Impact of Human Expansion on Wetland Areas

Impact of Human Expansion on Wetland Areas Human exploitation damaged a lot of wetland areas. Expansion of settlements and agricultural lands affets wetland directly and spoils the natural form of particular wetlands. Bhindawas and Tal Chhapar also faces some challenges and altered by man with some natural degardational factors. The impacts of various factors are described here. Loss of Habitat: Dense forest is scarce in Tal Chhapar and Bhindawas wetland areas. Most of avifauna and wildlife needs dense forest as their habitat to secure food and shelter in these wetland areas. Dense forest provides safe habitation for Blackbucks and Nilgai’s to hide themselves from predators. Blackbucks migrates in the Tal Chhapar wetland, in the day time for their feeding and during night to save themselves from foxes and other predators, mainly stray dogs who enters the sanctuary after chasing calves, older and other ill Blackbucks in the sanctuary. These animals migrate to eastern parts of the Tal Chhapar which is covered with dense woody vegetation than the western part of the wetland but these animals’ moves towards western parts of the sanctuary or outside the sanctuary for their food as the core of the wetland is covered with sewan and other nutritious grasses. Fencing around the sanctuary protect these animals but these animals face difficult to find an entry after sunse t and they falls prey to stray dogs outside the wetland area of some times killed by vehicular movement on the road which passes through the Tal Chhapar as well as its boundary also encroached by road made by Public Works Department of Rajasthan. In the western side the wildlife faces heavy dumpers and loaded trucks while central encompassing road dominated by buses, trucks and other fast moving vehicles while the eastern side road is followed by jeeps, motorcycles with blowing pressure horns. Eradication of Juliflora plant in the western side also pose a threat to Blackbucks as they move outside the sanctuary area and forget the path after sunset. These animals chase by stray dogs from Surwas and Chadwas villages outside the wetland area. They cannot enter the sanctuary area due to fencing and dig walls around the Tal and constructed wall in the northern side of the wetland. Wild Boer also face the similar situation, these animals feels safe in grassy area but they cannot stay at a safe point as Blackbuck moves freely in this area. Wild Boer avoids thick woody area as they make their habitat in the tall grassland in the core area. Spiny tailed lizards live in the open patches of the eastern side area of wetland close to Devani village. Spiny tailed lizards also eaten by Monitor lizards and Cobra snakes. Reptiles are killed by vehicular movement as they move mainly during night towards eastern side for their food. Spiny tailed lizard’s falls prey to foxes also due to open patches in the eastern side of the wetland. Many migratory birds come here during winter for their breeding season. This avifauna resides in colonies mainly in the extremes of western side or open forest area outside the sanctuary area. The wild animals exhibit phenomenon of local migration within the sanctuary and to neighboring areas. The migration is mostly for water, but some times animals migrate for food also. During summer the wildlife migrates and confine near the water holes. The carnivores migrate out.,side / the sanctuary area, during night. Few migratory birds also visit the area and leave it again in late February. Migration of exotic fauna is regular phenomena in the sanctuary. Most of bird and animal species always like dense forest for their habitat for much availability of food and safety point of view. Due to lack of dense forest there is very less plant and animal species founding the sanctuary. 1. Various type of habitat There are basically four types of the habitat in the sanctuary. On the basis of topographical considerations and it has been classified as under (a) Soil habitat (b) Grassland habitat (c) Aquatic habitat (d) Rocky habitat (e) Other habitat (a)Soil Habitat Bhindawas wetland is part of Indo- gangetic plain under South- West Haryana Sandy areas in Jhajjar district of Haryana. Soil habitat lies on outer side of main lake boundary where water could not reach even in the monsson season. Soil habitat area is an open space, used by Nilgai, Chinkaras, reptiles, small insects, rats and other creatures who lives beneath the soil cover. Tal Chhapar sanctuary falls in Indian thar desert where wind erosion is common feature, like other deserts, high velocity of wind shift the sand dunes. The sand dunes are also found in and around the sanctuary. A long range of dunes