Hindustan Times: New Delhi: Saturday,
June 11, 2016.
The environment
ministry apparently approved proposals allowing hunting of animals without any
scientific study as required in its own advisory of December 2014, reveals
ministry’s Right To Information (RTI) replies.
Sources also
said the ministry did not pay heed to advice of its wildlife wing against
allowing hunting of animals and cleared proposals from as many as three states
for killing animals across districts for a year.
The advisory
was issued after several chief ministers and members of Parliament sought
permission to kill animals whose population was rising and leading to increase
in crop damage. It clearly asked the states to submit the proposals on such
animals on the basis of scientific study and expert opinion.
Documents
under RTI by Prevention of Cruelty to Animals showed that Bihar got approval
for killing of red bulls and wild boar on basis of a three-page letter written
by the state’s forest secretary Vivek Kumar Singh. The state submitted minutes
of the state wildlife board meeting headed by chief minister Nitish Kumar
clearing proposal for hunting and documents related to compensation given to
farmers for crop loss in the last few years.
The documents
assessed from other states such as Himachal and Uttarakhand also showed that
proposals without any backing of scientific study were approved.
The
environment ministry officials, however, insisted that proposals were approved
as per the provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act and after due diligence.
“Last year,
more than 500 people lost their lives in human-wildlife conflicts. There are
standard operating processes laid down in the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972.
Therefore, the Ministry has not given any permission to kill either deer,
peacock or elephant ,” said SK Khanduri, inspector general of the forest on
human-wildlife conflicts.
He said five
states submitted the proposal and three were approved. “The ministry examines
the proposal and allows scientific management in a specific area for a limited
time,” he added.
Women and
child development minister Maneka Gandhi had resisted his ministry’s decision
to allow bull fighting sport called Jallikattu in Tamil Nadu before the
recently concluded state assembly polls. The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals,
with whom Gandhi is associated, had got a stay from the Supreme Court.
Water
resources minister Uma Bharati had also opposed environment ministry’s bid to
allow hydro projects in upper reaches of Uttarakhand saying it would destroy
the national river and wrote a letter to him opposing the affidavit filed in
the Supreme Court by the green ministry.
Javadekar
has, however, refused to enter verbal duel with his cabinet colleagues and had
left the job of issuing clarification to his ministry officials.
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