40 years ago, October 17, 1986: Haven that may become hell

Forty years ago, on October 17, 1986, a devastating fire erupted at the Bharatpur bird sanctuary, inflicting further anguish on the avian inhabitants of the Keoladeo National Park. Deputy Chief Wildlife Warden Rajen Mathur revealed that the fire ravaged an area of 108 hectares, primarily affecting the grassland region of the sanctuary.

Fortunately, the sanctuary's lack of dense tree coverage mitigated the fire's potential intensity. This tragic event was further exacerbated by Congress suspending ex-MP and former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Prakash Chandra Sethi, from the primary membership of the Congress-I party. The Congress-I Disciplinary Action Committee reached this decision following Sethi's interview with The Illustrated Weekly and his subsequent criticism of the party leadership.

Meanwhile, Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka made literary history by becoming the first African recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Swedish Academy of Letters praised Soyinka for his works, which blend drama and existence with a wide cultural perspective and poetic overtones. On the economic front, American economist James McGill Buchanan was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics for his synthesis of political and economic decision-making theories, particularly in the emerging field of "public choice."

Buchanan, a professor at George Mason University in Virginia, received the prestigious accolade for his significant contributions to the boundary between economic and political science studies.