A Forester Remembers

  BRUSHES WITH THE JUDICIARY Dr. Pankaj Khullar IFS (Retd.)               A few weeks ago, I came face to face with a young judicial officer, and a sorry experience it was. My daughter had to submit an Indemnity Bond for obtaining her daughter’s corrected Marks Sheet from the CBSE. The CBSE format specifically stated the document be got countersigned by a Judicial Magistrate Ist Class. She got the necessary affidavit made and then went around the Solan courts looking for a JMIC. She soon found that though there were several Additional Judicial Magistrates, there was no JMIC. Even the post of Chief Judicial Magistrate was lying vacant. She discovered that a JMIC was posted at Kandaghat, a Sub Divisional town some 15 km from Solan. She looked up the internet and found that the incumbent there was a young lady who had been directly recruited to the HP Judicial Service. I called up her office and obtained an appointment ...

  Isolation .... March 27, 2020 I was born in Kanpur, into a joint family consisting of parents, grandparents, assorted uncles and aunts and cousins. As such, I developed quite a liking for company and the social activities that being there involved. The house was always full of fun and laughter. Winter months were especially interesting, as cousins joined us during their school vacations. I remember that, at one time, we had some twelve adults and an equal number of children crammed into the five bedroom house on the first floor of a lane in Tilak Nagar. We were never, but never, alone. There were people always around - whether at home, or on the streets and markets, where my grandpa would often take me along when he went to buy vegetables or groceries. And then came school! Yes, I still had human company but, with school, came the first exposure to the concept of punishment and isolation. The nuns who managed the kindergarten were kindly, but strict. The slightest infringement ea...

  Virbhadra Singh – a Tribute   Raja Sahib – Virbhadra Singh – is no more. His demise leaves a gaping void not only in Himachal politics, but also in the hearts of many who had worked with him in any capacity. He was an able administrator, an admirable guide and mentor, and a kind and supportive boss. His smiling visage and gentle demeanor endeared him to one and all. Of course, he did display dismay and anger at times, but his overall appearance was that of a calm and thoughtful individual. My association with him began in 1985, when I was handpicked by him to serve as Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) at his royal seat, Rampur Bushahr. My return from deputation with the Govt. of India, in 1983, coincided with his return to Himachal Pradesh from the Centre. While he took over as Chief Minister of the State, I was posted as DFO Working Plans at Shimla. In 1985, when I was looking forward to my promotion as Conservator of Forests (CF), I suddenly received orders posting me ...

When I reported for duty in Himachal Pradesh, for the first time in my life I came face to face with politicians – from the lowly village ‘Pradhans’ to Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) to Ministers. Prior to joining the Forest Service, I had no idea what a politician was and how much nuisance value one wielded. I had grown up in Army cantonments, where the most important person we saw was the Station Commander, a Brigadier, or, on very rare occasions, a Major General. Yes, I had heard about Presidents and Prime Ministers, but had absolutely no idea about the political hierarchy prevailing at the ground level. So, it came as somewhat of a shock when, at a Van Mahotsava (tree planting festival) at Rajgarh I was confronted by a diminutive individual wearing khadi pyjamas and kurta, and a Gandhi cap, who imperiously asked me where my DFO was. When I asked him who he was, a bulky, uncouth looking person by his side said “You seem to be new here. Don’t you recognize Mr. ZS, the MLA...

Forest fires, each year, destroy millions of hectares of forests worldwide. Apart from an estimated direct loss of USD 3000 million each year, there is a huge loss in terms of lives lost, health problems due to smoke inhalation, loss of soil fertility, increased soil erosion and flooding, and a host of other short term and long term effects of the fires. The recent 2019-2020 season fires in Australia have reportedly affected 186,000 square kilometers of forest, destroyed over 2779 homes and killed at least 34 people. An estimated one billion animals have been killed and some endangered species may be driven to extinction. By January 2020, the smoke from the bushfires had moved approximately 11,000 kilometers across the South Pacific Ocean to Chile and Argentina. NASA estimated that, as of 2 January 2020, 306 million tonnes of CO 2 had been emitted from the burning forests. According to a report, forest fires globally contribute 2.5 billion to 4 .0 billion tonnes of CO 2 to carbon...

