated in every decade recorded by the United Na ons Climate Change, a branch of the United Na ons. 2000-369 ppm 2010-388 ppm 2020-417 ppm 2030-? The existence of mangroves in the world's coastal and estuarine ecosystems including the Sunderbans depends on the rate of sea level rise due to global warming that causes ice sheets to melt and sea water to rise rapidly. Again, global warming depends on the rates of the greenhouse gas emissions. If it is not cu ng of the emissions of greenhouse gases, and rapid expansion of sea level, mangroves of the Sunderbans could drown and unable to keep its existence by 2100. This planet earth is like our mother, mother loves us, let's love her back protec ng mangroves forests, its biodiversity, species diversity and ecosystem services. Mangrove ecosystem is the only place on the earth where trees thrive in ocean water. It's really an enchan ng forest and love it. Mangrove forests stand by the sea beyond the blue, a guide to the philanthropists and change-makers which is well described by the Global Mangrove Alliance. When I look in the water all I see is trees When I look at the trees all I see is water Fron er

There's nothing like wandering in the deserted spots all by oneself. On the day of 26th May, 2009, I am meandering all the spots of Sankarpur, Mandarmani, Tajpur, Mohana (confluence of Digesh Mohon River and the Bay of Bengal), Old Digha, New Digha, Udaypur, Talsari and Kirtania Kha (confluence of Subarnarekha River and the Bay of Bengal) in the gusty winds and torrenal rains hiring a car for surveying and sampling along the coastal stretch of the Bay of Bengal. The gusty winds and torrenal rains of that day are nothing but the symptoms of the occurrences of a cyclonic storm and on the very next day, people came to know from the electronic media and dailies that a severe super cyclone thrashed the enre coastal areas of both Indian and Bangladesh and its name is Aila. The warning system for cyclone-forecast was so poor then. But of late, the alert system has gradually been improving and we, the common people, come to know, even about each and every progress of ensuing cyclone from its generaon in the deep ocean to landfall on the coastal areas well in advance. United Naons highlights such importance of invesng in early warning systems to reduce the damage caused by natural disasters by campaigning if we know how to make a society resilient, a hazard doesn't necessarily have to become a disaster. The warning systems help both the disaster managers and the concerned administraons to take proper steps for remedial measures well before the occurrence of cyclone Bulbul this me that touched the land at night on the 9th November, 2019. On the 8th November, 2019, the day before devastaon of Bulbul, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) circulates a nooficaon displaying the severe cyclonic storm Bulbul is intensified into a very severe cyclonic storm at 5.30 hours IST, centered about 530 km south southwest of Sagar Islands to cross West Bengal and Bangladesh coast across Sunderbans Delta during early hours of the 10th November with wind speed of 110-110 km per hour. Next day by 10 am, IMD releases a bullen noofying that the very severe cyclonic storm lay centered at 9.30 hours IST to cross West Bengal-Bangladesh coasts between Sagar Island and Khepupara (Bangladesh) across Sunderbans delta by midnight of 9th November as a severe cyclonic storm. At aernoon of the same day, IMD updates that the very cyclonic storm Bulbul locates about 90 km south southeast of Digha and will cross West Bengal-Bangladesh coasts across Sunderbans delta by late evening/night between 8 pm and 11 pm as severe storm. By 8.30 pm IMD issues nooce that the landfall process of Bulbul has started and warns that the landfall is a two hour process. And thus, wall cloud region is entering into land. It is very likely to move north-eastwards, weaken gradually. By midnight the department states that current intensity near center is 105-115 km/hr gusng to 125 km/hr. landfall process connues. Eye lies over South 24 Parganas close to the east of the Sunderban's Dhanchi forest which is located about 30 km southwest of Sunderbans Naonal Park, 100 km southeast of Kolkata, 60 km east of Sagar Island, 165 km west southwest of Khepupara. By 11.30 pm, landfall process ends and at 9.30 am in the next day morning (10th November, 2019), the threat for West Bengal is over as the cyclone has weakened and will become a deep depression, moving towards Northeast India. Ullmately, the depression over southeast Bangladesh and adjoining South Tripura moved slightly east-northeastwards, weakened into a low-pressure area and lay centered at 8.30 am of the 11th November, 2019 over southern parts of Tripura and neighbourhoods. The department forecasts that scaered light to moderate rain is likely in Northeast India, while light moderate rain with one to two heavy spells may lash. In coastal areas of the Indian and Bangladesh Sunderbans, Bulbul is accompanied with torrenal rains and high velocity winds to the tune of 110-120 km/hr gusng up to 130 km/hr. The coastal areas of West Bengal such as Digha, Howrah, Hooghly, North and South 24 Parganas, Purba Medinipur are witnessing wind in excess of 100 km/hr during the period when