having near southern periphery of the sanctuary. The sandy habitat is liked by chinkara, Reptiles, lizards, Rodents and many beetles of desert. (b) Grassland habitat Unlike other desert of the world, Indian Thar Desert bears comparatively high density of flora and fauna. Grasses like Sevan, Dhaman, dhob, mothia etc. are found on plane area of the sanctuary. The Grassy habitat is suitable for black buck the black buck takes grasses like Lana, luni and lender shoots of ber, ker etc. The habitat also helps wildlife by providing them food, shelter and place for reproduction. Saline soils of Tal Chhapar area reduce chances of the development of trees and sewan grasses but places having fresh sand deposition are occupied by grass species. The patches with high salinity remain barren. Plant of prosopis julie flora are gradually coming of the saline and gravel soil, if Julie flora plant are not controlled properly then the whole area may be occupied gradually by these plants, which will make the habitat unsuitable for other species to-grow there. Grassland habitat in Bhindawas wetland dominated by small creatures only. These are actually water fens and weeds which prohibits other wildllives to make their shelter. Rodents, ants and other beetles survive in these areas. (c) Aquatic habitat Bhindawas wetland is typical aquatic habitat for many water birds and water snakes, fishes, tortoise etc. Main lake provides a strong and safe habitat for all aquatic life. Large water bodies are perfered by fishes and water snakes. It protect these creatures from heat and dust at the time of â€Å"Loo† and from illegal hunters too. Water maintains an optimum water temperature which is crucial for aquatic life. In and around the sanctuary have many small nadies and salt mines. The saline water remains in these nadies for a longer time. These scattered salt lakes form aquatic habitat, which attracts many species of animals and birds. Presently there are four Talabs and two Talabs are located in the sanctuary and another two are located in the periphery of the sanctuary. The degree of water salinity varies from water hole to water hole. Out of these four water holes, the Nadi situated on the junction of Bikaner-Chhapar and Chhapar-Sujangarh roads, is having comparatively less domestic animal of surrounding villages. As mentioned earlier the Tal Chhapar sanctuary is located in a depressed zone with a poor drainage system. Due to bad drainage pattern water gets accumulated, in the depression and that water lasts for a considerable long period. Among common aquatic fauna found in and around these lake are cattle Ergot, small ergot, Pond heron, black winged stilt, King fisher, common crane etc. (d)Rocky habitat `There is no rocky habitat in Bhindawas wetland. It is a plain saucer shaped depression filled with water and dominated by weeds and tress. Gravels exposed rocks; small hillocks and magra land are found in the western desert. The hillocks with low height are three i.e. towards gopalpur Chadwas villages. This habitat with inter spread grassy patches is suitable for hares, partridges and carnivorous species like fox, jackal etc. (e)Other habitat Tal Chhapar sanctuary is a species specific habitat for some mammals. The santuary is a home for the black buck. Well stocked population of black buck, in a compacted area of 719 hectare, shows that the habitat is suitable for this species. Though other wild animals are also found in the area but their population is still very less and the population trend is not towards increase. Open patches in water bodies are prefect place for basking in the winter season and are used by avifauna for breeding, mainly migratory birds in Bhindawas wetland. Habitat Change: There is consensus among intellegentia and even local pepole in considering habitat change and fragmentation of habitat as one of the major threatening factor for wildlife, bird and reptiles at the global scale. Habitat change causes by expansion of exotic species in water and over the land in Bhindawas. Polluted water of drain no. 8 mixes with wetland water affects fish species too. Toxicity of water from drain no. 8 kills fishes near outlet of wetland, ultimately forest department does not forward fishing activity near the drain. Expansion of water hyacinth and othe exotic weeds forbid birds to sit on open patches of land. Sedimentation by canal water reduces open areas which are uses by birds as breeding sites. Conversion of forest land into waterbodies destroys shelter of Nilgai and other animals in the wetland. Now these animals take refuge in Prosopis juliflora plants. There is migration of blackbucks from western part of Tal Chhapar to eastern parts in the night as lack of thick