I have just heard of the demise of Mr. B S Chauhan, the gentleman who was the DFO at Rajgarh when I joined there in February 1974. I have already mentioned how much in awe of him I was. He was a towering personality both literally and figuratively. Well over 6 feet in height and sporting an imposing moustache, Mr. Chauhan instilled ready respect amongst his juniors and subordinates and fear in minds of wrongdoers. His tours of inspection were awaited with dread by the field staff. Many a story was told of his long walks in the forests and his keen eye for detail. He had the nasty habit of stopping the jeep and getting off where he was least expected, hopping over the fence of the plantation, and then taking a tour of inspection, with the Range Officer and other staff trailing behind him. Needless to say, the area near the entry to the plantations was always well looked after with the grass and bushes kept in check and the saplings well looked after. The far corners of the plantati...

Immediately after completing my graduation, in 1970, I began preparing for competitive exams, and filled and submitted whatever forms I came across. I knew my parents had high expectations from me and I did not want to let them down. I would get through the written exams of Business Schools, but was always rejected by the Interview panels, as they considered me too young to be admitted. I was rejected by the Delhi University, the Banaras Hindu University, even IIM Calcutta, merely on the grounds of age and also, in case of   IIMC, as I was considered inexperienced! What chance did I have against IIT graduates, many of whom had even worked for some time after their graduation! As one can imagine, I was pretty much down in the dumps when I applied to the UPSC for the IFS exam. I had no idea what the Forest Service was – in fact no idea what forests were either! There was no ‘Google’ to guide me, and nobody in my father’s circle of colleagues and friends had any knowledge. All ...

The north-western Himalayas are home to two nomadic tribes, the 'Gaddis' and the 'Gujjars'. While the Gaddis are shepherds, rearing large herds of sheep, the Gujjars are cattle herders. Come April/May, members of both tribes can be seen wending their way, along with their sheep or buffaloes, as the case may be, towards the high pastures among the fir and spruce forests of the Himalaya. Their womenfolk trudge along with them, while children can be seen astride the little ponies that also carry their tents, beddings, pots and pans. They spend the entire summer months in the alpine pastures and, from October onwards, begin making their way back towards the lower hills or the plains, where they spend the winter months. The ‘Gujjars’ are hardy folk - the men, on an average, six feet tall, and the women a few inches less. The hooked noses and hennaed beards of the men, and their colourful turbans, make them easily distinguishable. Their foot wear is distinctive too – a p...

Being the junior-most officer on station, and still under training to boot, I was always being singled out for tasks that were either considered too menial, or too monotonous. One such duty entrusted to me was to carry out an inventory of the stores of the Division, an exercise that had not been conducted for over ten years, although it was mandatory to do so every year. A certificate was required to be recorded in the Stores Register that all the items listed therein had been checked and verified. This task was not only tiresome and boring, but also sometimes dangerous as the ‘Store’ was essentially a garage below the Range Office, with the doors allowing easy access to whatever creepy crawly wanted to make its home amongst the stored items. It was this Augean stable that my boss one day ordered me to inspect and clean up. Like Hercules, I too flinched at the thought of not only getting dirty and filthy, but also the prospect of getting stung and bitten by every type of creature t...

Rajgarh Forest Division was unique in the sense that it comprised all sorts of forests - Reserved, Demarcated Protected, Undemarcated Protected as well as Mushtirqua, Shamlat and Private. While the Reserved and Demarcated forests were delineated on the ground with boundary pillars, the other four  types had no boundaries marked on the ground, hence it was extremely difficult to say with surety where the private land ended and forest land began. The Survey of India maps, too, depicted only the Reserved and Demarcated forests, and not the other types. The only record we had of the boundaries were the Revenue maps, the custodians of which were the Patwaris of the Revenue Department. Since the Forest Department field staff had no knowledge of the boundaries of villages, it was quite easy for the unscrupulous timber mafia to surreptitiously fell the trees, and smuggle the valuable timber outside the state. Many a time the crooked timber contractors would obtain written consent of the v...

If Kotgarh was the place where I took my first steps towards practical forestry, Rajgarh was the place I really cut my teeth. As I said before, the Division already had two Assistant Conservators of Forests (ACFs) posted there, and I was the third. Mr. Karwasra, the senior ACF was in charge of all the plantation work in the Division, and Mr. Sharma, the other ACF, was in charge of Resin Tapping. Since I had been posted there for ‘training’, the DFO, Mr. Chauhan, decided to expose me to all activities in his Division, turn by turn. One work that was of the utmost importance, but least paid attention to, was demarcating the boundaries of the forests, and then fixing Boundary Pillars (BPs) along the perimeters to mark the same. These BPs were small cairns of lose stone, about 1m x1m at the base and 45cmx45cm at the top, about a meter in height.  Since local land owners and/or miscreants were always trying to demolish or shift the pillars in order to extend the boundaries ...