Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 73
You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
deprecationWarning - CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311
Cake\Http\ServerRequest::offsetGet() - CORE/src/Http/ServerRequest.php, line 2421
App\Controller\ArtileDetailController::printArticle() - APP/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line 73
Cake\Controller\Controller::invokeAction() - CORE/src/Controller/Controller.php, line 610
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 120
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 94
Cake\Http\BaseApplication::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/BaseApplication.php, line 235
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/RoutingMiddleware.php, line 162
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/AssetMiddleware.php, line 88
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Error/Middleware/ErrorHandlerMiddleware.php, line 96
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Http\Runner::run() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 51
Cake\Http\Server::run() - CORE/src/Http/Server.php, line 98
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 74
You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
deprecationWarning - CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311
Cake\Http\ServerRequest::offsetGet() - CORE/src/Http/ServerRequest.php, line 2421
App\Controller\ArtileDetailController::printArticle() - APP/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line 74
Cake\Controller\Controller::invokeAction() - CORE/src/Controller/Controller.php, line 610
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 120
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 94
Cake\Http\BaseApplication::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/BaseApplication.php, line 235
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/RoutingMiddleware.php, line 162
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/AssetMiddleware.php, line 88
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Error/Middleware/ErrorHandlerMiddleware.php, line 96
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Http\Runner::run() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 51
Cake\Http\Server::run() - CORE/src/Http/Server.php, line 98
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
if (Configure::read('debug')) {
trigger_error($message, E_USER_WARNING);
} else {
$response = object(Cake\Http\Response) {
'status' => (int) 200,
'contentType' => 'text/html',
'headers' => [
'Content-Type' => [
[maximum depth reached]
]
],
'file' => null,
'fileRange' => [],
'cookies' => object(Cake\Http\Cookie\CookieCollection) {},
'cacheDirectives' => [],
'body' => '<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<link rel="canonical" href="https://im4change.in/<pre class="cake-error"><a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr6803452109be1-trace').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr6803452109be1-trace').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none');"><b>Notice</b> (8)</a>: Undefined variable: urlPrefix [<b>APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp</b>, line <b>8</b>]<div id="cakeErr6803452109be1-trace" class="cake-stack-trace" style="display: none;"><a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr6803452109be1-code').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr6803452109be1-code').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none')">Code</a> <a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr6803452109be1-context').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr6803452109be1-context').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none')">Context</a><pre id="cakeErr6803452109be1-code" class="cake-code-dump" style="display: none;"><code><span style="color: #000000"><span style="color: #0000BB"></span><span style="color: #007700"><</span><span style="color: #0000BB">head</span><span style="color: #007700">>
</span></span></code>
<span class="code-highlight"><code><span style="color: #000000"> <link rel="canonical" href="<span style="color: #0000BB"><?php </span><span style="color: #007700">echo </span><span style="color: #0000BB">Configure</span><span style="color: #007700">::</span><span style="color: #0000BB">read</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">'SITE_URL'</span><span style="color: #007700">); </span><span style="color: #0000BB">?><?php </span><span style="color: #007700">echo </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$urlPrefix</span><span style="color: #007700">;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">?><?php </span><span style="color: #007700">echo </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$article_current</span><span style="color: #007700">-></span><span style="color: #0000BB">category</span><span style="color: #007700">-></span><span style="color: #0000BB">slug</span><span style="color: #007700">; </span><span style="color: #0000BB">?></span>/<span style="color: #0000BB"><?php </span><span style="color: #007700">echo </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$article_current</span><span style="color: #007700">-></span><span style="color: #0000BB">seo_url</span><span style="color: #007700">; </span><span style="color: #0000BB">?></span>.html"/>
</span></code></span>
<code><span style="color: #000000"><span style="color: #0000BB"> </span><span style="color: #007700"><</span><span style="color: #0000BB">meta http</span><span style="color: #007700">-</span><span style="color: #0000BB">equiv</span><span style="color: #007700">=</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"Content-Type" </span><span style="color: #0000BB">content</span><span style="color: #007700">=</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"text/html; charset=utf-8"</span><span style="color: #007700">/>
</span></span></code></pre><pre id="cakeErr6803452109be1-context" class="cake-context" style="display: none;">$viewFile = '/home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp'
$dataForView = [
'article_current' => object(App\Model\Entity\Article) {
'id' => (int) 7933,
'title' => 'Hawking our habitats by Ashish Kothari',
'subheading' => '',
'description' => '<br />
<div align="justify">
The two most important national level committees responsible for wildlife conservation in India are increasingly being turned into rubber stamps for whatever officialdom wants done. The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has become a forum to greenwash a host of &lsquo;development&rsquo; projects that threaten wildlife habitats, while the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) continues to steamroller a blinkered model of conservation.<br />
<br />
In both, civil society members have been reduced to either ineffective dissent, or silent complicity.<br />
<br />
A meeting of the NBWL Standing Committee on April 25, chaired by the minister of state for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh, dealt with nearly 60 infrastructure and other projects in/around wildlife habitats in two hours.<br />
<br />
About 30 of the agenda items were sent to members two days before the meeting, while the notification setting up the Standing Committee states that agenda items must be sent to members two weeks in advance.<br />
<br />
Dissent from NGO members regarding projects likely to have negative impacts was reportedly brushed aside by the Chair. Subsequent dissent notes were, however, included in the minutes, though they were posted online without waiting for members&rsquo; comments.<br />
<br />
The NBWL has faced governance problems for years. A number of crucial conservation issues, like mining in wildlife habitats, declaration of eco-sensitive areas among others have not been taken up in the last three or four meetings.<br />
<br />
While the MoEF insists that that stringent conditions are imposed to minimise damage from developmental projects, it is well aware of its abysmal record in enforcing compliance to such conditions.<br />
<br />
Research based on RTI data obtained by colleagues in Kalpavriksh revealed that of the over 6,000 projects given clearance, officers can check on them once every three to four years. Conditional clearance is a colossal fraud on the nation.<br />
<br />
The NTCA suffers from similar problems. Its meetings are few and far between (the last two were in January 2010 and March 2011). Minutes regularly do not reflect full discussions, leaving out inconvenient or uncomfortable issues taken up by non-official members.<br />
<br />
The minutes of the March 2011 meeting do not reflect the minister&rsquo;s own observations that the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Sanctuary (BRTS) was improperly notified as a tiger reserve by the Karnataka state government, without waiting for final approval from NTCA.<br />
<br />
It is obvious that these Committees are facing serious crises, with NGO members being forced to accept decisions arrived at by powerful individuals in the MoEF. While some have protested, many are not even raising their voice.<br />
<br />
If civil society is silenced or resorts to self-censorship, the Committees cannot do a good job of conserving India&rsquo;s wildlife.<br />
<br />
<em>(Ashish Kothari is associated with Kalpavriksh, Pune. The views expressed by the author are personal)</em>
</div>',
'credit_writer' => 'The Hindustan Times, 29 May, 2011, http://www.hindustantimes.com/Hawking-our-habitats/H1-Article1-703441.aspx',
'article_img' => '',
'article_img_thumb' => '',
'status' => (int) 1,
'show_on_home' => (int) 1,
'lang' => 'EN',
'category_id' => (int) 16,
'tag_keyword' => '',
'seo_url' => 'hawking-our-habitats-by-ashish-kothari-8033',
'meta_title' => null,
'meta_keywords' => null,
'meta_description' => null,
'noindex' => (int) 0,
'publish_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {},
'most_visit_section_id' => null,
'article_big_img' => null,
'liveid' => (int) 8033,
'created' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
'modified' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
'edate' => '',
'tags' => [
[maximum depth reached]
],
'category' => object(App\Model\Entity\Category) {},
'[new]' => false,
'[accessible]' => [
[maximum depth reached]
],
'[dirty]' => [[maximum depth reached]],
'[original]' => [[maximum depth reached]],
'[virtual]' => [[maximum depth reached]],
'[hasErrors]' => false,
'[errors]' => [[maximum depth reached]],
'[invalid]' => [[maximum depth reached]],
'[repository]' => 'Articles'
},
'articleid' => (int) 7933,
'metaTitle' => 'LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Hawking our habitats by Ashish Kothari',
'metaKeywords' => 'Environment',
'metaDesc' => '
The two most important national level committees responsible for wildlife conservation in India are increasingly being turned into rubber stamps for whatever officialdom wants done. The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has become a forum to greenwash a host of...',
