Mr. Giri Venkatesan has recently joined Satpuda Foundation. He would be administering as Executive Director of Satpuda Foundation and also work on community conservation works in Pench Tiger Reserve Maharashtra, Priyadarshini Pench Tiger Reserve Madhya Pradesh. He would also handle the responsibility to set up a Employment Cell for the Satpura Landscape. Mr. Giri would try and initiate a community participation project in TATR and also see to expedite the resettlement work of villages from TATR. He would start and monitor the conservation initiatives in Satpura Tiger Reserve, Pachmarhi.  
A brief introduction: Mr. Venkatesan is a 42-year old commerce graduate from Madras University. He can fluently speak English, French and Hindi and also can speak Tamil and Telugu. He has 13 years of experience as a journalist, six years as a commercial banker. His most recent position was that of Senior Editor, Times Now news channel (A Times Group and Reuters Service venture). 
Mr. Venkatesan had started his career as Junior Management Employee with the Bank of Baroda in Madras in 1987. He entered the media field and was a Research Analyst with The Hindu Business Line (HBL) from 1993-95. From 1995-96, he was a Reporter with The Hindu Business Line, Mumbai, covering commercial banks, the central bank, money and forex markets. From March 1996 to September 1999, he worked as correspondent with the HBL .
 
From Sept 1999-Oct 2000 he was Chief Correspondent with Reuters India Pvt. Ltd New Delhi where he was in charge of reporting on finance Ministry and economic Policy.
 
He was Chief Correspondent, India Treasury with Reuters India Pvt. Ltd in Bombay during (Oct 2000 to June 2002) where he was responsible for all reporting on Forex and Debt Markets, Finance Ministry, Central Bank and Economic Policy.
 
During Jan 2003- Dec 2004 he was a Senior Correspondent with Bombay Bureau, covering equities, with focus on Banking and Financial Services. During June 2002-Jan 2003 Mr. Giri was a Correspondent, London Capital Markets Section, covering U.S. Treasuries and Euro Zone Government Bonds. 
He has vast knowledge of rural development issues, banking, micro-finance and media. He was inspired with the work that Satpuda Foundation is doing in the Satpura Landscape and gave up his lucrative job. Mr. Giri has been associated with the work of Satpuda Foundation as a member since 2003.

Satpuda Foundation is the leading organization in the field of wildlife protection and conservation in Central India . Recently the Foundation organized a two-day workshop on ‘Wildlife Protection’ for the people working in Information Technology field.  Satpuda Foundation has been involved in the protection of forests and wildlife in Central India since long. The foundation organizes different activities through its branches in Amravati , Akola , Nagpur , Bhandara, Wardha and Indore . These activities are aimed at minimizing environmental degradation through collective efforts of people from all sections of society.  
Recently, the Nagpur Branch of the Foundation organized a two-day workshop on ‘wildlife protection’ for the IT professionals working in the Nagpur-based ‘Harrier Information Systems Pvt. Ltd.’. This workshop was held at ‘Kolkaz’, situated on the banks of river Sipna, in the Melghat Tiger Reserve.  Mr. Kishor Rithe, Secretary of Satpuda Foundation, gave information on Forests in Satpuda Mountain Ranges. Further, a discussion was held on the problems and issues. Trainees of the program were also taken on an enjoyable bird-watching trip, wherein they studied about 30 species of forest birds.  
During the workshop, IT professional visited the ‘Keli’ village of Melghat Tiger Reserve . They communicated with the local tribals and collected information about their lifestyle. Also, during the training, they discussed on using IT for the benefit of such remote tribal villages.  During the safari organized in the Semadoh Range , the trainees got an opportunity to have a close look at the wildlife of Melghat. They saw Gaur (Indian Bison), Sambar, Spotted Deer, Sloth Bear, Wild Boar, etc. Mr. Mapari of Forest Department, Semadoh, briefed the trainees on the wildlife management and work methodology of Forest Department. Mr. Manish Sawankar , Vishal Bansod, Indrapratap Thakare, Ravindra Pawar, Shailesh Lanjewar and Bandu Uikey took great pains to make the program successful.

