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Congress MP Jyotiraditya Scindia urges separate ministry for wildlife
The dwindling Indian tigers have found more advocates in parliament with Congress MP Jyotiraditya Scindia demanding a separate ministry for wildlife protection.
The dwindling Indian tigers have found more advocates in parliament with Congress MP Jyotiraditya Scindia demanding a separate ministry for wildlife protection.
"Our national animal - the tiger - is facing extinction. Its number has been coming down every year. Former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi had suggested a separate ministry for wildlife," said Scindia, raising the issue in the Lok Sabha during zero hour Tuesday.
"Nothing has been done so far. I urge the government to take immediate steps for the formation of a (wildlife) ministry," he added.
Scindia also reminded the members that the number of big cats in the Indian jungles a century ago was 40,000, which has now come down to 3,000.
Pointing out that tigers had become a trade item with an annual turnover of $12 million globally, Scindia said tiger teeth costs Rs.5,000 each and its bones sold at Rs.18,000 a kg. "But it costs just Rs.40 to kill a tiger here."
He also demanded that the government introduce stringent laws against poachers and tiger traders.
Speaker Somnath Chatterjee observed: "It is a matter of national importance and the whole house associates with the (member's) views."
Tigers in India, home to the world's largest tiger population, have dwindled alarmingly due to poaching and killing by villagers.
Some wildlife experts say there are barely 2,000 tigers left in India though the official census puts it at 3,700.
Though trading in dead tigers is illegal, a single carcass reportedly can fetch up to $50,000 on the international market.