forested patches in the western parts pose them to stray dogs in the night, for safety puposes these animals moves to small thick areas dominated by large trees. The large-scale effects of habitat alteration produced by oil-industry related pollution on the habitat use of four species of freshwater turtles (Pelusios castaneus, Pelusios niger, Pelomedusa subrufa, Trionyx triunguis) were studied in the River Niger Delta, southern Nigeria (West Africa) between 1996 and 2004 was studied by Luca Luiselli, Godfrey C. Akani and E. Politano (2006). Decrease in Carrying Capacity: Carrying capacity of a wetland is a measure of the ecological, hydrological, biochemical processes and its ability to support entire ecosystem and biodiversity.Carrying capacity defines as support to ecosystem of a wetland without damaging productivity of the wetland and habitats within it. Availability, requirement and production of resources to sustain its ecosystem on any wetland is real determinant to describe carrying capacity of the wetland. To assess carrying capacity, a long term study requires over any wetland but there are changes in land use pattern, species of avian fauna, numbers of wildlife and sources of poin based with non point sources of pollution also helps to determine carrying capacity of both wetlands. Guangwei Huang and Masahiko Isobe (2012) developed a method to quantify the carrying capacity of a water body with regard to massive waterfowl was developed through the study of five wetlands that are used as the wintering ground by a large number of waterfowl in Japan. It takes into consideration water depth, retention time, and in-lake phosphorus concentration. For one of the sites, Sakata Lagoon, which is a registered Ramsar wetland in Japan, the assessment of its carrying capacity suggests that the number of waterfowl should be reduced by half to sustain the water quality of this wetland. Available nutrients in water and soil of Bhindawas wetland indicate carrying capacity of the wetland. This wetland supports vegetation of different types but infestation by water hyacinth destroys other water plants which can not compete with exotic species to survive in the wetland. The situation presents that carrying capacity of wetland has been decreased. Numbers of migratory birds also less than Khaparwas sanctuary which is smaller than Bhindawas wetland also indicate carrying capacity of the research site. Tal Chhapar is a small area, preserving its carrying capacity with limited available natural resources. Open lands has been converted into grassland and some tree patches to support blackbucks in the sanctuary area. Total counts of wildlife and other reptiles are contantly same during study period. Supportive system provided by forest staff like water availability during drought period, purchase of fodder for minor or injured wildlife manages it carrying capacity more or less. Impact on Wildlife: The wildlife face a spread of disease particularly herbivores from outside livestock as these animals moves outside the sanctuary area for fresh and nutritious food like green leaves in kankars (lush green vegetation line to demarcate boundary between villages and major revenue fields). These Blackbuck mixes with domesticated livestock and get infected with disease which are not prone to their co- habited wildlife in the wetland area. Fencing with in wetland obstructed free movement og wildlife of Tal Chhapr. Mid way fencing pose threat to animals as they falls into dig walls or may struck into fenced wires of Forest department. The passing through road, connecting Bikaner with Sujangarh cuases severe loss to wildlife mainly reptiles as well as Blackbucks, Nilgai and Wild Boers. Degradation of the Catchment Area: Capacity of the wetland catchment areas to intercept, process and to store water is influenced by many factors including time and amount of precipitation, land use, vegetation, topographic relief, soil type, temperature and ground water connection. Catchment areas of Tal Chhapar wetland that includes Chhapar, Chadwas, Gopalpura, Rampura, Devani and Surwas villages, in the last ten years the open land has been converted into built up areas. Built up areas means constructions of petrol pumps, roads in the periphery of sanctuary, establishment of a stone qurrying and stone cutting small scale industry and mushrooming of road side dhabas on NH 65. All these activities degarades catchment areas of the wetland which depends on rainfall water and on rivulet channel from Gopalpura hills. But this water pollutes by salt plant which are situated in western parts of Tal Chhapar. Rajasthan government has issued NOC to a big stone qurrying industry in Chadwas village which may disturb