If the recent controversy surrounding Omkar’s “venture into human space” and his consumption of what he terms “food” is being framed as destruction of property, one must ask where the many individuals responsible for the actual degradation of his property were during this time. I wish to draw attention to the alarming decline of forest cover in Goa as reported in the India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2023, released by the Union Environment Ministry on 20 December 2024. Over the brief period from 2021 to 2023, Goa’s forest area shrank by 1.50 sq km (150 ha).
Moreover, the proposed relocation of Omkar to Vantara raises further questions. What exactly is Vantara? It appears to be a private zoo owned by a wealthy individual, rather than a genuine wildlife sanctuary. If Anant Ambani founded Vantara out of a lifelong passion for animals, the considerable influence wielded by his family could have been leveraged to pressure the Environment Ministry to adopt more robust conservation measures, rather than allowing the continued destruction of habitats and then caging the wildlife. This passion, when exercised without accountability, seems misguided.
The practice of labelling wildlife as a threat and forcibly relocating animals from their natural habitats appears to be a devious plot orchestrated by corrupt politicians, serving private interests at the expense of biodiversity.
