India's Wildlife History - Mahesh Rangarajan

The book focuses on the landmarks in the history of India’s wildlife, both in terms of conservation and decline. The famous historian brings together a comprehensive collection of old memories, archives and official records of the happenings relating to the wild India.

Chapter 1, The Forests & the Field of Ancient India, the status of the ancient wildlife of India and the people’s view about it has been discussed. The author mentions the views during the period of lord Rama, Charaka, Sushrutha, the Harappa and other civilizations, where in fauna acted different roles in the form of meat and served in armed forces. The author tries to point out the reason and time when the decline of the forests started. The use of elephants in warfare also brought in measures to conserve them during the Mauryan period (King Ashoka) The rulers of those times considered themselves as the rulers of these forests and took measures to have a strong hold on them, to get a steady supply of war elephants, to get forest products like honey, timber and hide. The nomads and the hunting groups were often taken into confidence (by providing grazing grounds) to achieve this objective.

Chapter 2, The Hunt & the Wilderness in Mughal India, accounts the hunting and the start of the decline of the fauna during the Mughal regime. The Mughals were great hunters and massacred large fauna each year. The good records kept by the Mughal rulers and the records made by several travelers of that time give a fair picture of the types and abundance of wild fauna. The manual of hunt in Sanskrit, Manasollasa, Mughal’s Badshahnamah, that give in great detail the techniques have been quoted. The victory over the forest was considered heroic and people who hunted beasts or cleared the forests for cultivation were greatly awarded.

Though the rulers hunted at vast, there was abundant wildlife that the overall impact was very little. But legacy to win over the stubborn forest to make the land clear for cultivation and the heroic acts of killing wild beasts, in a way, carried on even after the decline of the empire.

Chapter 3, Venomous snakes and Dangerous Beasts, records the beginning of the ruthless killing and the attempted extermination of dangerous beasts and pests that roamed the forests. Continuing the ritual from the British isle, the British waged war against the carnivoures, which were declared as vermin that preyed upon the game animals. Bounties were awarded for major bags and royal hunts were very frequent. Trophies were awarded people of the Raj who bagged dangerous carnivoures like the lion or the tiger.

Princely hunts and Royal Preserves, explains how the Indian rulers outnumbered their foreign rulers in the hunting ground. Royal blood took to considering wildlife and nature as a surrogate of the political power they had lost. Sadul Singh, Rajkumar of Baikener, Gayatri devi, Colonel Kesri Singh of Jaypur, Ramanuj Saran Singh deo of Sarguja, The rulers of Udaipur and Gauripur were the pioneers among the men who bagged large numbers. Royal hunting reserves, out of bound for the normal man were established where the british were invited to hunt. All these led to a large scale decline of wildlife in India and few like the cheetah were wiped put. There were also enlightened rulers like the Nawab of Junagad (GIR), Mysore rulers who took measures to protect the depleting wildlife.

With the fauna becoming rarer, the attempts to monopolise over it stated in the country. In Contests over game, the author discussed on the various laws and prohibitions laid out by the Raj to gain control over the precious hunting grounds. Forests acts were passed by the British which brought almost all the forest under their control, which were official game reserves and where common man and local tribes had no right to hunt. Also, restriction on game licenses was imposed. This brought in lot of friction between the traditional hunters and trappers and the rulers. Though the forest was a landscape with myriad meanings for several people, one set of them now dominated over the others.

The realization of the rarity of the species was too late to save the cheetah but the One Horned rhino was lucky to be saved from the brink of extinction with the first Rhino preserve, Kaziranga, being established. But it was never done out of a pure conservation motive. The raj never separated consumption from conservation.

In Storks Groves & Antelopes, the author discuss about how rituals and traditional practices helped in protecting the flora and fauna, here and there at a small scale. Sacred groves, bird habitats were protected based on religious and cultural motives. This kind of protection was completely different from the law and order method of the Raj. But it provided protection for some species like the Grey langur, elephant but not for Rhino and several others. Even Brahmin priests preferred Black buck skin for their seats. Such views were always subjected to change and at a large scale the law and punishment kind of protection should work well.

