1.   Hon’ble Minister of State (Environment & Forests), Shri Namo Narayan Meena, Director-General (Forests) Shri G K Prasad, distinguished delegates from the State Police forces, Forest Deptts., Central Govt. Organizations, ladies and gentlemen. It is my privilege to extend a hearty welcome to the Hon’ble Minister of state on my own behalf and on behalf of all the delegates to this Inaugural function.  ;

2.    Sir, CBI is organizing this seminar in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment & Forests which is a first of its kind in the country.

3.    Of late, illegal trading in Wildlife has assumed the character of a transnational organised crime. Although it is impossible to arrive at an estimate of the extent and magnitude of this crime for obvious reasons, anecdotal evidence suggests that global trade in wildlife and its derivatives could be around 20 billion US dollars annually. India, with its rich bio diversity, has been one of the biggest source countries of wildlife products, such as Tiger and Leopard Skins and body parts, Shah toosh Shawls made of skin of Tibetan Antelope, Turtles, Otters, to name a few.

4   . There cannot be two opinions that trafficking poses serious threat to the conservation of endangered species of wildlife. But across the countries the differences lie in level of awareness, administrative and legal regime created for fighting the menace, resources allocated to the combat efforts and finally the actual law enforcement efforts on ground. India has been fortunate to have a strong framework to address some of these issues. Our Wildlife protection laws have a long history and are the culmination of awareness of the compelling need to restore catastrophic ecological imbalances, introduced by the depredation inflicted on nature by human being. After independence, India has taken bold steps by including conservation and protection of environment in its Constitution in the chapter on Directive Principles. India was one of the first Asian countries to enact a comprehensive Wildlife Protection Act in the year 1972, which specifies rigorous punishments to the criminals. We have a network of mature law enforcement agencies to bring the offenders to book. Government has been generously funding the conservation efforts through the ministry of Environment and Forests. Work done by the civil society institutions has also been noteworthy. 

5.    In spite of the several initiatives aimed at conserving the bio-diversity of the country, the trends show that wildlife commercial trade continues in a covert and illegal manner, leading to near extinction of some of the precious forms of fauna. The sensitivity and seriousness of the issue has already been acknowledged by the Government at the highest level, including the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India. Recent initiatives like commissioning a Tiger Task Force, amending the Wildlife (Protection) Act, which envisages establishment of a National Tiger Conservation Authority and a Wildlife Crime Control Bureau is an outcome of systematic review of the existing mechanisms, and an intense introspection. Obviously, this is the time when every one of us must take a note of this issue seriously, understand its gravity, and work out effective strategies to counter this menace to give a meaning to the legislative efforts.

6.    Recent investigations conducted by the CBI indicate that the wildlife criminals have been found to be highly organized having a streamlined network starting from poachers & middlemen to the members having their connections at international level. The root cause of emergence of such type of organized networks is directly linked to the huge margins of profits and availability of unemployed manpower. There is increasing evidence that as the species approach extinction, wildlife crime becomes even more lucrative and those financing the criminal operations become even more sophisticated.

7.    I may also emphasize that the wildlife crimes often have inter-state and transnational ramifications. Poaching has been found to be committed in one state; skins of the killed animals have been transferred to other States and finally the treated products are being smuggled across the international borders. CBI has been cognizant of the new trends and our investigative efforts have been calibrated to address such challenges. For instance, for the first time in the country and probably in the history of the anti-wildlife enforcement, stringent provisions of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act have been invoked against Sansar Chand and his associates. 

8.    In its capacity as the National Central Bureau of INTERPOL, CBI has also been involved in fostering international law enforcement cooperation for combating wildlife crime. We have been actively participating in the INTERPOL working group on wildlife crime. Useful alliances have been forged with our counterparts in Nepal and China, which are important transit and Destination countries of the smuggled products from India.

9.    In order to translate Government’s firm resolve to fight this menace into concrete action, CBI has felt an urgent need to evolve effective enforcement strategies by close coordination with all nodal agencies concerning wildlife. Today’s conference is the first step to realize this objective. Besides, the conference will be a good forum for knowledge exchange; sharing of best practices and it would stimulate strategic debate on the issue.

10.    I, once again, welcome all the dignitaries and the delegates and hope that they would find the deliberations meaningful and their stay enjoyable.