DNA Jaipur 10th Anniversary: Peacock count for President Ram Nath Kovind & a life-saving PIL

Akbar had asked for it once. Folklore has it while returning from Agra the emperor wished to know the exact count of crows in his kingdom, sending his ministers and estate officials in a tizzy. Officials with the forest department of Rajasthan found themselves scampering to get the census figures of peacock in state when a similar question was lobbed by the President of India Ramnath Kovind who had come calling on the Rajasthan governor Kalyan Singh, last month. 

President Kovind who was lodged in the Raj Bhawan, the governor’s official residence in Civil Lines, was visibly elated to find so many peacocks strutting around its manicured lawns. He was naturally inquisitive about the peacocks and briefly inquired about the population of the national bird in state. 

Now, governor Kalyan Singh and the president of India realised they shared a common interest in peacocks. Singh had ordered his staff not to shoo away the birds from Raj Bhawan’s sprawling lawns when he took charge. “Earlier, the staff had been instructed to ensure the trees and the gardens were not spoiled by the feeding frenzy of the birds,” a governor’s aide said. Governor Singh however was of the view that peacocks pecking at fruits and jumping about trees was the least of his troubles and directed his staff not to disturb them, the aide added. The president’s simple query was, therefore, forwarded with urgency to the forest department and the state secretariat where the babus were duly informed of the request. 

Back in Akbar’s time, the witty Birbal concocted a random figure, which he confidently claimed was the exact count of the crows. When Akbar confronted if the number turned out to be more than the quoted figure, Birbal merrily reminded his king that the extra head-count belonged to birds who had come over to stay with the crows in their kingdom. The Rajasthan government officials, however, did a better job than Birbal in convincing the president of a healthy peacock count. And, at the end of it all they would be profusely thanking a Public Interest Litigation (PIL). 

The president was informed there are more than 6 lakh peacocks in the state. “The exact count was 6 lakh, seven thousand, three hundred and four,” a highly placed forest department official told dna. 

The peacock love didn’t end here. Kalyan Singh who shared the president’s love for peacocks, presented President Kovind with a peacock memento bidding him farewell after his two-day visit. “The norm is to gift an Ashok Stambh to a visiting dignitary. Since, the president was impressed with the national bird, Governor Singh had got him a special parting gift,” an official with the Raj Bhawan conceded.

So, how did the government, known for its slow-mo reaction, managed to scramble the exact count of peacocks in state at such a short notice? “A PIL filed recently had questioned the condition of peacocks after random deaths, some feared due to poisoning, were reported from districts. The court, during the PIL’s hearing, sought the last census of the birds in Rajasthan,” a senior official with the government said. The government had in turn asked all district collectors to report on the number of peacocks in their areas. The information was idling away in an inconspicuous file on a babu’s desk.