'disp' => '<br /><div align="justify">The two most important national level committees responsible for wildlife conservation in India are increasingly being turned into rubber stamps for whatever officialdom wants done. The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has become a forum to greenwash a host of &lsquo;development&rsquo; projects that threaten wildlife habitats, while the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) continues to steamroller a blinkered model of conservation.<br /><br />In both, civil society members have been reduced to either ineffective dissent, or silent complicity.<br /><br />A meeting of the NBWL Standing Committee on April 25, chaired by the minister of state for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh, dealt with nearly 60 infrastructure and other projects in/around wildlife habitats in two hours.<br /><br />About 30 of the agenda items were sent to members two days before the meeting, while the notification setting up the Standing Committee states that agenda items must be sent to members two weeks in advance.<br /><br />Dissent from NGO members regarding projects likely to have negative impacts was reportedly brushed aside by the Chair. Subsequent dissent notes were, however, included in the minutes, though they were posted online without waiting for members&rsquo; comments.<br /><br />The NBWL has faced governance problems for years. A number of crucial conservation issues, like mining in wildlife habitats, declaration of eco-sensitive areas among others have not been taken up in the last three or four meetings.<br /><br />While the MoEF insists that that stringent conditions are imposed to minimise damage from developmental projects, it is well aware of its abysmal record in enforcing compliance to such conditions.<br /><br />Research based on RTI data obtained by colleagues in Kalpavriksh revealed that of the over 6,000 projects given clearance, officers can check on them once every three to four years. Conditional clearance is a colossal fraud on the nation.<br /><br />The NTCA suffers from similar problems. Its meetings are few and far between (the last two were in January 2010 and March 2011). Minutes regularly do not reflect full discussions, leaving out inconvenient or uncomfortable issues taken up by non-official members.<br /><br />The minutes of the March 2011 meeting do not reflect the minister&rsquo;s own observations that the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Sanctuary (BRTS) was improperly notified as a tiger reserve by the Karnataka state government, without waiting for final approval from NTCA.<br /><br />It is obvious that these Committees are facing serious crises, with NGO members being forced to accept decisions arrived at by powerful individuals in the MoEF. While some have protested, many are not even raising their voice.<br /><br />If civil society is silenced or resorts to self-censorship, the Committees cannot do a good job of conserving India&rsquo;s wildlife.<br /><br /><em>(Ashish Kothari is associated with Kalpavriksh, Pune. The views expressed by the author are personal)</em></div>',
'lang' => 'English',
'SITE_URL' => 'https://im4change.in/',
'site_title' => 'im4change',
'adminprix' => 'admin'
]
$article_current = object(App\Model\Entity\Article) {
'id' => (int) 7933,
'title' => 'Hawking our habitats by Ashish Kothari',
'subheading' => '',
'description' => '<br />
<div align="justify">
The two most important national level committees responsible for wildlife conservation in India are increasingly being turned into rubber stamps for whatever officialdom wants done. The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has become a forum to greenwash a host of &lsquo;development&rsquo; projects that threaten wildlife habitats, while the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) continues to steamroller a blinkered model of conservation.<br />
<br />
In both, civil society members have been reduced to either ineffective dissent, or silent complicity.<br />
<br />
A meeting of the NBWL Standing Committee on April 25, chaired by the minister of state for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh, dealt with nearly 60 infrastructure and other projects in/around wildlife habitats in two hours.<br />
<br />
About 30 of the agenda items were sent to members two days before the meeting, while the notification setting up the Standing Committee states that agenda items must be sent to members two weeks in advance.<br />
<br />
Dissent from NGO members regarding projects likely to have negative impacts was reportedly brushed aside by the Chair. Subsequent dissent notes were, however, included in the minutes, though they were posted online without waiting for members&rsquo; comments.<br />
<br />
The NBWL has faced governance problems for years. A number of crucial conservation issues, like mining in wildlife habitats, declaration of eco-sensitive areas among others have not been taken up in the last three or four meetings.<br />
<br />
While the MoEF insists that that stringent conditions are imposed to minimise damage from developmental projects, it is well aware of its abysmal record in enforcing compliance to such conditions.<br />
<br />
Research based on RTI data obtained by colleagues in Kalpavriksh revealed that of the over 6,000 projects given clearance, officers can check on them once every three to four years. Conditional clearance is a colossal fraud on the nation.<br />
<br />
The NTCA suffers from similar problems. Its meetings are few and far between (the last two were in January 2010 and March 2011). Minutes regularly do not reflect full discussions, leaving out inconvenient or uncomfortable issues taken up by non-official members.<br />
<br />
The minutes of the March 2011 meeting do not reflect the minister&rsquo;s own observations that the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Sanctuary (BRTS) was improperly notified as a tiger reserve by the Karnataka state government, without waiting for final approval from NTCA.<br />
<br />
It is obvious that these Committees are facing serious crises, with NGO members being forced to accept decisions arrived at by powerful individuals in the MoEF. While some have protested, many are not even raising their voice.<br />
<br />
If civil society is silenced or resorts to self-censorship, the Committees cannot do a good job of conserving India&rsquo;s wildlife.<br />
<br />
<em>(Ashish Kothari is associated with Kalpavriksh, Pune. The views expressed by the author are personal)</em>
</div>',
'credit_writer' => 'The Hindustan Times, 29 May, 2011, http://www.hindustantimes.com/Hawking-our-habitats/H1-Article1-703441.aspx',
'article_img' => '',
'article_img_thumb' => '',
'status' => (int) 1,
'show_on_home' => (int) 1,
'lang' => 'EN',
'category_id' => (int) 16,
'tag_keyword' => '',
'seo_url' => 'hawking-our-habitats-by-ashish-kothari-8033',
'meta_title' => null,
'meta_keywords' => null,
'meta_description' => null,
'noindex' => (int) 0,
'publish_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {},
'most_visit_section_id' => null,
'article_big_img' => null,
'liveid' => (int) 8033,
'created' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
'modified' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
'edate' => '',
'tags' => [
(int) 0 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {}
],
'category' => object(App\Model\Entity\Category) {},
'[new]' => false,
'[accessible]' => [
'*' => true,
'id' => false
],
'[dirty]' => [],
'[original]' => [],
'[virtual]' => [],
'[hasErrors]' => false,
'[errors]' => [],
'[invalid]' => [],
'[repository]' => 'Articles'
}
$articleid = (int) 7933
$metaTitle = 'LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Hawking our habitats by Ashish Kothari'
$metaKeywords = 'Environment'
$metaDesc = '
The two most important national level committees responsible for wildlife conservation in India are increasingly being turned into rubber stamps for whatever officialdom wants done. The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has become a forum to greenwash a host of...'
$disp = '<br /><div align="justify">The two most important national level committees responsible for wildlife conservation in India are increasingly being turned into rubber stamps for whatever officialdom wants done. The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has become a forum to greenwash a host of &lsquo;development&rsquo; projects that threaten wildlife habitats, while the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) continues to steamroller a blinkered model of conservation.<br /><br />In both, civil society members have been reduced to either ineffective dissent, or silent complicity.<br /><br />A meeting of the NBWL Standing Committee on April 25, chaired by the minister of state for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh, dealt with nearly 60 infrastructure and other projects in/around wildlife habitats in two hours.<br /><br />About 30 of the agenda items were sent to members two days before the meeting, while the notification setting up the Standing Committee states that agenda items must be sent to members two weeks in advance.<br /><br />Dissent from NGO members regarding projects likely to have negative impacts was reportedly brushed aside by the Chair. Subsequent dissent notes were, however, included in the minutes, though they were posted online without waiting for members&rsquo; comments.<br /><br />The NBWL has faced governance problems for years. A number of crucial conservation issues, like mining in wildlife habitats, declaration of eco-sensitive areas among others have not been taken up in the last three or four meetings.<br /><br />While the MoEF insists that that stringent conditions are imposed to minimise damage from developmental projects, it is well aware of its abysmal record in enforcing compliance to such conditions.<br /><br />Research based on RTI data obtained by colleagues in Kalpavriksh revealed that of the over 6,000 projects given clearance, officers can check on them once every three to four years. Conditional clearance is a colossal fraud on the nation.<br /><br />The NTCA suffers from similar problems. Its meetings are few and far between (the last two were in January 2010 and March 2011). Minutes regularly do not reflect full discussions, leaving out inconvenient or uncomfortable issues taken up by non-official members.<br /><br />The minutes of the March 2011 meeting do not reflect the minister&rsquo;s own observations that the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Sanctuary (BRTS) was improperly notified as a tiger reserve by the Karnataka state government, without waiting for final approval from NTCA.<br /><br />It is obvious that these Committees are facing serious crises, with NGO members being forced to accept decisions arrived at by powerful individuals in the MoEF. While some have protested, many are not even raising their voice.<br /><br />If civil society is silenced or resorts to self-censorship, the Committees cannot do a good job of conserving India&rsquo;s wildlife.<br /><br /><em>(Ashish Kothari is associated with Kalpavriksh, Pune. The views expressed by the author are personal)</em></div>'
$lang = 'English'
$SITE_URL = 'https://im4change.in/'
$site_title = 'im4change'
$adminprix = 'admin'</pre><pre class="stack-trace">include - APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp, line 8
Cake\View\View::_evaluate() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 1413
Cake\View\View::_render() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 1374
Cake\View\View::renderLayout() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 927
Cake\View\View::render() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 885
Cake\Controller\Controller::render() - CORE/src/Controller/Controller.php, line 791
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 126
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 94
Cake\Http\BaseApplication::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/BaseApplication.php, line 235
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/RoutingMiddleware.php, line 162
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/AssetMiddleware.php, line 88
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Error/Middleware/ErrorHandlerMiddleware.php, line 96
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Http\Runner::run() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 51</pre></div></pre>latest-news-updates/hawking-our-habitats-by-ashish-kothari-8033.html"/>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/>
<link href="https://im4change.in/css/control.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"
media="all"/>
<title>LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Hawking our habitats by Ashish Kothari | Im4change.org</title>
<meta name="description" content="
The two most important national level committees responsible for wildlife conservation in India are increasingly being turned into rubber stamps for whatever officialdom wants done. The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has become a forum to greenwash a host of..."/>
<script src="https://im4change.in/js/jquery-1.10.2.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://im4change.in/js/jquery-migrate.min.js"></script>
<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">
$(document).ready(function () {
var img = $("img")[0]; // Get my img elem
var pic_real_width, pic_real_height;
$("<img/>") // Make in memory copy of image to avoid css issues
.attr("src", $(img).attr("src"))
.load(function () {
pic_real_width = this.width; // Note: $(this).width() will not
pic_real_height = this.height; // work for in memory images.
