Air Gun Surrender

Itanagar, Dec 26: Prime Minister Narendra Modi appreciates the people of Arunachal Pradesh for ‘Air Gun Surrender Abhiyan’. Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation in the 84th episode of his monthly radio programme ‘Mann Ki Baat’ on Sunday. This is the last edition of the year.

“Mann ki Baat” is the Prime Minister’s monthly radio address, which is broadcast on the last Sunday of every month.

Earlier, the Prime Minister had called citizens to share their views for this edition of ‘Mann ki Baat’.

The ‘Air Gun Surrender Abhiyan’ is an initiative of the state government to dissuade hunting and create awareness on the ill effects of killing wildlife. More than 2,000 airguns have been surrendered by the people of the state under the initiative so far. Air guns are commonly used by people to hunt birds.

Air Gun Surrender Abhiyan is new hope for biological conservation in Arunachal Pradesh. ‘Air Gun Surrender Abhiyan’ is a state government initiative inviting people to voluntarily surrender their air guns/pistols to stop indiscriminate killing of birds in Arunachal Pradesh.

Hunting has been a community practice for many communities in Arunachal Pradesh. It has increased manifold with the proliferation of air guns and rifles, found freely in markets.

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The traditional bamboo traps used for hunting birds (that did not exterminate them) have been replaced by air guns that have the capability to wipe out the entire species.

To combat this, the initiative was launched in March 2021, at Lumdung village in East Kameng District, where 46 air guns were surrendered.

In return, the person got a certificate of appreciation and so far, 420 air guns from more than 20 villages have been surrendered.

The programme is voluntary and aimed at gradually easing villagers into the concept of conservation.