Reed Warbler

Enroll for the Reed Warbler's pole-dance classes now! Comic from my column with RoundGlass Sustain.

Draft EIA Notification 2020

Clearance Man is back, and this time he is more powerful than ever before! The draft EIA 2020 takes various steps to ensure that environmental violations by corporations and industries are legitimized, some of which are listed in this comic. The policy is being pushed during the lockdown period so as to minimize questioning and opposition.

Read the Draft EIA here. An article on the notification by Mongabay can be read here. You may also follow the Twitter account by environment lawyers Kritika Dinesh and Meenakshi Kapoor, called Redraft EIA 2020 (@ReDraftEIA2020) for simplified tweets that explain the environmental impacts of the various points of the policy. If you are convinced that the draft EIA should be withdrawn, you may voice your objection to the policy on Let India Breathe here, and on Jhatkaa here.

This comic has been as a purely voluntary effort and is exempted from any copyright contracts that most of my other comics are under with their respective publishers. In case you would like to use higher resolutions of the comic, email me on rohanchakcartoonist@gmail.com. 

My thanks to Krithika, Meenakshi and Sushant Bali for their inputs.

Wildlife Quarantine Webinar Recommendations

Some wildlife skill-sharing webinar recommendations for you during quarantine, from my column with Sunday Mid-Day. 

MoEFCC Demonstration

A few weeks ago, MoEFCC Chairman Prakash Javadekar demonstrated how to make your own mask. Here he demonstrates how to make your own blinders!

At a time when epidemics are being traced back and linked to environmental destruction worldwide, one would expect world leaders to make conservation central to governance. The Indian government unfortunately, has been doing quite the contrary. The exploitation of the country's natural reserves is being intensified. The draft EIA notification that the MoEF put out last month seeks to do away with public hearings for projects like dams, mines, airports etc., and legitimizes environmental violations by such projects (details here). Moreover, the government has also been using the lockdown period to host video conferences to grant environment clearance to projects in the pipeline, without any scope of questioning or objection. If this is the government we have chosen, it is also our responsibility to ensure responsibility and accountability from it. What we must demand is that environmentally sensitive projects may not be cleared over virtual meetings without following due process , and that projects for which there is strong opposition from resident communities (for example the Dibang Etalin Dam) be scrapped for greener alternatives.  Yet another such project is the proposal to mine in Dehing Patkai Elephant Reserve in Assam. 

Sign the petition to save Dibang Valley on Conservation India here. If you represent an institute, university or organization, get your board to email the ministry voicing objection to the draft EIA notification. The MoEF has a website dedicated to forest clearance. Let us stay vigilant, check this website regularly for the status of such projects, and write letters and emails to the ministry to keep it on its toes. Let us not wear the blinders that the government wants us to wear. 

Comic from my column with The Hindu's Sunday Magazine.

Dibang Etalin Dam

A Forest Advisory Committee meeting scheduled for today via video conferencing has in its agenda to make way for several forest clearances, one of which is for the the disastrous Etalin/Dibang Dam project. A simple Google search on the environmental impacts of Dibang Dam will lead you to numerous articles about why tribes and communities in Arunachal have been opposing this project tooth and nail. Other agenda of the meeting can be accessed on forestclearance.nic.in.

Earth Day with Underground Weirdos

Happy Earth Day from some underground weirdos from my column with RoundGlass Sustain.

We all have that Capped Langur Friend

We all have that Capped Langur friend. Cartoon from my column with Roundglass Sustain.

USA and Exotic Wild Pets

The exotic pet industry, which the USA simply cannot do without, has not just been driving poaching and illegal wildlife trade. Wild pets are also known to carry diseases like Herpes, Monkey Pox and Salmonellosis, all communicable to their human owners. Comic from my column with The Hindu.

An Indian Wildlife Video Conference

Some Indian wild animals get on a Zoom meeting in my column with Sunday Mid-Day.