});
});
</script>
<style type="text/css">
@media screen {
div.divFooter {
display: block;
}
}
@media print {
.printbutton {
display: none !important;
}
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="98%" align="center">
<tr>
<td class="top_bg">
<div class="divFooter">
<img src="https://im4change.in/images/logo1.jpg" height="59" border="0"
alt="Resource centre on India's rural distress" style="padding-top:14px;"/>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td id="topspace"> </td>
</tr>
<tr id="topspace">
<td> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td height="50" style="border-bottom:1px solid #000; padding-top:10px;" class="printbutton">
<form><input type="button" value=" Print this page "
onclick="window.print();return false;"/></form>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="100%">
<h1 class="news_headlines" style="font-style:normal">
<strong>Hawking our habitats by Ashish Kothari</strong></h1>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="100%" style="font-family:Arial, 'Segoe Script', 'Segoe UI', sans-serif, serif"><font size="3">
<br /><div align="justify">The two most important national level committees responsible for wildlife conservation in India are increasingly being turned into rubber stamps for whatever officialdom wants done. The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has become a forum to greenwash a host of ‘development’ projects that threaten wildlife habitats, while the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) continues to steamroller a blinkered model of conservation.<br /><br />In both, civil society members have been reduced to either ineffective dissent, or silent complicity.<br /><br />A meeting of the NBWL Standing Committee on April 25, chaired by the minister of state for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh, dealt with nearly 60 infrastructure and other projects in/around wildlife habitats in two hours.<br /><br />About 30 of the agenda items were sent to members two days before the meeting, while the notification setting up the Standing Committee states that agenda items must be sent to members two weeks in advance.<br /><br />Dissent from NGO members regarding projects likely to have negative impacts was reportedly brushed aside by the Chair. Subsequent dissent notes were, however, included in the minutes, though they were posted online without waiting for members’ comments.<br /><br />The NBWL has faced governance problems for years. A number of crucial conservation issues, like mining in wildlife habitats, declaration of eco-sensitive areas among others have not been taken up in the last three or four meetings.<br /><br />While the MoEF insists that that stringent conditions are imposed to minimise damage from developmental projects, it is well aware of its abysmal record in enforcing compliance to such conditions.<br /><br />Research based on RTI data obtained by colleagues in Kalpavriksh revealed that of the over 6,000 projects given clearance, officers can check on them once every three to four years. Conditional clearance is a colossal fraud on the nation.<br /><br />The NTCA suffers from similar problems. Its meetings are few and far between (the last two were in January 2010 and March 2011). Minutes regularly do not reflect full discussions, leaving out inconvenient or uncomfortable issues taken up by non-official members.<br /><br />The minutes of the March 2011 meeting do not reflect the minister’s own observations that the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Sanctuary (BRTS) was improperly notified as a tiger reserve by the Karnataka state government, without waiting for final approval from NTCA.<br /><br />It is obvious that these Committees are facing serious crises, with NGO members being forced to accept decisions arrived at by powerful individuals in the MoEF. While some have protested, many are not even raising their voice.<br /><br />If civil society is silenced or resorts to self-censorship, the Committees cannot do a good job of conserving India’s wildlife.<br /><br /><em>(Ashish Kothari is associated with Kalpavriksh, Pune. The views expressed by the author are personal)</em></div> </font>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td height="50" style="border-top:1px solid #000; border-bottom:1px solid #000;padding-top:10px;">
<form><input type="button" value=" Print this page "
onclick="window.print();return false;"/></form>
</td>
</tr>
</table></body>
</html>'
}
$maxBufferLength = (int) 8192
$file = '/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php'
$line = (int) 853
$message = 'Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853'
Cake\Http\ResponseEmitter::emit() - CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48
Cake\Http\Server::emit() - CORE/src/Http/Server.php, line 141
[main] - ROOT/webroot/index.php, line 39
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
$response = object(Cake\Http\Response) {
'status' => (int) 200,
'contentType' => 'text/html',
'headers' => [
'Content-Type' => [
[maximum depth reached]
]
],
'file' => null,
'fileRange' => [],
'cookies' => object(Cake\Http\Cookie\CookieCollection) {},
'cacheDirectives' => [],
'body' => '<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<link rel="canonical" href="https://im4change.in/<pre class="cake-error"><a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr6803452109be1-trace').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr6803452109be1-trace').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none');"><b>Notice</b> (8)</a>: Undefined variable: urlPrefix [<b>APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp</b>, line <b>8</b>]<div id="cakeErr6803452109be1-trace" class="cake-stack-trace" style="display: none;"><a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr6803452109be1-code').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr6803452109be1-code').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none')">Code</a> <a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr6803452109be1-context').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr6803452109be1-context').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none')">Context</a><pre id="cakeErr6803452109be1-code" class="cake-code-dump" style="display: none;"><code><span style="color: #000000"><span style="color: #0000BB"></span><span style="color: #007700"><</span><span style="color: #0000BB">head</span><span style="color: #007700">>
</span></span></code>
<span class="code-highlight"><code><span style="color: #000000"> <link rel="canonical" href="<span style="color: #0000BB"><?php </span><span style="color: #007700">echo </span><span style="color: #0000BB">Configure</span><span style="color: #007700">::</span><span style="color: #0000BB">read</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">'SITE_URL'</span><span style="color: #007700">); </span><span style="color: #0000BB">?><?php </span><span style="color: #007700">echo </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$urlPrefix</span><span style="color: #007700">;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">?><?php </span><span style="color: #007700">echo </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$article_current</span><span style="color: #007700">-></span><span style="color: #0000BB">category</span><span style="color: #007700">-></span><span style="color: #0000BB">slug</span><span style="color: #007700">; </span><span style="color: #0000BB">?></span>/<span style="color: #0000BB"><?php </span><span style="color: #007700">echo </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$article_current</span><span style="color: #007700">-></span><span style="color: #0000BB">seo_url</span><span style="color: #007700">; </span><span style="color: #0000BB">?></span>.html"/>
</span></code></span>
<code><span style="color: #000000"><span style="color: #0000BB"> </span><span style="color: #007700"><</span><span style="color: #0000BB">meta http</span><span style="color: #007700">-</span><span style="color: #0000BB">equiv</span><span style="color: #007700">=</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"Content-Type" </span><span style="color: #0000BB">content</span><span style="color: #007700">=</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"text/html; charset=utf-8"</span><span style="color: #007700">/>
</span></span></code></pre><pre id="cakeErr6803452109be1-context" class="cake-context" style="display: none;">$viewFile = '/home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp'
$dataForView = [
'article_current' => object(App\Model\Entity\Article) {
'id' => (int) 7933,
'title' => 'Hawking our habitats by Ashish Kothari',
'subheading' => '',
'description' => '<br />
<div align="justify">
The two most important national level committees responsible for wildlife conservation in India are increasingly being turned into rubber stamps for whatever officialdom wants done. The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has become a forum to greenwash a host of &lsquo;development&rsquo; projects that threaten wildlife habitats, while the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) continues to steamroller a blinkered model of conservation.<br />
<br />
In both, civil society members have been reduced to either ineffective dissent, or silent complicity.<br />
<br />
A meeting of the NBWL Standing Committee on April 25, chaired by the minister of state for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh, dealt with nearly 60 infrastructure and other projects in/around wildlife habitats in two hours.<br />
<br />
About 30 of the agenda items were sent to members two days before the meeting, while the notification setting up the Standing Committee states that agenda items must be sent to members two weeks in advance.<br />
<br />
Dissent from NGO members regarding projects likely to have negative impacts was reportedly brushed aside by the Chair. Subsequent dissent notes were, however, included in the minutes, though they were posted online without waiting for members&rsquo; comments.<br />
<br />
The NBWL has faced governance problems for years. A number of crucial conservation issues, like mining in wildlife habitats, declaration of eco-sensitive areas among others have not been taken up in the last three or four meetings.<br />
<br />
While the MoEF insists that that stringent conditions are imposed to minimise damage from developmental projects, it is well aware of its abysmal record in enforcing compliance to such conditions.<br />
<br />
Research based on RTI data obtained by colleagues in Kalpavriksh revealed that of the over 6,000 projects given clearance, officers can check on them once every three to four years. Conditional clearance is a colossal fraud on the nation.<br />
<br />
The NTCA suffers from similar problems. Its meetings are few and far between (the last two were in January 2010 and March 2011). Minutes regularly do not reflect full discussions, leaving out inconvenient or uncomfortable issues taken up by non-official members.<br />
<br />
The minutes of the March 2011 meeting do not reflect the minister&rsquo;s own observations that the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Sanctuary (BRTS) was improperly notified as a tiger reserve by the Karnataka state government, without waiting for final approval from NTCA.<br />
<br />
It is obvious that these Committees are facing serious crises, with NGO members being forced to accept decisions arrived at by powerful individuals in the MoEF. While some have protested, many are not even raising their voice.<br />
<br />
If civil society is silenced or resorts to self-censorship, the Committees cannot do a good job of conserving India&rsquo;s wildlife.<br />
<br />
<em>(Ashish Kothari is associated with Kalpavriksh, Pune. The views expressed by the author are personal)</em>
</div>',
'credit_writer' => 'The Hindustan Times, 29 May, 2011, http://www.hindustantimes.com/Hawking-our-habitats/H1-Article1-703441.aspx',
'article_img' => '',
'article_img_thumb' => '',
'status' => (int) 1,
'show_on_home' => (int) 1,
'lang' => 'EN',
'category_id' => (int) 16,
'tag_keyword' => '',
'seo_url' => 'hawking-our-habitats-by-ashish-kothari-8033',
'meta_title' => null,
'meta_keywords' => null,
'meta_description' => null,
'noindex' => (int) 0,
'publish_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {},
'most_visit_section_id' => null,
'article_big_img' => null,
'liveid' => (int) 8033,
'created' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
'modified' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
'edate' => '',
'tags' => [
[maximum depth reached]
],
'category' => object(App\Model\Entity\Category) {},
'[new]' => false,
'[accessible]' => [
[maximum depth reached]
],
'[dirty]' => [[maximum depth reached]],
'[original]' => [[maximum depth reached]],
'[virtual]' => [[maximum depth reached]],
'[hasErrors]' => false,
'[errors]' => [[maximum depth reached]],
'[invalid]' => [[maximum depth reached]],
'[repository]' => 'Articles'
},
'articleid' => (int) 7933,
'metaTitle' => 'LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Hawking our habitats by Ashish Kothari',
'metaKeywords' => 'Environment',
'metaDesc' => '
The two most important national level committees responsible for wildlife conservation in India are increasingly being turned into rubber stamps for whatever officialdom wants done. The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has become a forum to greenwash a host of...',
