whomanoj.com

“If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem”

Since I overcame the cloudy negative restraints imposed on me during my formative years of schooling.  Instead learnt to prioritise life on this planet and to think for myself I have become exposed to an extraordinarily different picture to the official one.

Over a period of years I learnt that life is never fair… and is very unfair to the weak. The problem is not that justice can not be delivered to the exploited, it just that very few really want to do something to deliver the justice. I decided that I am not going to be a mute spectator. I will not be a part of the problem, I will a part of the solution.

The gross exploitation of  animals to satisfy ours desires is a big part of the problem we face on this planet. Addressing this is an essential ingredient of my life. Our world is governed by ruthless, heartless monsters who lack all empathy and compassion and whose goal is absolute power and control over all life on this Earth. And my goal is to demolish their castles and fight with them head on.

My passion for animals always existed, since my childhood as a Jain I was taught about the importance of Ahinsa. However its this very ironic that jain practices of over-use of milk, silk, leather and draught animals (in procession) lighted the spark for animal welfare and also made me Atheist.  I really find it hard to accept the fact that Jains are so engrossed in their rituals and traditions that even.. the so-called ‘modern’ Jain youth don’t want to accept change and continue to exploit animals.

At the age of 16 I saw a car sticker screaming “Don’t kill animals for vanity, support … Beauty Without Cruelty”. I soon became their sundry volunteer. Forcing myself to get some work and running errands. At 19, In 1995 I visited New Delhi (my first business trip in life ) and I suddenly saw Maharani Bagh, where I knew Mrs Maneka Gandhi lives. As a fan I visited her office.. with no reason or purpose … and to my surprise she cooly met me and had all my fan letters ready in the file. She asked me to stop ‘fooling around’ and ‘get active’ and start a shelter in Pune.

I kept in touch but did ‘nothing significant’ as she puts it. For a long period of 5-7 years I kept working on awareness… lecturing, leafleting, talking, writing (in newspapers) and all other tricks to awaken people’s sleeping morals.

Soon I found that people like to sleep, they can not be awakened.  They only need to be bashed up using the long hand of the law.

I lodged several complaints with the police and forest department on various animal abuses. I found their reaction cold and mostly let off the accused for paltry sums of bribes. I also found myself stone walled against the system.

Since, I used to write a lot in the newspapers, I soon made a lot of friends in the Indian Express, who introduced me to the activists movement in Pune.

So I joined the Right to Information movement and escalated on to become one of the known names in the field. Our group played an active role in the passing of the Maharashtra Right to Information Act in 2001 and later the central Right to Information Act. We put enough pressure to prevent the laws from being diluted.

In 2004 I was one of the core members of the team of the Arun Bhatia’s team. Arun Bhatia is one of India’s toughest IAS officers whose tough stand got him transferred 29 times in his career spanning 30 years.

Till all this time, I was a mild activist.  Hoping that people will listen.

In 2006 I decided to take people head on. I conducted my first raid at the pet shop in Budhwar Peth area of Pune. A pet shop owner was openly selling Indian parrots… which is illegal.  We confiscated 90 parrots from them.

This lead to further raids at an illegal zoo in the Indira Group of Institutes. It was the toughest case for us till then… we were against a powerful lobby of ‘educationists’.  Politically well connected and with loads of money to dispose off.  We where threatened as well as isolated by the investigation teams. This is when I really learnt that the admnistration has a lot of checks and balances that can be used to fight the officers.

- We made allegations of corruption to the senior officers… this led to formation of a single-member investiagative committee.
- We then alleged that the investigative team was not co-operating and so got an officer from the adjoining circle to conduct an investigation.
- We argued in the court and ensured proceedings went as per the law.

And I soon learnt that law is powerful, the system works and its not so hard to get justice. The only thing needed is courage and right communication.

I got a big boost in my legal position when Manekaji helped me get nominated as an Animal Welfare Officer of the Animal Welfare Board of India. This truly enhanced my legal position and capability to negotiate with the system.

I raided and troubled hundreds of people over the years… some of the ‘victims’ of my action include..

• Bombay Framing House for illegal sale of parrots.
• Choki Dhani run by the Goels of Goel Ganga Group for illegal possesion of Elephant.
• The Elephant tycoons – Pandey / Tiwari families for illegal possesion of Elephants.
• Ashok Khadse, DFO, Pune Range (is suspended from duty) for corruption in land scam.
• Amby Valley – Seemantho Roy and his team of ex-service men for illegal zoo and possesion of Chimpanzees.
• PMC Garden Supervisor for illegal captivity of turtles.

Since then the journey as an activist has been exciting… fighting abuses everyday … getting people arrested, threatening officers, cajoling public servants to do their duty, getting senior officers act on errant juniors. I am proud to say that… I have not paid a single penny to any public servant to get my work done. Always took them by rule book.

Today, I am glad that people know me as a dreaded

Yes, life is under constant threat… but the life is exciting and satisfying.