India, Aug. 4 -- Around 93% or 99 out of the 107 development and infrastructure-related projects placed before the Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife (SC-NBWL) were approved in its latest meeting in Coimbatore on July 9, keeping in line with a trend in recent years where approval rates for projects in wildlife reserves, sanctuaries and notified forest land remain unusually high.

Data from the minutes of meeting, the 91st of SC-NBWL, made available recently, showed that while no project was outrightly rejected, the Committee deferred four proposals, returned two back to the states - for a state-level clearance -- and kept two others in abeyance, until the Supreme Court cleared them.

HT, on July 12, reported how over th...