The Supreme Court of India recently issued notices to the Union government and to the administrations of the state and union territories for their failure to protect the country's wetlands. An apex court bench also admitted a petition filed by advocate M K Balakrishnan, who pointed out that though a national wetland committee was set up by the Union government in 1987, no efforts have been made to protect the wetlands. According to Balakrishnan, vast wetlands in India have been taken over for cultivation.