THE REPORT OF THE TIGER TASK FORCE

JOINING
THE DOTS

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

i
The Tiger Task Force was constituted pursuant to the decision taken during the
second meeting of the National Board for Wildlife on March 17, 2003

The Ministry of Environment and Forests (Project Tiger) set up the task force vide
notification no.6 (4)/2005-PT dated April 19, 2005 to review the management of tiger
reserves.

The terms of reference of the Task Force are as follows:

1. Suggest measures to strengthen tiger conservation in the country.

2. Suggest measures to incentivise the local community in conservation of tigers.
3. Suggest measures to incentivise local forest staff posted in sanctuaries/national
parks and ensure an effective HR plan for tiger conservation/wildlife managers.
4. Suggest measures to improve the methodology of tiger counting and forecasting.
5. Suggest methods of transparent professional audit of wildlife parks and placing
data on tiger conservation in the public domain.
6. Suggest a new wildlife management paradigm that shares concerns of
conservation with the public at large.
2. The Project Tiger Division of the Ministry of Environment & Forests would be
facilitating the working of the Task Force and render all necessary help.
3. The Task Force should submit its report within three months from the date of
this notification.
4. The sitting fees and travel cost would be reimbursed to the Members of the Task
Force as per norms.

The Members of the Task Force are as follows:

(1) Ms Sunita Narain, Director, Centre for Science and Environment. - Chairperson
(2) Shri H S Panwar, Ex-Head, Project Tiger and Ex-Head, - Member
Wild Life Institute of India.
(3) Prof Madhav Gadgil, Environmental Historian and member, - Member
National Board for Wildlife.
(4) Shri Valmik Thapar, Member, National Board for Wildlife. - Member
(5) Shri Samar Singh, Ex-Secretary, Govt. of India and Member, - Member
National Board for Wildlife.

2005 Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (Project Tiger)

Published by
Project Tiger,
Union Ministry of Environment and Forests
Annexe No 5, Bikaner House
Shahjahan Road, New Delhi 11
www.projecttiger.nic.in

ii
 Contents

Introduction v
Executive summary vi

01 The assessment 1-14

1.1 Conserving the tiger 2
1.2 The Sariska shock 14

02 A paradigm change 21-26

Making conservation work 22

03 The way ahead 27-143

3.1 The institutional agenda 28
3.2 The protection agenda 36
3.3 The illegal trade agenda 51
3.3a Domestic enforcement agenda 56
3.4 Innovative protection agenda 63
3.5 The science agenda 70
3.6 The research agenda 80
3.7 The relocation agenda 88
3.8 The coexistence agenda 99
3.9 The fringe agenda 117
3.10 The tourism agenda 132
3.11 Ecological services agenda 141

04 Action plan for change 145-151

05 References 153-159

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 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

06 Annexures 161-206
I. The composition and terms of reference of the Tiger Task Force 162
II. Note of dissent by Valmik Thapar, member, Tiger Task Force 163
III. Response of the Chairperson, Tiger Task Force, to note of dissent 181
IV. Expert consultations based on terms of reference of the Tiger Task Force 184
V. Visits of the Tiger Task Force 187
VI. Experts requested to comment on methodology of tiger estimation 188
VII. Suggestions received on the terms of reference of Tiger Task Force 189
VIII. Methodology for estimating and monitoring tiger status and habitat 193
IX. Investing in institutions for change: strengthening the Project Tiger directorate 198
X. A critique of cadre-building in the forestry sector and suggestions for
human resource improvement 200
XI. Amending the criminal provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 203
XII. Guidelines on establishment of widlife wings issued 1973-1981 206

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 Introduction

The Tiger Task Force was set up because of a crisis Ranthambhore in Rajasthan. In each visit, field
the knowledge that the nation had lost its tigers from managers, foresters and guards told us about their
the protected reserve of Sariska in Rajasthan. But the efforts to protect and what they believed had to be
Tiger Task Force was also set up to look beyond this done in the future. We also visited villages located
immediate provocation: there were lessons to be within the reserves and outside.
learnt from this tragedy, lessons the nation needed to In all, it was an enormous learning experience,
learn so that the survival of the tiger could be most of which we have tried to encapsulate in the
guaranteed. Sariska, then, was not only a crisis but report. But even beyond what we have learnt and
also became an opportunity. Clearly, the time had sought to explain, we can say with confidence the
come to review the past and also to secure the future. tiger is not alone. When we began our work, we had
It is evident that all is not well with the Indian an initial list of tiger experts, knowledgeable about
tiger. It is this concern that led the Prime Minister, Dr tiger conservation and involved in its protection. But
Manmohan Singh, to review conservation efforts at as we went about our work, we found the
the National Board for Wildlife meeting held in constituency of the tiger to be truly widespread.
March 2005, to later visit the tiger reserve of People across the country sent us their views and
Ranthambhore in Rajasthan to assess the situation on comments. In these three months, we received
the ground and to meet with the chief wildlife information from over 120 people. We met over 200
wardens of different states. The Prime Minister also people on our visits and more than 100 attended
asked for the Tiger Task Force to be set up, with a consultations.
mandate to review tiger conservation and to suggest a We would like to thank them all. We cannot,
new paradigm that shares the concerns of obviously, include all the suggestions, but all have
conservation with the public at large. It is clear to us been heard carefully; this has helped us devise our
that his concern is a shared one: how we must save strategy for the future. It is clear that one problem of
the tiger and how we must do that in the particular the tiger has been its exclusive constituency; our
circumstances of India, where forests are not hope is that this report will provide ways in which
wilderness areas but also where people live. this group of supporters is enlarged and gets
This was our objective as we began work. We included in the future efforts for tiger conservation.
knew we had to find what has to be done, urgently The tiger needs all these friends, and more.
and effectively, to safeguard the tigers future. We We thank the Union ministry of environment
knew also we were not the first to engage in such a and forests for their cooperation; in particular, Dr
task. India has had a long history of conserving the Rajesh Gopal, director, Project Tiger, for giving time
tiger, in which many have been involved. And much to the Tiger Task Force. We learnt a lot from him and
has already been done. we hope our report will help him and his colleagues,
The Tiger Task Force started its work by seeking working on tiger conservation, in their efforts as well.
answers. It organised four consultations: two in No report per se brings change. It is people, who
Delhi, concerning issues related to conservation and believe in the report and its ideas, who are the
poaching and on the methodology of tiger estimation; change-makers. We hope our report will find
one in Nagpur, where tribal activists and non- believers as well. We hope that the agenda for tiger
governmental organisations working on conservation will be secured, so that the future of the
collaborative conservation put forth their opinion; tiger can be secured. It will need seriousness. It will
and one in Bangalore, to meet researchers and need commitment. But it can be done.
scientists working on different aspects of habitat and
species research. Sunita Narain
The Tiger task Force also visited tiger reserves Samar Singh
Periyar in Kerala, Pench in Maharashtra, Pench and H S Panwar
Kanha in Madhya Pradesh and Sariska and Madhav Gadgil

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 Executive summary

The Tiger Task Force report begins by placing itself wildlife reserves triggers antagonism. This report
in context (see: The assessment, p 1-20). There is an wanted development programmes and funds for
immediate context to this report: the widely reported villages located in the periphery of conservation
and discussed event of the disappearance of tigers in zones. It calls these zones islands of conservation.
Sariska. There is also a larger context: the discourse If the land surrounding such effort continues to
and practice of tiger conservation in India. deteriorate in productivity affecting the availability
In terms of the immediate context, the Sariska of resources for communities, these islands are
debacle, the Task Force investigated the affair. The bound to succumb one day to the communitys
report presents the conclusions (see: The Sariska demands.
shock, p 14-20). The protection system there has In the 1990s, a furious storm breaks, reminiscent
completely collapsed. While officials were busy of today. The tiger is in deep trouble. Project Tiger,
misreporting the record of tiger numbers, poachers Indias flagship conservation programme, is in deep
roamed about and cleaned the reserve out. A trouble. Conservation itself is in deep trouble. This
powerful mining lobby, keen to carry out mining was an opportunity to change directions. But what
operations in the reserve fringe, is thrilled. Local emerges is: One, the conservation regime re-
politicians now want the protected area denotified: dedicates itself to a command-and-control mode of
What is there to protect? they ask. Villagers here wildlife preservation. Two, it becomes no longer
regard the tiger, and the park administration, as their necessary to refer to or think of people while
common enemy no 1: they live sandwiched between speaking of or planning for conservation.
the two, and are bitter about their desperately The Sariska debacle is irrevocably because of this
wretched existence and continued harassment. The direction we chose.
park management talks about relocation, but has
done little. In the meantime, even the one village that 3 unavoidable variables
had been moved out has come back into the reserve.
There is unease all around. In this situation, It is incumbent upon the Tiger Task Force to look to
protection cannot and does not work. the future. The Task Force realises that, so far as
In terms of the larger context (see: Conserving the conservation policy and practice are concerned, any
tiger, p 2-13), the report finds important, but such blueprint must be predicated upon three
forgotten, moments in the recent history of official unavoidable variables (see: A paradigm change, p
conservation planning. The report of the 1972 task 21-26). As the report puts it, The protection of the
force headed by Karan Singh, Project Tiger: a tiger is inseparable from the protection of the forests
planning proposal for preservation of tiger (Panthera it roams in. But the protection of these forests is itself
tigris tigris) in India, inaugurated the tiger inseparable from the fortunes of people who, in
conservation programme in India (and official India, inhabit forest areas. There is the tiger. There
conservation as well). It is a remarkable blueprint. It is the forest. There are the people, living inside these
gave the programme a promising start. forests and on the fringes of these forests.
If people versus parks and its inevitable All readers of this executive summary are
corollary, people versus tigers is one encouraged to look at the map on page 23. It shows
contentious point of the debate around conservation three layers: the 150 poorest districts of India; the
in India today, the report finds extremely sensitive fact that these are also constitutionally designated
deliberations upon this issue in the past. It is obvious Schedule V areas (areas primarily inhabited by
that some, among those that have given direction to tribals); and the fact that these are prime tiger
official conservation policy, were horribly aware that districts. Consider also the tables on page 26 Forest
in India, forests are not unpopulated tracts of cover and tribal districts, and Net change in forest
wilderness. The 1983 Eliciting public support for cover in the country since 2001 . The fact is that
wildlife conservation report of the task force, by a communities not necessarily tribals, but equally
committee headed by Madhavrao Scindia, focuses on impoverished live in and around those areas the
the dependence of rural people on forests: In their official conservation apparatus protects for the sake
precarious existence, enforcement of restriction in of the tiger. Equally, forests in these areas are under

vi Executive summary
 TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS

greater strain: fiat forbids use of the forest, but people Must protect
persist in doing so, often out of sheer need. Enter the
tiger, single males no fiat can tie down, trying to But even as institutional reform is undertaken, it is
wander from forest to forest, but unable to do so clear that more needs to be done to improve the
because the forests are shrinking and forest corridors protection for the tiger immediately (see: The
brim with disaffected villages arbitrarily resettled out protection agenda, p: 36-50). After visits to reserves
of the forest. and detailed research, it is the assessment of the Task
The Tiger Task Force has tried then to unravel Force that Sariska is certainly not representative of
the knot conservation policy and practice has today what is happening in every reserve in the country.
tied itself in. But it is also clear that a Sariska-type situation
haunts every reserve, where protection is happening,
The way ahead today, against all odds.
The question then is: what can be done to
With this aim in mind, the report moves into the improve protection? The usual answer is: more guns,
heart of the matter. The Tiger Task Force resolves the more guards and more money. This approach, the
problem into 11 distinct, but connected, aspects (see: report finds, solves nothing. Sariska, in fact, has
The way ahead, p 27-143). spent more money per tiger and per sq km than
almost all reserves in India. It has more personnel per
Just reform sq km and more protection camps per sq km, than
most reserves. Still it failed (see the graphs:
Sariska was an eye-opener to the Task Force. It Allocation of funds to tiger reserves from inception to
witnessed there absolute institutional collapse. So it 2004-2005, and Average yearly allocation of funds to
is that this segment of the report begins by looking tiger reserves from inception to 2004-2005, p 37; see
into institutional reform (see: The institutional especially What we can learn from Sariska, p 46).
agenda, p 28-35). Following the 42nd amendment to The report delves into all aspects of protection
the Constitution in 1976, the subject of forests and (see: Funds and protection, p 37-39; Personnel and
wildlife shifted from the State list to the Concurrent protection, p 39-42; the vacant staff position, p 42-
list. As the report puts it, the Centre acquired 43; the age of the staff, p 43-44; and infrastructure: p
overriding powers to ensure protection and 45) to suggest each reserve must devise strategies to
preservation of forests and wildlife. By the 1990s, better protect the tiger. This is especially true of a)
this arrangement began to function more in the reserves in northeast India, vast and inaccessible
breach. Project Tiger suffered. Without direct stake in except to local communities, and b) naxalite-
protecting wildlife and forests, states treated these as dominated reserves.
matters to be administered. State politicians found
protecting huge swathes of land expensive, even And less crime
inimical to growth. The Centre had a direct stake, but
was too distant from ground realities to be effective. It isnt enough to merely spruce up the reserve
How should this state of affairs improve? The management. Conservation in India today possesses
report weighs two options. One, centralise further an extremely watered-down mechanism to crack
(see: p 29-30). Two, rely on a participatory down on wildlife crime. A market exists today for
philosophy of institution-building. The report tiger skin and tiger parts; as tigers decline elsewhere
endorses the latter option. Improve Centre-state in south and southeast Asia, the danger for the tiger
collaboration, says the report, strengthening in India becomes more palpable. Inter-governmental
institutions at the Centre that oversee tiger cooperation on protecting endangered species has
protection, and improving state capacities. The driven the market underground, making it difficult to
report says local communities must be involved in detect and so break; also, the world is failing in its
protecting the tiger; relevant institutions, therefore, attempts to control the illicit trade: as late as 2004,
must be put in place. shops in New York exhibited herbal medicines
Among a series of recommendations (see: p 30- claiming to be made of tiger parts (see: The illegal
35) the report makes with respect to overhauling or trade agenda, p 51-55).
transforming institutions of wildlife protection, it A weak enforcement mechanism thus spells
says that the Union ministry of environment and disaster. The report takes up this question in depth
forests must be re-organised into two separate (see: Domestic enforcement agenda, p 56-62). After
departments: that of environment and that of forests. showing in great detail exactly how weak the
The Project Tiger directorate must be given the legal Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 is in terms of
status of an authority, to facilitate its work and enforcement (see: p 58-59), the report demands the
provide it autonomy. Acts criminal provisions be amended, and wants a

Executive summary vii

 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

Wildlife Crime Bureau to be set up immediately. number of villages families and people that live
Perhaps, then, India can look after her tigers. inside Indias tiger reserves. The Task Force places it
Perhaps India can look after her tigers better by in the public domain (see: The relocation agenda, p
being imaginative in this sphere (see: Innovative 88-98; specifically, see: p 89-91).
protection agenda, p 63-69). Poachers rely upon The data is not complete there is no proper
extremely skilled local communities of hunters, who assessment of the total number of settlements in tiger
know the forest better than the backs of their hands. reserves. But what does exist proves a) relocation is a
Poachers can; money can buy anything, especially logistical nightmare and b) it has a cost that is
extremely poor people. But what if the hunter turns unaccounted for.
protector? The report records such an initiative in The first is borne out by the fact that in the last 30
Cambodia. In India, too, such a turnaround is years, only 80 villages and 2,904 families have been
possible: research shows that the Lisu of Changlang relocated from different tiger reserves in the country.
district in Arunachal Pradesh could become the best Readers of this summary could consult the table on p
protectors of the Namdapha tiger reserve there (see: p 91 Costs of relocation. The Task force has estimated
65-67). Periyar tiger reserve in Kerala proves it can be that, roughly, there are 1,500 villages or 65,000
done (see: p 67-68). Couldnt innovations like this be families, or 325,000 people (@ five per family)
replicated, where possible, elsewhere in the country? inside the core and buffer zones of tiger reserves. At
For this to happen, at least one bridge has to be the current rate of compensation the government
built: between the conservation bureaucracy and gives to families it seeks to relocate (Rs 1 lakh), it
wildlife researchers. The Task Force finds the would cost Rs 665 crore to relocate all families from
current disconnect between the two extremely tiger reserves. If the rate of compensation is
disturbing (see: The research agenda, p 80-87). enhanced say, to Rs 2.5 lakh it would require Rs
Indeed, it finds weak correlation between the 1,663 crore to re-settle all.
practice of conservation and the knowledge Theres more. Usually, forest land is used to re-
produced on and about it. The report points to the settle families (no agency has the gumption, or
pug-mark method of counting tigers as the best political will, to provide revenue land). Today, if a
example of this practice becoming unscientific over state government were to use forest land and re-settle
time, and agrees this method needs to be replaced people, it would have to pay the Centre what is
(see: The science agenda, pp 70-79). It reviews the called the NPV, or net present value of the forest it
methodology that is being suggested as an alternative would divert for the purpose of re-settlement. The
and finds it will work better in estimating tigers and NPV amount has been fixed at Rs 5.8 to Rs 9 lakh per
their habitat. It wants this method to be tried out hectare (depending on the category of forest
urgently. diverted). Therefore, to re-settle all families from
An outlook that believes conservation means tiger reserves, the government will require Rs 9,645
fencing forests off by fiat is too narrow. Many tigers crore.
live outside tiger reserves. Thus conservation needs This stalemate has to be broken. The Task Force
to focus on the larger landscape. It must also be an suggests a way ahead. It asks for a scientific
inclusive effort: the wildlife biologist or community assessment of the villages that need to be relocated
ecologist is equally crucial to it. The Sariska debacle and it asks for a time-bound programme for this to
went unnoticed also because information on tiger happen. It asks caution but it also demands speed.
numbers there was fudged. The Task Force urges for The situation today is untenable for the people who
openness and for independent audits that can build live inside. The unwritten policy is that they will be
and break the reputations of state leaders in relocated. As a result, no development reaches them,
managing their tiger populations. for then they wouldnt want to leave. But relocation
does not happen. People become, and remain,
Out in the open trespassers in their own land.

The simplest way to protect the tiger is to render They came back
inviolate the space it roams in, catching prey. In
India, this means keeping all people out of forests In Sariska, villagers of Kraska village were offered
declared as protected areas (as reserves, or land by the forest department in a village outside the
sanctuaries, or national parks). As people live in reserves core area. They relinquished their land-
reserves, they need to be relocated so that the ownership certificates and shifted to that village,
space is made inviolate and undisturbed. only to face the wrath of its residents. Selling off the
Conservationists demand it. But what is the situation new land they had got at low prices, the villagers
on the ground? went back into the core. Now they live in an
For the first time, data has been collected on the atmosphere that is war-like: harassed, forcibly

viii Executive summary

 TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS

evicted again, they live impoverished and lives. Being exclusive

The Task Force visited Hindala village in
Ranthambhore and witnessed the terrible poverty of A 1989 report estimates three million people live
these people living inside this prestigious national inside the 600-odd protected areas that exist in India
park. They have no water, no schools, no medical today. So, says the report: If the way ahead is to
facilities. They are harassed if they graze their come to a practical resolution on how to balance, and
animals in the land outside their village. The forest manage, the livelihood needs of people with the
department says it is planning to relocate this village. imperatives of conservation, it is important to
The villagers told the Task Force that they were understand the impact of human resource use on
prepared to move, but also expressed concern that tiger reserve forests: is such use detrimental? What is
the villagers who had been relocated from the threshold beyond which such use begins to so
Ranthambhore in the past were facing problems even severely degrade tiger habitat that the animals
more severe than theirs (p 96). A damning existence becomes truly endangered? What if such
indictment of conservation: people preferring to live use is not detrimental? (see: The coexistence
illegal and wretched lives because official relocation agenda, p 99-116; specifically, An experiment in
is a promise that does not work. sustainability, p 102, with graph The Soliga know
sustainable harvesting, p 103. These questions also
Other examples affect the argument of The fringe agenda, p 116-131)
Accepting that this terrain of competing needs
The report looks at other examples of relocation, and is a complicated one, the report examines why what
finds a pattern exists to the process (see: p 92-94; also it calls the war of conservation is so widespread in
see the example of village Pandharpauni/ Navegaon, India. Seeking answers, it realises that in many
p 100). Families are usually shifted to the fringe of parts of the country, the rights of local people in
protected areas. The land they are given is usually of forests remain unrecorded (see, in this respect, the
poor quality. Although the land they get is first example of Buxa tiger reserve in West Bengal, p 101).
cleared of all vegetation, it is still categorised as Currently, many states are on a spree to prohibit tree-
forest land. The restrictions of the Forest Protection and bamboo felling, cutting grass, collecting minor
Act, 1980, apply here. So people live a constricted forest produce within protected areas. The
existence. Moreover, they are not allowed to use the unintended result of this has been heightened
resources of the protected forest they live next to. tension between people and staff in various
Relocation was successfully done in the Bhadra protected areas. In this situation, the report says,
tiger reserve in Karnataka. But it cost the state Rs 4.02 it is important to examine what the rights are of
lakh per family. Is this then the cost we have to pay? people living within sanctuaries and national parks.
All this creates a situation where, as people Do they even have rights? What is prohibited? What
become poorer, they also become desperate (see the does the law say on this issue?
example of Bandhavgarh, p 100; see also Melghats So follows a close examination of the Wildlife
conservation conundrum, p 110, or Pench: Illegal (Protection) Act, 1972 (see: p 103-106). Till the 1991
and threatening, p 113) and hostile. Since the forest amendment to the Act, a sanctuary could be notified
no longer sustains them, they no longer sustain the without peoples rights being determined. This was a
forest. As for the tiger, it finds itself roaming in a statutory defect, but the Act was implemented. In
habitat that begins to disappear. notified sanctuaries created 1973-1991, therefore,
rights would not have been settled. The 1991
This is not to say amendment, and then the 2003 amendment,
attempted to mitigate this defect. The latter actually
But even with all this learnt, this is not to say there provides safeguards: till rights are settled, the state
must not exist inviolate spaces for the tiger. The has to make alternative arrangements for fuel, fodder
report recommends that there should be an urgent and minor forest produce for people living in areas
and realistic review of the number of villages that declared as protected. But these amendments failed
actually need to be relocated from the reserves. The to solve problems: settlements did not take place; the
decision must be based on the fact that the villages enforcement regime was strengthened without
that need to be relocated are so made to do so safeguards. Says the report:
because they are located in the critical habitats
tiger natal areas and conservation priority areas. There seems to now exist two procedural
Urging for speed and careful decision-making, the regimes, and institutions seem to pick one or the
Task Force recommends a tight schedule of exactly other, not tackling the inherited ambiguities
one year to study settlements and list the ones to be caused by the original defect in the law:
relocated (p 97). Rights are settled, the sanctuary is notified

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 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

and all prohibitions come into force; behest of the forest department, says the report, the
Rights are not settled, but the sanctuary or attempt quickly failed. Where they were
national park exists; so, all prohibitions implemented in the right spirit, the schemes (of the
come into force but none of the safeguards project) did pick up the economic baselines of the
(p106). villages (see the examples of Nagarhole national
park and Buxa tiger reserve, p: 124-125). The key
The law, as interpreted, provides that people living weakness wasnt in what the project did. It lay in
in and around a protected area can collect and how it did what it did. The project created parallel
remove forest produce for bona fide needs but institutions in the villages. It did not work with
there is no definition of what the phrase means. existing delivery mechanisms the panchayats and
Moreover, the Act bars rights to property (in this line departments of programme delivery. Also, a
respect see: p 107; see especially Submission of the traditionally antagonistic forest department had to
Madhya Pradesh government on section 20 of the rebuild its relationships with villagers. Where senior
Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, barring accrual of forest officers took the lead and spent time in the
rights p 108). field, things were different.
In this way, the report clarifies what it means by It isnt as if solutions dont exist. Increase the
a war of conservation. Now it can ask: is productivity of forests and pasturelands in the
coexistence then possible? How? It recommends vicinity of a reserve, the report suggests. If people
inclusive protection be incorporated into live in a forest-dependent economy, then it is
conservation management urgently, and urges park imperative to evolve policies for forest-development
managers to be innovative. The fact is if people co- in these areas. The Task Force also asks the
habit the tigers space then it is imperative that ways government to look at how joint forest management
are found so that coexistence is harmonious. and community forestry in fringe forests can be
Anything else is not good for the tiger. Not good for integrated to work both for people as well as
conservation. wildlife. It also considers the strategy of monetising
the ecosystem services of a forest, and involving
Become inclusive local communities to protect forests in lieu of which
service they get paid (see: Ecological services
A strategy of inclusive protection should be even agenda, p: 141-143).
more of the essence of future conservation in India In the same vein, the report looks at how tourism,
because of the internecine conflicts between that has great potential in providing locals a way to
people and park managers, or regarding resource use prosperity, is doing exactly the opposite: hotels and
breaking out on the park fringes (see: The fringe resorts operate without any building code of
agenda, p 117-131). The report details the nature of environmental standards. They guzzle groundwater
the interaction between fringe villages and protected and require waste disposal by the ton. Moreover,
areas. Often, they place tremendous pressure on they do not contribute to the local economy at all
parks (see the example of Bandipur tiger reserve, p (see: The tourism agenda, p 132-140). The report
118). Animals, in turn, damage crops (see: p 118), or provides successful examples of eco-tourism
kill livestock (see the case of Bhadra tiger reserve, p: involving local communities (see: Innovating in
119). The table Compensation paid by tiger reserves tourism by involving local communities, p: 138), and
from inception till 2002, in p 120, clearly shows this recommends government encourage homestead
conflict drains the financial resources of tiger tourism around reserves. Also, it asks that hotels
reserves. It also strains the peoples relationship to within a radius of five kilometres from the boundary
the forest. of a reserve must contribute 30 per cent of their
The report then analyses attempts to solve this turnover to the reserve.
conflict. It examines the India Ecodevelopment The moot point in looking at so many solutions is
Project a Rs 288 crore attempt (incidentally this is a simple one. Ease the pressure on people; people
more than what has been spent on official tiger respond sustainably. Ease the pressure on the forest;
conservation over 30 years), tested in 7 tiger reserves, the forest will regenerate. The pressure on the tiger is
to tackle the problem of the negative impact of bound to ease. This paradigm of inclusive
people upon parks, and vice versa (see: p 120-127). conservation will safeguard the tiger. Nothing else
Where the decision-making was unilateral, at the will. The agenda is within our reach.

x Executive summary
 01
The assessment
1.1 Conserving the tiger
1.2 The Sariska shock

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 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

1.1 Conserving the tiger

Phase one: 1972-1980 8. Bandipur, Karnataka: miscellaneous forests of
In the early 1970s, international concern about the the Western Ghats.
state of the Indian tiger (Panthera tigris tigris)
reached a fever pitch. In 1969, the IUCN or World The mangove forest of Sundarban was added when
Conservation Union held its general assembly in the project was formally launched and these became
Delhi. Based on an assessment by forester K S the first nine tiger reserves in the country. The
Sankhala, the assembly called for a moratorium on foreign advisors from the World Conservation Union
tiger killings and asked for urgent action to protect suggested to the task force that the best method of
the species. As a sequel to this appeal, the Indian protection of the tiger is to have large areas of at least
Board for Wildlife initiated action for protection and 2,000 square kilometres (sq km), with similar
asked states to ban tiger hunting for five years. contiguous areas so that a viable population of about
But the international community was not 300 tigers in each such area can be maintained.
convinced. In 1972 Guy Mountfort, an influential Interestingly, the advisors also said that the idea of
trustee of the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF), met continuous blocks of 2,000 sq km is to rotate such
(then) prime minister Indira Gandhi, urging her to units by opening one of the units for periodic
save the species from extinction. Well known for an controlled shooting.
abiding concern on environmental and conservation The task force, however, demonstrated political
matters, the prime minister set up a group of realism in creating reserves with an average size of
specialists to study the situation and create a plan for 1,500 sq km, and embedding them within already
the future. Chaired by Karan Singh, a keen protected reserve forests; the premise was these
conservationist and currently a Rajya Sabha member, forests would provide enough space for tigers to
this task force submitted its report in August 1972. So roam. The management plan the task force suggested
emerged the blueprint for Indias tiger conservation was that each reserve would have a core for tigers to
programme: Project Tiger, as it came to be known.1 breed and live undisturbed in, and a buffer zone
Initially, Project Tiger was conceived for six where limited human activity would be allowed.
years April 1973 to March 1979. Its objective was In the core a sanctum sanctorum of at least
to ensure the maintenance of a viable population of 300 sq km no felling, grazing or movement of
the tiger in India and to preserve, for all times, such humans, except for matters related to reserve
areas as part of our national heritage for the benefit, management, would be permitted. Said the task force
education and enjoyment of future generations. in this respect: forms of human disturbance, such
After due deliberation, the task force decided to as commercial felling, collection of minor forest
begin with eight viable reserves representing produce, mining, excessive traffic, heavy grazing by
different ecosystems where the tiger could be domestic livestock are clearly detrimental and must
protected in perpetuity. These were: be phased out for complete elimination.
Also, the task force was conscious that
1. Manas, Assam: eastern Himalayan foothills, with maintaining a genetically viable population of tigers
semi-evergreen to evergreen forests and heavy would require larger areas than the reserves and their
rainfall; contiguous forests provided. The members strongly
2. Palamau, Bihar (now in Jharkhand): eastern ruled against any operation to hold tiger populations
peninsular region, with sal and bamboo forests; at artificially high levels by using methods like
3. Simlipal, Orissa: Mahanadi basin, with moist habitat modification or artificial breeding. They
miscellaneous forests; believed, instead, that the reserves would provide a
4. Corbett, Uttar Pradesh (now in Uttaranchal): breeding nucleus from which surplus animals could
central foothills of the Himalaya, with sal as the disperse into surrounding habitats.
predominant species; The 1972 report was remarkable. It presented an
5. Ranthambhore, Rajasthan: Junction of Aravalli exhaustive blueprint: management systems, the
and Vindhya, with dry deciduous open forests; administrative framework and legal provisions. It set
6. Kanha, Madhya Pradesh: central peninsular out measures to counter poaching and to make
India, with sal and miscellaneous forests; enforcement more effective. It listed equipment
7. Melghat, Maharashtra: southern offshoot of required to manage reserves effectively. In so doing,
Satpura, with deciduous forests dominated by it inaugurated a clear-sighted beginning for Indias
teak and bamboo; and tiger conservation programme.

2 The assessment
 TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS

Phase two: 1980-1990 to all state chief ministers emphasising on the need
By early 1980s, there were 15 tiger reserves in the to follow the detailed guidelines issued by the
country, in an area of 24,712 sq km. Periyar in Kerala cabinet secretariat (department of personnel) and the
and Sariska in Rajasthan were added in 1978, and in ministry of agriculture.
1982, four more Buxa in West Bengal, Indravati in In 1983, a task force chaired by Madhavrao
the then Madhya Pradesh, Namdapha in Arunachal Scindia, a prominent politician, submitted its report,
Pradesh and Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam in Andhra which if it had been implemented would have
Pradesh became part of the Project Tiger fold. secured Indias conservation future. Called the Task
In the early 1980s, the then prime minister wrote Force on Public Support for Wildlife Conservation, it

TIGER RESERVES OF INDIA

Number of tiger reserves: 28

Total area of tiger reserves: 37,761 sq km
(5 per cent of forest area)

CORBETT
(1973)

DUDHWA PAKKE-NAMERI
(1987) (1999)
SARISKA
BUXA NAMDAPHA
(1978)
(1982) (1982)

RANTHAMBHORE VALMIKI MANAS

(1973) (1989) (1973)
PANNA
(1994)
PALAMAU
DAMPA
BANDHAVGARH (1973)
(1994)
(1993)
SUNDARBAN
BORI-SATPURA PENCH SIMLIPAL (1973)
(1999) (1992) KANHA (1973) (1973)
MELGHAT PENCH (1992)
(1973)

TADOBA-ANDHARI
(1993)
INDRAVATI
(1982)

NAGARJUNASAGAR-SRISAILAM
(1982)

BHADRA
(1998)
Tiger reserve

BANDIPUR
(1973)

PERIYAR
(1978)

KALAKAD-MUNDANTHURAI
(1988)

Source: http://projecttiger.nic.in as viewed on June 5, 2005

The assessment 3
 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

was set up by the Indian Board for Wildlife (now the from using the resources of the protected areas. It did
National Board for Wildlife) to recommend ways and not invest enough to meet the challenges which
means of eliciting public support for conservation. conservation in India faced at that time.
The concern was clear: conservation efforts were It is important to note here that Madhav Gadgil,
increasing, but policy makers realised there was a another member of the Tiger Task Force, made
growing degree of apathy and indeed, antipathy, similar recommendations in a project report on the
towards wildlife among different classes and Nilgiri biosphere reserve (which includes the
sections of the public, as the report put it in its Bandipur tiger reserve) submitted to the Government
introduction.2 of India in 1981. Gadgils report suggested these
This task force focussed on the issue of the special areas could serve as laboratories of
dependence of rural people on forests, and what conservation-friendly development, with zones of
conservation-led policing did to this relationship. It cooperation around conservation areas and
said: Most communities in the neighbourhood of mechanisms for coordination among development
reserves sustain themselves by eroding marginal land programmes and protected area programmes.
and depleting forest pastures. In their precarious
existence, enforcement of restrictions in wildlife Phase three: 1990-2000
reserves triggers antagonism. That discipline is The turning point in Indias tiger conservation
essential to revive essential life support systems that programme came in the 1990s. Problems erupted and
these areas provide is not appreciated for the same were managed, not solved. This was also a period,
reason. At the same time, the task force also believed like the early 1970s, when international non-
cooperation could be possible if the demands of governmental organisations (NGOs) were active in
protection were backed by reasonable alternatives. pushing policy in the country.
The report of this task force, conceived as it was By now India had 19 tiger reserves,
by a farsighted politician (the member secretary of encompassing 29,716 sq km, with a population of
this task force, incidentally, was H S Panwar, also a 1,327 tigers (1989 tiger census). But as a critical
member of the Tiger Task Force), went on to do review of Project Tiger, carried out in 1993 by the
something unusual in the area of conservation. Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF),
Instead of blaming people and demanding more acknowledged: All in all, Project Tiger faces a new
protection for reserves a standard demand the set of problems. Project Tiger saved the tiger from
task force negotiated for better development extinction in the nick of time but over 20 years it is
programmes and funds for villages located in the clear that expanding human populations, a new way
periphery (fringe) of conservation zones. For this of life based on alien models and the resultant effect
purpose, it recommended the Special Areas for on natural resources has created fresh problems that
Ecodevelopment programme, with higher per capita indicate danger for the tiger. Militancy and poaching
inputs on development based upon a conservation only add fuel to the fire. This is a serious and critical
bias. It also recommended other measures, including moment in the history of tiger conservation.3
employment benefits from reserves for local people. In 1994, a Parliamentary Committee on Science,
Failure to undertake such measures, said the Technology, Environment and Forests recommended
report, would mean the success of management in an evaluation of the programme to make it more
tiger reserves the report called them islands of meaningful and result-oriented. The committee felt
conservation would be short-lived, irrespective this was necessary because the objectives of Project
of how scientifically it was conceived: If the land Tiger have not been achieved in as much the tiger
surrounding such effort sustained islands population in the country has registered a decline,
continues to deteriorate in productivity affecting the poaching still continues in menacing proportions and
availability of resources for the communities, these the habitat of the tigers seems to have shrunk in area.4
islands are bound to succumb one day to the Following this committees recommendations,
communitys demands. It also warned these another high-powered committee headed by J J
islands would be inadequate to meet ecological Dutta, former principal chief conservator of forests in
imperatives, not being able to function as vibrant Madhya Pradesh, was constituted. The Dutta
genetic pools. committee submitted its report in early 1996. It
The words of this task force were prophetic. examined issues of management as well as the
Unfortunately, its recommendations were tardily interface with local people in reserves. Here was a
implemented. An ecodevelopment programme, report that, for the first time, discussed what needed
funded later by the World Bank, was initiated in the to be done in terms of the legal status of what it called
mid-1990s. But it was not conceptualised as a enclaved villages human habitations within
development initiative, but simply as a programme national parks. Interestingly, it argued that while the
aimed at putting aside money to wean away villagers removal of villages from tiger reserves was an ideal

4 The assessment
 TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS

circumstance, it was not a management imperative. extinction of the tiger; one newspaper opined that
In fact, conservation demanded that efforts must go corruption, complacency and the complicity of
beyond this issue to identify link corridors and some communities whose livestock is threatened by
management of forests outside the reserves. It also the big cat, has produced a second crisis made more
scrutinised issues of personnel as well as complex by money it generates.10 The two UK-based
administrative and other facilities.5 institutions demanded radical changes in wildlife
This was also the time when WWF-India protection and management in India stricter
released its action plan to save the tiger, enumerated enforcement, increased patrolling and sustained
in The Tiger Call and Tiger Conservation anti-poaching drives. While the Tiger Trust
Strategy and Action Plan. The plan focussed on the recommended the creation of rapid response teams
need to involve local communities as well as and combat and hunter patrols, EIA wanted more
measures to improve the anti-poaching enforcement political will. Significantly, neither had anything
network.6,7 going for local communities. Some Indian
But in the meantime, all hell broke loose: two environmentalists argued if concerned people are
UK -based organisations, the Tiger Trust and the not involved at this crisis point, the same flawed
Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) released Western conservation paradigm would continue
The Big Cat Cover Up8 and The State of the Tiger9, to be practised in the county. This approach, they
reports suggesting everything was wrong with the said, was eco-fascist.11 Such efforts have continued
Indian programme for tiger conservation. They to this day (see box: Agendas to push).
accused Indian conservation institutions of playing In the mid-1990s, those who believed in a
into the hands of poachers, and lambasted them for different paradigm were in a minority. The larger
refusing to accept the need for more armed effort turned to damage control. Many critic-
intervention to save the tiger. conservationists were taken on board as the tiger
The release of these reports was followed by an conservation programme confidently strode towards
international media campaign on the imminent its silver anniversary celebrations. The confidence

Agendas to push

On July 12, 2005, on the eve of the prime ministers US

visit, the Union ministry of environment and forests
(MoEF) received a draft press statement issued by the US
department of state. The press release contained a joint
agreement to be signed between president George Bush
and prime minister Manmohan Singh. The ministry of
external affairs needed the comments of the MoEF before
the statement could be released. The statement was
simple. It said that the countries would take aggressive
new steps to address the sharp decline in the Indian
Bengal tiger population. The US department of state
said it would give in 2005 approximately US $4,68,000
(Rs 2 crore) through the private Save the Tiger Fund
and the Rhinoceros and Tiger Conservation Fund. Joint
cooperation would also be established for a long-term
monitoring programme.
The MoEF replied there was no need for a bilateral
agreement at this stage. It stressed that India needed to
evaluate its tiger conservation programme in terms of the
challenge of coexistence with local communities. It also
had already put into place a tiger estimation programme,
which was being evaluated by the Tiger Task Force. It
believed it could set its own agenda. It would determine
its science for tiger counting.
But a joint advertisement by the US governments
fish and wildlife service and the Save the Tiger Fund, funded by oil giant Exxon Mobil, was published
when the prime minister was in Washington.

The assessment 5
 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

was a veneer: there exists little evidence in reports, Project Tiger funds
deliberations or minutes of the Project Tiger steering Since its inception in 1973 till 2002-2003 (a period of
committee that much was done to stem the tide 30 years), the Central government has provided
against the danger the tiger was in. Core issues, such Rs 172.65 crore as financial assistance to the parks. If
as those concerning people living inside and on the the contribution of states till March 2004 is added,
fringes of the reserves, were given short shift. There the country has spent Rs 373 crore on protecting
was also little institutional reform. 1,500-odd tigers in 28 reserves.
In November 1998, the government and In the 10th Five Year Plan (2002-07), the outlay
conservationists celebrated the 25th anniversary of for the programme has been doubled from Rs 75
Project Tiger. In 1999, the Millennium Tiger crore (Rs 15 crore annually) in the previous Plan to
Conference was organised, which only repeated the Rs 150 crore (Rs 30 crore annually). This includes
agenda of the last conference.12 A review of the provisions for ecodevelopment and beneficiary-
reports shows that criticism against Project Tiger had oriented tribal development schemes, meant to
strangely enough ebbed. Conservationists relocate tribals from within tiger reserves.
praised the programme, saying it had stabilised tiger Over time, the funding mechanism for the
numbers in the last 30 years.13 In 2001, the Union programme has changed. Till 1979-1980, Project
ministry of environment and forests published its Tiger was completely funded by the Centre. Then in
Status Report on Project Tiger, but this provided the 6th Five Year Plan (1980-85), Central funding for
little analysis of the real situation.14 A decade had recurring items was reduced to 50 per cent; now,
been lost. states had to contribute a matching grant for the
same. This arrangement persists till today: states
Project Tiger today spend 50 per cent on recurring salaries and
establishment costs, while Central assistance is used
By 2005, India has 90 national parks and 501 wildlife for non-recurring costs related to the maintenance
sanctuaries covering an area of 1,56,934 sq km and protection of tiger reserves. The Central
(roughly 22 per cent of the forest area and 5 per cent government also pays the entire cost of relocation of
of the land area of the country). villagers from tiger reserves, research projects and
Of these, 28 have been declared tiger reserves, ecodevelopment projects.
spread over 37,761 sq km in 17 states. These reserves In 1991-1992, the ecodevelopment scheme was
constitute roughly 5.6 per cent of the recorded forest introduced to carry out development activities in
area and over 1 per cent of the countrys geographical villages adjoining tiger reserves. In the 9th Five Year
area. The total tiger population recorded in the Plan (1997-2002), the scheme had an outlay of Rs 54
2001-2002 census is 3,642, but over half of these crore. In the 10th Plan, it was merged with the ongoing
tigers live outside tiger reserves (see table: Tiger umbrella schemes of Project Tiger and the
population over the years). development of national parks and sanctuaries. In
other words, within the Rs 30 crore sanctioned for 28
Number of national parks: 90 tiger reserves, there exists a meagre Rs 4-5 crore every
Total area of national parks: 36,882 sq km year for development activities in the thousands of
(5 per cent of forest area) villages surrounding the reserves. In contrast, between
Number of sanctuaries: 501
1996 and 2004, under the India Ecodevelopment
Total area of sanctuaries: 120,052 sq km Project of the World Bank, Rs 200 crore was spent in
(17 per cent of forest area) seven reserves (roughly, Rs 30 crore per reserve).

Total protected area: 156,934 sq km A particular problem

(22 per cent of forest area) A particular problem that has dogged Project Tiger,
Source: Project Tiger directorate and today bedevils it, is the manner in which the

TIGER POPULATION OVER THE YEARS

1972 1979 1984 1989 1993 1995 1997 2001-02

In tiger reserves 268 711 1,121 1,327 1,366 1,333 1,498 1,576

Outside reserves 1,559 2,304 2,884 3,007 2,384 2,010 2,066

Total 1,827 3,015 4,005 4,334 3,750 3,508 3,642

Source: Project Tiger directorate

6 The assessment
 TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS

relocation of persons living in and around tiger land will remain unchanged. In other words,
reserves in core and buffer areas has been the amount of forest land officially on record
tackled. The relocation strategy, as it exists today, will remain the same, even though the actual land
works as follows: the Central government provides may now be drowned under the water of a dam
financial assistance for relocation, and the state reservoir, or has been used to build a power station.
government is expected to identify land for In such cases, social problems are inevitable:
relocation. If the latter fails to do so, it looks for because this land remains categorised as forest land,
degraded forest lands where it can resettle families. It rules apply to it that are highly restrictive and
then applies to the Centre for prior approval under exploitative, and families that move to such lands
the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, for diversion of inevitably suffer.
this land for relocation, an activity classified as a
non-forestry purpose. How relocation actually works
But even after permission is given and the Relocation of villages from reserves is routed through
families are resettled, the categorisation of the the beneficiary-oriented tribal development scheme
land is unchanged: it remains forest land. (see table: Funds disbursed and families relocated
However, most standing trees are cut down under the beneficiary-oriented tribal development
before the land is handed over, thus reinforcing the scheme in the 9th five year plan). During the 9th Plan,
tragic notion that livelihoods of people are the schemes approved outlay was Rs 19 crore, of
incompatible with standing trees. The reason behind which, between 1997-1998 to 2001-2002, a total of Rs
this strange status quo lies in the Union ministry of 14.39 crore was spent to relocate 2,157 families from
environment and forests guidelines according to different protected areas approximately Rs 67,000
which, under the minimum conditions that apply per family. It is important to note that this scheme is
when forest land is diverted for non-forestry not restricted to tiger reserves, and continues in the
purposes (such as relocation) under the Forest 10th Plan as a merged component of the ongoing
Conservation Act, 1980, the legal status of the forest Centrally-sponsored schemes of Project Tiger as well

FUNDS DISBURSED AND FAMILIES RELOCATED UNDER THE BENEFICIARY-ORIENTED TRIBAL DEVELOPMENT SCHEME
IN THE 9TH FIVE YEAR PLAN (NOT ONLY TIGER RESERVES)

State National park/ Funds disbursed Families Remarks

sanctuary since 9th Plan relocated
(Rs/lakh)

Madhya Pradesh Kanha 3.80 25 25 tribal families have been voluntarily rehabilitated
outside the national park to make it inviolate

Kuno Palpur 1,042.28 1,400 19 villages were voluntarily rehabilitated outside

the sanctuary to make the area inviolate for
future programme of relocation of Asiatic lions

Madhav 50.00 102 One village has been voluntarily relocated outside
the national park to make the area inviolate

Karnataka Bandipur 14.65 100 One village was relocated from Bandipur tiger
reserve during 1992-93 but land was not allotted to
it. Land has been allotted now and land
development works have been undertaken

Nagarhole 243.50 250 250 tribal families voluntarily rehabilitated

outside the national park to make the area inviolate

Maharashtra Melghat 46.00 92 3 villages voluntarily rehabilitated outside the tiger

reserve to make the area disturbance free

Orissa Chandaka 40.00 188 188 tribal families voluntarily relocated outside
Dampara the sanctuary to make the area free of any
disturbance

Total 1,440.23 2,157

Source: Project Tiger directorate

The assessment 7
 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

RELOCATION COSTS WHAT IS SPENT BY THE

Internal management and supervision
The success of any project and its implementation
GOVERNMENT ON EACH HOUSEHOLD
lies in the internal systems that provide for effective
Cost (in Rs) and efficient operations. It is clear that the original
architects of Project Tiger had conceived a detailed
Land development (2 hectares) 36,000
framework for its management and functioning.
Building materials per family 36,000 As early as 1973, guidelines were issued to
states providing operational directions for a
Transport of household goods per family 1,000
comprehensive system of reporting, monitoring and
Community facilities computed per family 9,000 review. The key elements of this system were:15
i. All tiger reserves were required to prepare
Wood lot and fuel reserves per family 8,000
management plans covering a period of six years,
Pasture and fodder plantation per family 8,000 to be implemented through annual plans. A
Cash incentives for shifting 1,000
format for annual plans was prepared and sent to
all states and it was agreed states would
Miscellaneous activities 1,000 implement plans after these were finalised in
Total 1,00,000
consultation with the Central government.
ii. Annual funds would be released only after the
Note: 20 per cent variation in each item subject to the total ceiling cost may Centre received an annual report on work done by
be approved when demanded, site specific requirements state governments. This report was to be received
Source: Project Tiger directorate
by the third quarter of every financial year.
iii. State governments had to carefully select the
development of national parks and sanctuaries. personnel. The field director and other gazetted
Thus, we find that the main relocation activity over officers (deputy director) were to be appointed
this period involved villages in the proposed lion only with the Centres approval, with a
sanctuary at Kuno Palpur in Madhya Pradesh. The minimum tenure of three years. The pre-term
cost of this relocation did not take into account the transfer of key officials could only be done after
cost of land invariably forest land used for the Centres approval. The Central government
resettlement. was also required to facilitate capacity building
In the 10th Plan, within the umbrella scheme and training of staff the states recruited.
there is a provision of Rs 10-15 crore towards iv. The states were given prescribed formats for
relocation roughly Rs 2 crore a year. The monthly and half-yearly reports to monitor
government has a budget to provide up to Rs progress. The second half-yearly report was
1,00,000 to every family for its relocation needs (see required to be comprehensive and analytical so
table: Relocation costs what is spent by the that the Government of India can judge whether
government on each household). With an annual the project is proceeding in the right direction.
provision of Rs 2 crore, no more than 200 families It was emphasised that reports should be
can be relocated in a year. submitted regularly and the release of funds was
made conditional to the submission of the
Project Tiger: a review annual report.
v. All reports received from states, from members of
The question is: is Sariska representative of what the steering committee and from officials were to
might be happening in other tiger reserves? be carefully scrutinised by the Central
The Task Force has carefully scrutinised the government to assess the performance of
working of the programme, assessing as well the individual state governments. It was made clear
threats it faces and the effectiveness of protection that on the basis of such assessment the
efforts. For its review, it visited a few key reserves; it Government of India may, if necessary, divert
met all field directors and chief wildlife wardens of funds and equipment from one state to another.
tiger habitat states; it consulted a wide range of
wildlife specialists and reviewed documents The projects conceptualisers were deeply conscious
available with the directorate and other agencies. Its of the fact that success would ultimately depend
assessment based on the above is clear: Sariska is upon the help and cooperation of state governments
not representative of what is happening in every and upon the interest they take in it. This was the
tiger reserve. But at the same time, a lot more needs core of the management challenge.
to be done to strengthen internal systems of At its nascent stage, there was a high degree of
management to ensure that a Sariska-type situation political commitment to the project. In early 1981,
does not recur. after the 14th meeting of the Indian Board for Wildlife

8 The assessment
 TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS

The guidelines of 1974: relevant today who were already trained in wildlife
management work were required to be
In her DO letter No 694-PM/73 dated December 27, identified and posted immediately to this wing.
1973 addressed to the chief ministers of all states b) Such identified officers posted in the wildlife
and Union territories on the foregoing subject, the wing at various levels were not expected to be
prime minister had, among other things, transferred to the forestry wing unless equally
emphasised the need for specialised management trained officers were available to replace them.
of our national park and sanctuaries, optimum When an officer became ripe for promotion in
utilisation of wildlife staff with experience and the forestry wing and a suitable officer was not
expertise and recruitment of additional staff to available to replace him, the post held by him
effectively enforce the provisions of the Wildlife in the wildlife wing was required, as far as
(Protection) Act, 1972. The following important possible, to be upgraded so that his services,
organisational arrangements were accordingly expertise and experience continued to be
approved by the prime minister and circulated to available to the wildlife wing.
the chief secretaries of all states and Union c) In order to maintain performance standards, all
territories for implementation, under this persons directly or indirectly concerned with
ministrys letter No _J 11013/5/74-FRY/WLF dated wildlife management were required to be
December 23, 1974: regularly assessed in their annual reports for
their performance in wildlife conservation
a) At the state level, a beginning was required to work.
be made without delay to established a separate
wildlife wing under the overall charge of the This is an extract of a letter by N D Jayal, joint
chief conservator of forests. This wing was secretary (F&WL), ministry of agriculture and
required to be headed by an officer of the rank irrigation, dated September 16, 1976 to all state
of conservator of forests in other states. Officers forest secretaries.