ecosystem o f the Tal areas. Bhindawas is surrounded by 12 villages, mostly dominated ny agricultural castes, those practices intensive cultivation that requires heavy fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides and water consuming put pressure of these polluters in nearby areas of the lake. Due to leaching of water and salinisation of waterlogged areas outside the embankments mixing of residues of pesticides and urea is going on. All these practices degrades catchment areas as well as wetland areas and pressure on wetland ecosystem. Sometimes blackbukcs and peopcocks go out of wetland for their food and consume pesticide infested crops and that cause their death. Land Conversion: Open land has been converted into built up areas in the catchment areas of Tal Chhapar. Main cause of this conversion is developmental activities in the area. Construction of road from Rampura to Surwas via Devani has done, land of Forest department was taken for this purpose, this land was under buffer zone area in the southern part of the Tal. This small land conversion for the road allows heavy trucks to carry mud qurries, stone from Gopalpura area and salt from the vicinity of sanctuary. These heavy trucks kill blackbucks while they comes from fields or goes at the time of road crossing. Snakes, lizard particulary spiny tailed which has medicinal as well as ecological value smashed under loaded heavy vechiles on Bikaner- Sujangarh road and Rampura – Surwas road. Some grassland was taken by Prosopis juliflora plants but now these plants have been removed from those areas. Bhindawas wetland does not face land conversion from its land area but with in wetland there is change in land use pattern which is also harmful. Forestland occupied by waterbodies and grassland while waterbodies converted into grassland. This type of land conversion directly affects migratory bird as it swallow small patches of land, a breeding and basking site. Wetland Exploitation: Wetlands in semi – arid or arid area are those ecozones which offer good ecological conditions with high productive potentials and divergent conditions to exploit. Since civilizations wetlands uses by man for their needs either in the form of food or clothes. Exploitation of wetlands passes through different stages from Early Neolithic period. Man uses wetlands from subsistence food gathering to exploitative axing of trees to make big ships. These wetlands are considered as excellent bases for exploitation from fishing to high end products in the international market. Nature and intensity of wetland exploitation depends on its location and richness in biodiversity. Apart from agricultural exploitation, early medieval wetlands may have provided important additional resources of fish, shellfish, and waterfowl, their abundance mainly dependent on the primary productivity (e.g. Prummel 1983). In addition, the importance of salt production in coastal and estuarine areas is well att ested. (e.g. Besteman1 974;Adshead 1992). Tal Chhapar wetland was used by local people for grazing their small animals before its taken over by the Rajasthan government. After completion of fencing work, local people take other alternates for their fuelwood and grazing of small animals. Some people took Spiny tailed lizard from the sanctuary area for their valuable oil but forest department put an end on all this type activities. Bhindawas wetland was constructed after repetition of floods and construction of Jawahar Lal Nehru canal in Haryana. This wetland was notified as a protected forest area by Haryana government to store flood water oor excess water during Monsoon time. People exploitate Bhindawas wetland for grazing animals including cow, buffalos, sheep and goats. These people take fuelwood for their homes. Sometime farmers extract water for their crops. Bhindawas and Tal Chhapar wetland are International Bird Area (IBA) sited for bird watching, mainly migratory birds. Hunting/ Poaching: The primary association between hunters and wetland environments was clearly linked with hunting till Nineteenth century but it is still prevalent in developing countries. Some tribes in Indian states earn their livelihood from hunting in wetland areas. But Indian government banned hunting and other activities associated with it. But there are some tribes in Rajasthan state and few notorious communities are living near the wetland areas in Haryana. Tal Chhapar area is dominting by animal worshiping communities, so there is rare chance of hunting or poaching happens in Tal or any adjoing areas. Bilochpura is a near by village to Bhindawas wetland. Some persons engaged in hunting but these people perform their hunting activity during night time only.

