Report of the Tiger Task Force - PRS

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TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS ■c. Make the rating and assessment of theindependent monitoring available in the publicdomain: This can be done through the Web and inreports to the Parliament. This will force scrutinyfrom the civil society and lead to an informedpublic debate. It is also a safeguard to ensure theindependence of the monitors, as scrutiny frompeers and the public is the best auditor.d. Involvement of the directorate in the habitat andtiger estimation made across the country: It mustwork with professional institutions, buildingtheir capacity to undertake this work to supportstate governments in the estimation. This‘census’ is critical for deciding policy andstrategies in this field.B. On strengthening institutions at the state level1. Create a state steering committee for ProjectTiger with the chief minister of the tiger range stateas its chair.There is no regular mechanism for chiefministers of tiger range states to take stock, assessand direct work on tiger conservation. Without theinvolvement of the chief ministers, this agendacannot go forward.The chief minister is the chairperson of the statewildlife board. But unfortunately, these boards havebecome defunct in many states, where their meetingshave not been convened for many years. The problemis that state governments — especially the politicalleadership — do not see any advantage in wildlifeconservation. The boards have also lost their purposeand do not play effective roles in guiding wildlifepolicy. There is no simple or easy answer to this issue.We have to understand why states and theirleaders are disinterested in wildlife. The problem isthat wildlife conservation has been reduced to narrowconstituencies; the public has lost interest in it. Butpublic support for wildlife is crucial. The Task Force,therefore, suggests that much more must be done toexpand the concern, to involve different segments ofthe society in wildlife conservation and to provide anincentive for states to take this issue seriously.The cases of Kaziranga national park in Assam orKanha in Madhya Pradesh are relevant here. Publicreputation and pride has led the state governments torecognise and facilitate these protected areas.Similarly, the reputation of each state government andits people must be enjoined to the protection of tigers.2. The state chief wildlife warden must have abackground and interest in wildlife conservation.The position of the chief wildlife warden iscritical in states, for this official is a statutory authorityunder the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, and isresponsible for all wildlife-related work and overseesthe functioning of protected areas. Currently, anyofficer can become the chief wildlife warden on thebasis of seniority — irrespective of experience,aptitude or interest in wildlife issues. In the guidelinesfor the project issued in the early 1970s, it was clearlyindicated that officers who are given this charge musthave a background or interest in wildlife conservation.However, this guideline is rarely used. It is importantthat governments develop a criterion for theappointment of the head of wildlife in the state.But it is also important to note that this processwill only work if the state government has areputational advantage in maintaining its wildlifeand has a vigilant public opinion. These will drive itto ensure that only professionals with a demonstratedhigh order of skills are appointed to this critical post.3. Create management committees for eachprotected area, which will include local communityrepresentatives, NGOs and researchers.The 2003 amendment of the Wildlife (Protection)Act, 1972, included a provision for an advisorycommittee in each state, chaired by the chief wildlifewarden and including members of state legislature,Panchayati Raj institutions, NGOs and individuals.The committee was to advise on measures to be takenfor better conservation and management, includingthe participation of people living within and aroundthe protected area. The Tiger Task Force has beenunable to find any state that has constituted such acommittee; it urges that this be done for every tigerreserve, to begin with. At the same time, the TaskForce suggests some modifications, as follows:a. The mandate of the committee must not only beadvisory, but must have management functionsas well. The management plan of each reserve aswell as the annual plans and the work completedmust be discussed with the committee. This willrequire an eventual amendment of the Wildlife(Protection) Act, 1972, but states can take theleadership in this. The effective functioning ofsuch committees must become models for othersto emulate.b. As there are large numbers of people livingwithin and adjacent to reserves, these committeesmust include their representatives so thatdiscussions can be initiated with them.C. On strengthening professional expertise inconservation1. Create a sub-cadre of wildlife specialists andprofessionals.The need for this sub-cadre has been discussedfor many years, but little of substance has happenedin this regard. The issue that remains unresolved isThe way ahead 33
■ JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORTwhether the service should be created as a separatewildlife (parks) service, or whether it should be asub-cadre within the forestry services.As early as in 1973, the then prime minister IndiraGandhi wrote to all chief ministers, asking them tointroduce a specialised management for parks andsanctuaries. She suggested an approach in whichstates with important wildlife populations wouldcreate wildlife departments under the forestdepartment; there would be a separate wildlife serviceand forest officers would be given a choice to opt forthis service. Specialised training would be provided tothis cadre, which would be responsible for managingnational parks and sanctuaries exclusively.In 1976, the Central government issued detailedguidelines for the creation of wildlife wings in thestates. The guidelines included a provision that inother forests, the existing territorial officers of theforest department would continue to be responsiblefor wildlife conservation. But to improve their workin wildlife conservation, the Centre asked the chiefwildlife wardens of the states to make end-of-the-yearentries in their confidential reviews with regard to thework done and interest evinced in conservation.The 1980 report of the Committee forRecommending Legislative Measures andAdministrative Machinery for EnsuringEnvironmental Protection — also known as the N DTiwari committee, which recommended the settingup of a department of environment in the country —also deliberated on this issue. In its view, “Foreffective and scientific management of such reservesa special sub-cadre of scientific personnel should becreated within the forest department of states andUnion territories.” In addition, “Personnel shouldnot be interchangeable with those in regular forestservices, but should be assured their careeradvancement within their sub-cadre by extendingthe concept of flexible complementation.” However,one member of this committee suggested thereshould be a separate central wildlife service,dedicated to the protection of species and parks.Currently, the training for the Indian ForestService officers is conducted primarily at the IndiraGandhi National Forest Academy (IGNFA) inDehradun. The IGNFA curriculum includes courses inwildlife that provide orientation to officers, but nospecialisation. The Wildlife Institute of India alsooffers ongoing training courses in wildlifemanagement for mid-career professionals. But theseprofessionals do not necessarily qualify for work inwildlife areas after this specialisation.The Task Force has reviewed the options for adedicated service versus a sub-cadre service, andalso discussed this issue with a wide-ranging groupof experts and officers.It believes that it is important, in this age ofmodern management, to be both a specialist andintegrationist in professions. This is even moreimportant in the area of forestry and wildlifemanagement. On one hand, wildlife managementdemands a high order of expertise, specialisation andinterest. On the other, a large number of wildlife isfound outside protected areas, which requiresmainstreaming the knowledge to foresters of alltypes. In addition, there are people living within thehabitats of wild animals — inside and outsideprotected areas. The forestry and wildlife professionhas to be capable of incorporating their concerns andworking as developmental agencies in the reserves.It is for this reason the Task Force suggests thefollowing needs to be done:a. Creation of a sub-cadre of wildlife specialistswithin the Indian Forest Service. The training forthis sub-cadre must be carefully reviewed by theIndira Gandhi National Forest Academy, WildlifeInstitute of India and other expert institutions sothat the course is rigorous and comprehensive.b. The wildlife training provided to all others mustalso be reviewed so that it can mainstream thelearning.c. The wildlife service should have a provision forlateral entry by wildlife scientists, so thatprofessionals can also be part of theadministration. In addition, there should be anopportunity for continuous training andspecialisation in this service during their career.d. To mainstream concern for wildlife, theconfidential reviews of the territorial officersshould include an assessment from the statewildlife warden (this was recommended in the1976 guidelines as well).e. To mainstream concern for people’s livelihoods,the confidential reviews of both the wildlife andforest services must include an assessment oftheir work done in this area. This is particularlyimportant for wildlife service officers, who haveto build relationships with local communitiesand engage them in conservation.D. On strengthening supervision in the project1. Conduct independent audits of each reserveannually and put this information in the publicdomain.As discussed above, an independent assessmentof tiger reserves must be done every year by a widerangingteam of experts and activists. The purpose ofthis management audit is to establish thebenchmarks for each reserve and to track itsdevelopment carefully. If this audit is done well, itwill obviate Sariska-type events for it will provideforewarning information, which can then be used for34 The way ahead
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Page 4 and 5: ContentsIntroductionExecutive summa
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04Action plan for changeKey recomme
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05References
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