Report of the Tiger Task Force - PRS

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TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS ■The Task Force therefore recommendsIt is vital that policy must be devised to break this logjam. The Tiger Task Force acceptsthe reality of the situation and has devised the best possible options for the future. Thefollowing are the recommendations:1. There should be an urgent and realistic review of the number of villages that actuallyneed to be relocated from the reserves. The decision must be based on the fact that thevillages that need to be relocated are so made to do so because they are located in thecritical habitats — tiger natal areas and key conservation priority areas.2. One option is to consider that all villages in the core area of reserves — roughly 273— need relocation. The other option is to undertake a review of all the villages in thereserves and only then decide which of these actually need to be moved for ecologicalimperatives. There must be a criterion for the identification of these villages, so that it isclear which village is to be relocated and why. This is essential.In this context, the Tiger Task Force is not suggesting any fixed numbers of villages orareas for relocation. But it is urging for speed and careful decision-making. It is importantthat the decision to relocate takes into account all financial and logistical implications.Till date, in 30 years, if only 80-odd villages have been relocated, the agencies that workout the relocation estimates must take into account the feasibility and capacity ofimplementing agencies to undertake this work.3. In order to ensure that the process of selection of villages to be relocated is completedspeedily, the Tiger Task Force recommends a tight schedule of one year to studysettlements and list the ones to be relocated. This schedule must be strictly compliedwith.4. Based on this list, the Project Tiger directorate must draw up a time-bound action planto complete the process of relocation. The action plan for relocation must be completed interms of its financial and land provisions before it is finalised and accepted. This isessential, as only once this is completed can the park management be clear about theplans it has to develop for the families it has to co-exist with. It is clear that not all the1,500 villages can be relocated. Or even need to be relocated. But what is important is towork on the plan for relocation speedily, so that the villages that co-inhabit the land of thetiger can do so with dignity.5. During the formulation of this action plan, the responsible agency must keep in mindthe experience of past relocation efforts to ensure that the process of relocation does notlead to further resource degradation or loss of livelihood of people.6. The financial allocation for the relocation scheme must be revised and enhanced sothat it can take into account the needs, particularly, of providing irrigated land and otherfacilities to ensure livelihood security. The provision of irrigation facilities is crucial, asthe land for resettlement, if it is forest land, is degraded and provides people little optionsfor economic survival or improvement.The allocation for the scheme within the umbrella Project Tiger scheme is Rs 10-15crore for the 5 years of the 10 th Plan – roughly Rs 2-3 crore a year. If all the families in thetiger reserve need to be relocated it will cost Rs 1,660 crore (taking an enhanced allocationof Rs 2.5 lakh per family). If the plan is to relocate 19,215 families from the core areas, itwill require Rs 480 crore. Given that relocation usually occurs on diverted forest land, thecost of relocation to the state would include the net present value of the forest land.Accounting for this would bring the total bill to relocate famlilies out of the core areas ofthe reserves to Rs 3,200 crore.7. The scheme must take into account the options for livelihood in the resettled village.It is important for planners to take into account the fact that people who live within theThe way ahead 97
■ JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORTreserves are forest-dependent communities, and survive within agro-silvo-pastoraleconomies. The relocation package must be designed to provide viable alternatives.Currently, there is no grazing land or irrigated agricultural facilities offered in therelocation package. This means that people have no alternative but to revert to the forestfringe for survival.8. The scheme must ensure that all families — and not just those families with recordedrights or who have revenue land — are relocated.9. Families are usually relocated on forest land from which the standing forest is cut totransform a forest into a relocation site. But even then, the land is categorised as forestland. This means that the rules of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 continue to apply tothis land, in which families now live. This places restrictions on their livelihood anddevelopment opportunities.This, clearly, must change. Such land as becomes a relocation site, if it is categorisedas ‘forest’, must duly be re-categorised as ‘revenue’ land, otherwise it will continue tocreate problems for the resettled villages.10. To monitor the quality of relocation and to ensure that there is careful coordinationand follow-up in the relocation work, a task force for relocation must be set up at theProject Tiger directorate, which will coordinate the work with the state offices.The Task Force has deliberated upon whether the work of relocation should behanded over to revenue agencies, or to other district-level agencies. It has come to believethat while there is a need for close coordination with district and irrigation agencies, thetask must remain with the wildlife agencies, as they are most interested in its successfulcompletion. However, as these agencies often lack the necessary experience in ruraldevelopment, the state working with the Project Tiger directorate must find innovativemethods of involving other agencies in this work.The Task Force would suggest that a mechanism be set up at the Central level in theProject Tiger directorate to oversee the implementation of the relocation work and mostimportantly, follow it up over the years. This is crucial. At the end, it is clear that even ifthe massive task of relocation is undertaken, it will still leave a large number of peoplewithin the protected areas and also tiger reserves. The issue of coexistence with thesepeople, who share the tiger’s habitat is discussed in the following section of the TaskForce report.98 The way ahead
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THE REPORT OF THE TIGER TASK FORCEJ
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ContentsIntroductionExecutive summa
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IntroductionThe Tiger Task Force wa
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05References
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Report of the Tiger Task Force - PRS

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