Air India †the Virgin Airways Saga Essay

In December 1999, India’s national carrier, Air India (A-I) signed an agreement with Virgin Atlantic Airways1 (VA) by which VA would fly three flights on the Delhi-London route on a code-sharing2 basis with A-I. This was hailed as a significant development for the ailing A-I. The code sharing arrangement was expected to trigger off a price war in the Delhi-London route where British Airways (BA) was a dominant player. According to the agreement, VA would fly three more flights a week on this route by 2001. In July 2000, VA started off with two flights a week on Thursdays and Saturdays from Delhi. It planned to have a third flight by October 2000. However, till late 2001, VA was still flying two flights. A-I did not seem ready to allow VA fly the third flight because A-I too had a flight from Delhi on Monday, the day VA wanted to fly from Delhi. Meanwhile, the Government of India (GoI) granted rights to BA to fly three more flights per week from Kolkata to London. This was in violation of the bilateral pact signed between Britain and India according to which BA and A-I were allowed to fly 16 flights a week to each other’s country. BA was already flying 16 flights a week-seven from Delhi, seven from Mumbai and two from Chennai. In late 2001, VA was severely affected by the downturn in the global aviation industry. VA was finding it difficult to sustain its operations in India with only two flights a week. VA had made it clear that unless it was allowed to increase the frequency to three, its exit from India would be a distinct possibility. Background Note A-I was registered as Air India International in 1948. Later in 1962, the word ‘International’ was dropped and from March 1994, the airline began functioning as Air-India Limited. In 2000, A-I’s network covered 44 destinations (Refer Exhibit I). In addition, A-I had a code sharing arrangement with a number of foreign airlines. These included Air France, Swiss Air, Bellview Airlines, Austrian Airlines, Asiana Airlines, Scandinavian Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Aeroflot, Air Mauritius, Kuwait Airways and Emirates. In the late 1990s, as part of its disinvestment rogramme, the GoI decided to divest 40% stake in A-I and began looking for a strategic partner. The strategic partner would take up 40% stake with only a 26% cap to foreign airlines. Ever since it began operations in 1984, VA focused on international routes. After the airlines maiden flight, from London’s Gatwick airport to Newark on the outskirts of New York, Richard Branson3 added several lucrative routes to his kitty. Till 1999, VA’s route network in the Asian region included Heathrow-Tokyo-Heathrow, Heathrow-Hong Kong-Heathrow and Heathrow-Shanghai-Heathrow. The airline had code-share agreements with Continental Airlines, Malaysian Airlines, and British Midland. In |the late 1990s, Branson was targeting the lucrative Delhi-London route. Every year an estimated 0. 3 million passengers traveled from Delhi to London, which was nearly 40 per cent of the total outbound traffic from India. The only available direct route codes were held by BA and A-I. As a result passengers were forced to take circuitous routes |offered by airlines like Emirates and Royal Jordanian which made them wait for hours at distant airports. Branson’s efforts to woo A-I started in 1997. He said, â€Å"Air-India was once famous for its service and I’d like to think that as well as competing with Air-India we can share with it our experience of making Virgin Atlantic the success it is today. † Analysts felt that A-I would learn from VA’s innovation in hospitality. VA was the first airline to offer a TV monitor with every seat (in every class). It offered in-flight beauty therapy including the services of masseurs, ice-cream cones during in-flight movies and a chauffeured motorcycle service to airports. Also in the offing were email and Internet services. Upper class passengers were provided laptop power leads with every seat, and headsets to reduce noise in the cabin. Besides commercial cooperation on cargo services, yield management, and product development, the arrangement with Branson would give AI’s staffers access to cabin crew training. However, analysts felt that once VA started its operations, it would be an all-out fight to lure passengers and AI would be the worst sufferer. As VA promised to offer tickets at 15 per cent less than BA, a Delhi-London VA ticket would be cheaper than A-I’s. The Deal In 1999, the ministry of civil aviation said that it was willing to consider an agreement between VA and A-I that would benefit both carriers. The agreement was to include a code-sharing arrangement or sharing of A-I flight quotas. The entry of VA on the London-India routes was likely to bring down the fares on the sector. In December 1999, VA signed an agreement with A-I to fly three services a week on a code share basis between Delhi and London from July 2000. The arrangement with A-I was for five years and apart from the initial three flights a week, frequencies, it had agreed to give away the remaining three to V-I by 2001. VA and A-I would share seats on each other’s