Supreme Court asks Environment Ministry to file counter-affidavit to plea by a minor to protect Western Ghats https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/sc-asks-ministry-to-file-counter-affidavit-to-plea-by-a-minor-to-protect-western-ghats/article66631857.ece March 17, 2023 ‘Month by month, the Western Ghats is being chipped away… Please intervene’, M. Kaviya, who is a resident of Nilgiris, said in her petition.
Ms. Kaviya and seven other children have sought “justice in terms of intergenerational equity”, saying that unbridled “development” in the ancient mountain system would leave their generation without a future or a livelihood. They have sought an “effective, sustainable and credible conservation regime for the Western Ghats, its diverse ecosystems and ecologically sensitive zones”.
Goa Foundation said the petition concerned a total land area of 1,29,037 sq. km. A population of 50 million people was directly dependent on the Western Ghats and its ecology, and another 200 million people were indirectly dependent. The future of entire southern India was intimately linked with the healthy survival of the Western Ghats.