The Hindu : National : India to have forest satellite in 2013: Jairam

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India to have forest satellite in 2013: Jairam

Sandeep Joshi

Satellite to monitor forest cover on a daily basis
Environment Ministry sensitive to tribals' issues, says Mr. Jairam

NEW DELHI: To boost efforts towards environmental conservation and increasing green cover, India will have a dedicated forest satellite in 2013. “We will have a forest satellite that will monitor our forest cover on a daily basis,” Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh said in the Rajya Sabha on Monday.

“India is adding to its green cover. We do our own satellite imaging and going by the 2007 information, when the imaging was done last, we have added three million hectares of forest cover in the last 10 years. In fact, we will be launching a dedicated forest satellite in 2013 which would monitor our forest cover on a daily basis,” he said in a reply during Question Hour.

Referring to tribals' rights and problems, Mr. Ramesh said his Ministry caters to protection of forest cover and was sensitive towards the issues of forest-dwellers. “Though there is a separate Ministry of Tribal Affairs, which caters to the interests of tribals, a substantial portion of my Ministry is related to forest population, which include tribals,” he pointed out.

The Minister further said it was a big challenge to ensure livelihood and protection to endangered tribal groups such as the Jarawas, Great Andamanese and Onges. “We are sensitive towards the issue of these tribal groups. The Island Development Authority, led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, is also looking at the issue of providing protection to such tribal groups,” he added.

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