53 students selected for dugong scholarship

The Wildlife Institute of India (WII), which has launched ‘Dugong recovery project’ in coordination with the State Fisheries department and introduced ‘dugong scholarship’ programme to elicit the support of the fisherfolk, has selected 53 students – wards of fishermen for a monthly scholarship of Rs. 500 each.

The WII, which was making collective efforts for the implementation of the project and the conservation of dugongs in Gulf of Mannar, has shortlisted the students after conducting written examinations in Ramanatahpuram, Pudukottai and Thanjavur districts in June – July, K. Sivakumar, Scientist, WII, and project inspector, said.

The scholarship programme was aimed at getting the support of the fishing community, which was one of the main objectives of this project, he said. The selected students would be given the scholarship for two years with effect from June this year, he said. In all, 779 students had appeared for the examination — 316 from class XI and 463 from class IX from 20 different schools from the three coastal districts, PVR Prem Jothi, Marine Biologist, WII, said.

The top 14 students were felicitated by P.C. Tyagi, Principal, Chief Conservator of Forest.

The toppers were facilitated at the International Consultative Workshop conducted by WII and UNESCO on “Pilot Testing of Management Effectiveness Evaluation (MEE) Framework for Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) including Coastal and Marine World Heritage Sites of India”, held at Thoothukudi recently.