Wildlife Enthusiast

Navin

M Raheja, Chairman & Managing Director, Raheja Developers Ltd. is a wildlife enthusiast and an avid photographer. In the past 35 years, he has made several contributions in the field of conservation at various levels. A former Member of Project Tiger's Steering Committee, under the Ministry of Environment and Forests, he worked persistently to ensure that the big cats survived in India. One of the leading developers in the country, Raheja believes in inclusive development and protection of flora and fauna in the country.

For the past 30 years, we have been contributing to the cause of wildlife and environment. Be it a fight to rehabilitate Gujjars of Rajajji National Park in Uttarakhand or picking up vital issues in other parts of India. On May 18, 1985, the report of a tiger poisoned in Rajaji Park was front-paged by the Times of India. This incident triggered a change in the system, with Mr Navin Raheja being appointed in the steering committee of the Project Tiger of Government of India.He sacrificed this post subsequently for the sake of better wilfdlife management, when he filed public interest litigation (PIL) in the Supreme Court over the casual manner in which something as sensitive and crucial as wildlife was being treated at various Government levels. The same PIL, incidentally, sparked off several landmark rulings and directives by the Supreme Court in the years to come- leading to better and more effective systems being placed in the Government machinery including stoppage of work on a State highway that was leading through Corbett Tiger Reserve which would have resulted in a disaster of the most premium National park and also changing the system of funding mechanism and periodicity to all the national reserves across the country.

As a CSR activity of the company a subsidiary Raheja Productions was formed. This new subsidiary is going to cover all the aspects of conservation and wildlife from professional hi definition format to spread awareness of the importance of wildlife and forest conservation to every Indian through News channels etc.as well as assisting the forest authorities in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand for the survival of tigers, leopards, elephants and other endangered species.

For more wildlife and environmental stories by Navin M Raheja CLICK HERE