BISHNOIS V DELHIITES: TWO DIFFERENT MINDSETS

FILM STAR Salman Khan's arrest in Jodhpur for killing a chinkara, an endangered animal, and Sahib Singh Verma's resignation as chief minister of Delhi are both developments that hold a message for environmentalists and all those engaged in environmental management.

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First let us look into the unprecedented action that has been taken against a rich and well-known film actor. Poaching is a commonplace exercise in India, posing a serious threat to the country's wildlife. And the government despite its draconian wildlife laws has proved to be totally incompetent in stemming the rot.

Worse still, the country's conservation community which supports these atrocious laws appears to be totally clueless about how to deal with this situation.

Even a powerful person like Khan could not escape, despite a highly corrupt and incompetent system, because in Jodhpur, Khan found that he was not up against a malleable bureaucracy but against the will of a determined community. The Bishnois have for long been strong protectors of the black buck even at the expense of their crops. For them, it is a conservationist ethic born out of their traditions and religion. Once the community came to know about Khan's audacity, they kicked up such a huge fuss that even the politicians, especially ones who are contesting elections which are to be held in November, began to fall over themselves to ensure that the matinee idol did not escape from the clutches of the law. The reason is simple. An angry Bishnoi community would have cost them several seats in the Rajasthan assembly.