'disp' => '<br /><div align="justify">The two most important national level committees responsible for wildlife conservation in India are increasingly being turned into rubber stamps for whatever officialdom wants done. The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has become a forum to greenwash a host of &lsquo;development&rsquo; projects that threaten wildlife habitats, while the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) continues to steamroller a blinkered model of conservation.<br /><br />In both, civil society members have been reduced to either ineffective dissent, or silent complicity.<br /><br />A meeting of the NBWL Standing Committee on April 25, chaired by the minister of state for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh, dealt with nearly 60 infrastructure and other projects in/around wildlife habitats in two hours.<br /><br />About 30 of the agenda items were sent to members two days before the meeting, while the notification setting up the Standing Committee states that agenda items must be sent to members two weeks in advance.<br /><br />Dissent from NGO members regarding projects likely to have negative impacts was reportedly brushed aside by the Chair. Subsequent dissent notes were, however, included in the minutes, though they were posted online without waiting for members&rsquo; comments.<br /><br />The NBWL has faced governance problems for years. A number of crucial conservation issues, like mining in wildlife habitats, declaration of eco-sensitive areas among others have not been taken up in the last three or four meetings.<br /><br />While the MoEF insists that that stringent conditions are imposed to minimise damage from developmental projects, it is well aware of its abysmal record in enforcing compliance to such conditions.<br /><br />Research based on RTI data obtained by colleagues in Kalpavriksh revealed that of the over 6,000 projects given clearance, officers can check on them once every three to four years. Conditional clearance is a colossal fraud on the nation.<br /><br />The NTCA suffers from similar problems. Its meetings are few and far between (the last two were in January 2010 and March 2011). Minutes regularly do not reflect full discussions, leaving out inconvenient or uncomfortable issues taken up by non-official members.<br /><br />The minutes of the March 2011 meeting do not reflect the minister&rsquo;s own observations that the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Sanctuary (BRTS) was improperly notified as a tiger reserve by the Karnataka state government, without waiting for final approval from NTCA.<br /><br />It is obvious that these Committees are facing serious crises, with NGO members being forced to accept decisions arrived at by powerful individuals in the MoEF. While some have protested, many are not even raising their voice.<br /><br />If civil society is silenced or resorts to self-censorship, the Committees cannot do a good job of conserving India&rsquo;s wildlife.<br /><br /><em>(Ashish Kothari is associated with Kalpavriksh, Pune. The views expressed by the author are personal)</em></div>',
'lang' => 'English',
'SITE_URL' => 'https://im4change.in/',
'site_title' => 'im4change',
'adminprix' => 'admin'
]
$article_current = object(App\Model\Entity\Article) {
'id' => (int) 7933,
'title' => 'Hawking our habitats by Ashish Kothari',
'subheading' => '',
'description' => '<br />
<div align="justify">
The two most important national level committees responsible for wildlife conservation in India are increasingly being turned into rubber stamps for whatever officialdom wants done. The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has become a forum to greenwash a host of &lsquo;development&rsquo; projects that threaten wildlife habitats, while the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) continues to steamroller a blinkered model of conservation.<br />
<br />
In both, civil society members have been reduced to either ineffective dissent, or silent complicity.<br />
<br />
A meeting of the NBWL Standing Committee on April 25, chaired by the minister of state for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh, dealt with nearly 60 infrastructure and other projects in/around wildlife habitats in two hours.<br />
<br />
About 30 of the agenda items were sent to members two days before the meeting, while the notification setting up the Standing Committee states that agenda items must be sent to members two weeks in advance.<br />
<br />
Dissent from NGO members regarding projects likely to have negative impacts was reportedly brushed aside by the Chair. Subsequent dissent notes were, however, included in the minutes, though they were posted online without waiting for members&rsquo; comments.<br />
<br />
The NBWL has faced governance problems for years. A number of crucial conservation issues, like mining in wildlife habitats, declaration of eco-sensitive areas among others have not been taken up in the last three or four meetings.<br />
<br />
While the MoEF insists that that stringent conditions are imposed to minimise damage from developmental projects, it is well aware of its abysmal record in enforcing compliance to such conditions.<br />
<br />
Research based on RTI data obtained by colleagues in Kalpavriksh revealed that of the over 6,000 projects given clearance, officers can check on them once every three to four years. Conditional clearance is a colossal fraud on the nation.<br />
<br />
The NTCA suffers from similar problems. Its meetings are few and far between (the last two were in January 2010 and March 2011). Minutes regularly do not reflect full discussions, leaving out inconvenient or uncomfortable issues taken up by non-official members.<br />
<br />
The minutes of the March 2011 meeting do not reflect the minister&rsquo;s own observations that the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Sanctuary (BRTS) was improperly notified as a tiger reserve by the Karnataka state government, without waiting for final approval from NTCA.<br />
<br />
It is obvious that these Committees are facing serious crises, with NGO members being forced to accept decisions arrived at by powerful individuals in the MoEF. While some have protested, many are not even raising their voice.<br />
<br />
If civil society is silenced or resorts to self-censorship, the Committees cannot do a good job of conserving India&rsquo;s wildlife.<br />
<br />
<em>(Ashish Kothari is associated with Kalpavriksh, Pune. The views expressed by the author are personal)</em>
</div>',
'credit_writer' => 'The Hindustan Times, 29 May, 2011, http://www.hindustantimes.com/Hawking-our-habitats/H1-Article1-703441.aspx',
'article_img' => '',
'article_img_thumb' => '',
'status' => (int) 1,
'show_on_home' => (int) 1,
'lang' => 'EN',
'category_id' => (int) 16,
'tag_keyword' => '',
'seo_url' => 'hawking-our-habitats-by-ashish-kothari-8033',
'meta_title' => null,
'meta_keywords' => null,
'meta_description' => null,
'noindex' => (int) 0,
'publish_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {},
'most_visit_section_id' => null,
'article_big_img' => null,
'liveid' => (int) 8033,
'created' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
'modified' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
'edate' => '',
'tags' => [
(int) 0 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {}
],
'category' => object(App\Model\Entity\Category) {},
'[new]' => false,
'[accessible]' => [
'*' => true,
'id' => false
],
'[dirty]' => [],
'[original]' => [],
'[virtual]' => [],
'[hasErrors]' => false,
'[errors]' => [],
'[invalid]' => [],
'[repository]' => 'Articles'
}
$articleid = (int) 7933
$metaTitle = 'LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Hawking our habitats by Ashish Kothari'
$metaKeywords = 'Environment'
$metaDesc = '
The two most important national level committees responsible for wildlife conservation in India are increasingly being turned into rubber stamps for whatever officialdom wants done. The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has become a forum to greenwash a host of...'
$disp = '<br /><div align="justify">The two most important national level committees responsible for wildlife conservation in India are increasingly being turned into rubber stamps for whatever officialdom wants done. The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has become a forum to greenwash a host of &lsquo;development&rsquo; projects that threaten wildlife habitats, while the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) continues to steamroller a blinkered model of conservation.<br /><br />In both, civil society members have been reduced to either ineffective dissent, or silent complicity.<br /><br />A meeting of the NBWL Standing Committee on April 25, chaired by the minister of state for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh, dealt with nearly 60 infrastructure and other projects in/around wildlife habitats in two hours.<br /><br />About 30 of the agenda items were sent to members two days before the meeting, while the notification setting up the Standing Committee states that agenda items must be sent to members two weeks in advance.<br /><br />Dissent from NGO members regarding projects likely to have negative impacts was reportedly brushed aside by the Chair. Subsequent dissent notes were, however, included in the minutes, though they were posted online without waiting for members&rsquo; comments.<br /><br />The NBWL has faced governance problems for years. A number of crucial conservation issues, like mining in wildlife habitats, declaration of eco-sensitive areas among others have not been taken up in the last three or four meetings.<br /><br />While the MoEF insists that that stringent conditions are imposed to minimise damage from developmental projects, it is well aware of its abysmal record in enforcing compliance to such conditions.<br /><br />Research based on RTI data obtained by colleagues in Kalpavriksh revealed that of the over 6,000 projects given clearance, officers can check on them once every three to four years. Conditional clearance is a colossal fraud on the nation.<br /><br />The NTCA suffers from similar problems. Its meetings are few and far between (the last two were in January 2010 and March 2011). Minutes regularly do not reflect full discussions, leaving out inconvenient or uncomfortable issues taken up by non-official members.<br /><br />The minutes of the March 2011 meeting do not reflect the minister&rsquo;s own observations that the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Sanctuary (BRTS) was improperly notified as a tiger reserve by the Karnataka state government, without waiting for final approval from NTCA.<br /><br />It is obvious that these Committees are facing serious crises, with NGO members being forced to accept decisions arrived at by powerful individuals in the MoEF. While some have protested, many are not even raising their voice.<br /><br />If civil society is silenced or resorts to self-censorship, the Committees cannot do a good job of conserving India&rsquo;s wildlife.<br /><br /><em>(Ashish Kothari is associated with Kalpavriksh, Pune. The views expressed by the author are personal)</em></div>'
$lang = 'English'
$SITE_URL = 'https://im4change.in/'
$site_title = 'im4change'
$adminprix = 'admin'</pre><pre class="stack-trace">include - APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp, line 8
Cake\View\View::_evaluate() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 1413
Cake\View\View::_render() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 1374
Cake\View\View::renderLayout() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 927
Cake\View\View::render() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 885
Cake\Controller\Controller::render() - CORE/src/Controller/Controller.php, line 791
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 126
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 94
Cake\Http\BaseApplication::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/BaseApplication.php, line 235
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/RoutingMiddleware.php, line 162
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/AssetMiddleware.php, line 88
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Error/Middleware/ErrorHandlerMiddleware.php, line 96
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Http\Runner::run() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 51</pre></div></pre>latest-news-updates/hawking-our-habitats-by-ashish-kothari-8033.html"/>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/>
<link href="https://im4change.in/css/control.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"
media="all"/>
<title>LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Hawking our habitats by Ashish Kothari | Im4change.org</title>
<meta name="description" content="
The two most important national level committees responsible for wildlife conservation in India are increasingly being turned into rubber stamps for whatever officialdom wants done. The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has become a forum to greenwash a host of..."/>
<script src="https://im4change.in/js/jquery-1.10.2.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://im4change.in/js/jquery-migrate.min.js"></script>
<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">
$(document).ready(function () {
var img = $("img")[0]; // Get my img elem
var pic_real_width, pic_real_height;
$("<img/>") // Make in memory copy of image to avoid css issues
.attr("src", $(img).attr("src"))
.load(function () {
pic_real_width = this.width; // Note: $(this).width() will not
pic_real_height = this.height; // work for in memory images.
