Report of the Tiger Task Force - PRS

■ JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORTHuman-animal conflict makes news●●●●●●●In the Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam reserve inAndhra Pradesh, 20 cases of tiger poisoningwere reported, as naxalites incited people tokill tigers.In the Namdapha tiger reserve in ArunachalPradesh, Lisu tribals in 1998 attacked forestcamps and injured foresters.In Pakke sanctuary, Assam, 18 wild elephantswere reportedly poisoned to death in 2001; in2002, four more were killed. Theadministration had to ban the sale of pesticidesin the district in a bid to stop the killings.In Manas, Assam, forest staff till recently wereregularly attacked by militants.In the Indravati reserve in Chhattisgarh, noforest guard has reportedly entered the reservesince 2002 because of naxalite control.In Palamau tiger reserve, Jharkhand, on onehand there is tension with villagers who areknown to kill elephants and on the other, withnaxalites who rule the area.In Bandipur and its neighbourhood inKarnataka, the dreaded sandalwood smugglerand poacher Veerappan operated withimpunity for over a decade, killing largenumbers of tuskers, felling fully grownsandalwood trees and murdering governmentofficials. It was widely recognised that he coulddo this because of the strained relationsbetween officials and the villagers.● In Bandipur, again, severe drought in 2003forced farmers to drive their cattle into theforests of the reserve. In 2004, there werereports of electric fences and poison being usedby farmers living near the forests to killelephants.●●●●●●●●In the well protected Kanha tiger reserve inMadhya Pradesh, in January 2005, there werereports of 10 wild dogs and one tiger beingfound poisoned by neighbouring villagers.In Pench, Maharashtra, three tigers were killedin 2004 by villagers in retaliation for cattledeaths.In Melghat, Maharashtra, extensive firesallegedly lit by tribals were reported earlier thisyear.In Simlipal, Orissa, it was reported in 2004 thattribals had encroached on forest lands and wereclearing them.In Ranthambhore, Rajasthan, tensions overgrazing continue to run high regularly. In July2000, police fired 17 rounds to disperseagitating villagers. In August 2002, villagersassaulted police personnel, who retaliated byopening fire and injuring one person. Thevillagers then invaded the park and laid siege toit with their animals. The siege was lifted aftermonth-long negotiations.In the Dudhwa tiger reserve in Uttar Pradesh,tiger poisoning cases have been reportedfrequently till recently.In Buxa, West Bengal, a public hearingorganised by the National Forum of ForestPeople and Forest Workers, alleged that avillager had been murdered by a forest rangerand the matter hushed up. The body wasexhumed in April 2005 on the orders of a court.The case has led to unrest in the area.In Valmiki reserve in Bihar, five companies ofthe Home Guards camped inside the forest inApril 2005 to hunt down extremists fromacross the border, even as tensions with localcommunities living within the parkcontinued.dams in tiger habitats to poaching and crime —gained ground.6. Over this period, tiger conservation has becomemore and more ‘exclusive’. As threats to the tigermultiplied, the response of tiger lovers has beento band together into a select group that wouldcontrol policy and programme formulation.Their attempt has been to centralise decisions, sothat they can get the power and its instruments toprotect the tiger. Everybody else, theyincreasingly believe, is against tigers.7. Over time, the interests of this small group ofconservationists has also got embroiled in thetiger. The benefits they make from tourism,filming and conservation is not shared with thepeople or the parks. The problem is that thisleads to even greater alienation of all against thetiger, which they believe is being protected forthe sake of a few, against the interests of all.8. Simultaneously, all that should have been donefor the development of forests and rural areas —increased productivity of grazing land, irrigationfacilities, employment — has remained undone.The line-departments in charge of development,from rural development to tribal affairs, havealso proved inadequate. People remaindependent on forest resources and desperatelypoor. They have no option but to ‘use’ theprotected reserves. These are the remainingbastions of livelihood resources.9. The end result: the belief that the tiger can only beprotected by building stronger and higher fences12 The assessment