Few people distress me more than Jairam Ramesh, the Minister for Environment and Forests. For two years I and every animal/environment group have supported him because we believed him. Now we all realize that everything he says is a lie. He speaks very well, and is publicity crazy, so it is easy to fall for his “green” language – but his track record is much worse than the last two ministers – Raja and Baalu. Mining licences are given easily, forest clearances have been given, “no go zones” have been made into mining zones, the nuclear plant which is going to destroy so much of land has been cleared, the Mumbai airport which will kill two rivers, one mountain and all the mangroves has been cleared, the last breeding site of vultures in Gujarat has been allowed to be destroyed for a tourist ropeway, Posco and Vedanta were “threatened” and then mysteriously cleared, Mrs Indira Gandhi’s law on no construction on beaches which resulted in the Coastal Zone Regulation Act has been repealed, 85 tigers died last year and the new tiger count showing their increase is very suspicious – I am on the Project Tiger committee from Parliament and not one suggestion made by anyone on the committee has been done in two years, no action has been taken on the railways after dozens of elephant deaths. The Environment Tribunal, is a weak, anti environment, pro-business legislation which I opposed in Parliament. Jairam has a unique way of keeping NGOs quiet – he makes a committee out of them, tells them to draft some rules, look into some Act, come up with proposals…. everybody works for months with great hope, then he does nothing or just the opposite. The Wildlife Act amendments that were worked on for months have been discarded. 

 

It is a rare day in which Jairam does not make up some story. Industry should be and is thrilled with him, but anyone wanting to save any part of India is frightened to death. He has a typical modus operandi. Every time he wants to make some NGO quiet, he pretends to agree with them and to show his great commitment he has a press conference and puts the proposal made by the NGO on his Ministry website. This is supposed to be done only when some action – a law, a notification etc is being done in the next month. However, the proposal lies on the site for over a year and is withdrawn. But till then the hopeful NGO does not criticize him and the press keeps waiting for the legislation. This is what has happened with the pet shop laws. 

 

In the last ten years, thousands of pet shops have spread through India. They smuggle animals and birds in from other countries or poach them from the forests and sell them in black without a licence. Two years ago, the laws to control them were made and passed by the Animal Welfare Board. They were sent to the Ministry. Nothing happened. Then the Minister wanted my endorsement for some nonsense and in return for my keeping quiet he would pass the notification on the pet shop laws. To show his sincerity he would put them on the Environment Ministry website. I fell for this trick!! This was last April. The notification was put and taken off and put and taken off and put again. This will happen for as long as Jairam is Minister because, as he told me privately, he has no intention of doing anything. 

 

In sheer despair, in December 2010 I wrote to the Revenue department, the Central Board of Direct Taxes and the Minister of Finance. The letters are self explanatory: “I am not sure the Ministry of Finance and the CBDT is aware of the sudden and huge spread of “pet shops” across the country. These shops are technically given licences to sell animal food and accessories. But they sell the animals and birds themselves. Every market in Delhi for instance has a pet shop selling birds, dogs, fish (aquarium) etc. Many of them have illegal species in them like turtles, monkeys, snakes etc. which they produce on order. Most of their birds which they claim to be “exotic” are artificially coloured Indian ones poached from the jungles. Even the ones that they claim to have imported – none of them have import licences. 

 

Dogs are coming in illegally by the thousands every week through airlines like Uzbeki Airlines because of an order given four years ago by the then Commerce Minister that 2 dogs could be brought in by anyone coming to India. These are brought by tourists, sold to breeders (ordered in advance by breeders, these tourists are simply professional couriers of dogs). They are not put on the passport and not taken out again. There is no quarantine and many are diseased. There are now hundreds of illegal breeders of dogs selling animals without paying any taxes. The entire sale is in black money with no receipts being given or taken. On an average, business of over 2 crores happens every week in Delhi alone. 

 

Lately, Nepal has also started smuggling dogs to India. A consignment of 50 dogs meant for India was caught a few days ago. Breeders abound on the Net selling dogs. They rarely give correct addresses and many have just phone numbers. Once you pay online, the animal is delivered to your door. It is a different matter that it usually dies in a week. Thousands of people had written to the Ministry of Environment and Forests to make rules regarding the breeding and sale of animals/birds/fish. These rules were even put on the Ministry site in April/May 2010 but were withdrawn as the Minister was “approached” by 22 groups of sellers, all of which are proven smugglers and have spent time in jail for selling wild animals and their parts – and continue to do so even though they are out on bail. 

 

The other group opposing any rules is the Kennel Club of India which is a collection of dog breeders and sellers who earns lakhs of rupees from illegal sales and pay no taxes. I am enclosing a single day’s perusal of the advertisements on the Net. If you would ask someone to list the pet shops in Delhi, it would be more than 500. I have personally had more than 100 raided and caught puppies that came from either the slums of Shadipur or the Uzbekis. You will find the same in any city in India.  

 

I would be grateful if: a. the CBDT would ask the MOEF to make the rules immediately so that this sale could be taxed and rules made. b. if you could issue notices to all these tax evaders and have them arrested if possible. I am sure that they keep private books and several raids would show you the extent of the trade. 

 

With regards Thank God someone listens!!! In March I read in the papers that the Income Tax Department has issued a directive to all its regional offices to visit breeders and pet sellers “The Rs. 500-crore pet business has come under the scanner of the Income Tax department. According to the I-T directive it has been noticed in recent years that pet shops have spread rampantly across cities. These shops are technically licensed to sell animal food and accessories, but they also deal in canines and exotic birds illegally. The order stated that it is suspected that a majority of these transactions are outside the tax net so appropriate action should be taken against them. According to a modest estimate there are an estimated 20,000 or more such breeders across the country. 

 

“Do you want to do something for animal welfare? If you come across any pet shop, send me the name, address and owner’s name and I will forward it to the Income tax department. Jairam can go on playacting. Let us solve this environmental problem ourselves.  

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