BMCs in Kachchh
Human support for biodiversity Nimesh Ved and Pankaj Joshi This piece finds place in Deccan Herald on 12 th April, 2016. Thanks are due to Ritesh, Mahendra, Vipul, Astha, Yogesh, Akshit and the teams at Sahjeevan and SJS. We also thank Anitha and Deccan Herald. All images are by Astha and depict the Kachchh landscape. We were looking at the state-wise numbers of Biodiversity Management Committees (BMC) in the country. Madhya Pradesh stood atop the list with 23,743 and Nagaland at the other end with 10. However, what left us surprised was the number of committees in the largest state, Rajasthan. The state had only 31 to its credit. The number for these committees which are to be set up in every local body — urban and rural — stands at 3,405 for Gujarat. There would be factors at play to account for the stark variance in numbers and these need to be looked into, but here, we will focus on our experiences in Kutch. We are a part of a team that ...