It is not just saving India’s national animal. The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) now wants the defenders of the nation to playa greater role in the protection and preservation of the country’s dwindling natural wealth.

A report prepared by the National Forest Commission under the aegis of the MoEF has called for a greater role by the armed forces as well as para-military forces not only to protect forests and wildlife in areas falling under their control, but also to control poaching and illegal trafficking of wildlife and forest products.

According to sources, the matter was also raised in Parliament about a month ago, when the Minister for Environment and Forests had placed a report which mentioned the envisioned role of the armed forces in environment protection on the table of the House.

Management plans need to be prepared for tracts holding substantial natural vegetation and vested with the military, paramilitary and police, the report said, adding that the effort should be to preserve as well as propagate natural vegetation and wildlife.

The report recommended that if any harvesting of forest produce is to be done from areas held with the Army, any surplus should not be sold in the open market, but first offered to neighbouring people under proper supervision.

In forests prone to large-scale violations or insurgency, special protection staff or para-military forces need to be deployed to prevent illicit felling, encroachment, infiltrations, smuggling and poaching, specially on the international borders and in insurgency affected areas, the report said. Army, Navy, Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force and the Border Security Force should also contribute in prevention of smuggling of wildlife products along borders, the report added.

Stating that the Indian armed forces can arrange environmental training programmes for officers and jawans through their Green Governance initiative, the report recommended that an Army training manual on environment be developed in a structured format, which will then form an integral part of Army training.

The Army is now setting up a task force to ensure the security of tigers in various sanctuaries. The Army has been playing a highly active role in environmental protection and ecological rejuvenation and in this backdrop that Army units, formations and establishments have been permitted to become members of various environmental organisations.

Sources in Headquarters Western Command said that any unit or establishment can subscribe to the membership of organisations involved in environmental protection after obtaining approval from the next higher formation, not below the level of a Division Headquarters or an Area Headquarters.

A policy letter issued by the Environment and Ecological Cell in the Quarter Master General’s Branch at Army Headquarters a few months ago, however stipulates that membership of such organisations should not violate the Army’s standing orders on contact with foreign nationals.