Author: Valmik Thaper
Editor(s): Valmik Thaper
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 2003
Language: English
Pages: 444
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0 19 566293 8
Description
Illustrated with rare pictures, this book looks at India’s wilderness over two centuries. It records the efforts to save the fragile remnants of India’s vanishing wildlife and traces the history of wildlife and forests to understand some of the challenges to survival of India’s wilderness in the twenty-first century.
The book explores some remarkable efforts to save India’s forests. It looks at the governance of wildlife and forests and some of the greatest defenders of wildlife in India-Alexander Gibson,
S P Shahi, PTL Dodsworth, F W Champion, Jim Corbett, S H Prater, Salim Ali, R W Burton, George Schaller, E P Gee, Kailash Sankhala, Billy Arjan Singh, and M Krishnan. The author calls them a wild bunch, a group that defends the right to life of our wilderness.
Thapar examines the evolution of wildlife governance in India over two centuries including the Supreme Court’s initiatives, recent court decisions, and loopholes in existing legislation. He explores the amazing efforts of organizations like the Bombay Natural History Society as an institution dedicated to conservation in the last century.
Its comprehensive coverage will make this volume essential reading for anyone interested in India’s wildlife. NGOs’ activists working for wildlife protection, policy-makers, forest officials, and conservationists will find it especially useful.
REVIEW
A tigress stands over her massive crocodile kill. It was such encounters in the wilderness that reflected the richness of India’s natural world. This in my opinion is one of the few unique pictures ever taken of the two powerful predators that walk planet earth.
-Valmik Thapar
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgements
The Nineteenth Century
The Beginning
The Early Twentieth Century
A Critical Period 1927-1947
The Nehru Years Independent India: 1947-1964
The Gandhi Era 1966-1989
The End of a Century 1990-2002
Appendix I
Appendix II
Appendix III
Appendix IV
Appendix V
Bibliography
Name Index