Ecological prudence
lam delighted to be here with you and to share my ideas about one form of monopolistic aggression that has tragic consequences for the common people of India. This is an aggression promoted by interests of international tourism. The aggression has further strengthened the hands of the Forest Department (FD), an agency created by the British rulers to help drain India’s resources by taking over common property resources of India’s village communities. Indian society traditionally viewed itself as being a part of acommunity of beings, not just including other humans, but animals and plants, hills and rivers as well. This worldview was rooted in an appreciation of the need to sustain the ecosystem services that the other members of the community provided. Its manifestations included practices such as protection of the breeding colonies of waterbirds like egrets, herons, storks, and pelicans in places like Keoladeo Ghana in Bharatpur, Rajasthan, Vedanthangal near Chennai in Tamilnadu and Kokre Bellur in Mysore district of Karnataka. The breeding waterbirds are an easy prey but were strictly protected during the breeding season ensuring that the colonial breeding, offering valuable fertilizer for the farmers, will continue year after year. But the same birds were happily hunted outside the breeding season. This is a neat example of what ecologists term prudence and natural resource managers sustainable utilization. Many such
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