The bill was passed by the Lok Sabha on August 3 and aims for better implementation of the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild fauna and Flora (CITES).
The bill was controversial because of a provision introduced that made trading elephants possible, and was later removed because of the tremendous uproar.
While introducing the bill, Yadav said the amendment has been introduced to meet India’s obligations under Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
“India is a member of CITES. The pace at which wildlife resources and species are being lost this agreement was made to address that. In India illegal trade in wildlife is regulated under the Customs Act, Exim policy, Directorate General of Foreign Trade and the Wildlife Protection Act. CITES made a provision for separate regulation for illegal trade in wildlife. UPA did not complete their assurance under CITES. But we are doing it now. Lok Sabha passed it and now I expect this bill to be passed by Rajya Sabha also,” said Yadav.
He added that India’s proposal for transferring Red-crowned roofed turtle and Leith’s Softshell turtle from Appendix II to Appendix I of the CITES to provide greater protection has been adopted by the Conference of Parties (CoP) to CITES in its 19th Meeting at Panama. He added that CITES allowed for freeing up cap on trade in Seesham wood up to 10 kgs providing relief to small artisans.
The bill passed in Lok Sabha has a provision related to the formation of standing committees of the State Boards for Wildlife. This provision is likely to ease the process of wildlife clearances for infrastructure projects at the state level as the panel will mostly consist of official members, experts have said.
A Parliamentary Standing Committee headed by Congress leader Jairam Ramesh in April asked the Centre to provide an explanation of provisions for the transport of captive elephants and some of its recommendations had been accepted by the Centre.
Source: Hindustan Times
