Sanctuary Sanctuary ||PeoplePeople
KAKUL BARUAH / PUBLIC DOMAINFACING PAGE Vinod Rishi, post his retirement after 37 years in the Indian Forest Service.
ABOVERivers such as the Subansiri that fl ow through Arunachal Pradesh and Assam have already been seriously aff ected by glacial melt, a
consequence of India’s climate crisis. It will take brave and clear-headed offi cials to ensure that decision making is infl uenced more by ecological
realities than political expediency.for managing the Darjeeling zoo and I
also worked as Curator of the Bengal
Natural History Museum.
But you remained a dyed-in-the-
wool wildlifer!
Yes. Ironically, I learned a lot about
animal biology during my zoo stint, but
my heart was always out there in the
wide, open spaces that I have dedicated
my life to protect.
What is it about the outdoors that
underscores your life even now?
I doubt I could fi nd words that truly
refl ect how I feel. There is something
about being ‘out there’ that makes you
feel alive. It’s not all fun and games, of
course, as some might imagine! I have
met women forced to deal with some
truly tragic human-wildlife confl ict
situations. But after witnessing suff ering
fi rst hand, I found myself gravitating
towards developing innovative, earthy
solutions that sometimes solved, and
other times reduced trauma for both
human and animal. Only someone
working in the fi eld on such apparently
intractable issues will understand the
inner joy of being part of such life and
death resolutions.
But from what I know, the system
does not exactly help.
Bittu, that is true of any situation
within families, at the workplace and
within one’s circle of friends and
acquaintances! Conservation is a
balancing act. Half the time, you end up
resolving interdepartmental confl icts! It’s
part of life’s game, both professionally
and personally.
Could you list a few key assignments
and sectors that have occupied
your life?
I have lived a very rich life. I was the
fi rst Director of Project Elephant, the
Secretary of the Global Tiger Forum,
a Member of the Uttarakhand State
Wildlife Board, and as you well know, I
was the Member Secretary of India’s
National Board for Wildlife and you were
part of it too.
If only there were more forest
offi cers like you, India would
have greatly benefi ted because
between melting Himalayan glaciers,destroyed wildlife corridors and
fi nancial ruin, our country and its
people were caused grievous harm.
They are still being caused harm.
But all was not doom and gloom, Bittu. It
was a very satisfying part of my life. We
did what we could and that is all that is
expected of anyone who truly loves this
planet. As the Additional Director General
(Wildlife) for the Government of India, and
the Director of the Indira Gandhi National
Forest Academy, for instance, I was gifted
a chance to shape young Indian Forest
Service (IFS) offi cers at Dehradun. When
I look at some of them now, I know
that even more than politicians, bankers,
businessmen, it is such people, working
with the ordinary villagers, who will
rescue India from the ecological dark hole
towards which it seems to be hurtling.
I hear you. In fact, you were also a
Founding Faculty Member of the
Wildlife Institute of India (WII).
Yes. I helped develop the training syllabus
that nudged forest offi cials away from
the timber-fi cus, towards biodiversity
conservation. I think I must have trained