An Indian Bureaucrat's Diary

Indian Express February 11, 2010


Today, I was pleasantly surprised to read a news article about a Public Interest Litigation involving a snake….a king cobra…… to be precise.

The report said a 16 feet king cobra was rescued from a monk and is under the care of Solapur Municipal Corporation. More about this later…..

The news transported me back in time …..more than four decades back ….to 1968.
I was then a probationer in the National Academy of Direct Taxes in Nagpur where new entrants to the Indian Revenue Service (Income Tax) are trained to become what they finally become.

Being an animal lover from early childhood, I purchased a baby python from a local snake charmer. Till that day, I never knew humans are so scared of snakes. The result was that on the third day, I was directed to dispose off the baby python or get out.

I went to the local Maharajbagh Zoo and managed to meet the acting Director. I offered to donate my baby python. But he was averse to taking anything as donation. I requested him to keep my baby python for a few months. I would pay for the upkeep and take back the baby python later. But this was completely ruled out.

I then went to his boss…a senior professor. He called the acting Director and asked him whether the zoo had too many pythons.  No…that was not the case. The zoo had two pythons earlier and both had died. So there was a clear vacancy. The senior professor almost forced him to accept the baby python.

I wanted a receipt for my baby python. The acting Director refused. I suppose he had had too much of me.
Again, I went to his boss…the senior professor. He called the acting Director and asked him why he could not issue a receipt and how he would account for the baby python in the zoo’s inventory. The acting Director said they would show it as found while digging the ground. The senior professor convinced the acting Director that pythons are not recovered while digging and finally I got my receipt.

I later found that the acting Director was from the University’s Botany department. That explains his apathy to animals.

Today’s news is mentally stunning. The Public Interest Litigation application wants the High Court to order the king cobra to be released in the wild.

A division bench of Justices J N Patel and B R Gawai of the Bombay High Court has called for report from the Central Zoo Authority and the Solapur Municipal Corporation.

I am sure there are enough wild life experts and government departments who could have taken a well reasoned decision in the king cobra’s interest and done for him (or may be her) what was best and given better facilities in some good zoo.

I really find it difficult to understand how this issue could become a matter of public interest litigation when our courts are almost choked with cases.

I would have probably understood the situation better if the issue involved a community or group of king cobras. But this case involves a single king cobra!

Of course, some things are better left unexplained, because there is no rhyme or reason or logic.

Incidentally, the king cobra is one of the five most venomous snakes of India. It is found in dense forests and the chances of sighting it in the wild are rather rare.

The Government has already established a special reserve for king cobras in Agumbe (about 90 kms. from Shimoga) in Karnataka.
The king cobra, which is the subject matter of the Public Interest Litigation, can be relocated to the Rani Bagh Zoo, in Mumbai; Sanjay Gandhi National Park or can be easily sent to Agumbe – even without the High Court’s intervention.

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After the monsoons, Flamingoes – the lesser and the greater ones – and a lot of other migratory birds come to the coastal mudflats of India from the North.They feed on the mudflats during the next five or six months and return to their homelands in April or so.

They also come to Sewree in Central Mumbai in large numbers. Read the rest of this entry »

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Reintroduction in India

The  Cheetah is the fastest land animal on earth.
The word “cheetah” is derived from the Sanskrit word ‘chitraka’, meaning “speckled”.

Asiatic Cheetah

Once upon a time, the Asiatic Cheetah (a different sub specie from its African cousin) was quite common and  roamed all the way from Arabia to Iran, Afghanistan and India. Read the rest of this entry »

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Whale Sharks

“Whale Sharks are the largest fish in the sea, and yet, we know the least about them,” Jeff Swanagan, Executive Director and President, declared shortly after the opening of the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, U.S.

Seeing a Whale Shark in the ocean is very rare.
Even well-known oceanographers such as Dr. Sylvia Earle and Philippe Cousteau did not see their first Whale Shark until coming to an aquarium. Read the rest of this entry »

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Jogeshwari Caves in Mumbai

Jogeshwari Caves, dating back to 520 to 550 AD, are some of the earliest Hindu cave temple sculptures located off the Western Express Highway in Jogeshwari (East) in northern Mumbai (Bombay).
They are a 45-minute journey from Church Gate Station by train and a further 3 kms. by road from Jogeshwari Station.
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When we think of caves, we visualize locations in inaccessible places hidden amidst deep forests.

Some caves were carved out in inaccessible places because of fear of prosecution by kings and rulers of different faiths, or due to the desire to remain far away from society, but many were situated on the ancient trade routes and served as halting places for traders and other travellers. Read the rest of this entry »

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Once upon a time, Bombay (Mumbai) had vast areas of mangrove forests.
Over the years, most of these  were cut down.
And the Maharashtra Government and its impotent officials remained mute spectators.

Bombay High Court to the rescue

In India, the Supreme Court and the High Courts – even though they are horribly overburdened with work – are able to do what the governments fail to do. Read the rest of this entry »

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When I was about 9 or 10 years old (well,                                                          

that was a good five and a half decades ago),

I first read about the Flamingo in Lewis Carroll’s

wonderful book – Alice in Wonderland.

So strange was the depiction that I thought the Flamingo was an imaginary bird.

Flamingoes are truly strange looking birds.
And they feed in a peculiar fashion.
They immerse their entire heads in the mud in the bottom of the water – upside down.

Description

There are six species of flamingoes in the world.
Of these, only two species – the Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus) and the Lesser Flamingo (Phoeniconaias minor) are found in India.

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Sariska Tiger Reserve in Alwar, Rajasthan has been
in the news for the past four years – unfortunately for
the wrong reasons.

Sariska Tiger Reserve

The Sariska Tiger Reserve (866 sq. kms.) was originally a hunting preserve of the Kings of Alwar in Alwar District in the state of Rajasthan.
The area was declared a wildlife reserve in 1955.
In 1978, it was declared a Tiger Reserve and is now a part of India’s Project Tiger scheme.
It became a National Park in 1979.

The Sariska Tiger Reserve is larger than Ranthambore Tiger Reserve with similar topography, but is far less commercialized.

Sariska Tiger Reserve in the news

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the largest mass nesting site of
Olive Ridley turtle
in the world

Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary is the only marine sanctuary in Orissa (Eastern India).
This Sanctuary is extremely important because it is the largest mass nesting site of the Olive Ridley sea turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea) in the world.

There are only four mass nesting sites of the Olive Ridley turtles in the world.
Of these four, the ‘Playa Ostional’ is in Ostional village in Costa Rica.
The other three are in Orissa.

The three mass nesting sites of the Olive Ridley turtles in Orissa are: Read the rest of this entry »

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