Valmik Thapar, 73, was a prolific author, wildlife conservationist, public policy influencer, leader, and much more. He played all these roles simultaneously with gusto. The reason Indian wildlife protection has had reasonable success despite rampant collusion of vested interests goes to a handful of passionate men.
He used his books (32) and many documentaries to communicate his strong, yet practical points of view to build a dialogue process for effective conservation of wildlife in India and across the world.
Ullas Karanth, Thapar’s contemporary, is also a massive tiger conservation activist. Mr. Karanth told the media, “As we worked together over the next three decades, I was amazed by Valmik’s single-minded focus, incredible drive and the shrewd understanding of how political systems worked.”
Mr. Karanth said, “Among my generation of conservationists of post-colonial India, Valmik stood tall as the most effective and genuine leader. He made his impact initially in Ranthambore, but around the time we met, he was spreading his wings across India to work with several of us on pragmatic wildlife conservationists, not of the ‘woke’ academic kind that currently predominates.
Valmik made wildlife conservationists effective on the ground, regardless of who ran the political show in Delhi.
