Let me start with a disclaimer. I see that controlled hunting can be a viable means of conservation instead of total ban and I would hunt if I could do it legally. And this is not an apology for the government.
Having said that, the calamitous situation that persists now is not entirely a result of the incompetence of successive governments of Independent India alone, though they did contribute to it greatly and continue to do so. To blame Independent Indian governments solely responsible is to ignore the historical progression of events that kick started the ball. A simple arithmetic of estimated Tiger population in the 19th century and at the time of Independence gives an idea of the toll taken on them. If conservation of wildlife was alone the driving force of colonial forest policies, who would account for the so many extinct or critically endangered species of wildlife by the time of Independence? Cheetah? And what of the wildlife in Ceylon? What happened to the Bison there?
Conservation on modern lines even in US was unheard until Teddy Roosevelt took it up. If it wasn?t, the American Bison, the Passenger Pigeon wouldn?t have driven to the state they were by the start of 20th century. Same in Africa. India was not an exception. The British did introduce reserve forests, for entirely different reasons apart from ?conservation?. But, this cannot absolve them of the slaughter of mammoth scales. But, more than the British, who at least introduced these forest laws, it?s the prodigal Princes of yore who were largely responsible, for the devastation unleashed by them utterly outweighs the piddly little conservation efforts. The destruction of wild life by them was uncontrolled and that was the reason why many British would go to Princely states to hunt than in the colonial forests where at least a pretence of seasons were to be observed. One of the Scindias of Gwalior was known as the Rajah of 1000 tigers, foetuses included, and I have a photograph of him with the skins behind him. I am not blaming them or anything. They lived in different times and they thought the resources were endless. What the successive governments did with what was left is altogether a different matter. There exists a huge literature about the history of wildlife conservation in India. I agree that a lot of ecologists take an anti-hunting line. I feel, however, authors like Mahesh Ranga Rajan are slightly more balanced than the rest. I did read his books and find them well researched.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/2001/01/21/st ... 21067g.htm
And about the Col Kesri Singh, he mentions at the end of the passage, I have his (the Col) book with me and the passage about nameless graves for transgressors does exist.
The Oxford Anthology of Indian Wildlife Vol 1&2 make some very interesting readings.
One hunter sagely observes the dark stains in a temple of Krishna as ?blood stains from human sacrifices by the natives?.
The constraints this type of a forum imposes make it slightly difficult to deal with all the aspects of the issue being debated.
Bottom line, I will not accept that the previous rulers were any wiser than the present rulers.
Re the naxalites, I take a different view. They did degenerate into mindless criminality and, now, have little relevance in terms of a political movement and to the civil society. They have only two options now. Give up arms and fight democratically or perish. I always wanted to get into the IPS and when I was preparing for the civil services, it was the IPS and not the IAS that was my first option. But, the conditions that started them all still continue and I know quite a few people who continue to hold onto thousands of acres of land individually still and the caste suppressions at village level. I can safely say that I am in touch with both ends of the spectrum (this is not to say that others don?t). I come from an ancient feudal family and I have friends who come from the lowest rungs of society with whom I lived together, studied together etc. A junior of mine in MA, a very decent boy from a very poor family, was picked up and shot by the police in an encounter. I have friends and cousins who are police officers, IPSs those who give the orders and Station level officers who carry out the encounters and who in turn are targeted by the Naxals. We all come from very privileged backgrounds that we don?t need to look for where the next meal is coming from and yet, we face innumerable troubles from the bureaucratic rigmaroles of the state. These people neither have the skills (education) nor opportunity to acquire them to survive the corruption that surrounds us. A fertile base to make picking up the gun the only option. After all, doesn?t it feel good to make the people tremble before you who so far have terrorised you? This is not to condone any of the violence they indulge in. I wish to submit humbly that, before we shoot them, let?s simultaneously deal with the real problem that breed them.
I know that this is way too off-topic, but since this also involves conservation, elimination of poverty is the best guard against extinction of wildlife.
Things are so distorted and complicated that, the sheer difficulty of breaking the cycle is mind numbing.
The past few days, I have been in a state of mental turmoil and am getting increasingly desperate with the state of affairs around us. I am just venting here and request you all to pardon that with a big heart. Sigh??????..
(all directed against myself).
Best- Vikram