Poachers strike willow warrior

He might have been on a roll with his boundaries in South Africa. But back in his estate in a picturesque Karnataka area, Robin Uthappa’s defence showed some chinks.

The new Team India batting sensation recently became the latest victim of timber poaching that many planters say is rampant in the verdant plantation estates in south Karnataka.

Two smugglers entered Uthappa’s family estate in Kodagu (formerly Coorg), sawed away rosewood trees and floated the logs down a gushing stream. But their luck ran out when police caught them.

The 100-acre estate near Sunticoppa, in the coffee valley, is believed to be a lush green paradise where coffee beans, cardamom and oranges are grown.

The planters have accused the authorities of being hand in glove with the poachers. Locals alleged that the smugglers were arrested because they stole the wood from an estate that belonged to somebody rich and famous like Uthappa.

Click for a birth certificate

The New Delhi Municipal Council has decided to computerise all birth records since 1925 in a move that promises to end the long waits for the document that residents are forced to endure.

All certificates from 1996 are already available online on the council website, ndmc.gov.in.

The new initiative will ensure that such testimonials from 1925 can also be accessed online.

The civic body’s central registration (of deaths and births) usually has queues stretching over a hundred metres on any weekday.

“People should not have to go through a traumatic wait to get the certificates. The change will solve the problem,” Anil Kumar Pipal, the director of the birth and death registration department, said.

Older certificates are harder to find, Pipal said, conceding that the people who had received the certificates within a month of filing applications were “lucky”.

Muffled roar from zoo star

Amar is only eight but has a reputation bigger than his age — he is the only lion that Mumbai zoo can boast of.

But now, the star attraction has been laid low by a string of diseases that have left his kidney and lung in poor shape. His fight for survival even took him to a hospital, Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan, a month ago.

He is back in the zoo, in central Mumbai’s Byculla, now but has turned frail. Vets at the zoo have been consulting experts for better treatment.

Among the bigger problems Amar’s medical team is trying to cure is bronchopneumonia, a bacterial infection that leads to the inflammation of air passages in the lungs.

The kidney problem is also the result of bacteria, which lions are more vulnerable to because they mostly eat meat.

An animal struck by the twin diseases at the same time has little chance of survival but zoo doctors are betting that Amar will beat the trend because he is young.

Home run

This should get a stamp of approval from property buyers.

The Delhi Assembly recently cleared amendments that will clear the way for a steep reduction in stamp duties.

The changes in the stamp duty act will bring down the rate from 8 per cent to 5 per cent. For properties held in the name of women, the rate will be only 2 per cent.

The move is aimed at encouraging genuine property deals and rotting out black money in real estate. The Centre had suggested the cut to push urban reforms.

Mumbai: The Institute of Sri Ramachandra Consciousness is conducting a free two-day training programme in Pranahuti-aided meditation. The session, which will be held at its Powai office on October 13-14, will offer theory and practical lessons. Call 9833764333 and 28571892 for more information.