Report of the Tiger Task Force - PRS

TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS ■Fringe villagesA profile of the people on the fringe of the forestand inside each park:BuxaAccording to the 1991 census, 15,608 peopleinhabit forest villages and fixed demand holdingswithin the protected area. In 1996, according to aWorld Bank project report, there were 37 forestvillages inside the reserve’s boundaries, and eightwithin the park. The report also mentions 44revenue villages, with a population of 84,648 (1991census). The project decided to target 36,000 ofthese for ecodevelopment.RanthambhoreIn 1996, the national consultants to IndiaEcodevelopment Project identified 211,695 peoplewithin 10 km of the reserve to be included in theproject. But the project authorities then reduced thenumbers they wanted to work with to 64,000.Before this, Worldwide Fund for Nature-India(1994) had identified 85,000 people, in 85 villages,for possible inclusion in ecodevelopmentactivities. The project realised that it would alsohave to deal with major urban settlements nearreserve boundaries, as in the cases of SawaiMadhopur, Khandar and Karauli (combinedpopulation of 82,000).GirOver 70,000 people were surveyed to be living inthe intended project area during the 1981 census.The protected area authorities identified apopulation of 72,000 within a two-km radius ofpark boundaries, in 97 revenue villages, forparticipation in ecodevelopment. Within the parkitself, 54 pastoral settlements or 'nesses' inhabitedby 2,540 Maldharis; 14 forest villages with apopulation of 4,500 residents including 239 Siddis,a scheduled tribe of African origin; and threetemple complexes occupied by 65 people, wereidentified.NagarholeThe total population in the project area was 72,652as per the 1981 census. Within a five-km radius ofthe boundary, the protected area authoritiesidentified a population of 66,507 in 96 revenuevillages, for participation in project activities.PalamauThree villages were recorded in the core zone.According to the 1991 census data, 30,795 people,in 102 villages, were located within legallyexcluded enclaves in the sanctuary’s buffer area.Another 89 villages within a five-km radius of thesanctuary were selected to participate inecodevelopment activities, to give a totalpopulation of 75,000 targeted for this project.PenchThe 1981 census counted 50,000 people in theintended project area (99 revenue villages).Findings from the participatory research carriedout in over 10 villages around the national parksuggest that 80 per cent of families suffered fromvarying degrees of poverty, and that most of thesefamilies belong to scheduled tribes.PeriyarWhile the protected area authorities and thenational consultants (Indian Institute of PublicAdministration) identified a population of225,000 according to the 1981 census within twokm of the reserve for inclusion in the project. TheBank suggested that the project planners need toreduce the target population to a more manageablesize. A revised target population of 58,144 in theselected villages within the two-km radius waschosen.department protect the forest: among other ways, byhelping department frontline staff in patrolling;gathering intelligence on poaching; preventing cattlefrom grazing in parks, and whatever else the forestdepartment suggested. In practice, all these couldhappen only after mutual agreement among allstakeholders.Each ecodevelopment committee member wasallocated Rs 10,000 against which he or she wouldthen contribute 25 per cent of the costs, or Rs 2,500.The money could then be used to invest in differentschemes and productive assets, either at individuallevels or at community basis. 12 The money couldthen generate, as the World Bank and thegovernment put it, livelihoods reducing the impactof people on the forest. 13 On its part, the forestdepartment would improve its functioning, andensure better protection of parks: project fundsallowed purchase and construction of infrastructureand better equipment for park officers and staff(computers, boats, Geographical InformationSystems software, and vehicles).Ecodevelopment as envisaged earlierThe idea of ecodevelopment entered conservationdiscourse in India in 1983, when the Indian BoardThe way ahead 123