the storm is tracking West Bengal. The City of Joy Kolkata has received a whopping 104 mm of rain along with winds gusng up to 50-70 km/hr. The amount of rainfall received in 24 hours during cyclonic storm Bulbul is as following-Rainfall Data of the Coastal Stretch of West Bengal Contai-166 mm Dum Dum-103 mm Alipur-91.7 mm Digha-96.6 mm Diamond Harbour-91 cm Rainfall Data of the Coastal Stretch of Bangladesh Khepupara-105 mm Bhola-99 mm Barishal-139.5 mm Jessore-52 mm Despite such improved warning systems, frequent alert and utmost efforts from the district administraons and their management team, the deadly cyclone Bulbul has taken the lives of people while displaced two million others and affected 2.73 lakh families aer hiing the coast of India and Bangladesh on Saturday night (9th November, 2019). According to the latest data available, in West Bengal, 14 people were killed in view of cyclone Bulbul. Bulbul has resulted in large-scale damage, destruccng 4000 mud-built houses and n-thatched houses, as per the data available by the disaster management department. The officials of the Government of West Bengal prepare a preliminary report based on the accumulated data submiied by different departments aer surveying the area hit by cyclone Bulbul

Rapid rate of erosion, loss of vegetaon or sudden changes of biodiversity fosters panic to the people of the Sunderbans, and for these reasons, people of the India and Bangladesh part of the Sunderbans of late need nature, love nature, who occupied the areas surrounding the Sunderbans Reserved Forest for generaons aer generaons for not only the air they breathe, the food they eat, the water they drink, but for their secured home and the stability of livelihoods which become gradually different due to climate change at present. The people of the Sunderbans now realizes about the effects and impacts of the climate change and sea level rise on Sunderbans upon which they are all dependant owing to agriculture, fish capture, wood cuung and honey colleccon. They all know if the health of the Sunderbans ecosystem affected they would have to be refugee at the aer-effect situaon. So, the people afraid of the exposure of huge erosion visible in the coastal Sunderbans or the disappearance of the common mangrove's species in different islands of the reserved forest areas and all those facts as a consequence of the climate change. Let us come to know about the changes that make the inhabitants of the Sunderbans panic-fright, for e.g. one of such changes is havoc erosion in the coastal Sunderbans at its western part, where the shoreline moves towards landside 3 to 4 km since 1840 as mapped and measured by the researchers accurately. This erosional process to the western part of the Sunderbans, parrcularly of the Indian Sunderbans is due to its sediments starved nature or eastward migraon of the river mouths or source sediment supply by the major rivers of the Sunderbans through local distributaries, as suggested by many world-class researchers of the Sunderbans. So, therefore, such huge erosion in the coastal Sunderbans should not be intermingled with the climate change, the burning topics of the recent phenomena. Among other evidences, dendrochronology of the mangrove trees is considered for the determinaon for the analysis of impact of climate change. This method of analysis of ring growth has been applied on the Sundari and Passur trees which are well-grown in the Bangladesh part of the Sunderbans. Hard and reddish coloured Sundari (Heriiera fomes) wood has a strong domesc demand for mullpurpose uses because it is a good durable wood with a weight of 65 pounds per cubic foot. Like Sundari, mber yielding plant Passur (Xylocarpus mekongensis) and its moderately heavy and highly durable woods, having excellent textured finishing and machining properres, has very good potency in furniture and carpentry making small-scale industries. Matured Sundari and Passur trees have well-developed stem, which in cross seccon, shows wide and thick rings indicang a ferrle, well-watered growing period instead of thin, narrow rings that indicate a me of lower rainfall and less-than ideal growing condiions. So, therefore, dendrochronology, a method of analysis of tree ring growth paerns to determine the age of a tree, indicates the normal climac condions for several years before present. Presence of foraminifera acts as an indicator of climate change through determinaon of vigour of water current and rate of sedimentaon. Abundant occurrence of foraminifera, their populaon density in the sediment samples collected from the shallow coastal region indicate higher rate of sedimentaon. Higher populaon density and higher species diversity in the sediment samples of coastal waters away from the nearshore region suggest low rate of sedimentaon. Reduced size of benthic foraminifera in the estuarine area indicates a euryhaline shallow marine environment and huge influx of freshwater carried from the upstream by the Hooghly River. Both the planktonic and benthic foraminifera indicang nearshore marine environment with high energy condiion infers that the coastal Sunderbans is with normal environmental condiion and the visibility of impact of climate change is sll confused and obscured for further contemplaon.

