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For over 10 years, this Sikkim man has kept a lake litter-free at 12,406 ft

Snippets from the vibrant Northeast that capture politics, culture, society and more in the eight states.

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New Delhi: Sangay Lama, a resident of Thegu village in Sikkim, has been on a ‘mission’ for more than a decade now. He helps to keep the pristine Tsomgo lake and its surroundings litter-free.

Lama, 37, had formed the Tsomgo Pokhri Sanrakshan Samiti, a lake conservation committee, with representatives from the state forest department, the World Wide Fund, environment and wildlife management officials, a drivers’ association, shop owners’ association and gram panchayats in 2008 with an aim to conserve this oval-shaped water body.

Also known as Changu, Tsomgo lake is situated at an altitude of 12,406 feet, around 40 km from Gangtok and 16 km from the Nathu La pass, which connects Sikkim with China’s Tibet Autonomous Region.

“All the waste generated in the area is collected in dedicated bins. It is segregated in these bins, at the source. A truck comes to collect the waste twice a day, once at 8 am and later around 4 pm. There are 52 shops that sell food items, handicrafts and other commercially lucrative items, and each shop generates around 4 kilos of dry and 2 kilos of wet waste. The trucks collect them and dispose at the 32, Martam Dumping and Recovery Centre,” Lama told The Better India.

‘Very specialised bamboo-dwelling bat species’ for the first time in India

A team of scientists from the Shillong office of the Zoological Survey of India and European natural history museums have recorded India’s first bat species with disk-shaped sticky feet in Meghalaya.

The species, called Eudiscopus denticulus, was found at Lailad area, close to the state’s Nongkhyllem Wildlife Sanctuary. The findings about the “very specialised bamboo-dwelling bat species” was recently published in the latest issue of the Revue Suisse de Zoologie, a bi-annual journal published by the Geneva Museum and the Swiss Zoological Society.

“The bat species is very distinctive in appearance with prominent disk-like pads in the thumb and bright orange colouration…From the modifications in the feet, it was presumed to be a bamboo-dwelling species which was later identified as a disk-footed bat. This bat is reported to roost inside bamboo internodes aided by their adhesive disks,” the scientists said.

This particular species has also been noted to be rare and found only in a few localities worldwide.

Manipur weightlifter Mirabai Chanu sets new world record

Mirabai Chanu from Manipur has set a new world record by lifting 119 kg in ‘clean and jerk’ (a composite of two weightlifting movements) at the Asian Weightlifting Championship held in Uzbekistan recently. She bagged the women’s 49-kg bronze medal at the event.

She not only created a new world record but also improved on her own national record of 118 kg in clean and jerk. Chanu lifted a total of 205 kg (86 kg snatch + 119 kg clean and jerk) at the event in Tashkent.

The earlier clean and jerk world record was 118 kg and Chanu’s personal best was 203 kg (88 kg+115 kg) at the National Championship in February last year.

“I was doing up to 120 kg in my training in clean and jerk and went for the word record from the beginning. It is a big achievement. Rewriting a world record is never easy. A lot of hard work goes into it. It will give me more confidence,” the 26-year-old weightlifter told Sportstar.

This cave gives first concrete evidence of Hoabinhian culture in India

Situated around 27 km from the Tamenglong district headquarters in Manipur, Tharon cave offers the first concrete evidence of Hoabinhian culture in India, which has also been found in other Southeast Asian countries.

Hoabinhian refers to stone assemblages in Southeast Asia containing flaked, cobble artifacts, dated to circa 10,000–2000 BCE.

The cave, which is 655.6 metre in length and situated about 910 metre above the sea level, is also home to different kinds of fruit bats. It has 12 caves underneath and five exits. The entire map of the cave is engraved and painted on a stone at the entrance of the cave.


Also read: Sikkim is India’s ‘most film friendly state’, now nationally acknowledged and awarded


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