The Lalit Blog

The Hindu 30/07/2005 Staff Correspondent Is alleged to have links with Sansar Chand BHOPAL: In a major breakthrough, the Chhattarpur police on Friday arrested an alleged tiger skin smuggler who has reportedly confessed to his involvement in the smuggling at least five tiger skins and 30 leopard skins during the last few years. The Chhattarpur Superintendent of Police, Yogesh Chaudhary, told The Hindu that Mohammed Raees of Bandhni village was arrested on Friday. He had allegedly admitted to being engaged in the smuggling of wild animal skins for five to seven years and was also linked with the recently arrested international tiger skin smuggler Sansar Chand. The last tiger skin smuggled out of the area by him was sometime in the last quarter of 2004. Describing the modus operandi of the accused, Mr. Chaudhary said he used to procure tiger skins from poachers belonging to the Pardhi tribe by paying Rs. 50,000 for each skin. These were then packed and routed to Delhi and o

The Hindu 19/12/2004 By Lalit Shastri BHOPAL, DEC. 18. Poachers continue to strike at will in Madhya Pradesh and the latest case of poaching has been detected in Seoni district where the carcass of a tigress and her cub were found lying just outside the Pench National Park on Friday. When State Tiger Cell sources were contacted here, they told The Hindu that the tigress whose carcass was found outside the Pench National park on Friday had been poisoned two or three days ago. They said that the tigress and her cub had been skinned and their flesh had been left behind. One person belonging to the Pardi tribe had been rounded up for interrogation and further investigations were on. The latest tiger poaching incident is a pointer that the local contacts, who are mainly tribals carry out the real killings. They are in turn linked to international gangs having contacts in Nepal and China. During a short period in May-June this year, the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI)

The Hindu 21/12/2004 By Lalit Shastri BHOPAL, DEC. 20. The poaching menace has raised its ugly head inside the Pench National Park in Madhya Pradesh where the remains of a tiger, said to have been killed by poachers, were found on Sunday. This is the second poaching incident inside or in the vicinity of the Pench Tiger Reserve within a short span of just one week. In the earlier incident, a tigress and her cub were slaughtered by poachers. Their carcass was found lying just outside the Park area on Friday. The latest poaching incident surfaced following interrogation of Vijay Singh, a villager from Bichwa-Kurai. He was rounded up on December 17 after he was found having four tiger nails. On the basis of information provided by him, the remains of a tiger were found from a spot at Kurai Ghati overlooking the lush forested valley. This place is about five kilometres from Rukhad. The area is also being projected as Mowgli Land by the Madhya Pradesh Government to promote eco-tourism an

Lalit Shastri (The Hindu (New Delhi), 17 June 2007 ) Madhai is protected area and an excellent living forest on the backwaters of the Denwa River near Hoshangabad in Madhya Pradesh. It is part of the Satpura Tiger Reserve and the Pachmarhi Wildlife Sanctuary. It is also in the vicinity of the Bori Sanctuary, which was declared the first Reserve Forest by the British in 1861. Madhai is located at the foothills with the Satpura range forming a perfect backdrop. One has to leave the Bhopal-Pachmarhi highway just before Sohagpur and take a sharp bend to drive 17 km through agricultural fields and scattered villages before coming face to face with the endless serenity of Madhai that unfolds itself across the blue waters of the Denwa. A motorboat ride and one is soon on a hillock where the Forest Department has set up its small infrastructure to manage this area. Just behind the forest guesthouse one could spot a herd of chinkara roaming freely on Thursday evening. Not far away as one drove

The Hindu Sunday, Oct 15, 2006 Lalit Shastri MORENA (M.P.): A 15-km stretch of sandy bank under the Chambal bridge on National Highway 3 connecting Madhya Pradesh with Rajasthan has remained an ideal breeding ground for the now endangered Gharial for millions of years, but now this endangered species that lays eggs in sand faces the threat of extinction due to biotic pressure and reckless illegal mining of sand. Driving on NH-3 from Morena as one comes closer to the Chambal bridge one finds that vast agricultural fields on both sides of the highway have been converted into a dumping ground for sand to be transported by trucks to far-off places in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, besides catering to demand nearer home. What comes as a major surprise here is that the picturesque Bhanpur Rest House overlooking the Chambal river has been taken over completely by the sand mining mafia and there goes on a never ending movement of tractor trolleys to dump the illegally mined sand within the S

