real conservation if there is room only for
such silly stuff on mainstream TV? Please
see the film Truth About Tigers by Shekar
Dattatri (it is on the portal Conservation
India - www.conservationindia.org - and
on YouTube). These are the kinds of films
we need to make if people are to be really
educated as to what wildlife conservation
is.
A lot of activists face the problem
of their work being considered
completely irrelevant by some
ignorant people. What is your
reaction to them?
One has to keep on struggling and not be
discouraged. I faced this situation when
a group of us fought a long legal case to
shut down the disastrous iron ore mine in
Kudremukh, and when I did the first ever
telemetry study of tigers in India way back
in 1990. Sometimes if the opposition is
based on a genuine misunderstanding one
can change attitudes, but often the opposition is rooted in strong economic interests
and then nothing will induce change.
What can students like us do to
help save tigers? We find it difficult
to believe that sharing photos or
Facebook statuses can help to save
a real tiger.
In what way would you like the
younger generation to resist the
political interference on issues
concerning conversion of forest into
revenue lands?
I agree with you that posting stuff on
the internet has limited value compared
to writing for the print media in regional
languages, which has some impact. However, influencing decision makers such as
officials, elected representatives at various
levels, industry leaders etc., can be done by
anyone with sufficient knowledge, access
and commitment of time. Filing court
cases is a very good way if one has the
time and energy. Right To Information law
is a powerful new tool for such advocacy.
As engineers you will all have a tremendous influence on how this country’s
industry and commerce will be run in the
future. The challenge for you is to maintain
the conviction that nature needs to be
saved, and practice it in your working lives.
I am actually very sad that many of my
NITK contemporaries who now hold high
positions in society as engineers, businessmen, bankers etc have shown scarce inter-
est in saving nature and have done very
little that is useful or visible. I hope your
generation of NITK engineers will have
a broader vision, and look beyond wealth
and status as the sole yardsticks of success
in life.
We are extremely grateful to you for
spending so much of your time for
us and answering every question in
such detail and depth. In conclusion,
do you have anything to say to us,
the students of NITK?
I hope you will first fully educate yourself
about real challenges of nature conservation and about the new opportunities to
promote conservation that are emerging.
I believe economic development and
technological progress pose not only major
problems and challenges for conservation
as is well-recognized, but they also provide
huge opportunities for reducing pressures
on wild nature, while improving human
welfare. As engineers and technocrats you
all have a huge role to play in reconciling development with conservation. The
“engineering” you find in wild nature on
earth is several million years old and very
complex. Let us engineers not lose its precious blue-prints in our quest for the new
tools we are inventing. Your engineering
education provides you with clear, logical,
rational paths to approach problems of
any kind. I hope you will also apply them
to save what remains of wild nature
.
The Shoreline
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