Banashankari, in the seventies, was significantly different from what it is today. It was considered an outlying locale of Bengaluru, bereft of buildings and colonies. Hence, significantly greener too. Praveen Bhargav moved to the area with his family in 1972.
“By the late seventies, construction had started. Vegetation was cleared, they dug up a lot of places. And, Bangalore is known for cobras. When the buildings came up, you found a lot of snakes coming out,” he says.
Bhargav, with his friends, Vijay Cavale and Krishna Narain (who passed away a decade ago), used to rescue snakes and take them to the Bannerghatta Biological Park, about 20 kilometres from his home.
Apart from an innate love for animals and hearing stories from his father of his grandfather and great grandfather, who were forest officers, Bhargav, then, had not much to do with wildlife. “My friends and I were just a bunch of amateur naturalists.”
These snake rescue ops were, however, the origin of Bhargav’s journey in becoming one of the country’s most renowned wildlife conservationists.
After regular trips to Bannerghatta Park, Bhargav was made one of its honorary guides. He then started volunteering in more wildlife activities. From former forest officer KM Chinnappa, he learnt more about fauna and flora and their conservation. In 1982, he co-founded a conservation group called WILPEG that focused on educating people on conservation. In 2007, Bhargav represented Wildlife First on the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL).
Bhargav used the knowledge and experience gathered, over four decades, in writing a book, Wildlife Law for Rangers , which was launched in June. The book, he claims, will be a ready reckoner of forest legislation, especially for the on-field forest officers.
Shedding light on forest laws
Bhargav has trained forest officers, judicial magistrates, police, customs and media professionals. “From this experience, I gathered that there were gaps in the understanding of the Wildlife (Protection) Act (WPA) and other laws related to wildlife. The Act is important because illegal wildlife trade is huge. Interpol has estimated its worth between $10 billion and $20 billion per year.”
Despite its title, the book, according to Bhargav, is not just for rangers. “WPA cannot be implemented in isolation. The officials of the forest department, police, and judiciary, should have an understanding of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) with the wildlife laws.”
The laws are explained through real-life examples, charts and tabulations so that “a field officer doesn’t feel intimidated reading them.”
Most of the first 500 copies of the book, were given free to many chief wildlife wardens, judicial institutions, police and wildlife conservation organisations. Bhargav intends to publish translated versions of the book “in local languages.”
