Before we begin, tell me about 'your' tigress, which is now internationally famous?
'My' tigress is young and probably came into the Keoladeo National Park from the buffer area of the Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve (Mandrail) by following the Gambhir river course. She is very shy, and has stayed on in Keoladeo because she has become the sole claimant to the many sambar, nilgai, wild boar, chital and feral cows that the park has to offer. We have put up signs all over to warn people of the tiger's presence and just three days ago a tourist saw her at close quarters. The cat has occupied a position at the apex of the ecological pyramid and I do not intend to tranquillise or relocate her.
What about this drought? How is the park going to cope? I have never seen the water level this low.
It has been lower. The ecosystem will manage. Drought is a part of the cycle of life. The sight of dead and dying birds and fish may seem tragic, but the tough ones will survive and multiply. It may even help us get on top of the hyacinth problem! We have seen many droughts in Bharatpur in the past and each time the park has emerged stronger. The Indian Forest Service (IFS) teaches us to think in terms of decades, not years. Though the drought means fewer deep diving water birds and no breeding in the heronry, it brings its own beauty with it. A few months ago, one of the drivers rushed into my office and excitedly called me to see something. We rushed off in the Gypsy and soon I was gaping in amazement. Hundreds of Rosy Pelicans had arrived from, I understand, Kazakhsthan. I watched as, in horseshoe formation, they trapped and feasted on fish in the canal. "The last time there were so many Rosy Pelicans here in Keoladeo," said Sohan Lal, the forest guard, "was in 1979, also a drought year." And the thought entered my mind, that even a drought has its uses.
Why the IFS? Did you plan this career or did it just happen?
It was entirely planned. It was the only option available for me to be able to work full-time in the wilds that I love. Besides there are few better ways to make a difference than by using official machinery, if saving forests is part of your life's agenda.
And when did this become your life's agenda?
I grew up in Delhi and as a little girl I used to spend long spells in the Delhi Ridge, a forest that virtually breathes life into our polluted capital. In time I grew to love nature and no one who loves it can help but want to defend it. Our home was so close to the Ridge that I took it for granted. When it began to be attacked from different quarters, I felt a physical pain inside me and determined that I would do all I could to prevent its senseless destruction. It helped, of course, that I studied in Springdales' Public School, where our teachers encouraged us to understand the many things we observed. Springdales' even organised school trips to national parks and wildlife sanctuaries for us. How could I not fall in love with the wilderness.
And your family? Did they encourage this interest?
My father, in particular, was delighted with the direction in which my interests lay. A scientist with the Ministry of Agriculture, he was posted in Orissa for a while and every family holiday was to a wildlife area. He nourished my interest and was responsible for my single-minded drive in this direction. My brother is a chemical engineer and I am the only one in the family with a definite inclination towards forests and wildlife.
What about your husband? What does he do and is he equally interested in wildlife?
Arun is a civil engineer who left the IAS to take up freelance writing, the love of his life. He loves to study and write about wildlife and fiction.
The IFS, I imagine, demands much more than just love for nature from its recruits.
That is true. But I seem to have had everything going for me. After doing my post-graduation in zoology and then taking professional training (Bachelor in Education) in 1983, I taught biology to teenagers between the ninth and twelfth standards for four years at the Bluebells School and the Army Public School in Delhi. In the process I had to do a lot of 'homework' myself and this provided the necessary theoretical knowledge that the IFS demands.
Do you enjoy working with children?
More than anything else. Young minds hold the key to the future and I want to influence them, to inject a sense of wonder and caring and love for nature in them. This is why I helped set up the Ridgewood Nature Trail and a Ridge Woodpeckers' Club for kids in Delhi. As part of our nature club activities, we would prepare checklists of birds, identify and place metallic labels with scientific and common names on plant species along the nature trail and we even started a monthly newsletter. Sometimes I think I enjoyed all this more than the kids!
How did the IFS option actually come about?
