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| Wildlife protection in J&K | | | KK Pangotra | 2/18/2012 11:20:15 PM |
| In the second meeting of State Board for Wild
life (SBWL), Omar Abdullah, Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir, on Feb. 3, 2012, was telling that while advancing towards development, it should be kept in mind that forest, environment, wild animals and herbs must not be damaged any more. These are the identity of the state. Being chairperson of the Board and increasing global importance of Wildlife protection and conservation his statement points out two things. First, due to establishment of a state level board for wild life there grows a hope for minimising the loss continued for the last many years. And second, the incidents of conflict, interest and controversy between men and animals would lessen. Since the relation of this remote northern state with greenery and wildlife is closely united as the body and the skirt, so keeping this relation in mind, it is a matter of satisfaction that under the chairmanship of Chief Minister a monitoring board has been appointed. And at the same time it gave a start to the awareness programmes. The term 'Wildlife' include the animals not domesticated and the plants which are not cultivated. Conservation of wildlife is the protection of entire ecosystem including land, water, air and the entire range of plants and animal life. But the awareness in corrupt state like J&K, in the present era of material capital gains, too seems out of reach. To face the increasing calamity on water, forests, land and air the government of India established Wildlife (Protection) Act on 9th of September, 1972. As the challenge was serious and wide, so it was amended in 1992 with legal measures for the protection of wild animals. Under this amended act, several Conservation Projects have been started for specific endangered animals e.g. Lion Project of 1972; Tiger Project of 1973; Crocodile Breeding Project of 1974 and some others. In Jammu and Kashmir a dire need to establish a regulatory and advisory board was being felt but in this regard J&K remained on the back foot. No doubt, mostly on the lines of wildlife protection act 1972, an act in 1978 was passed in the state but it could not meet the needs to protect the wildlife in J&K as the act was being regularly underestimated. Till 2002, the state government amended the 1978 act but no responsible monitoring board was established to fulfil the demand of environmentalists and the activists. Off the record, it may be construed as an indirect act to offer gains to the forest gangs. Since the state has its separate constitution and consequently power to enact special regulations, so it is equally strange that to protect and conserve wildlife no effective rules were enacted and no autonomous board established to meet the years long demand of the environmental activists.
How careless was the state government and its board of school education regarding awareness of wildlife? Here is a mention. Keeping in view the decreasing number of Tigers (Panthora), the govt. of India in 1973 started Project Tiger to save this endangered animal and declared Tiger as national animal. But how careless it was on the part of state board of school education that in a text book for primary level the children continued learning Lion as national animal unto 2010. The apex of carelessness also lies in the fact that when rest of country prohibited the trade and hunting of endangered species of wild animals, J&K remained mum. Till 2008, the state govt. could not establish a SBW but till then the environmental activists direly felt the need of an effective SBW. Yes, a preliminary board headed by minister in charge of forest and wildlife was established in 2006. However, the administrative department objected to it and decided to have the Chief Minister as the chairperson. Due to this confusion no meeting for years could be held according to a report published on May 6, 2008, in 'Rising Kashmir'. The report also shows that the then Chief Secretary to the Government was also ignorant about the formation of such board. Referring the statement of the then CS to Government the report quotes- "I cannot say anything with respect to establishing to this board till I check my file." To quote Nadeem Qudri, an environmental activist, "the state board of Wildlife was supposed to act as a monitoring cell to check the activities with respect to wildlife issues, developmental issues and also to formulate the rights and regulations of the wildlife preservation act that even focused on illegal poaching of animals." Undoubtedly, with the establishment of the state wildlife protection act-1978 on the model of Wildlife Act 1972 and its enactment on Jan. 10, 1979, the responsibility of forest and wildlife department increased but expected cannot be achieved with speedy manner. The only reason was lesser concerns shown by those who were at the helm of affairs. That is why the environmental activists exhorted the state government to establish an accountable and responsible board having Chief Minister as its head and condemned the 'lackadaisical attitude' of the government. But now there is a board for wildlife having Chief Minister as chairman. The Chief Minister has recently addressed and chaired the second meet of the board. Keeping in view the increasing danger of survival on wild animals and greenery, it is being hoped that in future the challenges regarding the issue would be adhered to and enforced seriously. The most important is too aware the masses towards the values of conservation of forests and wildlife protection. |
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