});
});
</script>
<style type="text/css">
@media screen {
div.divFooter {
display: block;
}
}
@media print {
.printbutton {
display: none !important;
}
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="98%" align="center">
<tr>
<td class="top_bg">
<div class="divFooter">
<img src="https://im4change.in/images/logo1.jpg" height="59" border="0"
alt="Resource centre on India's rural distress" style="padding-top:14px;"/>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td id="topspace"> </td>
</tr>
<tr id="topspace">
<td> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td height="50" style="border-bottom:1px solid #000; padding-top:10px;" class="printbutton">
<form><input type="button" value=" Print this page "
onclick="window.print();return false;"/></form>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="100%">
<h1 class="news_headlines" style="font-style:normal">
<strong>Hawking our habitats by Ashish Kothari</strong></h1>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="100%" style="font-family:Arial, 'Segoe Script', 'Segoe UI', sans-serif, serif"><font size="3">
<br /><div align="justify">The two most important national level committees responsible for wildlife conservation in India are increasingly being turned into rubber stamps for whatever officialdom wants done. The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has become a forum to greenwash a host of ‘development’ projects that threaten wildlife habitats, while the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) continues to steamroller a blinkered model of conservation.<br /><br />In both, civil society members have been reduced to either ineffective dissent, or silent complicity.<br /><br />A meeting of the NBWL Standing Committee on April 25, chaired by the minister of state for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh, dealt with nearly 60 infrastructure and other projects in/around wildlife habitats in two hours.<br /><br />About 30 of the agenda items were sent to members two days before the meeting, while the notification setting up the Standing Committee states that agenda items must be sent to members two weeks in advance.<br /><br />Dissent from NGO members regarding projects likely to have negative impacts was reportedly brushed aside by the Chair. Subsequent dissent notes were, however, included in the minutes, though they were posted online without waiting for members’ comments.<br /><br />The NBWL has faced governance problems for years. A number of crucial conservation issues, like mining in wildlife habitats, declaration of eco-sensitive areas among others have not been taken up in the last three or four meetings.<br /><br />While the MoEF insists that that stringent conditions are imposed to minimise damage from developmental projects, it is well aware of its abysmal record in enforcing compliance to such conditions.<br /><br />Research based on RTI data obtained by colleagues in Kalpavriksh revealed that of the over 6,000 projects given clearance, officers can check on them once every three to four years. Conditional clearance is a colossal fraud on the nation.<br /><br />The NTCA suffers from similar problems. Its meetings are few and far between (the last two were in January 2010 and March 2011). Minutes regularly do not reflect full discussions, leaving out inconvenient or uncomfortable issues taken up by non-official members.<br /><br />The minutes of the March 2011 meeting do not reflect the minister’s own observations that the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Sanctuary (BRTS) was improperly notified as a tiger reserve by the Karnataka state government, without waiting for final approval from NTCA.<br /><br />It is obvious that these Committees are facing serious crises, with NGO members being forced to accept decisions arrived at by powerful individuals in the MoEF. While some have protested, many are not even raising their voice.<br /><br />If civil society is silenced or resorts to self-censorship, the Committees cannot do a good job of conserving India’s wildlife.<br /><br /><em>(Ashish Kothari is associated with Kalpavriksh, Pune. The views expressed by the author are personal)</em></div> </font>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td height="50" style="border-top:1px solid #000; border-bottom:1px solid #000;padding-top:10px;">
<form><input type="button" value=" Print this page "
onclick="window.print();return false;"/></form>
</td>
</tr>
</table></body>
</html>'
}
$reasonPhrase = 'OK'
header - [internal], line ??
Cake\Http\ResponseEmitter::emitStatusLine() - CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148
Cake\Http\ResponseEmitter::emit() - CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 54
Cake\Http\Server::emit() - CORE/src/Http/Server.php, line 141
[main] - ROOT/webroot/index.php, line 39
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
$response = object(Cake\Http\Response) {
'status' => (int) 200,
'contentType' => 'text/html',
'headers' => [
'Content-Type' => [
[maximum depth reached]
]
],
'file' => null,
'fileRange' => [],
'cookies' => object(Cake\Http\Cookie\CookieCollection) {},
'cacheDirectives' => [],
'body' => '<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<link rel="canonical" href="https://im4change.in/<pre class="cake-error"><a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr6803452109be1-trace').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr6803452109be1-trace').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none');"><b>Notice</b> (8)</a>: Undefined variable: urlPrefix [<b>APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp</b>, line <b>8</b>]<div id="cakeErr6803452109be1-trace" class="cake-stack-trace" style="display: none;"><a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr6803452109be1-code').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr6803452109be1-code').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none')">Code</a> <a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr6803452109be1-context').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr6803452109be1-context').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none')">Context</a><pre id="cakeErr6803452109be1-code" class="cake-code-dump" style="display: none;"><code><span style="color: #000000"><span style="color: #0000BB"></span><span style="color: #007700"><</span><span style="color: #0000BB">head</span><span style="color: #007700">>
</span></span></code>
<span class="code-highlight"><code><span style="color: #000000"> <link rel="canonical" href="<span style="color: #0000BB"><?php </span><span style="color: #007700">echo </span><span style="color: #0000BB">Configure</span><span style="color: #007700">::</span><span style="color: #0000BB">read</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #DD0000">'SITE_URL'</span><span style="color: #007700">); </span><span style="color: #0000BB">?><?php </span><span style="color: #007700">echo </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$urlPrefix</span><span style="color: #007700">;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">?><?php </span><span style="color: #007700">echo </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$article_current</span><span style="color: #007700">-></span><span style="color: #0000BB">category</span><span style="color: #007700">-></span><span style="color: #0000BB">slug</span><span style="color: #007700">; </span><span style="color: #0000BB">?></span>/<span style="color: #0000BB"><?php </span><span style="color: #007700">echo </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$article_current</span><span style="color: #007700">-></span><span style="color: #0000BB">seo_url</span><span style="color: #007700">; </span><span style="color: #0000BB">?></span>.html"/>
</span></code></span>
<code><span style="color: #000000"><span style="color: #0000BB"> </span><span style="color: #007700"><</span><span style="color: #0000BB">meta http</span><span style="color: #007700">-</span><span style="color: #0000BB">equiv</span><span style="color: #007700">=</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"Content-Type" </span><span style="color: #0000BB">content</span><span style="color: #007700">=</span><span style="color: #DD0000">"text/html; charset=utf-8"</span><span style="color: #007700">/>
</span></span></code></pre><pre id="cakeErr6803452109be1-context" class="cake-context" style="display: none;">$viewFile = '/home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp'
$dataForView = [
'article_current' => object(App\Model\Entity\Article) {
'id' => (int) 7933,
'title' => 'Hawking our habitats by Ashish Kothari',
'subheading' => '',
'description' => '<br />
<div align="justify">
The two most important national level committees responsible for wildlife conservation in India are increasingly being turned into rubber stamps for whatever officialdom wants done. The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has become a forum to greenwash a host of &lsquo;development&rsquo; projects that threaten wildlife habitats, while the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) continues to steamroller a blinkered model of conservation.<br />
<br />
In both, civil society members have been reduced to either ineffective dissent, or silent complicity.<br />
<br />
A meeting of the NBWL Standing Committee on April 25, chaired by the minister of state for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh, dealt with nearly 60 infrastructure and other projects in/around wildlife habitats in two hours.<br />
<br />
About 30 of the agenda items were sent to members two days before the meeting, while the notification setting up the Standing Committee states that agenda items must be sent to members two weeks in advance.<br />
<br />
Dissent from NGO members regarding projects likely to have negative impacts was reportedly brushed aside by the Chair. Subsequent dissent notes were, however, included in the minutes, though they were posted online without waiting for members&rsquo; comments.<br />
<br />
The NBWL has faced governance problems for years. A number of crucial conservation issues, like mining in wildlife habitats, declaration of eco-sensitive areas among others have not been taken up in the last three or four meetings.<br />
<br />
While the MoEF insists that that stringent conditions are imposed to minimise damage from developmental projects, it is well aware of its abysmal record in enforcing compliance to such conditions.<br />
<br />
Research based on RTI data obtained by colleagues in Kalpavriksh revealed that of the over 6,000 projects given clearance, officers can check on them once every three to four years. Conditional clearance is a colossal fraud on the nation.<br />
<br />
The NTCA suffers from similar problems. Its meetings are few and far between (the last two were in January 2010 and March 2011). Minutes regularly do not reflect full discussions, leaving out inconvenient or uncomfortable issues taken up by non-official members.<br />
<br />
The minutes of the March 2011 meeting do not reflect the minister&rsquo;s own observations that the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Sanctuary (BRTS) was improperly notified as a tiger reserve by the Karnataka state government, without waiting for final approval from NTCA.<br />
<br />
It is obvious that these Committees are facing serious crises, with NGO members being forced to accept decisions arrived at by powerful individuals in the MoEF. While some have protested, many are not even raising their voice.<br />
<br />
If civil society is silenced or resorts to self-censorship, the Committees cannot do a good job of conserving India&rsquo;s wildlife.<br />
<br />
<em>(Ashish Kothari is associated with Kalpavriksh, Pune. The views expressed by the author are personal)</em>
</div>',
'credit_writer' => 'The Hindustan Times, 29 May, 2011, http://www.hindustantimes.com/Hawking-our-habitats/H1-Article1-703441.aspx',
'article_img' => '',
'article_img_thumb' => '',
'status' => (int) 1,
'show_on_home' => (int) 1,
'lang' => 'EN',
'category_id' => (int) 16,
'tag_keyword' => '',
'seo_url' => 'hawking-our-habitats-by-ashish-kothari-8033',
'meta_title' => null,
'meta_keywords' => null,
'meta_description' => null,
'noindex' => (int) 0,
'publish_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {},
'most_visit_section_id' => null,
'article_big_img' => null,
'liveid' => (int) 8033,
'created' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
'modified' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
'edate' => '',
'tags' => [
[maximum depth reached]
],
'category' => object(App\Model\Entity\Category) {},
'[new]' => false,
'[accessible]' => [
[maximum depth reached]
],
'[dirty]' => [[maximum depth reached]],
'[original]' => [[maximum depth reached]],
'[virtual]' => [[maximum depth reached]],
'[hasErrors]' => false,
'[errors]' => [[maximum depth reached]],
'[invalid]' => [[maximum depth reached]],
'[repository]' => 'Articles'
},
'articleid' => (int) 7933,
'metaTitle' => 'LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Hawking our habitats by Ashish Kothari',
'metaKeywords' => 'Environment',
'metaDesc' => '
The two most important national level committees responsible for wildlife conservation in India are increasingly being turned into rubber stamps for whatever officialdom wants done. The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has become a forum to greenwash a host of...',
