Newsroom24x7 Exclusive

Today, on Earth Day, Newsroom24x7 joins the global environmental movement that began in 1970 to express concern about increasing threats to Mother Earth and put environmental concerns in focus.

A number of risks and practices are threatening our forests, wildlife, wetlands and the environment. These are:

– Disintegration of natural habitats and the remaining forest corridors due to rapid development and human pressure.
– Pollution due to the reckless dumping and disposal of waste and the destruction of the ecosystem and the threat to aquatic and avian species.
– Destruction of natural habitats because of unlawful mining, logging of timber, grazing, man-made forest fires, large-scale commercial exploitation of minor forest produce, use of chemical pesticides, and fishing practices.

To mark Earth Day 2015, we are joining hands with CREW† and once again placing in the public domain two reports Vanishing Stripes (1999) and Vanishing Stripes-II (2000) [released by Crew (Crusade for revival of Environment and wildlife)] to issue the firm warning that Tiger’s survival is threatened by poaching and loss of prey-base. These reports rang the warning bells by underscoring the gravity of the problem. They drew the attention of the entire world to the fact that tiger is threatened and is on the verge of extinction in one of its most fantastic habitats – the Central Indian Highlands.

Today, It is a pity and such shame for humanity the way the tiger population has been dwindling. Poachers have kept striking at will. The tiger habitat has been methodically encroached – an activity diabolically supported by politicians to win votes and stay riveted to power. Whatever remains of the tiger habitat is being plundered by the mining mafia and illegal fellers or else the so called stakeholders who are robbing the forests and the entire biodiversity base through reckless grazing and minor forest produce collection. Let us go back a few years. In 2009 Panna Tiger Reserve, not far from Bandhavgarh where this sordid killing of a tiger cub took place last week, all the tigers had been eliminated. After a few years of relocating and breeding under controlled conditions Panna is again boasting of tiger numbers. At least I am not proud of Panna. I am not interested in authorities flaunting tiger numbers because what is required is protection of forests and their corridors to such an extent that there is no man animal conflict and tigers are left with the necessary privacy and prey base to ensure they breed and thrive in their natural surrounding.     Read More…

There has been a shocking case of poaching of a tiger cub in the farmhouse of Madhya Pradesh Assembly Deputy Speaker Rajendra Singh adjoining Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh.’

The body of the tiger cub was found hanging in a noose at the farm house of the Deputy Speaker . The farm-house in question is on the periphery of the core area of Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve. Read more…  

While the proposal of Rio Tinto Exploration India Private Limited for prospecting of diamond in 2329.75 hectare of forest land located in Buxwaha range of Chhatarpur district in Madhya Pradesh is pending with the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change on the issue of “compliance”, recent investigations by Newsroom24x7 have revealed that the TOR (terms of reference) issued to Rio Tinto Exploration India Private Limited, the Indian subsidiary of diamond giant Rio Tinto, by Government of India Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF) and the proposal for Bunder Diamond Mine in Chattarpur district of Madhya Pradesh submitted in April 2012, have already thrown up questions that remain unanswered in the public domain. These relate to gaping gaps with relation to impact on environment, wildlife, flora and fauna and lives of the stakeholders. Read More…

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†CREW is a society registered in 1997 under the Society Registration Act 1973 of the Central Indian State of Madhya Pradesh. It is Central India’s primary Centre for policy and enforcement regarding conservation and management of natural resources, wildlife and biodiversity. CREW uses digital media for wider dissemination of knowledge and information relating to natural environment and factors threatening environmental balance. Crew launched a major awareness campaign in central India with its documentary “water Birds of Bhopal” shot mainly around Van Vihar National Park and the Upper Lake in Bhopal, the capital of the central Indian State of Madhya Pradesh. Upper Lake is part of a huge wetland recognized by the Ramsar Convention as an important wetland site.