Do most of your colleagues in the Ministry of Environment hate you for opposing their plans to turn wilderness areas to cash?
In government we do not hate anyone. We do what we are appointed to do. I am appointed to protect wildlife and there is not one person I can think of in our ministry who misunderstands this role. But yes, sometimes we have different opinions on issues, after which we meet at each other's homes, with our families as friends.
What do the ministries of power and mines think of you when you disallow canals through Manas or Buxa, or mines in Hazaribagh and Kudremukh?
It's more or less the same situation. But I may not be able to say the same about the actual promoters of the many projects that we are forced to thwart because of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. They do sometimes get quite upset with us. But even to them I try and convey that protecting forests, or rivers, or endangered species, is a vital national priority, no less important than fighting to protect our borders, or our peoples' health.
It has been a long innings for you. Are you thinking ahead to what you will do when you retire?
Yes, I have spent 40 years of my life doing this job. But I cannot even imagine what I might have wished to do, other than work with forests and wildlife. I have really worked my way up. I have walked in forests, been threatened by poachers, timber thieves, and not a few political heavyweights! But this was part of the job. Every forest officer goes through this kind of thing. What will I do tomorrow? I really don't know. Maybe Sanctuary can offer me a job! Seriously however, I would love to continue to work in defence of wildlife so that my years of experience can continue to be of use.
But it's a very different world out there. Here your 'kursi' (chair) is respected. Tomorrow many people who bow and scrape may turn abrasive, even abusive. Besides, the NGO sector is not without its own politics of meanness and opportunism.
Bittu, after four decades of survival in government, I think I know how to handle such people and situations. My greatest asset is my family, which places no pressure on me to provide riches and luxuries. Because my wants and needs are limited, I will be able to do almost anything I wish. The government's pensions will look after body; wildlife will take care of my soul.
What is your dream for India?
Too many things! I want tigers protected. I want the holy Ganges to become pure again. I want that future generations do not destroy our natural heritage as we are doing today. But what is the use of dreaming?
How can you work for such dreams to come true?
Young India. We have to reach out and touch young India. Also we have to somehow convince planners that destroying rural India (including farms, villages and forests) to build urban India is not in the national interest. If we can ensure that young people in rural India are able to enjoy the land as I did when I was young, with healthy livestock, productive orchards, fields and safe water, why should they turn against forests?
But is there enough land for this?
No. But this is not merely because of overpopulation. It is also because we have turned farms and forests to wastelands. Look at Haryana and Punjab. Already the Green Revolution is turning brown there, with soil salinisation, pesticide poisoning and water logging. Millions of acres are now useless. If organic strategies were employed, these would have stayed productive. This is a key factor in the demise of our wildlife and forest, but it is too complicated a subject for discussion here.
Do try and explain this in detail.
When farms are degraded and soil and waters poisoned, people turn to forests for survival. If this human tide is not reversed, our forests will vanish and neither the tiger, nor elephant or rhino will have a future.
You sound like a teacher, not a forest officer!
But (laughs) I am a teacher. So was my father (literally). Every day I spent in our small village during my growing years taught me the value of learning and teaching. In the long run, teaching will be more effective for wildlife protection than mere policing.
What triggered your obvious love for wildlife?
A combination of many things. I remember the early days when C.W. Holloway had come to India on a mission to save the tiger. I was serving as the Wildlife Warden at the Dudhwa Wildlife Sanctuary then. In between battling poachers and managing this amazing wilderness that the great Billy Arjan Singh has helped draw focus on, I was involved in an exercise to draw up a national plan to protect the tiger. Kailash Sankhala and M.K. Ranjitsinh too came to Dudhwa just then. Such consultations were the start of Project Tiger and it was these senior forest officers who really motivated me. The fact that Billy, without any payment at all (while I was actually paid to do so!), was so devoted to wildlife also affected me deeply.
I also remember vividly the day that Belinda Wright and Christian Zuber had discovered the (now famous) tiger with its paw caught in a trap. I think I was still just doing a job then. But soon after, something invisible took over and an empathy was born, together with a blind desire to protect wild animals and work for their welfare.
But you are now locked in Delhi. Do you get to visit the wildernesses you enjoy so much?
