biology

Jamal Ara

Jamal Ara is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Jamal Ara rather than just read about it. In short: Jamal Ara (1923–1995) was a noted Indian ornithologist and naturalist known for her extensive field and scientific observations of birds in the Chota Nagpur Plateau, Jharkhand, India. She has been called India's first "birdwoman".

Key takeaways

Jamal Ara belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Jamal Ara to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Jamal Ara from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Jamal Ara (1923–1995) was a noted Indian ornithologist and naturalist known for her extensive field and scientific observations of birds in the Chota Nagpur Plateau, Jharkhand, India. She has been called India's first "birdwoman".

Life and work Ara was born in Barh, Patna District, Bihar, in 1923, and raised in Bihar in the family of a police officer. She studied formally up to the 10th standard. She married a journalist, Hamdi Bey, who was based in Calcutta. After their marriage broke down, she and her daughter, Madhuca, were taken care of by Sami Ahmad, a cousin and an Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer (1940 Bihar cadre) at his official residence in Ranchi. Ara was based in Doranda, Ranchi, for the rest of her life. Through accompanying Ahmad on field trips, Ara became interested in nature and the forests. The wife of another IFS officer, PW Augier, encouraged Ara to keep detailed notes of her birding observations, and to write articles. She jouned the Bengal Natural History Society, and was encouraged to study the birds of Darbhanga by C.M. Inglis who had retired to Coonoor but corresponded with her and provided his notes. From 1949, Ara published over 60 articles in the journals of the Bombay Natural History Society, Bengal Natural History Society, and the Newsletter for Birdwatchers, about birds and about other wildlife and conservation in Bihar. A 1999 paper on the growth of ornithology in India noted that some of her articles were still "the only source material on birds of remote valleys and mountains in the state of Bihar". She also wrote a children's book, "Watching Birds", published by the National Book Trust in 1970, which is still in print as of 2024, and was translated into several regional languages of India. As well as her writings on birds, she gave talks on All India Radio about birds and other wildlife of Bihar, and advocated for nature reserves by writing letters to newspapers and presenting a report on vanishing Indian big game to the conference held by the International Union for the Protection of Nature held at Lake Success, New York in 1949. She also wrote short stories herself, and translated works by Kartar Singh Duggal from Punjabi into English. Her papers at the Archives at the National Centre for Biological Sciences indicate other draft writings in Urdu and English on a variety of topics, including archaeology and the intersection of nature and indigenous communities in the Chota Nagpur plateau, and a manuscript on birds of Bihar, with her own hand-drawn illustrations. Ara stopped writing in 1988, and died in 1995 aged 71.

Selected publications Ara, Jamal (1970). Watching Birds. National Book Trust, India. Periyasaamy_Thooran translated 'Watching Birds' into Tamil which has been nationalized. Ara, Jamal (1970). Paravaigalai Paar (PDF). National Book Trust, India.

References

External links Scientific papers published by Ara

Further reading Mani, Anita; Juggernaut Books (2023). Women in the wild : stories of India's most brilliant women wildlife biologists. New Delhi, India: Juggernaut Books. ISBN 978-93-5345-181-3. OCLC 1402226641.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Jamal Ara

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Jamal Ara claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Jamal Ara before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Jamal Ara ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Jamal Ara

In research: Jamal Ara appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Jamal Ara in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Jamal Ara is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1923 births, 1995 deaths, 20th-century women biologists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Jamal Ara outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Jamal Ara in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Jamal Ara means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Jamal Ara out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Jamal Ara in simple terms?

Why does Jamal Ara matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Jamal Ara?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Jamal Ara.