P: Their only duty is to see to the well-being of the animals i.e. feed them and keep their surroundings clean. They do not study or do research on the animals.
R: How did you acquire this post of Principal Chief Conservator of
Forests? What was your background?
P: Like you, I had to study. I answered an examination and got a job as a forest officer. Later I went to the US for two years and on my return I was appointed as Chief Conservator of Forests.
R: Is it possible to set up a Snake Park for doing snake venom extraction?
P: Of course it is possible. But one must apply for a licence/permission for keeping wild snakes in captivity. Pune Snake Park will know the procedure and if you write to them they will give you all the details.
Mr Parameswarappa proved to be a very friendly and helpful person.
Before I left I showed him copies of the letters which I had already
sent to the Indira Gandhi Research Institute and to the Indian Wildlife
Research Institute at Dehradun.
My second appointment was with Mr Arun Kotankar, one of the main persons running an organisation called Samvad which has a programme called SMILE (Student Mobilisation Initiative for Learning) in Bangalore. I reached the office at 10.30 a.m. although my appointment was at 12 o'clock. I showed him my reference letter and in a little while he sat to talk with me.
Mr Kotankar told me about the SMILE programmes in Bangalore. On Saturday afternoons they have an informal open house at Samvad. They watch a film, have a debate or just talk on a specific topic of interest to students, like tourism, dowry, child abuse, fisherfolk's struggles or topics like marriage, love, education or parents.
Students also visit organisations working with dalits, tribals, women, street children, fisherpeople, etc. One can also learn environmental conservation. If the students cannot go to far off places and have to stay back during vacations, they are advised to take up campaigns or undertake studies on local problems like child labour, environmental degradation, construction workers' rights, etc.
Shodhane which means `search' is a newsletter brought out by students who have been to these exposure camps and they write about their experiences during the exposure or generally about other social concerns. One can contribute articles, poems, cartoons or stories in Kannada and English. I was quite interested to hear all that Mr Kotankar had to say about this organisation.