The aernoon is tending to rest or in equilibrium, being at a standsll, overcast with cloud. It is the repeataon of the event that happened five years back. That event perhaps might repeat itself at the end of this month of Aaswin. Remembering all events of that day and aer while crossing the lawn, Jaba comes near the calf ed with the tree beside the dyke in front of her house where the liile calf tries to pick up grasses to eat. At that moment, sounds from a distance of loud speaker comes to her ears. Minutely hearing the tone and style of announcement, Jaba ullmately idenfies the announcer; he is certainly Sudam, the elected Gram Panchayet member of Jharkhali. Sudam connues announcement carrying baery on the carrier, amplifier on the seat and a large horn strongly ed with the handle of the bicycle ; only cordless microphone caught in his grip of right hand. Sudam repeats shouung – 'Nobody will go for fishing in the river or sea today, tomorrow or day aer tomorrow; Hudhud is coming; it's a sea storm; we need have to be careful immediately; those who live in the houses of earthen wall thatched with straw have to move towards flood centre accompanied by all members of the enre family along with domesc animals before evening; the Gram Panchayet alerts you much before the storm would blow upon you all and over the area. When Sudam comes nearer Jaba, at the interval of announcement, she asks him whether Gram Panchayet accomplishes her appeal or not. In reply, Sudam tells her that the name of Sreema Jaba Mondal has not yet been registered in the list of the widows due to lack of proper evidence like death cerrficate of her husband etc. Unregistered name of a widow means unavailability of allowances for widow from the government. Hearing these words from Sudam Bhunia, Jaba proudly looks at her bangles made of shell which are stained brown for her daily cow-dung cake (ghunte) processing from cow-dung; she affirms herself with an inner pride that she is sll Sreema Jaba Mondal. Simultaneously Jaba thought of that violent storm namely Aila thrashed their village, and then their earthen house started tumbling. There was no weather forecast regarding commencement of the storm in the aernoon. Nimai, her husband went down to the river for fishing with his own dingi (indigenous small fishing boat) in the early morning. Storm started blowing in the noon and connued up to mid night. AAer that night was dead silent; it was an eerie night. As a consequence of strong winds and damage of river embankment, the enre area was inundated with saline river water. People of both government and non-government organizaon visited daily and distributed relief among storm-strike people. Those people asked about the degree of violence of the super cyclone Aila and so many quesons including informaon about her husband (Nimai) and exchanged different queson-answers in the form of opinions. Beauuful jeans-worn middle-aged ladies paid heed to her words and copied important points in their note book; they snapped photographs of Jaba, the surroundings of her home and the nearby saline water filled agricultural field area. Five years passed aer that violent storms Aila but the situaon were sll as before as me passed swiily. Jharu, son of Jaba, now aged six, used to take midday meal daily being a student of a free primary school; her cow namely 'kuuni' brings forth calves four mes; a coconut tree grows in the lawn and is covered with clusters of green coconuts; but Nimai, her husband does not come back his home to accompany Jaba sand Jharu ll date. For this me being, in view, Jaba's son liile Jharu tests touching inside-outside of the horn of the amplifier ed with the handle of the bicycle. He asks then in his tender voice, 'Kaka (uncle), what is Hudhud?' Sudam (kaka) assures liile Jharu and says, 'Tomorrow I will come and make you understand all about Hudhud or other rest of the names of cyclones.' Next day the storm Hudhud flops, as it vanishes within the periphery of the focus of origin in the Bay of Bengal aer gradually lowering its intensity and propagaon. Sudam (kaka), as promised, comes to Jaba's house in the morning and sits on the mat at the porrco of her small earthen hut thatched with straw. AAer taking a glass of sarbat (formal indigenous drinks of water mixing of a spoonful sugar with lemon juice), Sudam starts saying – Hudhud is the name of a cyclone send by any one of the countries stood around the north Indian Ocean. Eight countries adjacent to north Indian Ocean send eight names as required from the end of World Meteorological Department (WMO) and they prepared a list of cyclones. When cyclone is about to origin and start propagaon, name has been taken from this list consecuuvely. Once a name has been used, in no way it would be repeated further for naming another cyclone. Thus a definite name of a cyclone tells us all about its origin, propagaon and consequences like loss of wealth, human lives and domesc animals including all other aer-event facts like rescue operaon and remedial measures etc. Sudam then turns out a print out from the pocket of his shirt and as usual translate into Bengali to Jharu and his mother Jaba and recalls about a few cyclones menoned in the list from his memory. AAer that Sudam tells a history in brief beyond such naming of cyclones. A super cyclone in 1999 devastated in the state of Orissa along Paradwip – Chandrabhaga – Gopalpur on sea coastal area causes large-scale destruccon. The WMO (World Meteorological Department) then took decision for naming convenons of the cyclones and WMO directed eight south Asian member countries adjacent to north Indian Ocean to send a list of eight names for each country for the preparaon of the list of tropical cyclones in 2004. From then any cyclone about to form and move towards land around north Indian Ocean is to be named from the common list of