'disp' => '<br /><div align="justify">The two most important national level committees responsible for wildlife conservation in India are increasingly being turned into rubber stamps for whatever officialdom wants done. The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has become a forum to greenwash a host of &lsquo;development&rsquo; projects that threaten wildlife habitats, while the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) continues to steamroller a blinkered model of conservation.<br /><br />In both, civil society members have been reduced to either ineffective dissent, or silent complicity.<br /><br />A meeting of the NBWL Standing Committee on April 25, chaired by the minister of state for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh, dealt with nearly 60 infrastructure and other projects in/around wildlife habitats in two hours.<br /><br />About 30 of the agenda items were sent to members two days before the meeting, while the notification setting up the Standing Committee states that agenda items must be sent to members two weeks in advance.<br /><br />Dissent from NGO members regarding projects likely to have negative impacts was reportedly brushed aside by the Chair. Subsequent dissent notes were, however, included in the minutes, though they were posted online without waiting for members&rsquo; comments.<br /><br />The NBWL has faced governance problems for years. A number of crucial conservation issues, like mining in wildlife habitats, declaration of eco-sensitive areas among others have not been taken up in the last three or four meetings.<br /><br />While the MoEF insists that that stringent conditions are imposed to minimise damage from developmental projects, it is well aware of its abysmal record in enforcing compliance to such conditions.<br /><br />Research based on RTI data obtained by colleagues in Kalpavriksh revealed that of the over 6,000 projects given clearance, officers can check on them once every three to four years. Conditional clearance is a colossal fraud on the nation.<br /><br />The NTCA suffers from similar problems. Its meetings are few and far between (the last two were in January 2010 and March 2011). Minutes regularly do not reflect full discussions, leaving out inconvenient or uncomfortable issues taken up by non-official members.<br /><br />The minutes of the March 2011 meeting do not reflect the minister&rsquo;s own observations that the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Sanctuary (BRTS) was improperly notified as a tiger reserve by the Karnataka state government, without waiting for final approval from NTCA.<br /><br />It is obvious that these Committees are facing serious crises, with NGO members being forced to accept decisions arrived at by powerful individuals in the MoEF. While some have protested, many are not even raising their voice.<br /><br />If civil society is silenced or resorts to self-censorship, the Committees cannot do a good job of conserving India&rsquo;s wildlife.<br /><br /><em>(Ashish Kothari is associated with Kalpavriksh, Pune. The views expressed by the author are personal)</em></div>',
'lang' => 'English',
'SITE_URL' => 'https://im4change.in/',
'site_title' => 'im4change',
'adminprix' => 'admin'
]
$article_current = object(App\Model\Entity\Article) {
'id' => (int) 7933,
'title' => 'Hawking our habitats by Ashish Kothari',
'subheading' => '',
'description' => '<br />
<div align="justify">
The two most important national level committees responsible for wildlife conservation in India are increasingly being turned into rubber stamps for whatever officialdom wants done. The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has become a forum to greenwash a host of &lsquo;development&rsquo; projects that threaten wildlife habitats, while the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) continues to steamroller a blinkered model of conservation.<br />
<br />
In both, civil society members have been reduced to either ineffective dissent, or silent complicity.<br />
<br />
A meeting of the NBWL Standing Committee on April 25, chaired by the minister of state for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh, dealt with nearly 60 infrastructure and other projects in/around wildlife habitats in two hours.<br />
<br />
About 30 of the agenda items were sent to members two days before the meeting, while the notification setting up the Standing Committee states that agenda items must be sent to members two weeks in advance.<br />
<br />
Dissent from NGO members regarding projects likely to have negative impacts was reportedly brushed aside by the Chair. Subsequent dissent notes were, however, included in the minutes, though they were posted online without waiting for members&rsquo; comments.<br />
<br />
The NBWL has faced governance problems for years. A number of crucial conservation issues, like mining in wildlife habitats, declaration of eco-sensitive areas among others have not been taken up in the last three or four meetings.<br />
<br />
While the MoEF insists that that stringent conditions are imposed to minimise damage from developmental projects, it is well aware of its abysmal record in enforcing compliance to such conditions.<br />
<br />
Research based on RTI data obtained by colleagues in Kalpavriksh revealed that of the over 6,000 projects given clearance, officers can check on them once every three to four years. Conditional clearance is a colossal fraud on the nation.<br />
<br />
The NTCA suffers from similar problems. Its meetings are few and far between (the last two were in January 2010 and March 2011). Minutes regularly do not reflect full discussions, leaving out inconvenient or uncomfortable issues taken up by non-official members.<br />
<br />
The minutes of the March 2011 meeting do not reflect the minister&rsquo;s own observations that the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Sanctuary (BRTS) was improperly notified as a tiger reserve by the Karnataka state government, without waiting for final approval from NTCA.<br />
<br />
It is obvious that these Committees are facing serious crises, with NGO members being forced to accept decisions arrived at by powerful individuals in the MoEF. While some have protested, many are not even raising their voice.<br />
<br />
If civil society is silenced or resorts to self-censorship, the Committees cannot do a good job of conserving India&rsquo;s wildlife.<br />
<br />
<em>(Ashish Kothari is associated with Kalpavriksh, Pune. The views expressed by the author are personal)</em>
</div>',
'credit_writer' => 'The Hindustan Times, 29 May, 2011, http://www.hindustantimes.com/Hawking-our-habitats/H1-Article1-703441.aspx',
'article_img' => '',
'article_img_thumb' => '',
'status' => (int) 1,
'show_on_home' => (int) 1,
'lang' => 'EN',
'category_id' => (int) 16,
'tag_keyword' => '',
'seo_url' => 'hawking-our-habitats-by-ashish-kothari-8033',
'meta_title' => null,
'meta_keywords' => null,
'meta_description' => null,
'noindex' => (int) 0,
'publish_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {},
'most_visit_section_id' => null,
'article_big_img' => null,
'liveid' => (int) 8033,
'created' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
'modified' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
'edate' => '',
'tags' => [
(int) 0 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {}
],
'category' => object(App\Model\Entity\Category) {},
'[new]' => false,
'[accessible]' => [
'*' => true,
'id' => false
],
'[dirty]' => [],
'[original]' => [],
'[virtual]' => [],
'[hasErrors]' => false,
'[errors]' => [],
'[invalid]' => [],
'[repository]' => 'Articles'
}
$articleid = (int) 7933
$metaTitle = 'LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Hawking our habitats by Ashish Kothari'
$metaKeywords = 'Environment'
$metaDesc = '
The two most important national level committees responsible for wildlife conservation in India are increasingly being turned into rubber stamps for whatever officialdom wants done. The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has become a forum to greenwash a host of...'
$disp = '<br /><div align="justify">The two most important national level committees responsible for wildlife conservation in India are increasingly being turned into rubber stamps for whatever officialdom wants done. The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has become a forum to greenwash a host of &lsquo;development&rsquo; projects that threaten wildlife habitats, while the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) continues to steamroller a blinkered model of conservation.<br /><br />In both, civil society members have been reduced to either ineffective dissent, or silent complicity.<br /><br />A meeting of the NBWL Standing Committee on April 25, chaired by the minister of state for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh, dealt with nearly 60 infrastructure and other projects in/around wildlife habitats in two hours.<br /><br />About 30 of the agenda items were sent to members two days before the meeting, while the notification setting up the Standing Committee states that agenda items must be sent to members two weeks in advance.<br /><br />Dissent from NGO members regarding projects likely to have negative impacts was reportedly brushed aside by the Chair. Subsequent dissent notes were, however, included in the minutes, though they were posted online without waiting for members&rsquo; comments.<br /><br />The NBWL has faced governance problems for years. A number of crucial conservation issues, like mining in wildlife habitats, declaration of eco-sensitive areas among others have not been taken up in the last three or four meetings.<br /><br />While the MoEF insists that that stringent conditions are imposed to minimise damage from developmental projects, it is well aware of its abysmal record in enforcing compliance to such conditions.<br /><br />Research based on RTI data obtained by colleagues in Kalpavriksh revealed that of the over 6,000 projects given clearance, officers can check on them once every three to four years. Conditional clearance is a colossal fraud on the nation.<br /><br />The NTCA suffers from similar problems. Its meetings are few and far between (the last two were in January 2010 and March 2011). Minutes regularly do not reflect full discussions, leaving out inconvenient or uncomfortable issues taken up by non-official members.<br /><br />The minutes of the March 2011 meeting do not reflect the minister&rsquo;s own observations that the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Sanctuary (BRTS) was improperly notified as a tiger reserve by the Karnataka state government, without waiting for final approval from NTCA.<br /><br />It is obvious that these Committees are facing serious crises, with NGO members being forced to accept decisions arrived at by powerful individuals in the MoEF. While some have protested, many are not even raising their voice.<br /><br />If civil society is silenced or resorts to self-censorship, the Committees cannot do a good job of conserving India&rsquo;s wildlife.<br /><br /><em>(Ashish Kothari is associated with Kalpavriksh, Pune. The views expressed by the author are personal)</em></div>'
$lang = 'English'
$SITE_URL = 'https://im4change.in/'
$site_title = 'im4change'
$adminprix = 'admin'</pre><pre class="stack-trace">include - APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp, line 8
Cake\View\View::_evaluate() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 1413
Cake\View\View::_render() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 1374
Cake\View\View::renderLayout() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 927
Cake\View\View::render() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 885
Cake\Controller\Controller::render() - CORE/src/Controller/Controller.php, line 791
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 126
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 94
Cake\Http\BaseApplication::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/BaseApplication.php, line 235
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/RoutingMiddleware.php, line 162
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/AssetMiddleware.php, line 88
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Error/Middleware/ErrorHandlerMiddleware.php, line 96
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Http\Runner::run() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 51</pre></div></pre>latest-news-updates/hawking-our-habitats-by-ashish-kothari-8033.html"/>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/>
<link href="https://im4change.in/css/control.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"
media="all"/>
<title>LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Hawking our habitats by Ashish Kothari | Im4change.org</title>
<meta name="description" content="
The two most important national level committees responsible for wildlife conservation in India are increasingly being turned into rubber stamps for whatever officialdom wants done. The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has become a forum to greenwash a host of..."/>
<script src="https://im4change.in/js/jquery-1.10.2.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://im4change.in/js/jquery-migrate.min.js"></script>
<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">
$(document).ready(function () {
var img = $("img")[0]; // Get my img elem
var pic_real_width, pic_real_height;
$("<img/>") // Make in memory copy of image to avoid css issues
.attr("src", $(img).attr("src"))
.load(function () {
pic_real_width = this.width; // Note: $(this).width() will not
pic_real_height = this.height; // work for in memory images.
