The Hindu Business Line : Wildlife slipping from the wild

Driving out of Melghat Tiger Sanctuary on a late evening, one watched the sun pause at the zebra lines in the sky, allowing first right of way to a flock of birds. The birds glistened, as the last rays of the sun, like the first rays in the morning, teased them. Or the afternoon in Mudumalai when female elephants, sighting us, threw a cordon round their little ones, while suckling them.

Foresters like my good friend and mentor, Kishor Rithe, will have more exciting moments to recall having spent their lives to decipher and defend Nature. There are ways of moving in a forest. The best option is not to expect anything; not be a tourist. Just stay the forest trail and wait patiently and quietly for the second when a tiger will stride past you. Sometimes, that moment may never come and yet leave one happy.

Being in the forest is lucky enough. That was taught to me by Kishor and it has taken me a while to learn the primary lesson. With 2006 two months away from 2007, one is not sure whether India's thinning forests and its citizens have a future. Western style development based on finite resources is no way for India to go. But that is the path the economy is trudging by locating power, road, steel and auto projects located in the finest forest patches.

Profits matter the most. And there is none like Indira Gandhi to take up the case for Nature. Sonia Gandhi is well-placed to make the critical difference but the lady is not inclined. Living by the second, her government wants tribal votes and if that be at the cost of Indian wildlife so be it.

India's wildlifers and conservationists are living in depressing times with the arrogant, ruling elite of corporates and officials not caring to listen. Ask Bittu Sahgal, the lone wildlife journalist of India. For 25 years, he has been bringing out editions of Sanctuary, the only wildlife magazine in the country, and forest officials have little time for them. One has talked to a few wildlife officials at their city headquarters and has never seen an issue of Sanctuary on their file-crowded tables.

Generally their attitude is: "Sanctuary cannot teach us anything as we know better being in charge of the forests and its animals." For wildlife biologists (or experts) Bittu is non-technical; some do not like the way he roars into one while describing the loss of a tiger. But give it to the man. He has and is trying his best to prevent wildlife slipping from the Indian conscience.

The October 2006 issue of Sanctuary marks 25 years of a passionate living and arguing for wildlife. For the vast print, TV and wire agencies, wildlife and forests are not regular beats, like banking and corporates, to report on. If the media had tracked this beat regularly, the tigers at Sariska would not have given up their souls. Against this, is the fact that the foreign press have dedicated correspondents reporting on environment and wildlife in their countries and sometimes India. In his editorial comment, Bittu Sahgal writes: "When I started Sanctuary 25 years ago, India had just merged from its darkest imaginable wildlife tunnel. ... .Sanctuary was born in 1981, into an era of `peace'. The basic framework to protect wildlife had been put in place. Political support was strong. ... But by the 90s, the dream had begun to sour. The World Bank had weaseled its way into the forest and wildlife decision-making process. By 2000, the tiger was in steep decline. Today, in 2006, Indira Gandhi's Congress party and its constituents still dream of becoming as rich as America. It has begun dismantling their late leader's protective laws. Dark clouds loom."

The issue catalogues in an essay, "25 Roller Coaster years of Conservation", the insensitive, or rather casual manner in which we have intruded into forest life. Some examples.

The Rs 1,500-crore Dhamra port project is being set up by Tata Steel Ltd and Larsen & Toubro Ltd on the northern bank of the mouth of the Dhamra river just north of Gahirmatha, the nesting site of Olive Ridley turtles. The ICICI Bank is reported to be the lead financier.

The latest update: "The Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report prepared by Kirloskar Consultants and the Aquaculture Foundation of India, Chennai, for the Dhamra port have completely ignored the impact on turtle mating, congregation, migration and nesting. Despite warnings from environmentalists and adverse observations by the Central Empowered Committee of the Supreme Court, the concerned corporations press on and continue to threaten livelihoods and marine life off the coast of Orissa. Construction is scheduled to start within a few months."

In the same area, the Government has given the okay to Reliance Industries and the ONGC to begin exploration in the seas off Orissa.

A preliminary study conducted by the Wildlife Institute of India had indicated that two of the exploration blocks were in harmful proximity to the migratory path of the Olive Ridley turtles. It suggested further studies, and that exploration activities only be conducted outside the turtle season in all the blocks.

The latest update: "These recommendations were ignored by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, which has permitted exploration at all locations and throughout the year. The only proviso is that studies on turtle migration will occur simultaneously. So the turtle will be studied as their habitat is being destroyed ... "

While we decimate the little we possess, Dr. Alan Rabinowitz, Director of science and exploration, the Big Cat Programme at the Wildlife Conservation Society, is setting up the world's largest tiger reserve in Hukawng, a 23,301-sq. km in northern Burma.

P. Devarajan

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