Greater openness: on India and wildlife management

In September, a Supreme Court-constituted Special Investigation Team (SIT) reported to the Court that Reliance Foundation’s Vantara project in Jamnagar, Gujarat — India’s largest private zoo — had been above board in the manner in which it had gone about acquiring wild animals from abroad; it had the right permits and the facilities for the upkeep of over 30,000 animals and that any criticism or aspersion of its activities on these grounds were wholly “unjustified”. The Court chose not to make the report public and only appended a summary in its order with the operative observations. What the report contained in its entirety becomes relevant given that a global body has made some concerning observations and “recommended” that India’s wildlife authorities pause the issue of permits that all