(now the National Board for Wildlife), it was found 3. Reports on poaching incidences and unnatural
that despite specific instructions and guidelines deaths of tigers and leopards (as and when
issued by the Central government, a number of states required);
had not acted; only 13 had set up wildlife wings. All 4. An annual report from the tiger reserve (the 1973
states were, therefore, directed to ensure that separate format now discontinued); and
wildlife wings be set up immediately and that 5. Annual utilisation certificate and expenditure
suitable personnel with aptitude for wildlife work statement.
are actually manning those wings. Detailed
guidelines were issued for the formation of the The guidelines for the all India tiger census were
wildlife wings; these remain extremely relevant till issued periodically; these continued to stress on the
date (see box: The guidelines of 1974: relevant today). use of the pugmark method. In the late 1990s, a brief
Then unfortunately, beginning late 1980s, the note was sent to states outlining the limitations of
internal management of the project began to decline pugmarks. But nothing much was done at this stage
steadily. Guidelines issued by the Central to review and revamp the science of tiger estimation.
government under the specific instructions of What also deteriorated in the 1990s was
the then prime minister Indira Gandhi were coordination and internal supervision, critical for
conveniently forgotten and, as a result, went into any effective programme. It must be noted that such
disuse. In fact, the Tiger Task Force would like to put decline began to occur in a period when the role and
on record the extreme frustration it encountered to autonomy of state governments grew. The effective
locate these crucial guidelines. outcome was that, as reserve managements became
By the late 1990s, the only project guidelines that less accountable to the Centre, monitoring in tiger
remained in operation, and that states had to follow, reserves went from bad to worse. The Project Tiger
involved the submission of the following: directorate, weak as it was in this period, became by
all accounts an institution that merely disbursed
1. Monthly summary of important events/ funds and had little control over implementation.
happenings in the tiger reserve a narrative Many states stopped submitting monitoring reports;
report; some did not find it necessary to get Central
2. Monthly report on deaths of all wildlife in the government approval in appointing key officials. The
tiger reserve; minutes of Project Tiger steering committee meetings

The assessment 9
 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

for this period reveal this breakdown. inception have been compiled on a customised
Lately, there has been an attempt to revamp the software and the data is being used for analysis.
internal management systems. As the Project Tiger This data was collected from each tiger reserve
directorate explained to the Tiger Task Force, the and presents, for the first time, an assessment of
following measures have been taken over the past what has been spent in which activity by reserve
three years: managements;
13. The tiger poaching data for the entire country has
1. The formats for monthly, half-yearly and annual been compiled and collated;
reports have been reissued and revived; 14. The Botanical Survey of India and the Zoological
2. Directives have been issued to states for regular Survey of India have been commissioned to
reports on: undertake flora and fauna surveys;
a. mortality survey; 15. In 2005, states were directed to send to the
b. protection initiatives/patrolling and anti- Project Tiger directorate monthly evidences of
poaching; sightings, pugmarks and scats.
c. physical assault on staff; and
d. disease surveillance and livestock But in spite of these improvements made to
immunisation. streamline project functioning, the catastrophe in
3. States have been directed to conduct Sariska happened. The fact is that the core problem
independent monitoring and evaluation of tiger of Centre-state relations, which impinges on the
reserves; project, remains unresolved. It is, therefore,
4. Guidelines have been issued for the management imperative to work out models of management that
of buffer areas, which have emphasised that can work in this age.
communities living in these areas should be
involved in the management of the reserves with Threats: the war within
reciprocal commitments; In the late 1980s, the Indian Institute of Public
5. Guidelines have been sent to states for the Administration conducted a questionnaire-based
regulation of tourist visitation in tiger reserves as survey in the protected area network of India. It
well as to calculate the carrying capacity of discovered that 60-70 per cent of the managers who
reserves; responded to its survey had filed cases against
6. Preparation of habitat occupancy maps of tigers, people for illegal grazing or hunting, setting reserves
in and outside reserves, has been initiated; on fire and other similar offences. The managers also
7. In 2002, the directorate also reviewed the census reported physical confrontation with local
methodology being followed in the country and communities.16
began a project to revamp the estimation By then it was clear that conflict between
procedure; protectors of the parks and people who lived in and
8. A project was undertaken to assess the status of around them was growing, fast becoming the key
the tiger and its habitat, involving the Forest threat to conservation. It was because of this
Survey of India and the Wildlife Institute of perceived threat that the government initiated the
India; ecodevelopment programme in the early 1990s, to
9. In 2003-2004, the directorate identified experts provide alternative livelihood options and sources of
and commissioned an independent audit of firewood to people in the vicinity of wildlife
reserves, based on identified criteria and reserves. This programme peaked in the late 1990s
indicators. This report is being finalised; when World Bank assistance was made available as
10. The Forest Survey of India was commissioned to well. But on the whole, its success has been limited
undertake a comparative assessment of the forest partly because the investment in the programme
cover in and around tiger reserves. Its report has was too little, too late as compared to the extent of
assessed the change in status between 1997 and the problem. In the meantime, the following
2002. The last time such a study was continued to happen:
commissioned was in the early 1990s and, Authorities continued to operate on the premise
therefore, this assessment is important to track that local people are the enemy number one of
changes as may have happened; conservation efforts: a war, therefore, had to be
11. As a pilot initiative, five tiger reserves have been fought against them. At best, they were to be
networked electronically to develop a prototype placated by insignificant hand-outs, but
for a dynamic management information system. inducting them as partners in the conservation
The directorate now plans to work on this model effort was completely out of the question.
to build a country-wide system for reporting. People an estimated four million continued
12. Investments made in tiger reserves since project to live within protected areas and many more, on

10 The assessment
 TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS

their fringes. The rights of these people in the department to operate.17 Peoples alienation fuels
enclaved villages were never settled, relocation the growing threat of extremism and naxalism in
occurred sporadically and they lived an illegal these areas.
existence trespassers in their own lands. It is clear that this internal threat must be
Conservation imperatives ensured their rights to combated. It is also clear that unless we find ways of
graze animals and to collect firewood and minor managing the competing needs of conservation and
forest produce stood exterminated. people, Indias conservation programme will
Park authorities, in turn, invested in protection not work.
and enforcement. All this meant increased
clashes between people and park protectors. Project Tiger: an assessment
Simultaneously, the poverty of the areas outside
the parks exacerbated. The parks, in many It is now over 30 years since Project Tiger was
cases, became isolated islands of protection and launched. It is, therefore, an opportune time to
resources. The forests outside the reserves were evaluate its strengths and weaknesses so that policy
decimated. These areas, under the territorial can be designed to protect the magnificent tiger. The
wing of the forest department, had little assessment of the Tiger Task Force in this regard is as
resources and received no planning impetus. follows:
The grazing pressure became acute, with
limited fodder in overgrazed village and forest 1. The programme, when initiated, had the highest
lands. Also, a lack of investment in irrigation political commitment. It was carefully crafted so
facilities, ranging from small tanks to that reserves for the tiger could be created and
watersheds, meant agricultural productivity protected. Its architects also put into place a
suffered. All this has contributed to the general management system to organise the work that
poverty and destitution of villagers living states had to do, including setting up specialised
around parks. wildlife wings, and ensuring protection. But the
At the same time, many tiger reserves were problem was that the commitment to the project
infiltrated by insurgents and naxalites; many was never made inclusive.
such reserves are now completely beyond the 2. Over time, interest waned at the Centre and the
reach of forest and protected area managements. institutions for management lost direction. Their
The rise in insurgency in these areas is widely control over activities in states declined with the
attributed to the growing alienation and loss in their own capacities. Management
marginalisation of communities living in abject systems and scientific tools did not keep pace
poverty in the countrys richest lands. During the with the challenges to protect a species in
National Development Council meeting in 2005, increasingly complex situations.
the chief minister of Karnataka who called for 3. While state forest departments with limited
a change in the forest laws said that the resources did as much as they could, political
emerging naxalite problem in the Kudremukh leaderships in states were not as committed or
national park was directly related to the involved in the programme. In political circles,
compulsion to shift age-old tribal enclaves out of over time, interest gave way to anger against the
the forest. differential treatment meted to tigers vis-a-vis
what were perceived to be more important
As a result of these factors, conflict has grown and developmental objectives such as mining and
can be assessed as the biggest threat facing Indias hydroelectric projects. The contribution of state
tigers and other wild species, indeed the future of governments was rarely acknowledged.
Indias conservation programme today. A 4. At the same time, local people, who lived in the
compilation of media reports on tiger reserves territory of the tiger, were left out of the benefits
exposes this vulnerability clearly (see box: Human- of the programme. They were made illegal
animal conflict makes news). settlers in their own land and denied even their
An assessment of threats faced by different basic needs. These ignored people increasingly
tiger reserves, made for the World Banks turned against the tiger. Their contribution in
ecodevelopment programme, says that in sharing the ecological space of the tiger was
most reserves, the main pressure is from never recognised. They continued to lose their
conflicts with local communities as well as armed livestock, crops and lives to wild animals, but
insurgency. In Palamau tiger reserve, for instance, were rarely properly compensated.
one of the biggest threats is the presence of 5. There was no real interest group supporting the
extremists and varied armed gangs who virtually rule tiger. On the contrary, interests that were against
the roost and make it extremely difficult for the forest the tiger from illegal mining and building

The assessment 11
 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

Human-animal conflict makes news In the well protected Kanha tiger reserve in
Madhya Pradesh, in January 2005, there were
In the Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam reserve in reports of 10 wild dogs and one tiger being
Andhra Pradesh, 20 cases of tiger poisoning found poisoned by neighbouring villagers.
were reported, as naxalites incited people to In Pench, Maharashtra, three tigers were killed
kill tigers. in 2004 by villagers in retaliation for cattle
In the Namdapha tiger reserve in Arunachal deaths.
Pradesh, Lisu tribals in 1998 attacked forest In Melghat, Maharashtra, extensive fires
camps and injured foresters. allegedly lit by tribals were reported earlier this
In Pakke sanctuary, Assam, 18 wild elephants year.
were reportedly poisoned to death in 2001; in In Simlipal, Orissa, it was reported in 2004 that
2002, four more were killed. The tribals had encroached on forest lands and were
administration had to ban the sale of pesticides clearing them.
in the district in a bid to stop the killings. In Ranthambhore, Rajasthan, tensions over
In Manas, Assam, forest staff till recently were grazing continue to run high regularly. In July
regularly attacked by militants. 2000, police fired 17 rounds to disperse
In the Indravati reserve in Chhattisgarh, no agitating villagers. In August 2002, villagers
forest guard has reportedly entered the reserve assaulted police personnel, who retaliated by
since 2002 because of naxalite control. opening fire and injuring one person. The
In Palamau tiger reserve, Jharkhand, on one villagers then invaded the park and laid siege to
hand there is tension with villagers who are it with their animals. The siege was lifted after
known to kill elephants and on the other, with month-long negotiations.
naxalites who rule the area. In the Dudhwa tiger reserve in Uttar Pradesh,
In Bandipur and its neighbourhood in tiger poisoning cases have been reported
Karnataka, the dreaded sandalwood smuggler frequently till recently.
and poacher Veerappan operated with In Buxa, West Bengal, a public hearing
impunity for over a decade, killing large organised by the National Forum of Forest
numbers of tuskers, felling fully grown People and Forest Workers, alleged that a
sandalwood trees and murdering government villager had been murdered by a forest ranger
officials. It was widely recognised that he could and the matter hushed up. The body was
do this because of the strained relations exhumed in April 2005 on the orders of a court.
between officials and the villagers. The case has led to unrest in the area.
In Bandipur, again, severe drought in 2003 In Valmiki reserve in Bihar, five companies of
forced farmers to drive their cattle into the the Home Guards camped inside the forest in
forests of the reserve. In 2004, there were April 2005 to hunt down extremists from
reports of electric fences and poison being used across the border, even as tensions with local
by farmers living near the forests to kill communities living within the park
elephants. continued.

dams in tiger habitats to poaching and crime leads to even greater alienation of all against the
gained ground. tiger, which they believe is being protected for
6. Over this period, tiger conservation has become the sake of a few, against the interests of all.
more and more exclusive. As threats to the tiger 8. Simultaneously, all that should have been done
multiplied, the response of tiger lovers has been for the development of forests and rural areas
to band together into a select group that would increased productivity of grazing land, irrigation
control policy and programme formulation. facilities, employment has remained undone.
Their attempt has been to centralise decisions, so The line-departments in charge of development,
that they can get the power and its instruments to from rural development to tribal affairs, have
protect the tiger. Everybody else, they also proved inadequate. People remain
increasingly believe, is against tigers. dependent on forest resources and desperately
7. Over time, the interests of this small group of poor. They have no option but to use the
conservationists has also got embroiled in the protected reserves. These are the remaining
tiger. The benefits they make from tourism, bastions of livelihood resources.
filming and conservation is not shared with the 9. The end result: the belief that the tiger can only be
people or the parks. The problem is that this protected by building stronger and higher fences

12 The assessment
 TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS

against depredators. In many cases, the a Sariska-type crisis haunts every protected area in
protectors (forest guards and officers) have put India where islands of conservation are under
their lives at stake to save the tiger. In many cases, attack from poachers, miners and every other
their efforts have paid off. But as more, powerful, exploitative activity. They are also under siege from
interests converge against the tiger, the purpose of their own inhabitants, the people, who live in these
conservation is getting lost, bit by bit. It is, reserves and outside the islands of conservation, and
therefore, essential to seek out new directions in who have not benefited from these protected areas
the future so that the tiger can be protected. but continue to lose livelihood options and face daily
harassment. In these circumstances, if the defences
In summary, it is the assessment of this Task Force are down, protection will fail. Like it did in Sariska.
that every tiger reserve in the country is not facing a The challenge is to ensure that the siege can be lifted
Sariska-type crisis. But the Task Force also believes so that the tigers can survive.
that the protection of tigers is happening in India With this report, the Tiger Task Force hopes it can
against all odds. What we need to understand is that provide some answers to this immense challenge.

The assessment 13
 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

1.2 The Sariska shock

In December 2004, the nation was shocked to know Project Tiger directorate in Delhi. However, no such
that tigers may have disappeared from the Sariska census was ever conducted. But in August 2004, the
tiger reserve in Rajasthan. What had happened there? chief wildlife warden wrote to Project Tiger saying
By March 2005, the Wildlife Institute of India that recurring bad weather had damaged most of the
(WII) confirmed in its interim report (which it impression pads of the pugmarks. He made no
followed up with detailed habitat monitoring) that mention of the problems of falling numbers or the
there were indeed no tigers left in Sariska. The prime alarm it had created.
minister asked the Central Bureau of Investigation But it is now evident that even this 2004 figure
(CBI) to inquire into the disappearance: it reported may be a gross over-estimation. The Wildlife
that since July 2002, poachers had been killing tigers Institute of India, investigating the tigers
in the reserve and that the last six tigers were killed disappearance in Sariska, verified the census by
in the summer-monsoon of 2004. The CBI report checking the plaster casts of pugmarks: it found
pointed to the involvement of local villagers. It also errors in the estimate. According to an analysis the
suggested the existence of a well-established network Institute did in March 2005, the data park authorities
of middlemen trading in tiger parts, with the collected about the number of tiger sightings
notorious Sansar Chand at its centre.1 reported by tourists and forest staff from 1997 to mid-
But questions still remained: why did the system 2004 shows a decline 1999 onwards, but park
fail to recognise the signs of the rot in Sariska till it authorities continued to report there were 24-27
was too late? What could the countrys remaining tigers (see graph: Tiger population and sightings in
tiger reserves learn from this episode? Sariska from January 1997 to July 2004).2
The analysis also says the core of the park, which
Sariska: a review the Wildlife Institute of India has taken to be 274 sq
km, can support only 15 tigers based on the tiger-
The Sariska tiger reserve is spread over about 881 sq prey density. The population also has a highly
km, and has three core areas and a buffer zone. The skewed sex ratio, bad news for breeding: the
approximately 400-sq km Core-I is the key tiger Institutes data shows no cubs were born in the park
habitat and a proposed national park. But it is also since 2002, and interrogation of arrested poachers
home to 11 villages, earmarked for relocation since has confirmed only two out of the 10 poached tigers
long. Core-I also includes pilgrimage sites and is the were females.
tourist zone. In other words, there has been a steady decline in
During 1995-2003, all census conducted in the tiger numbers in Sariska over the years, which the
park estimated its tiger population at 24-25; this was census was unable to detect; remedial action,
officially reduced to 16-18 by the 2004 census. In therefore, could not be taken. Sariska illustrates the
fact, the number of tigers in the park has always been critical need for an efficient methodology to estimate
a matter of dispute. In the late 1980s, the then park tiger populations.
director had officially recorded that the tiger The reserve has a staff strength of 305 (with four
population was not as previously estimated 40- vacancies). There has been no new recruitment since
odd but only 18-22. This had led to a furore; since 1987. The average age of the staff is between 45-50
then for over a decade, the park management had years, which makes on-foot deployment difficult. But
chosen to stick steadfastly to an estimated 24-25 the reserve has a good network of roads for
tigers. patrolling; it has 14 vehicles, wireless facilities and
The Task Force was told informally during its anti-poaching camps located in its remotest corners.3
visit to Sariska that even the 2004 census had The reserve has a state highway the Alwar-
reportedly counted only 12-14 tigers, but the number Thanaghazi-Jaipur highway passing through its
was modified to 16-18 to avoid controversy. What is core. An alternative road constructed to bypass the
now known is that in May 2004, the then field reserve remains unused. The traffic into the reserve,
director had written to Rajasthans chief wildlife especially pilgrims visiting a temple inside the park,
warden that his census team had concluded there has risen sharply over time. In 2003, 140,000
were between 16 to 18 tigers; keeping in mind the pilgrims and 15,000 vehicles visited the temple,
earlier estimate, this could have led to a controversy. increasing to 2,00,000 pilgrims and 23,000 vehicles
He, therefore, requested permission to conduct in 2004-2005. During the annual festival in 2004-
another census. This letter was not endorsed to 2005, as many as 30,000 pilgrims and 5,000 vehicles

14 The assessment
 TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS

TIGER POPULATION AND SIGHTINGS IN SARISKA FROM JANUARY 1997 TO JULY 2004

30
27
26 26 26 26
25 24 24
Tiger numbers or sighting

20
17 17

15

10
7
6
5
5
3
1
0 0
0
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Years

Tiger sighting by staff Tiger population as per official census

Source: WII 2005, Assessment of status of tiger in Sariska tiger reserve, Rajasthan, Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun

entered the reserve on a single day. The number of is a pre-requisite for declaring an area a sanctuary or
tourists visiting the park has remained between national park the recording and settlement of the
45,000-60,000 per year (with a decline in 2003-2004 rights of people who live there. In Sariska this
to 40,000). The earnings from entry fees collected by process, begun in 1983, remains incomplete.
the park authorities and deposited with the state Secondly, the 11 villages in the core area are
government have been between Rs 28-53 lakh denied any form of development roads, schools
per year.4 and even wells. Some years ago, park authorities
even prohibited residents from practising
Human habitation agriculture. The move, paradoxically, forced people
Conservationists believe human habitations within to keep more goats, thus damaging the ecosystem
the core area of the park are leading to degradation further.
and disturbance of tiger habitat. Ghazala Thirdly, the rehabilitation of one village
Shahabuddin of the New Delhi-based Council for undertaken by the department in the 1970s was
Social Development, who has conducted an handled so ineffectively that many residents
extensive field study in Sariska, says that about 40 returned to their original village in the sanctuary.
per cent of Core-I is severely degraded, to the point This has led to a crisis of confidence: villagers
of being incapable of supporting any prey.5 remember this episode with bitterness. Moreover,
According to park authorities, besides the 11 villagers of hamlets such as Sirawas and Bandipul
villages in the core, there are 12 villages inside the have been relocated to spaces that lack basic
sanctuary and five more within the reserve 28 in facilities.
all within Sariskas 881 sq km area. In addition, there Fourthly, the department has been working on
are nearly 200 villages in the vicinity of the park, relocation plans without involving local people at
whose residents use the forest for firewood and for all, thus adding to mistrust. Shahabuddin, who has
grazing their animals. Sariska officials do not have completed a detailed household survey of the 11
any reliable estimate of the number of livestock in villages in Core-I, finds authorities have dealt with
the villages, or the number of livestock that enter the relocation in an extremely slipshod and negligent
park from outside. manner, without taking the local people into
It is important to note here that Sariskas confidence. In the late 1980s, under a relocation
officials, and the state forest department, are largely plan, people were shown land situated near a water
responsible for the problems they encounter in body. But then it was noted that this land was, in
dealing with people in and around the reserve: fact, sanctuary land. So the plan was shelved and
Firstly, till date, they have not completed what relations between people and the Sariska

The assessment 15
 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

management soured irreversibly. range. The area of the tiger reserve was included in
Researchers working in the park say that as a the restricted zone. Matters came to a head in 1993
result of all this, there is a deep hatred for the tiger when a senior Supreme Court advocate was attacked
among local people, and mainly among the by miners. The Court responded with a definitive
pastoralist gujjars. The gujjars blame the sanctuary ruling on April 8, 1993, against mining in and
for everything their lack of livelihood, inadequate around the reserve.
development infrastructure in their villages and, In all this, a few things still remain unknown: did
most of all, the persistent harassment. This is the closure of the mines fuel the anger of local
extremely unfortunate, as these people are forest- people, now further denied employment
based buffalo-rearers who have traditionally opportunities? What role did the powerful mining
coexisted with animals. community play in poaching of tigers?
In her recommendations to the Tiger Task Force,
Shahabuddin presents the following action points: Sariska: an assessment
a. Complete the recording and settlement of rights
of villages inside the sanctuary, particularly in The assessment of the Tiger Task Force based on
Core-I; its field trip to the reserve in July 2005, a detailed
b. Relocate the few villages necessary for review of reports and discussions with concerned
conservation, but with the involvement of and in officials, researchers and villagers is as follows:
consultation with villagers and NGOs working in
the area; 1. It is clear that there was a management
c. Provide identity cards to all villagers living breakdown in the tiger reserve. During the 1990s, the
within the core zone to prevent unauthorised field director in charge of the reserve had been in
entry; office from July 1996. But in September 2003, the
d. Invest in ecodevelopment programmes to reduce state government upgraded the post of the field
the pressure on habitats and firewood director from deputy conservator to conservator and
plantations and ensure payment of appointed an official as field director. The field
compensation for injury and livestock losses to director in position found that he was suddenly
people urgently; downgraded and termed officer-in-waiting a
e. Share the benefits of tourism with villagers in the position he held till February 2004. The new field
park periphery, in exchange for agreements to director continued in this position till September
give up goat breeding and limiting buffalo 2004. All this was done without any clarity of the
numbers; and roles of the different officials and contributed further
f. Use the entry fees to the reserve to compensate to management collapse. The deputy director, who
villagers for loss of cattle to carnivores and to took charge in March 2004, left in June 2004 and his
provide subsidised fodder for their cattle. successor was appointed only in September 2004.
During the 2004 monsoon period, the assistant field
Mining interests director was in charge of the reserve. Even the field
Mining began in the area in the 1960s; by 1991, there director was on home leave.
were over 400 units located mainly within and This confusion and lack of managerial control
around the southern boundary of the reserve. In May was combined with a collapse of internal systems,
1991, Tarun Bharat Sangh (TBS), a well-known NGO, including that of recording of animal sightings and
filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Supreme patrolling. There was no supervision of forest guards
Court against this mining, which was steadily to do protection work. Internal roads necessary for
destroying tiger habitat. The Court ruled against the surveillance were not repaired; even the worn-out
mines and directed the state government to stop tyres on the anti-poaching jeep had not been
issuing licenses. The Justice M L Jain committee was replaced. The Project Tiger directorate is on record to
set up to prepare a list of the mines within the the state government regarding these lapses. The
protected area, and in November 1991 the Court Tiger Task Force, too, noted with distress that even
reiterated its earlier order of closure. today, in spite of the tragedy in the park, Sariskas
But tensions continued. Rajendra Singh of TBS officials were not maintaining records as required
was attacked by miners during his visit to the site under Project Tiger guidelines.
with experts. This led to another PIL, as a result of
which a miner was fined and briefly imprisoned. In 2. It is also clear that the tragedy per se is not only
1992, the Union ministry of environment and forests, about the lack of resources or staff. In fact, an
responding to the Court directive, issued a assessment of financial resources and personnel
notification restricting certain environmentally reveals that Sariska ranks above the national average
damaging activities in specified areas of the Aravalli so far as availability of funds, staff and equipment is

16 The assessment
 TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS

COMPARISON OF MONEY SPENT AREA-WISE IN SARISKA

people against the park and its tigers. In these
circumstances, it is not difficult to understand why
TO THE COUNTRYS AVERAGE
the tigers went missing: they were there for the
Sariska Average of poachers to take. In its investigations, the Central
all reserves Bureau of Investigation found that many villagers
assisted poachers in killing the tigers and skinning
Annual average area-wise fund 2.58 1.01 and removing the carcasses.
allocation in tiger reserves from
inception (Rs lakh per sq km)
Reports by local NGOs say villagers saw metal
traps, used by poachers, on the main tiger trails.
Source: Compiled from Project Tiger directorate data There were instances when guards confronted
poachers in the park, but were helpless as they were
concerned. Therefore, it cannot be argued that more threatened at gunpoint. Even with working wireless
funds are required to solve the problems of this sets, they could do little. Moreover, their relations
reserve. Rs 22 crore has been spent on the reserve with local people were so strained that they could
since its creation in 1978. Assuming there were 22 not get any help from the villages.6
tigers in the reserve (now known to be a gross Many researchers have recorded the special
overestimation), the reserve has spent Rs 1 crore per relationship traditionally existing in Sariska between
tiger over this period. On an average, the country the gujjars, the tiger and nature. But official
spent Rs 23.70 lakh per tiger in this 30-year period interference and constant intimidation has led to
(2001-02 census estimates). Compared to that, such a breakdown that, today, it is widely suspected
Sariska has spent four times more but even this villagers hired the services of traditional hunting
has turned out to be completely inadequate in communities to protect themselves and their
protecting the tigers! Also, the funds available to livestock from the tiger. It is important to note here
Sariska compared to its area are more than double that the government has no provision for awarding
the average for all reserves in the country (see table: compensation for livestock killed by animals inside a
Comparison of money spent area-wise in Sariska to protected area.
the countrys average). Over the years, the park management has done
little to resolve these issues. The futile relocation
3. The evidence also points to the role of exercise has generated more distrust. The villagers
commercial poaching in the area. Investigations by live in extreme poverty and deal daily with the
park authorities reveal that the first case, involving harassment. They do not have an option. They are
big players like Sansar Chand, occurred in 2001 forest-dependent householders, who have to use the
when two leopards were killed. Unfortunately, resources of the reserve the fodder and the grazing
because of the collapse of the parks management the lands for their survival.
case was not investigated fully. The entry of Chand When the Tiger Task Force visited Kankwari
changed the economics of poaching in Sariska: village, located inside the core area and considered
poachers used to insignificant returns now had an important tiger breeding ground, it found villagers
access to large amounts of money, paid up front. existing on the edge of survival. They lack basic
Interrogation of poachers has revealed that since resources such as education and medical facilities.
2002, when three tigers were killed, poaching has They earn their living through livestock breeding,
increased. In 2003, another three were poached and but face immense hardships in their daily
the last four fell in 2004. interactions with the forest department. They are not
allowed to carry fodder and other basic material into
4. Increase in poaching has combined with their village. They live as illegal settlers in their own
extremely faulty and negligent conduct of tiger land. The village is not a revenue village. It is a
census in the reserve. To add to the chaos, the daily settlement within the forest, and its rights have never
camp register (which records the sightings of animals been determined. Therefore, the forest department
by staff and which helps verify the census) has not has never bothered to recognise even the grazing
been maintained properly. As a result, the early lands the village is entitled to. It is important to note
warning system in the reserve failed. Till 2004, the here that according to the information given to the
parks managers believed there were above 20 tigers, task force during its visit to Sariska by park officials,
which they reduced to 16-18 in 2004. But what is much of the land under the Sariska tiger reserve has
now emerging is that there may have been even fewer not been recorded as forest in revenue records.7
tigers six-10 left in the reserve. These The villagers assured the Task Force they were
eventually fell prey to poachers. prepared to relocate, provided they received
5. The breakdown in the parks defences has been adequate facilities in the new area. But they distrust
aided by the extreme hostility existing among local relocation immensely, because of their past

The assessment 17
 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

experience. They also complained that authorities moderately dense forests cover 44 per cent of the
had backed off after once showing them land for forested area, the rest being open and scrubland.
relocation. This heightened the distrust. Significantly, the Forest Survey assessment notes that
there has been little or no change in the forest cover
5a. It is clear to the Task Force that there is a complete between 1997 and 2002. In other words, human
breakdown in relations between the park authorities impact has not resulted in visible deterioration over
and the settlements within Sariska. It is also clear that this period. Also, according to this assessment, forest
over the years, much more could have been done to cover destruction cannot be the cause of
relocate people or repair this relationship. disappearance of tigers from Sariska.8

5b. The Task Force also finds it strange that the park 6. Over the years, destructive pressures both
administration has no real idea or estimate of the within the park and outside have led to shrinkage
extent of damage done by settlements within the of tiger habitat: it has been brutally mined, grazed on
park. In fact, there is considerable confusion about by countless livestock, even as little has been
the number of livestock and even the number of invested in protecting and afforesting the lands
households in villages. It is clear that again, much around the park. The Wildlife Institute of India
more will have to be done to sort out these issues to report finds that Sariska is an island, with virtually
advance future plans for relocation. no forested habitat in its surroundings (see map:
In this context, it is important to assess the Broad vegetation types of Sariska tiger reserve and its
impact of human populations so that policy can be connectivity with neighbouring forests).9 On one
designed. For instance, according to an assessment of hand, the tiger cannot move beyond the park its
tiger reserves in the report prepared by the Forest habitat has shrunk drastically. On the other, peoples
Survey of India for Project Tiger, the forest cover resources have also shrunk, forcing them to exert
comprises 674 sq km 77 per cent of the 881 sq more pressure on the reserve. This is a double
km area that comprises Sariska. Dense and jeopardy for the tiger.

BROAD VEGETATION TYPES OF SARISKA TIGER RESERVE AND ITS CONNECTIVITY WITH
NEIGHBOURING FORESTS
KISHANGARH BAS

KOTPUTLI
BANSUR

ALWAR FORT
RAMGARH
ALWAR
Protected area
Cities/towns
VIRATNAGAR
Close forest
SHAHPURA
Open forest THANAGAZI
Scrub
LACHHMANGARH
Agriculture/habitation SARISKA
Water bodies

RAJGARH

BASWA
JAMWA RAMGARH

JAMWA RAMGARH

DAUSA SAKRAI
Source: WII 2005, Assessment of status of tiger in Sariska tiger reserve, Rajasthan, Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun

18 The assessment
 TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS

Recommendations
The Tiger Task Force is clear that in the present circumstances, this habitat will be easily
lost without protection. The pressure from the mining lobby is enormous, and this
combines with the alienation of the people to create a destructive situation for the park.
After the news of the disappearance of tigers, local politicians have convened meetings in
the area demanding the reserve be opened up to grazing and agriculture. Bitterly resentful
of park authorities, the leaders and villagers have threatened to take over the park, which
they say has no reason to exist since the tigers are now gone.
The Task Force believes Sariska is an important reserve supporting the largest intact
habitat of the tiger in the Aravalli ecosystem. The condition of the habitat is good and,
therefore, needs to be protected. The reserve is also the catchment for innumerable
streams in this otherwise dry region. The Task Force, therefore, recommends that urgent
steps need to be taken to restore the park and to rehabilitate tigers in the reserve, as under:

1. The state government must fix accountability for events in Sariska. This is essential, for
it will act as a deterrent to other officers in Rajasthan as well as in other parts of the
country, given what happened in Sariska is unacceptable.
The actions of the state government in this regard have been inadequate so far:
Firstly, it has set up a state task force to investigate the matter and to recommend
remedial actions, but has now extended its term by another three months, which has
delayed the urgent action needed.
Secondly, it has suspended seven staff members one range officer, two foresters
and four work-charge employees (unqualified guards) following a report filed by its
senior official. These staff members were suspended on the basis of information
provided by an arrested poacher, who pointed out to the forest department the beats
(areas) that he had killed tigers on. But what is strange is that other apprehended
poachers have, since then, indicated other locations where animals were trapped, but
no action has been taken against the staff responsible there. The state government
suspended the chief wildlife warden in the wake of the controversy. But the charge-
sheet against the official was never filed and as per the rules, he has been reinstated.

2. The internal management of the reserve must be improved, so that once tigers are re-
introduced the management can ensure it will protect the habitat and the species in the
reserve without any disruption.
The Task Force recommends the state government take firm steps to improve the
internal working of the park. It must also make a firm, time-bound, commitment to the
Project Tiger directorate in this regard and draw up benchmarks for its performance
review and assessment.

3. The re-introduction of tigers into the habitat must be done with caution and care. The
Wildlife Institute of India suggests three-five tigers can be re-introduced in the initial
phase and then supplemented. However, the Institute has cautioned that worldwide
experience on species reintroduction demands the work should be done carefully and
with a high degree of commitment and involvement of all concerned.10

4. The relocation of villages within the key tiger habitat must be done with utmost care.
The recovery plan being developed by Wildlife Institute of India requires the relocation of
certain key villages to minimise disturbance in the habitat. It recommends that Haripura,
Kankwari, Umri and Kiraska, with approximately 1,800 people and 7,000 livestock in all,
should be relocated on a priority basis.
The Task Force recommends relocation be done with full consultation with affected
villagers. Park authorities must also realise that villagers living within the park are forest-
dependent and, therefore, the land required for their relocation must be able to either

The assessment 19
 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

meet their grazing needs or there must be sufficient investment for them to switch over to
land-based livelihoods. The current relocation plan, as envisaged by the park authorities,
does not resolve this issue adequately as it only provides limited agricultural land, with
minimal irrigation facilities and grazing lands. The Task Force would like to caution the
management that if relocation is not done carefully and with extreme sensitivity, it would
further strain the relationship between the park and its people.
The Task Force also recommends that park authorities, working in tandem with the
Project Tiger directorate, should evolve a plan for the remaining villages that will
continue to exist in the park because their relocation is not possible or feasible. In this
context, the Task Force suggests there should be a better assessment of the impact of the
villages on the forest, ways found to mitigate this impact and to reduce the use of forest
resources. The park management urgently needs to work on a plan, in consultation with
villagers, to manage resources better. The current situation, which makes all use illegal, is
clearly not leading to effective reserve management.

5. A plan must be evolved to manage pilgrimage traffic and to share the benefits of
tourism with affected villagers and the park. The impact of pilgrims presence in the
reserve, concentrated along the core area, can be heavy. Therefore, there is a need to
regulate numbers and manage this pressure carefully.
The Task Force recommends that the authorities work out a plan for the above, which
should consider how the benefits of pilgrimage traffic entry fees and charges collected
from shops can be shared with local villagers. The Task Force is certain pilgrims will
appreciate they are paying homage at a forest shrine, which demands adherence to certain
rules and regulations. These shrines are sacred groves, which need community discipline
for protection.
The Task Force recommends that there should be a plan to share revenues from
tourism, including revenues earned by hotels and other like facilities in the park vicinity,
with local communities.

6. The productivity of forests in the areas outside the tiger reserve needs to be improved.
It is evident the pressure on Sariska from adjoining villages is unsustainable. But it is
equally evident that this cannot be controlled through mere fiat and increased force.
The Task Force recommends that urgent steps be taken by the park authorities,
working with the territorial forest department, to consult villagers in co-managing the
forests in the vicinity of the park. This plan will require greater investments in soil, water
and forest conservation. But it can only be done if villagers realise the benefits of this
protection.
The Task Force also recommends that park authorities work on an agreement with the
fringe villagers to increase investment in their lands, in return for their cooperation in
protecting the reserve.

7. An institutional mechanism to monitor progress in habitat improvement and peoples

involvement must be put in place. The Task Force recommends the plan for rehabilitation
should be carefully monitored by scientists, researchers and local NGOs, who should be
part of a park level management committee. All information, including the plans for
relocation of tigers and people, should be made freely available to the public.
The Task Force strongly recommends rehabilitation and protection of Sariska as a
tiger reserve, but urges once again that this will only be possible if there is a clear plan of
action, and determination and commitment to implement its different facets.

20 The assessment
 02
A paradigm change
Making conservation work

21
 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

Making conservation work

The current crisis of disappearing tigers in Sariska It is, therefore, important to design policies and
may be looked upon as a tragedy. But the Tiger Task actions which are multi-pronged and which
Force prefers to view it as an opportunity. Here is the focus on enhancing the protection of tigers in the
chance to take a close and exhaustive look at the short-run and earmark inviolate spaces fo its
manner in which the tiger has been hitherto existence;
conserved; to understand where, after 30 years, a safeguard the future of the tiger by involving
programme exclusively devoted to protecting this local communities with reciprocal and
magnificent animal has gone wrong; and find how collaborative models, to share the benefits of
todays lacunae may be transformed to the tigers conservation; and
advantage, so that the future of its protection may be involve local communities in rebuilding the
a positive one. forest economies of the tigers habitat so that all
The protection of the tiger is inseparable from the can grow.
protection of the forests it roams in. But the
protection of these forests is itself inseparable from This is the paradigm of inclusive growth that will
the fortunes of people who, in India, inhabit forested safeguard the Indian tiger: the Indian model of
areas. Thus, any regulatory or enforcement regime conservation. Nothing else.
that wishes to throw a protective ring around the tiger
must take into cognisance that, apart from the tiger, The tigers habitat
the protection equation contains two other variables:
the forests and the people that live in and around it. Indias primary tiger habitat is spread over vast
This is the unique situation conservation in India has areas of central India, and the Western and Eastern
always faced and tried to grapple with. Ghats. These are also the areas where the majority of
But over the last 30 years the style of conservation our scheduled tribes live. These lands are
that developed in India and is now unilaterally enormously rich in natural resources forests,
predominant is one that has not taken all three minerals but the irony is that the people living in
variables into account. It has tried to cater to the tiger, them are among the poorest in the country. The other
exclusively. People inhabiting protected areas have key tiger habitats are in the Himalayan region and its
been discounted and displaced. Their livelihoods foothills.
have been destroyed. So they have become not These lands the habitat of tigers as well as
protectors of the forest, but poachers and smugglers of people also provide most of central and
wood and other forest produce. peninsular India with its water. They are the source
The peculiar situation that has emerged is that as of the water that irrigates farmlands, that villagers
peoples marginalisation has led to poverty, the tigers drink and that cities guzzle freely, exchanging it
fortunes, too, has got impoverished. The history of cheaply with their excreta.
conserving the tiger in this country is the manner in These forests are essential for our survival. We
which this process has isomorphically unfolded. The need them for ecological security to replenish
carnivore-human conflict has exacerbated: the truth water systems, provide habitats for wild species and
of its exponential growth is visible in and around as our biodiversity treasure troves. We also need
most tiger reserves. So is the visible degradation of them for economic security for firewood, fodder,
the forest, at once source of peoples livelihoods and building material for people and raw material for
the home of the tiger. industry. While managing forests for such distinct
The question then is: how do we protect the objectives is complicated enough, what makes the
tiger? How do we regenerate these lands? How must issue more difficult is that there are poor people
we manage the competing, but equally vital, needs of living on these lands. They need this land for
human livelihood? We dont have the option to their survival, but their land rights have never
choose one over the other: the poverty of one will been settled. The question is, what is to be done with
destroy the other. It is quite literally about these people.
coexistence. Evicting them and fencing the forests in
Resolution, therefore untested across the cannot be the answer. If that is done, the people
world will lie in our abilities to create an will break the fence down to work the forests.
environment so that the tiger, forests and people can Handing the forests over to the people and letting
coexist. them cut these down cannot be the answer either.

22 A paradigm change
 TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS

TIGERS AND PEOPLE: THE COEXISTENCE CONUNDRUM

Forest area

Tiger reserve

Schedule V area

150 poorest districts

Source: Project Tiger directorate

A paradigm change 23
 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

Without the forests, people will have no wherewithal tiger depends on the forests.
to survive. But while relocating villages, agencies only think
The tiger crisis is, first and foremost, a in terms of land and not of access to forests.
forest crisis. The core of the problem is our Planners do not take into consideration the gross
inability to manage our forest wealth in a way natural product of forests, which sustains the lives
both sustainable and productive. As a result, we of millions in this country. However, unless the land
have been left with small areas largely given for relocation is irrigated and fertile, people
our protected area network which remain as will have no option but to continue to live within a
forests. forest-dependent economy which means, they put
These forest islands are under heavy stress. The stress on the forest resources once again.
reason is that the land outside them, also forest land, The challenge, therefore, is to rebuild forest
is today highly degraded and unproductive. It cannot economies so that the habitats of tigers as well as the
meet the basic needs of the people who live on these livelihoods of the poor can be protected. The issue is
lands. It cannot provide them with livelihood not about tigers per se, but about recreating economic
opportunities. In fact, because the land is forest land, and livelihood basis for forests to be regenerated.
development of irrigation and other facilities is
also curtailed. The cycle of poverty grows, and with The tiger shares peoples habitat
this, the pressure on the last remaining bastions
intensifies. In Kanha tiger reserve in Madhya Pradesh, field
managers keep a count of the number of tiger cubs.
The people share the tigers habitat They know that they should have an increase of 10
tigers in the reserve every year to maintain a viable
It is important to realise Indias conservation population. They account for mortality of the young
programme is located not in the homes of its rich, but and old when they estimate the population increase
in the settlements of its very poorest. It is their land of the big cats.
that is set aside for protection. It is they who share But the population does not increase. The
their resources with the tiger, without getting any numbers of tigers in the reserve remain the same.
benefits in return. This is because the young tiger, in search of territory,
The tiger districts are, in most cases, classified as moves beyond the protected enclave to the world
the poorest 150 districts in the country. These are outside. Once there were forests outside the reserve,
also the districts classified as Schedule V areas and the tiger had survived. But now the landscape is
primarily inhabited by tribals and have little or no degraded. Poor people live there. They live on the
irrigation facilities (see map: Tigers and people: the forests. But no investments have been made to
coexistence conundrum). improve their habitat. The tiger, as a result, is in
To succeed, tiger conservation must take these grave danger (see map: Central India: forests and
facts into account. It has to bring benefits to this region tiger reserves).
and to its poor people. The question is how. It is here Coexistence is threatened. It is important to
we must understand the economy. People, who co- realise that not only do the people use the tigers
inhabit the tigers home, are forest-dependent. They
live within a biomass subsistence economy, which is
based on subsistence agriculture. This economy can CENTRAL INDIA: FORESTS AND TIGER RESERVES
only survive if there is livestock to minimise the risk
of crop failure and to provide manure for the lands.
The livestock insurance policy needs grazing lands, as
agriculture is poor and unirrigated; fodder, therefore, Panna
is only available in the open lands. The lack of assured
Bandhavgarh
fodder also means that people cannot keep quality Palamau
livestock as they need to minimise their risks. Kanha
Satpura Simlipal
The land is not fit for agriculture in most cases, Pench
and crop yields are meagre. People can only survive
Pench
if they have access to forest resources from where Melghat
Tadoba
they can collect firewood for sale or live off the Indravati
collection of various forest produce from honey to
mahua. For them, life is just not possible without the
forests. People, therefore, live within the reserves not
because this gives them huge benefits, but because
they have no alternative. Their economy like the Source: Project Tiger directorate

24 A paradigm change
 TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS

habitat, but the tiger too needs the peoples habitat. All share the forest habitat
This is the coexistence challenge.
Wildlife managers say that the tiger cannot be We will have to understand why our forests are in
protected within the enclaved islands that our trouble: this is the real challenge of the tiger crisis. If
reserves have become. In the last tiger census, more we work hard, we can protect a few hundred tigers in
than half the big cats were found not inside but the protective islands of our reserves. If we improve
outside the tiger reserves. These are lands which the our enforcement, we can protect a few more. But if
tiger shares with people. But as the forests degrade in we really want to safeguard the future of tigers, we
the landscape, the habitat shrinks. The source will have to regenerate our forests.
areas where the tiger breeds or its natal areas are The problem is that we do not know how. In the
the reserves. The sinks, where the tiger goes to live, past, the State had appropriated forest resources from
lie in the lands outside. local communities. Over the years, logging and
This is because the tiger needs territory. To mining led to rampant degradation. If the British
understand conservation of tigers, it is important to stripped the forests of Ratnagiri in coastal
understand how the tiger lives and mates. The tiger Maharashtra to make ships and railway lines,
society revolves around the breeding female, who independent India sold its forests for a pittance to the
starts breeding at three-four years of age in a pulp and paper industry. This was the extractive
relatively fixed home range. She has a tenure of phase of forest use.
five-seven years before she loses her range to a But in the early 1980s, the State turned track
vigorous competitor. The adult male tiger has a from exploiting natural resources to protecting them.
larger range, overlapping several breeding females Under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, only the
three on an average. In favourable conditions, Central government had the right to allow forest
females give birth to litters of three-four cubs once land to be converted to non-forest purposes (roads,
every two-three years. When roughly two years old, power stations, dams and the like). This was the
the young are abandoned by their mother and these conservation phase.
are known as dispersing transients (floaters) by The rampant diversion of land for development
biologists. Tigers move 10-15 km per day. Transient stopped, but deforestation continued. So, since the
tigers can move over hundreds of kilometres in 1990s, the Supreme Court has stepped in, imposing
search of new homes. checks on how forests are to be worked. Many
This gives rise to a double jeopardy: on one hand, different orders aimed at stopping deforestation have
the habitat of the tiger shrinks drastically as it cannot been issued over these years. In December 1996, the
move beyond the park to establish its territory. On Court ordered a ban on timber felling, unless the
the other, the resources of people also shrink and forest department made a working plan for forested
they then exert even more pressure on the tiger regions demarcating areas that could be logged. In
reserve. 1998, it said that all working plans for all forest
There is, therefore, no choice but to find ways of divisions had to be prepared by the state
coexistence. If people are not allowed into the tigers governments but approved by the Centre. It has
habitat, they will be even more resentful of the banned the transport of logs from the northeastern
creatures entry into their habitat. This is why tiger states and ordered the closure of all unlicensed
poisoning cases are on the rise. This is why tigers in sawmills and wood processing plants; states have
the wild will not survive. We must get out of the been asked not to allow new ones either.
island mentality. The tigers home is its landscape, But the tragedy is that while deforestation has
wherever it ranges. It is this we have to learn to reduced, forest degradation continues.
protect. The State of Forest Report 2003 shows that the
country has lost 26,245 sq km of dense forests
How will that be done? between 2001 and 2003. On the other hand, the open
forests forests with a crown density of only 10 to
There are two essential strategies: 40 per cent have increased by 29,000 sq km. The
1. The habitat must be made inviolate for the tiger country now has 11.88 per cent of its geographical
where it must. It must be shared between the area under dense forests, of which only 1.56 per cent
people and the tigers in a way that peace could be classified as very dense, with a canopy
prevails. The poverty of one, otherwise, will be cover of over 70 per cent (see table: Net change in
the destruction of the other. forest cover in the country since 2001 assessment).
2. The outside forest habitat must be regenerated so The problem is that dense forests are
that people can be less dependent on the disappearing in the very habitats that we are
enclaves of the tiger, and the tiger has more space concerned with in this report the habitats of tigers
in the surrounding landscape to live. and poor people. According to the State of Forest

A paradigm change 25
 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

NET CHANGE IN FOREST COVER IN THE COUNTRY SINCE FOREST COVER AND TRIBAL DISTRICTS
2001 ASSESSMENT (IN SQ KM) Total dense forest in India (2003 estimation) 390,564 sq km
Assessment Dense Open Total Scrub
Total dense forest in tribal districts 246,858 sq km
year forest forest forest
cover
Percentage of dense forest of the country
found in tribal districts 63 per cent
2001 41,809 258,729 675,538 47,318

2003 390,564 287,769 678,333 40,269

Geographical area in tribal district 1,103,463 sq km
Change -26,245 29,040 2,795 -7,049
Very dense forest in tribal district 36,932 sq km
Source: Anon 2003, State of Forest Report 2003, Indian Council for Forestry
Research and Education, Dehradun Moderately dense forest in tribal district 209,926 sq km

Open forests 160,440 sq km

Report, as much as 63 per cent of the dense forest in
the country is in its tribal districts. This, as we have Total forests 407,298 sq km
said earlier, is also the tiger district (see table: Forest
cover and tribal districts). Percentage of forest cover of the
geographical area of the tribal district 37 per cent
The maximum loss of dense forest cover has also
occurred in these very tiger-tribal districts. The Source: Anon 2003, State of Forest Report 2003, Indian Council for Forestry
tigers habitat is under threat. The peoples Research and Education, Dehradun
livelihoods are impoverished. There are millions
who live in these forest lands. The answer cannot be about keeping forests. The value lies in destroying
to throw them out; neither can it be to exclude them them for mining, industries. Similarly for the poor,
from the management of these forests. The forests managing forests as forests does not bring them
will continue to degrade as people will continue to wealth. They can only survive if they clear forests, to
use these lands. This is the real challenge we face. cultivate marginal and degraded lands from which
the returns are always meagre. The land degrades
The problem with forest management further, the people become more destitute: so turns
the vicious cycle of poverty.
The fact is that we have always legislated to protect We have to learn to differentiate between forests
the forests; we have never managed or regenerated which need to be protected at all costs pristine
them. What we have learnt is to protect our forests forests, biological hotspots, tiger habitats and
using draconian measures, but we do not know how forests, which need to be managed and used and then
to increase the productivity of these lands which regenerated. It is clear that we still have to learn to
have competing needs and users. Today, vast areas of use our resources sustainably for developmental
forest land in the country lie under-utilised and purposes.
under-productive. The reason is we cannot increase It is no wonder, then, that poor people come to
productivity without involving the people who use live in rich lands, or that environmental protection
these increasingly degraded lands. comes into conflict with development. The
Indeed, because we do not know how to involve economic security of poor people has to be enjoined
people in their management, we cannot build futures to the forests, which in turn are the habitats of wild
from these lands. Economic progress, to us, is not species and essential for ecological security.

26 A paradigm change
 03
The way ahead
3.1 The institutional agenda
3.2 The protection agenda
3.3 The illegal trade agenda
3.3a Domestic enforcement agenda
3.4 Innovative protection agenda
3.5 The science agenda
3.6 The research agenda
3.7 The relocation agenda
3.8 The coexistence agenda
3.9 The fringe agenda
3.10 The tourism agenda
3.11 Ecological services agenda

27
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3.1 The institutional agenda

Project Tiger is a centrally sponsored scheme in among their top priorities.
which the states provide matching grants to pay for e. There is a need to ensure timely compensation
recurring items of expenditure, such as maintenance for livestock killed by wildlife, for without this
of habitat, creation of temporary water facilities, etc. the conflict between humans and animals will
The Union ministry of environment and forests has intensify.
the mandate to provide technical guidance and
funding support; it is also responsible for overall The affidavit also listed some solutions, which were
coordination, monitoring and evaluation of the accepted by the Supreme Court. These were:
project, apart from helping states in estimating
numbers of tigers and other wildlife. 1. New mechanisms would be introduced to
Following the 42nd amendment to the Indian solve the problem of delay in disbursement. The
Constitution in 1976, the subject of forests and chief secretaries of the key problem states
wildlife was transferred from the State List to the Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh,
Concurrent List. With this, the Central government Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Orissa agreed that
acquired overriding powers to ensure protection and Central funds for wildlife conservation should be
preservation of forests and wildlife. directly released to entities created for this purpose.
By the 1990s, the problems between Project Tiger 2. Central funds would reach implementing
and the states had begun. It was pointed out time and agencies within six weeks of the time of receipt
again that states were lagging behind in disbursing and the state government would prioritise
project funds they received, staff vacancies were not allocations for wildlife under their state plans.
being filled, the monitoring of protection work was 3. The state governments agreed to fill up existing
weak and that wildlife crime enforcement lacked teeth. vacancies on a priority basis. Madhya Pradesh,
In 2000, the Supreme Court, acting on a public which had decided to abolish vacant posts, agreed
interest litigation (Public Interest Litigation writ to exempt the posts of forest guards and foresters
number 1474/1998), directed the secretary, Union from downsizing. Maharashtra and Orissa agreed
ministry of environment and forests, to convene a to fill all vacancies within six months, while
meeting of chief secretaries of tiger habitat states to Karnataka said every effort would be made to fill
evolve a joint strategy for protection of the tiger. The up to 200 vacancies of forest guards within one
following results of deliberations that ensued with the year. Assam and Arunachal said that in view of
states were listed in an affidavit the secretary filed:1 financial constraints, they would transfer staff
from sectors with a lower priority.
a. There is a shortage of resources in states, which 4. The amount of compensation to be paid has been
leads to delayed disbursal of funds, non-payment revised by the Centre, and the state governments
of staff salaries for up to six months, and even a will now pay the amount expeditiously.
lack of funds to pay for fuel for vehicles. 5. State governments will strengthen the existing
b. Because of the delay in disbursing Central protection mechanism. The states also
assistance to tiger reserves by state governments, suggested that they would look at the feasibility of
earmarked activities are not completed and funds recruitment and training of forest guards through
remain unutilised. The Centre, therefore, withholds police agencies. The Union ministry of
the next instalment. This leads to a situation where environment and forests reported that it had
on one hand, Central outlays for wildlife already requested the Central Industrial Security
conservation increase progressively, but on the Force to train foresters in insurgency-prone
other, funds lapse because of non-utilisation. reserves. It was also agreed that the staff would be
c. There are vacancies of staff at the field level in given the authority to confiscate vehicles, arms
some states, more than 30 per cent of the posts of and other articles used for wildlife offences.
forest guards and foresters remain unfilled. Most 6. It was agreed to provide incentives to forest
of the existing field staff is ill-equipped, overage personnel living in remote areas. The Union
and inadequately trained. ministry of environment and forests would
d. More than 30 per cent of the tiger population and evolve transparent guidelines dealing with the
a substantial number of other wildlife are found transfers and posting of officials in wildlife
outside the protected area network, but foresters areas, as well as a suitable human resource
do not consider conservation of this wildlife development policy.