});
});
</script>
<style type="text/css">
@media screen {
div.divFooter {
display: block;
}
}
@media print {
.printbutton {
display: none !important;
}
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="98%" align="center">
<tr>
<td class="top_bg">
<div class="divFooter">
<img src="https://im4change.in/images/logo1.jpg" height="59" border="0"
alt="Resource centre on India's rural distress" style="padding-top:14px;"/>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td id="topspace"> </td>
</tr>
<tr id="topspace">
<td> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td height="50" style="border-bottom:1px solid #000; padding-top:10px;" class="printbutton">
<form><input type="button" value=" Print this page "
onclick="window.print();return false;"/></form>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="100%">
<h1 class="news_headlines" style="font-style:normal">
<strong>Hawking our habitats by Ashish Kothari</strong></h1>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="100%" style="font-family:Arial, 'Segoe Script', 'Segoe UI', sans-serif, serif"><font size="3">
<br /><div align="justify">The two most important national level committees responsible for wildlife conservation in India are increasingly being turned into rubber stamps for whatever officialdom wants done. The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has become a forum to greenwash a host of ‘development’ projects that threaten wildlife habitats, while the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) continues to steamroller a blinkered model of conservation.<br /><br />In both, civil society members have been reduced to either ineffective dissent, or silent complicity.<br /><br />A meeting of the NBWL Standing Committee on April 25, chaired by the minister of state for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh, dealt with nearly 60 infrastructure and other projects in/around wildlife habitats in two hours.<br /><br />About 30 of the agenda items were sent to members two days before the meeting, while the notification setting up the Standing Committee states that agenda items must be sent to members two weeks in advance.<br /><br />Dissent from NGO members regarding projects likely to have negative impacts was reportedly brushed aside by the Chair. Subsequent dissent notes were, however, included in the minutes, though they were posted online without waiting for members’ comments.<br /><br />The NBWL has faced governance problems for years. A number of crucial conservation issues, like mining in wildlife habitats, declaration of eco-sensitive areas among others have not been taken up in the last three or four meetings.<br /><br />While the MoEF insists that that stringent conditions are imposed to minimise damage from developmental projects, it is well aware of its abysmal record in enforcing compliance to such conditions.<br /><br />Research based on RTI data obtained by colleagues in Kalpavriksh revealed that of the over 6,000 projects given clearance, officers can check on them once every three to four years. Conditional clearance is a colossal fraud on the nation.<br /><br />The NTCA suffers from similar problems. Its meetings are few and far between (the last two were in January 2010 and March 2011). Minutes regularly do not reflect full discussions, leaving out inconvenient or uncomfortable issues taken up by non-official members.<br /><br />The minutes of the March 2011 meeting do not reflect the minister’s own observations that the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Sanctuary (BRTS) was improperly notified as a tiger reserve by the Karnataka state government, without waiting for final approval from NTCA.<br /><br />It is obvious that these Committees are facing serious crises, with NGO members being forced to accept decisions arrived at by powerful individuals in the MoEF. While some have protested, many are not even raising their voice.<br /><br />If civil society is silenced or resorts to self-censorship, the Committees cannot do a good job of conserving India’s wildlife.<br /><br /><em>(Ashish Kothari is associated with Kalpavriksh, Pune. The views expressed by the author are personal)</em></div> </font>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td height="50" style="border-top:1px solid #000; border-bottom:1px solid #000;padding-top:10px;">
<form><input type="button" value=" Print this page "
onclick="window.print();return false;"/></form>
</td>
</tr>
</table></body>
</html>'
}
$cookies = []
$values = [
(int) 0 => 'text/html; charset=UTF-8'
]
$name = 'Content-Type'
$first = true
$value = 'text/html; charset=UTF-8'
header - [internal], line ??
Cake\Http\ResponseEmitter::emitHeaders() - CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181
Cake\Http\ResponseEmitter::emit() - CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 55
Cake\Http\Server::emit() - CORE/src/Http/Server.php, line 141
[main] - ROOT/webroot/index.php, line 39
Notice (8): Undefined variable: urlPrefix [APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp, line 8]
$viewFile = '/home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp'
$dataForView = [
'article_current' => object(App\Model\Entity\Article) {
'id' => (int) 7933,
'title' => 'Hawking our habitats by Ashish Kothari',
'subheading' => '',
'description' => '<br />
<div align="justify">
The two most important national level committees responsible for wildlife conservation in India are increasingly being turned into rubber stamps for whatever officialdom wants done. The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has become a forum to greenwash a host of ‘development’ projects that threaten wildlife habitats, while the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) continues to steamroller a blinkered model of conservation.<br />
<br />
In both, civil society members have been reduced to either ineffective dissent, or silent complicity.<br />
<br />
A meeting of the NBWL Standing Committee on April 25, chaired by the minister of state for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh, dealt with nearly 60 infrastructure and other projects in/around wildlife habitats in two hours.<br />
<br />
About 30 of the agenda items were sent to members two days before the meeting, while the notification setting up the Standing Committee states that agenda items must be sent to members two weeks in advance.<br />
<br />
Dissent from NGO members regarding projects likely to have negative impacts was reportedly brushed aside by the Chair. Subsequent dissent notes were, however, included in the minutes, though they were posted online without waiting for members’ comments.<br />
<br />
The NBWL has faced governance problems for years. A number of crucial conservation issues, like mining in wildlife habitats, declaration of eco-sensitive areas among others have not been taken up in the last three or four meetings.<br />
<br />
While the MoEF insists that that stringent conditions are imposed to minimise damage from developmental projects, it is well aware of its abysmal record in enforcing compliance to such conditions.<br />
<br />
Research based on RTI data obtained by colleagues in Kalpavriksh revealed that of the over 6,000 projects given clearance, officers can check on them once every three to four years. Conditional clearance is a colossal fraud on the nation.<br />
<br />
The NTCA suffers from similar problems. Its meetings are few and far between (the last two were in January 2010 and March 2011). Minutes regularly do not reflect full discussions, leaving out inconvenient or uncomfortable issues taken up by non-official members.<br />
<br />
The minutes of the March 2011 meeting do not reflect the minister’s own observations that the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Sanctuary (BRTS) was improperly notified as a tiger reserve by the Karnataka state government, without waiting for final approval from NTCA.<br />
<br />
It is obvious that these Committees are facing serious crises, with NGO members being forced to accept decisions arrived at by powerful individuals in the MoEF. While some have protested, many are not even raising their voice.<br />
<br />
If civil society is silenced or resorts to self-censorship, the Committees cannot do a good job of conserving India’s wildlife.<br />
<br />
<em>(Ashish Kothari is associated with Kalpavriksh, Pune. The views expressed by the author are personal)</em>
</div>',
'credit_writer' => 'The Hindustan Times, 29 May, 2011, http://www.hindustantimes.com/Hawking-our-habitats/H1-Article1-703441.aspx',
'article_img' => '',
'article_img_thumb' => '',
'status' => (int) 1,
'show_on_home' => (int) 1,
'lang' => 'EN',
'category_id' => (int) 16,
'tag_keyword' => '',
'seo_url' => 'hawking-our-habitats-by-ashish-kothari-8033',
'meta_title' => null,
'meta_keywords' => null,
'meta_description' => null,
'noindex' => (int) 0,
'publish_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {},
'most_visit_section_id' => null,
'article_big_img' => null,
'liveid' => (int) 8033,
'created' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
'modified' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
'edate' => '',
'tags' => [
[maximum depth reached]
],
'category' => object(App\Model\Entity\Category) {},
'[new]' => false,
'[accessible]' => [
[maximum depth reached]
],
'[dirty]' => [[maximum depth reached]],
'[original]' => [[maximum depth reached]],
'[virtual]' => [[maximum depth reached]],
'[hasErrors]' => false,
'[errors]' => [[maximum depth reached]],
'[invalid]' => [[maximum depth reached]],
'[repository]' => 'Articles'
},
'articleid' => (int) 7933,
'metaTitle' => 'LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Hawking our habitats by Ashish Kothari',
'metaKeywords' => 'Environment',
'metaDesc' => '
The two most important national level committees responsible for wildlife conservation in India are increasingly being turned into rubber stamps for whatever officialdom wants done. The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has become a forum to greenwash a host of...',
'disp' => '<br /><div align="justify">The two most important national level committees responsible for wildlife conservation in India are increasingly being turned into rubber stamps for whatever officialdom wants done. The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has become a forum to greenwash a host of ‘development’ projects that threaten wildlife habitats, while the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) continues to steamroller a blinkered model of conservation.<br /><br />In both, civil society members have been reduced to either ineffective dissent, or silent complicity.<br /><br />A meeting of the NBWL Standing Committee on April 25, chaired by the minister of state for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh, dealt with nearly 60 infrastructure and other projects in/around wildlife habitats in two hours.<br /><br />About 30 of the agenda items were sent to members two days before the meeting, while the notification setting up the Standing Committee states that agenda items must be sent to members two weeks in advance.<br /><br />Dissent from NGO members regarding projects likely to have negative impacts was reportedly brushed aside by the Chair. Subsequent dissent notes were, however, included in the minutes, though they were posted online without waiting for members’ comments.<br /><br />The NBWL has faced governance problems for years. A number of crucial conservation issues, like mining in wildlife habitats, declaration of eco-sensitive areas among others have not been taken up in the last three or four meetings.<br /><br />While the MoEF insists that that stringent conditions are imposed to minimise damage from developmental projects, it is well aware of its abysmal record in enforcing compliance to such conditions.<br /><br />Research based on RTI data obtained by colleagues in Kalpavriksh revealed that of the over 6,000 projects given clearance, officers can check on them once every three to four years. Conditional clearance is a colossal fraud on the nation.<br /><br />The NTCA suffers from similar problems. Its meetings are few and far between (the last two were in January 2010 and March 2011). Minutes regularly do not reflect full discussions, leaving out inconvenient or uncomfortable issues taken up by non-official members.<br /><br />The minutes of the March 2011 meeting do not reflect the minister’s own observations that the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Sanctuary (BRTS) was improperly notified as a tiger reserve by the Karnataka state government, without waiting for final approval from NTCA.<br /><br />It is obvious that these Committees are facing serious crises, with NGO members being forced to accept decisions arrived at by powerful individuals in the MoEF. While some have protested, many are not even raising their voice.<br /><br />If civil society is silenced or resorts to self-censorship, the Committees cannot do a good job of conserving India’s wildlife.<br /><br /><em>(Ashish Kothari is associated with Kalpavriksh, Pune. The views expressed by the author are personal)</em></div>',
