The Tag That Binds

The story reads like an Onion-style parody of greedy politics-as-usual.

The story reads like an Onion-style parody of greedy politics-as-usual. Last week, Karnataka Forest Minister CH Vijayashankar, whose state government had infamously presided over the loot of the Bellary reserve forest region between 2003 and 2010, opposed the environment ministry’s move to earn a Unesco natural heritage tag for the Western Ghats region. It would result in a “loss of government control” over the forests, he expostulated. “We have to protect and develop the areas, while Unesco doesn’t give any grants.” He said that “people’s representatives such as MPs and MLAs”, no doubt in particular a certain iron ore-happy brother duo, had opposed the move, and declared there was “no benefit” to be had from such a tag. On Monday, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh shot off a letter to Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa asking him to withdraw his state’s ‘alarmist’ opposition, citing ‘international embarrassment’.

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Shruti Ravindran