28 The way ahead

 TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS

Much of the reform agenda was agreed upon. But in conservation sites show there is a need, in states, for
the absence of careful follow-up with the states, much greater commitment and vigilance. It is also
many of these suggestions were not implemented. clear the institutions to manage conservation are
Then, in 2005, the Supreme Court intervened weak and unprepared; professionals do not have the
again, this time on an affidavit filed by requisite training or capacities. Therefore, there is a
conservationist Navin Raheja (writ number 47/1998), need to re-engineer and remodel the institutions of
who pointed out that there existed difficulties in the governance. Without this, the agenda for reform will
timely allocation of funds by the state governments remain ad hoc and inadequate.
to the tiger reserves. The Project Tiger directorate, in The Task Force has considered two different
its affidavit in the above writ petition, stated that approaches for institutional reform.
while there was no standard definition for the
term priority sector. It had been used to give Option 1: Centralise
importance to wildlife and forests as against the The aim here is to further centralise decision-making
financial allocations for other infrastructure and by creating an authority that can be given the powers
administrative facilities as done in states in the case to coordinate the work of tiger reserves and oversee
of law and order. It was also stated that the priority implementation. This would emulate the example of
given by the Central government in this regard is countries that declare protected reserves as federal
reflected in its enhanced allocation to the wildlife reserves, bringing their development under unified
sector from Rs 170 crore in the 8th Plan to Rs 800 control.
crore in the 10th Plan. In April 2005, the amicus curiae in the T N
While reiterating the actions sought from the Godavarman forest case, ongoing in the Supreme
state, a time frame was also suggested for fund Court, filed an application asking for an authority to
release and utilisation certificate: be created for wildlife management. In this
application, it is said, state governments and their
First instalment: By four weeks after receipt of officers, for whatever reason, have been unequal to
annual plan of operations from respective state the task of protecting and preserving our national
governments, which should not be delayed beyond parks and sanctuaries. It is, therefore, necessary that
the month of May of the financial year (since despite it is submitted as a matter of law, that the Central
repeated requests, the annual plan of operations government take effective steps including by way of
does not reach the ministry of environment and constituting an authority. This authority would
forests before mid-April by and large). comprise of civil servants and outsiders who would
oversee the working and management of at least 25 of
Second instalment: By two weeks after receipt of the significant protected areas, almost all of which
utilisation certificate pertaining to previous year are tiger reserves. The funds collected from
from the states along with 60 per cent utilisation compensatory afforestation would be made available
report of funding support released as first in whole or in part to this authority for conservation
instalment, which should not be delayed beyond the of protected areas. This authority would be given
month of December of the financial year. charge then of overseeing management. State
governments would have to ensure that the authority
As far as monitoring and evaluation was concerned, is consulted in the appointment, posting or removal
it stated that the regional monitoring of tiger reserves of senior officers in these reserves.4
has been undertaken by a panel of experts.2 This approach also includes creation of a national
The apex court accepted the process suggested in park service-type force, which will be under Central
the affidavit filed by the Project Tiger directorate and control and can be posted to different parts of the
directed that the states should make available the country. It has been suggested that there should be an
funds the Government of India released for wildlife empanelment of officers, which can be considered for
conservation to field formations within 15 days. The posting in any of the premier protected areas within
amount should be available for the purpose for the home state and in other states.
which the Centre provided assistance. It is now In the current difficult times for conservation,
crucial to ensure close monitoring to ensure this these approaches seem simple and attractive enough.
direction is implemented.3 They require the disbanding or marginalisation of
current institutions and their replacement with
Options for institutional reform structures which are centrally managed in the hands
of a dedicated team.
The Task Force is clear that in spite of these efforts, The Tiger Task Force has carefully considered
problems remain in the institutional framework for these proposals. It believes it will create more
management. The events in Sariska and other key problems for the tiger, even in the short run. The

The way ahead 29

 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

reasons are as follows: only create further alienation of agencies crucial to

work the agenda, and so will not lead to meaningful
a. The tiger lives in a habitat which is contiguous to change. The Task Force urges all to note that effective
other spaces. It, therefore, needs protection not policing is not the only task that confronts tiger
just within its island, but also in the landscape conservation in the country today. For these reasons,
beyond. Therefore, it needs the cooperation of the Task Force has decided not to adopt this approach.
the people that protect these outside lands and
those that live in these lands. Any further Option 2: Strengthen Centre-state collaboration
centralisation will only increase the rift between and institutions
the Centre and states on tiger conservation and The Task Force has decided it will develop an
hinder local alliances crucial for its survival. alternative approach that will undertake the
b. The habitat of the tiger needs development following:
efforts, not just protection. In other words, it Strengthen institutions at the Centre that oversee
needs the engagement of many agencies at the and guide the project, reinforce the prime
state level for its survival. It must be noted that ministers efforts in this direction and also involve
while centralised control may be good for the Parliament to ensure political commitment.
protection, it is a tremendous limitation for Strengthen institutional capacity at the state
developmental work. Any effort which further level by securing the interests and involvement
bypasses states is sure to be detrimental to the of its leaders.
long-term success of the project. For instance, Improve the capacity of professionals engaged in
there is a need for relocation of villages from the management of wildlife.
reserves. This cannot be done without the active Strengthen the supervision of the project through
collaboration of other state agencies and innovative mechanisms, that will create
departments, which will be resisted if there is information in the public domain and build
greater central control. collaboration links with researchers and NGOs,
c. The survival of the tiger will depend on our particularly at the state level.
abilities to rebuild the institutions for its Build a participatory base by including the
governance. The deliberate disabling of the interests of local communities in tiger protection.
current institutions is not the answer. This will engender sustainability of the project.
d. The empanelment of officers amounts to creating
a central service, which is unfeasible. The key The Task Force is aware that this work is onerous
reason why state services are needed is because and difficult. The reform of institutions of
of their integration with line agencies in the governance and structures will need long-term
state. The ecological and social conditions are so commitment and political support. The Task Force is
varied that sending officials to different reserves also deeply aware of the urgency of the situation and
will, therefore, not work. the exigencies involved. But it believes that much of
this agenda is within reach. It also believes that after
Also, this approach does not lead to any cadre-staff 30 years of management, the tiger deserves
building in the team. The most important challenge seriousness. This opportunity cannot be lost by
that park managements face is to build a team of advocating quick-fix solutions that might ultimately
leaders. Leadership will also demand fostering a prove regressive for the programme.
certain commitment in their reporting staff, so that
continuity can be created. If the officers are transient, Recommendations
this will clearly not be possible.
It is for all these reasons that the Task Force has A. On strengthening institutions at the Centre
decided to, instead, recommend a sub-cadre for
wildlife and review the training and human resource 1. Reorganise the Union ministry of environment
development needs of the service. and forests to create two separate departments: that
It is the strong belief of this Tiger Task Force that of environment and that of forests and wildlife.
after 30 years of conservation history, the time has The key reason why the Task Force is
come to make serious and long-term changes which recommending this reorganisation is because it finds
will secure the future of the tiger. The project thus that the forestry and wildlife sector requires focussed
needs to broadbase its support so that its agenda can and detailed work, which is not possible in the
be implemented: this is vital. The agenda includes current organisational set-up of the ministry.
work that is serious, detailed and requires long-term The Task Force is aware of the concern that a
commitment of groups and institutions in bringing simple departmental reorganisation will not
about change. Any effort to centralise the work will necessarily lead to more efficiency. In fact, it could

30 The way ahead

 TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS

well create confusion and lead to turf wars between

BUDGET OF THE UNION MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT
the two professional service heads of general
AND FORESTS, 2005-2006
administration and of the specialist forestry service.
The problem, however, is that the forestry Budget % of
and wildlife sector needs greatly enhanced capacities (2005-06) annual
Rs crore budget
to effectively implement its protection and
developmental agenda. In the 2005-06 budget outlay FORESTRY AND WILDLIFE
of the ministry, forestry and wildlife got 33 per cent Education and training 21.04
and the rest went to the environment sector (about Rs Forest conservation, development 41.00
460 crore and Rs 820 crore respectively). It is and regeneration
important to note here that there has been a steady Wildlife preservation 139.70
shift in this regard: till 2002-2003, financial National Afforestation and 260.85
Ecodevelopment programme
allocations were evenly split between the two.
It is also important to note that the funds spent Total allocation for forestry 462.59 33
for forestry and wildlife at the state level are larger. In and wildlife
the 10th Five Year Plan, Rs 11,444 crore has been
allocated for this sector by the Centre to states and Total allocation for environment 829.79 60
Union territories.5 There is a need to work with states and ecology (including river
action programmes)
to effectively direct the sector and to improve its
performance. This requires a strong central agency as TOTAL 1,388.90
much as enhanced capacities at the state level. There
are also a large number of institutions under the Source: GOI 2005, Expenditure budget 2005-06, Vol 2, February, Delhi

forestry-wildlife sector that are autonomous and

professional. These institutions need professional other, there is an opportunity to correct the mistakes
management to support their independence and of the past and to invest in urgent reform.
growth. This, too, requires a strong and effective The key element of the reform is a renewed
central institution with the capacity to oversee and engagement of all in the protection of the tiger. The
manage with a high order of professionalism and commitment of the Indian prime minister is evident
expertise. in this issue and his engagement in securing the
Furthermore, the present functioning of the interest of all will be critical. Also, there is a need to
ministry has become mostly regulatory, involving put into place mechanisms that can take the reform
clearances for projects, pollution control and agenda forward. This will require careful monitoring
international treaties. The functions of forestry, on and supervision.
the other hand, are partly developmental, requiring a It is for this reason the Task Force is
greater thrust on re-greening lands for livelihood and recommending the option of revitalising the National
economic purposes, and partly conservationist. But Board for Wildlife, which is chaired by the prime
all these functions require a different nature of minister or better still, for the prime minister to take
specialisation and functioning. Therefore, the Task on the chairpersonship of the steering committee of
Force is suggesting the reorganisation of these distinct Project Tiger. There is a precedent on this. In the
functions, which it hopes will bring about greater early 1980s, the then prime minister, Indira Gandhi,
attention to both and improve their effectiveness. We had chaired the steering committee of Project Tiger.
must remember that the department of environment The Indian prime ministers direct involvement
and the department of forests are both critical in will give the project its necessary direction and
safeguarding the future of India and need impetus. Given the exigencies of the other
strengthening (see table: Budget of the Union ministry commitments of the prime minister, we are
of environment and forests, 2005-2006). recommending that he hold this position for a period
of two-four years, during which the agenda for
2. Revitalise the National Board for Wildlife and/or reform can be activated and put on a firm footing.
request the prime minister to chair the steering In addition, we would recommend that the
committee of the Project Tiger for the coming few membership of the National Board for Wildlife and
years. This is in order to build the political the steering committee be reviewed to make it more
constituency needed for the conservation of the tiger, effective. The constitution of these governance
to shape the agenda at the state level and to initiate institutions must include researchers, activists, tribal
the long-term reform needed for tiger conservation. leaders and others who can introduce different
It is clear that tiger conservation is at an perspectives to the discourse. Since many years now,
important crossroads. On one hand, there is a the membership of the Board and the steering
growing and urgent threat against the species. On the committee has been restricted to a few experts who

The way ahead 31

 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

hold very similar positions and experiences. It is for universities to foster field research.
this reason the wildlife sector has become extremely 3. The director, Project Tiger, should be delegated
insular and exclusive, losing its ability to envision powers to deal with states under Section (3) of
the bigger challenges that confront it. the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, especially for
Secondly, the deliberations and decisions of the the enforcement of Project Tiger guidelines.
Board and the steering committee should be made 4. The role of director, Project Tiger, should not
available to all. This will help engage a much larger remain confined to tiger reserves, but needs to be
constituency and will also provide supervision. The extended to other crucial forest areas as well
Board and the committee must also strengthen their which have viable tiger populations.
supervision and monitoring functions so that they 5. The Project Tiger directorate should be
can perform as key institutions of management in restructured and made into an administrative
this sector. authority at the outset. In the meantime, work
should be initiated to use the statutory precedent
3. Strengthen the role of the Project Tiger of the Central Zoo Authority to establish a
directorate in monitoring and coordination. Convert Project Tiger Authority. This statutory role will
it into the Project Tiger Authority by giving it greatly improve in planning, supervision and
administrative autonomy. Project Tiger should monitoring functions.
report annually to the Indian Parliament so that
political commitment to the project deepens. The directorate must ensure that the following
Independent monitoring reports commissioned by is done:
the body should be available publicly and used for
decision-making with states. a. Appointment of key personnel in tiger reserves
The directorate of Project Tiger must have the after approval from the Centre: This was a
internal capacity to both coordinate and guide the condition from the very inception of the project,
effective implementation of the programme. but has gone into disuse. By creating a stronger
Currently, the office is understaffed and under- profile and management role for the directorate,
equipped to handle the range of work that is states can be persuaded and directed to ensure
necessary (see Annexure IX: Investing in institutions that this is done. This is critical because personnel
for change: strengthening the Project Tiger in these reserves must be chosen carefully so that
directorate). The Task Force has reviewed the they have the credentials and an interest in
present work load and is suggesting that the Project wildlife conservation, as well as the management
Tiger directorate should be converted into a statutory experience to deal with the larger issues at hand.
authority the Project Tiger Authority. b. Careful annual analysis of the independent
The following must be done to strengthen the assessment done for each reserve by the
role of the directorate: directorate: This will enable the directorate to note
the performance of each reserve, its personnel and
1. To ensure that states follow the guidelines and the state government in protecting tigers. While the
prescriptions laid down for the project, a system high performers must be rewarded annually, the
of having a Memorandum of Understanding low performers must also be given a reputational
(MoU) with the project states should be instituted. incentive to improve. This can be done by:
Any deviation or default from the MoU should be Making the report of the independent audit, with
reported to the steering committee. its ratings and scores of high and low performers,
2. Considering the multifarious nature of work available as an annual report from the directorate
handled by the director, Project Tiger, it is essential to the Parliament. This will lead to much greater
to strengthen the directorate with autonomy. The involvement of parliamentarians from different
directorate at present comprises of one director (of states in this work and build a stronger support
the rank of inspector general of forests), a joint base for the project.
director, one section officer, one personal Using the score to reduce financial allocation to
secretary, one accountant, a lower division clerk the different reserves. As it clearly will not be
and a peon. The directorate should have at least advisable to use financial conditionality in a
two deputy inspector general-level officers (one for manner that allows reserves to further
general and the other for technical work) to assist deteriorate, it can be used to create conditions
the director, apart from other professionals. There that improve the working of reserves. However,
should also be scope for contractual arrangements the Task Force also suggests that any reserve and
with scientific institutions like the National state government which receives low scores for a
Remote Sensing Agency, the Forest Survey of consecutive period of three years should be
India, the Wildlife Institute of India and penalised financially as well.

32 The way ahead

 TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS

c. Make the rating and assessment of the the functioning of protected areas. Currently, any
independent monitoring available in the public officer can become the chief wildlife warden on the
domain: This can be done through the Web and in basis of seniority irrespective of experience,
reports to the Parliament. This will force scrutiny aptitude or interest in wildlife issues. In the guidelines
from the civil society and lead to an informed for the project issued in the early 1970s, it was clearly
public debate. It is also a safeguard to ensure the indicated that officers who are given this charge must
independence of the monitors, as scrutiny from have a background or interest in wildlife conservation.
peers and the public is the best auditor. However, this guideline is rarely used. It is important
d. Involvement of the directorate in the habitat and that governments develop a criterion for the
tiger estimation made across the country: It must appointment of the head of wildlife in the state.
work with professional institutions, building But it is also important to note that this process
their capacity to undertake this work to support will only work if the state government has a
state governments in the estimation. This reputational advantage in maintaining its wildlife
census is critical for deciding policy and and has a vigilant public opinion. These will drive it
strategies in this field. to ensure that only professionals with a demonstrated
high order of skills are appointed to this critical post.
B. On strengthening institutions at the state level
3. Create management committees for each
1. Create a state steering committee for Project protected area, which will include local community
Tiger with the chief minister of the tiger range state representatives, NGOs and researchers.
as its chair. The 2003 amendment of the Wildlife (Protection)
There is no regular mechanism for chief Act, 1972, included a provision for an advisory
ministers of tiger range states to take stock, assess committee in each state, chaired by the chief wildlife
and direct work on tiger conservation. Without the warden and including members of state legislature,
involvement of the chief ministers, this agenda Panchayati Raj institutions, NGOs and individuals.
cannot go forward. The committee was to advise on measures to be taken
The chief minister is the chairperson of the state for better conservation and management, including
wildlife board. But unfortunately, these boards have the participation of people living within and around
become defunct in many states, where their meetings the protected area. The Tiger Task Force has been
have not been convened for many years. The problem unable to find any state that has constituted such a
is that state governments especially the political committee; it urges that this be done for every tiger
leadership do not see any advantage in wildlife reserve, to begin with. At the same time, the Task
conservation. The boards have also lost their purpose Force suggests some modifications, as follows:
and do not play effective roles in guiding wildlife
policy. There is no simple or easy answer to this issue. a. The mandate of the committee must not only be
We have to understand why states and their advisory, but must have management functions
leaders are disinterested in wildlife. The problem is as well. The management plan of each reserve as
that wildlife conservation has been reduced to narrow well as the annual plans and the work completed
constituencies; the public has lost interest in it. But must be discussed with the committee. This will
public support for wildlife is crucial. The Task Force, require an eventual amendment of the Wildlife
therefore, suggests that much more must be done to (Protection) Act, 1972, but states can take the
expand the concern, to involve different segments of leadership in this. The effective functioning of
the society in wildlife conservation and to provide an such committees must become models for others
incentive for states to take this issue seriously. to emulate.
The cases of Kaziranga national park in Assam or b. As there are large numbers of people living
Kanha in Madhya Pradesh are relevant here. Public within and adjacent to reserves, these committees
reputation and pride has led the state governments to must include their representatives so that
recognise and facilitate these protected areas. discussions can be initiated with them.
Similarly, the reputation of each state government and
its people must be enjoined to the protection of tigers. C. On strengthening professional expertise in
conservation
2. The state chief wildlife warden must have a
background and interest in wildlife conservation. 1. Create a sub-cadre of wildlife specialists and
The position of the chief wildlife warden is professionals.
critical in states, for this official is a statutory authority The need for this sub-cadre has been discussed
under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, and is for many years, but little of substance has happened
responsible for all wildlife-related work and oversees in this regard. The issue that remains unresolved is

The way ahead 33

 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

whether the service should be created as a separate modern management, to be both a specialist and
wildlife (parks) service, or whether it should be a integrationist in professions. This is even more
sub-cadre within the forestry services. important in the area of forestry and wildlife
As early as in 1973, the then prime minister Indira management. On one hand, wildlife management
Gandhi wrote to all chief ministers, asking them to demands a high order of expertise, specialisation and
introduce a specialised management for parks and interest. On the other, a large number of wildlife is
sanctuaries. She suggested an approach in which found outside protected areas, which requires
states with important wildlife populations would mainstreaming the knowledge to foresters of all
create wildlife departments under the forest types. In addition, there are people living within the
department; there would be a separate wildlife service habitats of wild animals inside and outside
and forest officers would be given a choice to opt for protected areas. The forestry and wildlife profession
this service. Specialised training would be provided to has to be capable of incorporating their concerns and
this cadre, which would be responsible for managing working as developmental agencies in the reserves.
national parks and sanctuaries exclusively. It is for this reason the Task Force suggests the
In 1976, the Central government issued detailed following needs to be done:
guidelines for the creation of wildlife wings in the
states. The guidelines included a provision that in a. Creation of a sub-cadre of wildlife specialists
other forests, the existing territorial officers of the within the Indian Forest Service. The training for
forest department would continue to be responsible this sub-cadre must be carefully reviewed by the
for wildlife conservation. But to improve their work Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy, Wildlife
in wildlife conservation, the Centre asked the chief Institute of India and other expert institutions so
wildlife wardens of the states to make end-of-the-year that the course is rigorous and comprehensive.
entries in their confidential reviews with regard to the b. The wildlife training provided to all others must
work done and interest evinced in conservation. also be reviewed so that it can mainstream the
The 1980 report of the Committee for learning.
Recommending Legislative Measures and c. The wildlife service should have a provision for
Administrative Machinery for Ensuring lateral entry by wildlife scientists, so that
Environmental Protection also known as the N D professionals can also be part of the
Tiwari committee, which recommended the setting administration. In addition, there should be an
up of a department of environment in the country opportunity for continuous training and
also deliberated on this issue. In its view, For specialisation in this service during their career.
effective and scientific management of such reserves d. To mainstream concern for wildlife, the
a special sub-cadre of scientific personnel should be confidential reviews of the territorial officers
created within the forest department of states and should include an assessment from the state
Union territories. In addition, Personnel should wildlife warden (this was recommended in the
not be interchangeable with those in regular forest 1976 guidelines as well).
services, but should be assured their career e. To mainstream concern for peoples livelihoods,
advancement within their sub-cadre by extending the confidential reviews of both the wildlife and
the concept of flexible complementation. However, forest services must include an assessment of
one member of this committee suggested there their work done in this area. This is particularly
should be a separate central wildlife service, important for wildlife service officers, who have
dedicated to the protection of species and parks. to build relationships with local communities
Currently, the training for the Indian Forest and engage them in conservation.
Service officers is conducted primarily at the Indira
Gandhi National Forest Academy (IGNFA) in D. On strengthening supervision in the project
Dehradun. The IGNFA curriculum includes courses in
wildlife that provide orientation to officers, but no 1. Conduct independent audits of each reserve
specialisation. The Wildlife Institute of India also annually and put this information in the public
offers ongoing training courses in wildlife domain.
management for mid-career professionals. But these As discussed above, an independent assessment
professionals do not necessarily qualify for work in of tiger reserves must be done every year by a wide-
wildlife areas after this specialisation. ranging team of experts and activists. The purpose of
The Task Force has reviewed the options for a this management audit is to establish the
dedicated service versus a sub-cadre service, and benchmarks for each reserve and to track its
also discussed this issue with a wide-ranging group development carefully. If this audit is done well, it
of experts and officers. will obviate Sariska-type events for it will provide
It believes that it is important, in this age of forewarning information, which can then be used for

34 The way ahead

 TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS

management and policy decisions. together. The Task Force suggests creating a
What will be critical here is to (i) ensure consortium that can network and facilitate research
transparency in the audits and (ii) make certain that and use its outcomes for policy directions.
all reports are made available in the public domain. The fact is that tigers cannot be saved unless the
institutions set up to protect and manage tiger habitats
2. Build collaborative networks with researchers are saved. It is clear that what is needed is not to create
to monitor change. new institutions per se, but to make the existing
There are a number of individuals and mechanisms functional and effective. This Task Force
institutions engaged in monitoring change in habitats believes that this can only happen with greater public
and species in and around protected areas. There are disclosure, support and interest so that institutions are
also researchers engaged in understanding the made accountable and are under pressure to perform.
human-park relationships. There is currently no There are no quick fixes to institutional reform. But
coordinated project to bring all this research reform is essential and must be undertaken.

Recommendations at a glance
Imperatives for strengthening Project Tiger:
Political commitment and coordination at the national and state levels
Coordination with the tiger range states
Enhancing the capacity of the Project Tiger directorate and coordination within the
Union ministry of environment and forests

The recommendations:
1. Reorganise Union ministry of environment and forests to create two separate
departments: that of environment and that of forests and wildlife.
2. Revitalise the National Board for Wildlife and/or request the prime minister to chair
the steering committee of the Project Tiger for the coming few years.
3. Convert the Project Tiger directorate into the Project Tiger Authority by giving it
administrative autonomy. Project Tiger should report annually to the Indian
Parliament so that political commitment to the project deepens.
4. Create a state steering committee for Project Tiger with the chief minister of the tiger
range state as its chair.
5. Create management committees for each protected area, which will include local
community representatives, NGOs and researchers.
6. Create a sub-cadre of wildlife specialists and professionals.
7. Conduct independent audits of each reserve annually and put this information in the
public domain.
8. Build collaborative networks with researchers to monitor change.

For Centre-state working:

9. To ensure that states follow the guidelines and prescriptions laid down for the
project, a system of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the project states
should be instituted. Any deviation or default from the MoU should be reported to the
steering committee.
10. The director, Project Tiger, should be delegated powers to deal with the states under
Section (3) of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, especially for the enforcement of
Project Tiger guidelines.
11. The role of the director, Project Tiger, should not remain confined to tiger reserves,
but needs to be extended to other crucial forest areas as well that have viable tiger
populations.
12. The Project Tiger directorate should be restructured and made into an administrative
authority at the outset. In the meantime, work should be initiated to use the statutory
precedent of the Central Zoo Authority to establish a Project Tiger Authority. This
statutory role will greatly improve planning, supervision and monitoring functions.

The way ahead 35

 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

3.2 The protection agenda

The purpose behind creating a protected area and a protected areas, the creation of a tiger reserve is an
tiger reserve is to provide special and additional administrative process. In most cases, tiger reserves
protection to the biodiversity, beyond what is are created as administrative entities over-arching a
provided in other categories of forests. national park, adjoining sanctuaries or reserve forests.
Under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, The idea works to advantage as it fits in very well
sanctuaries and national parks are provided with a with the logic behind a tiger reserve. The requirement
higher level of protection. The Act is designed to of a tiger reserve is the demarcation of the area into
constrain human activity and presupposes that there the core (invariably protected as a national park) and
will be no human presence in national parks and the buffer (both/either a sanctuary or forest area).
minimal human presence in sanctuaries. It has The core is accorded the highest level of
introduced a permit system under which the chief protection; no human habitation is recommended
wildlife warden can grant permits for use of forest- here. The buffer allows for people to live in. But the
based biomass or products, but these are restrictive basic laws regulating the national park and the
and limited. sanctuary continue to be in place. The creation of a
The Act specifies that: tiger reserve does demand that the entire area of the
No person shall destroy, exploit or remove any buffer (which may have been a sanctuary or a reserve
wild life including forest produce from a sanctuary forest earlier) comes under a unified control in
or destroy or damage or divert the habitat of any wild other words, the same senior officer controls the
animal by any act whatsoever or divert, stop or operations of the department related to the buffer as
enhance the flow of water into or outside the well as the core area. This is meant to generate a
sanctuary, except under and in accordance with a cohesive and comprehensive management plan for
permit granted by the chief wildlife warden, and no the entire tiger reserve.
such permit shall be granted unless the state The focus in the tiger reserves is to increase
government being satisfied in consultation with the infrastructure for protection. Till date, increasing
Board that such removal of wildlife from the protection has been considered the equivalent of
sanctuary or the change in the flow of water into or increasing the infrastructure for protection. The
outside the sanctuary is necessary for the Tiger Task Force, in collaboration with the Project
improvement and better management of wildlife Tiger directorate, has assembled data on some vital
therein, authorises the issue of such permit: elements of current infrastructure to understand
Provided that where the forest produce is where the lacunae lie. The Project Tiger directorate
removed from a sanctuary the same may be used for also provided the Task Force with detailed allocation
meeting the personal bona fide needs of the people and expenditure statements for each tiger reserve.
living in and around the sanctuary and shall not be Analysis of these is vital to understand the source of
used for any commercial purpose. weakness in the field and to see if these have been
While this is the legal formulation for creating misinterpreted, resulting in non-workable strategies.

Funds and protection are Bhadra in Karnataka, Panna in Madhya Pradesh

and Tadoba-Andhari in Maharashtra. These reserves
An analysis of funds allocated for each tiger reserve received over Rs 1 crore annually. Older reserves like
reveals some important trends: Kanha or Corbett slip to 5th and 7th positions
respectively in this respect.
1. The oldest reserves such as Kanha in Madhya
Pradesh, Corbett in Uttaranchal or Ranthambhore in 3. The annual average allocation across the country
Rajasthan may have received the highest amount of is Rs 72.12 lakh per reserve per year since the
total funds since the inception of the programme. But inception of the programme.
when this is analysed against the number of years
since the reserve has been set up, the picture 4. But if what is allocated to a reserve is seen as
changes. proportional to the area the reserve covers, interesting
findings appear. This is assuming that the larger the
2. Instead of Kanha or Corbett, the reserves that area, the higher the money needed for its management
have received the highest average yearly allocation and protection. This estimation does not take into

36 The way ahead

 TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS

ALLOCATION OF FUNDS TO TIGER RESERVES FROM INCEPTION TO 2004-2005

3,500

3,000

2,500
(Rs in lakh)

2,000

1,500 National average

1,000

500

Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam
Sunderbans

Tadoba-Andhari

Pench (Maha)
Kanha

Corbett

Ranthambhore

Kalakad-Mundanthurai
Sariska

Bandipur

Simlipal

Palamau

Panna

Dudhwa

Valmiki

Periyar

Manas

Melghat

Namdapha

Pench (MP)

Bandhavgarh

Buxa

Bhadra

Indravati

Satpura

Dampa

Pakke-Nameri
Name of tiger reserve

Source: Project Tiger directorate

AVERAGE YEARLY ALLOCATION OF FUNDS TO TIGER RESERVES FROM INCEPTION TO 2004-2005

160

140

120

100
(Rs in lakh)

80
National average
60

40

20

0
Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam
Kalakad-Mundanthurai

Sunderbans
Tadoba-Andhari

Ranthambhore

Pench (Maha)

Simlipal
Bhadra

Panna

Satpura

Kanha

Corbett

Sariska

Valmiki

Bandhavgarh

Dudhwa

Pench (MP)

Buxa

Bandipur

Palamau

Periyar

Namdapha
Pakke-Nameri

Manas

Indravati

Melghat
Dampa

Name of tiger reserve

Source: Project Tiger directorate

account the ecological significance of the reserve. 2.58 lakh per sq km since it was created in 1978.
But in this case, the highest recipients are, still,
Panna and Pench in Maharashtra. Sariska in Rajasthan 5. But if an estimate is made on the basis of per
comes a close third. These are the smallest reserves in square kilometre per year since the reserve has been
the country, with Pench covering just 257 sq km. in operation, Bhadra still scores the highest with Rs
Pench has invested over Rs 3 lakh per sq km 30,000 per sq km per year, while Sariska stands at
since its inception in 1992. Sariska has invested Rs number seven with Rs 10,000 per sq km per year, still

The way ahead 37

 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

ALLOCATION OF FUNDS TO TIGER RESERVES PER SQUARE KILOMETRE FROM INCEPTION TO 2004-2005

3.50

3.00

2.50

2.00
(Rs in lakh)

1.50
National average
1.00

0.50

Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam
Sunderbans
Tadoba-Andhari

Kalakad-Mundanthurai
Pench (Maha)

Panna

Sariska

Corbett

Bhadra

Ranthambhore

Palamau

Periyar

Kanha

Valmiki

Bandipur

Pench (MP)

Buxa

Dampa

Dudhwa

Bandhavgarh

Simlipal

Melghat

Namdapha

Satpura

Manas

Indravati

Pakke-Nameri
Name of tiger reserve

Source: Project Tiger directorate

ALLOCATION OF FUNDS TO TIGER RESERVES PER TIGER FROM INCEPTION TO 2004-2005

160

140

120

100
(Rs in lakh)

80

60

40
National average
20

0
Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam

Sunderbans
Tadoba-Andhari
Ranthambhore

Kalakad-Mundanthurai
Dampa

Sariska

Pench (Maha)

Palamau

Panna

Periyar

Buxa

Bandipur

Indravati

Bhadra

Kanha

Valmiki

Pench (MP)

Simlipal

Corbett

Satpura

Manas

Dudhwa

Bandhavgarh

Namdapha

Melghat

Pakke-Nameri

Name of tiger reserve

Source: Project Tiger directorate

higher than Corbett (Rs 6,000 per sq km per year) and Ranthambhore climb to the top. Reserves like Kanha
Kanha (Rs 5,000 per sq km per year). and Corbett, with higher numbers of tigers, drop to
14th and 18th positions respectively closer to the
6. The Task Force has used the number of tigers in national average of Rs 23 lakh per tiger from the
the reserve (2001 census) as a rough indicator of the inception of the programme. But it is reserves like
allocation of funds vis-a-vis the importance of the Sundarbans in West Bengal that deserve attention,
habitat. The estimate changes again. This time, the because they get less than Rs 8.76 lakh per tiger, as
reserves of Dampa in Mizoram, Sariska and compared to the over Rs 1 crore per tiger that was

38 The way ahead

 TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS

spent in Sariska since its inception. compared to the Rs 19.66 lakh spent by Corbett and
Rs 8.76 lakh by Sundarbans.
7. Sundarbans has the highest number of tigers This indicator is not to count the money per
245 according to the 2001 census and the least tiger. But it is useful as a management tool to
investment in terms of both area and tigers. Corbett understand that it is not necessary that money alone
has a total investment of Rs 27 crore spread over 32 will make the difference for tiger preservation (see
years, for an area of 1,316 sq km, and an estimated graphs: Allocation of funds to tiger reserves from
population of 137 tigers. inception to 2004-2005; Average yearly allocation of
On the other hand, there is Ranthambhore, funds to tiger reserves from inception to 2004-2005;
which shows an investment of Rs 23.5 crore spread Allocation of funds to tiger reserves per square
over the same years and area as Corbett, with an kilometre from inception to 2004-2005; Allocation of
estimated population of 35 tigers. Till date, therefore, funds to tiger reserves per tiger from inception to
Ranthambhore has invested Rs 67 lakh per tiger, 2004-2005).

Personnel and protection collect information from each reserve about the
number, age and training of personnel to better assess
It is clear that protection or management is not the problems in the country.
possible without trained and capable staff. The issues reviewed in this survey were:
At one level, the forestry sector suffers from poor The personnel in place and their ability to
cadre management and training. The revival of direct become an effective force for protection
recruitments to the state forest services have The infrastructure provided to the force to
significantly upset the promotion prospects lower effectively monitor and protect tiger reserves
down, leading to frustration in the subordinate The issues of human resource management and
forestry cadres the rangers and the frontline staff. strategies to make the best use of the available
At another, the decay in the forestry services have led infrastructure
to deteriorated capacity-building (see Annexure X: A
critique of cadre-building in the forestry sector and Consultations with experts suggested that the staff
suggestions for human resource improvement). strength, as well as the staffs capacity and ability to
This is an issue that came up in most discussions protect and guard, had deteriorated over the decades.
the Tiger Task Force was involved in. So the Task The problem was two-fold: one, the field staff
Force worked with the Project Tiger directorate to sanctioned for particular tiger reserves had not been

AVERAGE AREA COVERED BY GUARDS IN TIGER RESERVES

180

160

140
Area covered (in sq km)

120

100

80

60

40
National average
20

0
Tadoba-Andhari

Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam
Namdhapa

Pakke-Nameri

Kalakad-Mundanthurai
Sundarbans

Sariska

Dudhwa and Katarniaghat

Dampa

Indravati

Simlipal

Bandhavgarh

Bandipur

Pench (MP)

Satpura

Kanha

Corbett

Bhadra

Valmiki

Ranthambhore
Manas

Melghat

Panna

Palamau

Pench (Maha)

Periyar

Buxa

Name of tiger reserve

Source: Compiled from data received from Project Tiger directorate

The way ahead 39

 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

AREA COVERED BY STAFF OF TIGER RESERVES

Tiger reserve Total area covered by a staff (in sq km)

Ranger Forester Guard

Bandhavgarh 89.38 72.63 23.24

Bandipur 150.80 62.83 14.93

Bhadra 123.00 28.94 10.70

Buxa 27.11 10.26 3.06

Corbett 101.23 73.11 11.34

Dampa 166.67 250.00 166.67

Dudhwa and Katarniaghat 80.12 25.70 10.48

Indravati 2,799.00 215.31 39.99

Kanha 162.08 27.39 12.23

Kalakad-Mundanthurai 66.67 61.54 20.00

Manas 258.18 48.14 10.18

Melghat 98.65 23.29 7.55

Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam 67.32 51.71 10.59

Namdapha 248.13 116.76 66.17

Pakke-Nameri 301.50 86.14 25.66

Palamau 114.00 36.64 5.86

Panna 31.88 28.53 7.32

Pench (Maharashtra) 85.67 32.13 5.14

Pench (Madhya Pradesh) 54.14 22.97 13.30

Periyar 70.64 21.00 5.36

Ranthambhore 74.11 23.00 9.88

Sariska 108.25 34.64 13.53

Satpura 61.92 30.96 12.28

Simlipal 196.43 74.32 25.00

Sundarbans 215.42 112.39 25.34

Tadoba-Andhari 124.00 56.36 11.07

Valmiki 120.00 42.00 10.91

National average 228.85 81.20 15.35

Source: Compiled from data received from the Project Tiger directorate

deployed. Two, the existing field staff was old and guard or the forester. Their duties include patrolling
unfit for physically strenuous activity like patrolling their beats and walking the beats assigned to them
in the forests. during night, camping at chowkis built to facilitate
Much of the physical labour of securing the patrolling deeper into the forests, carrying out anti-
protected area is the responsibility of either the forest poaching raids and maintaining fire lines and patrol

40 The way ahead

 TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS

roads. For the skilled poacher, the forest-dependent Ranthambhore there is one staff to manage every sq
villager as well as for the tourist, the guard is the face km of the area.
of the forest department. Therefore, these two ranks
almost hold the fort together for the forest 4. The tiger reserves in northeast India show
department. definitive low coverage by the forest department
staff. In the case of Nameri in Assam, a forest guard
Coverage and efficiency covers an area of 25.66 sq km on an average. In
There is no quantitative standard for measuring the Namdapha in Arunachal Pradesh, it deteriorates to
efficiency of field staff in terms of the area they cover, 66.17 sq km and in Dampa, a dismal 166.67 sq km.
particularly as ecosystems and habitats differ across This must be understood in the context of the land
the country. But a comparative analysis across the 28 use patterns in the region coupled with the type of
reserves shows up trends on one very significant terrain these reserves cover. Traditionally, these
parameter: the basic area that a forest guard is areas have not had high intensity coverage by any
supposed to cover. The Task Force analysed data for government or administrative staff. Much of these
three field-level staff positions rangers, foresters areas also remain inaccessible to people or
and guards and watchers (see table: Area covered by communities which have not inhabited the regions
staff of tiger reserves). traditionally, and who, therefore, are inept at
navigating in and using the region, especially during
1. There is a large variation in the area that a guard the so-called tough periods, such as the monsoons.
or any field officer needs to cover in different parks A stereotypical approach is to ask for an increase in
that fall under a tiger reserve. In the case of guards, protection staff in these regions, despite the fact that
the most well-covered is Buxa tiger reserve in West during monsoons, the period when the threat of
Bengal, with a guard for almost every three sq km. poaching peaks, the staff will find it almost
The worst in terms of area covered is Dampa tiger impossible to move around in the reserves.
reserve in Mizoram, with a dismal 166.67 sq km to be A more logical way to progress in these regions
covered, on an average, by each guard posted there. with a view to increase protection would, therefore, be
to look for ways to involve people who have
2. On an average, a guard in the countrys tiger traditionally inhabited and used these areas for
reserves covers 15.35 sq km. But if the reserves in the various livelihood needs. A case in point is the
extremes are removed from the data spectrum, then Namdhapa tiger reserve. The area of the reserve is
the average for most in the country is 13.54 sq km per used by, besides other communities, the Lisu, who are
guard. It is also difficult to estimate if the number of legendary for their hunting abilities and are known to
guards available in the area makes an overwhelming utilise and move around the forests with ease during
difference in the protection strategy. all seasons. It would be innovative to examine the
Given the diversity of ecosystems, there possibility of converting the expertise of this tribe, at
obviously cannot be one country-average of the area present perceived as a threat, to the advantage of the
that a forest guard or any other forest field officer reserve. A proposal to utilise the resources, human
should cover. The task depends on regional, power and expertise of the Lisu community in the
topological and ecological variations. Under ideal protection of Namdhapa has been discussed in
situations there should be adequate guards for each another section of this report (see chapter 3.4:
beat of a tiger reserve, given the beat is of a Innovative protection agenda). The opportunity of
rationalised size (see graph: Average area covered by employing similar strategies in other parks in
guards in tiger reserves). northeast India should be explored as against the
The Task Force does not have complete data to approach to increase armed personnel which could, at
analyse the position of guards as compared to the the least, turn out to be dangerously explosive.
beats. But for the few cases it has information on, the
sanctioned number of guards at present does not 5. A peculiar situation arises in the case of reserves
correspond to the number of beats in the tiger falling in naxalism-affected areas, such as
reserves. Take the case of Bandhavgarh, where Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam in Andhra Pradesh,
against 62 beats there are 50 sanctioned posts of Valmiki in Bihar, Palamau in Jharkhand and
forest guards; even though the reserve has hired more Indravati in Chhattisgarh. Each one of these reserves
guards than it had been sanctioned, six beats remain has a high number of guards but, as experts point out,
vacant. real patrolling in these regions is made impossible by
the prevailing security situation.
3. However, analysis shows that if only the core Even here, the clamour has been for an increase
areas of a reserve are taken as its key patrolling area, in patrolling and staff in these vulnerable and
then in reserves like Sariska, Periyar (Kerala) or troubled reserves. But the fact is that the patrolling

The way ahead 41

 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

staff available with the forest department is already strategies to:

very high here. In Valmiki, the forest guard on an a. fill those vacancies of guards, the recruitment for
average has to cover an area of 10.91 sq km; in which has already been sanctioned; and
Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam, 10.59 sq km. Palamau is b. find alternative ways of patrolling those reserves
as low as one forest guard for 5.86 sq km. which are under the control of insurgents.
It is also a fact that the vacancies in the position
of the guard in these insurgency-ridden reserves are Again, the government must look at other options
48.57 per cent, again symptomatic of a state under and explore alternative strategies to manage these
pressure. parks. The old belief that more guards mean better
Therefore, what is clearly needed is to devise protection has been tested and has failed.

The vacant staff position NUMBER OF VACANCIES ACROSS POSTS

IN TIGER RESERVES
The issue is not what the total staff strength is, but
how many staff positions have been filled. The Task 3,500
Force has found that: 3,000
Total sanctioned
Number of staff 2,500 Vacant
1. Almost one-fifth or 18.2 per cent of the posts for
field staff (forest guards, foresters and rangers) 2,000
remain vacant across 28 tiger reserves. 1,500
The sanctioned total staff strength for all reserves
1,000
is 4,353 personnel. Of these, 792 posts are lying
vacant. Vacancies were marginally higher, at 19.24 500
per cent, in the case of the forest guard who forms the 0
frontline of protection as compared to the forester Senior Range forest Foresters Guards Others
officers officers
(14.24 per cent) (see graph: Forest guard vacancy Designation of staff
(percentage)).
Source: Project Tiger directorate

2. But it is important to review the vacancies the bottom-rung (the crucial foot soldiers)
in terms of the level of the staff. It is clear that have higher vacancies. In fact, there are 108

FOREST GUARD VACANCY (PERCENTAGE)

70

60 Naxalism affected

50 Northeast tiger reserves

Vacancy (in percentage)

40

30
National average
20

10

0
Tadoba-Andhari
Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam
Sundarbans

Pakke-Nameri

Namdhapa

Dudhwa and Katarniaghat

Kalakad-Mundanthurai
Bandipur

Simlipal

Palamau

Indravati

Valmiki

Bhadra

Buxa

Manas

Periyar

Panna

Corbett

Pench (Maha)

Melghat

Ranthambhore

Satpura

Sariska

Kanha

Dampa

Pench (MP)

10
Bandhavgarh

20

Name of tiger reserve

Source: Project Tiger directorate

42 The way ahead

 TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS

sanctioned positions for senior officers (chief reserves with respect to overall vacancies in the
conservator-assistant chief conservator). Of these, 96 forest department. Today, across the country, there
are filled which means 11 per cent vacancy in this are 76,174 guards in position for a sanctioned
category. strength of 87,592. Vacancies are as low as 13.04 per
cent. This indicates vacancies are lower in non-
3. The forest guard vacancy in Sundarbans, wildlife areas than in protected areas. Thus there
Bandipur in Karnataka and Simlipal in Orissa are of must be redeployment from the other forest sectors
particular concern (these are non-insurgency and and divisions to the wildlife divisions and protected
non-northeast reserves discussed earlier). areas. There is no reason why the state of frontline
staff should be any worse in the protected areas than
4. It is important to review vacancies in tiger in non-protected areas.

Age of the staff been done in Sariska recently, is certainly not the
answer. The forest guard is the equivalent of the
A related issue is the need to tackle the problem infantry for the forest department and must be
of the ageing force that exists at the field level. tested before recruitment for physical fitness
The average age of guards posted in the reserves is and other abilities that would hold him in good stead
42 years, whereas that of the forester and ranger is 46. in the field. There is a strong case for re-evaluating
The standard procedure of recruiting existing the criteria by which recruitments of forest guards
non-permanent staff to merely fill vacancies, as has are made.

AVERAGE AGE OF GUARDS IN TIGER RESERVES

60

50
National average
Average age in years

40

30

20

10

0
Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam

Kalakad-Mundanthurai
Dudhwa and Katarniaghat

Sundarbans
Palamau

Simlipal

Ranthambhore

Dampa

Sariska

Bandhavgarh

Corbett

Kanha

Pench (MP)

Panna

Indravati

Bandipur

Satpura

Bhadra

Pench (Maha)

Pakke-Nameri

Periyar

Tadoba-Andhari

Namdhapa

Name of tiger reserve

Source: Project Tiger directorate

Capacity of the staff people are being trained in the profession of forestry
in the country. For instance, most colleges that train
It is vital that staff is fully trained to ensure effective rangers the first rung of field officials have
protection and management. virtually closed down. This is extremely worrying: it
implies forest services will have lesser numbers of
1. It is important to understand that the state of trained personnel to manage an extremely
affairs in wildlife reserves is symptomatic of the specialised field (see graph: Number of trained
situation in the forestry sector in general. Lesser rangers passing out of state forest service courses).

The way ahead 43

 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

2. According to data provided by field directors, a

TRAINED GUARDS IN TIGER RESERVES (PERCENTAGE)
mere 10 per cent of the guards (field staff) in tiger
reserves have been imparted any kind of training in 120

Percentage of trained guards

wildlife. Out of 28 tiger reserves, 16 have no trained 100

in each tiger reserve

forest guards at all. While the primary role of the
forest guards is that of patrolling, there is no doubt 80

that in-job training on wildlife issues enhances their 60

self-esteem as well as that of the work they do, thus
40
increasing efficiency (see graph: Trained guards
(percentage) in tiger reserves). 20

Kalakad-
Mundanthurai

Bandhavgarh
Panna

Pench (MP)

Sundarbans

Indravati
Corbett

Satpura
Dampa

Periyar

Kanha
Deployment strategy: forest camps
There is no doubt that at the centre of this issue is the
idea of using strategic force instead of a large force.
This demands two things from the tiger reserve
management: one, an effective deployment of Name of tiger reserve

personnel and two, a more efficient use of existing Note: Tiger reserves from where no information was received have not been
machinery and infrastructure. That this has not included above.
Source: Project Tiger directorate
happened in a concerted manner is evident from the
way permanent camps are utilised as bases to
monitor the habitat. well protected, with a camp for every 3.78 sq km.
In Panna the camps, on an average, cover 10.04
1. On an average, a patrolling camp for the total sq km. But as the entire area comprises the core,
tiger reserve buffer and core covers 36.34 sq the coverage per camp is much higher.
km. The fact is that patrolling is concentrated in the The Kalakad-Mundanthurai tiger reserve in
core area. Therefore, a better estimation would be to Tamil Nadu has the lowest number of patrolling
calculate the number of camps vis-a-vis the core area camps only one patrolling camp for the entire
of a reserve. 800 sq km reserve area.
In Kanha, there is a camp for every 11.31 sq km
for the total area. Assuming concentration of 2. The problem is that the camps present in most
camps is highest in the core, this reserve has a reserves are poorly equipped and guards have to
camp for every 3.12 sq km. work in deplorable conditions, with no water, food
Interestingly, in Ranthambhore, there is a camp or other facilities. This makes it even more difficult
for every 3.23 sq km of the core. Melghat is equally to use the camps effectively for protection.

NUMBER OF TRAINED RANGERS PASSING OUT OF STATE FOREST SERVICE COURSES

180
160
Number of trained rangers

140
120
100
80
Nation
al avera
60 ge

40
20
0
1978-80

1979-81

1980-82

1981-83

1982-84

1983-85

1984-86

1985-87

1986-88

1987-89

1988-90

1989-91

1990-92

1991-93

1992-94

1993-95

1994-96

1995-97

1996-98

1997-99

1998-00

1999-01

2000-02

2001-03

2002-04

2003-05

Years

Source: Project Tiger directorate

44 The way ahead

 TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS

Infrastructure greater moment; therefore, the skills of working with

communities need to be honed. A greater degree of
But a camp is not an automatic requisite for efficiency can be achieved if the staff is accordingly
protection. It also needs to be worked by managers, trained (see graph: Area covered by each camp (total
who must ensure that personnel are available for the area)).
camp and are prepared and vigilant. This demands a
strong internal management system, so that park 1. There is a constant demand on the part of the
authorities can ensure this is done. reserves to increase the number of vehicles available
Even if one were to remove the outliers or to forest officials. Depending upon the habitat,
exceptional cases of reserves in northeast India, where effective patrolling requires boats, bicycles as well as
the staff strength is low to begin with, the relation motorcycles. But as of now, no audit exists of how
between the number of forest guards in place and the efficiently these vehicles in the parks are used.
number of patrolling camps varies immensely. Anecdotal information gathered during interactions
The number of forest guards in the tiger reserves with officials has revealed that diversion of vehicles
vis-a-vis the number of camps shows a very small meant for patrolling to other purposes including
positive correlation of 0.152 (on a range of +1 to 1 tourism has been a practice in some parks. This
where +1 represents a perfect correlation between must be curtailed. At the same time, the old fleet of
them). This indicates the number of camps created in vehicles should be phased out after inventorisation.
a tiger reserve has almost no relation with the
number of guards available for patrolling. The guards 2. The Task Force has been unable to collect
are worth the money spent on them only if they have complete information on the number of guns and
been deployed in the field at strategic locations and other weapons available in each reserve. But it must
are not sitting idle. be noted here that:
Some tiger reserves have followed a more a. Most of the illegal hunting in the country is still
strategic policy of deploying larger numbers of field done by poachers using traditional arms and
staff in the core of the reserve than in the buffer, for ordinary 12-bore guns. In comparison, most of
the logic of an existing biodiversity-rich core the armed forest staff now carry double-barrel
demands the area be better patrolled. This is the case guns, rifles and revolvers.
in Kanha. There are some advantages to this strategy. b. The Central government has been generous in
The main purpose of the staff working in the core has terms of funds to state forest departments for the
to be of protection whereas in the buffer, interaction procurement of arms and ammunition. Therefore
with the villages inside and at the periphery is of funds, again, are not the problem.

AREA COVERED BY EACH CAMP (TOTAL AREA)

900

750
Area (in sq km)

600

450

300

150
National average
0
Tadoba-Andhari

Pench (Maha)
Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam

Namdapha
Kalakad-Mundanthurai

Pakke-Nameri

Pench (MP)
Sundarbans

Bandipur

Dudhwa and Katarniaghat

Indravati

Dampa

Simlipal

Valmiki

Satpura

Sariska

Bandhavgarh

Periyar

Bhadra

Melghat

Ranthambhore
Palamau

Kanha

Corbett

Panna

Manas

Name of tiger reserve

Source: Project Tiger directorate

The way ahead 45

 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

What we can learn from Sariska AVERAGE YEARLY FUND ALLOCATION: THE BEST AND
THE WORST
Sariska is a perfect case in point to highlight all that 100

Average yearly allocation (Rs in lakh)

the Task Force is discussing here. Unlike what has
been reported widely, Sariska seems to be well 80 National average
staffed and well protected. There are almost no
vacancies in the park; only two posts of foresters 60

and two of guards are vacant. Whereas, on an

40
average across all the 28 tiger reserves, more than
20 posts at forester and guard levels remain vacant
20
in each reserve.
If one compares the area that the field staff is 0
required to cover as part of protection work, then Kanha Corbett Sunderbans Kalakad- Periyar Sariska
Mundanthurai
on an average, a forester in Sariska looks after the
Name of tiger reserve
protection of 34.64 sq km and a guard 13.53 sq km.
This makes Sariska an above average case;
the national average for the area a forester AREA COVERED BY EACH CAMP
covers is 51.37 sq km and what a guard covers
is 15.34 sq km.
Area covered by each camp (in sq km)

400

800
350
SARISKA TIGER RESERVE: PERSONNEL IN PLACE, 300
SECURITY MISSING 250
200
Particulars At Sariska
150
Senior officers Sanctioned 4 100
Filled 4 50 National average
0
Rangers Sanctioned 8 Kanha Corbett Sunderbans Kalakad- Periyar Sariska
Mundanthurai
Filled 8 Name of tiger reserve
Foresters Sanctioned 25
PERCENTAGE OF TRAINED PERSONNEL
Filled 23
50
Percentage of trained personnel

Forest guards Sanctioned 64

Filled 63 40

Rest Sanctioned 204 30

Filled 203 20
Area covered per guard (sq km) Forester 34.64
10
Guard 13.53 NA
0
Kanha Corbett Sunderbans Kalakad- Periyar Sariska
India on average (sq km) Forester 63.13 Mundanthurai
Guard 21.75 Name of tiger reserve

Source: Compiled on the basis of data from Project Tiger directorate Source: Project Tiger directorate

c. However, forest staff are reluctant to use experience of these guards has, however, not been
firearms, as existing rules do not provide them very encouraging. For instance, Ranthambhore is
enough immunity when someone is killed or one reserve which has battalions of the Rajasthan
injured during firing. Armed Constabulary (RAC). But still, grazing
d. The Central government also provides assistance continues. The numbers of tigers are also down, as
for deployment of armed guards in reserves. The per the census done by the state task force.

46 The way ahead

 TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS

Recommendations
It is clear that much more needs to be done to invest in the capacity and facilities
provided for protection and management of tiger reserves. But it is equally clear that there
are no single answers to the problems of the reserves. The Task Force believes that a single
or simple contention that the answer to tiger protection is to invest more resources,
infrastructure or personnel for protection and management, is clearly not borne out by the
facts.

1. The reserves that have received the most financial investment have not necessarily
fared as the best managed or protected reserves in the country. Funds or infrastructure is
not the only determinant for success.
In fact, these resources can be counter-productive if the strategy for management is
not well considered and operationalised. For instance, Sariska and Ranthambhore, both
in Rajasthan, where the tiger has been reported to be under severe threat of extinction,
have received the heaviest investments for developing protection infrastructure. It is
important to address this issue. India, being a poor country with many competing
priorities, funds will always be scarce here for any given activity. The fact that the heavy
investments made in these reserves have not yielded fruits needs to be highlighted, so that
strategies that are indeed effective can be adopted.

Recommendation: Each reserve must have a specific and detailed strategy for protection.
The independent monitoring of the reserve must include an assessment of the
enforcement mechanisms in place and the patrolling efforts of field staff, so that policy
interventions can be designed.
The Task Force does not recommend the need for armed forces as the most
appropriate for protection. In fact, it finds that intervention of armed personnel in
protection of reserves is not necessarily the most appropriate response. Project Tiger has
provisions for providing central funding support to deploy armed personnel from central
reserve police and state police. But this experience, in many cases, has not been useful
because of the unfamiliar terrain and circumstances.

2. However, there are areas that have unique problems that need urgent and careful
review. These are:
i. The reserves in the northeastern part of the country, which are inaccessible and
occupy vast areas: Manas, 2,840 sq km; Nameri, 1,206 sq km; and Namdapha, 1,985 sq
km. Except for Manas, which is flat and largely accessible, the terrain in the other
reserves is extremely inhospitable for outsiders. The question is: what kind of
protection strategy should be applied in these areas? The convention more guards
per sq km will simply not work here.
ii. The reserves in the naxalite-hit areas, which are simply out of bounds for the forest
protection forces. These are also large Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam is the largest
reserve in the country with an area of 3,568 sq km. Indravati sprawls over 2,799 sq km,
and Palamau and Valmiki over 800 sq km each. Again, sanctioning more staff will not
work here, because they simply cannot be deployed. At present, these are reserves
with the highest vacancies in the field staff. In these reserves, what is needed is a
strategy that involves the armed protection forces and makes allies of the local people.
The alienation of the people because of the forest policy breeds support for naxalism;
wildlife is part of this problem.

Recommendation: There should be a clear strategy for protection in the northeastern

reserves, where local people will be the only ones capable of traversing and protecting the

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 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

area. There should also be a strategy for the reserves controlled by naxalites, where armed
intervention by the police might be the only option. In other cases, armed protection is not
necessarily the solution. The answer will be in the deployment and internal management
to make the most effective use of existing resources and infrastructure for protection.

3. There is no indicator by which it can be determined that the number of staff in any
reserve is adequate for its protection and management. In a country as vast as India, the
area that is patrolled by each staff, even in the best of circumstances as in Buxa tiger
reserve is 3 sq km, or 300 hectares. The average in the country is as high as 15.35 sq km,
particularly because of the vastness of the northeast region and its inaccessibility. Even
after removing these extremes, each guard is required to patrol 13.54 sq km (1,300
hectares).
Again, answers to this cannot lie in simply increasing numbers of the protection and
patrolling force. What is really needed is a careful assessment of the demand and the
adequacy of the staff as compared to the area, the ecological region and the nature of the
threat. For instance, in Kanha, one of the best managed tiger reserves, guards patrol 12.16
sq km on an average. In Ranthambhore, which is now known to have lost a large number
of its tigers, guards patrol 9.88 sq km on an average.
The issue that needs to be considered carefully is why does patrolling work in Kanha,
which has as per the last count protected its tigers, and not in Ranthambhore? Clearly, the
threat of poaching remains in both the reserves. In both, the number of people who live
inside and outside the boundaries are proportionally equal. But there could be other
contributing factors, such as the hostility of local people to the reserves, the pressure of
grazing because of lack of investment in neighbouring areas and mismanagement.

Recommendation: Further recruitment of staff foresters as well as guards must be

reserved, as far as possible, for local villagers. The villagers located within the reserve
(who are not being relocated) or the villagers who have been relocated outside the reserve
must get preferential jobs in the reserves. This will provide local people with a positive
stake in the protection of reserves. There should be direct recruitment and training
provided for the recruits.
The criterion for recruitment should be amended so that it relaxes the formal
educational qualifications needed for this position and instead values skills in jungle
craft. In addition, there should be provision for in-service training for locally recruited
staff.

4. The ability and capacity of the staff is an important consideration. As far as this is
concerned, most reserves are in the same boat. The average age in the country for guards
is 42 years, for foresters, 46 years and for rangers, 47 years. But there are cases of concern
in Palamau the average age of guards is 53 and in Simlipal it is 49 years. The problem
here is that states are cash-strapped and are downsizing staff. In the most recent cases of
recruitment, the effort has been to re-deploy persons from other services, which leads to
even more problems, or to hire temporary staff. It is not possible to look at this issue in
isolation and must be considered carefully in the light of the situation prevailing across
the country and solutions found accordingly.
As far as training for foresters and guards is concerned, the situation is far from
satisfactory in most reserves. The situation is unusual only in Corbett, and merits a
mention: all the guards and foresters have undergone formal training there. Kanha is next,
where 53 of the 71 posted foresters are trained. But the capacity of guards has not been
built in Kanha, with only six trained guards out of a total 159.
These are two of the top reserves in the country. In other words, the training of staff is
clearly critical for management.

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Recommendation: Training must be institutionalised so that each reserve has skilled and
committed personnel.

5. The other key determinant seems to be the presence and deployment of camps within
the reserves. It is clear that the reserves that seem to have made the best use of their camps
by increasing their numbers and locating them in vulnerable areas are the most
successful. But having a camp is not enough; it is also important that the camp is used and
this requires the internal management systems of the reserve to be tight and effective.
The other problem is that camps in many reserves lack basic facilities of water or
buildings. Without this, it is difficult for the guards to be posted for longer durations,
weakening protection. Therefore, this is clearly an area that needs investment. In Kanha,
for instance, the Task Force found that an attempt had been made to provide solar energy
for charging the batteries of the wireless sets.
Another issue that has been raised in meetings with the guards is the need for free
rations, so that they can avoid a trip to the market, which is often too far. This small
expense would save them time and boost their morale. The situation of the field staff,
particularly guards, in tiger reserves and other protected areas needs to be considered in
terms of facilities for their families. Currently, this category of staff lives within the
reserves in protection camps whereas their families live in the staff quarters of the reserve
and lack basic facilities such as schools for their children.
In other words, for effective management of the reserves, we need an able, capable and
well-equipped protection force. But getting this will require serious and substantive
changes in the way we invest in our natural and human capital.

Recommendation: There is a need to invest in basic facilities for the frontline staff. The
two key facilities this Task Force strongly recommends are:
a. Housing camps in neighbouring district towns, usually where the project headquarter
is based, for families so that the education of their children can be secured;
b. Free rations for guards living in the camps. This practice is followed by many
protection forces and helps in their work.
c. Each reserve must create a staff welfare fund out of the income from tourism, which
can be used to supplement medical and other benefits for the staff.

6. These incentives must come with responsibility. Currently, the special allowance
which is paid to staff within tiger reserves is taken for granted, as it becomes part of the
pay package. It does not lead necessarily to better performances.

