Dr. G.V. Reddy
First published in Sanctuary Asia,
Vol. 44
No. 8,
August 2024
October 8, 1960 – July 14, 2024
Text and Photographs By Valmik Thapar
Is there a man who I can say was the best of the best? Is there a man or woman I know who is genuinely humble? Is there a man who I have ever known with such honesty and integrity? Does anyone know of a man who, as field director of a tiger reserve, would travel on his motorcycle to get his own ration each day? Is there a man who loved all his forest guards as if they were family? A man with such an intense commitment to forests and wildlife? Does anyone know any forest officer whose doors were always open to one and all, and especially to the non-governmental sector? Is there anyone who loved encouraging science and research amongst all the young and aspiring wildlifers? Is there another that filed a Right to Information request with his own Forest Department while serving them?
Dr. G.V. Reddy was a proud bagh sevak. He used to say, “It’s so easy for tigers to take over your life. There is something powerful about them that commands you to become a bagh sevak (servant of the tiger). I serve the tiger by trying to save its forests, which are also so important to India.” Photo: Valmik Thapar.
Yes, there is. His name was Dr. G.V. Reddy. I have never met another like him in 50 years of watching and working for the forests and wildlife of this country. I first met him 27 years ago, when the Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve was on the brink, between poaching and grazing that had overrun the landscape. He turned it around. He saved it from disaster. Many have forgotten this vital intervention that he was responsible for, and in just the nick of time. He suffered in his life from ignorant politicians and bureaucrats, who only cared for themselves. In 2018, when governments changed in Rajasthan, a new Congress-led government tried their very best to sideline him and snatched the top Forest Department position from him. Yet ignorant political leadership seldom wins when a man like G.V. Reddy is around. He had enough well wishers, who finally helped him to get the top job as Head of the Forest Force (HoF) in Rajasthan. His career as a committed forest officer will remain legendary.
Like many of his loyal forest staff, I mourn for him. I have lost a dear friend, colleague, and a man I hugely respected. Retired forest staff such as Dharam Singh and Ranjit are in tears, unable to speak. Many forest officers have lost their guru. Reddy saab will never be forgotten. A man without any malice… only love and care. The finest I have known and will ever know. I fervently hope that the younger generation of wildlifers in and out of government can imbibe his values and principles. What else can I say…
Dr. G.V. Reddy was a proud bagh sevak. He used to say, “It’s so easy for tigers to take over your life. There is something powerful about them that commands you to become a bagh sevak (servant of the tiger). I serve the tiger by trying to save its forests, which are also so important to India.” Photo: Valmik Thapar.
Valmik Thapar is a tiger conservationist, author, and wildlife protector. He has been instrumental in revitalising Ranthambhore.
G.V. Reddy was honoured with the Sanctuary Millenium Wildlife Service Award in 2000 for his work in the Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve. Courageous, committed, honest and totally dedicated, in three years, he was directly responsible for the recovery of Ranthambhore and its tigers. He took on poaching gangs, redoubled efforts to protect tiger ranges, stopped illegal grazing and inspired his team by leading from the front.
Born in 1960 to a Forest Range Officer’s family, in a small village called Chandramakula Palli in the Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh, G.V. Reddy’s childhood was spent in and around wild places. Though his ancestors were agriculturists, his own earliest memories were those of the shola forests and slopes in whose midst the Rishi Valley School is now located. Nature was like the air he breathed. Necessary, but not special. In his interview with Bittu Sahgal, he spoke of his work, life and the tiger.
“The very first time I saw one was in Sariska in 1988, for precisely 10 seconds! Almost before I realised it, the tiger vanished. I doubt that I will ever be the same again. Something happened deep inside me. Subsequently I was able to spend lots of time with this family. Once as I sat watching the cubs, the male, we called him Nandu, began to walk right towards us. He was really mischievous. The tiny fellow actually forced me to back my vehicle away from him because his mother was watching all this with great interest. But she felt secure about us. It’s so easy for tigers to take over your life. There is something powerful about them that commands you to become a bagh sevak (servant of the tiger).
I am proud to be a bagh sevak. I serve the tiger by trying to save its forests, which also happen to be so important to India. In the past few years I have understood how people like Kailash Sankhala must have felt about helping tiger habitats recover. Ranthambhore was really in trouble and my people had to do so little… hardly any management… just protection. Project Tiger can again turn the corner only if people in the field are supported politically and provided with resources…
To protect wildlife more effectively… we must, to begin with, stop the sole preoccupation with national parks and sanctuaries to the exclusion of wildlife protection in unprotected forests, where the vast bulk of our wildlife is to be found. And let all wings of government and the public work towards the objective of protecting nature. This should not be the monopolistic prerogative of the Forest Department alone. In days gone by, people’s attitudes towards other species were much more evolved. They believed in the sanctity of life for all species. Today things have changed. Perhaps it is necessary therefore to nudge individuals and society at large into changing some of our more destructive habits, lifestyles and consumption patterns. Even minor sacrifices at the individual and community level could make a huge difference to the fate of the tiger.
My message for young Indians is to love your country. Love your tiger. And be prepared to defend them because there are people who are capable of taking both away from you. And when you grow older, treat India’s soils, forests and rivers better than this generation has done.”
