For the sake of simplicity, let’s divide the problem into two broad heads: One category is the larger picture, the tiger, in context of the ‘society’—for want of another word—it lives in. These issues are seemingly insurmountable, chronic, the ones those overwhelm you. Where is the room for wild tigers in India, with her rapidly increasing population (1.3 billion, 50,000 added annually), and her thirst for growth and a consumerist lifestyle? How do you counter the incessant threat of highways, coal mines, power projects and expanding human habitation in tiger habitats and corridors? How do you convince politicians hungry for votes, and corporates greedy for money that the highway cuts into a crucial tiger corridor or that the coal mine sits on prime tiger real estate?
While we, doggedly, try, try and try to keep the bulldozers away, there are other issues that demand urgent attention. These, perhaps, are more workable, more immediate. Poaching is the single biggest reason for rapid population declines, indeed local extinctions. Yet, what have we done to curb this slaughter? Sure, we cannot overnight convince the Chinese that tiger penis soup isn’t the magic mantra for manhood, but what has India done to control the supply? Why isn’t there sufficient, well-trained and equipped frontline staff to take on poachers? Why don’t we strengthen our Wildlife Crime Bureaus along the lines of the agency to control narcotics smuggling?
Mismanagement, or is some cases, no management is another concern. I was part of an exercise to assess tiger reserves. There must be an honest, exhaustive assessment of what ails our tiger reserves, and the all-important next step to act on the concerned issues.
Why is crucial tiger habitat-deemed to be inviolate, being pillaged not by outside agencies but by the forest department themselves? The Bhanwar deh waterhole, a prime tiger nursery, waterhole in Berda in Ranthambhore was destroyed for an anicut. This is just one among the other such construction (or destruction) in Ranthambhore, and reserves across the country, where civil works reach a peak when the financial year comes to a close.
The failure of the state governments to come on board on tiger conservation has been repeatedly stressed. Very true, but the centre cannot be absolved of responsibility either. The push for coal mining and highways into tiger habitat is mainly from the centre, with the PMO pressing for mining to be allowed into the recently-demarcated ‘no-go’ areas. The budget for the National Tiger Conservation Authority, which funds protection initiatives on the ground, was been cut by a fourth. The next economic superpower, India, does not have enough money for her tigers.
But the worst onslaught is brewing: by changing laws and policies, we are striking at the very foundation on which our glorious (but all-too-short) conservation history is based. The Forest Rights Act weakened the Wildlife Protection Act and largely stripped away the sanctity of Protected Areas. Its impact on wild habitats has been discussed in detail in previous issues (look for it also under ‘Focus’), but a new set of recommendations for FRA rules by the very influential National Advisory Council will be disastrous for wild habitats as they open up ‘rights’ in PAs even further.
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