Where are the people?
I begin by expressing grave concern about the fact that the government and the bureaucracy, especially the forest department, have been so secretive about introducing the Amendment Bill to the Wildlife Protection Act 1972. It is sad, indeed, that the government did not think it fit or essential to circulate the papers, even to concerned parties, before they were placed before parliament.
At a time when the issue of forests and wildlife is a globally sensitive one, our policymakers, lawmakers, and members of parliament and legislative assemblies display blissful ignorance about forest issues. The forest department, for its part, clings hopelessly to a colonial heritage: secretiveness and a hostile attitude towards forest dwellers.
The Amendment Bill does not distance itself from this attitude towards forest dwellers. I have been working with the tribal people of Bhimashankar in Pune district, Maharashtra, even before the area was declared a sanctuary in 1985. I have stayed and worked with them, and studied their lifestyle. They follow a low expenditure lifestyle, which enables them to conserve the ecosystem even as they use it as a sustenance support system.
There are, for example, a number of
Related Content
- First food: business of taste
- Scaling up anticipatory actions for food security: anticipatory action year in focus 2023
- State of world population 2024: interwoven lives, threads of hope- ending inequalities in sexual and reproductive health and rights
- Order of the National Green Tribunal regarding encroachment and deforestation of Senchal Wildlife Sanctuary, 10/04/2024
- World energy issues monitor 2024
- Behavior change in solid waste management: a compendium of cases