More than 1300 kids attended the Annual Tiger Fest, organized by ‘Kids for Tigers’ and Satpuda Foundation, here at the Hislop College Grounds on 5th March 2006 . 
Eighteen renowned schools participated in various competitions in the Fest. The most popular drawing competition had more than 150 students participating in it. The themes given to the students for the competition were ‘My Favourite Animal’, ‘Scene in the Forest ’, and ‘Wildlife of India in 2050’, which differed according to the age group. 
The face painting competition which had 22 participating teams proved to be a huge success. A student was supposed to draw an animal face on his partner’s face. The tiger face was the most painted animal in this competition. 
A unique event started this year in Nagpur was the T-shirt Painting Competition. The theme (Save the Tiger) was given to the students one week in advance. Students displayed their talent by depicting the concept beautifully. The final result was amazing. The t-shirt looked as if they were designed and painted by professional artists.
 
The Dance/Drama Competition has schools performing on stage and giving out a message related to wildlife or the environment. Sandipani School was adjudged as the winner in this category. They presented a skit named “Manushya Prani Hazir Ho”, a courtroom drama with the lion as the judge, wild animals as victims and human being as the convict! Bal Mandir Primary School explained the Importance of Garbage Separation through a sangeet-natak. 
The Fancy Dress Competition had more than 20 students performing. The winners were a variety of animal species, from a dying vulture distressed by the new human drugs to a chicken distressed by the Bird-Flu virus!
 
The Stall Decoration Competition saw 7 schools decorating the stalls with themes related to forests and environment. The winner was Ramesh Chandak English School , where the students had decorated the stall depicting Forest and Wildlife Conservation.
 
To encourage the students and schools to be a part of this green movement called KFT, 9 best students and one Tiger Ambassador are selected with respect to their performance with the KFT programme throughout the year. Rohit Chakravarty from Centre Point School was declared as the ‘Tiger Ambassador’ for 2005. All these 10 best students will be attending a Nature Camp at Tadoba Tiger Reserve totally free of cost. 
There was a Wildlife Photo Gallery, where photographs, charts, and other material related to wildlife was displayed. The ‘Save the Tiger’ petitions scrolls, which were signed by schools in the month of January, were also displayed at the fest. 
The Prize Distribution Ceremony was held by the hands of Mr. Sanjay Kumar, Area Manager, Heinz India , Mr. C.S. Kaptan, a renowned High Court advocate, Mr. Shyam Dhond, renowned Marathi author, Mr. P. Shibu, from Heinz India and Mr. Kishor Rithe, Secretary, Satpuda Foundation.
 
Apart from the students of the participating schools, the fest was attended by a crowd of more than 2000 people which consisted of children, parents, teachers, wildlife enthusiasts and other citizens of Nagpur . Mr. Sarpe (ACF, Pench) and the Pench Tiger Reserve staff were also present at the fest.
 
The members from the local units of Satpuda Foundation in Amravati , Akola , and Pench (MP and Maharashtra ), along with the KFT volunteers took painstaking efforts to make this event a grand success. 