Recommendation: Even as there is investment in basic facilities and incentives, there

must be disincentives and rewards built into the system, based on independent
monitoring. For instance, the provision for free ration and special allowance must be
withdrawn in reserves that score low on the rating chart. This should be done with
complete transparency so that it is not seen as political or discriminatory. In fact,
this move will be a test for the independence and rigour of the independent assessment
as well.

7. The issue of personnel in reserves needs a broader assessment as it concerns the state
of forest-related services across the country. The assessment of this Task Force is that this
service is facing key challenges that need urgent redressal. Our concern is:
a. The number of rangers being trained in the country is virtually down to zero. In other
words, over the coming years, there will be fewer trained personnel available in this
sector. There are 16,000 positions for rangers in the entire country. In 2003-2005, only
30 rangers passed out of the only functional training school in Kurseong, West Bengal.

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 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

b. The salary payments for state-level staff are in complete disarray in many areas
people do not get paid often for months on end. This situation cannot lead to high
morale and effective working in the field.
c. Then, even more seriously, reviews for staff have been waiting for years in many
cases. The situation is so bad that a person entering a service at a particular level is
likely to retire at the same rank. This is a clear failure of the administrators and has to
be dealt with immediately.

Recommendation: All the above recommendations will provide temporary relief unless
there is a review of the crisis in forestry services and steps are taken to address issues of
training, personnel development, staff reviews and salaries. This is necessary and urgent.

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3.3 The illegal trade agenda

Nearly every part of the tiger has a commercial value. a substantial amount of bones, which it was using for
Live tigers are sold as exotic pets. Traditional Asian its medicines. By the mid-1980s, not only was the
medicine uses tiger bone as an ingredient in a number stock of bones gone, but there were hardly any tigers
of different concoctions. The skin is used to make left in its wilderness. But tiger parts were still coming
magical amulets and novelties, and worn as part of from other countries, including India. The customs
traditional attire. The teeth and claws too become data from South Korea showed that the country had
amulets, while the tiger penis is an ingredient in imported six tonnes of tiger bones between 1975 and
reportedly powerful aphrodisiacs and tonics. 1992, which experts calculated would mean between
The tiger trade is primarily an export-oriented 500 to 1,000 dead tigers. The imports were from
trade for India. Tiger parts are not in demand in Indonesia and China which, it was assumed, meant
India, but have a large market abroad. The nature of that the country was being used for re-exports, as its
international trade in tiger parts is essential to own tigers were gone.
understand the business of tiger trade in India. In 1996, the UK-based NGO, the Environmental
There have been a few country-based or product- Investigation Agency (EIA) reported that there were
based studies conducted on tiger trade over the well established routes for the movement of tiger
past two decades. But as these studies have parts out of India. The parts were being exported to
been conducted by individual non-governmental Tibet either directly or through Nepal and Myanmar.
(domestic and international) organisations, the The business of tiger parts from India was seen to be
research has been incremental in nature and presents increasing in this period as tiger populations in
only the parts of a complete picture. southeast Asia decreased.5

The Chinese connection The early 1990s: flexed muscles

In the 1970s, tiger poaching was driven by demand By the early 1990s, international concern had peaked
for the skin (used as fur in the US and European on this issue. China, Taiwan and Japan were indicted
markets) as well as for the bones (used in traditional for their role in trade in tiger parts. In November
Chinese medicine). But anti-fur campaigns were 1993, US groups pressurised their government to
effective in reducing the demand for skins to some invoke the Pelly Amendment which allows the
extent1. government to impose bilateral trade sanctions
Yet the 1980s and early 1990s saw a new rush on any country endangering wildlife. The US
this time, increased demand for Chinese medicines government cracked down to impose trade sanctions
and, therefore, tiger bones and claws. The trade was on Taiwan but left out China, saying the White House
driven by economic growth in southeast and east felt that it had shown considerable progress in
Asia, including Japan, which at one time was the eliminating tiger trade. But critics believed that this
biggest importer of Chinese tiger medicines2. was more because of its own trade interests with
Between 1990 and 1992, over 71 tonnes of tiger China, growing at that time. In March 1994, when the
derivatives/products were imported into Japan3. newly created Global Tiger Forum met with 11 tiger
The other large post for trade has been Hong range countries and international NGOs as members,
Kong, which works as a hub for movement of tiger China, though invited, stayed away.6
goods to other parts of the world, including Chinese But international pressure prevailed and by 1994
migrant communities in the US, Canada, the UK and China, Taiwan and South Korea announced bans on
Europe. Between 1990-92, Hong Kong was known to trade in tiger bones and their use in traditional
import almost 48 per cent of the business in tiger medicines. The sanctions on Taiwan were lifted in
products (excluding grains, capsules and pills) from 1995, saying that substantial steps had been taken
China. Chinese authorities disclosed that in 1991, to halt tiger product trade. In 1999, the US passed
they exported 5,250 kg of liquid medicine, 15,079 legislation banning any product even claiming to
cartons of tablets and 31,500 bottles of tiger wine.4 contain tiger parts, purportedly done to check the use
This was at a time when the Chinese tiger of medicines which did not contain tiger bones, but
population was known to be almost decimated. It were labelled to do so.
was well known that during the 1950s, the tiger was But the international pro-tiger community was
seen as a threat to agricultural development in China looking for a victory. It asserted that China was not
and had officially been declared a pest; it was hunted the problem. In the late 1990s, WWF-TRAFFIC the
down by state-appointed teams. China accumulated same group that had blown the whistle on China

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now published its report, Far from a cure; the tiger In fact, there is evidence that illegal trade in tiger
trade revisited, in which it said that even though skins has surged since 2000. Four separate reports
illegal trade continued, investment by China in from international NGOs seem to suggest that the
enforcement was paying off.7 According to this international action, geared to ban trade and tighten
report, its surveys in the late 1990s found that in enforcement, is not bringing in the benefits that were
China and other non-range countries, the availability foreseen.
of tiger bone medicine had declined. Also, wholesale By 1999, the EIAs report State of the Tiger had
prices reported for raw tiger bone in the black market already warned that enforcement was not working in
in China and South Korea were lower in the late China. Chinese researchers found tiger medicines
1990s, suggesting a drop in demand. were freely available in pharmacies. In Japan as well,
Yet it was unclear whether such restrictions only medicines were available over the counter as well
forced the market to go underground, making as online, advertising tiger products as their
detection of the trade more difficult. It was also ingredients: this, when researchers found that
unclear whether they may have raised the stakes and, detection was more and more difficult in this
therefore, prices of tiger parts and the costs of underground market.8
poaching. The earlier reports that had shown a In October 2003, customs officers at a temporary
marked rise in tiger trade had been done with the help checkpoint in the Tibet Autonomous Region found,
of official statistics, open surveys and telephonic to their horror, a truck carrying a consignment of 31
interviews, but the reports in 2000 largely depended tiger skins, 581 leopard skins and 778 otter skins.
upon market reviews and attempts to penetrate the These were being transported into the region. The
illegal markets. Therefore, how comparative these haul, on the route to the Tibetan capital Lhasa,
figures were remains questionable. The shovelling of believed to be a major hub for this trade, was clearly
the trade underground may have had other impacts coming from India. Investigators found the Delhi
on the nature of the trade, making it undetectable or edition of the daily newspaper, The Times of India,
skewing statistics. It was also found that some stuck to the backs of the skins. All three of the
manufacturers labelled their products as tiger arrested traders had spent some time in a town just
products, though they contained other animal parts across the border from Ladakh.
like those of the leopards. When the EIA sent its researchers to track down the
Just as conservationists cannot be certain how link, it found shops selling garments made of tiger
much of the old processed medicines really skins. Traders in Lhasa have told the EIA that whole
contained tiger parts, so too is it uncertain whether tiger skins are sold to wealthy Chinese visitors from
the new processed medicines really do not. The Beijing and Hong Kong for decorative use in their
question do manufacturers continue to use tiger homes. Whole leopard skins are also sold out of
bone and just change the label was apparently the backrooms in Lhasa to wealthy Chinese and European
most sensitive one asked during interview surveys clients.9 The report concluded that though the skin
carried out for this report: most informants in trade is poorly understood and the end markets are
Canada, Singapore and Taiwan claimed to be unsure. diffuse, it is clear that China is the primary destination
Therefore, though there is a consensus that the for tiger and leopard skins from India.
traffic in bones and other parts has gone down Then in 2004, another report from WWF-TRAFFIC
relative to the mid-1980s, there is no conclusive on the Sumatran Tiger a critically endangered
proof or evidence to suggest that the demand is low species found that tiger part smuggling persisted,
enough, or substituted well enough by other even though there was an apparent curtailing in the
ingredients, to not affect tiger populations in India markets for tiger bones used in traditional Asian
and other Asian range states. medicines. This report found that tiger parts were
Part of this vagueness in understanding trade in sold to Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia
tiger parts also arises from the availability of fake and China. The report acknowledged that this was
tiger products or derivatives in the market. While a happening despite Sumatran Tigers being fully
part of the trade in fakes has always existed, how it protected by law, with tough provisions for jail time,
was altered, with the tiger trade being banned steep fines, as well as increased effort in tiger
in many parts of the world, remains unclear. conservation and building law enforcement and anti-
Consequently, how it impacts the demand for tiger poaching capacity. However, its authors could only
parts is also not clear. suggest that there should be increased enforcement
in Indonesia to check this illegal trade.10
The underground trade Also, it is clear that the advanced and highly
By early 2000, trade in tiger products and their policed industrial countries have not been able to
derivatives was clearly and most definitely illegal. control this illegal trade. The 2004 TRAFFIC-North
But it continued. America report on medicine markets in San

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 TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS

Francisco found that shops continued to sell progress India had made on its recommendations.
products made from wild animals. However, instead In the case of Japan, the team was more
of tiger bones the products contained leopard parts. circumspect. It asked the secretariat to assess the
The leopard is also an endangered animal and has effectiveness of the measures introduced by Japan to
been covered under the same restrictions. In the New control tiger trade.
York area, 41 per cent of the shops surveyed sold But in the case of China, the team was
tiger bones and seven per cent sold rhino horn ingratiatingly polite. It praised China for its
products (also banned). The report concluded that commitment to tiger conservation and said it was
the Rhino and Tiger Product Labeling Act, passed in satisfied that there is genuine commitment by
1998 in the US to ban the trade in these products (and Chinese officials to tiger conservation. It also
even their labelling), was having a nominal effect. recognised the economic and cultural sacrifice that
The report then asked for more education and public China had made in not using its stockpiled or captive-
awareness.11 bred tiger products in traditional medicine. While
Therefore, what is clear is that illegal trade this is undoubtedly the case, what is interesting
continues. It is the key reason for tiger poaching in is that the same mission did not find Indias
range countries like India and Indonesia. It is also conservation programme, done at enormous personal
apparent that the strategy to label the trade illegal has sacrifice by the poorest, worthy of mention.
only made it more difficult to detect and contain. In As far as the issue of illegal trade was concerned,
other words, as yet, international action on this the team noted that Chinese officials were clearly
critical issue has failed. bemused that their country should still be viewed as
But strangely, instead of focusing on the need for a consuming nation, and felt that it was perfectly
increased global action to stop illegal trade, the focus understandable that China should feel some
of the international NGOs, governments and agencies frustration at the lack of appreciation of its efforts.
has been on putting the blame on range countries like However, while it went out of its way to appease
India. They want India to invest more in guns, these sentiments, it noted the continuing
guards and enforcement, which will deal with the intelligence and evidence that China remains a
problem.12 While it is clear that India needs to do primary destination for tiger parts and derivates.
much more to improve its enforcement at home, it is What should then be done was not clear.13
equally clear that whatever it does will be inadequate In 2001, the first meeting of the CITES Tiger
if the international community cannot find answers Enforcement Task Force was held in Delhi. Later in
to the tiger part riddle. 2002, the task force organised a training programme
on illicit wildlife trade issues at the National Police
CITES on tiger trade Academy.
At the CoP 12, held in Santiago, Chile in 2002, it
The Convention on International Trade in was agreed that the standing committee would
Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) continue to review progress on these issues. The
is the international agreement that regulates this review prepared by the CITES secretariat reported that
trade. Since the early 1990s, CITES has been seeking to the National Board for Wildlife, chaired by the prime
control persistent illegal trade in tiger parts and minister, was taking measures to improve tiger
derivates. In 1994, at its 9th Conference of Parties conservation. It also continued to applaud Chinas
(CoP), a resolution was adopted to control this trade. commitment to combating illegal trade.14
When almost all countries complied and tiger trade In 2004, at CoP 13 in Bangkok, the secretariats
was made illegal, in 1997, at CoP 10, the parties report identified India and Nepal as particularly
strengthened this resolution to include specific steps good examples of countries where local communities
to address the decline in tiger populations and were being encouraged to play a part in, and benefit
mandated its standing committee to undertake from, the conservation of Asian big cats and their
political and technical missions to tiger range and habitats. At the same time, it noted that conflicts
consumer countries to improve enforcement. between cats, and humans and livestock, were a
In early 2000, the CITES political and technical common problem range states reported. But illegal
mission visited India, China and Japan. In the case of trade, it noted, was still rampant in the region.15
India, the mission was scathing in its denouncement The decision taken at CoP 13 was to direct the
of the governments programme for tiger secretariat to convene a special meeting of the
conservation. The team recommended that not only enforcement task force to examine the issue of illicit
must all parties to the convention refrain from trade in Asian big cat skins with a view to facilitating
providing financial support for tiger conservation in and improving the exchange of enforcement
India, it also directed the secretariat to report to the information and coordination of investigation.
45th meeting of the standing committee on the But things turned nasty around this time. At the

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 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

Captive tigers making their way into the market for illicit
products.
China has an active tiger breeding programme. In However, international NGOs are strongly
2000, the CITES technical mission reported that against any move to promote the captive breeding
there were 50 South China, 100 Bengal and Indo- of tigers for commercial purposes; they say that
China and 400 Siberian tigers in captivity. It was legalisation of the trade will only serve to
not clear what the country intended to do with this perpetuate a market demand. They also say that the
population, given the ban on tiger products trade. worldwide demand for tiger parts in traditional
Thailand has a similar programme. The Sriacha Chinese medicine and a booming demand for skins
tiger zoo has over 400 tigers, which the government is simply too vast to be catered to by farming; it will
says has microchips implanted on them to improve be more economical to kill tigers in the wild. The
detection. But little is known about the exact average cost of raising one tiger to maturity in
numbers of tigers being bred in captivity in the non-professional husbandry conditions is over
country and this is providing opportunities for US $2,000, they point out.20
illicit trade. An Environmental Investigation But the fact remains that these tigers remain in
Agency (EIA) report in early 2000 said that there cages. They are worthless because legal trade is not
were probably 1,000 tigers in captivity in Thailand; allowed. What, then, is their future? And what is
its investigations found that these tigers were their contribution to the illegal trade?

51st meeting of the standing committee, held in submitted a proposal to the 53rd meeting of the
Bangkok in October 2004, the secretariat reported standing committee, held in June 2005, which asked
that it had not received any written evidence of the for strengthened efforts to halt the illegal trade. The
progress to enact adequate legislation to protect wild US government wanted the secretary general to give a
species from Gambia or India. The committee report on his request to the Indian prime minister
instructed the secretariat to issue a notification and if the meeting had not occurred, a request to
recommending a suspension of commercial trade in convene the meeting at the earliest convenience.19
specimens of CITES-listed species with these two In the meeting, the Indian delegation managed to
parties; the notification was issued in December stall the move.
2004.16 In March 2005, this notification was But what is clear is that the global community,
withdrawn, based on the revised CITES legislation working through CITES, has being ineffective in
plan received from India, which consisted of Indias checking international trade in tiger parts. The
proposal to set up its own wildlife crime bureau, agreement, which has been established as a legal
among other things. The CITES secretariat said it has framework for the regulation and restriction of trade in
determined that India has shown good progress in species of wild animals and plants, has unfortunately
the adoption of legislation for implementing the become extremely malleable to petty country politics.
convention.17 CITES has often been criticised because of its
However, things did not end here. On April 12, dependence on trade measures. In this case, it is clear
2005 the secretary general of CITES wrote to the Indian that the ban on tiger parts, however essential, has
prime minister seeking an urgent appointment to pushed the trade underground and made it even
discuss issues of concern and how CITES and the more difficult to detect. It is clear that trade is
international community can come to Indias aid. He happening. It is also clear that the markets exist
said he was concerned that a specialised wildlife outside India in China, Tibet and even in the US.
crime unit had not yet been established and It is important at this stage, when the Indian tiger
that Jammu and Kashmir continued to engage in is being hunted mercilessly, that we review the
processing shahtoosh wool. He went on to say that effectiveness and role of global institutions like CITES.
the fall in tiger population would be a striking Global governance, which needs the cooperation
indictment upon all conservation efforts: CITES is not of all, desperately needs institutional reform to
willing for such a charge to be laid against it.18 make it more effective and meaningful in this
Armed with this letter, the US government interdependent world.

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Recommendations
It is clear that unless international trade in tiger parts is checked, there will be growing
pressure on the tigers of India. The tigers of India are one of the last remaining
populations of the big cats in south and southeast Asia. Therefore, there is bound to be
demand which leads to illegal poaching. Over the last several years, the efforts of the
international community to ban trade in tiger products, however important, has only
meant that the trade has gone more underground and has become more difficult to detect.

It is the assessment of this Task Force that the international community has failed to
investigate and break this trade. It is, therefore, very important for India to take proactive
and strong measures on the matter of international trade in wildlife. It must do the
following:

a. It must take up this issue with the international community through CITES. In this, the
Task Force strongly believes that the ministry must be very proactive to shape the
agenda at CITES to ensure that the international market for tiger products are
investigated. It is not enough for the international community to ask India to
strengthen its own domestic wildlife enforcement. This is very important and it must
be done. But this strengthened domestic policing will not be enough to check the
trade in tiger parts. The international community must be under pressure to combat
and destroy this trade.
b. India must work to build its bilateral relationships with China in this regard. The
Global Tiger Forum, which was set up to network and dialogue with tiger range
countries, has clearly proved to be inadequate. In fact, it has become irrelevant,
especially as China has still not joined the forum. India must disengage itself from
institutions that are not working and find strategies of engaging with China.
c. This Task Force believes it must be done bilaterally. It knows that both governments
are extremely concerned about issues related to tiger part trade. The Task Force,
therefore, suggests the Union environment minister take the lead in this regard by
discussing and developing a bilateral relationship with his counterpart in China, and
that this dialogue must be kept alive and ongoing.

It is critical that India takes the leadership on this issue and does not leave it to global
institutions which are proving inadequate in this regard.

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3.3a Domestic enforcement agenda

The trade of the tiger in India is banned under the setting up of a central task force that would oversee
Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. The tiger is a and coordinate the work of the central wildlife crime
Schedule I species, which means that it is data bank (also proposed) and the intelligence unit. It
endangered and strictly protected. But trade in tiger named this as the directorate of prevention of crime
parts continues and experts believe that the trade is against wildlife. This directorate proposed a legal
highly organised and run by a well-known select cell to pursue important cases in courts across the
group of people.1 country; an investigation wing for cases with
In January 2000, police seized four tiger skins, 70 national and inter-state reach and an operations cell
leopard skins, 221 blackbuck skins, 18,000 leopard to carry out undercover raids on organised crime.
claws, 150 kg leopard and tiger bones, 132 tiger The report also set out other urgently required
claws, two leopard teeth and one dried leopard penis actions needed to strengthen enforcement.4
from private properties in Khaga in Uttar Pradesh. Since then, the Union ministry of environment
This seizure was one the largest hauls of illegal and forests has played around with the idea of setting
wildlife products ever recorded in India, indicating a up this directorate. Every few years, the idea is
consistent and large-scale level of organisation. revived, but it dies a natural death. More recently,
Earlier, on December 18, 1999, three tiger skins perhaps because of the internal pressure generated
and 50 leopard skins had been seized by sales tax by the Sariska episode as well as the action initiated
officials from a truck in Ghaziabad, on the outskirts by the Convention on International Trade in
of Delhi. The skins were concealed in large jute bags, Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES),
and wrapped in polythene and layers of denim cloth. the idea has once again gained momentum. At the
The skins were fresh and each had a signature on the March 2005 meeting of the National Board for
back. The truck was bound for Siliguri in north Wildlife, the ministry submitted a proposal for a
Bengal, near India's borders with Nepal and Bhutan. national wildlife crime bureau.5
Both the names of the sender and receiver on the But it is clear that the proposal is too ambitious
packages turned out to be fake.2 But all the seizures and personnel-heavy. The proposal provides for 260
pointed to Tibetan connections. new posts at various levels. The bureau will be
While the notorious Sansar Chand, the master- headed by the additional director general of forests
mind smuggler, is now behind bars, there are other (wildlife) and have positions created both at the
big names that feature in the annals of wildlife crime. Centre and regions for monitoring and enforcement.
The Central Bureau of Investigation believes that all It is important at this stage to review this proposal in
these gangs, even though they operate in different the light of the current situation so that the
areas or domains, are well connected (even related at enforcement mechanism, once created, can be
times) to each other and there is no rivalry between effective as well.
them; they have been operating over long periods of
time. The main suspect in the Khaga case was The current enforcement machine
Shabbir Hasan Qureshi, whose house when raided in
July 2004 produced 456 tiger and leopard claws and In March 2002, the ministry set up the wildlife crime
approximately US $13,000 in cash.3 cell in the office of the director, Project Tiger. In
There is no doubt that India has to strengthen its April 2004, the cell was moved to the office of the
domestic efforts to check tiger poaching and other director, Project Elephant. When it was set up, it was
wildlife crimes, and that these actions need to be proposed the cell would have two joint directors to
taken urgently and effectively. It is also evident that undertake its work. But till date, these positions have
the Union ministry of environment and forests has not been filled. As a result, work on the cell is greatly
been slow in putting together the framework compromised, making it virtually ineffective.
required to effectively deal with wildlife crime. In addition, the ministry has a separate
It was in 1994 that a committee under directorate of wildlife preservation, headed by the
S Subramanium, a former senior police official, additional director general of forests (wildlife). It
submitted its report on preventing illegal trade in consists of four regional offices headed by officers
wildlife and wildlife products. The committee, in an holding the positions of deputy directors and three
extremely comprehensive report, suggested a sub-regional offices (headed by assistant directors)
number of actions needed to tighten enforcement of located in Amritsar (Punjab), Cochin (Kerala) and
wildlife crime. Its recommendations included the Guwahati (Assam). The mandate of these offices is to

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 TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS

regulate import and export of wildlife items; to record of any seizures of wildlife animals or their
coordinate wildlife crime prevention with state parts.
agencies; and to monitor crime trends and provide Project Tiger has, for the first time, asked an
reports to the central office. external consultant to collate this data to analyse the
The directorate, in fact, plays precisely the role consolidated figures (see table: Tiger seizure cases).6
the proposed wildlife crime bureau is supposed to. There are 411 records for five years (1999-2003).
But while the ministry has proposed the creation of Out of these, 173 records relate to mortality and
many new posts, many positions are still lying 238 are of seizures.
vacant in the current directorate. For instance, the Within the mortality records, 114 cases relate to
post of the regional director in Kolkata (a key port poaching.
city) has been vacant for many months, while the In the seizures, 238 items of tigers were
deputy director in charge of Chennai (again, an confiscated (it is difficult to correlate the seizures
important port) has been holding additional charge. with mortality).
In 2003, the ministry transferred the post of the A total of 333 people were arrested in connection
assistant director, based in Guwahati, to Delhi. The with seizure cases and 72 persons arrested in
justification was that the illegal trade has shifted connection with poaching.
from the northeast to other parts of India this is
clearly untenable, given all the evidence that The Wildlife Protection Society of India, an NGO,
suggests the routes to China and Myanmar via this maintains an independent database of tiger seizures.
sensitive region. Since then, the sub-regional office During this same period (1999-2003), its database
in the northeast has been lying defunct. This shows that India lost 284 tigers due to poaching. In
deliberate disabling of institutions must be checked, the case of tiger bone seizures, in the absence of
for it does not leave the Task Force with confidence skulls, the NGO computed the number of dead tigers
that any new mechanism, however important, will be
taken seriously.
TIGER SEIZURE CASES
In the states, the chief wildlife wardens are
expected to coordinate the cases related to poaching State 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 Total
of wild animals and other wildlife crimes and
Andhra Pradesh 1 6 2 - 2 11
maintain databases. However, in practice, few states
maintain central databases of all these crimes. The Assam - 1 - 1 - 2
rate of successful prosecution in wildlife cases is Chhattisgarh - - - 2 - 2
extremely low. Most blame this state of affairs on a
Delhi 1 3 1 1 1 7
combination of reasons poor investigations,
defective prosecution reports (charge sheets), Gujarat - - - - 1 1
mishandling of cases by public prosecutors and lack Jammu and Kashmir - - - - 1 1
of supervision by senior forest officers.
In other words, unless something is done to Karnataka - - 2 - - 2
change the functioning of the current departments, Kerala - - - - 1 1
setting up a new bureau will only be cosmetic. It
Maharashtra 2 5 6 1 5 19
may help the country improve its track record
with CITES, but will do little to stem the scourge of Manipur 1 - - - - 1
wildlife trade. It is essential that the agenda for Mizoram - - 1 0 0 1
domestic enforcement includes the critical and
structural reforms needed in the institutions for Madhya Pradesh 30 7 6 6 8 57
investigation, forensic facilities and criminal Orissa - - - 1 - 1
provisions to ensure that the big and powerful
Punjab - - 1 - - 1
traders do not go untried.
Rajasthan - - 1 1 - 2
A crime database Tamil Nadu 1 1 1 - 1 2
There is no central database on wildlife crime. There
is no compulsion on the part of regulations or laws to Uttaranchal - - 4 9 2 15
maintain one. But regulations do demand that the Uttar Pradesh 9 13 20 2 - 44
field directors of protected areas maintain, at local
West Bengal 9 17 1 4 8 39
levels, registers of animals that die and are found by
the field staff. These are recorded along with possible Total 54 53 46 28 30 211
causes of death. In the case of the tiger, too, similar Source: Project Tiger 2005, Tiger poaching: analysis of country-level data,
work is done. The forest department too maintains a 1999-2003, Delhi, mimeo

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 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

by using an average of 12 kg of bones per tiger.7 presentation to the Task Force, also suggested that
Interestingly, both the databases show that key weaknesses need to be removed to expedite
poaching and seizures have fallen during the period. prosecution.
But it is also clear that there needs to be a much The main problems, as pointed out by experts,
better coordinated effort to maintain the database are as follows:
and, more importantly, to follow through on the i. The length of the pre-charge evidence makes the
actions taken in each case. process repetitive. In these cases, the witnesses
The database on wildlife crime must be a have to come before the judge in the pre-charge
functional bank of information that is used for taking evidence stage, and then once it gets to trial,
action to track offenders, to track conviction rate they all have to depose once again. The famous
and, most importantly, to use this intelligence to 1993 Delhi seizure case is still in the pre-charge
prevent crime. evidence stage after 12 years. This is unlike the
The field directors and chief wildlife wardens powers of the police laid down under the CrPC
should be required to file their data on a real-time (Sections 154-173), where the court takes on
basis to this database, which can then be used by the record the charge sheet filed by the investigators
coordinating agency to follow through on important to decide if there is prima facie evidence to
cases and to compile and analyse trends as well as to proceed in the case; thus, it has been suggested
inform other law enforcement agencies about the that the powers of wildlife investigators should
offenders. be the same as those of the police.
The issue to discuss is: why has this database ii. The trial takes place at the level of the chief
not been operationalised so far and how should it be judicial magistrate/metropolitan magistrate, and
done in the future? is lengthy and unfruitful. The Tiger Trust, an
NGO working on the reform of the Wildlife
Improving conviction rates (Protection) Act, 1972, suggests that the
jurisdiction of the trial has to be raised from the
The fact also is that we have abysmally low level of chief judicial magistrate (CJM) to
conviction rates in wildlife crime. With no additional district judge, because it takes four-
centralised collection of data on wildlife crime, five years to conduct pre-charge evidence. On the
statistics are not available. But experts interviewed other hand, due to the lower number of appeals
during this Task Forces consultations suggest the in the court of the additional district judge, there
conviction rate in wildlife crime around the country is less rush; moreover s/he has higher
could be a dismal 1 to 2 per cent at present. In summoning powers and better assistance from
Kaziranga national park, it is said that more poachers the police in pursuing procedural matters. For
were killed in encounters with the field staff than this, an amendment has to be made in the
restrained through successful prosecution in the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 (Section 51),
court of law. which raises the quantum of punishment from
Prosecution for wildlife crimes is done as per the three to seven-10 years. When this is done, the
provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. The trial will come under the jurisdiction of the
Act was amended as recently as in 2003 to bring in sessions court. In addition to this, the fine has
tighter penalties for offences including a also to be increased to Rs 50,000. This is for
minimum sentence of three years, extendable to deterrence, and to expedite the trial, since at
seven years; bail provisions have been made more present it takes eight-10 years for conviction or
stringent. According to B K Sharma of Central acquittal at the level of the chief judicial
Bureau of Investigation (CBI), who has been working magistrate.
on wildlife crime, the provisions of forfeiture of iii. The Tiger Trust also recommends re-
property derived from illegal hunting puts the Act at categorisation of animals in the schedules of the
par with the Narcotics and Psychotropics Act, 1985 Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. At present,
and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2003. Schedule I has a long list of animals that needs to
According to him, with the 2003 amendments in be re-categorised as critically endangered this
place, the Act is comparable to international would include the cat group and some other
standards and contains stringent penal provisions.8 animals near extinction. The punishment of
The problem, experts explain, lies in the details seven-10 years should be increased for this
that govern the implementation of the law. They, category.
therefore, suggest that urgent steps be taken to further iv. Under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 the
amend the Wildlife (Protection) Act to make it severity of offenses is related to the
expeditious and increase deterrence against crime. categorisation of the animals in the different
The Central Bureau of Investigation, while making its schedules provided. The forensic laboratory has

58 The way ahead

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to check and certify for a case to proceed. There skeletal data available and perforce, unavailable.
is a lack of these facilities, and investigators Occasionally, these provisions achieve public
complain of delays in getting reports. It is also notoriety when famous people are prosecuted. But the
said the investigative techniques the forest laws must apply to all and the protective regime must
department uses are outdated and the forensic be enforced without fear or favour.
support is inadequate. At present, there is a The Act must be understood in terms of
heavy dependence on the Wildlife Institute of a. The offences it discourages
Indias forensic laboratory, whereas the regional b. The special procedure in investigation
forensic labs used to detect and investigate other c. The method and forum of trial
crimes have not been put to use. d. Special provisions in relation to the
v. The Act does not allow for the level of the crime. cognisance of offences, the compounding of
The CBI suggests that there should be a difference offences, presumptions as a matter of
between large volume traffickers and small time evidence and offences by companies
poachers, which at present the Act does not
provide for. In these terms, the Act seeks to be comprehensive.
vi. The CBI also suggests that no sentence passed by But there exist lacunae in implementation that
the courts should be suspended, remitted or undercuts the legal reach of the Act. Thus, in order to
commuted to avoid recurrence or disappearance strengthen the Acts criminal provisions, cases need
of criminals, as has happened in the case of to be treated as serious criminal cases. The first step
Sansar Chands appeal against conviction. must be to differentiate between serious and non-
vii. At another level, there has been little review on serious cases and ensure that serious cases are tried
how relevant departments and agencies are as police cases by the Sessions Courts.
trained on wildlife crimes. In addition, there is a This has an impact on the manner in which the
need for regular training of prosecuting lawyers, cases are prosecuted. Currently, since they are
and the judiciary, on aspects of wildlife crime. complaint cases, the police do not prosecute them. It
Although some NGOs in India do carry out is left to the overworked forest officials to come to
training for departmental officials as well as the court and build the case before it can be taken
judiciary, there is no extensive or consistent further. The cases linger on because they are
programme for in-job training for the judiciary or prescribed as lesser cases and are not treated as
the forest officials posted at locations where such priority. The prosecutors, mainly forest officials, are
crimes are high. inept and lose interest. The second step, therefore,
viii. The wildlife officials also complain of lack of must be to have special prosecutors.
legal support during the prosecution process, Since these cases randomly languish in courts
with government prosecutors being overworked throughout the country, they are not monitored by a
and unavailable for their cases. There is clearly a wildlife crime bureau either at the state or the Union
need for special attention to ensure that the cases level. So, the third step must be to create a wildlife
get good legal representation. crime bureau for all cases especially the serious
ones.

Amending criminal provisions Ineffective protection

The numerous reasons for the ineffective provisions
Based on the above submissions, the Task Force has of the Act are as follows:
consulted legal experts to detail out what is needed 1. The Act makes no distinction between serious
to ensure that law is both a deterrent to poachers and and special offences, thereby depriving the
is effective is bringing the guilty to book. Without prevention, detection and deterrent strategy of
this legal reform, combating trade will be difficult. any strategic capability. The offences relating to
The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 contains endangered species should be placed at a higher
detailed provisions for the prevention and detection of level than those that relate to other animals. Thus
offences (see Annexure XI: Amending the criminal offences relating to tigers, blackbucks, elephants,
provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972). Some rhinoceros, etc need to be treated as special by
of these provisions have been amended in 1991 (by Act not only giving them priority for the purposes of
6 of 1991) and 2003 (Act 16 of 2003). The purpose of investigation, but also by increasing the penalty
these sections is both preventive and deterrent. It is for attempting an offence against these animals.
generally agreed that these provisions, contained in Similarly, there is an absence of a special
Chapter VI of the Act, have not been used and generally investigation team whose brief would be to
prove to be ineffective. The lack of prosecution and the tackle offences relating to serious or special
inability to secure convictions are writ large over the cases. A similar classification as is made for the

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 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

offences in the Code needs to be imported into Not compoundable

the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 to clarify the Should be tried by special prosecutors
procedure to be followed for different offences. 4. It would be necessary to continue the range of
2. The investigation is left to a number of officers, officers who can investigate offences under the
trained and untrained those trained in forestry Act with powers of entry, seizure, arrest and
are not trained in investigation and vice versa. detention. But to ensure a streamlining of the
This leads to an unfortunate situation where investigation capabilities of both the forest and
even though the investigation is carried out the police wings, proper training ought to be
properly, no evidence is available; or, when the given.
evidence available through the process of 5. Similarly, provisions should be made for special
investigation is found to be flawed, and hence investigation teams to look into serious or special
prosecution becomes pointless. offences.
3. The trial in all cases proceeds as a complaint case 6. Special courts should be designated by the state
to be tried as a warrant case, except when governments in consultation with the Union
complaints are on the basis of a police report. government among the existing hierarchy of
This results in prosecutions primarily being in courts to ensure that the offences under the
the hands of forest and environment officials Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 are prosecuted,
through a long drawn process. Similarly, there is and penalties imposed as expeditiously as
a lack of trained special prosecutors for offences possible.
dealing with wildlife. Clearly, in serious and 7. With respect to the prevailing provisions, the
special cases, the offences should be tried as if on bail provisions [Section 51A] should be
the basis of a police report by the Sessions Court, continued and an offence of conspiracy
and where available, the case should be specifically added. Similarly, the cognisance
prosecuted by special prosecutors. provisions need to be re-examined and reposed
4. Special provisions are needed so that forensic in the state or the Union government.
and expert evidence is readily available to 8. The wildlife crime bureau must be made into a
the court. Provisions are required for more statutory body to monitor, oversee and prepare
experts and laboratories. More often than not, periodic reports. It must have the power to make
prosecution is delayed because the prosecution recommendations and proposals for the purpose
is unable to determine whether the part of the of strengthening the wildlife protection system.
animal recovered is one of an endangered The bureau shall be in addition to the Central
species. Identification becomes difficult with Zoo Authority. A similar amendment, whereby
respect to hides and skins and thus experts are provisions are added as Chapter VI-B, is necessary
necessary to testify to whether the animal in to create such a body.
question is a tiger or a leopard.
Setting up a wildlife crime bureau
Proposals to strengthen criminal provisions
One of the key ingredients of the enforcement policy The bureau is urgently needed. But the issue is
is a speedy trial process with effective investigation to structure it so that it is effective in combating
which will lead to appropriate punishment of the crime. In its deliberations to review the proposal
convicted. Presently, the ingredients are lacking. The for the national crime bureau submitted by the
following are the proposals that can ensure a Union ministry of environment and forests, the
strengthening of the criminal process: Task Force has consulted a number of experts
1. A schedule needs to be created to distinguish from people experienced in dealing with parallel
between special and serious offences. crime busting institutions like the narcotics
2. Serious offences should be tried directly by the bureau, to those experienced in wildlife crime at the
Sessions Court and should be punishable for a state level.
mandatory term of at least seven years. The The bureau proposed by the ministry will be:
report filed by the investigating officer, whether Headed by additional director general of forests
he be a forest official or a police officer, should (wildlife), who will be assisted by the inspector
be treated as the police report. A table in the general of forests
nature of the Schedule in the Code of Criminal Headquartered in Delhi and have regional offices
Procedure should be added, to which additions at Jabalpur, Mumbai, Chennai, Cochin, Kolkata,
and modifications may be made. Delhi, Guwahati, Imphal and Amritsar.
3. The serious offences are Have officers posted in the bureau on deputation
Non-bailable from different agencies like forests, customs and
Cognisable others.

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The proposed national wildlife crime control bureau, investigation team. It should take over charge of
with its headquarters at New Delhi and nine regional certain key special and serious cases, for instance
offices, will require creating 260 new posts at various the Sansar Chand case.
levels to ensure its operational efficacy and to meet
the objectives set. Funds for the bureau will be made At the state level
available from the allocation for the 10th Five Year 6. There should be a wildlife crime cell in each
Plan. The proposal is being sent to the concerned tiger range state of the country. Each node
ministries for inter-ministerial consultations. should be staffed with personnel for legal
support, intelligence gathering and criminal
Proposed modifications investigation, and database monitoring.

At the central level Central assistance should be provided towards the

1. Create a small and effective crime bureau at the salary of officers on deputation to the state-level
central level. The bureau at the Centre should be wildlife crime control cells.
headed by a senior officer (in the super-time One officer of the level of deputy conservator of
scale). The appointment of this person should be forests should be on deputation to the police
done using a selection criterion, which seeks to headquarters to facilitate close coordination.
recruit a suitable person. The person will report A state-level coordination committee under the
to the additional director general of forests. chairpersonship of the chief secretary, with the
2. At the central level, the bureau should have three director general of police, home secretary, army
officials, besides the needed support staff: commander of the region as members, and the chief
For police investigation and coordination with wildlife warden as member secretary, should meet
crime control agencies (preferably a police every three months to monitor the following:
officer or intelligence bureau officer on
deputation) 1. Inter-departmental coordination
For coordination with states and maintaining the 2. Progress of important cases
crime database (preferably a person with expertise 3. Extremist engineered disturbances
in data analysis and tools for networking) 4. Low intensity conflicts affecting wildlife
For coordination with agencies working on the 5. Need for deployment of forces in and around
international border and follow-up with cases protected areas
3. The bureau should be able to get on deputation 6. Implementation of court directives/government
field operatives for intelligence gathering on of India directives
wildlife crimes from the police force, Indo-
Tibetan Border Police, territorial army and others. The Task Force envisages the wildlife crime bureau, in
4. There should be a coordination committee under this modified structure, will require 80-100 positions,
the chairpersonship of the secretary, Union many of which would already be in the field.
ministry of environment and forests, with It urges that this structure must be
members from the Union ministry of home operationalised urgently.
affairs, the Central Board of Excise and Customs,
the Central Bureau of Investigation, Border Forensic laboratory facilities
Security Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police and
revenue intelligence. This committee, with the The Wildlife Institute of India has a functional
director (wildlife preservation) as member forensic laboratory, which at present is the only
secretary, should review every six months the specialised laboratory to analyse seized wildlife
following: material for prosecution support in wildlife crimes. It
Inter-departmental coordination has developed reference materials and protocols for
Monitoring progress of important cases testing to identify the species to which the seized
New initiatives material pertains. Recently, it has acquired much-
Monitoring implementation of court directives needed high-end equipment to carry out such tests at
relating to wildlife crime the molecular biology level to rapidly identify the
5. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) must be species and, eventually, the regional origin and
given specified tasks in investigating wildlife individual animals of a particular species. However,
crime. Its role will be to work closely with the work on protocol development for this is presently
wildlife crime bureau so that it can find being done.
synergies in combating crime. However, the key This laboratory is meant more to develop
responsibility of the CBI would be to investigate reference material and protocols on individual
the organised crime networks as a special species in a research framework. The actual work of

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 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

bulk of the tests of wildlife crime material will have courts, upsetting their main task of much needed
to be sent out to regional, central and state forensic research in wildlife forensics. Accordingly, the
labs like the ones at Kolkata and Jaipur. Only the Wildlife Institute of India has proposed to the Union
more sophisticated work and difficult cases should ministry of environment and forests to support
come to this laboratory. setting up of forensic cells in central, regional and
This laboratory is experiencing difficulty as its state forensic labs. The Tiger Task Force, too, feels
scientists, who test the material, are summoned to the existence of such cells is necessary.

Recommendations
1. The wildlife crime bureau must be set up immediately. The Task Force has reviewed
the current proposal for a wildlife crime bureau and has worked to modify it to ensure
that it is lean, mean and effective. We strongly believe that unless the crime bureau can
work effectively on different levels one, to strengthen the enforcement at the state level;
two, to investigate international trade links; and three, to break the crime of large
poachers it will not be possible to effectively deal with the crime.
For this reason, the Task Force suggests a two-tiered approach: set up a wildlife crime
bureau at the central level, with nodes in each tiger range state in which there will be a
capacity to both investigate and follow up on the crime. In the course of its visits through
the different states, the Tiger Task Force was constantly told by officials that the key
weakness was their inability to investigate the crime at the state and inter-state levels, and
to be able to pursue the conviction in courts because of lack of legal support.
The detailed structure of the wildlife crime bureau as proposed by the Task Force is
given above. In summary, the Task Force proposes the following:
a. At the central level, a stronger bureau with the capacity to develop a country-wide
database of wildlife crime to enable coordination, to be able to pursue important cases
at the state level and follow up with investigative agencies like the Central Bureau of
Investigation (CBI), on the investigation as well as the conviction of large organised
crime networks.
b. The CBI must be given certain tasks in investigating wildlife crime. The role of the CBI
will be to work closely with the wildlife crime bureau so that it can find synergies in
combating crime. However, the key responsibility of CBI would be to investigate the
organised crime networks and to take over charge of certain key cases, such as the
Sansar Chand case.
c. There is a need to involve and to train other police agencies, such as the Indo-Tibetan
Border Police, as well as the other security forces, to ensure greater vigilance on our
borders as well. The Task Force suggests that this should be an explicit task of the
wildlife crime bureau: it should take the lead in organising these training programmes
with the Wildlife Institute of India and other specialised institutions.
d. Forensic cells should be set up in central, regional and state forensic laboratories to
investigate wildlife specimens and produce evidence in wildlife crime.
e. The wildlife crime bureau must be made into a statutory body under the Wildlife
(Protection) Act, 1972 to make it effective and give it autonomy.

2. It will not be enough to only investigate the crimes: criminals must be convicted. In this
regard, the Task Force has deliberated very carefully with legal experts to understand the
weaknesses in the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 so far as its criminal provisions are
concerned. It is very clear that there is a need to strengthen the Act, particularly for what are
designated critically endangered species, so that there is a greater deterrence for criminal
actions against these species resulting in speedier trials. The current Act is weak in this
regard and, therefore, in the majority of cases it leads to delayed hearings and a dismal state
of the rate of convictions. The Task Force has detailed out the changes that are required in
the Indian Wildlife Act to strengthen these provisions (see Annexure XI: Amending the
provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972). This amendment must be done urgently.

62 The way ahead

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3.4 Innovative protection agenda

There are several nomadic and other communities, ungulate species like the spotted deer and the
skilled in hunting, whose services are being used sambar as well as smaller animals like the mongoose,
by poachers across the country to kill animals Indian hare, jungle cats and numerous bird species.
for a price. The traditional livelihoods of these Hunts for smaller animals are more regular.
communities used to revolve around hunting and The most common species the Bawaria hunt is
gathering; they always subsisted in close relations the sambar, followed by the peacock and the
with forests. But over the years, they have been parakeet. Dutt suggests hunting of ungulates can be
victimised and marginalised and, today, are forced to either for personal consumption, or for sale as meat,
live in absolute poverty at the fringes of forests. The antlers or hide to local markets.
question, therefore is how, if at all, the services of The community uses various tools like snares
these traditional hunters and trackers can be used and traps for the animals and has devised traps
not against, but for the tigers. ingeniously for the purpose. Its recent use of small
Unfortunately, we have done little to understand explosive devices and guns has also been recorded.
the peculiar needs of these communities. Besides
hunting, they are skilled in extracting minor forest Changing occupational profile
produce. Their practices are sustainable. As the But the occupational profile of the people has
interest in protection has grown, it is these changed with time. According to the 2003 survey
livelihoods that have faced a clampdown. Their done by Dutt earlier, more than 70 per cent of the
poverty today pushes them towards unlawful tribe members had hunting as their main profession.
activities, which are unsustainable and destructive. In the current generation, 80 per cent of the Bawaria
Field officers across the country have told the Tiger in Alwar district have taken to protecting agricultural
Task Force that without the rehabilitation of these fields against crop depredation by animals like the
communities, protecting wildlife will be difficult. nilgai (blue bull). Their skills at hunting animals
The Task Force has studied some of the cases are being brought to use informally by other
where the government, researchers or other agencies communities living in the vicinity of forests. But as
have experimented with programmes to create forest- this utilisation continues at an informal level and
based livelihoods for these groups. These are merely there is no official recognition of their role as a
representative of the possibilities or potential that protector, the Bawaria merely get in return for
exist in this sphere. These efforts do show that their efforts some foodgrains and a piece of land to
wherever people have put in an effort and thought build a temporary shelter on the farmers fields.
through the process in India or elsewhere it has Unlike in earlier times when hunting may have
been possible to devise a working plan for these been their major occupation, today they resort to
destitute tribes. hunting in times of distress. The study shows that on
an average, more than 70 per cent of the Bawaria
The Bawaria families interviewed faced food shortage crises and
21 per cent of the families had taken to hunting to
The Bawaria are a traditional nomadic hunting tribe tide over this crisis.
that have been accused of being party to the poaching Their insecurity also arises from the fact that
in Sariska tiger reserve in Rajasthan. Five members of though they are entitled to land, very few have
the tribe were arrested during investigations after the actually been able to get it from the government.
recent crisis. Coupled with the fact that the traditional camping
According to the 1981 census, this community is land the commons has slowly disappeared from
spread across four states in 32 districts. Rajasthan, Rajasthan, the Bawaria are left with little option but to
according to the same census, had 31,903 Bawaria. depend upon landholders to provide them space for
This community is famed for its ability to hunt temporary shelters, which are made out of plastic
and track animals. The Bawaria were earlier used by sheets and hay. In a public hearing held in Delhi in
royal hunting parties to track animals during shikars 2003, some Bawaria families recorded their pending
(hunts). A socio-economic study by researcher Bahar applications for land rights with the government.
Dutt for Muktidhara, a Rajasthan-based NGO, lists 22 With no tenure over land and their main skill being
species the Bawaria are known to hunt.1 These termed illegal under the wildlife laws of the country,
include large predators like the tiger, leopard, hyena the Bawaria have tried to evolve a livelihood strategy
and the jackal. They are also regular hunters of to provide a degree of sustenance for themselves.

