F.R.I.(Forest Research Institute)

Established as Imperial Forest Research Institute in 1906, Forest Research Institute (FRI) Dehradun, is a premier institution under the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE). Styled in Greeko Roman Architecture by C.G. Blomfield, the main building is a National Heritage which was inaugurated in 1929The Institute's history is vertually synonymous with the evolution and development of scientific forestry, not only in India, but over the entire Indian sub-continent. Set in a lush green estate spread over 450 hectares, with the outer Himalaya forming its back drop, the Institute's main building is an impressive edifice, marrying Greco-Roman and Colonial styles of architecture, with a plinth area of 2.5 equipped laboratories,library, herbarium, arboreta, printing press and experimental field areas for conducting forestry research, quite in keeping with the best of its kind anywhere in the world. Its museums, in addition to being a valuable source of scientific information, are a major attraction for tourists.

Objectives

The Institute caters, in particular, to the research needs of the Indo-Gangetic plains of Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi and Western Uttar Pradesh, as Well as the U.P. Himalayas. Forestry research at the FRI is organized under fourteen divisions.

Milestones

1864 Systematic Forest Management [Sir D. Brandis --> the first IGF] .

1878 Forest School at Dehra Dun .

1906 Imperial FRI with Six Research Disciplines .

• Silviculture
• Working Plans
• Forest Geology
• Botany
• Economics
• Chemistry

 FRI STRENGTHS 

 Strong Scientific Base 

 Largest Forestry Research Manpower in South Asia

 Store House Of Knowledge

 Blending Basic Forestry Knowledge with Forntline Research

 Stress on Multi-Disciplinary and Collaborative Research

 Deemed University Status 

THRUST AREAS 

 Conservation of biodiversity 

 Production, certification and supply of quality seedsof fuel, fodder and timber species. 

 Social forestry/ Agroforestry. 

 Conservation and eco-restoration of ecologically fragile and disturbed areas. 

 Utilisation of non-conventional woods and weeds for manufacture of forest products. 

 Development of technology for reclamation of wastelands. 

 Planting stock improvement programme of different species. 

 Geological, geomorphological and micro-morphological studies on skeltetal and sodic soils. 

 Reclamation and ecological monitoring of mined areas. 

 Development of technology for eco-friendly preservatives. 

Jurisdiction States of FRI 

 Uttar Pradesh 

 Uttaranchal 

 Haryana 

 Punjab 

 Delhi 

 Chandigarh

It was an amazing experience of my photo walk there, enjoyed alot clicking birds and different style of trees. Covering almost more than 2 or 3 km of walk it was a tiring day for me. Got to see few different kind of birds there.

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Venus Transit

A transit of Venus across the Sun takes place when the planet Venus passes directly between the Sun and Earth (or another planet), becoming visible against (and hence obscuring a small portion of) the solar disk. During a transit, Venus can be seen from Earth as a small black disk moving across the face of the Sun. The duration of such transits is usually measured in hours (the transit of 2012 lasted 6 hours and 40 minutes). A transit is similar to a solar eclipse by the Moon. While the diameter of Venus is more than 3 times that of the Moon, Venus appears smaller, and travels more slowly across the face of the Sun, because it is much farther away from Earth.

Transits of Venus are among the rarest of predictable astronomical phenomena. They occur in a pattern that repeats every 243 years, with pairs of transits eight years apart separated by long gaps of 121.5 years and 105.5 years. The periodicity is a reflection of the fact that the orbital periods of Earth and Venus are close to 8:13 and 243:395 commensurabilities.

The last transit of Venus was on 5 and 6 June 2012, and was the last Venus transit of the 21st century; the prior transit took place on 8 June 2004. The previous pair of transits were in December 1874 and December 1882. The next transits of Venus will be December 10-11, 2117, and in December 2125.

Venus transits are historically of great scientific importance as they were used to gain the first realistic estimates of the size of theSolar System. Observations of the 1639 transit, combined with the principle of parallax, provided an estimate of the distance between the Sun and the Earth that was more accurate than any other up to that time. In addition, the June 2012 transit provided scientists with a number of other research opportunities, particularly in the refinement of techniques to be used in the search for exoplanets.

My experience of the Venus Transit was awesome, sitting on roof in hostel. Waking up at 5 in morning and setting the things for the my photography session. The clouds ruined the start and I totally lost my hope to see the lifetime opportunity event. But after approx 2 hours they went off and then my photography started.

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