Bori Sanctuary is situated in the Satpura Tiger Reserve (STR), at Pachmarhi in Hoshangabad district of Madhya Pradesh. Dhain is one of the 17 forest villages of Bori sanctuary, which have shown willingness to resettle outside, as they did not have enough agriculture land inside the sanctuary for the increased population. Dhain village is resettled in the summer of 2005 at the new place and villagers are busy weaving their new life at new place. However the success story has now spread in other 16 villages and they are putting pressure on the district administration to expedite the resettlement process and complete the same in time bound manner.
Bori wildlife sanctuary consists of total reserve forest area. In the year 1990, Dhain villagers had seen the area of Protected Forest (PF) 190 (old PF 117) of Hoshangabad Territorial Division and given willingness to shift at new site as the land was fertile and water table was rich.  
However it took almost ten years for the district administration to take ahead the process as some of the organizations had taken objection to the resettlement of villages. Meanwhile in these ten years villagers were facing the same problems of insufficient agriculture land for growing population, restrictions on commercial use of forest produce from the sanctuary and heavy crop depredation from wild herbivores.  
Finally the staff of STR and the NGO Life Force Charitable Trust had assisted villagers in arranging a site visit to the villages, which are resettled, from Melghat Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra . Dhain villagers visited Melghat on 29th October 2001 and were impressed after listening Melghat villagers. Not only this, they also invited Melghat villagers to their Bori sanctuary to explain the process to entire Dhain village. After this visit the villagers had given willingness for relocation. Later on in winter of 2002, the villagers of Melghat also visited Dhain village and there was a nice experience sharing at Dhain.  
Meanwhile STR administration sent the proposal on 24th December 2001 to Govt. of India about relocation of Dhain forest village to PF-117 of Hoshangabad territorial division. The nodal officer at Bhopal has inspected the site and the proposal was finally sanctioned on 3rd February 2004 and the budget was also allotted.
 However as the process was delayed by ten years due to opposition from some organizations few people from the villages near Hoshangabad encroached upon land which was selected by Dhain villagers. Hence in the orders issued on 13th October 2004, out of 221.60 Hectare forest land of compartment PF-117 (PF-190 new) only 202.390 Hec. land was made available to Hoshangabad territorial division and rest of the land 19.670 was denied due to encroachment on the land.
On 21 st December 2004, 85 residential plot of 5600 sq.ft. were allotted to relocated villagers of Dhain by the lottery method. Out of total 97 listed families of Dhain villagers only 12 females were unable to get plot due to their marriage.  
In February 2005, the STR administration started cleaning of the site and preparing agriculture fields. However on 18th March 2005 the STR administration received information regarding nuisance created by encroachers of Dobejhirna during relocation process. But DFO (T) has promised that he will vacate the encroachments.  
In April 2005, all household material of villagers of Dhain was transported to relocation village site by Government trucks.
Some of the organizations supported the encroachers and media also played their role to reach their demands to the Government. On 24th April 2005, Mrs. Jamuna Devi (leader of opposition) has visited the relocation site and asked forest dept. to give patta to encroachers. After the visit on the same day she had a meeting with the Chief Wildlife Warden of M.P.- Mr. P.B. Gangopadhayay. The CWLW briefed her about relocation process and policy of GOI regarding this issue. The Task Force (Revenue, Police and Forest Department) started anti encroachment drive on 6th May 2005, but not able to vacate encroachments. However later on the Task force removed the encroachments and the issue of giving lands to encroachers was also sorted out.  
By the end of May 2005, all the houses were complete at new relocated site. The school and community center was also ready. Initially there were problems in giving ownership to 10% villagers of Dhain as there were encroachments on the land. But now about 100% families have received the ownership of agriculture plots. The electric connection has been given to each house. They got more than enough agriculture land. The person above 18 years age has been given 2 ha land. So in the joint family of four elders they got 8 ha plus equal land to family chief. So they have so much land as they can not till it on their own. So some of the people have given their part of lands “on rent” to other villagers and getting cash for that. The team of Satpuda Foundation found these villagers happy at new site. This happiness has now spread over other 16 villages that had shown willingness for resettlement. When the team visited Bori, Sakot and Khakrapura villages , people have requested team to help them in removing the obstacles (from some organizations, who have vested interest and also the Government who runs the entire process very slow) in resettlement process and make sure speedy and time bound resettlement.  
The Mobile health Unit of Nature Conservation Society visited Dhain village twice immediately after rains and conducted free health camps. STR administration also has been providing them health facilities regularly through their vehicles.     
See pictures, chronology of events in Report section.

3000 Kids from 20 schools of Amravati had gathered at the beautiful stadium of Dnyanmata High school to enjoy the proceedings of 5 th Tiger Fest. The fest was organized by Nature Conservation Society Amravati under the "Sanctuary Asia Tiger Programme", sponsored by Complan.
 
