Ajay Singh Rawat

Ajay Singh Rawat is an academic and an environmental activist. He was nominated as Chairman of the International Union of Forestry Research Organization, Vienna 6.07.03 from 1995 to 2005 and projected the case of developing countries in the field of forestry and environment during his tenure This world organization was established in 1892 and has 720 member institutions in 112 countries. He is committed for environmental conservation of the Central Himalayan Region, both as an academic and an activist and fights alone with his own finances and at the risk of his life against the timber, builder and mining mafia. He is known in the international circuit as ONE MAN ARMY and this name was given to him by Prince Bernhard of Netherlands.

He has been recognized as an environmental activist in trying to save fruitfully The Famous tourist town of Naini Tal from the builder mafia single handed through Public Interest Litigation (PIL) Writ Petition No 694 of 1993 and Interim Application No 7 of 2005 in the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India.

He also saved the Naini Tal Lake and nine other lakes in the Naini Tal Lake region from ecological destruction. These lakes, which sprawl over an area of more than 200 km². supply portable and irrigation water to the townships and agricultural farms in the foot hills during the lean period and are also the life line of the townships around them. Subsequent upon his efforts, 640 million rupees were released by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India and 115 million rupees by the State Government) for saving Naini Tal Lake and nine (9) other lakes of the Naini Tal Lake Region, which sprawls over an area of 200 km², from ecological destruction.

It was owing to his legal efforts that the Naini Tal Lake, which was dying an ecological death and was badly polluted, was revived and saved through aeration and bio-manipulation, which has been done for the first time in India. The oxygen level of the lake was increased and those fishes like mahaseer and mirror carp were introduced in the lake, which are congenial for its ecology and fishes like big head carp, gambusia and cat fish, which are detrimental to the ecology of the lake were removed.

The Sariya Tal Lake, which had dried up was again revived and conserved through his legal efforts and (c) Himalayan Botanic Garden, which represents the Himalayan Biodiversity has been established near it to sensitize and attract tourists.

Similarly the lakes of Bhim Tal, Naukuchia Tal, Khurpa Tal and the constellation of five lakes in Sat Tal were saved from organic pollution. The Bhim Tal lake was getting polluted at a very fast pace. A restaurant sited on the island in the middle of the lake, which was the main source of pollution was removed from there. The owner was given a place in the town and on the island a STATE of ART AQUARIUM has been established, which is one of the best in the country and has become a great centre of tourist attraction. It has also helped in increasing the daily earning of the boatmen of the lake. Also sewer was prevented from entering the lake.(e) Twenty seven offices have been shifted to Bhim Tal from Naini Tal to decongest it and this has given an economic boost to the township of Bhim Tal.

He stopped illegal Mining in the upper catchments of the river Gaula through a PIL, Writ Petition No. 613 0f 2008 in the Hon’ble High Court of Uttarakhand (UK), and subsequently mining was also stopped in the river Nihal.

He got 20 km² of encroachment removed in the reserved forest of Champawat district through a PIL, Writ Petition No. 12 of 2010 in the High Court of Uttarakhand.

Stopped construction of a helipad in a public park on Manora Peak on the Naini Tal Haldwani National Highway which was ecologically very sensitive and endangering the very existence of several townships like Patwadangar, Jeolikote, Kathgodam and Haldwani and more than 100 villages downhill as well as of the life and property of the inhabitants of the region through a PIL, Writ Petition No. 14 of 2010 in the Hon’ble High Court of Uttarakhand.

Stopped sale of church property in Naini Tal, which is the first Asian Methodist Church in India and a heritage building constructed in 1858 to the builder mafia. The construction of commercial complex on the site which is in the prohibited zone for heavy construction would have endangered the ecology of the Naini Tal and the Naini Tal Lake. Through his guidance and efforts sale of Methodist church properties in the States of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh and of their properties in educational institutions in other townships is being stopped.

His constant efforts and of sensitizing the Police Department through lectures and plantation of trees, the Uttarakhand Forest Department has declared 31 July as Police Environment Day in Uttarakhand. On this day the Police Department does large scale plantation of trees throughout the State with the villagers and the people.

