The writer is very much shocked going through a news report in The Pioneer of June 10 that, the Government of India had declared an innocent creature like Nilgai or Blue bull as ‘vermin’.
Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar has misinterpreted the term “vermin” as laid down in Schedule V of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. The real meaning of “vermin” is parasitic warms or insects, common animals and birds, and especially those that injure crops, foods etc. including people who are unpleasant or harmful to society. The Schedule V of the Act says common crow, fruit bats, jackal, mice, rats are vermin.
Javadekar should understand properly his Cabinet colleague Menaka Gandhi, why she is protesting on the decision of the to declare the animal like Nilgai a vermin. Not just the Nilgai of Bihar, but there is a lobby to call the Rhesus monkey of Himachal Pradesh, wild boar of Uttarakhand, Chandrapur elephants of West Bengal and peacocks in Goa as vermin.
The animals like Nilgai, Rhesus monkey, wild boar, and elephants are all herbivorous animals and they live in dense and deep forests and always avoid confrontation with man, but the present situations have compelled them to stray into human habitats to collect their foods as there is no food, water and shelter within the forests.
These are all animals of migratory in nature and move from one place to other for food, water and shelter. As they do not find suitable areas to live peacefully they are frequenting to human habitats and damaging the crops of human beings. The carnivores, who were keeping control over the populations of herbivores, are now almost finished by man. So the number of herbivores is looking significant to us. Similarly, the case of peacocks of Goa are herbivores as well as insectivorous. They keep control over the population of insects and also help in dissemination of seeds. The peacock is a National bird and also a ground bird, which indirectly and directly protects the raised crops from insects and pests of the locality. Most of the forest blocks of Bihar have been lost due to mining and encroachment for various cultivations within the forest lands.
The Union Minister is supposed to be a notable conservationist and wild lifer, whose moral responsibilities are protection of environment and the environment include the wild lives and their habitats.
There are solutions, where the wild creatures of the nature can be protected and the crops raised by the poor peasants can be restored. For example, by changing crop pattern, we can achieve both goals. The species or the crops which the concerned wild animals do not eat and damage, the cultivators of areas should be encouraged to grow, especially the tubers and oil seeds and horticultural species, including cotton etc. Crops which are not edible to wild creatures should be raised by the crop growers and the State Government as well as the Central Government should subsidise the crop growers for the same, because the Central Government is primarily responsible for destroying forest cover of any State.
Both State and Centre should compensate the loss of the crop growers. Although the forest and environment is a State subject, the climate change is the concern of the Union Government. The climate change can only be controlled or improved, if habitats of the wild creatures are well protected and preserved. Moreover, the edible trees and plants, including food bearing trees, should sufficiently be grown in the forests to keep the interests of wild creatures and to reduce the animal pressure and conflict between man and animal to a great extent.
The Wildlife Protection Act and Rules have been made by the man and not by the wild creatures. Any prevailing Act or law of any sovereign State is to award justice for all, which includes wild creatures and their habitats and also habits. This hypocritical decision of Union Government is not acceptable to the most conscientious people of India, where one is there to plead for wild creature. Menaka Gandhi is justified in raising her voice. The writer humbly draws the attention of the Prime Minister of India to take appropriate decision in the matter.
There is every chance that the order for culling the vermin animals will be misused by the killers. The innocent animals and birds of this group, who are not involved in any crime, will be massacred by the unscrupulous people. The Government should take the note of this. Bringing the animals from the Schedule I to IV and grouping under Schedule V of Wild life Protection Act 1972 and declaring them as vermin is nothing other than misuse common law.
(The writer is a former senior forest officer and an environmentalist. Tel no 9937460649)