I used to meet many forest officers while conducting our nature camps. It seemed unfair that they were able to do so much hands-on work, while the rest of us had to be 'observers'. In talking to them, I discovered that I had all the qualifications and that nothing prevented me from joining their ranks. Of course, it took a lot of hard work, but eventually I was admitted into the prestigious Indian Forest Service on the July 6, 1987.
Was it difficult for you as a woman in a male dominated service? Did you experience any discrimination?
Not one bit. Life is difficult for everyone, woman or man. One just has to tackle and overcome obstacles one at a time. I do not treat people differently and do not expect to be differently treated. You have to win respect. Discrimination? I won the 'Best All-Round Forester of 1987 Batch' award, during my training at the Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy and later at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Academy of Administration. There may be a thousand things I'd like to change in the IFS, but so would every other officer I know. Given the mismatch between the importance of the work we do and the resources available to us, each one of us probably feels discriminated against.
What about the fact that the forest department is largely about timber harvesting? How did you gravitate towards wildlife?
There is some truth in what you say. Timber is a preoccupation, but in an age when biodiversity has become the buzzword, this is fast changing. In 1991, I was given independent charge as a District Forest Officer (DFO) in the Tonk District of Rajasthan. This again was a 'territorial and social forestry division' posting. I wanted desperately to do wildlife work, so I applied for and got confirmation in 1992 for 'in-service training' at the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehra Dun.
Now that is a male dominated institution if I ever saw one. How did you fare here?
Well, I not only got my Post-graduate Diploma in Wildlife Management but also topped the course. As it turns out, I was the first lady officer to receive this training. I can't help feeling a touch of pride because I bagged a whole clutch of awards and medals, not only for myself but also for my state. These included the Wildlife Preservation Society and WII Gold Medals for the 'Top Trainee', the 'Nair Memorial Silver Medal' for the best management plan.
Where did you go from here?
I was instantly given a wildlife posting as Deputy Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) Kota (yes, yes, I was the first woman to be given this charge!). I was based at the zoo there, but my job was to look after all the protected areas in the Haroti region of the Chambal river catchment. I was given charge of more than 1,000 sq. km. in seven districts, which included six sanctuaries and a 'closed' area: Durrah Sanctuary in the Kota and Jhalawar districts, the Jawahar Sagar Sanctuary in the Kota and Bundi districts, the Behsrodgarh Sanctuary in the Chittorgarh district and the Shergarh Sanctuary in the Bara district.
Was this the hands-on wildlife experience you wanted all your life?
Yes and no. The habitat was relatively disturbed and is characterised by scrub and dry deciduous forests. I can't say it was teeming with wildlife, but I did note animals like the panther, sloth bear, wolf, chital, chinkara and gharial. Haroti was no Ranthambhore, but the Ramgarh Sanctuary in the Bundi district actually serves as a corridor for the tigers of Ranthambhore. And the National Chambal Sanctuary protects gharials, marsh crocodiles, dolphins, freshwater turtles and a significant population of resident and migratory birds. I learned that wildlife protection is a slow, purposeful and painstaking process. 'Hands-on' means being close to and not necessarily 'handling' wildlife. Even the Sorsan closed area harboured blackbuck, Great Indian Bustards, chinkara, desert fox, jungle cat and a whole range of avian life.
You must have loved this work.
The work was very challenging. It was also very exciting. During my three year tenure, I caught poachers, arrested illegal miners, seized their trucks, raided homes to confiscate chinkara (the state animal of Rajasthan) meat from shikaris… I also managed to continue my work on environmental education by involving school students in nature-oriented dance dramas in local languages, organising poster competitions, quizzes and cross country nature walks.
And when did you get to Bharatpur?
In 1996. When I got the news, I could hardly believe my luck at being assigned to manage one of the most beautiful national parks in the world. And before you ask, I was the first woman Director of a national park in India and also the first to be given charge of a World Heritage Site anywhere in the world.
This must have been different from anything you ever did. But not only does Bharatpur have world focus, it also has 'world-class' problems!
