Campaigns

December 2009: Within one km. of the Valmiki Tiger Reserve a massive sand-mining operation is underway and thanks to political support, the perpetrators are able to get away with the removal of even rocks and boulders from the inside of the reserve. A Hindustan Times  report filed by Reena Sopam on November 11, 2009 from Patna states:"Only recently 19 sand-laden tractors…

December 2009: The Gundia Hydro Electric Project (GHEP) proposed by the Karnataka Power Corporation Limited (KPCL) is sited amidst the serene and ecologically fragile Western Ghats. If the project is built, it will destroy this vital landscape. The Western Ghats are a biodiversity hotspot – Gundia is one of only three known locations in Karantaka where the Travancore Flying Squirrel…

October 2009: The sal dappled glades of the Corbett Tiger Reserve and the evergreen forests of the Upper Dehing Reserved Forests are a perfect example of how India can use her forests to fight climate change. The healthy biodiversity and connectivity of these forests to nearby landscapes make them ideal carbon sinks.Yet,government officials remain…

August 2009: In yet another show of constitutional disrespect, NHPC Ltd.(earlier National Hydroelectric Power Corporation) and the Arunachal Pradesh State Govt. are again subverting environmental norms. In the belief that massive dams are the only option for the Northeast, NHPC has been pushing for the clearance of the 288 m.high, 3,000 MW Dibang Multipurpose Hydroelectric Project in…

June 2009: In its proffered quest to ‘connect’ India to the 21^st century, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) continues to bulldoze through forested areas, unconcerned of the havoc it is wreaking on the country’s natural ecosystems.  It refuses to understand that the proposed expansion of National Highway 7 connecting Nagpur to Jabalpur from a two-lane to…

April 2009: On March 23, 2009, a tiger fell to a volley of bullets on the fringes of Kaziranga. He had killed one person, a lack of coordination between the Forest Department and the local administration coupled with a frenzied mob led to the indiscriminate firing by police and yet another tragedy. On February 24, 2009, a young tigress that had strayed out of the forests of Pilibhit…

February 2009: The myopia of Indian decision makers is once more on display thanks to a decision to sacrifice the ecological integrity of Mudumalai, one of India’s finest tiger habitats to construct the Neutrino Observatory Project. The Sigur Plateau lies in the buffer zone of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve and is well connected to the Moyar Valley in the east, which in turn provides…

December 2008: History will judge India’s Central Government, the Orissa State Government and the Ministry of Environment and Forests harshly. In their haste to curry favour with Foreign Direct Investors and powerful people, they have turned into rubber stamps for the destruction of India.

February 2008: Most of our Protected Areas are being islanded, with their connecting corridors to other forested areas literally torn asunder. In the forests extending from the Palghat Gap, south to the Agasthyamalai Hills (called the southern Western Ghats landscape), over 4,000 elephants, a viable tiger population and a number of other endangered species continue, to survive, tenuously. …

August 2008: India’s coastline, stretching across 5,700 km., supports the livelihoods of millions every single day.  In the past, protection measures in the form of the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Rules, 1991 have helped prevent the wanton destruction of our marine breeding nurseries to a certain extent.