4 days ago
How Valmik Thapar earned his tiger stripes
In the crowded conservation space, how did the late Valmik Thapar, one of India's foremost tiger experts, author, filmmaker and commentator, stand out?Thapar, 73, lost his battle with cancer in the early hours of May 31, plunging the global wildlife and conservation community into gloom. He is survived by wife Sanjana, the daughter of late actor Shashi Kapoor, and son stood out most importantly because of his frankness of opinion, the not-so-common ability to call a spade a spade. He served on numerous environmental committees, including the National Board for Wildlife, India's top decision-maker on wildlife. Yet, he never minced words even if that meant antagonising those who had appointed him to such bodies.A case in point is Thapar serving as a member of the task force on tigers set up in the aftermath of the conservation debacle at Rajasthan's Sariska Reserve, where the tiger was found in the early 2000s to have been pushed to near wipeout. While on the committee, Thapar had opposed the theory of coexistence of tigers and humans, which used to be a view much in sync with the government of the day in Delhi. Later, in an indication that he was open to correction, Thapar supported the idea of working with forest-dwelling communities, and even did so in the villages around the Ranthambore National Park in Rajasthan through his not-for-profit, the Ranthambore
Those who have known the Thapar family suggest Valmik's ability to speak the truth to the powers that be may have come from parents Romesh Thapar and Raj Thapar. Romesh's May 1950 victory in the Supreme Court in the case 'Romesh Thapar v State of Madras' remains one of the landmark rulings in India on the freedom of speech and curbing of arbitrary use of state as editor of CrossRoads magazine, had moved court after the then Madras government banned the sale of the publication in the state over an article on police violence in a Thapars also conceptualised the Seminar magazine. Romesh, educated in England, was much impressed with Fabian socialism and imbibed Marxist ideals. Highly educated and Marxist in political thought, the couple was perhaps the kinds dispensations are often not comfortable with.'Valmik Thapar had the ability to speak the truth, without malice, to the powers that be. He was not dogmatic as many imagine... He was a strategist. He had strong opinions, based on his field experience imbibed from Fateh Singh Rathore, the first field director of the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve. He knew Ranthambhore and its tiger intimately and was wedded to that forest,' says Bittu Sahgal, editor of Sanctuary Asia magazine and a long-time friend and associate of Sahgal and Thapar had spent endless nights under the boughs of the banyan tree at Ranthambore Fort's Jogi Mahal, inside the reserve. 'Virtually all his life, Valmik carried the voice of the tiger across the globe, and that positively helped protect Panthera tigris across India,' reminiscences critics within the conservation fraternity had an issue with his focus on the tiger, so much so that he was labelled by some as a tiger fanatic to the detriment of other species. Most recently, Thapar had emerged as a prominent voice opposing the government's decision to reintroduce the cheetah in programme launched with much fanfare at the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh in 2022 has had a rough ride. Thapar, speaking to INDIA TODAY back then, had mentioned that the main issue was the lack of open grasslands, like the ones seen in Africa where cheetahs can roam cheetahs at Kuno now routinely enter human habitations that dot the landscape, vindicating Thapar's stance, at least friends maintain that being an extremely private person, Thapar did not speak of his battle with cancer with too many people. His son Hamir has spent considerable time in Ranthambore. Will he follow in the illustrious footsteps of his father?advertisementSubscribe to India Today Magazine
