Idling under the Neem Tree

  Not conserving the Western Ghats – a Biodiversity Hotspot is unwise, to say the least By Malini Shankar Digital Discourse In rejecting the Kasturirangan Committee’s recommendations to notify the (Karnataka stretch) of the Western Ghats – a Biodiversity Hotspot – as Eco Sensitive Area, the Karnataka Government has erred, to say the very least. Albeit the Karnataka government seeking a one-year time frame / gap to notify the Western Ghats – as an Eco Sensitive Area, it reeks of ad-hocism, because the political leadership seems unwilling to compromise the interests of livelihoods of people. In doing so the government is compromising on critical conservation of life forms and resources – the very resource that they need to survive. The pressure of development – power stations, mining, dams, highways, industries, plantations, schools and colleges all find real estate only in these fragile forests. SC AIR 302 / 95 a Mandamus Continuum –that is also referred to as Godhavarman v...

  CITES laws are more practised in the breach, in India # UNCBD COP 17 Curtain raiser By Malini Shankar Digital Discourse The discovery and rescue of abandoned trafficked Orangutans from presumably Borneo / Malaysia or Indonesia made great news headlines last week. News anchors were screaming that they were trafficked from thousands of kilometres away from East Asia. That itself made amusing news because they so called anchors obviously did not know where exactly Orangutans hail from, and the news anchors most definitely did not know how many ‘thousands’ of kilometres the startled disoriented baby Orangs may have travelled from in suffocating conditions. Orangutans in Asia correspond to Grey and Silverback Gorillas of Africa. The term Orangutan in Bahasa roughly translates to native ape ‘of Asia’. Not just such charismatic mammals as Orangutans but elephants, tigers, leopards, snow leopards, birds like peacocks, cockatoos, Bears of all varieties, Spotted Deer, Macaws, sta...

                                        Why is Lalbagh Botanical Gardens so significant? By Malini Shankar Digital Discourse Lalbagh Botanical Gardens in Bangalore is under threat of a promise of development. Regressive technology that endangers all life forms indeed in this sacred garden. A tunnel project that seeks to shorten the travel time from north Bangalore to the Electronics City in South Bangalore; it was sought by the government of Karnataka to acquire and destroy a portion of Lalbagh.   Lalbagh Botanical Gardens is a precious 240 acres (97.12 hectares) lung space in the heart of Bangalore, epitomising beloved Bangalore’s sub montane salubrious weather all year round. Lalbagh has cultural significance to many, historical and archaeological significance, geographical and geological significance, Climate Science significance, ecological and botanic...

  The precious biological and faunal heritage of Lalbagh Botanical Gardens By Malini Shankar Digital Discourse A bill to legalise denotification of Lalbagh Botanical Gardens has been passed by the Karnataka Legislative Assembly without debate or discussion. It was introduced in the house on Friday evening and passed early Monday morning, without discussion or debate. That is a sham and an eyewash, shamefully so - for a party in power that prides itself on its legal luminosity, on having proudly inherited the mantle of governance after getting the British Flag down thanks to the sheer tenacity of Gandhiji’s Satyagraha and Ahimsa based civil disobedience. It bespeaks of future generations not knowing the value of protest. If a Botanical Garden created courtesy CITES can be denotified just before an upcoming UNCBD COP 17 what can be said of the power of Biodiversity Legislation? Obviously it lacks political sincerity and commitment, and is completely bereft of ecological aware...