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Lost
glory
the tale of the tiger |
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The present tiger
count is just over 1300. The number has been depleting steadily
since the past century. Even after Independence little has been
done to protect the national animal. The first tiger census was
carried out only in 1972, and soon after came Project Tiger which
has shown poor results. Problems like poaching, shrinking forests
and shortage of prey continue to corner the big beast, which today
is on the brink of extinction, writes Usha
Rai
A
hundred years ago, the
tiger was really the king in this country. He roamed vast tracts
of dense forests and undulating grasslands and there was enough
prey species for lavish meals for him and his progeny. According
to estimates, there were 40,000 tigers in India in the early part
of the 20th century. There are paintings that show proud maharajas
with dozens of slaughtered tigers lying at their feet. |
TIGER TRAIL: The big cats are resilient creatures. They can bounce back if they are a provided a habitat free from human interference. |
Luv
it, hate it but it’s here to stay
Cyber junkies say it is SHRT
(short) and SWT (sweet). The new language popularised by Internet chat
lines and cellphones is truly GR8 (great). Vinita
Mehra reports
It’s only
words and words are all I have`85.
Pop group BoyZone perhaps had
the dictionary words in mind when they set out to woo the girl of their
dreams. But for the new cyber generation sharply focused on the
Internet, words have a staccato style all their own.
Dream
of alien-TV
Alien-hunters
hoping to eavesdrop on extraterrestrial TV might be in for
disappointment. Marko Horvat, a computer scientist at the University of
Zagreb, Croatia, has calculated the odds of detecting alien
civilisations of different lifespans from their radio signals.
Rahul’s
romance with Canada
Subhash K. Jha
Rahul
Bose, who recently attended
a retrospective of his films at the Toronto film festival, says people's
perceptions about Bollywood are changing.
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