59 tiger deaths this year; MP tops chart with 13
Showing posts with label MOUs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MOUs. Show all posts
Monday, November 23, 2009
MP leads in Tiger deaths as state govt refuses to bring in accountability
Jairam Ramesh, central Minister MOEF today made a statement in Rajya Sabha expressing concern at the doubling of tiger deaths in INdia to 58 as against 29 last year. Leading the list is Madhya Pradesh with 13 deaths. For months now the centre has been pushing state govt to sign the tripartite agreement with NTCA but babus and politicians in the state have been holding out fearing increased accountability and responsibility will make them more answerable for their actions. The agreement makes it mandatory for each tiger reserve to ensure compliance with wildlife laws and holds the field director responsible for any lapses. At the same time it also ensures direct and timely flow of funds to the reserves bypassingred tape ridden state govts. The agreement has already been signed by all other states with tiger reserves and with MP refusing to come on board it wouldnt be surprising if the state continues to be the leader tiger killings.
Monday, September 21, 2009
MP govt holding out on signing binding agreement to make its officials more accountable
Despite being in the limelight for being the state with the largest area under tiger reserves, MP govt rather than leading by example is telling us what exactly afflicts wildlife conservation in India. Official apathy, lack of accountability and protecting own turf at the expense of public good are some of the reasons why despite immense media and public pressure there has been little improvement in widlife conservation.
The centre has signed the new tripartite agreement with many other states. As we have posted earlier, the agreement makes flow of funds easier to the parks bypasssing the state wildlife ministries which are mostly corrupt and inept and are the biggestobstacles in money reaching genuine beneficiaries. The agreement alsomakes forest directors directly liable for penal action for the condition of the reserve. As we have seen in MP itself the director of Panna national park publicly claimed till last year that the park had a healthy population of tigers. After it was declared in march this year that alltigers had been killed the field director was actually promoted to the ministry of forest. Such officials need to be charged wtih criminal conspiracy and neglect so that they take their job seriously.
MP govt babus need to realise that tiger conservation is a matter of India's prestige and not about protecting state's turf over the matter. Since so many other states have willingly signed on the dotted line there should be no reason for further delay.
Madhya Pradesh opposes mooted MOU on tiger conservation
Now tiger sanctuaries will be evaluated by independent experts
Keen to ensure best practices are introduced in tiger conservation, the centre has constitued 5 committees of experts for evaluating the management and functioninig of tigers reserves across India, reports TOI today. The evaluation will be done basis parameters set by WII and commitees will include tiger experts like Belinda Wright. Now that the centre is signing legally binding MOUs with states to make field officials accountable for their actions it might be a a good idea to include some of the parameters in the agreements to ensure consistency across the board.
Panels to evaluate functioning of tiger reserve |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)