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 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

Nomadism, which in earlier times could have department has not innovated to include them in
been an economic strategy to sustain themselves in a protection and instead, used unskilled labour to do a
semi-arid zone, has now become a social necessity job they have evidently failed in.
forced upon them. At the same time, Dutt
emphasises, their skills are used by the forest Cambodia: hunters become protectors
department in its usual course of work to gather
information within the forest areas, especially during Cambodia is a range state of the tiger. But since the
the animal census conducted by the department. early 1990s, the conservation community has feared
The level of harassment the Bawaria face that poaching for tiger parts and products represents
from the administration, besides the landholding the most serious threat to the tigers continued
communities, is very high. The police as well as survival in the wild. Cambodia continues to have a
forest officials often target them for interrogation for large and visible market for tiger parts though the
any local crime (whether related or unrelated to supply, as in India, has gone underground. While
wildlife). The study shows that 65 per cent of Cambodian forests continue to harbour a rich prey
the Bawaria have reported harassment by the base, targeted market hunting has seriously depleted
administration and 46 per cent have at one time or tiger populations in many parts of Cambodia.
the other been in jail. In an attempt to regulate tiger hunting, the Tiger
After the episode in Sariska, several members Conservation Programme Office in the ministry of
from this community were reportedly picked up by agriculture, forests and fisheries of the Royal
forest officials and the police for interrogation. One Government of Cambodia took bold action to start
extended family was finally indicted and has working with hunters.2 Phnom Penh-based wildlife
confessed to killing the majority of the tigers in officials realised that their knowledge of and ability
Sariska. Evidently, this community, with its skills to work in the wilder parts of Cambodia had been
and knowledge of the tiger, is today finding new and compromised by years of war. They needed the
lucrative occupations in commercial poaching. assistance and skills of local people. So in 2000, a
funded programme was begun in Cambodia where
The options today selected hunters were hired as community wildlife
It is acknowledged by the forest department as well rangers. The goal was to gain an immediate reduction
as experts that the Bawaria still maintain a high level in the level of tiger poaching in the country, and to
of skills when it comes to understanding the forest use the ex-poachers considerable tiger-finding skills
habitats, which comes from their skills and practices to develop community-based conservation capacity
of hunting. There has been a constant outcry that in the main tiger habitats.
under the present circumstances it is important to Three field offices have been established in
wean them away from hunting. Yet no plan to ensure Cambodias three largest tiger habitats. Each office is
this has been put to the test or implemented. Without managed by a combination of provincial and
an alternative strategy for livelihood being available national-level forest staff, and each office currently
to the Bawaria, it is easy to see how their situation oversees a network of nine to 12 community wildlife
has deteriorated. Under circumstances of destitution rangers. The University of Minnesota, USA, which has
and lack of economic incentives, the Bawaria are collaborated in the effort along with the Cambodian
undoubtedly used as frontline hunters by organised government and Cat Action Treasury (CAT), an
poachers, and are ready to work at any price. international funding group for cats-related
A workable solution to help some Bawaria conservation programmes, conducted extensive
families could be based on a simple strategy that technical training exercises. The staff at all levels
keeps them engaged with forests, unless they was trained in Global Positioning System data
voluntarily wish to look at alternative options of collection and Geographical Information Systems
livelihood. Bahar Dutt, who has worked with this data analysis techniques, the latest in mapping
tribe, suggests that Project Tiger needs to find ways of information that even India is trying to build into its
using the skills of these local Bawaria to turn them conservation programmes.3 In other words,
into the frontline defenders of the forests and sophisticated and modern technology tools were
protected areas, rather than see them as antagonists. combined with local skills for optimal results.
This should be possible. The average age of
guards and work-charge employees in Sariska tiger What was done
reserve is high and there is a need for new Among the first tasks of the field offices was the
recruitment. Currently, the State overcomes this by recruitment of teams of community wildlife rangers.
recruiting some temporary workers, which include The best of the hunters who participated in previous
nursery labour. It is ironic that though skilled interview surveys were contacted, and informal
Bawaria have been available all along, the forest meetings were held with a variety of local people to

64 The way ahead

 TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS

identify other candidates. The first rangers began brought new skills to people who used to be
patrolling and submitting monthly survey and poachers. It has worked at a low-cost option of local
intelligence reports in July 2000. hiring, and intelligently deployed them for surveys
Recruitment focused on men known to hunt and patrolling.
tigers, some more actively than others. In several
cases, men who had recently been caught hunting Namdapha: can hunter-tribes be protectors?
tigers were recruited into the programme, instead of
being prosecuted under the relatively weak forestry The reserves in the northeastern states of India are
regulations. vast and inaccessible, low on staff and high on local
The programme staff carries out regular control. One conservation option here, as elsewhere,
monitoring patrols in key unprotected tiger habitats, is to spread a security blanket around a reserve and
and collects valuable data on tiger (and other protect it with hard action. This model has been
wildlife) poaching and trade. The staff meets successfully tried in Kaziranga national park, Assam,
frequently with provincial, district and village level where a low intensity war has been fought between
officials, as well as military personnel. insurgents and poachers versus the government for a
The rangers, it is reported, normally operate in period. But even here, the park authorities and the
teams and carry a Global Positioning System device. government have worked on reconciling local
Regional coordinators download the devices interests in protection. But there are other reserves
monthly readings to verify ranger patrols. Data is where this protection model is not feasible. What,
reported to Phnom Penh in monthly narrative then, are the options?
summaries and Global Positioning System data The 2,000 sq km Namdapha tiger reserve is
points are entered into a Geographical Information located in Changlang district, the eastern-most part
Systems-based system. The survey results are of Arunachal Pradesh. It was declared a reserve forest
summarised according to the three regions, and in 1970 under the Assam Forest Regulation Act, 1891
illustrated with maps prepared from the Global (first proposed in 1947), and subsequently a wildlife
Positioning System data the ranger teams gathered sanctuary in 1972. It was finally declared a national
and that the field office staff compiled. park in May 1983; two months before, it was
The project has identified several groups of declared a tiger reserve. In 1986, a 177 sq km area of
professional hunters and wildlife traders, brought reserve forest was added to the tiger reserve and is
their activities to the attention of the relevant designated as the buffer zone, while the rest (1,808 sq
authorities and negotiated contracts with them to km) is considered the core zone.
stop hunting and trading. The area has a wide altitudinal range, from 200 m
to over 4,500 m. The terrain is steep and inaccessible.
Has it worked? The old 157 km Miao-Vijaynagar road runs through
The promoters of this approach say that it has turned the park, though it is motorable only for 26 km up to
a number of professional tiger poachers into assets.4 a settlement called Deban. The park headquarter is at
The hunter-rangers have provided valuable Miao township, with a single functioning range in
intelligence about tiger poaching and other wildlife Deban. Civil supplies to villages located outside the
hunting and trade. In December 2001, a major tiger
and elephant poaching gang was uncovered with the
help of these rangers. WWF: NGO monitoring network
The approach, if illegal hunting is discovered, is
to have the rangers and staff negotiate no-hunting In the mid-1990s, the WWF-India had developed a
contracts with the poachers. These negotiations are programme for mobilising grassroot support in
conducted in the presence of district and police the tiger range areas. This was done through the
officials and carry a good deal of weight. This creation of a NGO monitoring network with the
procedure is equivalent to a stern warning, and, so following objectives;
far, none of the people who have signed such a. To develop an advance warning, threat alert
contracts with the project have been caught poaching mechanism for safeguarding the protected
again, says the report. areas;
The project proponents and their reports record b. To mobilise grassroot NGOs and other
that poaching has reduced in Cambodia since the committed field based groups who are focal
1990s5, but whether this merely correlates with the points of this network, for eliciting
programme or is actually a consequence of the participation of the local people in activities
programme is something the Task Force has been such as ecodevelopment as well as for
unable to gauge from a distance. But the fact is that protected areas management.6
the programme has used innovative methods and

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 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

eastern boundary of the park are carried on foot or on km. In contrast, Kaziranga national park in Assam, a
elephant back through the park, mostly along the model of successful protection through enforcement,
river and parts of the road. Access for tourists, and has 500 forest guards for 800 sq km (one guard per
even park authorities and biologists, is mostly 1.6 sq km) on flat lowland terrain with numerous
restricted to areas up to 900 m. The interior and ranges, beats and forest camps. In Namdapha, there
higher areas of the park remain unexplored, except is a complete lack of basic facilities and of support
by hunters from local communities.7 from local police and administration. Most staff are
outsiders; not a single Lisu is currently employed in
Local communities: the ones who know the department.9 The headquarters in Miao is 10 km
The only ones who really know the forest, therefore, from the park boundary with a single range at Deban.
are the local communities that walk the forest for Currently, no staff is posted at some of the accessible
hunting and survival. Aparajita Dutta, a wildlife temporary camps. Even to patrol this relatively
biologist with Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF), accessible area, the staff depends on boats to cross
a Mysore-based NGO, has been studying the region for the river and rations have to be carried there. Often
a while, and believes that hunting pressures on the during the monsoon when the river is in spate, it is
region are extreme and it is only these hunting dangerous to use the boats and staff has been
communities in the region that really know the stranded on the other side for days with no food. In
forest. the absence of regular staff presence and patrolling,
The region is home to several indigenous tribes. hunters often use these forest camps.
Beyond the southeastern boundary of the park (at 80
mile) are 13 villages with 673 households and a The crisis
population of 5,147. There are four Lisu villages in Consequently, the park is in a state of crisis.
Vijaynagar circle these adjoin the park and have Researchers believe tigers have all but disappeared
403 households (population 2,600) and nine other from the reserve, though information remains
villages of Nepali ex-servicemen with a population of unverified. Hunting continues unabated and a
about 2,018; these ex-servicemen had been settled resilient and enterprising community turned
here by the government after 1962. Apart from this, destitute and desperate by the creation of the park
there are other tribal and non-tribal government looks upon the park (not the forest) with animosity.
department staff and personnel of the Assam Rifles At present, there is a stalemate. The state is unable to
and the Indian Air Force.8 increase the strength of the staff.
The Lisu, also referred to as Yobin by some Even if the forest department does get additional
communities, are agriculturalists and also have a resources, it will be handicapped without knowledge
reputation of being skilled hunter-gatherers. There is of the park. The immediate need to ensure wildlife
strong resentment, anger, and mistrust against the conservation in Namdapha is protection from
forest department among most Lisu. Their biggest hunting, fishing and other kinds of disturbance.
grievance is that the creation of the park and
demarcation of the boundary in 1983 was carried out and its solution
without any consultation with them, and there was Most Lisu today view the park as the biggest barrier
no settlement of rights. Many insist that the area to their aspirations and the root of all their problems.
between Deban and Gandhigram is their area and They are bearing all the costs of conservation. They
that they had no idea when the national park was have poor relations with the department, which
created. For instance, most Lisu believe that the sometimes result in retaliatory hunting, and this
biggest hurdle to building the arterial road (which needs to be remedied through dialogue and better
they see as crucial to their development) has been the communication. However, if they can get tangible
forest department it was responsible for stopping benefits, there could be a positive attitudinal change.
road repair and maintenance in 2000. There is also A solution to the agricultural land problem of the
resentment as they believe the forest department has Lisu is also urgently required to stop the influx of
portrayed the Lisu as illegal settlers who have Lisu families settling inside the park. A realistic
encroached the area of the reserve from across the relocation/resettlement plan has to be made in
international border of the country. consultation with and the agreement of the Lisu.
The field staff strength in Namdapha is very low There is a need to find alternate employment options
and they are not trained or motivated; given the poor and opportunities for the Lisu, some of which (such
accessibility, patrolling by the department is as eco-tourism) could be tied to the national park.
restricted to the fringe areas. There are merely 22 The Lisu communitys support for the park would go
sanctioned posts of forest guards to manage and a long way in ensuring wildlife conservation as they
protect 1,985 sq km. Of these 22 posts, only 11 are can themselves work either directly as guards and
filled. This effectively means one person per 180 sq informers (about hunting activity) in the forest

66 The way ahead

 TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS

department, or through support from other A clear benchmarking of indicators to monitor

organisations. Once they have a stake in the area, the health of the habitat as well as the
there will be a much better understanding of the need effectiveness of the Lisu protection force;
for conservation there. A collaborative effort between the state, the
The Nature Conservation Foundation, which has communities and interested research groups to
been working in the area for several years, has spearhead the effort; clear demarcation of roles,
already launched a plan on these lines. The plan, in and responsibilities between the stakeholders;
principle, is simple and based on the logic the A definitive time frame to set forth this process
existing social and ecological set-up demands. It and, thereafter, to review the effectiveness and
proposes a creation of a protection force for the look for mid-course corrections if necessary.
reserve that is based upon the talent and knowledge
of the community. This requires creation of a trained While all this is easily done on paper, at the field
force of Lisu hired by the forest department and level it demands the best of staff and the most
working in collaboration with the department to motivated of personnel. Therefore, both the people
monitor the biodiversity as well as accord protection as well as the forest department need to be given
to the area. The Nature Conservation Foundation adequate training in setting up an experiment that
suggests a way to reduce the burden of hiring and demands skills to manage the protection force as well
maintaining such a force: investments can be made as run it as a profit-making exercise.
to bolster the tourism infrastructure, and the revenue But it clearly needs to be encouraged, because
from tourism can be shared with the community. unless we experiment and innovate, how will we
Eco-tourism is the most tangible benefit the Lisu succeed?
can get out of the park; through eco-tourism, they can
create a direct and positive affiliation with the park Periyar: where poachers turned protectors
as well as a case for protection of wildlife. Tourist In Periyar tiger reserve in Kerala, there has been an
inflow into the park is right now relatively low. But interesting effort to provide people erstwhile
the area is known to bird watchers around the world elephant poachers and smugglers of cinnamon bark
and needs to be marketed and projected as a unique with an alternative source of livelihood from
destination. Most Indian tourists are from Assam and tourism in the park. These ex-vayana bark smugglers,
only visit Deban, which is seen more as a picnic spot. as they were once called, now engage with the forest
Infrastructure and other tourist facilities are, as yet, differently.10
limited to Deban. Building the tourism system is a Today, former poachers are companions to the
challenge, but not an insurmountable one; it is easily forest guards who patrol the Periyar tiger reserve.
more viable than positioning more guards and Information about tree-felling and smuggling is
infrastructure in that region. Moreover, the quickly relayed to the ranger by these former
investments made in tourism will be of the nature of poachers over a walkie-talkie, the patrol team is
capital investments, leading to revenue generation reinforced and the forest thief is overpowered.
for the cash-strapped department as well as Every day at dusk, one of the former poachers
sustainable livelihoods for the people. Such surveys the crowds at the local bus stop in the town
investments, in a climate of political volatility and of Kumily for suspicious elements from his old days.
rising unemployment, are the need of the hour: to The old network now works for the forest
invest in creating livelihoods rather than than in department, not against it: powerful allies in this war
bringing in more administration, guards, arms, against wildlife crime.
ammunition which encourage attendant alienation of In the past, these villagers depended upon the
the people. forest for firewood and thatching grass for their own
The Task Force has received representations use and for sale. Illicit smuggling of cinnamon was
from the Nature Conservation Foundation. Its common as was poaching of bison, buffalo and small
researchers have been engaging with Project Tiger game. In 1997, when a few illicit collectors of the
officials as well, to see how the initiative, at present vayana bark were caught by the forest department,
a private one, can be up-scaled into an official mascot they were offered a deal: the cases against them
for Project Tiger to experiment as an alternative. would be dropped in return for their services in
This will require the following at the minimum: protecting the park. Twenty-two poachers agreed.
A formal pact of reciprocity between the Lisu They said they needed a regular income; the park
and the forest department with consensus being managers, therefore, worked with them to start
the binding element; operations in offering a tourist service to trail tigers.
A clear delineation of rights, privileges and The aim was to explore the wilderness of Periyar,
benefits for the people even before such a pact is and to become guides inside the park. As the
prepared; revenues from this business grew, forest offences

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COMPARISON OF INCREASE IN COMPARISON OF REDUCTION IN ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES

REGENERATION OF CINNAMON TREES, BEFORE AND AFTER PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION BY
1998-2000 EX-VAYANA BARK COLLECTORS
800
1998 30,000
10,000 9,792
693
700 2000
9,000
610
600 8,000
Density of regeneration

516 7,000
500 475

Total No/Kg
6,000

400 5,000
4,000
300 3,000
195 207 2,000
200
1,000
0 0 36 0
100 0
Vayana bark Cutting sapling Poaching
collection
0 Illegal activites
Low Medium High
Before project implementation After project implementation
Density category
Source: Anon 2005, data on Periyar tiger reserve, Periyar Foundation, mimeo Source: Anon 2005, data on Periyar tiger reserve, Periyar Foundation, mimeo

also came down. and the arrest of 49 offenders in five years.

The real advantage lies in the intelligence There is clear evidence that there has been a
network this group now brings to the assistance of reduction in illegal activities after the
the park authorities. On the visit to Periyar, the Task involvement of this group (see graph:
Force was told by M M Naushad, a former vayana Comparison of reduction in illegal activities
bark collector, how their intelligence network had before and after project implementation by ex-
foiled poaching attempts. At least 500 sandalwood vayana bark collectors).
smugglers have been caught and smuggling of Cinnamon trees are regenerating, showing that
cinnamon tree bark has also been checked. No case of there is less pressure on them through smuggling
elephant poaching has been reported since this group (see graph: Comparison of increase in
started its work. What they valued most of all, as they regeneration of cinnamon trees, 1998-2000).
explained to the Task Force, was that they were now
treated with respect in their villages. The challenge now for the park authorities is to
The park authorities have collected data to sustain this effort and to expand it so that more
monitor the impact of this programme. They have poachers and smugglers can become protectors. But
found that: what their initiative shows is that it is possible to
The intelligence provided by this group of ex- find ways of working and making a difference with
bark collectors has resulted in detecting 28 cases even the most difficult communities.

68 The way ahead

 TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS

Recommendations
1. Solutions for protection often require innovation. The poaching networks are well
organised and they can and will reach out to the poorest in the country to use their cheap
labour and skills for doing their dirty work. Each park authority must identify the major
hunting tribes and communities in proximity to, or operating in, a reserve. This
information should be used to develop plans to figure out how the expertise of the hunters
can be used for protection as well as for gathering basic ecological information. Indias
tiger reserves, too, need trained foot soldiers and wherever possible, communities of the
forest-dependent or the hunters should become the first option to look to for recruitment
and creation of intelligent protection forces.

2. The independent monitoring of each park must evaluate the work done by the park
management on working with its forest-dependent traditional hunting communities. The
park management and Project Tiger must work on locale-specific approaches with these
communities. These efforts must be supported and carefully monitored so that the
learning can be disseminated and become practice.

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3.5 The science agenda

As wildlife populations of India started declining of the four toes and the pad. H S Panwar, a member
steeply in the 1950s, people began to speculate on of the Tiger Task Force and the then field director of
their numbers. The famous hunter-naturalist, Jim Kanha tiger reserve, identified parameters relating
Corbett, was responsible for one of the earliest of to every pugmark and suggested that they be
such estimates of tigers, and he placed their numbers statistically analysed.
in the country at 2,000. E P Gee, one of the first Using this methodology, the Indian wildlife
naturalists to document Indias wildlife followed, establishment has been conducting an All India Tiger
suggesting that India had 40,000 tigers at the turn of Census, initially once in five years and now once in
the century, which he said were down to 4,000 in four years. The cooperation consensus, as was
1965. originally devised by Choudhary, is not restricted to
In the late 1960s, K S Sankhala, who went on to the tiger reserves but is done across the habitat of the
become the first director of Project Tiger, estimated tiger: forest department personnel fan out across tiger
that there were 2,500 tigers in India.1 J C Daniel of the reserves and all other tiger habitats looking for
Bombay Natural History Society conducted a pugmarks and other signs of the tigers presence
questionnaire-based survey of forest officials to faecal matter, scratch signs, kill evidence, actual
arrive at the same estimation. These were all sightings and other reliable information from local
educated guesses, albeit coming from experts with communities.4
credibility 2. Conducted over one week, the census is
It was Saroj Raj Choudhary, a respected wildlife elaborately structured. It is organised by the different
expert from the Indian Forest Service, who states in cooperation with the Centre. The country is
attempted to put these estimates on a sounder divided into zones, which then enables training as
empirical footing by devising the pugmark count well as collation of the data. The territory mapping is
method. This method is grounded in the assumption done at a national level. The information is collected
that every individual tigers pugmarks have some by each beat guard, who oversees the smallest unit in
distinctive features that permit discrimination, the forest administration roughly 30-40 sq km.
despite variation introduced by a number of The state government appoints a chief coordinator,
environmental variables. By attempting to locate who oversees the process and analyses the data.
pugmarks of all individual tigers in a locality, this
method proposed to census the entire tiger Errors in pugmark counting
population. Over time, it has been understood that several
The first such tiger census was conducted possible sources of errors exist in the pugmark
across India between April and May 1972, which put census methodology:
the number at 1,800. This was likely to be an Pugmarks of some tigers may never be
underestimate, as it did not include the large tiger encountered
habitats of the Sundarbans and Assam because of the Different pugmarks of the same tiger may vary so
early onset of monsoons.3 much that they may be assigned to different
India has, over the years, elaborated on the individuals.
pugmark census counting the pugmarks of Pugmarks of two distinct tigers may be so
tigers in the wild to estimate tiger numbers. In indistinguishable as to be assigned to the same
this technique, forest department personnel fan individual.
out across tiger reserves and all other tiger Levels of these errors may differ from locality to
habitats looking for pugmarks and other signs of locality and from season to season, depending on
sighting the tiger. The pugmarks are cast in plaster to the terrain, tiger densities and other factors.
trace the imprints of the left hind paw. These casts
are then collected and compared to identify These errors imply that it would inevitably be
individual tigers. difficult to arrive at exact numbers of tigers based on
The method has evolved over the years. total pugmark counts. It is, therefore, imperative that
Choudhary devised the tiger tracer, transferring the one estimates the extent of all these sources of errors.
pug impression from the ground to a piece of tracing Based on these estimates, one should then come up
paper. O P Jayaraman introduced a glass tracer, on with not just one specific number, but a range with
which were etched the axes of x and y in order to some statement of the likelihood that the actual
correctly determine the quadrates, pattern and layout numbers will fall within that range.

70 The way ahead

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Dangers of pretending to be exact To develop appropriate (site-specific) census and

Wildlife managers and biologists were, of course, monitoring protocols
aware of these possibilities. Several questions have To develop spatial and aspatial models and
been raised and studies undertaken to estimate such database for risk assessment and persistence of
errors, reduce them to the extent possible, and existing tiger populations
propose alternatives5. In practice, however, the total To collate, analyse, store, update and
pugmark count with the objective of coming up with disseminate this information to decision makers
one specific exact number continues to be the and field managers
method followed in all the official tiger number To disseminate the census, habitat evaluation
estimates to this day. and monitoring techniques to field personnel by
Given the complexity of the real world, an conducting regional training workshops and
accurate total count of tigers is simply not feasible. If producing manuals
this is not accepted, and only a single number is The directorate noted that its Tiger Habitat and
provided as if that is a precise estimate, there is a Population Evaluation System would not only
danger that any lower number arrived at in a serve as a monitoring tool for the tiger and its
subsequent year would be taken to imply that there habitat, but would also serve to monitor the
has been a definite decline in the number of tigers. forests, their extent, the threats in effect, the
For example, there may be an error margin of 7 entire wilderness biodiversity resource for which
tigers with 99 per cent probability in some tiger the tiger serves as a flagship.
reserve. The estimate arrived at through total
pugmark count in the first year may be 32, which Science: an enterprise of scepticism
declined to 29 in the second year. In reality, the We evidently need to put in place a new system of
actual total number may in fact have increased. estimation of the numbers of tigers and the health of
Moreover, if there were a tendency to judge the the ecosystems that harbour them. This new system
performance of park managers on the basis of the should acknowledge that given the many sources of
supposedly exact number of tigers in the area under variability in complex natural systems, exact
their charge, then the managers would naturally be numbers, such as total pugmark counts, are not
inclined to manipulate the data and project a picture feasible, and that instead we must substitute
of continually increasing numbers. Such a tendency these by estimates accompanied by appropriate
could be checked if there was in place a system of confidence limits. But there are more fundamental
public scrutiny of the veracity of the numbers being issues at stake. We need to acknowledge that
declared. However, no such system has been in science is not a matter just of systematic procedures.
operation the tendency to manipulate data, Rather, it is a system of continual open scrutiny
therefore, has gone on unchecked. of the procedures being employed towards any
This might have happened in several places. We given objectives, such as estimation of tiger numbers,
now have concrete evidence that it did happen in and of the level of reliability of the results
Sariska, where the publicly declared numbers have these procedures produce. This system has
been decidedly inflated at least over 2001, 2002 and traditionally worked through peer review of
2004. A most unfortunate consequence of the publication of scientific results specifying details of
dissemination of such manipulated data has been a the methodology and of primary data as well as
failure to recognise the signs of decline in tiger analysis and interpretation. Therefore, many
numbers, resulting in their total elimination during wildlife biologists have rightly pointed out that
2004. the total pugmark count method has never been
It is important to note here that around mid- exposed to this test and is consequently
2002, the Project Tiger directorate had already begun unacceptable to them. At the same time, they point to
working on a revised methodology for the assessment a number of alternatives that have been so tested,
of tiger habitats and numbers. The directorate, in its including the use of camera traps, and hence are
note, assessed the situation: Over 20 years of serious preferable.
efforts and millions of rupees of investment towards Peer review in refereed journals is a time-tested
promoting conservation of tigers and their system that will continue to function. However, it is
ecosystems, it is rather ironical that we still do not just one of the ways of ensuring that science
have a system of evaluating the effectiveness of these progresses through transparency, by sharing all
conservation efforts.6 results, the methodology employed to arrive at them
The directorate then laid out its objectives as and the logic followed in the deductions. Science
follows: also attempts to eliminate biases that may arise
To assess the habitat and status of tigers in the through conflicts of interest by devising procedures
sub-continent such as double blind trials. It is these democratic,

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 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

inclusive traditions of science that we need to build Hierarchy of scales

upon in devising a system to foster a healthy growth
of wildlife biology in the country. The estimation of number of tigers over a total range
In this context, it is important to note that peer spanning many thousands of kilometres of parks,
review in refereed journals is a system that was reserve forests and even non-forest areas calls for a
evolved in pre-ICT revolution times. It is a system that massive effort. Such an effort cannot, obviously, be
confers considerable power on a small number of equally intensive throughout the tiger range. It is,
individuals involved in making editorial decisions therefore, best to go in for different levels and kinds
and serving as referees. There are examples, too, of of efforts at a hierarchy of spatial scales, focusing the
misuse of this power. There is, therefore, much merit more intensive effort in relatively limited selected
in going beyond peer reviews. Today, public scrutiny areas. The effort should not be confined to estimation
can be made much more extensive and effective by of tiger numbers, but has to be broader covering at all
posting on the Web all the data, the methodology scales:
followed and the logic employed. Ideally, we should State of tiger habitat
make all this information available in all the Indian Abundance of tiger prey species
languages also. Indeed, such a Web-based scrutiny, Abundance of tigers
exposing scientific activities to a wider public, Human impacts on tiger habitat
would serve the vital function of demystifying People-wildlife conflicts
science, and of checking vested interests that
scientists too may try to encourage. Such a Web- Low intensity, extensive effort
based system could also help bring on board The most wide-ranging effort will have to span the
information on ecological parameters available with entire tiger range. It will not be feasible to rigorously
laypeople. arrive at quantitative estimates at this scale. Instead,
Certainly, there is an abundance of evidence the most extensive effort will have to aim at a
pointing to the fact that given the nature of complex qualitative understanding of the points listed above.
ecological systems, scientists too have a limited We simply do not have the adequate scientific
understanding of their functioning, at the same human resources to undertake even qualitative
time that laypeople may have observations of value. investigations on this scale. At the same time, it is
The experience of a group of Bangalore-based highly worthwhile to draw upon the practical
ecologists investigating the fate of wild amla ecological knowledge of local communities as well as
populations on the nearby BRT Hills provides an government employees working in the field. This
interesting example. Their hypothesis was that the wide-ranging effort must, therefore, engage the
regeneration of the amla is governed by the amount of extensive network of forest guards and watchers, as
fruit collected for commercial use, and that the low well as knowledgeable local residents. It would of
levels of regeneration in recent years were related to course be necessary for the scientists to participate in
excessive harvests of the fruit. So they laid out the process, building the capacity of forest staff and
statistically well-designed experiments to test the local people, and at the same time, learning from
influence of different levels of harvests of fruit. The their field experiences.
local Solliga tribals told them that these experiments This grassroots-level involvement could come
would yield no results of interest, because, according from two streams. Firstly, the wildlife managers
to their understanding of the ecosystem based on organising the surveys could engage forest guards
many years of first-hand observations, the levels of and watchers, as well as knowledgeable local
regeneration were primarily influenced by forest residents and amateur naturalists. Secondly, it
fires. Amla seeds require fire to germinate well, and would be appropriate to take advantage of
the Solligas felt that the low levels of regeneration panchayat-level documentation of biodiversity in the
were related to the suppression of forest fires in form of peoples biodiversity registers that is now
recent years. The scientists did not initially give being initiated as a follow-up of the Biological
credence to this view and continued with their Diversity Act. These registers will be periodically
experiments. Only later did they come to the updated as well. All the panchayats falling within
conclusion that the Solligas had indeed been right. and on the periphery of the tiger range, whether in
So it is highly appropriate for us to put in place protected areas, reserve forests, or non-forest areas
a more inclusive system of obtaining inputs from could be asked to so focus their documentation as to
all people, especially in the context of wildlife provide a continual monitoring of tiger populations
biology. In fact, even Indias famous ornithologist as well as of the health of the tiger habitat.
Salim Ali drew upon the knowledge of Mirshikars, a
tribe traditionally engaged in bird trapping, in his Landscape level understanding
own work. Spatial information derived from satellite imagery

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and organised with the help of Geographical involvement of all interested parties in the endeavor
Information Systems (GIS) is a most valuable source of assessing tiger populations and their habitats.
of information pertaining to the status of the tiger Such involvement, at the level of the extensive effort,
habitat spanning the entire distribution range of the should bring on board, alongside wildlife managers,
tiger. Given the fact that a substantial proportion of scientists as well as local community members and
the tiger population occurs outside tiger reserves, we amateur naturalists. The more intensive effort would
are increasingly beginning to appreciate the call for involvement of scientists and wildlife
significance of conservation efforts focusing on the managers to a much greater extent, though there will
whole landscape. GIS using satellite-derived and still be scope for involving local community
other spatial information would be a key tool in this members and amateur naturalists.
context. In fact, a point of view debated during the Tiger
The various kinds of information thus generated Task Force hearings is that such ecological
through such an extensive effort would provide a assessment is like an audit of a business concern. An
broad picture of the status of the tiger habitat. This audit is best conducted by an independent external
would help partition the overall tiger habitat into a agency. If this is accepted, the wildlife managers
series of strata representing different states of should not participate in the ecological assessment at
parameters of interest, such as habitat fragmentation all, leaving it in the hands of an independent group
and prey densities. of scientists. However, so long as the whole
assessment process is inclusive and transparent,
Intensive studies ensuring that there is no undue manipulation of data
This broad understanding of the entire tiger range as happened in the case of Sariska, it may be
would be the starting point of designing more appropriate to involve the wildlife managers in the
thorough investigations. A set of sample localities process. Such involvement would contribute to
may then be chosen from the overall tiger range for further building up of their capacities at all levels
more intensive, rigorous investigations. from forest guards and watchers upwards.
These focused, intensive investigations may also
cover all the aspects considered at the earlier stage Multidisciplinary effort
(state of tiger habitat, abundance of tiger prey Tiger conservation is not simply a matter of ensuring
species, etc). a healthy prey population base for the carnivores. It
These intensive investigations may draw on the is a far more complex process that will have to
whole arsenal of scientific hardware such as camera include attempts at positively involving thousands of
traps and DNA sequencing, as well as software such as human beings that share the tiger habitat. The effort
statistical techniques and computer simulations (see at assessment of tiger populations and their habitats
box: Checking DNA). Their focus should not be would, therefore, have to look at whole landscapes,
confined to trees, ungulates and larger carnivores, as also at a range of ecological, social, economic,
but also include many other significant elements of political as well as ethical issues. Such an effort
biodiversity. They should not view humans only as a would have to engage natural and social scientists as
nuisance, but also as the only species to have evolved well as resource managers, and be open to
practices of deliberate conservation of biodiversity. participation of all interested public as well. As a
first step in this direction, an expert group of people
An inclusive, cooperative effort with expertise in relevant technical disciplines such
as wildlife management, population and community
Recognising that a main difficulty so far has been the ecology, statistics, remote sensing, resource
opaqueness and exclusivity of the efforts at assessing economics, common property resource management
tiger populations, both the extensive as well as the and anthropology may be constituted to devise a
intensive investigations should be conducted in the proper methodology and protocol for analysis of the
spirit of science. The main ingredients of the data and basing management decisions on the
scientific enterprise are: resultant understanding.
Open access to all facts and inferences We do have substantial Indian capabilities in this
Rejection of all authority other than that of context, but it is important to bring it together to
empirical facts, and work as a team and to focus their efforts. There is a
Welcoming all interested parties to question all great deal of expertise abroad as well and we must
assertions as to facts as well as logic always keep ourselves open to their inputs. However,
modern communication technologies make it very
This would not only involve following the easy to obtain these inputs even in the absence of
established scientific scheme of peer review in face-to-face contacts. We, therefore, suggest that we
professional journals, but would entail welcoming concentrate on building up an indigenous team

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Checking DNA location using a Global Positioning System finder.

In addition, the scientists have collected hair
Because the tiger is an elusive animal, biologists follicles by using mechanical devices and glue hair
search for different ways to find and identify it. snares. Before processing the sample for DNA
One emerging approach is to use non-invasive DNA- analysis, the scientists will examine the hair
based techniques, which identifies individual samples microscopically to check their cuticular
species and animals with the molecular analysis of patterns, which determine the species.7
collected hair and scat samples. The problem is In his presentation to the Task Force, held in
that while molecular scatology analysis of scat May 2005, Goyal explained the progress in this
samples has been increasingly used in the world, project. He said that they had collected 25 scat
there is little work on the tiger outside India. The samples, which were being analysed. The analysis
use of genetic tags or DNA-based mark-recapture was complete for checking the species and sex
population estimations have been widely identification of the tiger. However, what they
demonstrated in the census of the black bear, were working on was genotyping or individual
brown bear and the Altantic humpback whale, but identification. According to him, researchers have
not in that of the tiger. Indian scientists have to incorporated individual identification along with
develop and standardise protocols which would be sex markers to understand variation in these
capable of using the body parts and faecal matter to aspects due to sexes. These markers are called
determine the species, the sex and then the short tandem repeats or micro-satellites. The
individual animal. important aspect is to screen the marker for that
Two institutes are currently working on this: particular species to find the markers that are
the Wildlife Institute of India and the Centre for highly polymorphic. Then, five to 10 of such highly
Cellular and Molecular Biology in Hyderabad. The polymorphic markers can address all sorts of
Wildlife Institute of India has a current project questions related to individuals without any false
titled Comparison of tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) identification. This stage is progressing fast at the
population estimated using non-invasive Institutes laboratory.
techniques of pugmark, camera trap and DNA Recently, a group of Chinese scientists have
analysis of hair and scat in Ranthambhore tiger developed micro-satellites for tigers, which can be
reserve. It is also working on characterisation of used for identifying individuals. This work can
species from bone, tusk, rhino horn and antler to now proceed using this tool.8
deal with wildlife offences. The problems, according to Goyal, involve
The Ranthambhore project is a pilot study genotyping the individuals from micro-satellites,
being done to standardise protocols for particularly as the scat sample is often degraded
identification of free ranging individual tigers, says and DNA that can be extracted is small and often,
S P Goyal, the principal investigator in the project. poor.
The project uses all three techniques pugmarks, In addition, the Task Force has received a
camera traps and molecular genetics to compare proposal from the Centre for Cellular and
and validate the three options. In the study area, Molecular Biology on estimating the number of
scientists have collected fresh scat (faeces) samples wild tigers in tiger reserves in India by DNA
while walking on different trails. Each vial of the profiling of faecal samples. The Centre has a high
prepared scat for analysis has been marked with its order of capacity to undertake this work.

effort, rather than bring in foreign consultants. In any implement a better monitoring system (see Annexure
case, we advocate a very open system, in which not VIII: Methodology for estimating and monitoring tiger
only Indians, but also all interested foreign scientists status and habitat). The Tiger Task Force has
would have access to most of the relevant reviewed the proposed methodology with the Project
information. There should be an open invitation to Tiger director and scientists at the Institute. It has
all foreign scientists too to study, reflect, criticise and also invited comments from experts on the proposal
make suggestions. so that the views of all concerned can be considered
(see box: Consultations to review methodology).
Proposed habitat monitoring The Tiger Task Force believes the proposed
The Project Tiger directorate has been working for national tiger estimation methodology to be a move
the past three years with the Dehradun-based in the right direction and endorses it. It hopes that
Wildlife Institute of India to devise a system to the national tiger estimation, which is to be

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conducted from November 2005, will be done using as do other research relevant to further development
this evolved methodology (see chart: The various of the methodology.
stages of the monitoring protocol).
However, as many details will have to be refined, Overseeing tiger and tiger habitat assessment
for instance, in terms of analysis of the data While the Project Tiger directorate and Wildlife
collected, the Tiger Task Force recommends that Institute of India programme would be a major
even as the work on estimation proceeds using this component of the needed effort at assessing tiger
new methodology, the Project Tiger directorate populations and tiger habitat, a great deal more needs
should set up a scientific expert group immediately to be done. For instance, we need to know much
with expertise in relevant technical disciplines such more about the various parasites and diseases
as wildlife management, population and community afflicting tigers and in part, shared with other
ecology, statistics and remote sensing for overseeing carnivores. We should understand the implications
the process. This group should work from the very of provision of water sources in the dry season that
inception of the process and assist in suggesting modify the natural patterns of dispersal of tiger prey.
appropriate ways of analysing and interpreting the We also need to quantify the extent of impact of
data. This expert group should in fact be funded to villages inside, in contrast to those on the periphery
enable its members to engage in data analysis as well of tiger reserves. We need to figure out how much

THE VARIOUS STAGES OF THE MONITORING PROTOCOL

PHASE I Tiger/carnivore sign survey Ungulate encounter rate Habitat quality

Beat level sampling

(10-20 sq km)

Occupancy and relative abundance

Spatio-temporal monitoring

Landscape complex characterisation

PHASE II
(remotely sensed and attribute data in GIS)

Modelling patterns underlying tiger occupancy, source

population and connectivity

Stratified sampling based on Phase I and II for:

PHASE III 1. Tiger density (capture-recapture framework)
2. Ungulate density (distance sampling)

Convert indices to density and numbers

Intensive monitoring of source populations

PHASE IV
a) Photo IDs
b) Radio telemetry
c) Sign surveys three-monthly

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Consultations to review methodology interests have continued in this area and his papers
have been published in almost all peer-reviewed
The fourth term of reference of the Tiger Task Force is to scientific journals, including five in the very prestigious
suggest measures to improve the methodology of tiger Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
counting and forecasting. (PNAS). H S Panwar, former director, Project Tiger and
The Task Force assessed and evaluated the national WII, with years of experience in practising conservation
tiger estimation methodology developed by the Project and with a background in population estimation, also
Tiger directorate and the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) vetted the methodology.
in this regard. 6. Madhav Gadgil spent time further discussing the
In order to ensure that all views, comments and methods of statistical analysis with the scientists
criticisms were taken note of, the Task Force did the concerned. After these rounds of deliberation and being
following: satisfied with the proposed methodology, the Task
Force has decided to endorse the approach and to
1. It held a consultation in Delhi, in May 2005, recommend the director Project Tiger to proceed with
inviting all the prominent experts and scientists the use of the methodology in the coming census.
working on population estimations in the country. The 7. The Tiger Task Force is also recommending that
deliberations included a presentation from Y V Jhala of even as the work on estimation proceeds using this
the WII on the proposed methodology that the Institute new approach, the Project Tiger directorate should
was developing with the Project Tiger directorate, as set up a scientific expert group immediately with
well as a presentation by Ullas Karanth on the expertise in relevant technical disciplines such as
methodology used by him. Rajesh Gopal, director, wildlife management, population and community
Project Tiger, explained the rationale and science ecology, statistics, and remote sensing to oversee
behind the proposed methodology and the progress the process from its inception. This will help the
made so far. process to be dynamic and science-based and the
2. The Task Force then sent the technical note learning can be incorporated into the analysis on an
prepared on the methodology to all concerned ongoing basis.
scientists, inviting written comments and suggestions In the discussions with Project Tiger directorate
(see Annexure VI: Experts requested to comment on and WII the different comments received were broadly
methodology for tiger estimation). categorised and carefully reviewed. The comments and
3. A second consultation was held in Bangalore in the responses of Project Tiger and WII are as follows:
June 2005 to discuss the methodology with a further
group of scientists and field managers. 1. Relating to misunderstanding arising out of text:
4. The written comments received were then Critique: Tenacity to follow only pugmark-based
discussed with scientists at the WII and with the population estimation.
director, Project Tiger. Response: Tiger signs (including pugmark) is used for
5. A member of the Task Force, Madhav Gadgil, was determining spatial occupancy and relative sign
entrusted with the responsibility to assess the density. We are not promoting the pugmark method but
methodology and to resolve all the comments received using a range of methods for absolute density estimation
from experts. It must be noted that Gadgil is a renowned in stratified representative units. Instead, we are using
field statistician, with a PhD in mathematical ecology mark-recapture framework through
from Harvard University, USA. He has worked for many a. Camera trap-based identification
years on population estimation of animals, beginning b. Refined, digitised pugmark-based identification
with the first elephant census in 1978. Since then, his c. DNA-based identification

revenue flows from wildlife tourism and how This extensive effort cannot be undertaken solely
feasible it is to direct some of it towards by the in-house agencies of forest departments. In
ecodevelopment efforts. Evidently, a great deal of fact, the positions of research officers have lain
research needs to be undertaken on a diversity of vacant in a majority of tiger reserves and little
themes by a variety of individuals and agencies. relevant scientific work has been accomplished. Nor

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2. Relating to scientific and technical issues: theory, and tiger population estimation following
Critique: Related to design of surveys relationship mark-capture framework.
between sign index and population density may not be
linear or there may be no relationship between sign Critique: Ungulate estimation related to converting
index and absolute density. encounter rates to abundance.
Response: Sign index is primarily used for determining Response: Habitat specific effective strip widths
spatial occupancy by tigers and other carnivores. estimated by actual sampling by research team in each
Currently, research is ongoing to establish the form of landscape complex.
this relationship between sign index and population
abundance of tigers in the Satpura-Maikal landscape. Critique: Tiger numbers are considered to be
Similar relationships will be estimated for all unimportant in the proposed methodology.
landscape complexes. Response: The proposed monitoring protocol
addresses the reality that it would not be possible to
Critique: Precision in detecting population change. estimate tiger numbers throughout the landscape in the
Response: The method proposed is conservative, that entire country. The hierarchical approach of the
is, reporting lower population estimates than reality. protocol proposes to intensively monitor (numbers) in
The method suffers from non-detection of tiger signs all source populations (tiger reserves and protected
when there is tiger presence and not vice versa. areas, Phase IV). The research-level monitoring (Phase
Therefore, it is unlikely to over-estimate population III) for establishing relationship between sign index and
size. Thus errors, if any, will not be detrimental to the population size would ensure population estimation in
conservation decision process. There may be noise in representative samples of varying tiger density in each
the sign index due to territoriality and breeding landscape complex.
seasonality of tigers; however, such variability will be
accounted for by analysing data at a range or protected 3 Practical problems in operation:
area level. The precision for detecting change at the Critique: Non-existence of beat boundaries in several
sampling unit (beat) may be poor, but at a higher scale tiger-occupied landscapes.
(range, division, protected area) the precision to Response: The beat system exists in majority of tiger
detect change in an abundance class is likely to be occupied landscapes. Where the beat boundary is not
good. delineated, an appropriate sampling unit of 15-20 sq
km would be marked on a 1:50,000 scale map based on
Critique: The Satpura-Maikal pilot has not natural recognisable boundaries and used as the
implemented the occupancy estimation approach sampling unit.
Response: The information made available in the
technical note was largely indicative of the field Critique: Questionable reliability of data obtained by
data collected in the pilot project. The intended untrained and unmotivated data collectors
analysis was also outlined. The data would be Response: Experience from Satpura-Maikal, Kuno,
analysed in a probabilistic framework. The sign- Sariska, Ranthambhore and Dachigam strongly
detection analysis will be done following detection suggests that with appropriate training, the forest staff
probability analysis as proposed by J A Royale, D I can collect the required data with high levels of
MacKenzie, J D Nichols and and U K Karanth. The motivation. This system will serve to revitalise,
analytic methods are peer reviewed and categorised: provide a sense of belonging and ownership to the
sign-detection within probabilistic framework: agency (forest department) responsible for the
animal density estimation following distance sampling conservation of our biodiversity resources.

can the Wildlife Institute of India be made the sole been done by groups outside not only government
agency responsible for the entire spectrum of agencies, but also other research institutes and
scientific work, for that would mean failing to take universities. So every effort should now be made to
advantage of the enormous potential in a multitude encourage all interested parties to participate in
of other Indian agencies. Indeed, in case of tiger furthering our understanding of the tiger and its
population assessment itself a great deal of work has habitat.

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Recommendations
1. The time has now come to go beyond the pugmark count method (aiming at a total
census), to a sample-based approach. The massive effort required to estimate the numbers
of tigers over its entire range cannot be equally intensive throughout the range. It is,
therefore, necessary to go in for different levels and kinds of efforts at a hierarchy of
spatial scales, focusing the more intensive effort in relatively limited selected areas.

2. The effort at assessment of tiger populations and their habitats would have to look at
whole landscapes, as also at a range of ecological, social, economic, political as well as
ethical issues. Such an effort would have to engage natural and social scientists as well as
resource managers, and be open to participation of all interested public as well.

3. The most wide-ranging effort spanning the entire tiger range will have to aim at a
qualitative understanding of (a) the state of tiger habitat, (b) the abundance of tiger prey
species, (c) the abundance of tigers, (d) human impacts on tiger habitat and (e) people-
wildlife conflicts. This wide-ranging effort must engage the extensive network of forest
guards and watchers, as well as knowledgeable members of local communities. In this
context, it would be appropriate to take advantage of panchayat-level documentation of
biodiversity in the form of peoples biodiversity registers that is now being initiated as a
follow-up of the Biological Diversity Act.

4. Given that a substantial proportion of the tiger population occurs outside tiger
reserves, we are increasingly beginning to appreciate the significance of conservation
efforts focusing on the whole landscape. GIS-using satellite derived and other spatial
information should serve as a key tool in this context. A qualitative understanding of the
entire tiger range would be the starting point of designing more thorough investigations.
A set of sample localities may then be chosen from the overall tiger range for more
intensive, rigorous investigations.

5. The Tiger Task Force has reviewed the revised methodology for estimating/
monitoring tiger status and its habitat proposed by the Project Tiger directorate and the
Wildlife Institute of India. It believes that this is a move in the right direction and
endorses the methodology. It hopes that the national tiger estimation, which is to be
conducted from November 2005, will be done using this evolved methodology.

6. However, as many details will have to be refined, for instance, in terms of analysis of
the data collected, the Tiger Task Force recommends that even as the work on estimation
proceeds using this new methodology, the Project Tiger directorate must set up a
scientific expert group immediately with expertise in relevant technical disciplines such
as wildlife management, population and community ecology, statistics, and remote
sensing for overseeing the process. This group should work from the very inception of the
process and assist in suggesting appropriate ways of analysing and interpreting the data.
This expert group should in fact be funded to enable its members to engage in data
analysis as well as do other research relevant to further development of the methodology.

7. It is essential to facilitate involvement of a broad range of researchers in wildlife

biology, especially in the context of intensive studies at the field level. All effort must be
made to encourage and facilitate the intensive research and monitoring studies of source
population of tigers using a variety of tools photo-identification and monitoring,
camera traps, radio-telemetry and DNA-based genetic studies in different landscape units.
The Tiger Task Force feels that it is important to put in place institutional mechanisms
that would streamline existing procedures for clearance and co-ordination of research and
ensure better utilisation of the research output.

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8. This could take the form of panels that may be chaired by the inspector general of
forests (wildlife)/chief wildlife warden, and include the secretary of the National
Biodiversity Authority/State Biodiversity Board, and experts in ecology, social sciences
and bio-statistics. It would be best if these panels serve as single window clearing houses
for all matters relating to wildlife research so that they streamline current procedures
rather than create another layer.

9. The emerging techniques of DNA is an important new area of estimation. The Task
Force would recommend that the work in this field needs to be supported. The Wildlife
Institute of India and the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) must be
encouraged to take on pilot programmes at a landscape level using this technique. In
particular, the Task Force would like to invite the CCMB to provide inputs in the
development of molecular techniques for identification of individual tigers.

10. The Tiger Task Force feels very strongly that the most serious lacuna in our approach
to managing information on tigers has been a lack of openness and willingness to take
everybody along. The inclusive, open approach that we advocate depends crucially on
free access to all information, except where very evident security concerns are involved,
to all people. In modern times, this would be best ensured by posting all pertinent
information on the Web, in English as well as in all Indian languages.

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3.6 The research agenda

Wildlife research has been facing some serious independent view of the situation. It is, therefore,
problems. Almost every wildlife researcher has a important to discuss a management framework that
grouse against the wildlife bureaucracy: either for its will facilitate research and also ensure that this
failure to aid in their research or for ignoring the research is used for policy formulation.
findings of their research. The wildlife bureaucracy,
in turn, has complaints about individual researchers Procedures for clearance of research
and questions about their motivations for research.
The situation, as a result, has become quite chaotic. Currently, the provisions of the Wildlife (Protection)
Earlier this year, the Union ministry of environment Act, 1972, govern wildlife research in the country.
and forests reportedly issued a circular asking all Section 28 (grant of permit) of the Act gives authority
state forest departments to stop giving permission for to the chief wildlife warden to grant permission on
any kind of research that entails handling of application, grant to any person a permit to enter or
animals (touching, holding or even wire-tripping reside in a sanctuary for all or any of the following
them for a camera shot). The ban was across forests, purposes, namely:
protected or otherwise, as well as across species.1 investigation or study of wildlife and purposes
The fact is that wildlife research, unlike most ancillary or incidental thereto;
other research areas, is extremely dependent on the photography;
cooperation of the protected area administration, as scientific research;
all protected areas are controlled and access is only tourism;
through the bureaucracy in charge. Therefore, transaction of lawful business with any person
without any pre-agreed rules, the relationship is residing in the sanctuary.
highly dependent on the individuals concerned. In addition, Section 12 (grant of permit for
Some researchers complain of the time it takes to get special purposes) allows the chief wildlife warden to
clearances for conducting research; some allege grant a permit in writing to hunt any wild animal
harassment when their findings go against the forest specified in such permit for the purpose of:
department, and still others speak of arbitrary education
decisions to revoke permission for their work. Of scientific research
course, there are also those who contend that this is scientific management
not the case across the country. There is also Section 17B (grants of permit for
In his submission to the Tiger Task Force, special purposes) which allows the chief wildlife
Raghunandan Chundawat, a wildlife researcher warden, with previous permission of the state
working on snow leopards and on tigers in Panna government, to grant any person a permit to pick,
tiger reserve in Madhya Pradesh, presented a list of uproot, acquire or collect from the forest land
the problems faced by wildlife researchers working specified plants, including for the purpose of
in India in recent years. In his note to the Task Force, education and scientific research.
Chundawat said: Unfortunately, in the last three There are other provisions about working with
decades, no system has been created that encourages animals and species listed in Schedules I and II of the
or institutionalises access to available professional Act. In cases that involve any research that is
research in protected areas, nor one that takes invasive (which includes handling of animals),
advantage of the growing body of professionals with permission has to be sought directly from the Union
expertise in relevant areas who work outside the ministry of environment and forests.
government. We need to change the attitude of our
management from a guard protecting jewels to a Need for research guidelines
librarian who is managing a library of unexplored The problem is not the legislation per se, but its
knowledge and inviting people for learning. These implementation, say researchers. For this reason,
problems occur now and again because we have they argue for a policy that will guide wildlife
failed to create a system which supports and research in the country. In mid-1998, the standing
provides protection to independent research in the committee of the erstwhile Indian Board for Wildlife
country.2 (see box: Relationship blues problems (now the National Board for Wildlife) had ratified a
faced by wildlife researchers) set of guidelines to issue permits by state forest
The problems are so engaged and often, personal, departments. But these guidelines, prepared by
that it is virtually impossible to take an unbiased or scientists R Sukumar and K Ullas Karanth, were not

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Relationship blues problems faced by wildlife researchers

1. Tiger project in Nagarhole by Ullas Karanth: Society (BNHS): The forest owlet had been considered
Has had to face tremendous problems in extinct till recently, until surveys rediscovered a few
conducting research; more recently, several cases small populations of the species. The BNHS launched
in courts have been slapped on him. a detailed study. After completing his field-work,
the researcher left the field to write his thesis. On a
2. Tiger research project in Panna, Madhya visit to his field site later, he was shocked to see most
Pradesh: After the death of radio-collared tigers of the forest in which he had conducted the study
due to poaching, death of prey species in snares had been clear felled. When he made an attempt to
and complaints made to chief wildlife warden find out the reasons and the circumstances
regarding the lax protection measures and surrounding this, he was slapped a charge of Rs
destructive management practices, the forest 90,000 retrospectively for his use of accommodation
department started harassing the researcher and provided by the department during his field-work.
curtailing research activities in this case. After a
petition was filed regarding the flawed 4. Research project on the white-bellied shortwing
management practices based on the information in Annamalai: The researcher has 50-60 ringed
gathered by the researcher and following his birds but is not able to study and monitor them as
whistle-blowing on the deteriorating status of tigers permission has not been renewed. A sum of Rs
in Panna, the management began a harassment 16,000 is being charged for entry retrospectively,
campaign against the researcher. It included acts including that of his two assistants who are locals
like cancelling research permission, refusing to and reside inside the sanctuary.
renew the permission to monitor the radio-collared
tigers, retrospective charges for using elephants as 5. Research project on crickets: This project was
transport and legal notices to recover the revenue proposed and permission for it granted by the chief
through forfeiting the researchers property and wildlife warden, but the director of the Kudremukh
asking him to vacate his field camp, seizing the sanctuary did not allow the researchers to enter the
research vehicle and equipment etc. sanctuary and work during the night.

3. Study on the forest owlet in Shahda, Extracts from Raghunandan Chundawats

Maharashtra, by the Bombay Natural History submission to the Tiger Task Force, May 2005

finalised and implemented. well as the levels that need to be involved, given
The draft guidelines for a national wildlife the complexity and duration of the research
research policy included the following principles: application.
d. The guidelines asked that there should be clear
a. The need to differentiate between wildlife objective reasons for rejecting any proposal for
research, as research conducted by qualified wildlife research. In case a research proposal is
scientists or by assistants and students working rejected, either by the chief wildlife warden or
under their supervision, and photographing, the director (wildlife), government of India, the
filming, video-graphing of wildlife and such reasons for such rejection must be clearly
other activities which are of a potentially communicated to the researcher at the time of
commercial nature, proposed to be carried out by communicating the rejection.
individuals who are not qualified scientists or e. The guidelines also set up provisions for
their assistants and students. The latter must not arbitration: in cases of such rejection by the chief
be treated as wildlife research. wildlife warden, the state government shall be
b. The guidelines pertain to research by Indian the executive appellate authority, and in the case
nationals only. In case of foreign nationals of director (wildlife), the Central government
wanting to do research in India, all existing laws shall be the executive appellate authority.
governing their presence and work under other f. The research questions and methodologies used
government rules (home ministry, external will be decided by the researchers according to
affairs ministry and others as applicable) would their own institutional agenda of priorities in the
apply additionally. case of independently funded wildlife research
c. The guidelines set out the time period that would projects.
be taken by the agencies for granting research as g. The guidelines also set out terms for ownership

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of the research, saying it must be recognised that consensus was that the complexity and seriousness
the product of any wildlife research in terms of of the problems at hand could not be addressed in
its scientific results and publications is the the limited scale of a single protected area. The idea
intellectual property of the researchers. The was to upscale field conservation to the landscape
agency or personnel managing the area in which level, in a manner inclusive of the concerns of local
such research is permitted to be carried out will people and with their participation.
not have the right to claim these research results The conservation of the tiger and most other
or impose their names on the publications, species of flora and fauna faces the typical source
without the express and voluntary permission of and sink situation with respect to the protected area
the researchers. Research permission should not and its surrounding. It is, therefore, necessary to first
impose any conditions relating to the publication identify some landscapes in the country which
of research results, as this would constitute an required priority because of their relative
infringement of the fundamental right of biodiversity significance and the magnitude of
academic freedom of the researchers. problems. The next stage is to do baselines on
h. The chief wildlife wardens and director biological, management and socio-economic
(wildlife), government of India, must constitute attributes and issues in an interdisciplinary manner.
technical panels comprising individual Once this stage is through, depending upon the
specialists on various aspects of wildlife severity of the problems, research topics could be
research, to assist them in reviewing scientific identified in the respective ecological-biological,
wildlife research proposals. All studies management and human aspects of conservation and
involving destructive or manipulative research, of the welfare of local people. Such a framework is a
and, those studies whose quality or useful tool to prioritise basic, applied and
methodologies the chief wildlife warden is experimental research, and can assist in generating
unsure about prima facie, must be referred to information useful to management.
these technical review panels. Proposals If anything, tiger conservation needs such a
submitted by qualified scientists can be rejected framework urgently. The tigers long-term survival
only after reference to the technical panel. depends on it. Even if we prioritise initial
i. Wildlife researchers engaged in bona fide management to target protected areas and their
research shall inform the managing authorities of immediate mutual impact zones, it is imperative to
the area of any fact or observation relevant to look beyond to the physical and social landscape.
wildlife conservation, including violation of The 1983 task force under Madhavrao Scindia had
laws, occurring in the area. However, they also seen the management imperatives along these
should not interfere in the normal day to day lines, but neither the management nor the research
administration of the area nor can they escort or which came after, followed the roadmap proposed
accompany unauthorised personnel into the by the task force. The result is here for us to see.
area.3 All research definitely contributes to a better
understanding, but only a few can be of effective help
Research to guide management in solving problems. It is this link that must be
strengthened.
A broad-based framework, inclusive of management This also points to the importance of prioritising
and human aspects of conservation, is the research and the need for interdisciplinary research.
prerequisite for wildlife research. A major objection Wildlife research is needed in three disciplinary and
that field managers raise is that a lot of todays research activity domains basic, applied and
wildlife research addresses only animals and not experimental.
habitats or plant ecology. There are very few studies
that look at interface conflicts and the way out. There Facilitating networking
is no experimental research with respect to habitats, It is clear that while all research is important and can
except by managers. This is one of the reasons for assist in building knowledge-based actions, what is
managers to be somewhat indifferent to animal needed is a coordinating mechanism to allow
biology research and that too, about the more networking between researchers and park managers.
charismatic species. This forum would facilitate identification of
The issue of prioritising research has been priorities, strengthen the exchange of information
considered in depth at the Wildlife Institute of India. and build a strong community of researchers. One
In 2001, the Training Research and Academic institution which can play this role is the Wildlife
Council of the Institute nominated a sub-group to Institute of India, which was set up to undertake
consider a research agenda. The report of the sub- research and training in wildlife science and
group emphasised a landscape approach. The management. Since its inception in the 1980s, the

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Institute has spawned a large number of researchers designed for policy. At the same time, nobody can
working in different parts of the country. The argue that policy should, or can be, designed without
community of wildlife researchers has grown research. It is here that networking is needed
enormously over these years. In addition, there is a the most.
new breed of wildlife managers, who have Let us be clear: researchers do policy research
specialised in research and who can play effective when there is a demand for it. Unfortunately, many
roles in this discourse (see box: Wildlife Institute of times, policy is research-proof. On the other hand,
India a critical role ahead). policy makers argue that research is policy-proof.
It is important, then, to realise that internal Clearly, there is no easy resolution to this issue. What
expertise and confidence in research abilities has is needed is to create forums not just one but many
grown enormously since Project Tiger was launched which can bring together these different
in the early 1970s. At that stage, Indian expertise was communities to a common discussion ground. This
considerably weaker and cat specialists and wildlife facilitation of research and policy is essential.
biologists who were consulted for the design of the The Tiger Task Force would not want to suggest
programme came from abroad. But today, with the that any one institution be put in charge of this work.
growth of this area of expertise in the country, the But it is clear that the Wildlife Institute of India must
situation has changed. play a greater and involved role in bringing together
Indian researchers are competent to undertake these different groups and interests.
this research. In fact, unlike their counterparts in the
rest of the world, they bring uniquely Indian Mechanisms to facilitate research
perspectives to wildlife matters. It is this research
knowledge that now needs to be integrated with The Tiger Task Force finds the Sukumar and Karanth
policy. guidelines to be quite reasonable, but would like to
It is clear that research should not be singly suggest institutional mechanisms that would further

Wildlife Institute of India a critical role ahead management along the imperative of a rational
paradigm shift so as to balance conservation and the
Set up in 1982, the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) socio-economic well-being of forest dwelling people.
marched ahead only when its was accorded Its founder faculty has the strength to carry forward
autonomy in 1986. Support from its society, this agenda meaningfully and speedily if the
governing body (GB) and the Union ministry of deficiencies pointed above are remedied and its
environment and forests (MoEF) facilitated its work in functional autonomy with total transparency restored
training, academics and research domains so as to without further delay. There is no reason for this not
accord with field realities of conservation to happen, as all the concerned decision makers are
interspersion of dependent communities in part of the institutions governance as well.
wilderness areas of all kinds across the length and The WII has a nodal facilitating and
breadth of India. Its faculty structures and coordinating role in prioritising wildlife research
programmes were tailored along these essential field so as to meet the concerns of protected area
requirements and the progress was hailed by state manages in terms of not just animal species but also
forest-wildlife organisations and scientific circles. for habitats within and for wildlife outside
Unfortunately, a decades setback after the early protected areas. It has to infuse professional
1990s undermined its functional autonomy and capacity among foresters in order to have a
even programmes. Delayed increase in faculty dynamic and effective protected area sub-cadre. WII
strength and in filling vacancies stalled progress. also has to help national, regional and state level
Low ingress of proven field wildlife managers to its forest training institution to ensure that they have
deputation reserve in the faculty exacerbated the cogent curricula and competent trainers. Last but
adversity. It is ironical that upgrading of the not the least, it has major work to do in order to
directors post in proportion with the enhanced advance and consolidate its impressive progress in
responsibility and status, though approved by its the development of wildlife forensics. Its help, in
governing body, chaired by the secretary, MoEF and setting up wildlife forensic cells within regional-
endorsed by its society presided over by the Central and important state forensic laboratories, is
minister, MoEF, has remained pending now for 15 needed by way of training scientists and providing
years. scientific protocols and reference materials for such
There is no question that WII has to play a nodal labs to identify species of seized animal skins, other
role in resurrecting wildlife and protected area body parts and derivatives.

