-Novanita Sharma
This time, the first month of the year came to a closure amidst the undeniable aura of Mahakumbh, the greatest spiritual festival of India which attracts a global congregation of seekers from across the world. While the 1.45 billion human population of India intimidates and perplexes everyone, the ocean of people seeking salvation at the Mahakumbh depicts the relevance of ancient Indian spiritual heritage as an answer to the spiritual quest of human beings irrespective of economic, social, geographic, and religious divisions of the contemporary world. The record footfall at the Mahakumbh 2025 reflect the unrelenting spiritual yearning amongst human beings even in the AI trending 21st century. In fact, this thirst for spirituality is catching up fast among the young, educated, and celebrated people of our societies. The success of every ‘Kumbh ka mela’ since ages is determined by the sheer number of people who gather at the Triveni sangam for the mass immersion of spirituality. The Mahakumbh 2025 has proved its success in this regard. This mega religious spectacle also indicates the timeless appeal of India’s spiritual heritage for entire humanity. In India, we worship our rivers, we consider many of our lakes, aquifers, mountains as sacred, and have set excellent examples of water conservation through our religious practices. Our forefathers, our ancient Gurus gave the world the scientific knowledge of water conservation and preservation of our rivers. The ongoing Mahakumbh Ka Mela epitomize this cultural practice of water conservation which is inherent to the Sanatana philosophy of India which preaches Ahimsa as the greatest Dharma for all.
While Mahakumbh 2025 engaged entire India and the world with its spiritual glory, in Assam a completely different festival juxtaposed this mega event with a fresh note on wild birds’ conservation during the same time. Though incomparable in terms of magnitude, and other parameters, the ‘Pobitora Wild Birds Conservation Festival 2025’ upheld the essence of age-old Indian philosophy of nature conservation. It launched an entirely new approach of wild birds’ conservation festival in Assam – a new concept of engaging nature loving people and the young generations in the wild birds’ conservation movement of Assam. This was the second edition of Pobitora Wild Birds Conservation Festival in Assam. Nature’s Beckon had launched this festival in January 2024 with the objective to drive a new direction for wild birds’ conservation amongst the young students, youths in Assam. In 2025, hundreds of students, youths, and villagers from the fringe areas of Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary participated in the three days festival. The festival spanning 17th, 18th, 19th January 2025 created a unique buzz for wild birds’ conservation in Assam. It showcased a beautiful model of people’s participation in the frontline of nature conservation initiatives in Assam; the festival involved active participation from grassroots representatives right from the colourful inauguration to the final day of the event. This festival aptly conveyed the message of Nature’s Beckon’s decades long community based wild birds’ conservation movement in Assam. It encompassed trainings especially designed for the young generations of the Mayong area which connected a large number of students from the area with the wild birds’ conservation movement of Assam. It included trainings on ‘Wild Birds & their habitats conservation’, and ‘Skills development and orientation on Prakriti sahitya’. The festival spread the thoughts, and philosophy of Nature’s Beckon’s wild birds’ conservation movement to many students from different parts of Assam through a National workshop on wild birds’ conservation. This workshop was attended by students pursuing undergraduate and post-graduate courses in the Zoology department of B. Borooah College, Guwahati (Autonomous). The festival emphasized on the urgent need to address the conservation of the resident wild bird species of Assam, which are mostly neglected due to misplaced priority on the migratory species of birds as compared to the resident species in our country. Nature’s Beckon launched a badge of “All Assam Wild Birds Preservation Campaign” which carried a picture of Pink Headed Duck, a resident wild duck which went extinct during 1950s. This campaign was launched in 1992, it is perhaps the first and the only effort by any environment organization in India to highlight the extinction of Pink Headed Duck, a resident bird species from the wild. Nature’s Beckon also inaugurated “Checklist cum Triplist of Indian Birds,” during this festival – a field record book for scientific record keeping of data on birds. This book will facilitate a systematic record keeping method for ornithological studies. It will contribute to a wild birds database, which will greatly supplement future scientific studies and conservation plannings in a long run. This Checklist cum Triplist, conceptualized and compiled by Sri. Soumyadeep Datta is a significant contribution towards scientific field studies on birds and future wild birds’ conservation in Assam. The festival underlined the importance of habitat preservation to protect the wild birds of Assam in true sense. The Pobitora Wild Birds Conservation Festival 2025 herald a meaningful direction to the wild birds’ conservation movement of Assam with new thoughts and methods, it paved the way ahead to strengthen the grassroots support base across important wild birds’ habitats in Assam. Nature’s Beckon enriched the Pobitora Wild Birds Conservation Festival 2025 with the publishing of a book “Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary”, a unique publication on the biodiversity rich Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary. The festival upheld the ethos of nature conservation in an interesting foray of educational, and motivational modules for the young generations, and put forth a beautiful example of collective approach towards nature conservation for the rest of India.
Where Mahakumbh continues to bewilder the human world with its massive presence through ages, the Pobitora Wild Birds Conservation Festival lit the minds and hearts of the few in another corner of India with hope and motivation to immerse in an equally rewarding journey of self-realization, and compassion that pervades every genuine action for nature conservation and environment protection. May this spirit of compassion, and nature conservation permeate the beautiful philosophy of life from India to the world over.