routes and VA would operate flights to the UK on routes not covered by A-I. VA would also fly on days that were not flown by A-I. Under the terms of the agreement, flights would carry both VA and A-I flight numbers, and both airlines would sell seats on those services in competition with one another. Said Branson, â€Å"Launching flights between the UK and India has always been an ambition of mine. It is a very potent route and currently I see a lack of capacity on this route, which has decreased tourist flow between the two countries. I think between the two airlines – Air-India and Virgin – we will be able to improve the route. † According to some analysts, the GoI was interested in forging an alliance with VA because of the group’s interests in entertainment, music telecom, insurance and financial services. Branson had raised hopes of further investments in publishing, holiday homes and telecom. He said, â€Å"This is just the beginning. We will study the Indian market and see what business is best suited for the market and for us and proceed accordingly. We will see where we can make a difference. A-I had been in the red for a long time and was hoping that the VA venture would improve its bottomline. Said Branson, â€Å"We are paying a significant amount to A-I under the code-sharing agreement, though I would not like to reveal the amount. Let me assure you: Air-India can make a few millions. † However, Air India officials felt that more than the financial gains, it was the pa rtnership that mattered and the move would bring in fresh traffic to the country. Besides traffic, VA’s arrival could also mean reductio in airfares. Said Branson, â€Å"Our upper class and premium class as we call them are as competitively priced as the first class and business class fares of other airlines respectively. Except, of course, we give more services such as limousines, manicure, beauty treatment, etc, to every passenger on board. As for our economy class, our priority is to fly it houseful and hence the pricing is whatever it takes to get the customer. Hence, since we will be competing with Air-India too despite this agreement, the pricing and services will be competitive. † VA’s arrival was also expected to improve A-I’s services and even bring about a reduction in the fares depending on the market conditions. Said M. P. Mascarenhas, the then Managing Director of A-I, â€Å"We will have to compete and hence we will have to perform, even if it means fare reduction. † Analysts felt that a possible fare reduction would have an adverse effect on the bottomline of A-I. Responded Mascarenhas, â€Å"I don’t think it would because it would increase traffic and improve the overall situation. You see, now, between the two airlines, there will be services all days of the week. Analysts felt that with the AI-VA code sharing agreement, other carriers such as Thai Airways and Cathay-Pacific, which were asking for more flights, would pressurize the GoI for code-share arrangements with AI in lieu of more flights. Who will Rule the Delhi-London Skies? Analysts felt that with the entry of VA, the Indian skies would see some fierce price wars between VA and BA. Branson said that VA’s first class fares would be equivalent to the business class fares of BA and that the economy fare would be 30-50% cheaper than BA’s. If BA brought down ticket prices as it had done in May 2000, VA would fly for less, Branson said. Since BA had proposed a fare of about Rs 27,000 on the Delhi-London sector, Branson said VA would file an application with the GoI for a lower fare. At the same time, VA would respect the Government’s sentiments on fares, since it was a regulated market, Branson said. In June 2000, VA announced that it would start its operations in India in July with a bi-weekly service-Wednesdays and Fridays from London and Thursdays and Saturdays from Delhi. VA planned to launch a third weekly flight around October. The airline would offer low introductory fares. Mackenzie Grant, VA’s general manager for India said the initial fare was still being worked out and that it would be difficult to give a comparison with competing airlines. Analysts felt that VA would give BA some stiff competition, not only in terms of fares, but also with its array of services such as sleeper seats, massage services and lounge facilities. Said one, â€Å"Virgin’s entry will certainly be a boost to services between India and Europe. The airline has a high quality product. † Branson promised VA fare would be extremely competitive. Analysts felt that competitive pricing would mean that VA would price its Delhi-London flight for less than Rs 25,000, which was approximately the A-I fare. A-I feared there would be an exodus of its already dwindling passenger list. Meanwhile, BA was bracing itself to meet the VA challenge on the Delhi-London sector. The airline announced direct daily services between London and Delhi from October 30, thereby increasing capacity by 25 per cent on this sector. For this, the airline suspended its twice weekly service to Calcutta and terminated its five times-a- week service from Delhi to Dhaka from October 30. The changes were made as part of a renewed bilateral