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Knowledge-based management plans part of the agenda for the tiger reserve authorities
by incorporating them into the management
The Project Tiger guidelines make it mandatory for plan. The surrounding fringe areas as well as
every tiger reserve to be managed in accordance the buffer zone need village level, participatory
with a site-specific management plan. This is the microplanning, with a legally enforceable
roadmap for managing a tiger reserve. It lays down memorandum of understanding between the tiger
the concept of core-buffer zoning, prescribed reserve management and the ecodevelopment
interventions for protection, habitat improvement, committees (already formed or about to be formed)
field data collection relating to change in the spelling out the reciprocal contractual agreement.
composition of flora and fauna on account of But for these management plans to become
protection, animal estimation and other aspects. documents that are open to advise and information
But the management plan needs to be from all possible sources, either governmental or
made more dynamic and incorporate both the non-governmental the plans must be put out in
concepts and plans of science, cohabitation, public domain by placing them on the project tiger
habitat management and monitoring more website. There must be a method to incorporate the
comprehensively. suggestions and submission made by researchers
It is notable that at the moment, there is and other interested people and the method of
a disconnect between the scientific research incorporating such submissions must be clear to
conducted in tiger reserves and the monitoring and everyone as well and in public domain.
revaluation of the management plans. As soon as The Task Force has recommended the creation
the proposed prioritisation of research is done for of management committees for each reserve. The
each tiger reserve, the same must be made part of a plan must be discussed in the management
tiger reserves management plan. Upon completion committees.
of the research, the findings of research carried out The implementation of the plan and the
on the priority areas should be used to constantly outcome of the interventions contained in the same
update the management plans after an open should be annually monitored by a panel of
discussion on it with the stakeholders, including independent experts.
appropriate representatives of the people inside The Project Tiger directorate has prescribed a
and outside the park (on the fringe), as they set of criteria (45) for standardising the monitoring
are immediately affected by changes in the work which the Task Force has asked for a
management of the reserve. This can ensure two comprehensive review. The management plans
things: one, the management plan remains a more should include these criteria as well as evolve a set
dynamic and alive document; two, there is a of their specific criteria, typically useful for
validation of the conservation-oriented research as evaluating the site.
to its practicality. The evaluation criteria should assess planning,
Similarly, on the social issues that affect the process, inputs and output. The criteria should
reserve, the management plan should also work as cover: legal status, land use, biotic pressure, use of
a dossier of information on the social profile of the the area by other departments, management plan
reserve. The reserve authorities should compile updating, status of buffer, staff development,
and collect all social parameters, as delineated by antipoaching strategy adopted, infrastructure, fund
the Project Tiger directorate. On the basis of the flow, tourism regulation, trust with the local
data and the plans made with Project Tiger for communities, vision beyond the tiger reserve and
people-related issues, the plans should be made the like.

streamline the procedures and ensure better at the state and the national levels. This could take
utilisation of research output. As noted above, the form of panels that may be chaired by the
researchers feel that their work is not properly used inspector general of forests (wildlife) or chief wildlife
to make management decisions, while managers wardens, and include the secretary of the National
contend that much of the research fails to address Biodiversity Authority or the State Biodiversity
significant management issues. This is undoubtedly Board, and other experts in ecology, social sciences
related to the fact that there is no existing mechanism and bio-statistics. It would be best if these panels
of fruitful communication between researchers and serve as single window clearing houses for all
managers. matters relating to wildlife research, so that they can
The Tiger Task Force feels that such an streamline current procedures rather than create
institutional mechanism should be established both another layer. The Tiger Task Force further suggests

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Independent audits of the tiger reserves The parameters with appropriate weightages
must be then used to create a ranking of the
An independent audit of any enterprise is the reserves.
substratum of a good review and method for
seeking mid-route corrections, if needed. A tiger Confidence in the audit
reserve, too, with its several facets, must be looked The audit in itself cannot be the end of the process.
upon as an enterprise that requires constant review The audit must be carried forward and merged into
against a specific dynamic plan. The Project Tiger the management of the plan by linking the
directorate has began a system of independent resources that Project Tiger provides to the
audit of the working of the tiger reserve. This reserves. The rankings must be used to also give
process needs to be taken forward. weight while devolving Central funds to the tiger
Amongst the criteria, the experts have reserves. This shall ensure that there is an incentive
generated a ranking-based system of measuring for the tiger reserves to improve upon the rankings.
each tiger reserve for its performance and the At the same time there must be a reputational
possible problems that weaken the protected area. advantage to gain for the parks by ranking higher.
Legal status, compatible land use, pressure from The Task Force, in its deliberations, has been
people, status of management plans, staff situation advised by many field officers that parks like
and equipment are some of the criteria that have Kaziranga national park and Gir wildlife sanctuary
been used to rank the reserves.4 This is a good start. and national park have gained a lot by the states
But it needs to be taken beyond the first step. and their people holding the areas in high regard as
A good audit is as good as the parameters and state treasures.5 The ranking system developed on
the protocols behind filling up the information to basis of this audit too should feed into such
measure a reserve against those parameters. The reputational credit.
Project Tiger directorate must, in a time-bound To ensure that the system retains a reputation
fashion, build up a complete dossier of information for fairness as well as academic caliber, it must
on the process of audit and the method by which the be completely put out in public domain, including
ranking on each parameter is used. It is essential the protocols, methodology and periodic results.
that both the officials in each reserve and other And to ensure the system also undergoes a
interested people know well in advance what complete governmental review, it must form part of
information is used to measure the reserve against the report that the directorate makes to the
what parameter. This benchmarking will be critical. Parliament.

that the panels must be required to meet every two instance, Salim Ali had not understood the vital
months and clear all pending decisions. role of buffaloes in maintaining bird habitats at
The Tiger Task Force recommends that these Bharatpur.
panels perform the following functions: Arrange dialogues between researchers and
Develop broad guidelines governing all wildlife managers so that research findings relevant to
research by wildlife managers as well as other management are taken on board.
researchers; such guidelines would pertain, for Examine and decide on according permissions
instance, to the collection of plant specimens, for research, along with any conditions that the
creation of grazing enclosures and such like researchers must observe. Since the state panels
pertinent areas of research. would be chaired by the chief wildlife wardens,
Create online databases (Web-based) of all no further clearance from the forest department
relevant research findings, so that both managers should be necessary. In case either a researcher
and researchers are aware of the state-of-the-art or local forest officials have any grievances, the
research and can direct their energies in the most same panels should serve as a dispute resolution
fruitful channels. forum. In case the disputes persist, the central
Suggest areas of research relevant to management panel should serve as an arbitrator.
decisions for instance, what the bona fide Ensure that the researchers make their data
fuelwood needs of villages still inside tiger available to the public within some specified
reserves are. There should, however, be no ban time frame. While it is legitimate for the
on undertaking projects that may seem to have researchers to claim intellectual property rights
no immediate relevance to the park management. over their research, it is important that they agree
After all, understanding of what is relevant is to release their original data within some
limited. Despite his many years of work, for specified period (such as three years from the

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date of collection). This would give sufficient removed all bureaucratic hurdles to such an
time for researchers to publish their work and endeavour. The information to be thus made available
gain scientific credit, while ensuring that all should include all research and survey results,
work done becomes available to the public and pertinent satellite imagery (such as LISS 4 images),
for management purposes within a reasonable resource maps, working plans and management
period. plans, as well as on-going schemes of habitat
manipulation interventions, information collected
Putting information in the public domain through the Peoples Biodiversity Registers, and so
on. An attempt should be made to also incorporate
The Tiger Task Force feels very strongly that the most information on past and current activities of other
serious lacuna in the approach to managing government agencies such as agriculture and tribal
information on tigers has been a lack of openness and development in the concerned localities.
willingness to take everybody along. The inclusive, A competent technical group involving
open approach that we advocate depends crucially on ecologists, statisticians and computer scientists
free access to all information for all people, except should help in organising all the relevant information
where very evident security concerns are involved. In in a suitably designed information system. This effort
modern times, this would be best ensured by posting may be conducted in collaboration with the recent
all pertinent information on the Web, in English, as initiative of the National Biodiversity Authority to
well as in all Indian languages. Recent moves towards develop a countrywide, networked Biodiversity
ensuring freedom of information have fortunately Information System.

Recommendations
1. It is essential to facilitate involvement of a wide range of researchers in wildlife
biology, especially in the context of intensive studies at the field level. It is also essential
to undertake interdisciplinary research moving beyond a single protected area and into a
broader landscape framework. This should cover, besides biological aspects, the
management and socio-economic aspects of wildlife conservation and protected area
management.

2. The Tiger Task Force is of the opinion that it is important to put in place institutional
mechanisms that would streamline existing procedures for clearance and coordination of
research and ensure better utilisation of the research output.
To do this, panels should be set up at the state and national levels, chaired by the
inspector general of forests (wildlife) or the chief wildlife wardens, and including the
secretary of the National Biodiversity Authority or the State Biodiversity Board and other
experts in ecology, social sciences and bio-statistics. These panels must serve as single
window clearing houses for all matters relating to wildlife research, so that they
streamline current procedures, rather than create another layer of decision-making.

3. Internal expertise and confidence in research abilities have grown enormously in the
country since the time of the launch of Project Tiger. Indian researchers are competent to
undertake specialised research and unlike their counterparts in the rest of the world, they
bring uniquely Indian perspectives to wildlife matters. It is this research and its
integration with policy that needs to be fostered. The Wildlife Institute of India must be
encouraged to play the role of a facilitator to improve the interface of research,
management and policy. The agenda for research is massive and it will need the
involvement and active engagement of many institutions and researchers. What is needed
is to create forums that can bring together this knowledge and improve its use in policy.

4. The process of designing and implementing the management plans for each tiger
reserve needs to be reworked.
a. The plans must be updated regularly, taking into consideration the scientific and

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socio-economic research that has been conducted;

b. Their process of updation must include open discussions with the local communities,
local NGOs and researchers;
c. The proposed reserve-level management committees must be asked to scrutinise the
details of these plans;
d. The plans must be put in the public domain and be used for the independent
evaluation of the reserve.

The Project Tiger directorate must work with chief wildlife wardens and all field directors
to set up and implement this process.

5. The independent audit of each tiger reserve is potentially a vital tool for decision
making. This audit can to be used to create a reputational advantage for the reserve. In
order to do this, the Task Force would recommend:
a. Project Tiger directorate should work to further improve its criterion and indicators
for the rating. The criterion must be done to benchmark the progress and problems in
all critical areas and set targets for its improvement.
b. The rating should then be used for management decisions and for creating an
informed and involved public opinion on the working of individual reserves.
c. It must be used to inform Parliament of the progress being made in tiger conservation
and the challenges ahead.

But this will only be possible if the process has credibility and independence. To do this,
the findings of the independent audit must be put in the public domain. The peers and
critics are the best auditors and insurers of quality.

6. The Tiger Task Force strongly feels that the most serious lacuna in the existing
approach to managing information on tigers has been a lack of openness and willingness
to take everybody along. The inclusive, open approach that the Task Force advocates
depends crucially on free access to all information for all people, except where very
evident security concerns are involved. In modern times, this would be best ensured by
posting all such information on the Web, in English, as well as in all Indian languages.

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3.7 The relocation agenda

Wildlife conservationists say it is necessary to create not have the legal protection a forested space gets
inviolate spaces for the tiger. They state that India when it receives national park status. It remains a
must be prepared to set aside this land 37,761 sq sanctuary, but its administrators have to manage it as
km of tiger reserves, which, they say, is barely 1 per a completely protected zone.
cent of the countrys land area for this flagship The problem is that while there is an emphasis
species to breed and roam in. on removing the biotic pressure that people bring to
This is clearly not unreasonable. After all, tiger the tigers habitat in most cases, there is little
reserves have been designated with this distinct empirical evidence of the nature of this impact and
purpose in mind. When they were created in the what can be done to manage or mitigate it, before the
1970s, the international agency assisting the option of relocation is considered. What is
government had said that it was necessary for the interesting is that the architects of Project Tiger had
tiger to have large areas of at least 2,000 sq km with noted, even then, that the information on the effects
similar contiguous areas so that a viable population of villages and their occupants on surrounding areas
of about 300 tigers in each area could be is generally lacking. In addition, it had pointed out
maintained. The task force chaired by Karan Singh that the forest department considers that poaching
then went on to investigate the feasibility of this by villagers in the reserves is spasmodic and its effect
proposal, but found that it could not locate many is negligible. Villagers are undoubtedly a fire hazard,
areas as large as 2,000 sq km, which could be but they are also available to assist in extinguishing
reserved for tiger conservation. It, therefore, serious fires.
decided to adopt an approach in which smaller But as villagers would impact the habitat over
reserves would be created as model parks to preserve time, that task force said it was desirable that small
the tiger, while much more would be done to build pockets of forest villages should be shifted. In case
public opinion in favour of wildlife preservation and this was not possible, then, at the very least, cattle
so secure larger areas for protection.1 that are a menace to forests should be diverted to
Even when the first eight tiger reserves were alternative sites. In case people were angry because
selected in different ecological systems, the task their cattle were killed by tigers and were resorting
force noted that each reserve had existing human to retaliatory poisoning, the task force said that
pressure of grazing, resource use and commercial compensation should be paid urgently.
felling. It then suggested a management plan that Since then, more reserves have been created. The
would involve restricting and minimising human principle followed is the same: absolute protection
activities within the reserves. The core of the reserve for the core and human activity geared towards
would be designated a national park, with no human conservation in the buffer.
activity, while the buffer area could sustain people. But unfortunately, 30 years hence, this picture is
The plan was that people would be relocated far from perfect. In fact, matters have become much
from the core areas of the tiger reserves, while they worse. People continue to live in the core as well as
would continue to co-exist in the buffer areas. But the buffer areas of the reserves. There has been
the problem has been that while Project Tiger is inadequate work done to relocate settlements and, in
based on a management plan, using concepts of core the meantime, poverty and destitution has driven
and buffer, the law does not have this provision. more people into the reserves. Authorities maintain
While the concept of core-buffer is deployed for that according to the plan, these people are not
administrative purposes of the reserve, the law allowed to use forest resources, first in the core and
provides for something else: two main categories of now even in the buffer areas. People live there, so
protected reserves national parks and sanctuaries they do use the resources; but this use is illegal. The
and two categories of protected forests reserve authorities say that people should not be living in the
forests and protected forests. reserves, as per the management plan for the reserve,
The tiger reserves in the country are a patchwork which has demarcated areas as core and buffer, so
of these existing legal land uses. In many cases, there is no question of providing development
where there were a large number of settlements, assistance or even compensation for cattle kills.
adjustments were made to exclude these areas from There is escalating and deadly tension between the
the core and to keep the area under the category of people and the park because of all this. At the end of
either a sanctuary or a reserve forest. In fact, in it, the tiger and the people are both losing.
certain cases, the core area of the tiger reserve does The issue, then, is to review what has been done

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till date to make these spaces inviolate, and what Villages, families and livestock relocated from
needs to be done in the future. The Tiger Task different tiger reserves).
Force found to its surprise that whereas some The largest and oldest relocation concerns Kanha
conservationists and wildlife managers discuss the in Madhya Pradesh in the 1970s and 1980s, while the
need for the relocation of human habitations as their most recent relocation has been undertaken in
top priority they also say that human pressure Bhadra tiger reserve in Karnataka, where the Central
within the reserves is creating problems for the government has spent Rs 11.68 crore and the state
tigers survival there is virtually no compilation of government Rs 4.65 crore on costs of rehabilitation.2
data on firstly, the number of habitations within In addition, it is estimated that the bulk of the land
these reserves or on the fringes of the reserves; and on which the 439 families have been settled is
secondly, the impact of these habitations on the tiger extremely productive and irrigated land, along the
population. Shimoga-Bangalore highway, which has been valued
Clearly, without this data, little can be done to at another Rs 15-25 crore at market value.3 This
understand the nature of the challenge. relocation cost the government, at a conservative
Therefore, the Task Force has worked with the estimate, Rs 8.3 lakh per family, as against the
director, Project Tiger, to collect information stipulated Rs 1 lakh per family under the norms.
regarding the number of villages inside the reserves
the core areas of Project Tiger (mainly national Money spent on relocation
parks). This is the first time a review has been made It is difficult to estimate the money spent on
of the number of people living in these areas and of relocation, for much of the work was done a long
what needs to be done. time ago, when the schemes were still unclear. We do
know that recently, in the Bhadra tiger reserve, the
The number of relocated villages Central and state governments have spent Rs 4.02
Since the inception of Project Tiger in the early lakh per family, without accounting for land costs.
1970s, a total of 80 villages and 2,904 families have But excluding this expense in Bhadra, the country
been relocated from different tiger reserves (see table: has spent Rs 3 crore to relocate 467 families, or, on an
average, Rs 64,000 per family since the 9th Five Year
Plan in tiger reserves (see table: Cost of relocation
VILLAGES, FAMILIES AND LIVESTOCK RELOCATED FROM since 9th Five Year Plan and the average spent per
DIFFERENT TIGER RESERVES family).
Name of reserve Villages Families Livestock For purposes of estimation, if we assume that
relocated relocated relocated Rs 50,000 has been spent, on an average, on the
2,904 families relocated from reserves all over the
Simlipal 3 72 51
country since the inception of Project Tiger, the total
Melghat 3 94 1,556 amount spent on relocation would amount to
Ranthambhore 11 195 3,879 Rs 14.52 crore. Given that the Centres spending on
Project Tiger till 2002-2003 is Rs 173 crore, the
Sariska 1 71 165

Panna 3 210 2,131

COST OF RELOCATION SINCE 9TH FIVE YEAR PLAN AND
Kanha 27 656 10,509
THE AVERAGE SPENT PER FAMILY (WITHOUT
Bhadra 12 439 4,930 ACCOUNTING FOR LAND COSTS)
Corbett 3 300 3,000 Name of Funds spent/ Families Average
Buxa 1 33 20,000 reserve allocated relocated spent per
(Rs lakh) family (Rs)
Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam 1 167 Nil
Kanha 3.80 25 15,200
Bandipur 3 417 120
Bandipur 14.65 100 14,650
Nagarhole 12 250 NA
Nagarhole 243.50 250 97,400
Total 80 2,904 46,341
Bhadra* 1,765.00** 439 402,050
Non-tiger reserves
Melghat 46.00 92 50,000
Kuno Palpur 19 1,400
Total 2,072.95 906
Madhav national park 1 102
Note: *Not included in9th Plan
Chandaka Dampara 3 188 **includes Rs 13 crore of Central government and Rs 4.65 crore of state
government funds. Not all funds may have been disbursed.
Source: Information submitted to Project Tiger by states, June 2005 Source: Project Tiger directorate

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NUMBER OF VILLAGES AND PEOPLE IN THE CORE AREA AND IN THE TIGER RESERVE
Tiger reserve Core Overall tiger reserve

Villages Families* Population* Villages Families* Population*

Bandhavgarh 6 210 1,050 75 2,625 13,125

Bandipur 54 2,592 12,960 54 2,592 12,960

Bhadra 0 0 0 5 67 335

Buxa 0 0 0 89 3,122 15,608

Corbett 0 0 0 25 875 4,375

Dampa 0 0 0 61 2,135 10,675

Dudhwa and Katarniaghat 1 35 175 37 1,295 6,475

Indravati 56 1,300 7,956 56 1,300 7,956

Kanha 19 665 3,325 169 5,915 29,575

Kalakad-Mundanthurai 15 1,703 9,580 16 1,728 9,700

Manas 0 0 0 167 5,845 29,225

Melghat 19 1,585 7,925 58 2,950 24,607

Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam 24 840 4,200 149 8,432 43,978

Namdapha 2 52 260 2 52 260

Nameri 0 0 0 8 630 3,150

Pakke 0 0 0 0 0 0

Palamau 3 105 525 164 5,740 28,700

Panna 45 1,565 7,825 45 1,565 7825

Pench (Maharashtra) 1 52 239 1 52 239

Pench (Madhya Pradesh) 0 0 0 99 3,465 17,325

Periyar 0 0 0 4 599 2,995

Ranthambhore 4 140 700 25 875 8,643

Sariska 11 6,337 34,185 27 7,793 43,506

Satpura 6 224 1,122 60 2,114 35,548

Simlipal 7 245 1,225 65 2,275 11,375

Sundarbans 0 0 0 0 0 0

Tadoba-Andhari 0 0 0 6 210 1,050

Valmiki 0 0 0 20 700 3,500

TOTAL 273 19,215 101,077 1,487 66,516 380,535

Note: *The information on the number of villages has been extrapolated in many cases to estimate the families (x35) and population (x5).
Source: Information sent by state governments to Project Tiger directorate, July 2005.

amount spent on relocating people who lived in tribal relocation scheme, which has now been
these reserves is clearly a small fraction of the costs. merged with the Project Tiger funds, require urgent
Also, if we compare these costs to Bhadra, where reworking. The costs to be incurred in relocation
more has been spent to resettle 439 families than all at Rs 1 lakh per family were estimated many years
the 2,904 families relocated till date, it is clear that ago and are clearly inadequate. If the costs are
the funds spent on relocation have been very small computed on the basis of what was spent in Bhadra
and inadequate. Rs 4.02 lakh per family (without land) and Rs 8.3
It is also important to note that the quantum of lakh (with land costs) it would make the process
funds and the current budgetary allocation under the much more acceptable to local people.

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The numbers still to be relocated

COST OF RELOCATION
There is no assessment of the total number of
settlements in the tiger reserves. There is also no Number of villages 273 1,214 1,487
assessment of the number of settlements in the core
areas of the reserves, which are in particular Number of families1 19,215 47,301 66,516
impinging on the health of the tiger.
The Task Force has worked with the Project Cost of Cost of Cost of
Tiger directorate to put together an estimate of relocation relocating relocation
the number of villages that are in the core and from core from buffer all
buffer areas of the tiger reserves. This data is, (Rs/crore) (Rs/crore)
however, still not validated as there is tremendous
At current rate of 192.00 473.00 665.16
uncertainty about the number of settlers. The
Rs 1 lakh per family
problem is compounded by the fact that in large
tracts of forests in the country, the rights of people
At enhanced rate of 480.00 1,183.00 1,663.00
have never been settled there are no real records of
Rs 2.5 lakh per family2
the number of families who live in these villages.
When the reserves were declared, people lived in For payment for land3 2,786.00 6,859.00 9,645.00
these lands. But the lands were reserved forest lands,
notified as such by the state. Unfortunately, in many Total cost, assuming 3,266.00 10,042.00 11,508.00
parts of the country, when the reserved forests were enhanced rate
notified, the rights of the local people were not
recognised. In other words, people have seen Note:
their homes changed from being reserved forests 1. If figures are not available, then extrapolated at 35 families per village
(underestimate)
to reserved for tigers while they have become 2. The current allocation needs to be revised, this amount been taken for
illegal settlers. purposes of estimation only.
According to this compilation, it is estimated 3. The current guidelines provide for 2.5 ha per family. This estimation is
taking the current net present value of Rs 5.8 lakh per ha, as the cost of
that there are roughly 1,500 villages within the 28 forest that needs to be diverted and is lost or the cost of revenue land
tiger reserves and roughly 65,000 families (3,25,000 that needs to be bought.
Source: New Delhi; Project Tiger directorate
people at five people per family) that need to be
relocated from both the core and buffer areas of tiger
reserves (see table: Number of villages and people in Relocation from core
the core area and in the tiger reserve). The originators of the programme had
conceptualised that the core area would be free of
Cost of relocation human habitation. The core areas of the 28 tiger
If we compute costs at the current rate, we need Rs reserves constitute roughly 17,612 sq km, less than
665 crore for 66,516 families; if we take an enhanced half the total area under protection (see table:
scheme of say Rs 2.5 lakh per family, it would The area of reserves and percentage of core to the
require Rs 1,663 crore to resettle them (see table: Cost total area).
of relocation). Compare this to the funds available for The Task Force has also estimated the number of
relocation in the 10th Five Year Plan period: Rs 2-3 families in the core area of the reserves. According to
crore annually, or Rs 10-15 crore in all.4 the data collected, there are 273 villages in the core of
In addition, as revenue land is rarely available the 28 reserves.
and forest land is usually used for resettlement, the Therefore, one option would be to focus
state has to pay between Rs 5.8 to Rs 9 lakh per ha for the relocation programme on the core areas of the
diversion of this land. The fact is that this is forest tiger reserves. In which case, the number of
land which is being lost to the nation: so, the cost villages to be relocated will be far less. This is
should be paid, even if there are gains inside the because six reserves Panna and Kanha in Madhya
conservation area. If this is added to the total, Pradesh, Melghat in Maharashtra, Nagarjunasagar-
assuming that there are 65,000 families that require Srisailam in Andhra Pradesh, Indravati in
2.5 ha of land each, the additional financial cost for Chhattisgarh and Bandipur in Karnataka contain
this land will be Rs 9,645 crore. If we compute these as much as 217 of the 273 villages in the core. In
costs only for the 273 villages in the core areas of the other words, 79 per cent of the human habitations in
reserves, it will cost Rs 192 crore at current rates and the core areas of tiger reserves are found in these
Rs 480 crore at an enhanced rate, without assuming reserves. It is also important to note that two of these
the cost of land. This, it has to be noted, is equivalent reserves Indravati and Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam
to the annual budget for the entire forestry sector at are in naxalite-infested areas, where relocation
the Centre. will be difficult.

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 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

AREA OF RESERVES AND PERCENTAGE OF CORE TO THE TOTAL AREA (sq km)
Name of tiger reserve Total area Core area Buffer area % of core to total

Dampa 500 340.00 160.00 68.00

Sariska 866 497.00 369.00 57.39

Ranthambhore 1,334 274.50 1,060.14 20.58

Pench (Maharashtra) 257 257.00 100.00

Kalakad-Mundanthurai 800 537.00 358.00 67.13

Palamau 1,026 213.00 813.00 20.76

Panna 542 542.00 100.00

Tadoba-Andhari 620 218.76 357.02 35.28

Periyar 777 350.00 427.00 45.05

Buxa 759 385.02 375.90 50.73

Bandipur 1,508 523.00 357.00 34.68

Indravati 2,799 1,258.37 1,540.71 44.96

Bhadra 492 276.66 175.03 56.23

Kanha 1,945 940.00 1,005.00 48.33

Valmiki 840 335.64 358.00 39.96

Pench (Madhya Pradesh) 758 292.85 465.00 38.63

Simlipal 2,750 845.70 1,904.30 30.75

Corbett 1,316 520.82 797.70 39.58

Satpura 1,486 1,486.00 100.00

Manas 2,840 520.00 2,317.00 18.31

Dudhwa 1,362 490.20 190.03 35.99

Bandhavgarh 1,162 624.75 536.71 53.77

Namdapha 1,985 1,807.82 177.42 91.07

Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam 3,568 1,200.00 2,368.00 33.63

Melghat 1,677 340.00 160.00 20.27

Pakke-Nameri 1,206 1,206.00 100.00

Sundarbans 2,585 1,330.00 1,255.00 51.45

Total 37,760 17,612.09 17,526.96 46.64

Source: http://projecttiger.nic.in, as viewed on June 5, 2005

Issues in relocation: land directions of the Supreme Court require state

governments to pay the net present value of the
It is important here to consider the question of the diverted forest land. This cost has been computed by
land needed to resettle families and its implications the apex court at Rs 5.8 to 9 lakh per ha (depending
for conservation. It is clear that across the country on the category of forest that is diverted). The forest
there is no revenue land available for resettlement. land is then cleared of all vegetation before it is
State governments, therefore, increasingly ask for the handed over to families for resettlement. But what is
diversion of forest land for resettling families. As also important to note is that even after the forest
forest land cannot be diverted for non-forestry land is handed over to the relocated families, its
purposes without the sanction of the Central classification in government records remains as
government, an application is made under the Forest forests. This means that the regulations of the
Conservation Act, 1980 for this land. Recent Forest Conservation Act, 1980 applies to the land.

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 TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS

Thus, families remain highly restricted in the protected areas. But if one makes such an estimate
facilities they can get on this land and are still based on the families living within just the tiger
dependent on the forest agencies for all assistance. reserves 1,500 villages or 65,000 families we
The issues, therefore, are three-fold: would require 162,500 hectares (1,625 sq km) of
What will be the total quantum of forest land forest land for just these families.
required to resettle families relocated from tiger The problem is not the quantum, but the location
reserves? and ecological importance of the forest, often part of
What will this diversion of forest land do to the the corridor used by wild animals and the landscape
tiger habitats and critical corridors where tigers in which they live. For instance, it is said that the
live? villages of Sariska were slated to be relocated to
Does this forest land provide the resettled people prime tiger habitats like Ajabgarh and Serawas
with opportunities to build livelihood securities, forests. These forests were known to have tigers and
which will help to relieve the pressure on the were in fact tiger shooting blocks of the state in the
tiger reserves? days of the Maharajas and their hunting sorties.6
The problem also is that a protected area faces
There is little evidence to suggest that wildlife pressure from villages within the park and from
managers have taken these issues into consideration outside. In other words, by simply relocating
during the planning of their relocation strategies. In settlements to outside the demarcated zone of
all the reported cases of relocation it is clear that the protection does not necessarily lead to better
quality of land degraded forest land which is protection, for the relocated villages merely add to
given in the relocation package does not lead to the pressure from outside. Also, as wildlife
adequate livelihood security, unless there is protection improves, animals find the boundaries of
investment in reliable irrigation facilities. As a result, the park inadequate and move outside. Their spill-
people who get these lands in compensation find no over is not tolerated by the already hostile people
alternative but to join the fringe villages in putting and this leads to increased retaliatory killings and
pressure on the protected area for their daily loss of species. The effort of park managers has been
survival: for firewood, fodder and minor forest to think relocation and so, as the pressure
produce. exacerbates, they start looking for solutions in
On the other hand, the relocation itself leads to relocating the villages at the periphery as well. In this
clearance of forests and destruction of habitats. It is way, the cycle continues.
also important to note that the impoverishment of This is not to say that relocation is not necessary,
forests leads to impoverishment of people, which in in certain cases. Relocation is indeed important in
turn contributes to the pressure on the protected cases where human activity is impacting on the key
areas. In Karnatakas Nagarhole tiger reserve, for habitat of animals and, if done well, can bring
instance, of the roughly 1,500 families living inside substantial conservation benefits.
and over 3,500 other claimant families displaced But if poorly done, relocation contributes to the
earlier, some 250 families have moved outside. The hostility of the local people towards the sanctuary
forest department has worked hard on providing the and can be counter-productive. Therefore, it needs
villagers with model houses, yards and even solar careful planning and execution. For instance, in
panels. Each family has been given 2.5 hectares of April 2005, villagers living in Dobjhirna village in
degraded forest land for cultivation. But as the Hoshangabad district of Madhya Pradesh were
families have little economic ability to invest in the engaged in a hostile battle with the forest
development of the land, they find that they still department. The problem was that the department
have to earn their living from labour and foraging in was planning to shift a village Dhai from within
the forest.5 the core area of Satpura tiger reserve and had
In this way, relocation can easily become a self- identified the land of Dobjhirna for re-settlement.
defeating proposition. Firstly, the land needed to The problem was that Dobjhirna itself was an illegal
settle each family will be enormous. The forest land settlement; the villagers were living on and
will have to be turned into marginal agricultural land cultivating what was officially forest department
degraded land for poor people is not the best land. With the department moving in to clear land for
solution. Secondly, displacement leads to further the settlers, the proposed relocation led to tensions
marginalisation and exacerbation of poverty. It and reports of violence by the police and forest
defeats the purpose of conservation; people have no department. The people who were to move to
alternative but to continue to use the forest for basic Dobjhirna were already apprehensive about this
survival needs. move to transfer them from within the protected area
There are no estimates of how much forest land where they had fodder for their cattle and the
will be required to relocate the families within clandestine sale of mahua to meet their needs to

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 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

this area which was devoid of vegetation and But it is also important to note that relocation of
livelihood options. All in all, a situation is not going key villages from within the core zone a high
to help conservation as new settlers find that survival priority tiger habitat would be important for
is not possible without forests and old settlers are conservation. A J T Johnsingh of the Wildlife
further displaced to look for more land to cultivate.7 Institute of India, who has worked for long in this
habitat, argues that the area of Core-I is capable of
The quality of relocation sustaining both prey and tiger species. Therefore, he
It is also clear that relocation requires money, suggests that relocation, particularly of Umri village
facilities, administrative skills and commitment from (which has 26 families and a high livestock
the implementing agencies. It is important to note population) would be an important step ahead.10 The
that if this relocation is not satisfactory, it leads to problem is to rebuild the confidence of villagers and
greater anger and alienation of the local people to repair the broken relationship between villagers
towards the sanctuary; it makes the next effort for and protectors, which has in no small measure
relocation even more difficult, for people, aware of contributed to the disaster in the reserve.
the past experience, stoutly resist. Most of all, the It is only more recently that there have been
conservation imperative becomes even more difficult instances where implementing agencies have gone
when people have no option but to turn to a beyond what is technically required to give people a
protected area for their survival once again. The package, which is both satisfactory to them and helps
exercise virtually ends up defeating its own purpose. rebuild their livelihoods. But even here, success is
hard to come by. Firstly, this work demands that
An example of relocation: Sariska other agencies from irrigation to education
The quality of relocation in the country has mostly coordinate their activities with the forest
verged on being disastrous. For instance, the one department. Secondly, it demands long-term work to
village that was relocated from Sariska tiger reserve ensure that all the facilities needed are provided.
in Rajasthan found itself in such poor conditions that Thirdly, and most critically, it needs careful and
all the villagers returned to the original village inside sensitive working with affected people so that they
the forest. Now, when agencies are keen to move the are fully engaged in the process.
remaining villages from the core, there is resistance
and deep suspicion. Researcher Radhika Johari, a An example of relocation: Kuno
doctoral student at the department of anthropology, Relocation in Kuno wildlife sanctuary in Madhya
York University, USA, reports of her conversation Pradesh, being developed as a site to introduce the
with villagers within the reserve, who recalled the Asiatic lion from Gir in Gujarat, was planned
violent efforts of the administration to evict non- carefully. A total of 19 villages 1,400 families
revenue villages from the core area. The villagers at were resettled to the outskirts of the sanctuary. The
Kraska spoke of how they were offered land by the inhabitants were mostly poor, forest-dependent
forest department in a village located outside the Sahariya tribals. The package was based on a Central
core area, how they relinquished their land- scheme the beneficiary oriented scheme for tribal
ownership certificates, only to face opposition from development which considers every male above
the existing residents of the village and to find that 18 years, and provides a compensation of Rs 1 lakh
the land allotted was hilly and unsuitable. They sold per family, for all the services and facilities needed.
off this land at low prices and returned to the forest, In 1997, the Union ministry of environment and
where they were declared illegal by the forest forests cleared the use of 3,721 ha of forest land for
department. When they refused to move, the rehabilitation. This was inadequate, so an additional
department used force to evict them. All this 1,283 ha of land was given for relocation in 2000.
irreversibly destroyed the relations between the Researchers from the Samrakshan Trust found that in
authorities and the people and also left enough many villages, there were complaints regarding the
resentment and bad memories to fuel resistance to quality of the land and its clearance, but these were
further relocation.8 sorted out over time. They found the rehabilitation
Retired foresters V D Sharma and R G Soni, and process had both negative and positive fallouts the
Rajendra Singh of Tarun Bharat Sangh, in their land in the sanctuary which the people had
submissions to the Tiger Task Force, explained that cultivated was of a much better quality and had good
the process followed was extremely faulty. The land drainage facilities, so they were not satisfied with the
was allotted only on paper but when the settlers went allotted land. On the other hand, it was also a fact
to the village, the revenue officials in charge of the that there was greater degree of equality in the
entire relocation programme did not hand over the allotted area, with every family receiving 2 ha of
land. In fact, the land was then taken over by a few land. Health, education and communication
influential people.9 facilities were better in the new area, although

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 TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS

unreliable and costly. per cent of the total area of the sanctuary.14
The real problem concerned peoples The peoples initial reaction to relocation was
livelihoods. On the one hand, researchers found crop hostile. On the one hand, park authorities increased
yields were substantially lower in the new areas, pressure on people to leave the sanctuary by seizing
primarily because the land quality, being degraded all firewood, putting a stop to livestock grazing and
forest land with little irrigation, was poor. On the closing the sanctuary gates so that people could not
other hand, without access to forests, people had lost use the roads. As their harassment increased, people
other sources of revenue and food: from hunting to become more and more angry. Large areas were burnt
the collection of minor forest products like honey, each year as people deliberately set fire to forests.
tendu or berries. People also had to leave their But park authorities then worked hard to get the
livestock inside the sanctuary because of the lack of people involved in relocation and agreed on an
fodder sources in the newly settled sites. The people attractive and rewarding package. In its official
have now shifted from cattle to goats, which again document chronicling the relocation programme, the
puts a stress on the degraded ecosystem. This led government of Karnataka says: to wax eloquent
researchers to conclude that in the short run, there on conservation to people who are cut off from
has been a significant decline in livelihood security, civilisation during monsoons is a ridiculous
which can be directly attributed to displacement proposition. After all, these people have been living
from resource-rich forests. This meant that agencies here for over a century. To deny them the right to use
would need to sustain their investment in the the game roads, to cut fodder for livestock or to
relocation efforts and would require institutional gather firewood seemed inhuman.15
capacities to do this development work.11 The reason why Bhadra is more successful is:
But the challenge to sustain investment is The quality of land given to the settlers is
difficult. It is, therefore, little surprise that a extremely productive and fertile. It is also over
journalist writing for the magazine Frontline, who 50 km away from the sanctuary, so it helps build
visited the relocated village of Pehra in 2005, found a new livelihood opportunities.16
high order of economic distress and destitution: The quantum of money spent on individual
agricultural productivity had declined and villagers families and services was substantially higher
were forced to migrate for work. Without the than what has been sanctioned through the
resources of the forests, malnutrition had increased, Central scheme for relocation.
and drinking water was scarce. In resettled The fact that all settlers legal or illegal,
Pipalbawdi village, people decided to return to the landed and landless were given land in the
forest for the monsoon crop in 2004. In other words, relocation venue provided a much greater
with all the time and money spent, the work on interest in relocation.
relocation could well be lost.12 The government agencies worked carefully to
coordinate the activities between the different
An example of relocation: Bhadra departments and, more importantly, ensured
The Bhadra experience is widely considered a model there was little misappropriation of funds. This
for future relocation in the country and needs to be is also a case where local NGOs played an
carefully considered. This 500 sq km area was important facilitating role.
declared a wildlife sanctuary and tiger reserve in
1998 with an initial notification issued as early as But even here, recent evidence suggests a few
in 1974. The 1992 census found there were 736 families that received unirrigated land are unhappy.
families in 16 villages located within the sanctuary Also, villagers in the fringe of the core area, who are
area.13 agreeable to relocation, want the same quality of
In 2003, a study conducted by wildlife irrigated land. The question in Bhadra is how will it
researchers found 4,000 people were living inside ensure the expectations of these people will be met.
Bhadra a few had recognised legal status but most If it is not, Bhadra might well witness unrest and
were encroachers. Researchers also studied the tension between park authorities and people.
impact of human activity and found the villagers The question remains if the money spent on
depended on firewood and minor forest product Bhadra Rs 4.02 lakh per family would not have
collection for their livelihoods. When they modelled been utilised to manage the impacts within the
the use pattern, they estimated the total area affected reserve. After all, research shows that the area
by intensive human activity around the 13 villages impacted by human beings was only 11 per cent of
they studied was about 12 sq km, in addition to the the reserve. Are these conservation benefits worth it?
area of the villages. The total area affected by human More importantly, was the decision for relocation
activity was computed at 53.70 sq km roughly 11 taken after these considerations?

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 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

Recommendations
Task Force rationale for the future
It is important for India to assess, in the light of the above data, the feasibility of
undertaking relocation in all reserves and of relocating all villages in the reserves. Let us
be clear till date only 80-odd villages have been relocated from tiger reserves. The track
record of that relocation exercise has also not been uniform or praise-worthy. In fact, in
many cases, people who have been relocated have either come back or are today
contributing to the pressure on the park from the fringes.
Currently, all action on this front is suffering from what can only be called an ostrich
syndrome. On the one hand, conservationists argue relocation is an absolute necessity to
ensure effective reserve management; on the other, everyone accepts discreetly that
the scale of relocating all villages from all reserves is so huge that it becomes a strategy
virtually impossible to contemplate. The solution then is status quo. The state
governments have informed the Supreme Court, in not so clear terms, that they neither
have the finances or the land to settle the rights of all people living within reserves. They
had informed the secretary, ministry of environment in the early 1990s that this work
would cost over Rs 600 crore, which they do not have.
The law, the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, maintains that there should be no people
in the national parks (mostly, the core of tiger reserves). If there are any, then their rights
should have been settled and they should be allowed to remain only after it has been
accepted that their use of the reserves will not lead to conservation problems.
The forest department maintains that it must relocate people, but does very little on
the ground. Also, there is no clarity on why a particular village in a particular reserve gets
targeted for relocation. Moreover, relocation that is undertaken is poorly done in most
cases, leading to increased stress on the protected areas.
In the meantime, people continue to live in the parks. They are denied access to basic
needs. They do not have legal livelihood options and so everything they do to survive is
done stealthily. This leads to conflict between them and the park managers. No
development can be done for villagers for they are unwanted and temporary; they
should have been shifted out. In this way, the stalemate continues.
This Task Force had visited Hindala village in Ranthambhore and witnessed the
terrible poverty and destitution of people, who have been living within this prestigious
national park. They have no water, no school, no medical facilities. They are harassed if
they graze their animals in the land outside their village. The forest department says that
it is planning to relocate this village. The villagers told the Task Force that they were
prepared to move, but also expressed concern that the villagers who had been relocated
from Ranthambhore in the past, were facing problems, even more severe than theirs. They
feared for their future. Given their sheer destitution today, this is a real indictment of the
process of relocation.
Currently, policy denies that there is a need to do anything different. The National
Wildlife Action Plan (which works as the countrys policy on wildlife) says that while
all facilities should be provided to the people who volunteer to move outside national
parks and sanctuaries, adequate safeguards will have to be taken to prevent land-based
developmental activities within national parks and sanctuaries, because such effort will
be in violation of Section 29 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act. However, there should be no
ban on imparting skills to local communities, which will reduce their dependence on
natural resources of the protected areas.17
In other words, no development activity can be allowed, as it will contravene the
Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. But in some abstract way, the people who formulated the
policy get out of the problem by asking for skills to be imparted to the lakhs of people
that live within the network of protected reserves. However, there is no clarity about how
many people need to be relocated, by when, and how this is to be done. There is,
therefore, no policy that seeks to end this logjam: people or parks, or people and parks.

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The Task Force therefore recommends

It is vital that policy must be devised to break this logjam. The Tiger Task Force accepts
the reality of the situation and has devised the best possible options for the future. The
following are the recommendations:

1. There should be an urgent and realistic review of the number of villages that actually
need to be relocated from the reserves. The decision must be based on the fact that the
villages that need to be relocated are so made to do so because they are located in the
critical 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 the
reserves and only then decide which of these actually need to be moved for ecological
imperatives. There must be a criterion for the identification of these villages, so that it is
clear 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 or
areas for relocation. But it is urging for speed and careful decision-making. It is important
that 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 work
out the relocation estimates must take into account the feasibility and capacity of
implementing agencies to undertake this work.

3. In order to ensure that the process of selection of villages to be relocated is completed

speedily, the Tiger Task Force recommends a tight schedule of one year to study
settlements and list the ones to be relocated. This schedule must be strictly complied
with.

4. Based on this list, the Project Tiger directorate must draw up a time-bound action plan
to complete the process of relocation. The action plan for relocation must be completed in
terms of its financial and land provisions before it is finalised and accepted. This is
essential, as only once this is completed can the park management be clear about the
plans it has to develop for the families it has to co-exist with. It is clear that not all the
1,500 villages can be relocated. Or even need to be relocated. But what is important is to
work on the plan for relocation speedily, so that the villages that co-inhabit the land of the
tiger can do so with dignity.

5. During the formulation of this action plan, the responsible agency must keep in mind
the experience of past relocation efforts to ensure that the process of relocation does not
lead to further resource degradation or loss of livelihood of people.

6. The financial allocation for the relocation scheme must be revised and enhanced so
that it can take into account the needs, particularly, of providing irrigated land and other
facilities to ensure livelihood security. The provision of irrigation facilities is crucial, as
the land for resettlement, if it is forest land, is degraded and provides people little options
for economic survival or improvement.
The allocation for the scheme within the umbrella Project Tiger scheme is Rs 10-15
crore for the 5 years of the 10th Plan roughly Rs 2-3 crore a year. If all the families in the
tiger reserve need to be relocated it will cost Rs 1,660 crore (taking an enhanced allocation
of Rs 2.5 lakh per family). If the plan is to relocate 19,215 families from the core areas, it
will require Rs 480 crore. Given that relocation usually occurs on diverted forest land, the
cost 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 of
the 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 the

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 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

reserves are forest-dependent communities, and survive within agro-silvo-pastoral

economies. The relocation package must be designed to provide viable alternatives.
Currently, there is no grazing land or irrigated agricultural facilities offered in the
relocation package. This means that people have no alternative but to revert to the forest
fringe for survival.

8. The scheme must ensure that all families and not just those families with recorded
rights or who have revenue land are relocated.

9. Families are usually relocated on forest land from which the standing forest is cut to
transform a forest into a relocation site. But even then, the land is categorised as forest
land. This means that the rules of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 continue to apply to
this land, in which families now live. This places restrictions on their livelihood and
development opportunities.
This, clearly, must change. Such land as becomes a relocation site, if it is categorised
as forest, must duly be re-categorised as revenue land, otherwise it will continue to
create problems for the resettled villages.

10. To monitor the quality of relocation and to ensure that there is careful coordination
and follow-up in the relocation work, a task force for relocation must be set up at the
Project Tiger directorate, which will coordinate the work with the state offices.
The Task Force has deliberated upon whether the work of relocation should be
handed over to revenue agencies, or to other district-level agencies. It has come to believe
that while there is a need for close coordination with district and irrigation agencies, the
task must remain with the wildlife agencies, as they are most interested in its successful
completion. However, as these agencies often lack the necessary experience in rural
development, the state working with the Project Tiger directorate must find innovative
methods of involving other agencies in this work.
The Task Force would suggest that a mechanism be set up at the Central level in the
Project Tiger directorate to oversee the implementation of the relocation work and most
importantly, follow it up over the years. This is crucial. At the end, it is clear that even if
the massive task of relocation is undertaken, it will still leave a large number of people
within the protected areas and also tiger reserves. The issue of coexistence with these
people, who share the tigers habitat is discussed in the following section of the Task
Force report.

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3.8 The coexistence agenda

Conservation in India has been consistent about at account. Just to put the issue in perspective, tiger
least one imperative: a protected area such as a tiger reserves occupy a little more than 1 per cent of the
reserve is exclusively for the megavertebrate to roam geographical area of the country, while the protected
in, with the corollary that people living inside the area network about 600 sanctuaries and national
reserves must be relocated elsewhere. But over parks account for 5.1 per cent of the countrys land
the last 30 years, this imperative has become area. In other words, the number of people residing in
abstract, and abstracted from the real conditions that protected areas will be five times higher. There is no
exist in the tiger reserves, indeed most protected definite data on all villages that exist inside these
areas, today. areas, but so far as people are concerned the count
For, in reality, in the last 30 years only 80 could be three to four million people (see box: How
villages some 16,000 families have been many people live in protected areas?).
relocated. Data with the Tiger Task Force shows 273 So it is that the Tiger Task Force has asked for a
villages continue to exist in the core areas of tiger clear relocation plan in those reserves where
reserves; the non-core areas are where about 1,000 conservation managers find human settlements are
villages exist in both cases, living precariously. A negatively impacting tiger habitat not notionally,
rough calculation shows that there could be 250,000 but empirically. This plan must be based on criterion
to 350,000 people living in the total area the reserves to identify the key conservation zones and natal
comprise. areas of tigers. It must be speedily executed, and with
Add to this livestock. This population is difficult sensitivity, so that the livelihoods of poor people can
to estimate but assuming that the roughly 65,000 be secured in their new homes (see 3.7: The
families residing inside own two-three head of cattle, relocation agenda).
the number would be 130,000 to 200,000. Given the reality of the situation in the tiger
Indeed, it is logistically and financially reserves, the Task Force would like to examine an
impossible to relocate even these people from just the option that is beginning to gain increasing
28 tiger reserves; the imperative thus becomes even importance in the wider conservation network:
more difficult if all protected areas are taken into coexistence.

How many people live in protected areas? protected areas of the country.
The questions then are: how long will it take to
Nobody really knows. But the Indian Institute of relocate people from such areas? Is this is a feasible
Public Administration, in a 1989 project to survey option? Forester H S Pabla explains that in 1997
the management of national parks and sanctuaries there were 955 villages and 77,339 families living
in the country, had collected data on human in the 45 protected areas of Madhya Pradesh on
populations within protected areas. From this an average, 21 villages and 1,718 families in each
survey, it was found that 56 per cent of the national reserve. If these figures are extrapolated at the
parks and 72 per cent of the sanctuaries reported national level, it would mean that there are over
populations inside their areas. Based on the 859,000 families (roughly 4.3 million people). At
responses received and extrapolation to other the current rate of compensation Rs 1 lakh and
unreported reserves, the status report computed 2.5 ha of land per family the resources needed
that there were three million people (600,000 would be prohibitive. Madhya Pradesh, for
families) living within the protected area network instance, has relocated only 33 villages (3 per cent
of India. It also found that 36 per cent of the of the villages) till date 26 of these in just one
national parks and 56 per cent of sanctuaries tiger reserve, Kanha.1
reported removal of minor forest produce. In the past 30 odd years, roughly 80 villages
In the late 1990s, this survey was repeated and have been relocated till date and roughly 14,000
an effort was also made to verify the information families shifted. If any of these estimates is accurate
on human habitation received from the managers then the country has relocated only 1.8 per cent of
of protected areas, with census data. The the families in the protected areas till date. It
researchers estimated that there are 3.7 million becomes vital, therefore, to work out policies for
people (740,000 families) who live in the 600-odd relocation or coexistence. There is no other option.

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 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

Coexistence: why consider this option? smuggling these out on bicycles. A bundle of 50
pieces requires 15 bamboos and fetches a meagre Rs
If the way ahead is to come to a practical resolution 15 per bundle: equally, the forest cover is also
on how to balance, and manage, the livelihood needs turning meagre.3
of people with the imperatives of conservation, it is As a result, protection is compromised. A major
important to understand the impact of human effort if not the entire focus of park managers is
resource use on tiger reserve forests: is such use to fight against illegal activities. In Bandhavgarh
detrimental per se? What is the threshold beyond tiger reserve in Madhya Pradesh, for instance, in five
which such use begins to so severely degrade tiger years from 1995 to 2000, park authorities registered
habitat that the animals existence is truly 488 cases of illicit felling, 255 cases of illegal grazing
endangered? What if such use is not detrimental? and 62 cases of illegal bamboo extraction, among
Clearly, this terrain of competing needs is a others. Increased hostility here translated into people
complicated one. setting fires within the park and poisoning animals.
Currently, the approach is rather simplistic: In this period, authorities registered over 19 cases of
deny that competing needs exist. People who live fire; researchers noted there were actually 73
inside these reserves are treated as biotic pressure incidences of fire. The reserve here came under
and policy seeks to remove them as fast as possible. pressure both from within and outside. Of the total
But on the ground, relocation is not speedily done. It cases of illegal activities, 25 per cent involved
becomes a protracted process, leading to uncertainty villagers from within the reserve and 37 per cent
and the alienation of people from the park. Puja involved villages at the fringe of the protected area.
Sawhney is a researcher who has studied In such a situation, would relocation provide
Bandhavgarh tiger reserve in Madhya Pradesh. After answers?4
the reserve was declared, she found, economic In this situation of uncertainty the war of
hardships of forest-dependent people increased. The conservation has only intensified. In the years to
legal stipulation of eviction compounded the come, it will be impossible to protect species against
problem thinking that they would be relocated, widespread hostility. The matter requires urgent
people simply lost the incentive to use the forest resolution.
sustainably. The fear of relocation, and resultant So it is that the following issues must be better
harassment, turned people here more hostile. In the understood:
absence of viable alternatives, people here have no
option but to use the forest and this results in a. What are the legal provisions that govern the
recurrent friction between them and park managers.2 rights of local people in protected areas?
When the policy is one of denial, little gets done b. What is the empirical evidence that the use of
to work out arrangements that will meet the needs of habitats by people is endangering conservation
both conservation and people. The anger and efforts?
hostility of people living within reserves, instead, c. What can be done to better manage competing
continues to increase. The costs are huge: in pure needs? What resolution does coexistence
money terms as well as in pure conservation terms. provide?
Relocation related to the Tadoba-Andhari tiger
reserve in Maharashtra is a good instance of this. In Till date, government has no authentic estimate of
1955, an area of 116.55 sq km around the Tadoba lake the numbers of people who live within the various
was declared a national park. Two villages were categories of protected areas in the country. As a
resettled outside. Then in 1986, the area under result, there is no empirical assessment of the impact
protection was expanded to include the Andhari these people have on protected areas. More
wildlife sanctuary. Six villages now fell under the importantly, there is no understanding of the impact
parks boundary; one of them Pandharpauni, a protected area has on the lives of people. In other
renamed Navegoan, or new village after the first words, what is the dependence of people on these
resettlement faced possible relocation for a second lands to meet their subsistence and livelihood needs?
time. The area was declared a tiger reserve in 1993, In these circumstances, conservationist pressures
but a year before, all rights regarding collection of drive governments into believing it is the biotic
minor forest produce were suspended, leading to the pressure of humans that is destroying our natural
villagers being impoverished. All development heritage.
activities have been stopped, pending relocation. The problem is compounded by the fact that in
Employment the forest department provides is many parts of the country, the rights of local people
reduced: the forest cannot be worked any more. So in forests remain unrecorded. In some areas, forests
people survive by taking recourse to illegal were declared as reserved, without the rights of
practices cutting bamboo into small pieces and local people living in these lands being enumerated,

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and accepted, by the erstwhile colonial government. In February 2002 it clarified that the order of
When these lands were later notified as sanctuaries this Court prohibiting cutting of trees does not
or national parks, the customary and traditional apply to bamboo including cane, which really
rights remained unrecorded. belong to the grass family, other than those in
What happens in such a situation? At a public national parks and sanctuaries. In other words,
hearing organised by the National Forum for Forest no bamboo including cane in national parks
People and Forest Workers in April 2005, it and sanctuaries can be cut but the same can be
transpired that inside the Buxa tiger reserve of West cut elsewhere.6
Bengal, there were an estimated 37 forest villages
and five hamlets, habitations set up by the colonial On October 20, 2003, the Union ministry of
government in the late 19th century for labour in environment and forests wrote a letter to all chief
forest operations. In return for settlement rights and secretaries. The letter detailed guidelines for
rights over forest produce, the communities had diversion of forest land for non-forest purposes
to provide their labour, also known as begar. When under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980. It said the
the Buxa reserve was declared, employment ministry had approved certain modifications for the
opportunities dried up. But villagers still do not have diversion of land under the act; one of these was:
legal ownership over homesteads or agricultural land Para 1.2 (iii) now clarifies that rights and
and are denied their customary rights to collect forest concessions cannot be enjoyed in the protected areas
produce.5 How can the objectives of conservation be in view of the orders of the Supreme Court dated
served by turning people into trespassers in their 14.2.2000 restraining removal of dead, diseased,
own lands, as has happened here? dying or wind-fallen trees, drift wood and grasses etc
from any national park or sanctuary.7
The Supreme Court matters It is important to note that para 1.2 (iii) of the
rules of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, referred
The Supreme Court today plays a critical role in to in the ministry letter, pertains to the harvesting of
ensuring environmental protection and conservation fodder grasses and legumes which grow naturally in
in the country. It has directed to stop mining, habitat forest areas. The para says the removal of these
destruction and improve protection in the interest of grasses will not require approval of the central
reserves over the years. government. This Act, in fact, has nothing to do with
In February 2000, the amicus curiae (in the the rights and privileges of people living within
omnibus forest case ongoing in the Supreme Court), protected areas, which are governed by the Indian
filed an application seeking clarification if an earlier Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
order of the Supreme Court the apex Court had On July 2, 2004, the Central Empowered
passed it in 1996; it pertained to a ban against Committee set up the Supreme Court to assist it in
removal of fallen or dry standing trees applied to all forestry matters wrote to all state governments
protected areas as well. The application pertained to drawing attention to the fact that a number of
commercial felling of trees in protected areas by the instances had come to its notice, of prohibited
Karnataka state forest department. The apex Court, in activities occurring within protected areas. These
its order dated February 14, 2000, then ordered that activities, the Central Empowered Committee said in
in the meantime, we restrain the respondents from its letter, were happening without the prior approval
ordering the removal of dead, diseased, dying or of the Supreme Court and should be stopped.
wind-fallen trees, driftwood and grasses etc from the The list of prohibited activities mentioned in the
national park or game sanctuary or forest. letter included felling of trees and bamboo, cutting of
This order led to a number of directions from the grass and collection of minor forest produce. The
Supreme Court: Central Empowered Committee warned the states to
On February 28, 2000 it clarified this ban was not ensure strict compliance of the Honble Supreme
for forests, but only for protected areas. Courts order so that none of the prohibited activities
On April 3, 2000 in response to a representation are allowed to be undertaken either by the project
received from the state of Rajasthan, the Court authorities or the forest department; prior permission
further clarified that the order will have no of the Honble Supreme Court shall be obtained
application in so far as plucking and collection of before undertaking them.
tendu leaves is concerned,
On May 10, 2001 it noted that the removal of Impact on conservation
forest produce such as leaves, harra, sal seeds, The result has been that state governments have
mahua flowers and mahua seeds from forest rushed to stop all use of minor forest produce and
other than national parks and sanctuaries is not collection of grass from protected areas. The Task
prohibited. Force during its visits to different states was

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repeatedly told, in its interactions with chief wildlife per year from these products. These forest products
wardens, that they were implementing the order. The are also important for household consumption and for
problem was that while the directions sought to barter. Therefore, the attempt to stop such resource
increase conservation of valuable forests and use leads directly to further impoverishment and
biodiversity sites, the unintended result has been heighten peoples anger against authorities.8
increased tension between people and park staff. The experience from the Bilirangan temple
All studies carried out on people-park interactions wildlife sanctuary in Karnataka shows that
show that people who live within the park and on its extraction of minor forest produce can, in fact, be
fringes are highly dependent on the collection and done sustainably by local communities and can
sale of minor forest produce for their livelihood needs. work for conservation. But now, the Karnataka
A detailed household level survey in Bandhavgarh government has issued orders to ban all collection of
tiger reserve in Madhya Pradesh, for instance, found minor forest produce. Now, people still collect these
that sale of minor forest produce amla, tendu and forest products, but illegally, leading to greater stress
mahua contributed 25 per cent of the household and exploitation (see box: An experiment in
income. On an average, households earned Rs 2,023 sustainability).