An incident of excavaon of a pond and found of ancient clay pots and mangrove tree trunk-peat at the village of Debnagar under Namkhana police staon in Sunderbans strikes me towards rethinking of human habitaon in the recent past. The house hold used clay pots are found at the depth of 230-240 cm from the land surface i.e. below modern land level. These clay pots and mangrove tree trunks act as the evidences for computaon of years of their occurrences which ullmately tell of the existence of human habitaon in the recent past in Sunderbans. The occurrence of such clay-pots and mangrove tree trunks at such depth and their sinking are due to long-term tectonic subsidence at the rate of 4.1 mm/yr, sediment compaccon, accumulaon at the rate of 2-4 mm/yr inclusive decay of the peat and eustac sea-level rise at the rate of 3 mm/yr (excluding extraccon of ground water through deep tube well) as reported by Till Hanebuth. Till J. J. Hanebuth takes iniiaves for experiments on the process of coastal subsidence, sea-level rise etc in the Sunderbans and interprets that the human habitaon existed about 300 years back in the Sunderbans. Hanebuth, a geologist, reported aer thorough experimentaon through the uses of opcally smulated luminescence (OSL) and radio carbon dang (14C) techniques upon the samples collected from the submerged kiln-wall last fired and mangrove trunk exposed at riverside of the Sunderbans. Samples of the kiln-wall including charcoal remained inside it are collected from the place of erosion connuing for last 50 years of river flood plains in Sunderbans and the age of those samples of the kiln-wall last fired are calculated about 305±35 years. This periodicity of the occurrence of the human habitaon obtained through OSL method has supported almost the same age of the mangrove tree trunk collected from the same site of the submerged kiln for salt preparaon and computed by radiocarbon dang (14C). All those above noted data found for the Sunderbans consider the periodicity of the last human habitaon in the recent past during 1690-1700 in the Sunderbans and this is too supported by SAARC Meteorological Research Centre (SMRC) who reported of a tropical cyclone in the Sunderbans which had at least 50,000 casualles in 1699. The last human habitaon in the Sunderbans in the recent past probably destroyed aer the 10 years arrival of Job Charnock, the founder of Calcuua, in 1690. The super cyclone of 1699 destroyed the Sunderbans led to the enre area resourceless and indesuetude. People, in majority, died of that super cyclone and the rest destute families le Sunderbans. AAer such a natural shock, the destroyed and void area has gradually become full of dal vegetaons and greens i.e. mangroves swamp and marshes during the period of about 80 years ll 1783 when Tillman Henckell, the Collector of Jessore, started reclamaon of the Sunderbans converrng mangrove forest into the agricultural land in order to earn more revenue for the East India Company. Anyway, coming back to the perspeccve of the lost and last human habitaon in the Sunderbans, a desire to resist calamity is implanted in the nature of man, but when natural calamity destroyed almost the human habitaon, the Sunderbans had been deserted leaving enre region a desolate and solitary, having no inhabitants about 300 years before present. Thus, the devastang super cyclone blown in 1699 is a signature of commencement of climate change in Sunderbans. Froner

Objective: To assess the prevalence of thinness among 3.0-5.5 years old preschool children of integrated child development services (ICDS) scheme of Sagar Block, South 24 Parganas, West Bengal, India. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 656 preschool children (326 boys and 330 girls). Height (cm) and weight (kg) measurements were taken according to standard procedure. The body mass index (BMI) of the subjects were categorised according to the new international cutoff point for thinness proposed by Cole et al. Low BMI for age was defined as thinness and age sex specific cut off values of mild, moderate and severe grades of thinness as proposed by Cole et al. Results: The age combined mean BMI were 13.48 (±0.92) kg/m 2 for boys and 13.30 (±1.00) kg/m 2 for girls. Sex combined mean BMI was 13.39 (±0.96) kg/m 2. The mean BMI showed a decreasing trend irrespective of sex up to age of 4.5 year. Over all (age combined) sex difference in mean BMI was observed (t=2.37; p<0.05) and age specific sex differences in mean BMI were also noticed at the age of 3.0 (t= 2.27; p<0.05) and 3.5 (t=3.02; p<0.05) years. The age combined prevalence of thinness among the boys and girls were 81.90% and 80.61%, respectively. Sex combined prevalence rate of thinness was 81.25%. The highest prevalence rates of thinness were found to be 96.83% in age group 5 years for boys and for girls it was 100% in age group of 5.5 years. The maximum numbers (41.86%) of normal nutritional status individuals were observed for boys at age group 3.5 years and for girls it was 34.00% at age 4 years. Conclusion: The results of the present study clearly indicated that the nutritional status of these subjects is poor because of the existence of high-level of thinness. Findings of the present study would be very useful for the effective formulation of health and nutritional intervention programmes with the objective of reducing preschool undernutrition in terms of thinness. Therefore , appropriate effective measures should be under taken to reduce this high rate thinness.