From Gun to Camera describes the transition of two hunters from Shooting with a gun to shooting with a camera. F. W Champion, the very first to photograph wild animals and Jim Corbett, influenced by Champion.  Champion was a forester and never left seeing timber commercially while Corbett was a naturalist and liked to see nature as it is. Though both of them did not give up hunting, the steps they took were timely to bring up a small change. Corbett influenced the establishment of the first national park called Hailey park in 1935 which was later named after him. While Corbett criticized over hunting by English men to be the reason for depletion, Champion, as a forester defended them that hunting was not the only reason.

Independent India’s Naturalists, shows light on the contributions of three eminent naturalists and conservationists who saved the devastation of nature soon after independence, from a hungry country. Salim Ali, the Bombay based naturalist, made a path breaking contribution in cataloguing the distribution and ecology of over more than 1000 bird species that inhabited south Asia. But far more than this, his work showed way to a broader way of thinking in making avifauna as an intrinsic part of the system. He played an influential role in saving the wetlands at Koeladeo Ghana at Bharatpur. (He authored the legendary work, Book of Indian Birds)

Edward Pritchard Gee, a tea planter and naturalist form Assam, recognised early, the decline of the Indian fauna and outlined remedial measures for them. He was part of a group of influential people in the provincial management, by which he had his views reach the top. He became a non-official member of the Indian Board for wildlife (IBWL), which first met in 1952. After independence, he monitored the recovery of Swamp deer and the Rhino numbers ay Kaziranga. At Manas, he discovered the Golden Langur. He has authored the book Wildlife of India.

M. Krishnan from the southern state of Tamil Nadu who was a columnist writing about land and wildlife of the country. A non hunter, trained botanist, he was above the others of his generation who looked beyond the birds and animals into plants, trees and bushes that were so vital to nature’s economy.

   

In Project Tiger and after, the author describes the state of the Indian wildlife during, and after independence. With the policy to grow more food, forest land were cleared without a second thought. Government officials continued the sport of hunting to an extent that tiger and other animals became rare. The forest department’s job was to arrange for hunting programs for VIPs and VVIPs, both Indian and abroad and several tourist operators got involved in the business. (For example, J.D. Scott was officially invited by govt. of India to shoot in the independent Indian jungles and later publicise the same in the western world.

With lot of protests from commercial operators and hunters, India pledged to save its natural flora and fauna at the IUCN meeting at Delhi, in 1969. The then Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, with support from organisations like WWF and eminent people like Kailash Shankhla and M.K.Ranjitsinh (IAS), and with support from several state governments, the hunting of tiger was banned in 1970, Wildlife Act passed in 1972 and Project Tiger launched in 1973. These major steps helped several endangered species to take a safe breath and about 5% of the land area were converted to forests.

But the project was hastily and poorly implemented with the excavated population given no alternative to survive. Like ash covering the fire, protests and upsurges started to erupt at places which again put the status of the endangered under peril.

All seamed well form outside until the outburst came from Ranthambore national park in 1992 about the increased illegal poaching of wild tigers. With the increasing demand for worldwide, the forests of India and its wildlife were prone to a greater threat which the protective system established in the 80s failed to recognise and counteract and India facing the Second Wildlife Crisis. WWF and NGOs started to act on the same by contributing huge funds, awareness programs, providing facilities for the relocated, strengthening the forces to curb the growing wildlife trade which allowed the tiger and the rhino and several other species to cross the century mark.  

Several problems, both political and social made a remarkable effect on the protection of wildlife. Vast forest lands were de-notified under the name of development (with support from central and local ministers and the department) while on the other hand, the local people were denied access to graze livestock in the forest. Eco-development programs did not make a marked effect on the life of the locals and the conservation project suffered due to local support and involvement.

During this battle, a second type of conservation called ‘Joint Conservation’ came into practice where the local people and adivasis who had suffered under the protection laws were shown alternative income resources while involving them to conserve the forests. Such attempts even became successful in Sariska and BRT.

But the battle and argument still continues as to which method of conservation would be the best.