Conservation both "constitutional and cultural" in India: Bhupender Yadav

Jaipur, Sep 21 (UNI) India's commitment to species conservation is both "constitutional and cultural" and predates modern protected-area laws, Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said while addressing the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Global Conservation Conference in Jaipur on Monday. The minister said the Constitution provides a framework that makes wildlife protection both a directive for the State and a duty of citizens, but added that the formal architecture was rooted in a deeper conservation ethos. Highlighting India's conservation efforts over the past decade, Yadav said the number of protected areas had increased from around 750 to more than 1,000.…