The kids from these 20 schools had arranged their stalls, and depicted the information on wild animals, conservation problems etc. Every school had been given a animal/ bird to create their exhibits. These schools had depicted the information on Leopard, Monkey, Kite, Snake, Jackal, Sloth Bear, Hyena, wild Dog, Porcupine, Macaque, Rhino, Pangolin. Narayandas Laddha High school, Mohanlal Samra, Mudholkar Peth, Sant Kanwarram Vidyalaya, Saraswati Vidyalaya, Jack and Jill, Shriram Vidyalaya, Dnyanmata High School, Holicross English convent, New High school Main, Ramkrishna Vidyalaya, Paradise English Convent had put up their stalls. Wild Dog, Snake and Pangolin were the best models depicted which were the choices of Judges.
 
The major attraction of the Tiger Fest were two huge Kites prepared by Nur Mohammad and Sons Patangwala. Mr.Nitin Kakodkar, Field Director Melghat Tiger Reserve and Mr.Sunil Limaye Additional Tribal Commissioner along with thousands of Kids enjoyed playing Kite. The message of "Save the Tiger, Save the earth" was given on the Kites. Mr.Kakodkar and Mr.Limaye guided the Kids on this occasion.
 
Young naturalist award winner Mr.IndraPratap Thakare conducted the nature games in his own style, which was also the source of attraction for many kids. Sanjay Rithe and his Duda team which includes Nandaram Bhusum, Suresh Dhikar and Ramu Chimote presented the street play on the "Jungle-Ki-Kahani" in which Indrapratap played the role of "Tiger".
 
Two Kids from each school wearing beautiful Tiger costumes participated in the "Fancy Dress" event. Sameer Kasam from Paradise convent, Nikhil Goenka from Ramkrishna Vidyalaya and Sagar Mathurkar from Saraswati Vidyalaya won thr won the prizes for their beautiful costumes.
 
Later in the evening, schools had their 5-minute presentation on the subject of environment and forest, in general. Some of the best presentations who won the hearts of Kids were from Mudholkar Peth Primary school on "The gathering of Birds", Dnyanmata High school on "Ek paudha, Ek diya" and Paradise school on "Save trees ,Save earth".
 
Another Young Naturalist Award winner Mr.Vishal Bansod had projected the entire proceedings on the huge screen with the help of LCD projector and Video camera. It was also the attraction for young kids as they could watch their own actions on the screen. He also showed them five minute clippings of "Land of the Tiger" and "Bhimashankar" marathi film.
 
Mrs.Sugandha Deshmukh, Mrs.Nilima Patil were the juries for Fancy dress and presentations whereas Dr.J.A.Tidke, Head ,Botany Department and Dr.G.N.Vankhede, Head, Zoology department both from Amravati University were the juries for Stalls.More than 3000 kids, their parents, school teachers Principals and Journalists attended the Fest.
 
Father Sirriac, Principal of Dnyanmata High School was the chief Guest for the Prize distribution ceremony whereas Mr.Vasudevan, Jt Director, Social Forestry presided over the concluding function. Mrs.Kakodkar, Mrs Vasudevan, Dr.Vankhede, Kishor Rithe and Mr.Nishikant Kale, President of NCSA distributed the prizes.
 
The results of annual KFT evaluation were declared and the evaluation sheets were distributed to all point teachers. The best participation in Nature walk, best notice Board, Best slide show, participation in wildlife week celebration, active participation in signature campaign and best point teacher prizes were also given in the concluding function.

