Fifty Years of ‘Project Tiger’- Is It on Rails?
Source: Himalayan News Chronicle
By- COLONEL SATISH SINGH LALOTRA
Living beings, be it humans or animals or even plants draw sustenance from each other’s presence driven by the need to feel secure, intermingle amongst themselves or their own ilk or even compete for a higher position in the hierarchy of their being. The ecosystem is made in such a way that both biotic and abiotic parts of this system either sustain themselves or wither away wrought by the time and tide of events respectively.
In the animal kingdom within this planet of ours, there are very few large sized animals which go solo (alone) in all their endeavours from ‘womb to tomb’ except in their formative years. Tiger is one such large sized carnivore which holds the pride of place in our ecosystem that epitomizes power in its entirety, since it goes all alone in his hunting, living, procreating and finally marking of his territorial limits of his hunting efforts.
The magnificent ‘Panthera Tigris’, a striped carnivore with thick yellow coat of fur with dark stripes is a combination of grace, power, strength, agility, and enormous power to have earned the pride of place as the national animal of India. In order to conserve the Tiger population in the country, GOI launched ‘Project Tiger’ on 01st April 1973 exactly half a century ago, the largest conservation effort anywhere in the world in cooperation with WWF (World WildLife). Since then, India has seen an extensive expansion of protected areas, tiger reserves and now, a push for tiger corridors all driven by colonial exclusionary conservation practices.
As per the data from the ‘National wildlife database cell’, India has a network of 990 protected areas which cover approximately 5.27% of the total geographical area of the country. The latest tiger census reports indicate the last recorded tiger population of India standing at 2967, which is 70% of the world tiger population. What impressive data. The 55 tiger reserves in India cover a total area of about more than 74,000 sq km out of which, 41500 sq km forms the critical tiger habitat whereas the remainder is the so- called ‘Buffer zone’. The idea of corridor-based conservation has of late caught the fancy of Indian conservationists.
The NTCA in its 2014 report ‘Connecting tiger populations for long term conservation’ cited how the Indian sub- continent alone holds 6 global priority tiger conservation landscapes of long-term significance and 32 tiger corridors as also ensuring connecting these with one another. The (NWAP) 2017-31, National wildlife action plans also stressed upon identification of wildlife corridors outside PAs (protected areas).That is where the whole rub lies. Even for a layman, casting a glance at any of the maps of any tiger conservation corridor will reveal how the tiger reserves and corridors are being imposed on a raft of forest lands, human habitations, agricultural fields, pasture lands and scarce water sources.
The first recommendation of the Tiger task force has to be clubbed with the third recommendation which in so many words say ---to expand the tiger corridors by reducing human presence compelling us all to see the lopsided aspect of governance.These landscapes are actually living, breathing human –inhabited places, home to Adivasis. In the process thousands of tribal families have been uprooted from their home and hearth creating large scale discontentment.
A recent official report cited a spurt in the infrastructure projects in and around the protected areas. As per analysis, MoEFCC received around 2592 proposals for environment clearance between July 2014 and April 2020, of which 2256 proposals were approved marking a 87% clearance rate. What a stupendous achievement. But at what cost? More importantly 270 projects were located in and around these protected areas, thus deflating the very purpose of creating these protected zones. Further 680 projects were given wildlife clearances between 2015 -2020 by National Board for Wildlife (NBWL).
The ‘Convention of biological diversity since its inception in 1992 recognised the role of indigenous people. Yet these indigenous people have been excluded at both state level and the national level in India from these discussions and decisions about the land usage, their inhabitants and natural resources they depend upon. In the Indian context the FRA (Forest rights act) passed in 2006 envisions and ensures the same by legally recognizing the role of these Adivasis and other forest dependent communities in the protection, conservation and management of the ecosystems.
Recommendations of the said Tiger Task Force for Management of Project Tiger-
• Reinvigorating the constitution of governance.
• Strengthening efforts towards protection of tiger, checking poaching, convicting wildlife criminals, and breaking the international trade network in wild life body parts and derivatives of tiger.
• Expanding the undisturbed areas for tigers by reducing human presence.
• Repair the relationships with the local people who share the tiger
habitats by investing in forest, by fielding strategies for co- existence.
• Regenerate the forest habitats in the fringe areas of the tigers by forming protective enclaves by investing in forest, water and grassland economies of the people.
Rajesh Gopal, Secretary General of Global Tiger Forum, the only intergovernmental body working only for conservation of tigers suggested that the number of big cats in India should be limited to 4000. This is needed for a sustainable tiger population.
What is more, going beyond this figure as dreamed by some might make the beautiful animal a ‘pest’ in the human-wildlife interface. When a predator becomes a pest, it causes extinction of many native species unless controlled. The only way is to cull such animals which brings a
painful effect.
The writer is a retired army officer and a regular scribe, available on his [email protected]
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