On November 6, 2009 the Madras High Court asked the Tamil Nadu forest department to submit a detailed map demarcating elephant corridors in the Niligiri mountains for conservation. The directions were given while ordering a ban on new constructions in the forest corridors used by about 1,000 elephants.
THE Union environment ministry has adopted an unusual conservation strategy to save the dwindling population of edible-nest swiftlets (Aerodramus fuciphagus) in the Andamans. It has taken them off the Schedule-I list of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, which accords the highest protection to a species. The nests of these swiftlets are made of hardened saliva and are taken away
Maharashtra is the first to recognize their rights over forests two villages in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra have become the first in the country to win community rights over forests under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006. On August 15, Ramesh Bang, the state food and civil supplies minister, said the claims of Mendha
A bill to create a green tribunal was tabled in the Lok Sabha on July 31. Will it ease the burden of courts like the government claims? Lawyers and activists Sumana Narayanan spoke to believe the bill in its present form will centralize legal recourse to environmental matters Sanjay Parikh, Advocate, Delhi The bill talks of the tribunal dealing with
Vedanta and POSCO may find going tough in Orissa in a move likely to benefit tribal people and forest communities, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (moef) has made the law tougher for industries and government agencies that want to divert forestland for industrial and infrastructure projects. On August 4, the ministry issued an advisory to all the states saying such projects
When it was found there were no tigers in the Panna Tiger Reserve, P K Sen was called to join the government special investigation team. Former head of Project Tiger, he told Sumana Narayanan the department
Rs 11,000 crore to go to states for afforestation THE Supreme Court has ordered that Rs 11,000 crore, collected for diversion of forestland for non-forest uses, be released to state governments. States in India have long fought the Centre to recover the money they gave to the compensatory afforestation fund. Collected over seven years, the money has been lying idle because the states
Feed malnutrition with policy India has eight million malnourished children. Yet the country has no policy on what food should be given to treat malnutrition. Lack of policy has led international development agencies to adopt varied approaches like giving highly nutritious ready-to-use food. Such measures have often led to confusion and stand-offs with the government. unicef, for example,
