Tamil translation of Madhav Gadgil's autobiography A Walk Up the Hill launched
Published in 2023, the book was written in the form of a memoir that included stories and episodes that Prof. Gadgil encountered during his long years of field surveys in different biodiversity hotspots across India, including the Western Ghats.
Prof. Gadgil, who spoke to the audience through videoconferencing from Pune, recalled his long association with Tamil Nadu that began in 1973 when he started work in the Nilgiris and subsequently in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve. He was also tasked with preparing a report on the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve following this. He expressed happiness that the book has been translated in Tamil after being made available in Marathi, Konkani, Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu and Bengali languages. He said this would enable a deeper penetration of his ideas and thoughts among people across these States.
The Tamil translation, brought out by the Tamil Nadu Textbook Corporation, was done by N. Manoharan, a professor of Tamil who retired from Chittur Government College, Palakkad. V. Arivudai Nambi, independent biodiversity expert, who did the scientific editing of the publication, said the book had several chapters on different topics, in which a large number of his scientific publications were available in open source. The content of the book should be viewed as a starting point for deeper dive into the issues and topics. Giving examples, he said that the book had chapters on sacred groves, forms of nomadism and pastorals, and bamboo management, which the author wrote extensively in the form of scientific papers.
A. Sathish, Associate Professor of Tamil, International Institute of Tamil Studies, who did the language editing for the publication, said that the book dwelt upon the fundamental question of development that included community participation. He said policymaking in conservation should be preceded by pilot studies to check for feasibility before scaling up.
Shankara Saravanan, Joint Director, Tamil Nadu Textbook Corporation and R.J. Ranjit Daniels, Founder Trustee, CareEarth Trust also spoke at the occasion.
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