Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday called on the State’s MPs to work toward obtaining Presidential assent for the Kerala Wildlife (Amendment) Bill, 2025. Speaking at a conference of MPs ahead of Parliament’s Winter Session, he highlighted that the law passed by the Kerala Assembly in October includes provisions to expedite action against dangerous wild animals that pose an immediate threat to human life.
The amended legislation aims to address the growing human-wildlife conflict in Kerala. It empowers the Chief Wildlife Warden to cull wild animals that cause serious injuries to humans and allows the State to declare certain species verminous when their populations become unmanageable. The law also enables the government to downgrade the protection status of animals, such as the bonnet macaque, from Schedule I to Schedule II of the Wildlife Act.
The conference noted that wild boars have become a significant threat to agriculture, prompting calls for widespread culling. The Bill also simplifies the bureaucratic process for obtaining central approval to manage or relocate wildlife species like leopards and wild boars that harm livestock and farmland.
Financial concerns were also raised, with Kerala still awaiting an estimated ₹620 crore from the Centre for human-wildlife management and compensation paid to victims of wildlife attacks.
On other matters, Vijayan addressed the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) scheme, noting that while the Centre raised allocations to ₹2.5 lakh per building, Kerala continues to receive only ₹1.5 lakh. He urged MPs to request that the Centre remove the requirement to label houses built partly with federal funds as PMAY houses.
Regarding Wayanad, he pointed out that the Centre has released only ₹260.56 crore for reconstruction after landslides, far below Kerala’s requested ₹2,221.03 crore. He also emphasized the need to raise the State’s borrowing limit to 3.5% of GSDP to secure ₹17,500 crore for the Jal Jeevan Mission.
Vijayan additionally asked MPs to pursue compensation for revenue losses from GST changes affecting goods and services, automobiles, cement, electronics, and insurance, and to push for GST exemptions on khadi products. The State also sought Centre approval for construction under the Global City Kochi Node-II project of the Kochi-Bengaluru industrial corridor and raised concerns about offshore mining of atomic minerals without consulting provincial governments.
