Wild Abandon

India’s environmental future might be at stake as the NDA government clears development projects in a flurry, endangering wildlife and forests

- Uday Mahurkar

The tussle between environmental priorities and the development agenda has been a perennial feature of Indian governance. As early as the 4th century BC, Chandragupta Maurya and Kautilya (Chanakya) were concerned about wildlife conservation. They had formulated laws to deal with those inflicting cruelty on animals and were focused on the protection of elephants as well. Over the centuries though, the fulcrum has turned, and today, some of these crucial lessons on environment and wildlife conservation have been shelved as we make room for development at the cost of environment.

In recent years, governmental clearance for development projects, particularly those viewed by conservationists as compromising wildlife or the environment, has invariably been a contentious issue, no matter which party is in power. The former United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government was accused of sitting on development projects and giving sanctions in an ad hoc manner. Now, the Union environment ministry of the Narendra Modi government is being charged by a section of environmentalists with going over the top with clearances. Linear development projects, they say, are being flagged off at an alarming speed—particularly dams, roads, railway lines, pipelines and telecommunication networks through the country’s national parks, sanctuaries and critical corridors linking wildlife reserves.