'lang' => 'English',
'SITE_URL' => 'https://im4change.in/',
'site_title' => 'im4change',
'adminprix' => 'admin'
]
$article_current = object(App\Model\Entity\Article) {
'id' => (int) 7933,
'title' => 'Hawking our habitats by Ashish Kothari',
'subheading' => '',
'description' => '<br />
<div align="justify">
The two most important national level committees responsible for wildlife conservation in India are increasingly being turned into rubber stamps for whatever officialdom wants done. The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has become a forum to greenwash a host of ‘development’ projects that threaten wildlife habitats, while the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) continues to steamroller a blinkered model of conservation.<br />
<br />
In both, civil society members have been reduced to either ineffective dissent, or silent complicity.<br />
<br />
A meeting of the NBWL Standing Committee on April 25, chaired by the minister of state for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh, dealt with nearly 60 infrastructure and other projects in/around wildlife habitats in two hours.<br />
<br />
About 30 of the agenda items were sent to members two days before the meeting, while the notification setting up the Standing Committee states that agenda items must be sent to members two weeks in advance.<br />
<br />
Dissent from NGO members regarding projects likely to have negative impacts was reportedly brushed aside by the Chair. Subsequent dissent notes were, however, included in the minutes, though they were posted online without waiting for members’ comments.<br />
<br />
The NBWL has faced governance problems for years. A number of crucial conservation issues, like mining in wildlife habitats, declaration of eco-sensitive areas among others have not been taken up in the last three or four meetings.<br />
<br />
While the MoEF insists that that stringent conditions are imposed to minimise damage from developmental projects, it is well aware of its abysmal record in enforcing compliance to such conditions.<br />
<br />
Research based on RTI data obtained by colleagues in Kalpavriksh revealed that of the over 6,000 projects given clearance, officers can check on them once every three to four years. Conditional clearance is a colossal fraud on the nation.<br />
<br />
The NTCA suffers from similar problems. Its meetings are few and far between (the last two were in January 2010 and March 2011). Minutes regularly do not reflect full discussions, leaving out inconvenient or uncomfortable issues taken up by non-official members.<br />
<br />
The minutes of the March 2011 meeting do not reflect the minister’s own observations that the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Sanctuary (BRTS) was improperly notified as a tiger reserve by the Karnataka state government, without waiting for final approval from NTCA.<br />
<br />
It is obvious that these Committees are facing serious crises, with NGO members being forced to accept decisions arrived at by powerful individuals in the MoEF. While some have protested, many are not even raising their voice.<br />
<br />
If civil society is silenced or resorts to self-censorship, the Committees cannot do a good job of conserving India’s wildlife.<br />
<br />
<em>(Ashish Kothari is associated with Kalpavriksh, Pune. The views expressed by the author are personal)</em>
</div>',
'credit_writer' => 'The Hindustan Times, 29 May, 2011, http://www.hindustantimes.com/Hawking-our-habitats/H1-Article1-703441.aspx',
'article_img' => '',
'article_img_thumb' => '',
'status' => (int) 1,
'show_on_home' => (int) 1,
'lang' => 'EN',
'category_id' => (int) 16,
'tag_keyword' => '',
'seo_url' => 'hawking-our-habitats-by-ashish-kothari-8033',
'meta_title' => null,
'meta_keywords' => null,
'meta_description' => null,
'noindex' => (int) 0,
'publish_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {},
'most_visit_section_id' => null,
'article_big_img' => null,
'liveid' => (int) 8033,
'created' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
'modified' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenTime) {},
'edate' => '',
'tags' => [
(int) 0 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {}
],
'category' => object(App\Model\Entity\Category) {},
'[new]' => false,
'[accessible]' => [
'*' => true,
'id' => false
],
'[dirty]' => [],
'[original]' => [],
'[virtual]' => [],
'[hasErrors]' => false,
'[errors]' => [],
'[invalid]' => [],
'[repository]' => 'Articles'
}
$articleid = (int) 7933
$metaTitle = 'LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Hawking our habitats by Ashish Kothari'
$metaKeywords = 'Environment'
$metaDesc = '
The two most important national level committees responsible for wildlife conservation in India are increasingly being turned into rubber stamps for whatever officialdom wants done. The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has become a forum to greenwash a host of...'
$disp = '<br /><div align="justify">The two most important national level committees responsible for wildlife conservation in India are increasingly being turned into rubber stamps for whatever officialdom wants done. The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has become a forum to greenwash a host of ‘development’ projects that threaten wildlife habitats, while the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) continues to steamroller a blinkered model of conservation.<br /><br />In both, civil society members have been reduced to either ineffective dissent, or silent complicity.<br /><br />A meeting of the NBWL Standing Committee on April 25, chaired by the minister of state for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh, dealt with nearly 60 infrastructure and other projects in/around wildlife habitats in two hours.<br /><br />About 30 of the agenda items were sent to members two days before the meeting, while the notification setting up the Standing Committee states that agenda items must be sent to members two weeks in advance.<br /><br />Dissent from NGO members regarding projects likely to have negative impacts was reportedly brushed aside by the Chair. Subsequent dissent notes were, however, included in the minutes, though they were posted online without waiting for members’ comments.<br /><br />The NBWL has faced governance problems for years. A number of crucial conservation issues, like mining in wildlife habitats, declaration of eco-sensitive areas among others have not been taken up in the last three or four meetings.<br /><br />While the MoEF insists that that stringent conditions are imposed to minimise damage from developmental projects, it is well aware of its abysmal record in enforcing compliance to such conditions.<br /><br />Research based on RTI data obtained by colleagues in Kalpavriksh revealed that of the over 6,000 projects given clearance, officers can check on them once every three to four years. Conditional clearance is a colossal fraud on the nation.<br /><br />The NTCA suffers from similar problems. Its meetings are few and far between (the last two were in January 2010 and March 2011). Minutes regularly do not reflect full discussions, leaving out inconvenient or uncomfortable issues taken up by non-official members.<br /><br />The minutes of the March 2011 meeting do not reflect the minister’s own observations that the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Sanctuary (BRTS) was improperly notified as a tiger reserve by the Karnataka state government, without waiting for final approval from NTCA.<br /><br />It is obvious that these Committees are facing serious crises, with NGO members being forced to accept decisions arrived at by powerful individuals in the MoEF. While some have protested, many are not even raising their voice.<br /><br />If civil society is silenced or resorts to self-censorship, the Committees cannot do a good job of conserving India’s wildlife.<br /><br /><em>(Ashish Kothari is associated with Kalpavriksh, Pune. The views expressed by the author are personal)</em></div>'
$lang = 'English'
$SITE_URL = 'https://im4change.in/'
$site_title = 'im4change'
$adminprix = 'admin'
include - APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp, line 8
Cake\View\View::_evaluate() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 1413
Cake\View\View::_render() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 1374
Cake\View\View::renderLayout() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 927
Cake\View\View::render() - CORE/src/View/View.php, line 885
Cake\Controller\Controller::render() - CORE/src/Controller/Controller.php, line 791
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 126
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 94
Cake\Http\BaseApplication::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/BaseApplication.php, line 235
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/RoutingMiddleware.php, line 162
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/AssetMiddleware.php, line 88
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Error/Middleware/ErrorHandlerMiddleware.php, line 96
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Http\Runner::run() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 51
The two most important national level committees responsible for wildlife conservation in India are increasingly being turned into rubber stamps for whatever officialdom wants done. The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has become a forum to greenwash a host of ‘development’ projects that threaten wildlife habitats, while the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) continues to steamroller a blinkered model of conservation.
In both, civil society members have been reduced to either ineffective dissent, or silent complicity.
A meeting of the NBWL Standing Committee on April 25, chaired by the minister of state for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh, dealt with nearly 60 infrastructure and other projects in/around wildlife habitats in two hours.
About 30 of the agenda items were sent to members two days before the meeting, while the notification setting up the Standing Committee states that agenda items must be sent to members two weeks in advance.
Dissent from NGO members regarding projects likely to have negative impacts was reportedly brushed aside by the Chair. Subsequent dissent notes were, however, included in the minutes, though they were posted online without waiting for members’ comments.
The NBWL has faced governance problems for years. A number of crucial conservation issues, like mining in wildlife habitats, declaration of eco-sensitive areas among others have not been taken up in the last three or four meetings.
While the MoEF insists that that stringent conditions are imposed to minimise damage from developmental projects, it is well aware of its abysmal record in enforcing compliance to such conditions.
Research based on RTI data obtained by colleagues in Kalpavriksh revealed that of the over 6,000 projects given clearance, officers can check on them once every three to four years. Conditional clearance is a colossal fraud on the nation.
The NTCA suffers from similar problems. Its meetings are few and far between (the last two were in January 2010 and March 2011). Minutes regularly do not reflect full discussions, leaving out inconvenient or uncomfortable issues taken up by non-official members.
The minutes of the March 2011 meeting do not reflect the minister’s own observations that the Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Sanctuary (BRTS) was improperly notified as a tiger reserve by the Karnataka state government, without waiting for final approval from NTCA.
It is obvious that these Committees are facing serious crises, with NGO members being forced to accept decisions arrived at by powerful individuals in the MoEF. While some have protested, many are not even raising their voice.
If civil society is silenced or resorts to self-censorship, the Committees cannot do a good job of conserving India’s wildlife.
(Ashish Kothari is associated with Kalpavriksh, Pune. The views expressed by the author are personal)
