Peoples Biodiversity Registrar of Kolkata, Ward Number 27: A Peoples Document Prepared as per Directive of National Green Tribunal (NGT) by Rammohan College

Abstract

As per National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) Guidelines, National Green Tribunal (NGT) has issued one order to West Bengal Biodiversity Board, Government of West Bengal to prepare a complete Peoples Biodiversity Registrar (PBR) of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC). A project has been initiated in the year 2017-18. Rammohan College has been approached to prepare a PBR of Ward No. 27 and form a Biodiversity Management Committee (BMC). A complete PBR has been prepared and submitted to West Bengal Bio Diversity Board, Department of Environment, Government of West Bengal.

Introduction

I. INTRODUCTION

India has a wealth of biological diversity as well as traditional and modern knowledge. It takes up 2.4% of the global area, which accounts for 7–8% of the species that are known to exist globally (Singh 2016).As of right now, the nation has documentation for over 91,200 animal and 45,500 plant species (NBA 2018).In accordance with the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity, the Indian government created the Biological Diversity Act (BDA) in 2002 and regulations in 2004.Conservation of biological diversity, sustainable use, and just and equitable distribution of benefits resulting from the exploitation of natural resources are all mandated by CBD. The Convention notably upholds the sovereign right of the states to preserve their biological variety. Each member state of the Convention is required to implement a National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) or an equivalent instrument for the conservation of biodiversity. As a result, the BDA (2002) established the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) to advise and assist the Biodiversity Management Committee (BMC) in developing the People's Biodiversity Register (PBR) (NBA 2013). Three tiers have seen the deployment of BDA (2002): the NBA at the national level, further there are State, District, Block, Town, Village BMCs.  The primary goal of BMC formation in relation to PBR preparation is to raise public awareness and foster a sense of community among people and their environment (NBA, 2004).Notably, as of January 2022, the nation had assisted in the establishment of 2,65,458 PBRs and 2,76,690 BMCs by the corresponding SBBs in 28 states. According to Biological Diversity Regulations (2004), every local person's BMC is required to prepare for PBR. The APBR is a legally binding document that provides, in accordance with NBA criteria, detailed information about the entire biodiversity of a region, including its flora, fauna, and other resources under a BMC's jurisdiction. According to the updated PBR rules of the NBA (2013), a PBR booklet consists of five annexes, which include general information on the panchayat's BMC, a list of "vaids," "hakims," and regional traditional healthcare practitioners who reside and/orbiological resources that are under the village's jurisdiction; a list of people who the villagers believe possess Traditional Knowledge (TK) about biodiversity in agriculture, fisheries, and forestry; a list of schools, colleges, departments, universities, government institutions, non-governmental organizations, and individuals involved in the PBR preparation and details of access eight Union Territories?

The documenting of PBR entails a thorough understanding of natural resource science as well as, and perhaps more crucially, an approach to involving various stakeholders in order to foster ownership and awareness of biodiversity and its conservation. Furthermore, the documenting of PBR is an effort to sustain traditional knowledge and wisdom by establishing more formal institutions to support them and, more crucially, by establishing new contexts for their ongoing practice (Gadgiletal.1993,2000).The goal of decentralized participatory resource management systems is achieved by employing Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) (Chambers 1992) to gather the data recorded in a PBR (Chambers 1983).The PBR approach also aids in the documentation and advancement of an evaluation of a range of traditional conservation-oriented resources and activities (Gadgil & Berkes, 1991).The purpose of this material, according to Sharma (1997), is to empower individuals who are not part of the mainstream of science, administration, or politics. Consequently, a group of individuals with expertise It's crucial to consider both social and technical factors when creating PBRs. The ability to conduct surveys, plan meetings and workshops, and communicate with locals—preferably in their native tongue—is crucial for PBR preparedness.

II. THE BMC

1. Prof. Jayanti Sen, Associate Professor & BMC Member, Department of History, Rammohan College
2. Dr. Krishnendu Sarkar, Associate Professor and IQAC Convener & BMC Member, Department of Botany, Rammohan College
3. Dr. Saswati Sanyal, Principal & BMC Secretary, Rammohan College
4. Mrs. Meenakshi Gupta, Counselor & BMC Member, Ward No. 27
5. Dr. Samiran Mondal, Assistant Professor & BMC Member, Department of Chemistry, Rammohan College
6. Dr. Samarendranath Banerjee, NAAC Coordinator & BMC Member, Rammohan College.
7. Dr. Kaustuv Dutta Chowdhury, Assistant Professor & BMC Member, Department of Zoology, Rammohan College
8. Dr. Santi Ranjan Dey, Assistant Professor & BMC Nodal Officer, Department of Zoology, Rammohan College

III. THE HERITAGE

There is a distinct allure to the old buildings of north Kolkata. From the spacious courtyards to the extensive balconies, and the vast windows to the intimate corners where time and space seem to warp into one, decadent architecture in this part of the city has its own delight. At the same time, the story of this decadence is inseparably linked to decrepitude, decay and decline. Old buildings in north Kolkata are dying, and so is the culture contained within.

By the mid-1850s, Calcutta had developed into two areas that essentially segregated the inhabitants by color. The British “White Town” included many of the colonial buildings and municipal offices still in use today, while “Black Town” was comprised of large parts of North Kolkata, including old rajbaris, the houses of influential locals.There are two broad ways to label the colonial structures in the city— the landmark, iconic, postcard monuments and the historic, sometimes crumbling, but still functional public offices. In some cases, both these labels intersect.

No. 85 Amherst Street, now 85A, Raja Rammohun Sarani, a three storeyed structure illustrative of the colonial style architecture of the 19th century, is said to have been the residence of the family of Raja Rammohun Roy. His two sons Radhaprasad and Ramaprasad lived there with their families.

The building was known as the Simla House. The name "Simla House" may have originated because the area was called "Simla". This house was supposedly designed by one W. Wood and is structured completely in the colonial Georgian style. It is gathered from the various writings that this property was purchased by Rammohun from one Francis Mendes for Rs. 13,000/- probably in the year 1815.

It was in this house that Rammohun Roy for a while held weekly meetings of the Atmiya Sabha, the precursor to the Brahmo Samaj.
At the time of the departure for England in 1830 Rammohun Roy disposed of all his properties in Calcutta other than the Simla House to meet the expenses of his journey abroad. The house then continued to be in the possession of the descendants till the 1960s when it passed into the hands of miscreants and encroachers.

In the year 1972, on the occasion of the bi-centenary birth anniversary celebration of Rammohun Roy, the Rammohun College initiated a move to acquire the building with its adjoining lands measuring 76 cottahs. The Simla House remained in the hands of Rammohun's successors till 1960's. Afterwards it gradually passed into the hands of unauthorised Rammohun College occupiers, and had been subjected to undesirable vandalism. Took the initiative to rescue the house from its wretched plight and with active assistance of the State and Central Government acquired it in 1986

References

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Copyright

Copyright © 2024 Jayanti Sen, Krishnendu Sarkar, Saswati Sanyal, Meenakshi Gupta, Samiran Mondal, Samarendranath Banerjee, Kaustuv Dutta Chowdhury, Santi Ranjan Dey. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.