Jim Corbett National Park covers 520 square kilometers of hilly terrain and is the country's first national park.
The attempt by the government at the time to rename famous landmarks, their colonial titles for their Indian names, and their ancestral heritage, has recently piqued the nation's and intellectuals' interest. When Union Minister of State for Forest and Environment Shri Ashwini Kumar Choubey visited Jim Corbett National Park on October 3, 2021, he stated in the museum book that the park's name should be changed to 'Ram Ganga.' This sparked significant controversy. 'National Park' should be created, and it should be named as such.
It was first established in 1935 and was formerly known as 'Hailey's national park,' named after the then-Governor of the 'United Provinces' during the British government.
According to the national park's website, it was briefly named 'Ram Ganga national park' following independence from 1952 and 1957. It was renamed in honor of Edward James Corbett in 1955, a year after the famous hunter, tracker, and conservationist died of a heart attack in Nyeri, Kenya.
The 'Corbett tiger reserve,' which covers 1288 square kilometers, attracts over 3 lakh people each year, generating a healthy income of around Rs 10 crores from eco-tourism, which has been carefully cultivated over the centuries by nature-lovers. Surprisingly, 'Ram Ganga' is the name of a river that runs through the national park and is a thriving habitat for crocodiles and fish of all shapes and sizes.
Ironically, our ministers and people in public places shoot their lips first and then consider the catastrophic effect of their words later in leisure on certain subjects that are the only realm of professionals in that field. Shri Ashwini Kumar Chaubey, the minister in question, dared to say a few days later in Kevadiaunder the 'Narmada' district that he had asked his ministry to ask the Uttrakhand government to send the proposal in this regard to the Union Government because, according to him, the locals of the area wanted the name 'Jim Corbett' changed to 'Ram Ganga national park.'
The saving grace in this entire controversy sparked by the union forest ministry's excessive attitude is that the Uttrakhand government has rejected any change in the name of the national park in question, putting to rest all rumors circulating on social media.