An experiment in sustainability migrated from the Nilgiris centuries ago and settled
here. Once the area was declared a sanctuary under the
The Bilirangan temple wildlife sanctuary is probably Act, they were allowed to practice shifting cultivation
the most studied experiment in sustainable use of and were engaged as labour in various forestry
minor forest product or non-timber forest produce. It is operations and plantations. Primarily a hunting-
one of the few sanctuaries where such extraction has gathering tribe at that time, the Soliga gave up hunting
not only been systematically run, but also closely but continued to gather forest produce, including honey
monitored for a decade by the forest department, and lichen. Today, more than 7,500 Soliga families
ecologists, and conservation organisations as well as make a living by collecting honey, lichen, and other
groups engaged in rural development in the region. All produce from the sanctuary.
the observing groups unanimously agree that the The tribal cooperatives were formed to regulate the
collection of non-timber forest produce is a sustainable collection of forest produce, purchase the produce at
source of livelihood for tribal people. fixed rates and then auction it off. The government
However, in February 23, the principal chief created it under the state forest department to collect
conservator of forests (wildlife) of the Karnataka and sell non-timber forest produce, besides managing
government instructed the sanctuary to ban non-timber other activities for the states tribals. Before the
forest produce collection by the tribal cooperative societies were created, the tribals used to sell the
society, Large Area Multipurpose Cooperative Society. produce at a pittance to a city contractor who had
This, the wildlife department said, was in pursuance of bagged the rights for collection from the forest
the amended section of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, department. Over the last eight years, the arrangement
1972 which does not permit removal of forest produce developed into a systematic process with the
from the sanctuary (Section 29), other than for bona fide involvement of two other non-governmental
needs of people living in and around the sanctuary. organisations: the Vivekananda Girijana Kalyan Kendra
This notice has brought 25,000 Soliga tribals to the and the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and
brink of destitution. Environment (see table: Forest produce collection has
Spread over 540 sq km, the sanctuary lies between been careful).
the Eastern and the Western Ghats. The Soliga tribe The former has been organising the people into self-

FOREST PRODUCE COLLECTION HAS BEEN CAREFUL

Name of produce Quantity collected in two divisions out of three Average Quantity per
per year ha per year
2000-01 2001-02 2002-03

Gooseberry 134,034 666,891 137,447 31,790 9.74

Lichen 21,515 7,815 45,658 24,996 0.77

Honey 6,983 16,193 19,406 14,194 0.442

Note: all figures in kilogramme; ha = hectare; Total Forest Area of Collection of these two societies = 32100.834 hectares
Source: Nitin Sethi, 2004, Stop Trade, Down To Earth, Vol 13, No 9

102 The way ahead

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Do people have rights? rights of people who live within a protected area
before a sanctuary or national park can be formally
In this situation, it is important to examine what the notified.
rights are of people living within sanctuaries and The provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act,
national parks. Do they even have rights? What is 1972, say:
prohibited? What does the law say on this issue?
The law which governs the setting up, 1. The government can by notification declare
management and protection of sanctuaries and its intentions to constitute any area as a
national parks, is the Wildlife (Protection) Act , 1972. sanctuary (Section 18) or a national park
The Act has been amended five times, with the latest (Section 35).
changes passed in 2003.
Subsequently, the government has to take steps
Sanctuaries and national parks: the rights to be to settle the rights of people and once this is
determined and settled done, it can notify the sanctuary or national
The law provides that governments must settle the park.

THE SOLIGA KNOW SUSTAINABLE HARVESTING

218.3

208.4
250
169.6

200
Estimate of amla harvested

148

145

135

150
(in tonnes)

87.2

75.1
100
23.2

50
25

0
1998-1999 1999-2000 2000-2001 2001-2002 2002-2003

Year

Transect estimation by ecologists Visual estimation by Soligas

Source: Siddapa Shetty 2003, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment, Bangalore, mimeo

help groups, and ensuring value addition, such as amla by the Soliga. Shetty reiterates that they didnt
packaging honey into bottles. The latter has been have to teach the Soliga what sustainable harvesting
monitoring the impact of extraction on forest health as was (see graph: The Soliga know sustainable
well as working with the tribals to develop a harvesting). The Soliga are themselves very selective
participatory self-monitoring mechanism. and systematic about collecting lichen, amla as well as
It has taken the Vivekanand Girijana Kalyan honey. It is not random and certainly not rampant
Kendra almost two decades to set up the entire exploitation. His studies show that they harvest only
infrastructure. Now they have a secondary high school 29 per cent of the fruits of P emblica (one of the two
for the Soliga, a primary health centre and a honey- varieties of amla) each year and only 60 per cent of the
processing factory; they also provide alternative fruits of P indofischeri (the other variety). The
employment through other vocational activities. In the percentage of overall collection of fruits is low and
last two years, profits have been ploughed back to the does not seem to have a negative impact on
community from all their activities. regeneration of the fruiting trees (one measure of
Ecologist Siddapa Shetty of the Ashoka Trust for sustainability of extraction). In fact, studies show that
Research in Ecology and Environment has been the Soliga in the sanctuary are far more advanced in
carrying out research in the sanctuary for the past eight their collection practices than the tribals in some of the
years. He has studied the extraction of honey as well as other forested regions of the Western Ghats.

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The process of determination of rights is: a. Restriction on entry into sanctuary without
2. The government will appoint an officer (or permission
collector) who within 30 days of the issue of b. Scientific research without permit
notification (intention to declare the area as c. Destruction or removal of wildlife including
sanctuary) shall inquire into and determine the forest produce without permit.
existence, nature and extent of rights of any
person in or over the land comprised within the After the sanctuary is notified Section 29 in the
limits of the sanctuary (Sections 18-19); case of sanctuary and 35 (6 and 7) in the case of
3. After the government has declared its intentions national parks a regime of prohibition and permits
no further rights shall be acquired in, on or over comes into operation. This section says that no
the land, except by succession, testamentary or person shall destroy, exploit or remove any wildlife
intestate (Section 20). including forest produce from a national park
except in accordance with a permit granted by the
The process of settlement of rights is: chief wildlife warden, and no such permit shall be
4. Once the collector has determined these rights, granted unless the state government being satisfied
these will be publicly announced and all affected in consultation with the Board (of wildlife) that such
parties will be given a chance to assert their removal of wildlife from the sanctuary (or national
claims and demand compensation. These claims park) or the change in the flow of water from outside
will be verified by the collector from the records the sanctuary (or national park) is necessary for the
of the state government and the evidence of improvement and better management of wildlife
any person acquainted with the same. therein, authorises the issue of such permits. In
(Section 21-22); other words, it is an extremely prohibitive clause
5. Once the collector has determined these rights that allows resource use only in exceptional
and ascertained their veracity the following can circumstances. Wildlife is defined as any animal,
be done (Section 24): aquatic or land vegetation, which forms part of any
Exclude these lands from the limit of the habitat. In other words nothing, from honey to fish,
proposed sanctuary; can be removed.
Proceed to acquire these lands or rights, except However, the law distinguishes between the
where the holder has agreed to surrender needs of local people and extraction purely for
his rights to the government. The rights will commercial purposes: provided that where the
be acquired by making payment of such forest produce is removed from a sanctuary (and
compensation as is provided in the land national park) the same may be used for meeting the
acquisition act; personal bona fide needs of people living in and
Allow, in consultation with the chief wildlife around the sanctuary and shall not be used for any
warden, the continuation of any right of any commercial purposes. But whereas in a sanctuary,
person in or over any land within the limits of grazing and movement of livestock is not deemed to
the sanctuary (only in sanctuaries). a prohibited act, in the case of national parks it is not
permitted. In addition, the chief wildlife warden may
The process of acquisition is: regulate, control or prohibit, in keeping with the
6. Once the rights are determined, the process of interests of wildlife, the grazing or movement of
acquisition begins. The compensation award livestock.
could be given in land or in money or part of
each. The difference between a sanctuary and a
national park
The time period for settlement is: After the settlement of rights has been made, in a
7. All this must be completed within a period of sanctuary the law allows that rights can continue to
two years from the date of notification of exist after consultation with the chief wildlife
declaration of sanctuary under Section 18. warden. In other words, people can live within the
However, the notification will not lapse if the area, and use resources based on the rights that were
above is not done (Section 25A). determined and agreed upon. In a national park, this
is not allowed. Therefore, once a national park is
What happens after this? declared, all the rights of use have to be settled,
After the rights are settled, the sanctuary or national compensated and extinguished.
park can be formally notified (Section 26A). In a sanctuary, grazing or movement of livestock
After this, the imposition of the regulatory is not a prohibited activity. It is in a national park.
regime of prohibitions and restrictions follow Therefore, the law is clear. It says that it is
(Sections 27-34A). The prohibitions include: incumbent on government to record and to settle

104 The way ahead

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these rights speedily before the reserve is declared. process in which settlement personnel were to be
The law is based on the premise that whenever an appointed within 30 days for both past and future
area will be declared as protected for wildlife species notifications to declare a sanctuary (section 18 B).
or conservation, it will be done only once the 4. The settlement was to be completed within 2
government compensates inhabitants of the land and years (section 25A(1)).
agrees on a settlement with people. This assumes 5. The settlement process would not lapse if not
the process will be speedily done so that, in the completed in 2 years (section 25A (2)).
meantime, no new rights will be created no new
people will be allowed to settle on the land or use its But these amendments failed to solve problems:
resources other than those that lived there when Unfortunately, the situation on the ground worsened.
the process of notification began. Settlements did not take place, and the government
In other words, like in any other land acquisition did not make provisions for fuel, fodder and
matter, the law provides that the rights of people who forest produce. But the enforcement regime was
live on these lands, which the state needs to acquire strengthened without these safeguards.
for public purposes, have to be verified and What is shocking is that, till date, very few
compensated. They cannot be extinguished or protected areas have completed the process of
negated. The law does provide for the fact that these recording the rights of people, let alone completing
rights, once determined, can be allowed in the process of acquisition of those rights and
consultation with wildlife authorities in certain areas compensating people who live there. The practice
sanctuaries, not national parks. has been to turn all people living within protected
areas into outsiders and illegal users of their
Perfect in law, imperfect in life own lands. In the name of conservation, what
has been carried out is a completely illegal and
The law is straightforward. But the implementation unconstitutional land acquisition programme.
of the law has been negligent, to say the least. In fact, by not even recording the rights of people
In fact, there has hardly been any settlement of in these areas the authorities are in violation of the
rights in Indias protected areas. In its 1989 survey of Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
protected areas on the country, a report compiled by In 1997, hearing a case filed by the Worldwide
the Indian Institute of Public Administration found Fund for Nature, the Supreme Court (writ petition no
that only 40 per cent of the national parks that 337/95) ordered all state governments to issue a
responded to its survey, and only 8 per cent of the proclamation asking for claims to be filed and to
209 sanctuaries that responded, had completed their complete the process of determination of rights and
legal procedures.9 In tiger reserves, two reserves have acquisition of those rights within one year. For a few
been formally notified as national parks. months after this order, state governments furiously
The problem is compounded by the fact that till issued orders, leading to even more tension and
the 1991 amendment to the Wildlife (Protection) confusion.
Act,1972, a sanctuary could be notified without the Then, many states such as Madhya Pradesh
rights being determined. Therefore, in notified responded to the Supreme Court saying that they had
sanctuaries created in the period 1973-1991, the neither the finances nor the land for relocation.
rights would not have been determined or settled. States also told the Union ministry of environment
Even as the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 was and forests that more than Rs 600 crore would be
implemented, what got overlooked was the original needed to settle the rights of people and they did not
statutory defect in the law: the fact that a sanctuary have these resources. The case is ongoing.
could be declared immediately even if the rights
werent settled. What happens if rights are not determined?
The 2003 amendment to the Wildlife (Protection) Currently, the situation is that people live in these
Act, 1972 is the latest attempt to rectify this defect. It lands. Their rights have not been settled, but are
has tried to do so in the following way: being extinguished by different agencies interested
in conservation. Can this be allowed? What are
1. The regulatory regime was to apply even though the rights of people over the use of resources, in
the final notification, under section 18A(1), had not the absence of their rights being finally decided?
been completed. The law is clear that the rights continue till
2. Till rights were settled, the state had to make they are expunged through a formal process of
alternative arrangements for fuel, fodder and minor compensation.
forest produce for people living in areas declared as a It is worth repeating here section 18a (2) of the
protected area (section 18a (2)). 2003 amendment to the Wildlife (Protection) Act,
3. The settlement process was supported by a 1972. Explicitly, it says that after the government has

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 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

declared its intention to declare an area a national A particularly vexed question

park or sanctuary and before the rights of affected
people are finally settled, the state government shall The law, as interpreted by conservationists, provides
make alternative arrangements required for making that people living in and around the protected area
available fuel, fodder and other forest produce to the can collect and remove forest produce, but only to
persons affected, in terms of their rights as per the meet bona fide needs. The problem is that no one has
government records. ever defined what bona fide needs mean. In other
In other words, the ground reality is that the words, if poor tribals in the Nagarhole national park
government has to provide for the needs of people in Karnataka collect honey and sell it for their
if it declares any area as a sanctuary or national park subsistence needs, would this constitute a bona
or any other protected reserve till the rights have fide need?
been compensated. At the same time, the ground This issue was taken up by the deputy
reality is that it does not. So, a situation gets created conservator of forests of the Chamarajanagar range in
in which a double negligence occurs: on the one Karnataka where the Bilirangan temple sanctuary
hand, rights that ought to be settled by law are not is located with his superior officer, in response to
settled; instead they keep getting expunged. the order banning collection of minor forest produce
Institutions whose intention is to protect the by Soliga tribal cooperative societies existing there.
reserves the Union ministry of environment and The matter, he said, would have been very simple to
forests, or the Central Empowered Committee interpret if the definition of commercial collection
seem to have done nothing to ensure that, when and personal bona fide use was defined in the
rights are taken away by their fiat, alternatives are Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 or the rules. The
provided. issues, as he elaborated, are:
There seems to now exist two procedural Soliga are a forest tribe, who migrated from
regimes, and institutions seem to pick one or the Nilgiri centuries ago and settled with the
other, not tackling the inherited ambiguities caused forests. They were allowed to practice shifting
by the original defect in the law: cultivation in lieu of which they were engaged as
Rights are settled, the sanctuary is notified and labour in various forestry operations. As a result,
all prohibitions come into force; they do not own land. Collection of minor forest
Rights are not settled, but the sanctuary or produce for their cooperative society is their only
national park exists; so, all prohibitions come source of income. In other words, says the
into force but none of the safeguards. deputy conservator, for the Soliga this collection
serves subsistence needs only.
Either way, people are the losers. Either way, Commercial exploitation then could be
conservation is jeopardised. understood, he says, in terms of the quantity of
produce collected per ha of forests. In this case,
What is being done? can collection of 10 kg of gooseberry or 442 gms
In November 4, 2004, the Central Empowered of honey per ha be termed as commercial?
Committee filed an interim report for the
clarification of the Supreme Court order of February Moreover, banning the collection of minor forest
14, 2000 (in which it had banned the removal of dead produce will destroy the relationship that has
trees etc from national parks and sanctuaries). In this developed between the Soliga and forests and
report, the committee recommended the apex Court sustainable extraction of these resources.
clarify the following: In addition, he admits, the ban is unlikely to be
What is allowed for the better management of effective. The first difficulty will be in finding which
parks like firelines, maintenance of fair Soliga is collecting, or has collected, minor forest
weather roads, habitat improvement? produce for the purpose of trade. If a Soliga is found
What is prohibited in a protected area? with 10 kg of gooseberry or five kg of honey, can it be
Can exemption be given for small public utility said what use it is for, personal or commercial? In
projects of non-commercial nature? fact where there has been a ban, the experience
has been that extraction continues, without any
The key recommendation that concerns the safeguards.10 But the ban in the sanctuary continues.
rights of people is that the committee includes Extraction continues, but illegally, in a more
removal of bamboo or grasses in the list of unsustainable fashion. Moreover, it inevitably leads
prohibitions. Without provision of alternatives, this to more harassment of tribals and corruption.
impinges on peoples fodder requirements. Equally, The problem is that these provisions used,
it is silent on the extraction of minor forest produce interpreted and misinterpreted, with good intentions
by people. are leading to tremendous harassment of people.

106 The way ahead

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Let us be clear. The entire effort of the Supreme taken place, and is quite likely never to take place,
Court, investing its valuable time and commitment, the situation for people living within reserves is such
is to safeguard the protected areas of the country that even owning private revenue land has become
from commercial and illegal uses. But it is unbearable. The principle chief conservator of
completely inexplicable how the Union ministry of forests, Madhya Pradesh, has drawn the attention of
environment and forests issued the guideline which, the Union ministry of environment and forests of the
in effect, expunged all rights and concessions of need for an urgent review and revision in this
people in protected areas, using moreover a provision (see box: Submission of the Madhya
provision of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980. The Pradesh government on section 20 of the Wildlife
Central Empowered Committee, in its letter to states, (Protection) Act, 1972, barring accrual of rights). In
has included in the list of prohibited activities his submission, it is pointed out conditions have
cutting of grass and collection of minor forest become terrible for local people, in turn generating
produce. At no stage has it been clarified if this has intense hatred for the wild animals.
been done after rights have been settled or In the Karera Great Indian Bustard Sanctuary in
alternatives made available to poor people. Madhya Pradesh, for instance, there have been cases
The fact is that this interpretation of the law by where people are unable to get their sons married,
first the ministry and then the committee has, in fact, because no one wants to give his daughter into a
cost the countrys conservation efforts dearly. The village where no progress is possible. As a result of
anger of people against conservation has only the ban on land transactions here, restrictions placed
worsened and will make protection even more and the resulting hostility, the entire bustard
difficult. population has been wiped out. Now there is a strong
The reality is that since people live in these demand to denotify the sanctuary, says the
reserves and use resources, conservation policy has submission.
driven the process underground. This has worked to It is important to note here that a large number of
the detriment of the forest as well as the people. For people who live within the protected reserves live on
instance, in Sariska in Rajasthan, villagers used to revenue land, which is privately owned. But while
traditionally graze their cattle inside the park and the the law provides that the rights should be acquired,
forest department used to issue receipts to people for this has not been done. This selective use of
using the park. In this way, the authorities could provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, is
manage and regulate use. But in 1982, when it was making people enemies of conservation.
decided Sariska would be declared a national park,
the forest department stopped collecting grazing fees. Is de-notification an option?
The idea was that if the fee was not charged, people
could not claim grazing rights and it would be easier If people cannot be relocated from the protected
to notify the area as a national park. The fact is that areas, is it possible to denotify areas of human
the final notification for the national park is still in settlement so that these can be excluded from
abeyance and grazing continues, but in an illegal, reserves? This would improve protection within the
uncontrolled and destructive way.11 reserve and meet the conservation objectives of
wildlife managers, who see no alternative but to
Barring rights to property exclude people to save the wild animals.
There is a fear that this approach can be used to
Under section 20 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, divert protected areas, so the 2003 amendment to the
1972 there is a provision; rather innocuously Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 has made the process
worded, it is turning out to be devastating for people extremely cumbersome and centralised. It has
living in protected areas whose rights have not been legislated that no alterations of the boundary of the
settled. sanctuary or national park shall be made by the state
The provision says that after notification under government except on the recommendation of the
Section 18 (intention to declare), no rights shall be national board (National Board of Wildlife). In 2000
acquired in, on or over the land comprised within and again in 2004, the Supreme Court further
the limits of the area specified in such notification, tightened this provision, directing no de-reservation
except by succession, testamentary or interstate. of forests/sanctuaries/national parks shall be
This provision could have been inserted to ensure effected.
that during the short period in which government This makes it even more difficult for state
would settle the rights of people in the protected governments to recognise the fact that if they cannot
areas, no new settlers would emerge in order to reap settle the rights of people and cannot relocate them,
the benefits of settlement. they could de-notify areas of human settlement
But because the settlement of rights has never within a protected area. In Bandhavgarh tiger reserve

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Submission of the Madhya Pradesh government on section 20 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972,
barring accrual of rights
As you know, section 20 of the Wildlife this interpretation of the section rigidly, without
(Protection) Act, 1972 bars the accrual of any fresh bothering about the implications for the affected
rights in, on or over the land comprised within the people.
limits of the area specified in the notification As the government does not have the
issued under section 18, except by succession. wherewithal to expeditiously acquire all the rights
This section has been erroneously interpreted as in proposed protected areas, and we can ill afford
banning any sale/purchase of landed property, as to let popular discontent against conservation
well as the development of these properties, in the continue indefinitely, urgent steps are required to
villages situated within the notified tentative mend the situation. The problem can be easily
boundaries of the proposed protected areas. The solved if people are allowed to exercise full
sale/purchase of land and any change in the land ownership rights, including the right to sell and
use are seen as the creation of new rights in purchase, over their properties, and the bar on
violation of this section. This interpretation, accrual of new rights such as grazing, is limited to
though erroneous, would not have caused any government forests only. However, the current text
problems if we had been able to acquire all the does lend itself to the extreme interpretation that
rights over these lands, as required by the Act, we are forced to follow now. The bar on accrual of
expeditiously. However, our inability to acquire rights even on private lands may have appeared
the private lands situated inside the proposed benign at that time, as the framers of the law may
protected areas for more than two decades, and not have envisaged a situation in which hundreds
forbidding people from selling their lands to other of villages and thousands of acres of private lands
buyers as well, has resulted in tremendous would be affected by this ban. It may also have been
economic and social difficulties for the people, inserted to force people to opt for relocation.
and extreme discontent among people against However, in the current context, it appears
conservation itself. An extreme example of the extremely highhanded, in violation of the
situation is seen in the Karera Great Indian Bustard fundamental rights of a large and poor population,
Sanctuary in this state, where there have been and is certainly counterproductive for
cases in which people are unable to marry their conservation.
sons off as no one wants to give his daughter into a Three alternative drafts for the amendment are
village where no progress is possible. As a result of enclosed herewith for your consideration. I hope
the ban on land transactions, and restrictions you would be able to include it in the proposal for
placed on the people, and the resulting hostility, amendment already under consideration in the
the entire bustard population has been wiped out Ministry.
and there is a strong demand to denotify the
sanctuary. A more or less similar situation prevails Letter by P B Gangopadhyay, principle chief
in nearly all the other sanctuaries and proposed conservator of forests (wildlife), Madhya Pradesh to
national parks of the state. The state is facing a additional director general of forests (wildlife),
spate of litigations on the issue as conservation ministry of environment and forests, with copy to
extremists want the government to implement Tiger Task Force, June 19, 2005

in Madhya Pradesh, for instance, state authorities notification of an area of the sanctuary which could
had put forward a proposal to delineate the park be then developed for villagers, while the core could
boundary so as to exclude certain villages. This be protected, without human interference, for tigers.
ensured 319 sq km would be free from human But conservationists were unhappy about the
habitation and completely protected. But it was not move and took the matter to the state high court.
done, as it would further fragment the reserve. Since then a desperate status quo persists. The state
In Melghat tiger reserve in Maharashtra, for government has informed the court, under pressure
instance, this option was exercised. The government from the conservation lobby, that it will not use the
was aware the buffer zone of the reserve had many area for commercial purposes (interpreted as not
villages. It was not possible to acquire the rights of allowing cutting of trees, other than for the basic
these villages because of the sheer size of the subsistence needs of people). The tribals continue to
operation. People lived an illegal existence. live in destitution, their poverty driving them to use
Therefore, park authorities decided to opt for de- the resources of the tiger reserve and their anger

108 The way ahead

 TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS

leading to unsustainable use and destruction. The vicinity of the reserve. They estimate that, with the
tigers are under threat and the park authorities have payment of the net present value, as mandated by
to focus their energies on protecting against all odds. the Supreme Court for diversion of forest land to
It is clear that the status quo is unsustainable and non-forestry purposes, the relocation will cost over
unproductive. The situation has once again created Rs 3-4 crore.
anti-conservation anger and jeopardised protection When the Tiger Task Force visited Pench, it
(see box: Melghats conservation conundrum). asked officials about the impact of this tiny
settlement on the reserve, which would then explain
People verses tigers why it had to be relocated. The officials could
not explain why. Nor had they any idea of what
In this situation, matters are fast deteriorating. The could be done to mitigate its impact or manage its
law provides that the rights of people should be resource use.
settled before a sanctuary or national park can be It is, therefore, essential we understand the
formally notified. But this has not been done. People possible human impacts, so that policy can be better
live in protected areas and are driven to destitution. informed and effective. There is no comprehensive
If tigers kill their livestock, there is no compensation assessment of this issue but an analysis of the
because their existence is not legal; if they want to research papers for different protected areas can help
sell their private land, they cannot because it is not to build a better understanding of the situation.
allowed. They cannot collect minor forest produce The fact is that people, who live in the protected
because it is interpreted to be illegal in the permit reserves and on its fringes, depend on its resources
system that operates and they cannot graze animals for their survival. Rucha Ghate from Nagpur
or even practice agriculture in many cases. But University has worked on quantifying the value of
because they live there, they engage in all these the minor forest produce used by people living
activities. It is done illegally. It is done under within Tadoba-Andhari tiger reserve in
tremendous harassment and it leads to corruption. It Maharashtra. She gathered information on the
is also completely unsustainable as illicit use only number of cattle and the collection of fodder,
makes the use more destructive. firewood, medicinal plants, fruits and household
In all this, conservationists keen to protect the timber. She found the imputed value of these
tiger and other species are asking for even stricter resources was a staggering Rs 77.5 lakh per year for
compliance and adherence to what they perceive is all six villages in the sanctuary. Importantly, as little
the legal framework. They make no mention of the as 25 per cent of the annual income came from legal
fact that in the absence of rights remaining sources agriculture and employment; the bulk
unsettled, the process of declaring an area as a (67 per cent) came from consumption of forest
protected area is incomplete and illegal. Selective produce like fodder, fuel and fruits and the rest from
interpretation of the law is leading to huge conflicts illicit bamboo sale.12
inside and outside protected areas. It is truly a Still, Ghate found that even with this level of
war within, imploding inside reserves and taking resource use of resources in the period 1989-2001,
everything in its wake. forest cover had actually increased, and not reduced,
in the tiger reserve. In fact, she found the habitat was
Is coexistence then possible? How? more degraded where there was pressure from the
villages outside village and not in the areas
Conservation policy in India, which aims to exclude surrounding the villages inside the reserve. Her
(remove) people from protected area, is based on the conclusion and submission to the Tiger Task Force,
premise that all human use is detrimental to therefore, is that until the villages are relocated, they
conservation. It is also built on the assumption that should be involved in protection work within the
peoples knowledge is irrelevant in the management sanctuary, earning between Rs 1,000-1,200 per
of protected areas. But again, given the reality of the month per household. Furthermore, if people are
Indian situation where people live within the involved in tourism, they will have a greater stake in
protected reserves, it is important to revisit these the reserve and can be encouraged to become human
assumptions to look for answers beyond. buffers. To meet the needs of people, plantation of
Even when villages are proposed for relocation, fodder and firewood belts around the buffer villages
wildlife authorities have little empirical evidence of will take pressure off the reserve. In other words, the
the impact that needs to be contained. For instance, management strategy should move from being
there is one village with less than 35 families in exclusive to inclusive says Ghate.13
the tiger reserve of Pench in Maharashtra. Reserve Another researcher, Harini Nagendra, who has
authorities are determined to relocate the village, at been working on satellite image-mapping of different
considerable cost, to degraded forest land in the reserves, confirms that within Tadoba-Andhari, for

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 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

Melghats conservation conundrum be relocated outside the sanctuary. In 1994, the

forest department realised that relocating so many
Melghat tiger reserve (MTR) is today in a piquant people was unfeasible. There was no land to
position. It has a plan to ensure people co-exist relocate 61 villages. The challenge was to marry the
with the the tiger reserve but the plan is now in interest of both the tiger and the tribal. So, an
limbo. Forest officials at the reserve are in a enquiry was conducted and via a notification dated
predicament: the management plan of the reserve February 15, 1994, 526.90 sq km of the sanctuary
in Maharashtras Amravati district cannot be was re-classified as an multiple use area. The area
executed, even though the states chief wildlife comprised 39 villages and the people here were to
warden gave it his assent way back in November be given certain rights to collect non-timber forest
2003. While the plan has laid out in an elaborate produce (NTFP).
form how to involve the tribal community in Conservation groups, however, opposed the
managing the reserve. But the state government has order. In 1995, the Mumbai-based Bombay
done a volte-face in an affidavit it has filed, Evironmental Action Group filed a public interest
undertaking that it will not allow any commercial litigation in the Nagpur high court pleading the
move would destroy the reserve. In response,
the Maharashtra government gave the HC an
THE DIFFERENT ZONES OF THE TIGER RESERVE undertaking that it wont allow commercial
extraction of forest produce in the multiple use
area. As the case still sits in court, the forest
department, scared of irking the court, has taken a
defensive note. It has now decided to look upon
Dharni
Kolkas
bamboo harvest which would have provided
Highway livelihoods to many as commercial extraction
and therefore put a hold on it. In 2003, the
Ghatang department had come out with a working scheme
Gavilgad for bamboo-bearing areas in the multiple use area.
fort
Officials of the department estimate Rs 2,000 crore
Multiple-use area can be raised annually and the money ploughed
Melghat sanctuary
Gugamal national park back into the reserve and for development of the 39
villages within the multiple use area if bamboo
Total area of the tiger reserve 1,676.93 sq km
is harvested scientifically in a three-year cycle. But
Gugamal national park 361.28 sq km
now the scheme cannot be implemented before the
Villages within the park Nil
imbroglio over commercial extraction gets
Melghat sanctuary 788.75 sq km
resolved.
Villages within sanctuary 19 (1,585 families)
But, as is the case in all such conflicts, the ad
Multiple-use-area (MUA) 526.90 sq km
hoc ban order has only pushed the people in the 39
Villages within MUA 39 (4,928 families)
villages to extract forest produce illegally or by
Estimated domestic cattle population 125,000
bribing forest guards there is no other option .
Estimated herbivore population 8,000
Both the people and forests suffer. This, even as the
Estimated tiger population 70
denotification order clearly states that the multiple
use area does not fall within the Melghat sanctuary
exploitation of forests within the multiple-use area and so people here do have rights over forest
of the reserve. The affidavit comes in a court case produce. But the forest departments forced
filed against demarcation of a part of the tiger vacillation means that, now, the people in the 39
reserve as a multi user area where people would villages cannot avail of these rights till the legal
be able to utilise the forest usufructs. mess is set right.
In the consultations held with the Tiger Task
The multi user area plan Force at Nagpur the principal chief conservator
In 1994 Melghat tiger reserve comprised a core (the of forests (wildlife) informed that the state
Gugamal national park) and a buffer zone (the government will soon file a fresh affidavit before
Melghat sanctuary). The core area was uninhabited, the high court, restating its case for allowing use of
while there were 61 villages within the sanctuary. resources in the multiple use area. Has the state
As per the reserves pre-1994 management plan, realised it has hurt its own interests as well as
these villages with a population of 28,000 were to caused many people to become destitute?

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instance, forest villages located within the park have Legal vs illegal: what is more sustainable?
much less impact on its degradation as compared to
the excessive pressure placed by villagers outside the If the challenge is conservation, then policy must
park.14 These findings need to be considered by the be designed to practice sustainable resource
government of Maharashtra when it works on its management. In this context, it becomes important to
proposal to relocate the villages. understand if illegal use, in vogue because of current
But this is not to say that human activities, given policy, is more sustainable than legal use, which
the high dependence, will not impinge on the quality could be practiced if policy was modified for
of the habitat. The question is to understand the conservations sake.
nature of the intervention and what can be done to Unfortunately, there is little analysis available
mitigate or substitute its impact. with park managers or conservationists about
For instance, it is clear that the use of non-timber resource use and its impacts. Therefore, policy is
forest produce is critical to the livelihood security of designed in the absence of data.
millions in the country. Economist Kanchan Chopra Take the issue of two reservoirs one in Madhya
has estimated that in certain areas such produce Pradesh on the Tawa river, within the Satpura river
contributes up to 40 per cent of the household income. reserve and the other on the Pench river, in
The issue then is to determine how Maharashtra. The reservoirs are in the core of reserves
unsustainable this use is and what can be done to and therefore, by policy, all use is banned.
improve resource utilisation and management. Conservation demands this. But compare what
Researchers Ghazala Shahabuddin and Soumya happens when use is legal and when it is illegal.
Prasad have put together key studies that assess
the ecological sustainability of such extraction in Tawa: legal but under threat
India to analyse trends. They find the studies present
a mixed picture in some studies researchers find In Tawa, 44 displaced villages took up an alternate
heavy extraction of non-timber forest produce leads source of livelihood and have managed resources in a
to reduced regeneration and resource degradation. sustainable manner for over 9 years now. In 1974, the
But there are also cases where there is no visible 21,000-hectare reservoir was handed over to the state
impact of low- and high-intensity harvesting. government in 1975 for fish production and then
Many studies indicate that the method of to the Madhya Pradesh Fisheries Development
extraction setting fire, removal of reproductive Corporation till 1994. It was auctioned to a private
species, destructive harvesting is often much contractor for a year after that. The reservoir was open
more damaging than the quantum of extraction. to all from 1995 to 1996 and then handed over to a co-
In certain studies, researchers did find the operative after a prolonged struggle. Because of a lack
competition between humans and wild animals over of any source of livelihood after the area came within
minor forest produce adversely impacted the latter. national park limits, the displaced people demanded
For example, a study found that harvesting the fruit exclusive fishing rights to the reservoir. So came into
of Artocarpus sp did deprive the lion tailed macaque being the Tawa Matsya Sangh.
of its diet. Initially, the Tawa Matsya Sangh got fishing
But it was also noted in many cases that if the rights for five years in 1996, which was later
method of extraction took into account the food extended. The co-operative is constituted solely of
habits of other species, this conflict could be avoided local communities and is two-tiered. At the local
harvesting fallen fruit and leaving the rest for level, it started off with 33 primary co-operative
animals. societies, which undertook the actual fishing and
The problem is, as the researchers of this review then handed the catch over to the second level of a
conclude, there is scant, mostly anecdotal federation that took care of marketing, transport and
information on the ecological sustainability of sale of fish, stocking of fish seed, and supply of nets
extraction of non timber forest produce in India. and boats to fishermen.
The available literature suggests species and Tawa serves as a good example because over the
populations differ in their response to harvesting. years it was under state, private and then cooperative
But unsustainable extraction will depend on the control and the trends clearly show that the co-
harvesting technique adopted, the extent of operative regime has been able to manage
extraction and the plant part used. They conclude production, maintenance of stock, employment and
that much more research is required before it can be income generation most efficiently.
clearly understood to what extent and in what
ways livelihoods based on these products can be Sustainable production
compatible with conservation.15 A report by the Ahmedabad-based Centre for

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 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

Environmental Planning and Technology shows institutional capability to manage and sustain the
that production was highly fluctuating when the reservoirs fish production.
reservoir was under the control of the Madhya The livelihood of almost 4,000 families from 45
Pradesh Fisheries Development Corporation. Under villages began to depend on fishing from the
the Tawa Matsya Sangh, production steadily reservoir and the number of fisherfolk rose from a
increased from just under 100 tonne in 1996 to mere 200 to almost 500 in 2004.
almost 400 tons in 2000, though it has figured a slight The Tawa Matsya Sangh has successfully
decrease in the past three years. Per hectare marketed its fish catch to local as well as distant
production in 2000 was 32.37 kg, three times the markets, with some of the fish even going to Howrah
national average for big reservoirs (see graph: Total in West Bengal. The total income of fisherfolk
production of fish in Tawa reservoir). increased from 1997 to 2000, dipped slightly till
Moreover, the increase in fish production did not 2003 and went up again. In the last year, average
adversely affect the fish stock in the reservoir. In fact, income of the fisherfolk increased although the
the average size of the catch increased over the years. production dipped slightly, which means they were
The proportion of the three major crops of Catla, getting a better price for the catch.
Rohu and Mrigula has been maintained at 80 per
cent. Also, the use of mono-filament yarn nets is Conservation fishery
banned by the sangh to avoid over-fishing. Though The Tawa Matsya Sangh is very cognisant of the need
these nets increase the catch marginally, they are to protect and maintain the natural resource that is
harmful because they catch fish of smaller size. This the backbone of the local livelihood and the
is a good place to compare the private regime to the community. It ensures that mono-filament yarn nets
co-operative regime. The private contractor had and nets below a certain mesh size are not used for
forced the fisherfolk to use these nets to merely fishing, to protect the juvenile fish. It has also
increase the catch, thus affecting the stock adversely. ensured that every fish gets at least one opportunity
Stocking of fingerlings is another important to breed. Every year, a closed season of two months is
factor in maintaining production. If adequate observed, during which fishermen patrol the area in
fingerlings are not available, future production boats and jeeps to prevent any violation. Every
cannot be ascertained. The stocking increased village around the reservoir has a primary co-
dramatically in the first four years and then declined operative, which gives every villager and potential
marginally. Another achievement of the co-operative poacher an opportunity to participate and get a sense
is the ability to develop capacity among the local of ownership. This is probably one of the best ways
communities to harvest fingerlings and reduce to fence the areas from poachers.
dependence on external sources. From almost nil the The sangh has also established a system of
co-operative increased the production of fingerlings wages, wherein they pay the highest wages in the
to 37 per cent in 2003-2004, displaying an internal seasons when the tendency to poach is the highest.

TOTAL PRODUCTION OF FISH IN TAWA RESERVOIR

450
393.16
400
344.38
350 327.18
Total production in Tawa

300
(in tonnes)

245.81
250

200

150
93.23
100

50

0
1996-97 1997-98 1998-99 1999-2000 2000-2001

Year

Source: Amalendu Jyotishi and R Parthasarthy 2005, The Tawa Reservoir Fisheries Management: Experiences and Options, School of Planning, CEPT,
Ahmedabad, February, pg18

112 The way ahead

 TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS

All of the above only go on to point that the inclusion banned fishing in the reservoir, claiming the
and participation of the local communities are Totladoh area came under a reserve forest area the
instrumental not only to protecting and conserving British had declared in 1879 and which was declared
natural resources but also to sustain livelihoods and a national park in 1975, making it illegal to fish in the
raise local levels of income. reservoir. The local people, of course, did not have
But fish is defined as wildlife under the Wildlife an alternate source of income and they continued to
(Protection) Act, 1972. The Central Empowered fish in spite of the ban. They got into skirmishes with
Committee of the Supreme Court has written to state the forest officials and the police and the tension
wildlife agencies not to allow any prohibited between them mounted.
activities without prior permission of the Supreme On the Madhya Pradesh side, an agreement was
Court. By law, fishing in the sanctuary or national reached between fisherfolk and the park authorities
park cannot be allowed without the permission of the in which compensation was paid in lieu of fishing
chief wildlife warden in consultation with the rights. The people on the Maharashtra side continue
National Board for Wildlife, and now the Supreme to suffer under the ban imposed by the forest
Court. The permission can only be sought and department, interpreting fishing as a violation the
granted if the removal of wildlife from the national Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
park is necessary for the improvement and better The villagers of Totladoh were thrown out in
management of wildlife. 2002 and fishing was stopped; however, the tension
Clearly, there is no provision on what is still continues. It is estimated that about Rs 25 lakh
sustainable use in these conditions. The restrictions worth of fish is extracted in a year. The illegal chain
placed by conservationists has also meant park of fishing is industriously managed. Fisherfolk enter
authorities are under pressure to stop what is not the national park at night for four hours and make
destructive. Notices have been put up in the tiger their way to the reservoir. They are paid Rs 100 by
reserve, telling fisherfolk that the permission will be the middlemen for this fishing. A different person
withdrawn and that it is illegal. Once again, people collects the fish at the reservoir and transports it by a
will be driven to unemployment and anger against bicycle through the park for Rs 100. This is deposited
the reserve. at the fringe village, from where another courier
collects the fish and takes it to the nearest town,
Pench: illegal and threatening where the middleman waits. All this is illegal. All
this continues to happen each night at the reservoir.
What is happening in neighbouring Pench should be The forest department has raided and captured
a lesson for Tawa. In Totladoh settlement of Pench 100 boats that were submerged in the reservoir. It
tiger reserve all fishing rights have been taken away must be noted that these fishing boats had been
from the local people. It is important to compare the transported through the core of the secured park to
differences between both the situations one where the reservoir. Now tension has intensified further.
the people are involved in protecting the area and The seizure by the forest department has elicited a
second in which the people are totally excluded from violent response from the local people, who have
any participation. started forest fires each time their boats have been
Totladoh is a settlement of migrants from Seoni captured by the authorities. The situation is that
and Chhindwada districts of Madhya Pradesh and people are kept out of the reservoir, the illegal fishing
Nagpur district of Maharashtra in the 1970s. After the will continue, the forest officials and police will
construction of the Pench hydro-electric project, the continue to capture fishing boats and the villagers
villages in the submergence area also migrated to will continue to retaliate.
Totladoh. Over the years, most of the villagers started By not letting the local communities to
earning their livelihood by fishing in the reservoir. participate and sustainably utilise the whole purpose
Under an agreement between the Maharashtra of protecting the park and the natural resources is
and the Madhya Pradesh governments over the defeated. It is important to ask if this is the right
Totladoh reservoir (2,000 ha), the Madhya Pradesh policy: for conservation (see box: Changing attitudes
fisheries department started fishing operations in the through participation).
Totladoh reservoir. All the local and displaced were
slowly rehabilitated into the fishing business and The coexistence imperative
were given the right to fish in the reservoir. The
Nehru Yuva Matsya Society was formed by the The choice is therefore ours to make. People live in
fisherfolk and also landed a contract for fishing from protected areas and will continue to live there
the state government. The government was paid because there are no real alternatives. The issue is if
royalty from the fish trade. we can work with people to create situations in
Then, in 1995, the Maharashtra government which they can live with the rules of the protected

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 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

Changing attitudes through participation administered the park, began pilot schemes to
include the community in the management of the
In 1991, the Bwindi National Forest Reserve and park, a potentially risky move, given the precarious
Game Sanctuary in Uganda was gazetted as a situation of the gorilla population and local attitudes
National Park, barring communities access to the towards the animal. However, a Raid Vulnerability
park, and making collection of forest produce Assessment gave empirical data on the impact that
illegal.17 The park covers 33,000 hectares and is would result from the community collecting various
known for its exceptional biodiversity: more than plants species. With this analysis, the park and
200 species of trees, 350 species of birds and half of elected member of local parishes negotiated limits
wild population of the endangered mountain on collection on different forest produce, and
gorilla.18 limited access to the park was resumed. Beekeeping
Though the process of reducing access has been was recognised as low impact, and authorities began
occurring since the declaration of the forest reserve by allowing this activity. By 1996, 500 people from
in 1932, the complete denial of access to the forest four parishes have setup 3000 hives in the park.
seriously aggravated the situation. The park has These limited measures began to ease the
witnessed constant illegal encroachments and relationship on the ground between the community
deliberate arson19. Fires in the park, a third of and the park authorities by creating a better
which were caused by arson, caused the relationship between the communities and the park
destruction of 5 per cent of the park.20 The attitude authorities. No more deliberate fires have been
towards conservation was apparent in interviews reported started. Through a collaborative
where community members said that Gorillas management approach which covered 20 per cent of
should be put in cages and taken to zoos. Further, the area of the park, fifteen of the twenty-two
park rangers faced constant harassment and were parishes bordering the park went from being a park
subject to attacks, denied sale of food and even threat to being a park resource, assisting with the
ambulance services, despite the rangers being conservation of the park by helping guard against
locals themselves.21 encroachment and even assisting with putting out
It immediately became clear that ban on access forest fires6. A serious scientific look at the impact of
might have been a mistake, and that denial of community access to forest resources can help park
access to resources was untenable. management, even when the community is
In 1992, Uganda National Parks, which apparently hostile to conservation efforts.

area and in fact work to strengthen the protection of or the poacher, was repeated to the Tiger Task Force
these areas. Or we can work against people so that on its visits to tiger reserves. Perhaps rightly.
they increasingly turn against the protected areas and But what does one do when there is no choice? It
animals. In this situation, we can invest more and is clear that even after certain areas are made
more into its protection more fences, guns inviolate, many areas will remain which are also
and guards. Maybe we will win. But it is more likely critical tiger habitats, but have human habitation.
we will lose. The alternatives are also not easy. But they will
In the current situation of unrest, it is clear there have to be tried seriously to make them work. But for
are no winners. The people who live in the most alternatives to work, there should be clarity that use
destitute situations within the reserves are certainly of resources per se is not unsustainable. Poorly
not gaining. But simultaneously, conservation is not managed use of resources is unsustainable. If this is
gaining. understood, then what is needed is to put into place
Most wildlife managers the Tiger Task Force met regimes that will promote the sustainable use of
in the past few months have wanted more and more resources. It is well understood, across the world,
fire power. Some even suggested the forest that sustainable use arises out of security of tenure
department should be given the same status as the and rights.
forces fighting the insurgents and naxalites. The Therefore, if we want to move towards more
reserves were equivalent, they said, to disturbed sustainable use of resources in our protected area, we
areas. have no choice but to work towards agreements of
It is clear that protected areas need the sanctity of reciprocity where local communities who live in
restrictive use and protection. It is also clear that the reserves have rights over the use of resources, in
protection is much simpler if there are no competing return for protection and conservation benefits.
uses and if the rules are simple. If there are no people This can be done in many different ways:
in the reserves, then it is easy to identify the outsider Reservation of jobs in protection and

114 The way ahead

 TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS

management of the reserve; and forest development programmes so that

Reservation and preferential opportunities in the there is investment in building the productive
benefits that arise out of protected areas share asset base of the villages.
of tickets, tourism opportunities; Rights to collaborative management of
Rights to harvest and sell minor forest produce certain areas of reserves so that people can
and fish in a sustainable manner; take the responsibility to manage the protected
Clarity of the rights over grazing so that areas are areas.
clearly demarcated. Investment in improving the
productivity of grazing lands so that the pressure In other words, we are designing a regime of explicit
on the rest of the park is reduced; benefit sharing and compensatory rights16 for
Investment in development activities schools, communities who pay the greatest price for
medical facilities and communication so that conservation.
basic minimum needs are met; It is clear that if this is not done, then the cost to
Investment through development programmes conservation will be devastating.

Recommendations
1. Policy must accept that people will continue to live in protected areas. It is not
possible to settle the rights and relocate all the families living in the reserves. The facts are
clear: in the last 30 years, less than 10 per cent of the families in tiger reserves have been
relocated.

2. If people live in protected areas, ways must be found to secure their use of resources
and livelihoods. In the current legal framework, the use of resources by communities is
not included, because people are not expected to be in the national park at all, and in a
limited way in sanctuaries. But it is important to note that even in sanctuaries, use of
resources is legal after rights have been settled and use agreed upon. The law also
provides that during the time the rights are settled and people live in protected areas, the
state government has to provide alternative sources of fuel, fodder and other forest
produce. In short, the rights of people cannot be expunged without providing alternatives.

3. In this situation, the selective interpretation of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act,
which curtails the use of resources by people without taking into account the safeguards
has only led to greater unrest around our protected areas and has been detrimental to
conservation.

4. Strategies for joint-collaborative-inclusive management of our protected areas are

then essential, so that this illegal use is made legal and regulated.

Even if it is accepted that the management of competing uses in our protected areas will
be difficult, the fact is that in the current circumstances there are no options. It is not the
intention of this Task Force to suggest that the protection awarded to protected areas
should be diminished or that destructive use should be allowed. It is also aware that it is
perceived by managers in the field that protection is easier without the management of
competing uses. If all use is disallowed then it should be easier to guard against the
illegal.
But this is not the case. Illegal use continues, because it has to, given the reality of
the more than three million people who live on these resources. The current use,
precisely because it is illegal, is destructive both for resources and for the
relationships between animals and parks. It is not good for conservation.

5. The conservation strategy should be as follows:

a. The areas, which are essential for total protection, should be made inviolate. People

The way ahead 115

 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

living in these areas should be relocated and the rights settled. These areas, to begin
with would be the core areas (national parks) of tiger reserves. If the agencies are able
to relocate more people, because of the availability of finances and resources like
land, more area can be made exclusive for conservation.
b. In the remaining areas within the tiger reserve and protected areas, the strategy for
management has to be inclusive and use of resources must be accepted and allowed.

6. It is not necessary that all use will be destructive. The question is how the use will be
regulated or managed. In order for the resource use not to be destructive, the participation
of local communities in decision-making and in management becomes essential.
Regulation is best possible, if all are parties to the decision.

7. This use of resources within protected areas will require very innovative thinking
by the park managers. It is not possible to find one prescription that will fit all reserves.
But once it is accepted that use if not necessarily destructive or that the management
of resources by communities is not necessarily destructive, practices can be evolved for
each area.

8. The work within protected areas can include activities that promote conservation,
protection and sustainable management. The forest development committees can be
initiated so that there is investment in habitat improvement and grassland development.
Cooperatives can be formed to sustainably harvest minor forest produce.

9. It is essential that this approach of inclusive protection is incorporated into

conservation management urgently. For this, the following must be done:
a. Each tiger reserve (to begin with) must take into account the current needs of people
who live within the reserve and evolve a plan for resource management and use. This
strategy must be evolved in consultation with local communities, researchers and
local NGOs.
b. The strategy must include plans for careful monitoring and evaluation.
c. The Project Tiger directorate must have internal capacity and staff to be able to
monitor and guide this process carefully. Every effort must be made to encourage
innovation and experimentation.
d. This process must begin immediately. The plans for each reserve must be completed
within one year and be available publicly.

10. The independent monitoring of tiger reserves must provide a high weightage for the
work done by park managers in collaborative management. The improvement in
relationship between people and parks must be a key criterion in the review. Each tiger
reserve must be rated for this work and the best and worst identified for rewards and
penalties.