Stopped commercial construction of a menacing manner and illegal in nature on the only Public Park cum Playing Ground in the small township of Bhowali, Writ Petition ( PIL) No 123 of 2009 in the Hon’ble High Court of Uttarakhand.

Stayed illegal construction of a petrol pump on the Naini Tal, Haldwani Highway, through a PIL (Writ Petition No 17 of 2011) in the Hon’ble High Court of Uttarakhand. The pump was being constructed in an area which was prone to landslides. Within the last three years more than five times huge boulders have rolled down from the construction site and this year a catastrophic land slide occurred there blocking the highway. Moreover the pump did not fulfil the construction norms of the petrol pump owing to a limited space. Further the gradient of the slope where it was being constructed was more than 80 degrees and such constructions cannot be done in the hills on a slope whose gradient is more than 30 degrees. The petitioner went to the Hon’ble Supreme Court for Special Leave to Appeal, No.(s) 23355-23356 but the learned counsel of the petitioner wished to withdraw the petitions and the Special Leave Petitions were dismissed as withdrawn.

As an environmental activist he is involved in plantation programmes and sensitizing the youth for conservation of forest and environment.

His study on the Illegal Timber on the Indo-Nepal Border from Dharchula in Pithoragarh District in Uttarakhand to Gopal Ganj in Bihar facilitated in giving magisterial powers to the Divisional Forest Officers in the two states of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. It has contained this dirty trade to some extent. The study was undertaken for the Uttar Pradesh Forest Department as a part of the World Bank Funded Project on Joint Forest Management.

His study on the diabolic floods, which hit Eastern Uttar Pradesh in 1998, is a model study and the first study with a community perspective. It is being used as a course material for training in various Academies. This study was done for the Uttar Pradesh Academy of Administration, Naini Tal.

Awards

Order of the Golden Ark, Netherlands
Godfrey Philips Social Bravery Gold Medal twice, 2005 and 2011
Best RTI Citizen of India Award
Glory of India, Gold Medal
Vijay Shree
First Narayan Dutt Aushadhalaya Trust National Award, conferred by the Vice President of India

National fellowships

Senior Fellow, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, Teen Murti House, New Delhi.
Senior Fellow, Indian Council of Social Science Research, New Delhi.

Books Aurthored

Man and Forests
Forestry in Central Himalaya
Forest Management in Kumaon Himalaya
Forests on Fire
Flora and Fauna of Kumaon,
Tarai ke Van aur Van Vasi (In Hindi)
Managing Environment
An Introduction to Environment
Biodiversity Conservation in U.P. Hills
Magnificent Forests of Uttarakhand
Rehabilitation and Resettlement Issues of Kumaon Tarai
Managing Floods in Eastern Uttar Pradesh
Corbett’s Naini Tal, Travails of a Crumbling City
Indian Forestry a Perspective (ed.)
History of Indian Forestry (ed.)
Forest History of the Mountain Regions of the World (ed.)
Uttarakhand ka Rajnitik Itihas
Naini Tal Beckons
Escape to Kumaon
My Experiences with RTI
History of Garhwal

Action research

Study on the Illicit timber Trade on the Indo-Nepal Border for the World Bank funded project on Joint Forest Management for Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, facilitated in giving magisterial powers to the Divisional Forest Officers in these two states owing to which illegal timber trade has been contained to some extent.

Study on the Devastating Floods of Eastern Uttar Pradesh in 1998 under the aegis of the then U.P. Academy of Administration, Naini Tal helped in preparing the first disaster management plan with a community perspective for Eastern Uttar Pradesh, one of the most flood prone areas in India.

His constant efforts in sensitizing the Police Department through lectures, interface, brainstorming sessions and plantation of trees, the Uttarakhand Police Department has declared 31 July as Police Environment Day in the State of Uttarakhand. On this day the Police Department does large scale plantation of trees throughout the State with the villagers and the people.