The Hindu Saturday, Aug 14, 2004 By Lalit Shastri BHOPAL, AUG. 13. Even as the problem of encroachment continues to threaten the forests in Madhya Pradesh, the State Government claims that the mandatory requirement of compensatory afforestation has been fulfilled and the forest encroachments across the State prior to 1980 can be regularised immediately after receiving appropriate directions from the Supreme Court. The Government claim vis-à-vis afforestation notwithstanding, State Forest Department sources point out that the funds that were earmarked for afforestation were diverted to village level forest committees and only a thorough probe would establish whether the State Government's claims were justified. The Union Government had cleared the State Government's proposals for regularizing forest encroachments prior to 1980. It had also issued an order on February 4, 2004, approving the settlement of traditional rights of the forest dwellers over forest land and produce. T

Lalit Shastri (The Hindu (New Delhi), 30 Dec. 2006) Poachers continue to pose a serious threat to the survival of tigers in Madhya Pradesh. Two of them were arrested on December 19 and tiger skins were seized from them. A gun was also recovered. They were active in the Hoshangbad forests and used Jabalpur as a transit point. Earlier this month, a tiger was rescued after tourists informed the staff of the Kanha National Park that they spotted the animal in Mukki range with one of its claws caught in a crude clamp. The forest personnel tranquillised the tiger and rescued it. Tribals from the villages falling in the buffer zone along the Balaghat-Mandla border could have laid the trap, officials said. Besides the problem of poaching, the Park also faces immense biotic pressure. K. Nayak, field director, Kanha Tiger Reserve, told The Hindu that there were 18 forest villages inside the Park. Three villages were part of the habitat of the endangered Barasingha, a rare species of deer found

Lalit Shastri (The Hindu (New Delhi), 30 Dec. 2006) Poachers continue to pose a serious threat to the survival of tigers in Madhya Pradesh. Two of them were arrested on December 19 and tiger skins were seized from them. A gun was also recovered. They were active in the Hoshangbad forests and used Jabalpur as a transit point. Earlier this month, a tiger was rescued after tourists informed the staff of the Kanha National Park that they spotted the animal in Mukki range with one of its claws caught in a crude clamp. The forest personnel tranquillised the tiger and rescued it. Tribals from the villages falling in the buffer zone along the Balaghat-Mandla border could have laid the trap, officials said. Besides the problem of poaching, the Park also faces immense biotic pressure. K. Nayak, field director, Kanha Tiger Reserve, told The Hindu that there were 18 forest villages inside the Park. Three villages were part of the habitat of the endangered Barasingha, a rare species of deer found o

From the CREW archive Toxics Link’s Environment & Health Public Lecture Series Tuesday, June 24, 2008, 3:08 Toxics Link, in collaoration with the India International Center, invites concerned citizens to a Pubilc Lecture on “Gharial—on the verge of extinction?” The reason behind the death of more than 100 gharials in the National Chambal Sanctuary is yet to be traced. Gharial is threatened by human pressure and is fighting a battle for survival today. It is threatened by shrinking pray-base, illegal sand mining, river – bed cultivation, fishing and river pollution. The gharial also gets killed by fishermen and turtle hunters. The documentary is a telling commentary on the status of the special crocodilian - the endangered Gharial. It showcases the natural grandeur of the Chambal River that has remained a perfect habitat for Gharials over millions of years. It is also home for smooth coatedotters, gangetic dolphins and few rare species of turtles. A 400 kilometer stretch of the Ch

A CREW Report It was on the midnight of December 2 and 3, 1984 when tons of deadly poisonous gas had leaked into the air from the Union Carbide's pesticide plant in Bhopal-the Central Indian State of Madhya Pradesh-killing thousands of citizens and exposing hundreds of thousand others to toxic gas. Even 26 years after the disaster, the gas victims continue to visit various city hospitals for treatment of their chronic health problems and those residing near the abandoned plant continue to be poisoned every day as the soil inside the plant area, especially its northern and north-eastern side, remains contaminated

A CREW report People in developing countries like India , Pakistan and Bangladesh still continue to burn their waste at home. Even the civic authorities have not built an environment friendly garbage disposal system in most cities across the Asian sub-continent. The garbage pick up vans visit the neighborhoods at prolonged intervals and instead of taking away the garbage for disposal elsewhere only end up as mobile incinerators as the garbage is set on fire at the neighborhood garbage collection site itself. People burn waste on their own premises. What they burn includes paper, cardboard, textiles, food, garden clippings, synthetics like plastic, glass, metal and chemicals. The ‘backyard burning’ could be a cheap method of managing or disposing off waste. While doing this people do not realize that all uncontrolled low temperature burning of waste releases toxic pollutants directly into the air. Latest research has already established that burning of municipal waste at low temp

