THELIGHTOFANDAMANS: Where is the Re-notified Buffer Zone Notification?

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Where is the Re-notified Buffer Zone Notification?

Where is the Re-notified Buffer Zone Notification?

By Zubair Ahmed

Did anybody ever see a copy of the re-notified Buffer Zone? Is it a secret document that the ANI Admn is keeping it under wraps? Why it was not uploaded on public domain for suggestions and objections, if any? Who decides what is good or bad for the Islands – a select group of bureaucrats? Why political parties are not asking for a copy of it for their perusal? Is it meant to just satisfy the Supreme Court or to implement in the Islands? Is it an accepted norm in our Islands to impose notifications and regulations without any consultation? Had there been a tsunami, if the re-notified Buffer Zone Notification was put on public domain? What if there are further discrepancies in the latest version of the controversial notification? Who vetted it?

Are the villages, Islands and sea out of bound of the latest version of Buffer Zone as mentioned in a press note issued by Congress party? Did they have a glance of the secretive document? Or was the timing of the Press Note a coincidence as usual?

Whether the new edition also encompass the site of Barefoot at Collinpur and Dew Dale Resorts in Baratang? Whether the 5-km radius has been reduced to a pragmatic 500 mtr? If Baratang is out of Buffer Zone, can Dew Dale restart their business? Is Collinpur village out of the Buffer Zone? If so, can Barefoot have their resort at the Beach site?

What was wrong with the Buffer Zone Notification of 2007? Was that prepared by any mentally deranged person, read bureaucrat? Was that prepared during intermittent power cuts? If it was a brave and brilliant step to protect Jarawas, why retreat now? If it was an intelligent step, what is the latest definition of intelligence?

Will the ANI Admn be able to justify the violations inside Buffer Zone Notification 2007? Or will they wait for another international NGO intervention?

Are we entitled to know the underlying principle behind the idea of a 5-km Buffer Zone? Do the Islanders count as human beings, sorry citizens of a democratic country? Or like we call the territory a mini India, do we have a mini-democratic setup, oops PRI system? If so, why can’t we have a mini Administration with a mini Administrator?

Will anybody come up with a white, blue or black paper on the whole issue? How dare I ask so many convenient questions? Is there anybody listening?

1 comment:

Debkumar Bhadra said...: We are dead.
It is therefore foolishness to expect a dead to "learn" (from mistakes), "evolve" or for that matter "react" to outside world stimulus (needs).
We are dead.; January 18, 2013 at 1:54 AM

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About The Light of Andamans

The Light of Andamans’ was born out of the zeal and determination to fight against the suffocating Kafkaesque atmosphere on the society that existed even after 30 years of Independence under bureaucratic rule. It was a hangover of the ‘Raj’that extended much too long in the Islands.

The Light of Andamans’ was started in 1975. The paper had always been a crusader, taking up the causes that no other newspaper would touch. In doing so, it very often stepped on the toes of the authorities and had to face persecution in the form of denial of advertisements and numerous court cases against it. For a small stint, the publication came to a halt in 2003.

Gezira Publications Private Limited took over the paper in the year 2005 and transferred the title in a bid to revive the second oldest newsmagazine from extinction and also to carry forward the mission.

The Newsmagazine, under the new management, has undergone a sea change both in form and content. It turned into a full-fledged tabloid with 10 pages with plenty of photographs making both pleasing to the eyes and soothing for the mind. “It has acquired a position where it influences the policies in vital matters concerning the development of the islands, protection of aboriginal tribes and addressing the problems of the disadvantaged groups. The newsmagazine is known and appreciated for its bold, free, fair and balanced reporting.”

Late Govinda Raju and his team worked very hard to rebuild the reputation, goodwill and a healthy new image of the newsmagazine brick by brick. After the demise of Mr Raju in 2010, the magazine is now being edited by Zubair Ahmed and published by Basudev Dass. The newsmagazine continues its mission of highlighting policy issues pertaining to the Islands.