You yourself complained that I am never to be found in my chair when you call from Mumbai! I am happy to say that ever since I took over this job, I have been able to visit more wild places than ever before in my life. I am one of those lucky ones who loves what he does. Most people actually pay to take holidays to visit the places I have to go on 'work'!
Any favourite forests?
That is like asking someone which of his children he likes more? But there is something about Corbett that just takes your breath away. The Ramganga river, the constant bird song, the distant trumpeting of elephants and the fact that this was the heart of Jim Corbett's Kumaon haunt - all combine to create a magical ambience. Corbett is the kind of place a person would like to cast one last look at before he dies.
But all such places are in trouble today. Do you feel you are failing India's wildlife? Do you sometimes feel that the task is thankless and hopeless?
When the first news began to come in of elephant poaching in Corbett, of roads being cut through the core area and of mafia entrenching themselves in this "temple", I did become momentarily depressed. But then the lessons I was taught as a child helped me to remember that I am only one cog in a wheel. People may look at me as the 'head of India's wildlife', but I know that I am only part of a team. Are we failing? Perhaps. But it is a national failure to understand what the value of our wildlife is. Instead of getting demotivated, I feel motivated to work even harder against the mafia and the flaws in "the system".
So what is the key? How can we prevent the loss of our wilds?
People generally protect what they love. They love anything in which they have a direct stake. Unless people realise that saving wildlife is crucial for the availability of potable water to them, the trend of decline in habitat cannot be changed.
But this is a slow and tortuous process? Can a more speedy way not be found?
Speedier ways are also being explored and used. For instance, we at the Ministry are currently working on a major project to protect our corals and marine environment and part of this project is to establish a direct connection with the health of corals and mangroves to the future of our fisheries. Similarly, we are in the process of studying the connection between forests and the hydrology of surrounding areas and watersheds.
Our 'Kids for Tigers' initiative has this as its basic theme. Why is it so difficult for adults to make these connections?
It is difficult for people to learn new concepts. Actually this business about forests and water is very close to my heart as you well know. The economic cost to the nation by floods and droughts alone makes a mockery of all financial projections that highlight the 'advantages' of stripping forests for development. I believe that children are indeed the future and you can count on many forest officers like me to support Sanctuary's effort to reach real lessons about the wilderness to children. In my view when you convert a child to nature, you convert the entire family. You are actually doing the Ministry's job without claiming any payment from us!
Why is there such a yawning gap between wildlife policy and its execution in India? Why is the Wildlife Action Plan languishing?
The funny thing is that everyone, including industrialists, the press, politicians and conservationists like you complain about the 'yawning gap' between policy and its implementation in government. But this is true of every government in the world I think. We are fortunate in having some of the world's best wildlife policies and legislation. It is up to people like you to work to ensure that the nation does not put short-term benefits ahead of such priorities.
What about the legendary hiatus between the Centre and the states? How can better harmony be ensured to the advantage of wildlife?
I do not think it is right to categorise it as a lack of harmony between the central and state governments. In fact, the problem is that there is generally very little will to pay for protecting nature. In the long run, this problem can only be redressed by creating greater awareness about the environmental attributes of forests and wildlife, not only among children, but also among politicians, bureaucrats, technocrats and the corporate sector.
Here is a magic wand. What three things do you want to use it for to save our wildlife?
I would restore our peoples' ancient, traditional values, which led us to revere nature for thousands of years. I would remove the seed of greed from people's hearts so that they would return to taking only what they actually need for survival from nature. And of course, as a forester, I would provide forest staff with all the professional inputs, including infrastructure to protect at least 10 per cent of India's land mass under the strictest protective umbrella.
Any message to the youth of India?
Allowing your natural heritage to be lost is like letting strangers into your house to take away your life's possessions. Just as you would safeguard your bank deposits, jewellery and heirlooms, you must protect your forests, rivers and soils, or you will be condemned to a life of hardship and disease when this world becomes yours. Environmental protection is vital to the economic security of India. Shed your apathy. Shed your cynicism. Remember the great sacrifices made by freedom fighters for India and take up the task of protecting nature as your own personal freedom movement.
