The Rajya Sabha on December 8 passed the Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Bill, 2022 which is intended to amend the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 to incorporate more species protected under the law.
The Lok Sabha passed the Bill during the Monsoon session earlier this year.
The Bill seeks to implement India’s obligations under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which requires countries to regulate the trade of all listed specimens through permits.
The Bill was brought because CITES requires an independent framework for the protection of wildlife, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said in the upper house.
While protecting forest land is critical, it is equally important to safeguard the rights of the people who have been residing there since ages. The NDA government has taken steps to increase the green cover in the country since taking over the reins in 2014, and it is bound to protect wildlife according to the provisions of the law, the Minister said.
“To protect the wildlife, not only should the laws be strict but their implementation should also be equally stringent. Real estate sharks are using their money and muscle power or their contacts in the bureaucracy and in the government for not implementing the laws,” Congress Rajya Sabha member Kumar Ketkar said during a discussion on the Bill in the Upper House.
“At present, when we are talking here about this Act, Nicobar jungles are being completely ruined and removed for the benefit of some corporates. So essentially, the wildlife is actually attacked not by humans but by the corporates and, sometimes, by the celebrity Bollywood-types,” he said.
