This is not anything to do with RTI but with ref to recent discussions
to do with RTI'ist Amit Jethwa
Hope this is allowable by the mods
Frontline of a New War: Environmentalists Under threat
'Amit Jethwa shot dead' read the SMS received at about 9 pm on July
21st.. I did not know him personally, but I knew Amit, activist, and
warrior for any ecological cause--be it the case of an elephant being
treated cruelly in a circus or illegal mining in Kodinar bordering Gir
or protesting against a shipyard that would impact the nesting of
olive ridley turtles. It was a sleepless night, and I spent most of it
trying to reconnect, build up history by going through old mails.
There were many over the years covering a myriad of causes, most
marked 'URGENT', most signed off with "Please do needful, and
highlight at national level." One of the first issues he drew my
attention to was what he termed a 'fictional' report by the Gujarat
forest department that said 'wildlife like Great Indian Bustards in
Gujarat is thriving (it's not) and that Gujarat's ecology is not in
danger(I wish)." His detailed note contradicting such superficial
statements was well-researched. Nothing fazed him. He rallied against
the expansion of a cement factory bordering Barda sanctuary, which
also hosts the lion, brought to light smuggling of wood from Gir,
protested against encroachment on a wetland in Bhavnagar. He tired
hard to get suppressed evidence of Salman Khan and his colleagues'
alleged killing of Chinkara in Banni in Gujarat during the shoot of
Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam.
One of his major fights was limestone quarrying in a critical lion
corridor and its faulty, fraudulent Environment Impact Assessment.
Amit's campaign against illegal mining in Saurashtra was relentless.
And possibly, he paid for this with his life.
Amit was among those rare beings who looked beyond their own narrow
world, and put the cause before their own self. He cared. With him,
environment and wildlife has lost a fierce protector.
Such incidents are common place in the Amazon, where the struggle to
save the tropical forests has claimed many victims. Here in India,
Amit's tragic death highlights a dangerous trend of environmental
groups and activists increasingly under threat and victimized for
protesting against, and coming in the way of projects with grave
ecological consequences. Early July, a friend called with the news
that a young couple Kavita and Shiv Prasad from Syalna a village in
Pauri Garwal were beaten up and stoned for protesting against illegal
timber felling. Kavita almost lost the baby she was carrying. The
police was not interested in filing an FIR, the hospital was delaying
in issuing a medical report, and the couple needed some police
protection—the goons were still threatening them. Could I help, did I
know someone 'higher-up' to counter the influence of the timber lobby?
A few months back, Debi Goenka and his colleagues of Conservation
Action Trust were attacked by land sharks at Kandarpada-Dahisar in
Mumbai while they were surveying mangroves. Conservationists Bittu
Sahgal and Shailendra Yashwant were sued when they opposed the setting
up of a pesticide plant by United Phosphorus in Vapi in Gujarat.
Conservation scientist Dr Ullas Karanth and his colleagues who fought
mining in Kudremukh National Park suffered through a relentless
disinformation and slander campaign. The number of forest staff that's
has been threatened and murdered by poachers and timber smugglers is
legion. The list is endless, and such targeted persecution is a
worldwide phenomenon: I will only quote the brutal killing of two
environmental activists who opposed mining projects in the central
Cabañas (El Salvador) in December 2009. One of them, Dora Alicia
Recinos Sorto, was eight months pregnant when shot dead in front of
her two-year-old child, also wounded in the attack.
At equal risk are reporters who cover environment. So much so, that
Environment reporting has been called the 'Front Line of a New War' .
Reporters Sans Frontieres, the Paris-based media watchdog has
published two consequent reports which state that exposing
deforestation, pollution and environmental damages may be dangerous in
many countries—including India--and has drawn attention to 13 cases of
journalists and bloggers who have gone missing (probably killed),
savagely assaulted, jailed, threatened or censored because they were
trying to turn the spotlight on environment destruction. For
instance, Bulgarian reporter Maria Nikolaeva was threatened with
having acid thrown in her face.
I know where that comes from. A colleague was nearly run over by
illegal miners in Goa, another faced dire consequences for exposing
illegal encroachment. I have been threatened, detained and my driver
roughed up by miners and ivory traders have vented their ire.
Fact is: the stakes in environment are very high and in an unequal
society the fight to control fast depleting natural resources is
getting edgier throwing communities and big corporates into bitter
battle. For long, the perpetrators got away. Now, when projects with
grave ecological consequences are questioned, those who uncover and
expose the inconvenient truth put their lives at risk.
@prerna singh bindra
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