Jolly Uncle’s are the proverbial shoulders on which researchers, forest officers and NGOs routinely stand, when doing their job. He is a friend of wild animals and part of the vital spirit of nature that we seek to protect. Universally and fondly known as ‘Jolly Uncle’, Chander Singh Negi, joined the Forest Department in Garhwal at the age of 16, over 50 years ago, as a dakwallah, or postman. He retired in 1993 as a Deputy Ranger.

The Rescue Team of the Gir Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park works around the clock. The team comprises 20 frontline defenders of wildlife whose job it is to keep wandering lions, leopards and crocodiles away from humans. In a world where we ourselves are becoming increasingly intolerant of each other, it takes little imagination to realise that human intolerance towards animals is on the rise.

An engineer and a defender of birds, K. Manu moved to Kokkare Bellur in 1994 to help villagers protect a large pelican nesting site near their homes and fields. He is of the view that winning the cooperation of villagers wherever possible should be a key long-term strategy to protect wildlife. In Kokkare Bellur, he has chosen to work with children, whose committment to the task at hand also helps win the support of their parents.

An artist in her own right, Madhu Bhatnagar believes a child’s mind is a canvas. As the Deputy Head of The Shri Ram School, Vasant Vihar, New Delhi, she had charted out an Environment Education Policy long before the Supreme Court so instructed. She has been working relentlessly to breathe the spirit of conservation into her students.

Today, he accompanies their health activists to remote tribal villages whose trust he has won and whose cooperation he enlists in the battle to save the wildlife of Vidharbha.Wildlife defender and social worker, Vishal Bansod is active in 39 villages of the Melghat Tiger Reserve.

Among the thousands of students contacted was Bharat Kamaliya, who stood out because much after the Yatra ended, he continued to fight to change what he saw. With the aid of many freinds, he has explained to fishermen just how endangered our marine creatures are. His lone efforts today, have turned into a veritable movement.

For our newly-instituted Wind Under the Wings Award, we were in search of an Indian organisation that has supported an individual who has made a difference.

She is a dismantler of the illegal wildlife trade, a warm-hearted conservationist and a passionate champion of nature. Founder and Executive Director of the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), this die-hard wildlifer was decorated with the Order of the British Empire in June 2003 by the Queen of England “for the protection of wildlife and endangered species in India.

B.K. Sharma is a police officer with an abiding love for wildlife. He has been a persistent investigator of wildlife crimes, following the trail of tiger skins and bones, shahtoosh, ivory and rhino horn in India and across our borders where he has worked with his counterparts in the Interpol and CITES.

Too young even to qualify for a Young Naturalist Award, Kirat has been singled out for a special award for his unbelievable drive and ability to work doggedly towards the objective of saving tigers when they were vanishing into thin air. When Wordsworth suggested that: “The child is father of the man,” he must have had someone like young Kirat in mind.