ctrl.altered.mind

The BBC reports on a rather bizarre incident in the country’s capital, where a horde of marauding monkeys attacked the deputy mayor at his residence and caused his death as he fell from the first-floor terrace of his home.

The unfortunate incident illustrates a problem that has grown out of hand, in part due to the fact that monkeys are revered by Hindus as they represent Lord Hanuman, and perhaps more importantly due to the severe encroachment of urban development upon the monkeys’ natural habitat. Forest cover is an endangered resource in India, due to decades of poor regulation and feckless enforcement. While deforestation may have been arrested since the National Forestry Policy was adopted in 1988, cover still exists for just about 19.39% (the world average is 27%, and the policy ambitiously targets that 33% of India’s land mass be brought under forest cover).

While the rest of the world is just beginning to realize the importance of a conservationist attitude and the value of being green, this change in attitude becomes even more imperative for our country and it can only be hoped that extraordinary incidents such as this one would help draw focus towards the grave ecological issues at hand.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007 at 9:29 pm and is filed under India.