- Novanita Sharma
As we set ourselves to celebrate the spirt of wildlife conservation with the 70th National Wildlife Week this October in 2024, it is good to understand the implications of this celebration in our country. If we take a glance on the progress of biodiversity conservation in India since our independence from the colonial rule in 1947, we clearly comprehend the fact that modern wildlife conservation in India started only after the enactment of the Wildlife Protection Act of India in 1972. So, while we are celebrating 70 years of the national wildlife week this year, it is noteworthy that India have completed only 52 years of real conservation actions through implementations of policies and legal provisions in protecting our forests and conserving the rare wildlife of our country since 1972. In true sense, modern wildlife conservation in India is yet to complete a century. On the contrary, the forests and wildlife of India were subjected to unprecedented killings and exploitation for almost two centuries under the English regime, which remains a hushed topic in India till date. The conservation fraternity in India deftly avoids this forbidden era of India’s wildlife crisis, out of their allegiance to the English doctrines boasting of the coloniser’s contribution to India’s modern conservation history. The 70 years of National Wildlife Week
celebrations bring forth many questions to me, I tend to question myself and share this predicament with you all; I wonder if it is not more appropriate for us to celebrate the 52 years of Wildlife Protection Act of India instead of the customary 70 years of national wildlife week in India? A celebration for the Wildlife Protection Act of India will benefit the biodiversity conservation movement in many ways, it will create greater awareness about this Act by familiarization the common citizens with the legal provisions given by the Constitution of India for protection of wildlife and preservation of forests in the country. We
often fail to focus on the ground realities and at times this lack of objectivity hinders us from delivering our best towards the cause. The nature conservation movement of India has many such examples. We allowed many socio-economic movements that raised serious anthropogenic environment concerns in the 1970s to take the centre stage of environment movements in India. Media played the key role in building and propagating these movements of early late 1970s amongst the clueless common Indian citizens of that time. These trending media savvy movements from certain parts of the country established its lead over the thoughts and ideas regarding the whole picture of conservation movements in India. The biggest loss in this scenario was borne by India’s national conservation movement itself, it overshadowed many powerful and dedicated conservation
movements in remote parts of the country. Some of the early biodiversity conservation movements thus went unnoticed by the larger population of India. In the process, we failed to recognize the real milestones of India’s conservation history for our young generations, which worked as serious impediment for the growth of empowered environment leaders in India. One of such early conservation movements in India include the ‘Save Chakrashila Movement’ of Nature’s Beckon. This movement put forth the necessity to conserve smaller mammals, reptiles, insects, birds, micro habitats, flora, and the entire forest ecosystem while highlighting the urgency to protect the newly discovered population of Golden Langur in the Chakrashila forest of Western Assam in the early 1980s. This was the time when wildlife conservation in India was fixated on the big mammals found in Indian forests -Rhino, Tiger, Elephant, and the concepts of modern wildlife conservation was an alien thought for the masses of India. The ‘Save Chakrashila Movement’ laid the foundation of biodiversity conservation in Assam way ahead of others in the country. Soumyadeep Datta,
then a young naturalist pioneered India’s non-human primate’s conservation movement with this initiative to protect the entire Chakrashila forest, the natural habitat of Golden Langur to ensure long term conservation of this endemic species which is not found anywhere in India apart from a restricted region in the Assam Duars. Soumyadeep Datta led Nature’s Beckon on Assam’s first public awareness campaign against hunting and selling of wildlife in Assam. Nature’s Beckon also raised a successful campaign to stop the killing, capturing, and selling of turtles in local markets of Dhubri during this time. This campaign put a complete ban on the supply of turtles from Dhubri to rest of the state, and succeeded in calling an end to open selling of turtles in Assam. This was a commendable contribution to enforcement of the Wildlife Protection Act of India-1972 in Assam by Nature’s Beckon in its initial years. The Save Chakrashila Movement found prominence among the conservation fraternity of India for its pioneering contribution to biodiversity conservation, but a large chunk of Indian population outside Assam remained oblivious of this landmark conservation movement of Assam. India’s conservation education remains incomplete without the knowledge of such grassroots movements which added unforgettable precedent for the national biodiversity conservation of India. Assam has emulated more conservation milestones under the trailblazing leadership of changemakers like Soumyadeep Datta in the later years, like the rainforest conservation movement of Assam, the protected area movement of Assam, wild bird’s preservation program, the concept of Gramya Abhayaranya and the latest additions like Ahum Basudhame Krite Mangaljanak. The success of biodiversity conservation in the 21st century will hugely depend on the ability of conservation programs to incite long lasting social, and intellectual changes among the people which will eventually reflect in evolving political agendas and collective actions for effective biodiversity conservation in our country. Our celebrations, our education, and degrees prove futile if we fail to honour the true conservation movements, and the true change makers of India who laid the foundation of biodiversity conservation in the grassroots of the country. A befitting celebration for the spirit of wildlife
conservation in India calls for the celebration of this grassroots movements that build India from the remote villages, that connects us with our own traditions, knowledge, history, and ancient conservation education found embedded in the roots of our great civilization. The conservation movement of India is been saved by the changemakers like Soumyadeep Datta who fervently upheld the rights of the voiceless wildlife and forests against the stacks of personal gain and anthropogenic needs through four decades of continuous work, to establish the firm roots of biodiversity conservation movement in Assam. The future of biodiversity conservation in India depends on our ability to inspire more changemakers from the young generations, we need young minds who will rise above all human boundaries and believe in the spirit of the biodiversity conservation movement of our country to carry it ahead with undying commitment to Mother Nature. One of the chief objectives of the present conservation initiatives in India should lie in our efforts to enhance, enrich, and support the essence of ‘movement’ amongst Indians for the cause of biodiversity conservation. I take the privilege to share the thoughtful words of Soumyadeep Datta that beautifully relates to the essence of ‘movement’.
“From the ceaseless existence of People, from their purity, necessity, and consciousness arises the spontaneous collective wave for change; we call the spontaneous expression of this fervent drive for change as ‘movement’. Irrespective of its outcome, the goal of movements’ is far reaching, and despite being based on certain perceptions, movements’ dazzle with the light of ideals and core principles.”
– Soumyadeep Datta
(Translated from the original quote in Assamese language, from ‘Udgiran’, a collection of articles published in 2005)