<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">Scene I — Jama Masjid bird market: If life is a business which deals in the currency of cruelty, nowhere is this business more stark than here, where pigeons, ducks, roosters and munias are cooped up in cages — waiting for a value to be put on their lives. Parakeets, mynahs, falcons and owls are sold to the highest bidder every Friday and Sunday.
No bid, however, is too high for the four pigeons and two parakeets which are bought and set free. Ironically, this act of humanity triggers off pack-up time for this illegal business. Maybe, delivering freedom has become illegal.<br /><br />Scene II — East of Kailash: Freedom comes at a price for the parrots squeezed into cages by the two women selling them by the roadside a little beyond the National Heart Institute. The act of releasing a pair of parrots, acquired for Rs 100, is met with discernible disapproval from Sunita, who maintains that nobody has ever told her that what she does is illegal. But then, ignorance is bliss when there is money to be made.<br /></div> <div align="right" style="position:relative; left: -3"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" align="right" border="1" width="25.9%"> <colgroup> <col width="100.0%" /> </colgroup> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" white=""> <div class="Normal"><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">Our View</span><br /><span style="" font-family:="" times="" new="" roman="" font-size:="">Violation of the law is an unfortunate corollary to official apathy and moral corrosion. The Wildlife Protection Act bans the trade of protected birds, but the law, and humanity, is blatantly violated in the heart of the city. </span><br /><span style="" font-family:="" times="" new="" roman="" font-size:="">Most appalling is the fact that this inhuman violation ruffles nobody’s feathers — least of all those equipped with the power to stop crime in full flight. </span><br /><span style="" font-family:="" times="" new="" roman="" font-size:="">If official rules prohibit the trade of protected birds, it is because failure to do so means that man’s own existence will need protection. As natural cleansers, birds are an intrinsic part of the ecological cycle. </span><br /><span style="" font-family:="" times="" new="" roman="" font-size:="">"And their role is all the more important in these times of environmental degradation. Unless birds are allowed to live and breed in the wild, the imminent extinction of certain species will be followed by an ecological disaster," warns ornithologist Ranjit Lal.</span><br /><span style="" font-family:="" times="" new="" roman="" font-size:="">For a planet whose environment is in peril, failure to acknowledge the reality that we need birds more than they need us can only put nature’s way — and man’s survival — at stake. Today, the shrieks of caged birds elicit no answer. Tomorrow, man himself will be on a wing and a prayer.</span></div> </td> </tr> </table></div> <div class="Normal">Scene III — Moolchand Flyover: The anguished cry of caged birds from a shop situated in the proximity of the MCKL Hospital is impossible to ignore. Except for the shop’s attendant, Azim, who presents his own convoluted version of the law: "Birds held captive before 1990 and the offspring of such birds can be traded." Two parakeets are released — Rs 300 is pocketed by the shop-keeper but, for the birds, the business of life has just become more humane.<br /><br />Scene IV — Minto Road: For the lovebirds, budgerigars, cinnamon pearl-pieds and Australian finches at Prem Kumar’s outlet near the Minto Road traffic-signal, captivity is justified by a warped account of what is legal. “Trading of exotic foreign species is not mentioned in the Campaign against Illegal Trade of Exotic Species.� But for the birds, the terms ‘legal’ and ‘illegal’ hold no meaning when life itself has clipped their wings.<br /><br />This is the ground reality. But the reality of Schedule IV, Section 2, of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, is that the trade of protected birds, including hill mynahs, falcons, vultures, pheasants, rose-ring parakeets and cockatoos, is banned. Still, the illegal captivity and trading of birds thrives in Delhi — because the regulatory bodies which are supposed to be the protectors of birds pass the buck.<br /><br />"We deploy a five-member team of inspectors to raid markets where birds are traded," says chief wildlife warden AK Sinha, "But as a government body, our power to change things is limited." Limited, too, is the chance of caged birds ever securing freedom.<br /><br />This, when the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960, bans the buying, selling and caging of indigenous bird species. "But the cruel reality is that the guardians of the law are hand-in-glove with those who trade birds illegally," says PETA-India representative Anuradha Sawhney.<br /><br />Yet, reality doesn’t alarm the powers-that-be. "Action will be initiated against errant officials," offers Deep Chand Bandhu, Delhi minister for forests and environment. Once again, assurances are given though little is being done. Ashok Kumar, trustee, Wildlife Trust of India, corroborates this contention: "The apathy of the authorities helps this illegal trade flourish." <br /><br />Meanwhile, our feathered friends scan the horizon for a lifeline. Something needs to be done — and done fast — if the phrase ‘as free as a bird’ is to live on in our lives.</div> </div>