2006
NEW DELHI , JAIPUR/FEB 5: On Friday, Rajasthan police arrested a Tibetan, Neema Kampa, from Delhi ’s Azad Market. Police say every animal pelt that goes out of India passes through the hands of his gang. Poacher Sansar Chand, too, had told the Rajasthan Police and the CBI that the skins he sold to international dealers, mostly from Nepal , passed through Tibet . Chand was arrested by the Delhi Police on June 30, 2005. His interrogation revealed the network and the route of the international wildlife trade. CBI officials say Chand has listed sales of thousands of skins to at least four Nepalese buyers. ‘‘My Nepalese clients would order on telephone and there was never any problem in supply when they came to Delhi ,’’ Chand has confessed. Chand allegedly said he stored the skins in cloth or leather godowns in the Delhi ’s Walled City . They’d be smuggled through the Indo-Nepal border inside false cavities of buses or hidden inside consignments of readymade garments. One of Chand’s clients, Tashi Tshering alias Chhewang, was arrested in Kathmandu in December. CBI officials say they are obtaining permission to either question Chhewang in Kathmandu or obtain his interrogation report. Chand had been questioned over 10 days by CBI. The four Nepalese buyers who figure in his admissions includes: • Tsering Tamang: Allegedly bought 300 tiger skins, 2,000 leopard skins, 6,000 fox skins and 4,000 cat skins from Chand. • Tashi Tshering: Arrested. Chand claimed to have sold 20 tiger skins, 60 leopard skins and 100 otter skins to him. • Pema Limi: One of Chand’s ‘‘biggest clients’’ since early ’90s. Bought 50 tiger skins and 350 otter skins. • Tenzing Lama: Allegedly bought 100 tiger skins, 70 leopard skins and 100 otter skins. CBI officials estimate that Chand controlled almost 50 per cent of the trade. From an estimated Rs 5,000 in the ’90s, he was getting Rs 60,000 for a tiger skin prior to his arrest. According to Chand’s interrogation by the Rajasthan police, the traffic in animal skin is run by Kashmiri and Nepalese traders, for whom Chand has been a supplier since early ’80s. Jaipur (North) SP Rajeev Sharma said Chand has named several persons. “We have passed on the information to the CBI.” Chand’s first major clients were several Kashmiris in handicrafts business. He has named a few, including a prominent handicrafts exporter based in New Delhi . Later, the entry of Nepalese buyers edged out the Kashmiris, he had said.

SATPUDA Foundation and Youth Environment Services(YES) jointly organized a rally Nisarga Yatra-2006 to spread the message of environment protection. A large number of students and environment lovers from the Akola city participated in the rally. The cycle rally was flagged off by 11 NCC Mah. Btn Col. U. W. Patil & Major Prashant Modak at Shastri Stadium. Col Patil appreciated the efforts of organizations to create awareness about environment protection. The rally concluded at Vasant Desai Stadium. The participants signed the memorandum prepared by Satpuda Foundation making an appeal to save tigers.
Mr. Deepak Joshi, Amol Sawant of Satpuda Foundation, Sudher Rathod, Kailas Kadam, Venkatesh Mujumdar, Sandip Waghadkar, Jayant Ketkar, Ravi Landge, Rashmita Sawant & Mrs. Kriti Sawant took great efforts to make the Nisarga Yatra successful.

Chimote, Suresh Dhikar and Nandaram Bhusum were surprised to see this so big gecko. First they thought that the huge animal is baby Monitor Lizard, from its size and the style of walking. But after careful observation, it was found that it is some uncommon Gecko. The pictures were sent to Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), Mumbai. Mr.Varad Giri, a well known herpetologist of BNHS recently informed NCSA that the Gecko is really uncommon for Satpuras and it’s a Leopard Gecko. However there are three species of Leopard Gecko, found in India . Eublepharis macularius in North and West India, Eublepharis fuscus in Gujrath, Rajasthan and as far south as Pune and Eublepharis hardwickii in north, central and eastern India .
This species looks like Eublepharis macularis whose distribution is recorded in north and west India . This is the first authentic record from Satpuras” Mr.Giri added. “We have good population of once extinct Forest Owlet (Athene Heteroglaux blewitti) in Melghat and now we found largest Gecko, Leopard Gecko. This is really exciting news for all of us here in Nature Conservation Society Amravati, says Kishor Rithe.The Leopard Gecko can be distinguished from all other Indian Geckos by the presence of movable eyelids. This is also called as fat-tailed Gecko. This is of robust build with distinctive swollen tail and it inhabits in arid area. Leopard Gecko is nocturnal gecko and feed largely on insects and other arthropods and sometimes preys on other Geckos too. It breeds in hot weather.