agreement between UK and India signed in February 2000. On July 5, 2000, VA dropped a bombshell. It slashed its introductory airfare from the normal Rs 42,598 to Rs 31,000 for a return ticket on the busy London-Delhi route. But just before VA’s entry into Indian airspace, BA also announced a special economy-class fare: a Rs 27,635 round trip ticket. According to analysts, consumers were at last getting the benefits of a liberalised competitive sector. In July 2000, BA won the right to three more flights per week between India and Britain, drawing an immediate protest from VA. According to BA’s South Asia manager Alan Briggs, under a special arrangement outside a bilateral aviation agreement, the GoI had given BA permission to fly three times a week to the eastern city of Calcutta. Under the bilateral pact, which was renewed in February 2000, BA and A-I were each allowed to fly 16 times a week to each other’s home country. A-I used 10 of its 16 weekly flight entitlements on the route. BA used all 16 of its flight entitlements, with seven flights a week to Delhi, seven to Mumbai and two to Madras. BA had been lobbying since 1993 to increase the number of its flights to India. The End of the Honeymoon? By October 2000, VA was to start its third code share flight as per the agreement with A-I. In addition to the Rs 100 million per flight per annum that A-I got from VA, the third flight would fetch A-I Rs 300 million per annum. However, till late 2001, VA was flying only two flights a week. Also, there was no progress on the remaining three flights that VA was entitled to fly from 2001. This seemed to the bone of contention between VA and A-I. VA officials were particularly unhappy that BA was granted rights to fly three additional flights per week from Kolkata to London against the prevailing norms. What seemed particularly strange was that there was no commercial agreement or code share for any of these additional frequencies. Commenting on the GoI’s interest in BA, a leading business magazine in India wrote, â€Å"The needle of suspicion automatically points to vested interests in the ministry and their sudden penchant for BA. â€Å"5 By December 2000, it became clear that VA would have to wait a bit longer for final clearance from A-I to commence the third code-share |flight on the India-London sector. While VA officials claimed that they would start the third code-share flight within a reasonable period of time following clearances from Indian authorities, A-I officials said that nothing was in the offing as yet. Said a VA official, â€Å"The ball is in the court of A-I and the Indian Government. The day we get the permission, we will start the service in a reasonable time period, which will allow us to relocate aircraft and crew to commence the third flight. Further, the airline will be only too happy to serve other destinations in India. † Some analysts said that while VA was keen to operate the third flight on Sundays from London with a Monday departure from Delhi, A-I was opposed to as the Indian carrier also had a Delhi to London flight on Monday morning. VA was willing to schedule its flight at 2 p. m. in the afternoon, ensuring a gap of more than 6 hours between its flight and A-I’s London flight. But this was not acceptable to A-I, which pointed out that according to the agreement signed between VA, and A-I, VA was to operate flights only on those days when A-I did not operate services to London. A VA official said that the delay in granting permission to VA to operate the third flight on the sector was proving to be financially disastrous for A-I. However, despite these problems, VA said it was interested in code sharing with A-I to other cities such as Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad. In late 2001, VA was in some trouble because of the downturn in the transatlantic aviation business and shrinking revenues. VA announced 20 per cent reduction in operations, grounded five of its aircraft and pruned the workforce by 1200 to tide over one of the worst crises for the international aviation business in the aftermath of the US attacks6. Having already announced 20 per cent reduction of activities, the airline seemed unable to sustain its operations in India with just two |flights a week. Said Paul Smitton, general manager-India, VA, â€Å"Two flights each from Delhi is not a viable proposition in the long run. At least three or more flights makes the business viable as it would enable us to get more traffic and meet economies of scale from our operations here. † He added, â€Å"No airline can sustain loss making regions for long. And this time round, we will wait for just months and not |years before taking a decision. † Analysts felt that VA was likely to review its strategy for its fledgling unprofitable Indian operations. |During its short stay in India, VA had already notched up losses on the Delhi-London sector and industry sources ruled out the chances of VA breaking even unless the frequency increased from the current level. VA officials have indicated to the GoI that VA may have to pull out of India if the frequency of operations was not increased. VA informed the GoI that it had agreed to provide A-I with income worth Rs 100 million per annum for each flight on the basis of the understanding that a third frequency would be allowed on schedule. VA also said that it had hired Indian crew for three flights and spent on publicity, as it was confident its frequency would be increased. It informed the GoI that it would have to pull out of India if the third flight was not cleared. In October 2001, the GoI ordered a full review of the code-sharing pact. What remained to be seen was whether the much-hyped I-A-VA alliance would be sustainable in the long run

