Please step aside. Telecom giant Aircel has taken it upon itself to save the Indian tiger; and it will brook no interference from any quarter. Having bagged the support of cricket's newest poster boy, Mahinder Singh Dhoni, as well as global NGO World Wildlife Fund (WWF), its success in the noble venture is assured. The environment ministry can now safely put the locks on the Project Tiger office. Jairam Ramesh, too, can afford a sigh of relief. Still having doubts that our abandoned, 1,411 tigers have met - at last - the messiah in Aircel? Go climb a tree. But on second thought, don't. Because, then, you are liable to run afoul of Idea, Aircel's rival which has launched an equally worthy campaign to save our trees!
A few elementary questions, however, persist in the mind. With Aircel in the driver's seat, where does it leave scores of wildlife workers and enthusiasts - big and small, known and obscure - who, all this while, have been working silently or loudly to pull the beleaguered tiger from the jaws of extinction? Do they figure at all in Aircel's grand scheme?
Now, visualise this: somewhere in the deep jungle, a group of five forest guards with antiquated guns are huddled under a shaky watchtower. For the past six months, they haven't been home. The nearest town is 65 km away, the nearby muddy rivulet is their only source of drinking water and a worn-out transistor remains their only link with the outside world.
They are the real saviours of our tigers. Want to meet these hardy men? They can be found at Fulai Chour, a forgotten forested corner of Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand. Holding their ground against possible poachers' strike, they ensure the tiger remains alive - if only in their part of the park. Read the full report here.
Source: Ajay Suri, Governance Now.
