| Some traditions never die, they merely get uglier. Hunting
fits that definition well. Once the pursuit of maharajas, the shikar was like some
machismo sport. As the saying those days went, "Three leopards before
breakfast." With wildlife unlimited the hunts were legal orgies of destruction. The
British at least insisted that a strict code of conduct be put in place. Females were
never killed and only species specified in the permit could be shot. That code is dead. Instead, as the recent Salman Khan episode demonstrates, a
new breed of shikaris has emerged. As our cover story reveals, they could be IAS officers,
farmers, industrialists or politicians. None of whom gives a hoot for the law for hunting
has long been illegal. Travelling in jeeps, they kill more than they can eat and shoot
anything in sight. As a result several species are being pushed on to the endangered list.
A huge collective effort was required to put together the
cover story. Reporters from our bureaus in Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhopal,
Chandigarh and Guwahati interviewed old shikaris and new hunters. In Delhi, Special
Correspondent Vijay Jung Thapa, who wrote the story, met wildlife activists. The hunters
turned out to be an audacious breed. In Dehra Dun, wealthy farmers organised a mock-shikar
for Correspondent Roshan Tamang and Senior Photographer Sharad Saxena. Some were even more
brazen. A group of hunters in Rajasthan took Senior Correspondent Rohit Parihar and Senior
Photographer Saibal Das on a hunt and then to their dismay felled two cranes in front of
them. Says Parihar, "I was stunned, after all we were journalists and recording the
incident." For men who flout the law with impunity, the press was clearly irrelevant.
(Aroon Purie) |