You can say that again. To begin with, situated as it is in tourism's 'golden triangle' (Jaipur, New Delhi and Agra), we must deal with over 125,000 tourists every year, including 40,000 foreigners. Handling high-profile visitors and protecting our birds from being 'loved to death' has been a challenge like no other. Most of my time was taken up in trying to prevent plastic and other urban waste from contaminating the wetlands, confiscating radios and expelling drunk and boisterous tourists.
Keoladeo Ghana is also a prime site for scientific investigation. Have you been involved with any of the on-going research projects?
Yes. The BNHS findings continually help us interpret the park and its ecosystem. We also work with several overseas organisations including the International Crane Foundation, which is helping to study and protect the Siberian Cranes. We are constantly assessing the impact of pesticides used in surrounding farms that leach into the waters of the Ajan bund. Many toxics are also airborne and I fear this could pose a major problem to breeding birds.
The Rajasthan Forest Department has, however, been accused in the past of not following scientific advice.
It's easy to accuse us, but it's quite another thing to manage contradictions and ground realities. Take the case of the reintroduction of buffaloes, a key BNHS recommendation. How do we achieve this? Whose animals do we allow in and whose do we keep out? Or should we let all the 30,000 domestic livestock in and give up control of the park? If scientists were given charge of managing villagers, bureaucrats and politicians for one year, their attitude towards park managers might change.
What would you say is the prime attitudinal difference between foresters and field biologists?
As foresters we tend to take the more cautious approach, to see whether nature, with time, finds a better option for itself than the one we might have in mind. Scientists often want to intervene and 'improve' things instantly. Having said this, I hasten to add however, that both have the same underlying objective - to understand and protect the ecosystem and its endangered species. Take the case of the decline of Siberian Cranes in the park, a truly vexing problem. We are working jointly with national and international experts and have played host to dozens of expert consultations. We all want to plot the exact flyways of the Sibes to see that every staging point along their flyway is as effectively protected as these swamps. But when there are only a couple of birds, no one can easily risk capturing them and fitting Platform Transmitter Terminals. What if they die in the process of capture? Is anyone prepared to take that risk? I must confess, however, that I sympathise with and understand the ire of scientists when their advice is not acted upon.
What occupies most of your time in the park?
Tourists! Not just the vast hordes that descend each year, but also the hundreds of VIPs that visit us. If we slip up on VIP protocol even once, months of work can be undone by complaints against our staff. I wish we could focus more on our protection duties and receive 'protection' from VIPs!
Sheer numbers must be an issue too. Are you on top of the tourism problem today?
It takes much too long to assess such matters. But we are proactively doing what we can to mitigate the problem of too many visitors. For instance, we have prepared new tourist-friendly signs so visitors have to interact less with staff for simple directions or queries. We hold regular training sessions for cycle-rickshaw pullers who, apart from providing noise-free transportation, have also become some of the nation's best birdwatchers. We also call meetings of hotel and lodge owners to iron out issues.
What would you say are the other key issues faced by the park?
You would need a book to list all our problems, but apart from the famous Paspalum distichum, the grass that began to choke the wetlands when buffalo grazing was stopped, and the constant threat from fires, I would say:
Not enough water. Supply from the Ajan bund (located at the confluence of the Banganga and Gambhir rivers) is always tenuous. We need 500 mcft. water and if we could get this from the Chambal river, it would help the wetland and local farmers.
Poor quality water. Our water supply is contaminated by fertilisers and pesticides. Apart from low level toxics which have a cumulative effect, we lose Sarus Cranes and other grain-eating birds when they consume seeds treated with pesticides. An integrated pest management programme in the catchment area of the Ajan bund and around the park would benefit birds and farmers.
The proliferation of exotics. Water hyacinth is choking the water bodies. Prosopis juliflora and lantana are invading the dryland areas. Uprooting the weeds is an uphill task. We need a whole programme with botanists, zoologists and field biologists working together with park managers to solve these problems effectively.