Lalit Shastri The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance Government of India was determined and got the Scheduled Tribes (Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill cleared in Parliament in order to recognize and vest the forest rights and occupation in forest land to the Scheduled Tribes residing in forest areas ignoring strong objections that were raised by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF)at the outset. The Union Cabinet Secretary had called a meeting of the Committee of Secretaries on April 28, 2005 to consider the “tentative Scheduled Tribes (Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill 2005” that had already been finalised by the Ministry of Law and Justice and the list of invitees for attending this meeting read as follows: Secretary Ministry of Environment and Forests, Prodipto Ghosh, Secretary Ministry of Law and Justice (Department of Legal Affairs), R.L. Meena, and Secretary Ministry of Law and Justice (Legislative Department), T.K. Vishwanathan. A secret note pr

The Asian Age Hunters now turn entrepreneurs Sep 01, 2010 - LALIT SHASTRI | Bhopal Nasipur is a small hamlet of about 20 households, belonging to the Pardhi tribe in the Ratapani sanctuary near Bhopal and close to Bhimbetaka, the world heritage site famous for the prehistoric rock paintings. Forest sub-division officer Ramakant Dixit told this newspaper that Ratapani is the only protected area in the country, which is not a national park but has an estimated tiger population of eight adults and five cubs. When this correspondent visited Nasipur village on Monday, the villagers, who were all Pardhis, were excited and happy about a revolving loan of `10, 000 given to each Pardhi family through the initiative of the forest department. This help was aimed at motivating them to completely give up their traditional poaching activity and pursue other vocations for subsistence. The Pardhis, found in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, have inherited the art of hunting and are well trained in trap

The Asian Age A protected forest is still on lease to a private society Sep 18, 2010 - LALIT SHASTRI | Bhopal Contrary to the provisions of the Forest Conservation Act, a private registered society continues to hold a 99-year-lease for the Rajabarari Estate in Madhya Pradesh stretching over thousands of acres of lush teak forest already notified as a Protected Forest by the state government. Inquiries have revealed that the state forest department spends budgeted money on felling trees under the “Working Plan” in this Protected Area and huge revenue generated from the forestry activity goes to the lease holder of Rajabarari Estate forest. The Protected Area in question falls under the Harda Forest Division and is situated on the northern slopes of Satpura hill ranges. The Geological strata of this forest area falls under the Deccan Trap and yields loamy soil, which is extremely suitable for growth of teak forests. Under the working Plan of the State forest department, 1784 hectares of

The Asian Age Storm over diamond mining in Panna belt Nov 03, 2010 - LALIT SHASTRI | Bhopal Environmentalists and conservationists are raising serious objections about the Madhya Pradesh government giving full support to global diamond giant Rio Tinto’s Indian subsidiary planning commercial mining of diamonds in an eco-sensitive zone close to the Panna tiger reserve. Tiger expert Valmik Thapar, asked about Rio Tinto’s Bunder diamond project in Chhatarpur district, a few kilometers from the Panna reserve’s western border, said: “It’s an example of a completely dysfunctional system of government from top to bottom.” He said that if Panna were to recover (the loss of all its tigers), it would need at least another 10 years of complete protection of surrounding forests and (their) connecting corridors. Asked about Rio Tinto’s plan to start commercial diamond mining in an area which is also the watershed for the Panna reserve and the Shyamri river, considered one of the cleanest in the cou

The Asian Age MP to cull bulls, boars to save crops Mar 17, 2011 - LALIT SHASTRI | Age Correspondent | Bhopal In order to mitigate the problem of crop damage due to the over abundant population of Nilgai antelopes (blue bulls) and wild boars, the Madhya Pradesh government has decided to allow the farmers to shoot down these animals. Madhya Pradesh forest minister Sartaj Singh informed the state Assembly about the decision to allow the culling of blue bulls and wild boars during the discussion on his department’s budgetary demands. When contacted, the officiating Leader of Opposition Choudhary Rakesh Singh Chaturvedi said he supports the decision to allow the hunting of wild animals that have become a menace for standing crops. While pointing out that it is a step in the right direction and will serve the farmers’ interests, he also added a word of caution saying that there should be strict enforcement and monitoring by the concerned authorities to ensure nobody misuses the permission

Lalit Shastri Courtesy People’s Post (June 28, 2009) Wildlife experts and researchers, who have been voicing concern over last several years over the missing Tigers of Panna are now convinced about the ground reality and have accepted the fact that the last of these magnificent Tigers have been annihilated either by poachers or excessive biotic pressure. Despite grave warnings, the Madhya Pradesh Forest department and its officials manning the Wildlife Management wing, found no alarming signs in Panna and failed to act in time. When the situation started getting out of hand at the beginning of 2009, they scurried into action and relocated two female tigers, one each from Bandhavgarh and Kanha, to Panna. Realizing that even male tigers were missing from this habitat, the Forest Department has initiated steps to even relocate a male tiger to this territory. It was in May 2007 that the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and the Tiger Conservation Authority had jointly revealed