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21 August 2024 at 10:20:16 am

Broken Corridors

India likes to celebrate its growing tiger population as one of conservation’s great success stories. But tigers survive and thrive because their habitats remain connected. Fragmenting those forests entails risks for thriving tiger populations. The decision to grant an in-principle wildlife clearance for a third railway line through the Satpura-Melghat tiger corridor carries with it precisely that risk. The proposed railway line between Jujharpur and Chichonda cuts through one of central...

Broken Corridors

India likes to celebrate its growing tiger population as one of conservation’s great success stories. But tigers survive and thrive because their habitats remain connected. Fragmenting those forests entails risks for thriving tiger populations. The decision to grant an in-principle wildlife clearance for a third railway line through the Satpura-Melghat tiger corridor carries with it precisely that risk. The proposed railway line between Jujharpur and Chichonda cuts through one of central India’s most critical wildlife landscapes, linking the Satpura and Melghat tiger reserves and forming part of the larger Satpura-Pench-Melghat landscape. This corridor is a biological highway, allowing tigers and other wildlife to disperse, breed and maintain healthy genetic diversity. The Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife has insisted that mitigation measures such as wildlife overpasses be scientifically designed and reviewed before implementation. Yet the clearance itself exposes an unsettling contradiction. The committee’s own inspection found that the proposed 34 wildlife overpasses were based largely on field observations and mortality records rather than rigorous scientific assessment. Detailed engineering designs are still absent. Importantly, the comprehensive landscape study by the State Forest Research Institute, Jabalpur, is still awaited. The approval has been granted before the study is in. This reverses the basic principle that should govern projects in ecologically sensitive landscapes. Scientific evidence must guide approvals, not merely refine them after the fact. Once a project gathers administrative momentum, conditions often become exercises in compliance rather than conservation. There have been far too many examples where mitigation structures were inadequately designed, poorly located or inconsistently monitored, leaving wildlife to bear the consequences. The danger extends beyond tigers. The Satpura-Melghat landscape supports leopards, sloth bears, wild dogs, gaur and countless smaller species that depend on uninterrupted forests. Railways have already emerged as a significant source of wildlife mortality across India. Faster trains, higher traffic density and expanding rail infrastructure multiply these risks, especially where animal movement corridors intersect transport networks. None of this argues against development. India’s expanding economy requires better freight movement and modern transport infrastructure. But development ceases to be sustainable when it treats ecological safeguards as hurdles instead of foundations. While a railway can be built, a forest corridor, once fragmented, cannot simply be reconstructed through concrete overpasses and engineering optimism. India has spent decades and enormous public resources restoring tiger habitats and expanding protected areas. Allowing critical corridors to shrink through piecemeal clearances would squander those gains. The Satpura-Melghat corridor is the artery through which one of India’s finest wildlife landscapes continues to breathe. That said, if the government gets the balance between development and conversation right, this project could well become a model for reconciling economic ambition with ecological responsibility.

God does not forgive nor forget: Justice D.V. Ramana bids farewell with bitterness and grace

  • PTI
  • May 21, 2025
  • 4 min read


Indore: "God does not forgive nor forget," were the words echoed with profound bitterness by Justice Duppala Venkata Ramana, a Judge of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh, as he prepared to demit office on Tuesday. What is traditionally a moment of reflection and gratitude turned into a critique of a system that, in his eyes, had inflicted deep and unwarranted personal hardship.

 

"It was a remarkable period of my life," Justice Ramana said at his farewell function in Indore, his voice steady, yet laden with pain.

 

"I was transferred from the Andhra Pradesh High Court to the Madhya Pradesh High Court without any reason. I was asked for options. I opted for the state of Karnataka, so that my wife could receive better treatment," he said, referring to his wife's battle with PNES (Paroxysmal Non-Epileptic Seizures) and severe brain complications following the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

But his plea -- a husband's earnest request born from compassion -- fell on deaf ears.

 

The Supreme Court, he said, disregarded his choice, and what followed was a relentless and ultimately futile struggle for a compassionate hearing.

 

He had submitted formal representations to the Supreme Court on July 19, 2024, and again on August 28, 2024, reiterating the severity of his wife's medical condition.

 

"But the representation was neither considered nor rejected," he lamented.

 

Another appeal during the tenure of the previous Chief Justice also went unanswered.

 

"I received no response. A judge like me expects at least a humane consideration. I was disheartened and deeply pained," he added.

 

He acknowledged that the current Chief Justice of India B R Gavai might have been more sympathetic -- but it came "too late in the day as I am demitting office."

 

Justice Ramana expressed his belief that the transfer was executed with "ill intention to harass me." "Anyway, my transfer order seems to have been issued with ill intention and to harass me. I suffered as I was transferred from my home state for obvious reasons," he stated, a veiled reference to unseen forces.

 

"I am happy to satisfy their ego. Now they are retired. God does not forgive nor forget. They will also suffer in another mode," he added.

 

Despite the bitterness, his speech was not without dignity and resilience.

 

A first-generation lawyer, Justice Ramana reflected on his life: "I bore witness to the resilience of human existence, the power of human struggle, dignity in poverty, and most importantly, unshakable hope and faith." "These ordinary, everyday experiences" taught him that "except hard work, there is no shortcut to success".

 

His career, he acknowledged, was marked by "struggles and bitter experiences" that eventually led him to "diversify my activities." From the moment he joined the judicial service, he was subjected to "conspiratorial scrutiny." "My family has suffered in silence,” he shared, "But ultimately, the truth will always prevail."

 

He invoked the words of Martin Luther King Jr: "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."

 

Justice Ramana stressed that every achievement in his life came after enduring setbacks and hardships.

 

He embraced these challenges, believing that "every failure carries a seed of equivalent advantage." "I never claimed to be a scholarly judge or a great judge. But I always believed that the ultimate purpose of the justice delivery system is to provide justice to the common man".

 

Justice Ramana maintained he was "subjected to conspiratorial scrutiny" as he spoke in the presence of brother judges and the advocate fraternity.

 

It may be noted that the Supreme Court collegium proposed the transfer of Justice Ramana from his native high court of Andhra Pradesh to the Madhya Pradesh High Court in August 2023. Justice Ramana said he had requested that his transfer proposal be reconsidered and sought to be moved to the Karnataka High Court, but the collegium did not consider it.

 

He said the collegium did not find merit in his request and resolved to reiterate its recommendation to transfer him to the Madhya Pradesh High Court as a permanent judge.

 

"I was asked for options. I opted for the state of Karnataka so that my wife gets better treatment at NIMHANS (National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bengaluru), but it was not considered by the Hon'ble Supreme Court," he said.

 

"However, as fortune would have it, the bane turned into a boon for me because I received immeasurable love, support, and cooperation from my brother judges as well as members of the Bar at Jabalpur and Indore," Justice Ramana averred.

 

Justice Ramana said the "transfers were expected to rattle me, but they did not. I did the opposite".

 

"I have made lasting contributions in each of the two states -- Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. I had an opportunity to serve in the land of Amravati, Krishna, Godavari, and Narmada. I have truly served justice. I am blessed for these opportunities," he told the gathering.

 

Justice Ramana noted he has come a long way after starting as a judicial second-class magistrate in 1994.

 

"I have faced many challenges in my life and realised that, except for hard work, there are no shortcuts to success. The journey of struggle and bitter experiences in my career helped me diversify my activities. From the day I joined the judicial service till I reached this position in the judiciary, I was subjected to conspiratorial scrutiny. But ultimately, the truth will always prevail, 'Satyamey Jayate'," he said.

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