Great Indian Wildlife Sale Festival

[Pawan Ranta]

In a meeting held on August 2021, the Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife, chaired by the Union environment minister, Bhupender Yadav, took a decision to levy 2 per cent of the proportionate cost of projects falling inside protected areas and eco-sensitive zones on user agencies, thereby legitimizing infrastructure and development inside a national park or wildlife sanctuary. You could, for instance, have a six-lane highway tear through, say, Ranthambore National Park as long as you coughed up ‘compensation’ for the fact that a pristine forest would be destroyed and fragmented and wild animals — from tigers to bears to snakes — killed by speeding vehicles.

https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/national-board-for-wildlife-great-indian-sale-of-its-wilderness/cid/1831810

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Since 2014, the National Board for Wildlife has been blatantly approving all projects. They simply don't care about conservation of wildlife sanctuaries and protected areas. The NBWL is packed with yes men and women. They are either retired forest officers from Gujarat cadre or unscrupulous scientists who are ready to do as officially directed. MoEF&CC has simply become a clearing house for projects. Given the massive majority that this Government has in Loksabha and the disastrous state of opposition parties, India is witnessing an unprecedented assault on its wilderness areas and wildlife which continues unchecked. History will not be kind to us - the present generation of Indians who are mute and helpless spectators to this decimation of our natural heritage.

[Pawan Ranta]

Unfortunately, no TV news channels are covering this issue.