The magical return of large flocks of Sibes tomorrow seems more likely than that! In the meanwhile, how are you coping? The Army has helped remove hyacinth from another World Heritage Site, Harike.
We have not asked for help from the Army, but we have undertaken a massive eradication programme and this virtually consumed all our financial and administrative resources. We manually removed huge quantities of hyacinth by hand and as you can see, both resident and migratory waterfowl have responded by flocking here in large numbers. Compared to 1996, I would estimate that 95 per cent of the hyacinth has been removed and more palatable sedges have regenerated in its place.
Is yours a thankless job?
Far from it. I am rewarded when I see the swamps respond to our work. We have also earned recognition for our efforts. On January 25, 1999, Prime Minister Vajpayee handed over to us the National Tourism Award for 'The Best Maintained and Tourism Friendly National Park/Wildlife Sanctuary'. To some extent we have also received appreciation from locals whose economies have benefited from the tourism revenues generated by the park.
Talking about villagers, how do they feel about the park and its staff? Is there any residual resentment over the firing deaths that took place years ago?
Some elders may still harbour ill-feeling after the tragic incident in which seven lives were lost when a grazing ban led to clashes. People-park relationships had reached an all-time low. Villagers felt they were being deprived of their traditional rights, while the park was managed for foreigners. The boundary wall was regularly broken to collect fuelwood and minor forest produce, or extract grass, graze cattle, poach fish and tap honey. Wild boar, porcupine and nilgai would be killed when they raided fields outside the park. But now, most of the younger people actually share in the pride that international attention has brought to Bharatpur. One of the prime tasks of a park manager is to improve relations between people and parks, but the other side to this story is the large number of forest staff who die in encounters with anti-social elements involved in timber and wildlife poaching.
So what is actually being done to improve the people-park relationship?
The relationship with local people has improved considerably. Almost anyone will confirm that the park staff and villagers have become more tolerant of each other. This is no accident. We have strived very sincerely to achieve this objective. I must warn you that you will not have the space to cover all the strategies we have tried! But here is a short list:
With help from WWF-India in 1995, consultations were held in five villages around the park and as a result we helped organise the systematic collection of fodder (for cattle-feed, thatch, ropes and woven handicrafts). We allowed the controlled collection of minor forest produce, registered a Keoladeo National Park Development Society that includes park authorities, district administration, representatives of village communities,NGOs and the representatives of the government's Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Education, Irrigation, Tourism, Health and Water Works departments. Village Forest Protection Committees have been started with joint management agreements about the responsibilities of communities. Cattle improvement camps, minor irrigation works, biogas plants, hotel management training, screen-printing T-shirts, bindi making... you name it and we have tried it! We have even helped revive the traditional irrigation systems in the Khori ka Nagla and Ghasaula villages. Fish brooders were taken out of Keoladeo National Park during the summer months to raise fish seeds in nearby hatcheries and this yields a direct income of Rs. 65 lakh per year to the local people. I even put my experience with children's nature education to work and helped start school and college nature clubs that undertake shram daan like the removal of plastics from the park.
What about…?
Wait. I have not finished. We organised dance dramas, poster and slogan competitions, rangolis, nature walks and quizzes, debates, Wetland Weeks, bird fairs, Van Mahotsavs, Wildlife Week programmes, wildlife photography and painting exhibitions, Rajasthani puppet shows, a nature interpretation curriculum that included lectures in natural history, local history, film shows, field visits inside the park. We created a local fish hatchery, a vermicompost farm and arranged field visits to Sariska and Ranthambhore… do you want to hear more?
No, I think you've made your point! Just one last thing. Any abiding regrets?
I have neither the time nor inclination for regrets. But I do have a wish list. I wish the Siberian Cranes would come back and that the surrounding villages would actually start protecting the park, leaving us only the task of monitoring and administering it. I also wish that the political and administrative machinery of the nation would back wildlife as they do industry. I wish we cared more about the wildlife heritage of our children.
