Dhoni sets right Jharkhand, Uttarakhand tug-of-war

Ice-cool Indian cricket captain MS Dhoni had decided to lend his name to tiger conservation on the lines of former captains Anil Kumble and Rahul Dravid.

Updated on: Apr 19, 2011, 01:12:42 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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Yet another cricketer is set to join the cause for protecting Indian tigers but not without a controversy.

Ice-cool Indian cricket captain MS Dhoni had decided to lend his name for tiger conservation on the lines of former captains Anil Kumble and Rahul Dravid.

His preferred choice for the Corbett Tiger Reserve in Uttarakhand, the state of his family’s origin, has landed him in a spot. Corbett is celebrating 75 years of existence and for the mega celebration in Ram Nagar, the state government had invited Dhoni.

The cause for his tiger trouble was his adopted state Jharkhand, which has a tiger reserve, Palamu and wanted him to be brand ambassador for the big cat promotion in the state.

Jharkhand government had announced five acres of land for Dhoni in Ranchi after India won the cricket World Cup earlier this month and did not like the idea of promoting healthy tiger population of Corbett.

Unlike Corbett, Palamu is in the poorest region of the state and have almost nil tourism revenues to invest on tiger protection. Palamu’s tiger population has not been very good as compared to Corbett. As per the latest tiger estimation Palamu has 16 tigers in an area of 771 sq kms as against 214 in 2,295 sq kms.

“Palamu needs Dhoni charisma to revive,” said an environment ministry official.

Dhoni, known for his diplomatic ways in tackling cricketing controversies, has promised Jharkhand government to do his bit for promoting tigers of the state while keeping his promise with Uttarakhand government. Jharkhand has only one tiger reserve unlike Uttarakhand, where tigers are found even in Rajaji National Park.

His decision has left foresters from two states and Environment minister Jairam Ramesh a happy lot. “A good reason to smile for tigers after healthy population increase,” Ramesh said.

Dhoni is not the first cricket, whose love for tigers has impressed Ramesh. Both Kumble and Dravid had been in touch with him on tiger and wildlife protection issues.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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