Counter affidavit by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) in the matter of Pradeep Singh Shekhawat Vs State of Assam & Others dated 30/01/2025. The application complained about the illegal constructions, including the illegal construction of road to Bhuban Hill, within the Barak Bhuban Wildlife Sanctuary located …
Orissa first drafted a comprehensive rehabilitation policy back in 1994, but that was never enacted. Currently, the state draws up R&R; policies on industry-specific basis. Another UNDP/DFID aided draft was presented to the state revenue department on 8 July 2005. After sitting on the draft since last year, the state …
In many countries, wildlife tourism is an important revenue source for conservation; it plays a crucial role in raising awareness on conservation issues and is also an
As disturbed forests increase in protected areas in the tropics there is a clear need to assess their conservation values through studies of their vegetation and animal communities. However, Thai protected area managers lack data on how ecosystems respond after human disturbances. It was therefore the aim of this research …
Secondary succession in tropical areas following recent human disturbances is becoming more common. This is particularly evident in regions of tropical rainforests, long valued by conservationists for their remarkable species diversity. In Southeast Asia, as in the neotropics, central Africa and South Asia, tropical forests have been logged for timber, …
after years of peril in the waters of Chilika, the prized Irrawady dolphins have finally found a home of their own. India's largest brackish water lake will now have a dedicated sanctuary at Satapada for the Irrawady dolphins. Chief minister Naveen Patnaik took this decision at a meeting of the …
what is more important, producing clean energy or protecting an area's ecosystem? The choice has to be made in Karnataka in a case instantiating the complexities of sustainable development. A local court in Chikmagalur district recently granted a stay on a 93 megawatt (mw) windfarm project at Bababudangiri Hills on …
Sariska’s ‘missing’ tigers have started off a flurry of activity and debate. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh set up a Tiger Task Force; Rajasthan’s chief wildlife warden was suspended, and the Ministry of Environment and Forests (moef) has begun contemplating a Wildlife Crime Bureau. Justifiably, conservationists are up in arms; Sariska …
Forest officials at the Melghat tiger reserve (mtr) have a strange predicament: the management plan of this 1,676.93 square kilometre (sq km) reserve in Maharashtra’s Amravati district cannot be executed, even though the state’s chief wildlife warden gave it his assent way back in November 2003. The plan waxes eloquent …
In 1985, 1,315.65 sq km of the mtr was notified as a sanctuary and people in the 61 villages within this protected area lost all their traditional rights over forests. After the 1994 mua notification, 22 villages were left within the sanctuary. In 2001-2002, three of them
The people of Dobjhirna village, barely 5 kilometres (km) from the town of Semri in Madhya Pradesh's Hoshangabad district are furious. Not without reason. The land they have tilled for 15 years is to be taken away from them to relocate people from another village, Dhai, which lies in the …
Once the site of a famous victory of the Gallo tribe over the British, Gerukhamukh village today is the address of the biggest dam ever conceived in India. On the banks of river Sipai in Arunachal Pradesh's (ap ) West Siang district, the village is host to the Subansiri Lower …
"What shall we do if all our protests fail?' asks C Madegowda, a leader of the Soliga tribe from district Chamrajnagar, Karnataka. "We shall protest yet again,' responds B Jadegowda, president of Zilla Budakattu Girijana Abhivradhi Sangh, Chamrajnagar
the Deputy Conservator of Forest (dcf) of Mysore's Hunsur Wildlife Division, A M Annaiah, has been held responsible "for causing loss to the public exchequer to the tune of Rs 6.14 crore'. The Karnataka Lokayukta, Justice N Venkatachala, has recommended disciplinary action against him. Even as environmentalists point out they …
the period between 1999 and 2003 has seen a sudden spurt in the diversion of forestland for non-forestry purposes. A recent collation of data of the Union ministry of environment and forests (moef) spotlights this retrogressive pattern. The Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led coalition has also held the reins of power at …
function opentab() { var popurl="image/20031130/25-table.jpg" winpops=window.open(popurl,"","width=500,height=500,scrollbars=yes") } some amphibian species are fast disappearing from Assam, according to a recent study. Around half of the species studied showed a decrease of more than 50 per cent in their population density. Observations were made over a five-year period (1998-2002) in Garbhanga reserve …
The Central Empowered Committee (CEC) has stayed the granting of lease to the J K Industries-owned Central Pulp Mill to extract bamboo from Shoolpaneshwar Sanctuary in Bharuch district of Gujarat. The CEC was responding to an application filed by ARCH, a Gujarat-based non-governmental organisation. The lease violated the Supreme Court …
How can one conserve a wildlife sanctuary better? By flagrantly trespassing on one part of it. Then picking up the tab for planting trees on another in recompense. This is precisely the logic underlying a petition filed by Essar Oil Limited in the Supreme Court (sc). The case, scheduled to …
Why are we, as a nation, so non-serious about following through on actions? Is it the curse of a foreign language in which we act, but not think, that we pick up words and so believe the deed, too, is done? Take any major challenge that has confronted decision-making in …
april 2003 saw two diverse regions in India take a similar decision. Both partially opened the door to tourism in hitherto protected belts. One is a high altitude state; the other