Beer Wars Essay

What’s more refreshing on a hot summer day than a nice cold beer? Or how about drinking a nice cold one with some buddies after work at a local bar, sound nice doesn? t it? Beer has been around for many years and will probably be around for many more. A beer is any variety of alcoholic beverages produced by the fermentation of starchy material derived from grains or other plant sources. The production of beer and some other alcoholic beverages is often called brewing. Most every culture has there own tradition and the own take on beer, thus producing many different styles and variations. Simply put, a beer style is a label given to a beer that describes its overall character and often times its origin. It’s a name badge that has been achieved over many centuries of brewing, trial and error, marketing, and consumer acceptance. There are many different types of beer, each of which is said to belong to a particular style. A beer’s style is a label that describes the overall flavour and often the origin of a beer, according to a system that has evolved by trial and error over many centuries. According to the type of yeast that is used in the beer’s fermentation process, most beer styles fall into one of two large families: ale or lager. Beers that blend the characteristics of ales and lagers are referred to as hybrids. An ale is any beer that is brewed using only top-fermenting yeasts, and typically at higher temperatures than lager yeast. Becau†¦ †¦ middle of paper †¦ †¦ a smoked beer a brewer will fire his malt over a wood fire and let the smoke absorb into the grains. This imbues a smoky character in the taste of the brew. Specialty beers are a catch-all category used to describe any beers brewed using unusual fermentable sugars, grains and starches. With all of the different brewing techniques and styles and forms of ingridents there is almost and endless world of beer. Beer is diffently the ultimatesocial drink and it has been proven for years. Beer can be anything from dark, fruity and mysterious to light, crisp and refreshing. Beer tasting is an art and should always be respected. So respect your beer and have fun. Go to your local bar today with a few buddies and begin on your own beer journey.

Project Management Project Planning Fundamentals

Abstract:now a days business has been growing with lots of changes in technological environment. These have brought very effective changes to project management.project management includes implementing,controlling,goals and identifying tasks which are to be achieved.the concept of the project and project management involves project evaluation,project selection,project planning fundamentals.project cost control and scheduling of a project in critical methom(cpm) which are crucial to technology-intensive organizations which have been discussed.a project is a sequence structure that are connected with many activities and having one goal and that should be completed by the given time within budget and at required specifications.each and every projects have specified with starting date and ending date and they are completed in time.there are some operations that has only starting date but that doesnot have ending date.management is also involves different methods such as planning,executin g,controlling and managing in order to achieve the given particular task.by these methods we cannot ensure the complete success but there is a chance to attain success.stakeholders are also plays an important role in this project management along with project team members. Project Selection: The very first is project selection,our success is mainly depend on the project selection.usually project managers are responsible for the selection of the project.it mainly involves drafting of theShow MoreRelatedEssay on Mowak National Bank1168 Words   |  5 Pagesno communication and cooperation between departments due to absence of a project manager, who could act as focal point for the integration work. For solving their problem Mohawk National Bank is thinking to consider a new organizational structure: matrix organization. The main obstacle of this project is the hostility at change of most of the employees. For overcome this obstacle Bank top-managers have to find a Project Manager that can motivate and convince people that this change it is importantRead MoreProject Management : A Collaborative Or Individual Entity Essay1598 Words   |  7 PagesWhat is Project Management A project is a collaborative or individual entity which is temporary and unique in nature. 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