National Green Tribunal asks Gujarat government not to allow destruction of mangroves without its nod

Dead mangroves at Hazira port

By Our Representative
In what is being described by the Conservation Action Trust (CAT), a non-government organisation, as a "landmark judgment", the National Green Tribunal (West Zone) has, in an order dated December 9, 2013, barred the Gujarat government to allow destruction of mangroves in any part of the state without the prior approval of the tribunal. The tribunal order came in response to the CAT’s application No 35 before it to prevent unprecedented mangroves destruction it found was being carried out in Gujarat in name of industrial development.
CAT is a non-profit organization formed to protect the environment, particularly wildlife and forests with a key focus on mangroves, and its main purpose is to educate and enlighten decision makers and the public about the importance of forests for our survival. Based in Mumbai, one of the major thrust areas is advocating the role of forests in protecting water security of the country while simultaneously acting as major carbon sinks thus mitigating the effects of climate change.

Kandla port: Reclamation on dead mangroves

Working closely with forest departments and other NGOs that are fighting to protect nature and natural resources, among its campaigns include actively protecting the mangroves in and around Mumbai. CAT statement said, “During our site visit in July 2013 we observed rampant destruction of mangroves at three locations that were visited by us – Navlakhi, Tuna Bandar and Hazira Port.”
CAT said, “We complained about the destruction of mangroves to the Forest Department and Environment Department of the State of Gujarat. We also wrote to the chief minister of Gujarat regarding destruction of mangroves. However, no action was taken to stop the destruction of mangroves and the illegal reclamation.”
CAT underlined, “We also discovered that the district collector of Rajkot has granted 5,000 acres of forest land covered with mangroves to a private individual for salt panning. This land harbours mangroves and is part of the area which has been declared as reserved forest by a Notification dated May 19, 1966. No clearances were obtained either under the Forest Conservation Act 1980 or under the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification, 1991.”

Destroyed mangroves near Navlakhi port

CAT added, “Following our complaint to the Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF), Government of India, a site visit was organised by the regional office of MoEF at Bhopal on August 13, 2013. A team comprising of SK Bhandari (chief conservator of forests, MoEF Bhopal) and Dr Mehrotra (director, MoEF, Bhopal) conducted a site visit, along with officers of the Gujarat forest department, the Gujarat Pollution Control Board and the Gujarat Maritime Board. We obtained the site visit report under RTI which clearly mentions destruction of mangroves at Navlakhi.”
Following this, CAT said, it conducted “another site visit in August 2013”. This time too it observed “rampant destruction of mangroves around the Kandla Port and the area in between Kandla Port and the Tuna Bandar. We filed a complaint regarding this to the forest department of Gujarat. No action was taken by the Gujarat government to stop this destruction.”

Comments

India’s climate tech ecosystem in dire need of both early, growth-stage funding: Report

By Our Representative India’s climate tech ecosystem, which boasts over 800 startups, is in dire need of both early and growth-stage funding to leverage its full potential, according to a report by Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (Ventures) and MUFG Bank , Japan. Despite a robust initial funding landscape, with approximately two-thirds of climate tech startups receiving seed capital, growth-stage investments remain critically lacking.

'Flawed' argument: Gandhi had minimal role, naval mutinies alone led to Independence

Counterview Desk Reacting to a Counterview story , "Rewiring history? Bose, not Gandhi, was real Father of Nation: British PM Attlee 'cited'" (January 26, 2016), an avid reader has forwarded reaction in the form of a link , which carries the article "Did Atlee say Gandhi had minimal role in Independence? #FactCheck", published in the site satyagrahis.in. The satyagraha.in article seeks to debunk the view, reported in the Counterview story, taken by retired army officer GD Bakshi in his book, “Bose: An Indian Samurai”, which claims that Gandhiji had a minimal role to play in India's freedom struggle, and that it was Netaji who played the crucial role. We reproduce the satyagraha.in article here. Text: Nowadays it is said by many MK Gandhi critics that Clement Atlee made a statement in which he said Gandhi has ‘minimal’ role in India's independence and gave credit to naval mutinies and with this statement, they concluded the whole freedom struggle.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah* The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual.

UNEP report on how climate crisis is impacting displacement, global conflicts, declining health

By Shankar Sharma* A recent report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), titled "A Global Foresight Report on Planetary Health and Human Wellbeing," warrants urgent attention from our country’s developmental perspective. The findings, detailed in the report, should be a source of significant concern not only globally but especially for our nation, which has a vast population and limited natural resources.

Industries fueling climate crisis draining public funds in Global South: ActionAid

By Our Representative A new ActionAid report has exposed the alarming financial drain on the Global South, as climate-wrecking industries like fossil fuels and industrial agriculture receive over US$600 billion annually in public subsidies. The report, "How the Finance Flows: Corporate Capture of Public Finance Fuelling the Climate Crisis in the Global South", reveals that an average of US$677 billion in public finance is directed toward climate-destructive sectors each year, depriving crucial social sectors such as education.

75 years of revolution: How China moved away from ideals of struggle for human liberation

By Harsh Thakor* On October 1st, we celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Chinese Revolution, a pivotal moment in the struggle for human liberation. From 1949 to 1976, China achieved remarkable social equality and revolutionary democracy, outpacing other developing nations in literacy, health care, agricultural output, and industrial production.

Will Bangladesh go Egypt way, where military ruler is in power for a decade?

By Vijay Prashad* The day after former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina left Dhaka, I was on the phone with a friend who had spent some time on the streets that day. He told me about the atmosphere in Dhaka, how people with little previous political experience had joined in the large protests alongside the students—who seemed to be leading the agitation. I asked him about the political infrastructure of the students and about their political orientation. He said that the protests seemed well-organized and that the students had escalated their demands from an end to certain quotas for government jobs to an end to the government of Sheikh Hasina. Even hours before she left the country, it did not seem that this would be the outcome.

Overcoming extreme backwardness 75 yrs ago, China has 'risen to 2nd largest economy of the world'

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak* On October 1, 1949, the revolutionary people of China established the People’s Republic of China (PRC) under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) by defeating Western imperialism, Japanese colonialism, and Chinese feudal warlords who unleashed a ‘white terror’ on Chinese people, communists and revolutionaries.

Search This Blog