Dolphins of the World

Meet the 44 dolphin species of the world in this brand new poster, from the largest, the Orca (Killer Whale) to the smallest, the Hector's Dolphin. Some of the most threatened dolphins are the ones found in freshwater ecosystems and estuaries, while many other species continue to decline. 

Dolphin prints are available as a wide range of prints, apparel and merchandise on my webstore here. 

(Note that the poster includes only species recognized by the IUCN. Sub-species like the Bolivian and Indus River Dolphins do not feature in this poster Printing and shipping within India are suspended at the moment and will resume after the COVID lockdown is lifted).

Some Joys of Being a Kangaroo

Some joys of being a kangaroo. From my column with The Hindu.

Ampullae of Lorenzini

Good morning, class. Today we learn about a unique feature that sharks (and a few other fish) are blessed with- the Ampullae of Lorenzini. Comic from my column with Sunday Mid-Day.

Croc Make-up

A Nile Crocodile forgets to take its eye liner off in my column with Roundglass Sustain.

Spring Migration Superstars- Comics for Birdlife International

Meet 7 Spring Migration Superstars- the European Bee-Eater, the Common Cuckoo, the Common Swift, the Barn Swallow, the Collared Sand Martin, the Common Ringed Plover and the White Stork. The comics have been created for Birdlife International's #SpringAlive campaign in which we introduce young birders to spring migrants. Thanks to Birdlife once again for collaborating with me.

MoEF during Covid

As the world acknowledges environmental destruction as one of the major factors precipiytating epidemics, India's Environment Minister took to Twitter yesterday to boast about granting environment clearances to major development projects. Good luck for the next epidemic, India!

The Nutcracker and the Pine

Meet the Nutcracker, a pine gentleman! Among the many trees that forge a symbiotic alliance with the Nutcracker is the Chilgoza pine, a rare and commercially important pine variety, now threatened with extinction. Comic from my column with Sunday Midday.

Read Ananda Banerjee's article on this relationship for a more detailed insight, which also sheds light on economist Rinki Sarkar's chance discovery on the Chilgoza-Nutcracker symbiosis, and her efforts to study and conserve this relationship.

Learn Physical Isolation and Solitude from the Masters

Learn physical distancing and solitude from the masters, and keep safe from the epidemic. Comic from my column with The Hindu.

Jujurana- Mascot for the Great Himalayan National Park

Meet Jujurana the Western Tragopan, the official mascot for the Great Himalayan National Park in Himachal Pradesh. The park is among the last places in the wild where this majestic but rare pheasant can still be seen. Threatened by hunting and habitat loss, the resplendent bird lives in high altitude temperate forests.

Watch my friend Munmun Dhalaria's brilliant documentary on the Western Tragopan, and the people who protect it, on National Geographic here.

Coronavirus and Bats

Bats don't give us Coronavirus. Our ill-treatment of bats gives us various diseases. Comic from my column with RoundGlass Sustain, and a humble attempt at dispelling a myth that may be potentially harmful to bats, by this exasperated Flying Fox.

I have also translated this comic into Hindi here:

The comic in Spanish (translation by Farah Carrasco)

The comic in Bengali (translation by Swarupa Chakraborty)-

Bahasa Indonesian translation courtesy of Susan Tsang and Sheherazade

Tamil translation courtesy of P. Jeganathan

Marathi translation courtesy of Pooja Pawar.

The Balcony Birder in Quarantine

Balcony-birders of the world, unite! Our time to conquer E-bird has come!

How the Fiddler crab got its claw

The fiddler crab's characteristically asymmetric and much larger 'major claw' has many functions. Males use it for a waving display to win female attention, in combat with other males, and also to dig burrows for their mates to lay eggs in. Naturally, size matters in the crab world!

All my publishers refused to run this one, for understandable reasons, so I thought I'd give it a home on the web. I hope you too have been working on your fiddler claw staying at home in quarantine!