116 The way ahead

 TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS

3.9 The fringe agenda

While the problems of people inside our protected conservation decisions, are extremely few. Thus,
areas exacerbate, the country remains ignorant of the reliable data related to fringe community practices
situation of many more who live on the fringes of and aspects of existence is absent. Such absence is
these national parks and sanctuaries. Conservation directly related to the belief consistent among
faces the challenge of working with people inside as some conservationists and foresters that it is the
well as with communities on the fringe. villages in the interior of tiger reserves that need to be
Harini Nagendra, a researcher with the shifted out to enable successful conservation. The
Bangalore-based Ashoka Trust for Research in point is that while this policy prescription may still
Ecology and Environment (ATREE), has studied and hold true, pressures on the reserve will continue to
compared the war within and outside the Tadoba- mount if no rational answers are available for villages
Andhari tiger reserve in Maharashtra. Her on the periphery. Indeed, at times, if the relocation of
assessment is clear: the villages outside the park, villages is badly done say, villages are
connected to markets by road networks, have a larger automatically resettled at the fringe the problem is
impact on deforestation and forest fragmentation merely transferred from the inside to the outside. The
compared to the more isolated interior villages. Her issue then is to find solutions to the problem of
prescription for the park is equally clear: instead of providing the people with alternate ways of
focussing on resettling the forest villages, the subsistence and livelihood.
demands of forest protection will be better served by There is little reliable information on the number
working with these surrounding communities to of villages at the periphery of reserves; in particular,
develop alternate mechanisms of income information that details their resource use patterns
generation.1 She goes on to explain the phenomenon and the consequent impact on the park. But what is
in depth. available shows that in many parks, the number of
She and her colleagues have studied changes in villages within is fewer than those at its periphery. In
four categories of forest cover in the reserve: other words, here is a problem that demands
Zone 1: In areas within the tiger reserve, far from different strategies of coexistence.
habitations For instance, in Ranthambhore there are 25
Zone 2: In the 2-km buffer stretching inwards villages within, with less than 8,500 people. But
from the reserves periphery outside, there are 96 villages, with over 100,000
Zone 3: In a 2-km area radiating from the villages people. However, reserve authorities relocated
inside villages to the fringe without clearly considering the
Zone 4: In a 5-km area extending outwards from implications of this action. Now, these villages have
the park periphery joined the crowd which is pushing its way into the
reserve. Clearly, here the strategy is to engage with
She clearly finds that the impact on the forest of the the fringe villages. Relocation from within this
villages outside the reserve is much greater. The 53 reserve may be vital to isolate tiger habitat, but
villages outside, denied rights they enjoyed earlier, without tackling fringe pressures, the habitat will
now resort to illegal sale of forest produce to nearby remain under increasing threat.
markets. Comparatively, the six villages inside In Madhya Pradesh, while there are 726 villages
primarily use the forest for subsistence alone. and 60,137 families inside the parks, there are 2,200
villages and 1,32,000 families in the periphery.2
There are two issues worth understanding here: Thus it is clear that, given the high dependence
1. The sheer number of people on the fringe is of people on these last remaining forests, human
greater than the few who live inside the park. activities will impinge on the quality of the habitat.
2. The villages on the fringe are connected to The question is to understand the nature of the
markets far beyond the vicinity of the park and intervention and what can be done to mitigate or
have the resources to transfer forest produce to substitute its impact.
these markets. Therefore, what they extract from An interesting study arises out of work done by
the forest is far more than what they need for other researchers in the fringe villages of Bandipur
immediate personal consumption; in the case of national park, which forms part of the Bandipur tiger
villages inside, this is often not possible. reserve in Karnataka. As M D Madhusudan of the
Nature Conservation Foundation, Mysore shows, a
Unfortunately such studies, useful in taking careful lack of resources and livelihood drove the people to

The way ahead 117

 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

the closest available resource: the forest. sources that come from the forest: firewood and sale
In the early 1990s, village Hangala along with 74 of minor forest produce. They need construction
other villages stumbled upon a windfall while material and medicinal plants from the forests. Their
grappling with severe water and debt crises. The drinking water and their sources of irrigation water
demand for Indian coffee was spiralling, and the come from the forest.
villagers took to rearing cattle for the dung, which
then catered to coffee plantations (as manure for the The problem is two-fold:
coffee fields) elsewhere. Over time, villagers bought The productivity of the forest, and land
more cattle; the bovine population increased in all surrounding fringe settlements, has declined
the villages participating in the trade in some, by over the years. It has been overused and has seen
as much as 30 to 40 per cent over just five years. In a little management or investment.
few villages, the growth rate of livestock shot up 13- Investment made in development irrigation,
17 times higher than the average national livestock rural development, drinking water or tribal
growth rate for the same time period. affairs has not worked as it should have.
But consecutive droughts and bad water Money and programmes have been spent on the
management, coupled with faulty agricultural welfare of fringe villagers, but their poverty has
prescriptions by the government, had wiped out only been exacerbated.
grazing lands and common pasture lands in village
areas: the forest, therefore, began to serve as a free This has then led to increased conflict as the
and open source for fodder (see map: Cattle density imperatives of conservation have clashed with the
in villages around Bandipur national park). The needs of livelihood.
result: the forest close to the northern boundaries of
the park adjoining the villages, is today more Compensation
degraded than elsewhere in the reserve. Preliminary
studies of the area show a heavy livestock density at The poor share their homes and fields with wild
the northwestern edge of the reserve and a animals. Just as animals suffer when people enter
disappearance of vegetation cover from the area their habitat, people suffer when animals enter their
around Hangala village.3 homes and fields. Most state governments pay
monetary compensation for the loss of human life
Repeatable situation and livestock; and only a few pay for crop losses. But
This situation, with local variations, is repeated even where a compensation scheme exists,
across the country. The landscape immediately applications for compensation for livestock death are
outside is under intense use, with people living in an usually not accepted, or the amount sanctioned is
agro-silvo-pastoral economy. They need access to much lower than what was asked for. It is clear that
grasslands for their livestock. They need income with this interface of humans and large mammals,
conflicts are inevitable. The issue is to see
how the friction can be managed better.
CATTLE DENSITY IN VILLAGES AROUND Wild animals and predators often take a
BANDIPUR NATIONAL PARK serious toll of livestock and human lives,
causing huge losses to the rural economy. In
Madhya Pradesh alone, conservation
impacts nearly 5,500 villages within two km
of forest boundaries, with 451,000 families
and 879,450 ha of cultivable land.
According to H S Pabla, additional
principal chief conservator of forests,
Madhya Pradesh, 166 human deaths and
Bandipur National Park 3,131 human injuries from wildlife were
Hangala reported from the state between April 1998
Livestock density
and March 2003. In addition, 14,090 heads
(per square kilometre) of cattle were lost to large predators.4
<100
101-200
There is no record of the extent of
201-400 damage to crops, found Pabla in his
401-800 investigation. This is because while most
>800
states have provisions for compensation for
Source: M D Madhusudan 2003, Uneasy Neighbours, Human Resource-use and Large human life and livestock loss, very few have
Mammal Conservation in the Tropical Forests of Karnataka, India, National Institute of
Advanced Studies, Bangalore, mimeo any provision for compensating crop loss. A

118 The way ahead

 TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS

SUMMARY OF COMPENSATION SYSTEMS IN VARIOUS STATES

State Crop damage (Rs) Livestock (Rs) Human deaths, Loss of house,
permanent disability, other property
injuries (Rs) (Rs)
Andhra Pradesh At par with natural Market value Upto 20,000 At par with natural
calamities or riots calamities or riots
Assam 20,000
Bihar 500 per acre 6,000-20,000 200-1,000
Gujarat 250-5,000 25,000-100,000
Jharkhand 2,500 per hectare 500-3,000 33,333-100,000 1,000-10,000
Karnataka 2,000 per acre 25,000-100,000 5,000
Madhya Pradesh 5,000 10,000-50,000
Maharashtra 3,000-9,000 (or 75% of 50,000-200,000
(market value, whichever
is less)
Meghalaya 3,750-7,500 per hectare 100-1,500 30,000-100,000 5,000-10,000
Orissa 1,000 per acre 2,000-100,000 2,000-3,500
Tamil Nadu Upto 15,000 per acre 20,000-100,000 5,000
Uttar Pradesh 150-2,500 per acre 5,000-50,000 400-3,000
West Bengal 2,500 per acre 70-450 5,000-20,000 500-1,000

Source: H S Pabla, 2005, The Mantra for Man-animal Coexistence, mimeo

rapid survey conducted in Noradehi, Raisen and The case of the Bhadra tiger reserve, Karnataka,
Vidisha forest divisions in Madhya Pradesh in has been well documented by M D Madhusudan.
September 2002 to assess crop damage, found the Covering an area of 495 sq km, Bhadra is located in
situation serious.5 Data from Noradehi showed the foothills of the Western Ghats and has 26 villages
farmers lost as much as 30 per cent of their paddy on the fringe, with 6,774 families. Livestock killing
crop, 10 per cent of the wheat crop and 40 per cent of by large predators has had a significant impact on
the pulse (gram) crop in villages located inside the cattle population in Bhadra. The livestock kill in the
sanctuary. But villages on the outskirts also suffered five sample villages covered by the study was 219.
equally. A village two km from the forest boundary Compensation was sought in over half the instances.
lost 10 per cent of its paddy crop and 25 per cent of Of 71 applications filed for compensation, only 15
its gram crop. were accepted and compensated for Rs 17,250.
The study assessed the average crop damage at Compensations awarded by the forest department
Rs 1,067 per ha per year in the sample villages, were three per cent of the overall loss villagers
which comes to between 10-20 per cent of the total sustained from livestock depredation, and five per
yield. On the basis of the human population and cent of the loss for which villagers filed claims.7
cultivated area of 214 villages situated within five In terms of crop damage, villagers near Bhadra
km of protected area boundaries, and the crop loss lost 11 per cent of the monetary value of their annual
assessed in the sample villages, the total loss to the production. The annual loss per family amounted to
state has been estimated at Rs 628 crore Rs 94 Rs 5,100, or 30 per cent of the average annual
crore as direct loss and Rs 534 crore as the cost of household income in the region. Fourteeen per cent
protection in the form of labour and material. The of those who suffered losses said they did not file for
figures are rather crude, but the estimation helps to claim because of the lengthy bureaucratic process
understand the enormity of the problem. It is obvious it takes 77 days to fully process an application for
that the actual damage to crops, coupled with the crop loss compensation. Even so, 69 per cent of
opportunity cost of protecting the crops is so high respondents in village surveys wanted the
that it deserves serious attention. Equally serious is compensation programme to continue despite the
the quality of life of people of the vulnerable villages, fact that it undervalued losses, as long as the process
who spend close to 100-200 nights, year after year, was made quicker and less bureaucratic (see table:
guarding their crops from wild depredators, says Bhadra crop compensation processing time).
Pabla6 (see table: Summary of compensation systems The difficulty of access to forest offices and non-
in various states). availability of concerned staff make the seemingly

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 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

BHADRA CROP COMPENSATION PROCESSING TIME The Project Tiger directorate has collected data
on compensation park managers in different reserves
Village Total compensation per cent Time taken have paid up (see graph: Compensation tiger reserves
to total loss claimed (days)
have paid till 2000). This data is still being compiled,
Hipla 4 196 but what is already evident is that more
compensation, relatively, is paid to villages in
Karvaani 0
naxalite-infested park areas than in others. If this is
Kesave 5 172 indeed correct, it reveals the necessity, where
tensions are higher, of disbursing claims for
Maadla 5 181 compensation as fast as possible. It clearly also
Muthodi 5 shows the need to ensure that disbursal of
compensation claims is done by park managers
Overall 5 183 themselves, so that hostility is reduced.
Source: M D Madhusudan 2003, Liviing amidst large wildlife: livestock and It is Corbett, considered a better managed
crop depredation by large mammals in the interior villges of Bhadra tiger reserve, which has disbursed the largest
reserve, south India, Springer compensation amounts.

simple act of filing a compensation claim a Ecodevelopment

troublesome task. The requirement to produce
documents for land rights to support claims of There have been two planned experiments which
livestock has ensured that none of the livestock kills attempted to resolve tensions along the fringes of
in Karvaani, inside Bhadra, have been compensated parks in India. Both have used the concept of
to date. Similarly, landless families have had little ecodevelopment. The first was called the Forestry
success in obtaining compensation in livestock kills. Research Education and Extension Project (FREEP).
The filing and follow-up of compensation claims also Ecodevelopment was a project component in it and it
require significant financial investment (travel to was implemented in two national parks the
forest offices) on the part of claimants. Kalakad-Mundanthurai tiger reserve, Tamil Nadu
Finally, compensations, even if awarded, offset and the Great Himalayan National Park, Himachal
only a miniscule part of the loss sustained by the Pradesh. Since 1991, the Union government had
victim.8 tried to run a centrally-funded ecodevelopment
As a policy, compensation does recognise and project in several protected areas, on a less ambitious
address the monetary aspect but the process from scale. The Forestry Research Education and
policy to action needs review. The procedure for Extension Project began in 1994. It was planned to be
awarding compensations needs to be more realistic the precursor to the much larger, more elaborate and
and responsive if it is to help in assuaging conflicts. more ambitious India Ecodevelopment Project (IEDP)

COMPENSATION PAID BY TIGER RESERVES FROM INCEPTION TILL 2002

70.00

60.00
Compensation (in Rs lakh)

50.00

40.00

30.00

20.00

10.00

0.00
Pench (Mharashtra)
Valmiki

Corbett

Ranthambhore
Palamau

Sundarbans

Kanha

Nagarjuna Sagar

Dudhwa

Buxa

bandipur

Melghat

Simlipal

Manas

Bhadra

Sariska

KMTR

Indravati

Dampha

Satpura

Bandhavgarh

Tadoba

Namdapha

Panna

Periyar

Name of tiger reserve

Source: Project Tiger directorate

120 The way ahead

 TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS

that began in 1996. Both projects ran with part-

SOURCE OF FUNDS FOR
funding and part-grants from the World Bank and the
INDIA ECODEVELOPMENT PROJECT
Global Environment Facility.
The India Ecodevelopment Project had the Funding agency US $ (million) Per cent
following basic objectives:9
International Development Agency 28.00 42

1. Improve protected areas management: This was GEF Trust 20.00 30

to be done to strengthen forest department
capacities and increase peoples participation in Project beneficiaries 4.59 7
park management. State government 9.06 13
2. Village ecodevelopment: This was aimed at
reducing negative impacts of local people on Union government 5.36 8
parks and vice versa. This asked for participatory
Total (for 28 reserves) 67.00 100
microplanning of activities at the village level, to
help villages and the forest department decide on Source: Anon 1996, Staff Appraisal Report, World Bank, Washington
a set of reciprocal promises. The forest
department would provide alternative becomes negligible. But even as the project
livelihoods and the people would commit to proponents and the government discussed the limit
help the department in better managing and of the fringe, what ultimately came to be understood
protecting the forest. Ecodevelopment also as a fringe was via a random idea of what was
meant so-called special programmes, including practical rather than what was necessary. So, in the
the option of voluntary relocation and other case of the Buxa tiger reserve in West Bengal, for
investments to benefit people and biodiversity. instance, even though the project was aware of
3. Generate support for park management and 125,601 scheduled tribe people working in the
ecodevelopment: The project also focussed on surrounding tea gardens, it finally excluded them.10
environmental education and visitor Similarly, in Nagarhole national park in Karnataka,
management at the parks. More importantly, it the population in the project area was 72,652 (as per
promised funds for impact monitoring and goal- the 1981 census), but the project identified only
oriented ecological and social science research. 66,507 people to work with.11 In other parks, too,
people were left out for reasons of practicality.
When this project was in preparation in 1991-1992, The projects funds came from five primary
the Forestry Research Education and Extension sources (see table: Source of funds for India
Projects ecodevelopment work was taken as a Ecodevelopment Project). At the same time, project
model. The India Ecodevelopment Project took one- beneficiaries, as people were referred to in the
and-a half years, and numerous consultations, to project framework, had to contribute as well to the
come into being. The Union government hired the project cost. The idea was to bring in peoples stake
Indian Institute of Planning and Administration, in the project, and therefore into conservation, by
New Delhi, to chalk out the indicative plan, a asking them to pitch in roughly seven per cent of
proposal submitted by the government to the World what it would it would cost to launch activities
Bank to launch formal negotiations, which the under the project. While this may look minimal as
department of economic affairs took up with the compared to the overall costs, it meant substantial
Bank in 1994. contribution on the part of the people. The money
The project initially began with eight sites in was to be spent under various heads.
mind. The one to be finally rejected was Simlipal in In all, the India Ecodevelopment Project decided
Orissa, for the state government had relocated to consider 3,715 villages spread around the seven
villages even as the project was being planned and parks (see box: Fringe villages): it would involve
the Bank did not want to be associated with a site 164,786 families and a population of 823,928. Again,
that had relocated people. The government finally one must emphasise this was not the total population
selected and proposed seven sites: all but two were on the fringe of the parks selected as project sites;
tiger reserves Gir national park and sanctuary in this was the segment the project decided it could
Gujarat and the Nagarhole national park in Karnataka afford to work with.
(see map: The India Ecodevelopment Project). The
latter was later on added to the Bandipur tiger The idea of ecodevelopment
reserve. The key objective of the project was to reduce the
What is interesting is the way the project negative impacts of local people on protected areas
delineated the idea of fringe. Usually, the impact of a by providing alternative sources of firewood and
fringe radiates out from a park periphery till it income.

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 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

THE INDIA ECODEVELOPMENT PROJECT SITES

Buxa tiger reserve

Ranthambhore tiger reserve 761 sq km
1,035 sq km 36,000 Rs 29.56 crore
64,000 Rs 20.63 crore 37 forest villages in the reserve, no
4 villages in national settlement in national park
park, 25 in sanctuary

RAJASTHAN

GUJARAT JHARKHAND
MADHYA PRADESH
Palamau tiger reserve
1,026 sq km
75,000 Rs 11.25 crore
MAHARASHTRA 3 forest villages,
Gir national park and
sanctuary 102 villages in enclaves
1,412 sq km
72,000 Rs 33.23 crore Pench tiger reserve
54 hamlets in 758 sq km
national park, 48,000 Rs 23.78 crore
A
AK

3 temple complexes, 14 No settlement

AT

forest villages
RN
KA

Nagarhole national park

643 sq km
70,000 Rs 32.37 crore
KERALA
54 tribal settlements
Periyar tiger reserve
777 sq km
62,000 Rs 22.33 sq km
3 tribal settlements,
1 agricultural settlement

Area (sq km) Number of beneficiaries Release of fund to parks (Rs crore) (up to 2002-03)

Source: World Bank 2002, aide memoire, Annexure 3 budget and expenditure, November, mimeo

Administratively, the project went on to create a committee was meant to sit with the department and
parallel set of village-level bodies called the village a non-governmental organisation and make a
ecodevelopment committees. These consist of microplan of all activities it would undertake over
villagers along with a forester or guard as the the project period. In return for the forest department
officiating secretary. The president of the committee providing alternative livelihoods using project
is elected from among the committee members. The resources, people reciprocally promised to help the

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 TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS

Fringe villages a scheduled tribe of African origin; and three

temple complexes occupied by 65 people, were
A profile of the people on the fringe of the forest identified.
and inside each park:
Nagarhole
Buxa The total population in the project area was 72,652
According to the 1991 census, 15,608 people as per the 1981 census. Within a five-km radius of
inhabit forest villages and fixed demand holdings the boundary, the protected area authorities
within the protected area. In 1996, according to a identified a population of 66,507 in 96 revenue
World Bank project report, there were 37 forest villages, for participation in project activities.
villages inside the reserves boundaries, and eight
within the park. The report also mentions 44 Palamau
revenue villages, with a population of 84,648 (1991 Three villages were recorded in the core zone.
census). The project decided to target 36,000 of According to the 1991 census data, 30,795 people,
these for ecodevelopment. in 102 villages, were located within legally
excluded enclaves in the sanctuarys buffer area.
Ranthambhore Another 89 villages within a five-km radius of the
In 1996, the national consultants to India sanctuary were selected to participate in
Ecodevelopment Project identified 211,695 people ecodevelopment activities, to give a total
within 10 km of the reserve to be included in the population of 75,000 targeted for this project.
project. But the project authorities then reduced the
numbers they wanted to work with to 64,000. Pench
Before this, Worldwide Fund for Nature-India The 1981 census counted 50,000 people in the
(1994) had identified 85,000 people, in 85 villages, intended project area (99 revenue villages).
for possible inclusion in ecodevelopment Findings from the participatory research carried
activities. The project realised that it would also out in over 10 villages around the national park
have to deal with major urban settlements near suggest that 80 per cent of families suffered from
reserve boundaries, as in the cases of Sawai varying degrees of poverty, and that most of these
Madhopur, Khandar and Karauli (combined families belong to scheduled tribes.
population of 82,000).
Periyar
Gir While the protected area authorities and the
Over 70,000 people were surveyed to be living in national consultants (Indian Institute of Public
the intended project area during the 1981 census. Administration) identified a population of
The protected area authorities identified a 225,000 according to the 1981 census within two
population of 72,000 within a two-km radius of km of the reserve for inclusion in the project. The
park boundaries, in 97 revenue villages, for Bank suggested that the project planners need to
participation in ecodevelopment. Within the park reduce the target population to a more manageable
itself, 54 pastoral settlements or 'nesses' inhabited size. A revised target population of 58,144 in the
by 2,540 Maldharis; 14 forest villages with a selected villages within the two-km radius was
population of 4,500 residents including 239 Siddis, chosen.

department protect the forest: among other ways, by then generate, as the World Bank and the
helping department frontline staff in patrolling; government put it, livelihoods reducing the impact
gathering intelligence on poaching; preventing cattle of people on the forest.13 On its part, the forest
from grazing in parks, and whatever else the forest department would improve its functioning, and
department suggested. In practice, all these could ensure better protection of parks: project funds
happen only after mutual agreement among all allowed purchase and construction of infrastructure
stakeholders. and better equipment for park officers and staff
Each ecodevelopment committee member was (computers, boats, Geographical Information
allocated Rs 10,000 against which he or she would Systems software, and vehicles).
then contribute 25 per cent of the costs, or Rs 2,500.
The money could then be used to invest in different Ecodevelopment as envisaged earlier
schemes and productive assets, either at individual The idea of ecodevelopment entered conservation
levels or at community basis.12 The money could discourse in India in 1983, when the Indian Board

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 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

for Wildlife (now the National Board for Wildlife) set also the only way to conserve Indias forests and
up the Task Force on Public Support for Wildlife wildlife, and to keep people involved at all possible
Conservation. Headed by politician Madhavrao levels.
Scindia, the task force broke new ground by
recommending the creation of Special Areas for The experience of ecodevelopment
Ecodevelopment. These were to be focus areas on The total cost of the India Ecodevelopment Project
the fringes of parks, where multiple use of forests and over seven years was Rs 288 crore, including the
land would be allowed. The task force recommended seven per cent (roughly, Rs 20 crore) contribution by
that, in these areas, there would be greater inputs on people. The project, in turn, was expected to invest
a per capita basis for development based upon a firm Rs 118.72 crore on people-oriented activities (see
conservation bias.14 The task force recognised that table: India ecodevelopment project).
for the people living in the forested regions (fringes But what is interesting to note is the fact that the
of protected areas) no other employment alternative funds were not spent till very late in the project. This
existed. As people were completely dependent upon obviously affected the efficacy of the project.
agriculture and cattle-raising on marginal lands, the It must be recognised that ecodevelopment
task force recommended that ecodevelopment brought in as much money in six years for seven tiger
should involve working on soil conservation, reserves as Project Tiger had spent on all the 28 tiger
afforestation, forestry practices such as silviculture, reserves in three decades. The officials and the
improving dry farming techniques, micro-minor department obviously were incapable of spending
irrigation, pasture and fodder development and such resources without resorting to quick-fix
improved animal husbandry and energy alternatives. expenditures towards the end of the project.15
The task force at the time had recognised that a
number of line departments would need to be Implementation
involved in work that was primarily a specialised Wherever the decision-making remained unilateral
form of sustainable rural development. But, it at the behest of the forest department, the attempts
recommended that a nodal agency in the then quickly failed. Wherever they were implemented in
department of environment be created to monitor the right spirit, the schemes did pick up the
work. The work at the district level, the task force economic baselines of the villages. So, in the case of
recommended, should be implemented and Nagarhole national park in Karnataka, where large-
coordinated by a body of officers drawn from scale discrepancies in disbursement were also
different departments at that level. investigated, people landed up with undesired assets
Also, it asked that employment in both wildlife they promptly disposed off for easy money. Stoves
reserves and the Special Areas for Ecodevelopment and inferior quality pots were distributed. People
be preferentially offered to local communities to use were trained to become nurses and drivers in places
their expertise as well as create new vistas of which had no hospitals or cars.16
livelihoods for them, based on forests and forested In Buxa tiger reserve, West Bengal, each
areas. ecodevelopment committee member was allocated
The 1983 task force also acknowledged this was Rs 10,000. But on the forest departments advice, all

INDIA ECODEVELOPMENT PROJECT

INVESTMENT COST (IDA + GEF + GOI), ACTUAL EXPENDITURE AND BUDGET (RS LAKH)
Civil Vehicle/ Village Consultants' Proj Prep of PPF Unallocated Total
works material ecodev services mgt travel future proj
Buxa 849.01 139.60 1,610.99 271.84 76.81 - 7.41 - 2,955.66
Gir 415.23 131.20 2,317.56 383.02 34.45 41.64 - - 3,323.10
Nagarahole 924.02 229.12 1,697.84 297.68 87.68 - - - 3,236.34
Palamau 113.67 90.12 835.94 61.81 13.10 10.00 - - 1,124.64
Pench 430.05 108.89 1,607.82 162.02 29.02 39.73 - - 2,377.53
Periyar 702.95 286.18 871.58 313.70 28.47 30.00 - - 2,232.88
Ranthambhore 297.83 107.35 1,474.58 172.55 10.29 - - - 2,062.60
PTO - 58.00 - 538.00 4.00 229.00 4.13 251.18 1,084.31
Total 3,732.76 1,150.46 10,416.31 2,200.62 283.82 350.37 11.54 251.18 18,397.06

Source: World Bank 2002, aide memoire, Annexure 3, budget and expenditures, November, mimeo

124 The way ahead

 TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS

association. The department lost time: this shows up

PERCENTAGE BREAK-UP OF FUNDS SPENT AND
in the number of ecodevelopment committees
BUDGETED TILL 2003-04 created in each of the five years of the project. The
Prepare of future PPF (0%) project picked up only in the third and the fourth
project (2%) Unallocated (1%) year, by which time it was about to close (see graph:
Project management Forced to spend, ecodevelopment project splurges
travel (2%) Civil works (20%)
towards project closure).
Consultants'
services (12%) Lack of capacity to spend
Other sites suffered in a similar manner. A World
Bank Issue Paper of April 10, 2000 internally
Village ecodevelopment (57%) prepared just before the official mid-term review
recorded that a mere 20 per cent of the funds had
been disbursed, while 58 per cent of the entire
project time had lapsed. As far as unutilised funds
Vehicle/Material (6%) lying with state authorities was concerned, a mere 15
Source: World Bank 2002, aid memoire, November 2003, Annexure 3, per cent of the funds had been used up. As a result,
Budget and Expenditure, mimeo there was enormous pressure to utilise funds, which
in turn led to a scramble to complete projects.17
PROJECT COST SUMMARY For instance, in Ranthambhore, the total
sanctioned amount at the beginning of the project
Total Percentage
(US $000) total base was Rs 38.38 crore, more than the total money spent
costs on the park in its 30-year history. But the parks
Improved PA management 13,911.7 22
authorities were unable to start the project, so the
total allocation was reduced to Rs 20.08 crore, of
Village ecodevelopment 33,825.5 55 which the park finally spent Rs 18.75 crore. The
Develop effective and extensive 4,713.5 8 money was spent in a rush in the last five years of the
support for ecodevelopment project period of eight years, when biogas plants
Project management 5,276.8 9 were made, checkdams contructed and families were
Prepare future biodiversity projects 2,332.6 4
distributed LPG cylinders to wean them away from
firewood use.
Reimbursement of PPF 2,000.0 3
Tota baseline costs 62,060.2 100 Livelihoods versus small assets
Physical contingencies 1,781.5 3 The biggest debate that arose out of the India
Ecodevelopment Project was what to invest in. On
Price contigencies 3,158.3
paper, everyone was consulted and micro-plans were
Total project costs 67,000.0 108 prepared, but the people in many places were not
Source: Anon 1996, Staff Appraisal Report, World Bank, Washington
even aware of the possibilities. The project had

the villages here decided to purchase community-

level assets. The villages invested in tractors, pig and FORCED TO SPEND, ECODEVELOPMENT PROJECT
chicken farms, grain sheds and shredders. But in SPLURGES TOWARDS PROJECT CLOSURE
many villages, the assets came to naught, for they
either created rifts or led to corrupt practices.
These villages suffered from critical defects in 113.09
Utilisation as per cent of

10,000 113.09 120

Funds (rupees in lakh)

Release Utilised
project planning and implementation, which created Utilisation in per cent 100
funds released

87.34
a new delivery mechanism built around the existing 86.01
81.46 80
structures of the forest department. In general, 62.74
5,000 60
ecodevelopement committees were to be set up after 50.55
40
making villages aware about the ecodevelopment 10.65 20
project. Non-governmental organisations were to 0
0
0
1995-1996

1996-1997

1997-1998

1998-1999

2000-2001

2001-2002

2002-2003

2003-2004
1999-2000

create awareness and then frame micro-plans in

which villages were on equal footing with the forest
department. In Buxa, for instance, the first attempt at
setting up ecodevelopment committees failed
because the non-governmental oganisations the Source: Anon 2004, Project Tiger office, Union ministry of environment and
department hired were new to this kind of forests, New delhi, mimeo

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 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

suggested certain indicative activities (see table: INDICATIVE ACTIVITIES UNDER IEDP
Indicative activities under IEDP). Evaluations of the
project have reported that the project focused on Crop protection measures Construction of stone walls,
purchasing assets that would supposedly wean energised fences etc
people away from the forests. The project did not Fuelwood, fodder and joint Small-scale village-based plots
realise that simply purchasing tools or machines not forestry management of plantations and fodder
dependent directly on the forest for inputs did not Construction of water harvesting Micro-irrigation schemes,
mean people would take to them, especially if they structures and irrigation systems checkdams, tube wells,
could not afford to use them. There were cases of Small-scale crop and agriculture Improved planting stock,
people receiving LPG gas connections they promptly activities agronomic practices, credit
sold off to the market. and marketing to improve
productivity
Where the project did invest in basics, results
showed up. Thus, biogas plants set up in Kalakad- Small-scale farm-based and Bee keeping, sericulture, lac
non-farm based alternative production, tailoring,
Mundanthurai tiger reserve in Tamil Nadu helped income generation improving livestock
reduce locals dependence on firewood. But where
biogas plants were built in water-scarce areas, the Biomass substitution Improved stoves, biogas
plants, solar cookers
strategy failed. Though the forest department was
unable to create markets for products they had Source: Anon 1996, India Ecodevelopment Project, Project Report 1996,
World Bank
helped people grow in Periyar tiger reserve in Kerala,
they were able to reduce the burden of debt on
people by paying off their loans. In Buxa tiger reserve standard rural development line department
in West Bengal, villagers who once fought with forest functions is not a good idea. Understaffed already,
officials over crop depredation, began cooperating and untrained to manage people, the forest
with the department once they saw crop department should be left to do its core function.
compensations coming in relatively more timely. Otherwise, firstly, the forest suffers as the role of the
The work boomeranged wherever the project protector changes character. Secondly, forest
worked in exclusion. In Ranthambhore, for instance, officials not trained in general to handle such
a wall was built to seclude villagers and prevent situations find it difficult to implement projects.
them from grazing livestock in the park. Animosity Conservation scientist Ullas Karanth, in his
rose and friction led to violence. The wall was suggestions to the Tiger Task Force, says, There is
broken down at several places and on July 21, 2000, ample evidence that the original mission-focus of the
the forest guards even resorted to firing 17 rounds forest department to protect tigers and their habitats
during a clash with 10 villagers of Uliana, who were single-mindedly (which was evident between 1970-
found grazing a herd of some 150 buffaloes in the 1990) has been almost lost. And this is the single
core area of the park. The conflicts only got deeper.18 biggest cause of collapse of protection around most
of Indias wildlife areas and tiger reserves. One of the
Line departments vs forest department most critical needs now is to delink all the ongoing
The key weakness of the project was not what it did, and proposed ecodevelopment projects (which are
but how it did it. The project created parallel essentially rural development activities) from the
institutions the ecodevelopment committees in ambit of forest department and entrust it to other
the villages. It did not work with existing delivery existing rural development agencies or create a
mechanisms in the village, the panchayats and other specialised agency for this purpose. The forest
line departments of programme delivery. This meant departments should refocus their attention on their
the forest department had to invest personnel to core task: protecting nature reserves.19
create a parallel structure for village development. But there is also the counter-view that involving
Also, a traditionally antagonistic forest department the forest department is essential as it builds the
had to rebuild its relationships with villagers. Where relationship of the people with the park. Such
senior forest officers took the lead and spent time in involvement helps train the department to rework its
the field, things were different. Keralas Periyar tiger entire forestry strategy. Also, association between
reserve and Pench tiger reserve in Madhya Pradesh people and the department helps reduce antagonism.
under the India Ecodevelopment Project, and Tamil Very often, it has been seen that the goodwill
Nadus Kalakad-Munduntharai tiger reserve under generated by the department by creating community
FREEP , are considered the better instances of assets has been used to garner support from the
ecodevelopment programmes. people. This can only be done if the developmental
Because of this, some experts believe that activities flow through the department. It can help
turning the forest department away from its main people realise that the benefits and developmental
duty protection and involving it in what are gains they are making, are due to the existence of

126 The way ahead

 TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS

forests. A disconnect between the two could lead to of forest has a productivity at a dismally low level of
development without any rewards being ploughed 0.7 cubic metre per ha per year as against a global
back to the forests. average of 2.1 cubic metre per ha per year.24 It is clear
that unless we can do this and generate more biomass
The options for the future to meet the needs of people, the pressure on existing
Vishwas Sawarkar, member of the Expert Committee forests outside and inside protected areas will grow.
for Monitoring and Evaluation of Tiger Reserves, set According to the report, 287,769 sq km of land is
up by the Union government, states it well: It is classified as open forests. The total area of tiger
time now to think and reorder and as necessary reserves in the country is 37,760 sq km. In other
combine our traditional and sectoral rural words, an area which is over eight times bigger is
development programmes in at least the forested potentially available for meeting fuel and fodder
rural sector on the lines of the ecodevelopment needs.25
programme. Ecodevelopment conforms to all It is also clear that all tiger reserves are located in
objectives of the traditional rural development and regions which are forested. But as explained earlier,
much more in the sense that it does not believe in the these lands are also populated by the poorest in this
popular adage one size fits all; it does not import country. The challenge then is to find ways of
urban perceptions of development; it has the improving productivity of these lands, in situations
essential flexibility to mould itself to suit the crucial of intense use by extremely poor people.
site specific needs; it is developed with full
participation of people concerned.20 The practice of joint forest management
Joint forest management was initiated in the early
The forests in the landscape 1990s to create reciprocal rights over forests between
the forest department and people. Under the
The problem is that the forests in the vicinity of programme, people were given rights over usufruct
settlements are degraded: this pushes the people grass and minor forest produce in return for
towards the protected area. It is also clear that people protection on degraded forest land. In 2000, the
are highly dependent on forests for meeting their guidelines for the programme were extended to cover
subsistence needs. The lack of irrigation facilities forest land which was classified as dense forest
results in low fodder productivity, which in turn (canopy cover of over 40 per cent). The programme
puts pressure on existing common resources. The was also institutionalised: forest development
productivity of forests for foraging declines; people agencies were created in states as federations of the
have to keep more and more livestock to survive. The joint forest management committees.
pressure on the land increases, it degrades further. According to the Forests and Wildlife Statistics,
In such a situation, what clearly needs to be done India 2004 report of the Union ministry of
is to improve the productivity of forests and pasture environment and forests the programme covers more
lands in the vicinity of the reserves. If people live than 150,000 forest fringe villages and more than
within a forest-dependent economy, then it is 2,500 forest villages.26 But unfortunately, the gains of
imperative to evolve policies for forest-development this programme are not being realised.
in these areas. The problems are partly financial and partly
It has been estimated that the rural demand for institutional.
fuelwood in 1996 was 152 million tonne and it will In part, the investment in afforestation is low; the
rise to 187 million tonne by 2006. As against this, the initiative also remains poorly coordinated. The
legal supply of fuelwood was a mere 46 million outlay for the National Afforestation Programme is
tonne, according to a 1995 study21. The case for over Rs 1,100 crore over the five years of the 10th Five
timber is similar. The rural sector uptakes almost 70 Year Plan. In addition, there is an allocation for
per cent of the domestic consumption of timber but, watershed programmes. Twenty per cent of rural
as against a demand for 54.4 million cubic meters in development funds are expected to be spent on
1996, the forests could only supply 12 million cubic afforestation as well. The problem is the
metres.22 The current supply of fodder from all coordination required to ensure that all these funds
possible sources, including forests, pasture lands and are spent through the village joint forest management
agricultural fields, is estimated to be 434 million committees in forest land.27
tonne as compared to an estimated demand of 992 The financial problem is related in part to the
million tonne in 1990.23 The gap for all the three institutional hassles that continue to trouble this
fodder, timber and firewood is ever widening and scheme. The key problem with institutions created to
is leading to degradation of growing stock. manage joint forest management remains their
It is critical that the productivity of our forests inability to involve villagers in managing forests. The
must be increased. Currently, Indias growing stock scheme is still locked into the paradigm of defining

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 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

Community reserves change in the land use pattern can be made within
the community reserve, except with a permission
A step was taken in this direction by creating two of its community reserve management committee
special categories of protected areas community and thereafter, the approval of the same by the state
reserves and conservation reserves during the government.
amendment to the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 Critics like Kothari have pointed out that the
in 2003. But it has been pointed out by experts like fact that the existing parks and sanctuaries cannot
Ashish Kothari of Kalpvriksh that the reserves be converted into these categories limits the
meant to enshrine community-protected areas with potential of the category of protected area.28 This
legal teeth, do not practically work out at present could have helped reduce tensions in many parks
because of lack of clarity on several counts. where peoples rights and control have been
The two protected areas were brought into force curtailed. Another critical failure of the new
besides the categories of national parks and category, they point out, is that the law does not
sanctuaries which have existed since the inception consider the fact that the people also conserve
of the Act. The Act says: forests on government lands and those too should
be turned into community reserves.
36C. (1) The State Government may, where the The management of these reserves under the
community or an individual has volunteered to amendments rests with a committee, which shall
conserve wild life and its habitat, declare any consist of five representatives nominated by the
private or community land not comprised village panchayat (village council) or where such
within a National Park, sanctuary or a panchayat does not exist, of the members of the
conservation reserve, as a community reserve, gram sabha (village assembly) and one
for protecting fauna, flora and traditional or representative of the state forest or wildlife
cultural conservation values and practices. department under whose jurisdiction the
community reserve is located. This structuring is
The key idea behind this categorisation is that too rigid and limits the flexibility with which most
people should traditionally protect the area and the community-preserved areas work, like the sacred
land should be either private land or community groves across the world or the van and lath
owned. The other new category is the conservation panchayats of Uttaranchal. Most of these survive
reserve. The amendment to the law lays down: because they have found innovative institutions to
counter the day-to-day politics of development.
"36A. (1) The State Government may, after These could get stifled if the straight-jacket
having consultations with the local regulations of the Act are superimposed.
communities, declare any area owned by the The imposition of restrictions by the Supreme
Government, particularly the areas adjacent to Court on removal of any products from forests has
National Parks and sanctuaries and those areas meant that no community which has practised a
which link one protected area with another, as certain resource use regime, will now want to come
a conservation reserve for protecting under the ban by letting its forest be declared as a
landscapes, seascapes, flora and fauna and community or conservation reserve. De facto, the
their habitat. two categories now stand defunct. Drafted in the
proper fashion they hold the potential to change
The management of the community reserve gets how people collaborate with the government in
complicated once any land is declared as one. conservation, while giving the government the lead
After the issue of notification declaring the land, no on sustainable use regimes.

peoples participation as you participate in my people sharing the benefits of the produce have been
programme. It has been unable to deepen the limited to a few states and few areas. It is a fact that
commitment of people to forest protection, because it state governments require funds for establishment
is designed to still keep control over decision-making costs. Over the past some years, forest revenues have
in the hands of the department, whereas the gone down because of conservation initiatives, but
experience of forestry teaches that people need to be establishment costs have continued to increase. The
centrally involved in the management of forest land, standing forests of the joint forest management areas
in order to increase productivity. are needed to pay for establishment costs. It is
There is yet another problem. The fact is that because of this, in most states, involved calculations
even after 15 years of joint forest management, to estimate the net value of the standing timber that

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will be shared with the villages are still being done. forests can be integrated to work both for people as
The problem here is that confidence in the well as for wildlife. Joint forest management
programme erodes when people realise that after conceptually provides a perfect framework but has
protected the lands in promise of benefits, they get been maimed by several limitations. While in some
nothing; people feel cheated. states provisions have been made for legal
Mohit Gera, senior forest officer, writes of such agreements between forest agencies and
problems in Jammu and Kashmir: One of the major communities, in most, collaboration remains ad-hoc,
impediments have been the cumbersome sharing with no statutory guidelines. It works then on the
mechanism and the lower percentage of share principle of committed forest officials, who can use
earmarked for the village forest committees (the their influence for the advantage of people. But once
nodal village agencies for joint forest management) they go, the scheme falters again.
Some of the other provisions such as constitution of Clearly, if the basic idea of joint forest
committees at the range level, procedures provided management has been reciprocity, the only way it
for taking up community land and its development, can work is to create a contract that is legally binding
and the lack of rules regarding utilisation of village where people can then argue to get what the forest
funds have always been major obstacles to the department has promised against them promising to
success of the programme.29 do certain activities beneficial to the forests. Without
The government now needs to look at how joint the forests outside, the fate of the tigers cannot be
forest management and community forestry in fringe secured.

Recommendations
1. The tigers habitat cannot be secured unless we secure the future of the millions who
live on the fringe. Currently, there is little information about the numbers or their impact
on the reserves, so that it can be used for the reserves management. These studies should
preferably be carried out on a GIS-based platform and put out in the public domain along
with all empirical data so that other institutions and researchers can then build on this
information. It should be part of the work of the Project Tiger directorate to encourage and
undertake research on people-wildlife interactions within and on the fringe of the
reserves.

2. An important area of conflict between people and protected areas is the problem of
compensation for damage caused to livestock, crop or life by animals. The scattered data
that exists shows that the compensation paid today is negligible in many cases. And this
happens when the forest department does not even pay for the opportunity cost of
protection to the people. Naturally this issue very often leads to antagonism among
people towards the tiger reserves and their administrations. It is imperative that states
review the provisions and procedures for compensation for human life, livestock and
crop damage. It has been seen that half the battle for the forest department in winning the
hearts of the people lies in not only adequate compensation but in timeliness too. As
compensation falls in the hands under the purview of the field directors the timely
payment of compensation to people must be one of the criteria that the park management
is measured for during the evaluation of the reserves and their ranking.

3. Compensation must be paid for crop damage as well. In addition, compensation must
be paid to families who continue to live within the reserves.

4. There is no doubt that much more will need to be done in the land outside the tiger
reserve. The question is how should this be done? It is here that planners must learn from
the experience of the recently concluded ecodevelopment project in the seven reserves.
The key learning from this project are;
a. The administrative machinery does not have the capacity to handle such large
infusions of funds over a short period. In this case, these reserves received roughly Rs 20-

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Rs 30 crore each, which is equivalent to the entire money that has been given to them as
Central assistance since their inception.

b. The quantum of funds that are allocated on such project cannot be sustained after the
project is completed. This leads to huge problems of expectations within the local
communities, unless the project has been successful in creating self reliance and cyclic-
type development.

c. The concept of the programme remains flawed, unless it can find ways to enjoin people
to the protection of reserves or find alternatives sources for the forest and grazing
resources they require.

The ecodevelopment project instead worked on the premise that it had to substitute (not
provide) forest produce. So, it distributed LPG cylinders to substitute firewood, it built
biogas plants to substitute firewood and provided alternative employment opportunities
outside the forest-dependent lifestyles of people. So it looked for options in tailoring and
poultry.
This is because this project, like most governmental schemes, did not incorporate the
forest-livestock economy of people and find ways of improving its productivity. It is for
this reason, the LPG cylinders distributed under the project were sold; biogas plants could
not work because people did not have livestock or water, critical to run the plants. The
result is that even after huge funds have been invested, in most cases, the impact on the
habitat is minimal.
In other words, if the project has to succeed, it must be built on the premise that it has
to secure peoples livelihoods in the forest-grazing-agriculture economy of their
subsistence. This can only be done if the productivity of the forest and grazing lands is
improved and there is investment in water facilities, to increase productivity.
The project can also succeed if it works to enjoin peoples livelihoods with the
protected park. In other words, it works to increase the sustainability of the use of
resources within the park and also enjoins people in sharing the benefits that the park
provides.

d. The project must also improve its delivery systems. The problem with
ecodevelopment is that it does not work with the existing mechanisms of development in
the village. It creates its own committees and user groups for programme management.
This works well only where there is an existing capacity to negotiate with project
authorities, not otherwise.

The Tiger Task Force understands that the government is currently working on the next
phase of an externally aided ecodevelopment project. It is important the all the issues
listed above are carefully considered and incorporated into the plan. The country cannot
afford such expensive experiments, unless they are carefully crafted and skillfully
executed.

5. What is clear also is that ecodevelopment, as an approach, remains too fragmented and
expensive for long term change. The first phase of the project, which invested funds
equivalent to the 30-year spending of Project Tiger in seven years over seven sites, was
considered too little for all the villages in the fringe. The fact is that benefits will have to
reach all the villages and therefore, strategies will have to be revised accordingly to ensure
that this can be done.

6. The most important opportunity lies in targeting a revised joint forest management
programme in the vicinity of the reserves. It is evident that forests in these areas, habitats
of people and tigers, need to be regenerated. But it is also clear that the current joint forest
management programme, with its forest development agencies, remains too narrow and

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lacks the participation from people. If this programme can be revamped so that people
living in the fringes can be given management decisions and rights over forest lands, it
will improve the productivity of the resources as well. The answer within the reserve will
lie in our abilities to rebuild the resources outside.

7. The only way to ensure that the forest department can garner the resources to invest
in fringe villages is for the government to increase the per capita expenditure that it makes
on the fringe of the tiger reserves. In fact, the government must look at investments in the
tiger reserves in tandem with the money it should be spending on the fringe communities
and the allocations should be made in accordance. Again, it must be emphasised these
investments can turn productive if and only if they are made in tune with the natural
resource regimes of the areas and not by investing in short-term assets based alternate
livelihoods. It can also only work if people are involved in the management of the natural
resources. The additional funds must be spent as a reciprocal arrangement with the local
villagers increased investment in their resources to build collaborative and protective
fences around the reserves.

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3.10 The tourism agenda

The Indian tiger is a tourism attraction. But tourism shows that a total of 1.29 million people visited the
is both an opportunity and threat for the tiger. reserves in 2004-05. This is not including pilgrim
Tourism is an important economic activity. It is also visitors: many tiger reserves, such as Periyar in
an important educational activity. It can link tigers to Kerala and Ranthambhore and Sariska in Rajasthan,
a wider constituency and build conservation support have important shrines located within their
for it. It can also bring monetary and employment boundaries (see table: Top 10 tourist sites).
benefits to local people and secure their interest in From this information, it can be computed that
the tigers future. on an average each tiger reserve receives 58,456
But done badly, it can lead to further stress on tourists in a year. But clearly, there are some that,
the tigers habitat. It can destroy the surrounding area because of better professional promotion or
by overusing resources such as water and put infrastructure, get many more tourists than others. In
municipal services like garbage disposal and sewage 2003-2004, Periyar received the highest number of
under stress. It can also lead to the alienation of local tourists at 415,373; Satpura (Madhya Pradesh)
people, who see the benefits of this economic activity received 162,785; and Ranthambhore, 111,375.
exported out of their region. The issue, then, is how But even a naxalism-affected reserve like
tourism can be shaped so that it brings benefits to the Palamau had more than 10,000 tourists. This goes to
tiger, its habitat and to the people who share this show the potential the reserves have if promoted
space. well as eco-tourism destinations.1
Today, tiger reserves are important tourist
destinations and the more prominent ones attract The revenues
substantial numbers of visitors. Visitations to
reserves are also as varied as tourism in general It is difficult to compile the revenue earned by each
across the country from backpackers to high-end park from its gate receipts.
tourists, serious bird-enthusiasts to neighborhood The gate charges in most cases range between a
weekend visitors. meagre Rs 25 to Rs 50 at the most. The issue also is to
The Tiger Task Force, through the office of the see what the potential would be if the price to catch
Project Tiger, has compiled statistics from most tiger a glimpse of the tiger was increased. Clearly, the idea
reserves to attain an overview of the existing tourism would not be to take the tiger out of the reach of
volume and the potential. common Indians, but it is also important to realise
Information from 22 of the 28 tiger reserves that people value the experience and will be
prepared to pay more, if it benefits the tiger and
TOP 10 TOURIST SITES
people.
Therefore, if a simple extrapolation is made of
Reserve Numbers of Revenue the average for all the reserves, by calculating the
tourists (2004-05) (Rs lakh) gate entries fees at the current level of Rs 25 or an
Panna 36,404 increased level of Rs 100, the potential revenue a
tiger reserve earns increases from Rs 4 crore to Rs 16
Sariska 49,451 28 crore.
Bandipur 51,986
What is known is that Periyar, with 415,373
tourists in 2004-2005 earned Rs 1.80 crore from its
Sundarbans 60,000 gate receipts and other tourist activities. In
comparison, the total grant it receives from the
Kanha 70,464 52
Central government is roughly the same Rs 2 crore
Kalakad-Mundanthurai 70,807 annually. Ranthambhore received 96,000 visitors in
2003-2004, which increased to 111,375 by the next
Corbett 95,220
season of 2004-2005. In 2003-2004, its earnings were
Ranthambhore 111,375 167* Rs 1.67 crore, which would have increased in the
following year. Sariska, with roughly 50,000 visitors
Satpura 162,785 last year (2004-2005), earned Rs 28 lakh. Kanha,
Periyar 415,373 180 another important tourist destination, had 70,464
visitors that year (2004-2005), earning roughly Rs 52
Source: Project Tiger directorate; *2003-2004 lakh.2

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In other words, the revenue and the potential Tourism activities should not be allowed in the
certainly exist. But the question is: does this money core of the national parks and the tiger reserves.
benefit the park? Or the local people? There should be a ceiling on the number of
visitors allowed to enter at any time in a given
Reinvesting tourism receipts part of the reserve. The ceiling has to be decided
by the field director of the park keeping in mind
The problem is that, in most cases, all the gate the carrying capacity of the habitat and the
receipts go to the state exchequer and not to the availability of facilities, transport and guides.
reserve. There is, in fact, little talk of investing back Rates for use of cameras for photography inside
the funds generated from gate receipts to the reserve. the protected areas should be drawn up in a
The only state where this is done across all rational manner so that it does not discourage
sanctuaries and national parks is Madhya Pradesh, wildlife enthusiasts, but the use of camera for
where all gate receipts are necessarily reinvested in commercial photography should be rated much
reserve development funds, staff welfare and local higher.
community needs. All tourism structures that come up in the fringe
Taking a lesson from this, Ranthambhore was the of the protected areas or the periphery should
first to introduce a cess which was levied on each blend in with the surroundings.
ticket so that at least part of the gate receipts could be Wildlife tourism should not get relegated to
reinvested into the park. Over the last few years, it purely high-end exclusive tourism.
was reported to the Task Force that a total of Rs 6
crore has been collected. But unfortunately, the state The limitation in this sphere is that these guidelines
exchequer has taken the decision to consider this remain guidelines and are difficult to implement on
ecological cess as part of the normal gate receipts, the surrounding land, which remains outside the
and so the money has gone to the state and not the purview of the forest/park administration. The fact is
park.2 also that much of the business of wildlife tourism is
The Periyar tiger reserve has learnt from organised, managed and run from outside the parks
Ranthambhore. Since November 2004, it has started and sanctuaries over which the forest department has
charging an ecodevelopment surcharge on each entry little or almost no control.
ticket at the rate of Rs 10 for Indians and Rs 100 for The National Wildlife Action Plan (2002-2016)
foreigners. The collected money is invested into the says that ecotourism must primarily involve and
Periyar Foundation, an organisation registered under benefit local communities and the first benefits of
the Societies Registration Act. The park managers tourism activities should flow to the local people.
aim to use this money to continue work on The plan goes on to say that these benefits should be
ecodevelopment in the neighbouring villages, staff in the form of employment opportunities and
welfare and research activities. support for panchayat programmes such as
In this way, in just one year (2002-2005) Periyar watershed restoration, afforestation, health schemes
earned back Rs 42.47 lakh from the surcharge on and others. There should be strict energy, water
entry tickets3. conservation and waste disposal guidelines for
existing and new facilities, says the plan.4
Guidelines ask for low-key ventures Despite these guidelines and overall policy, the
business of tourism in and around each protected
The flip side to all this is that tourism in tiger area has been practised differently in different
reserves needs to be extremely well managed to reserves.
ensure that the direct impact on the habitats due to The policy documents and guidelines have been
tourism is mitigated. The chain of command as well in place for a while but they have, till date, worked in
as management of tourism in tiger reserves has the absence of sound information on the size of the
suffered from multiple governing institutions as well wildlife tourism business and the present fashion in
as confusion in policy and regulations so far. Project which it operates.
Tiger has brought out a set of guidelines to regulate
wildlife tourism in tiger reserves. The document, Managing tourist activity
with a list of dos and donts, has laid down the basic
principles well. While tourism itself remains unchecked, so does the
impact of tourism on the reserves. The most basic data
Besides other things, it requires that: that should be calculated for each park is the carrying
Each protected area must have its own tourism capacity of the parks and the delineation zones where
plan that should indicate the area open to tourism is permitted and where it is banned. Project
tourism in the reserves. Tiger, in 2003, issued guidelines for calculating the

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carrying capacity of a reserve. Carrying capacity is a of the big parks, and many more are coming up. The
quantitative parameter that takes into account the road land outside the park is owned by villagers or is
length available to move on, the periods for which the revenue land, which is acquired by hotels and resorts
park is open to tourists, the disturbance caused by to build at the parks edge.
traffic on the roads and the managerial capacity of the There is no regulation currently to control the
park and then calculates how much tourist traffic the growth of these tourist facilities. The problem is as
park can bear without damage being caused. follows:
Similar versions of the carrying capacity model
can easily be computed for each park as the basic a. The hotels and resorts operate without any
framework for managing numbers, vehicles and building code of environmental standards. These
pressure of tourism. The Project Tiger directorate combine to put pressure on the already stressed
clearly states the following as a guide to regulating ecology using water, disposing waste and
traffic: garbage. In many cases the hotels have been built
In place of open Gypsy cars and smaller vehicles, on grazing lands of villagers, which further puts
medium-sized buses, with a closed body and stress on their livestock and, in turn, pressure on
sliding windows, may be used for park the resources of the reserves.
excursions. This will minimise the risk of close b. The hotels and resorts do not contribute to the
encounters with wild animals, apart from local economy, effectively doing little to take the
reducing the number of vehicles inside the park pressure off the peoples need to use the
at any point in time. resources of the reserves. Even if some
A minimum mandatory distance of at least 500 employment is provided, in most cases the
metres should be maintained between two largest benefit of revenues is exported out of the
vehicles plying on the same road. local environment. It does little for conservation,
Tourist vehicles, while spotting a tiger or any even though the business is based on
other wild animal, should maintain a minimum conservation.
mandatory distance of 30 metres. c. The problem is that this furthers the sense of
The route guides should be more professionally injustice and alienation of local people as they
trained and penalty should be imposed on see rich tourists entering areas they are not
visitors in case they violate park rules. allowed into. And they see rich hoteliers make
Since a certain amount of risk is always involved money that they cant.
in jungle excursions despite all precautions, a d. There is no control on the number of hotels and
standardised Indemnity Bond may also be resorts that are coming up around the reserves
prescribed, indemnifying the park authorities and, therefore, if the growth exceeds the carrying
from litigation/arbitration which may arise on capacity of the reserve, there is pressure to open
account of accidents suffered by tourists during out the larger areas of the reserve for tourism or
park rounds. there is more pressure on the existing areas,
Under no circumstances should tourist which, in turn, is detrimental to wild animals.
excursions be allowed during the night. This is what is happening in Ranthambhore, for
No tourist facilities should be created in the core instance.
zone of a tiger reserve.5
The analysis of the character and volume of tourism
Once this baseline is set, tourism requires regular in Ranthambhore and Periyar tiger reserves presents
impact monitoring to ensure that it does not impinge two completely contrary models of wildlife and eco-
on the park and its habitat. This too, at present, is not tourism. A study of both helps to review the generic
undertaken in most reserves. The only thing most and specific problems and solutions that tourists
parks do is to demarcate tourist zones and regulate bring to protected areas.
the number of entries (in some cases).
Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve
Outside the park
There is a lot to learn from Ranthambhore about how
While the forest department is empowered to manage tourism can be a potentially viable economic
tourism inside the park boundaries, it is activity; and how tourism, if managed badly, can be a
handicapped in managing the disturbance or potentially devastating activity for ecology and
problems caused by hotels or tourist businesses people. This is a reserve visitors throng to, from
outside the park. As the department is not geared to everywhere. The thrill is to see the tiger, often from a
run tourist facilities also, numerous big and small close distance. The data provided by the park
hotels have mushroomed at the periphery or vicinity authorities show that its visitors are increasing each

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year, reaching 111,000 last season. The reserve has a routes to travel on. But it has now come to light that
total area of 1,300 sq km, with 20 per cent under the vehicles jump the queue or choose specific routes
core area. that have greater probability of sightings. A recent
Ranthambhore, as any other park in India, study by a local non-governmental organisation says
charges entry fee and camera charges. The park that the routes are congested and overused. The fact
management restricts the number of entries into the is that tourist operators only want to traverse routes
designated tourism zone. In September 2004, the that have a higher probability of a tiger sighting.7 As
regulation of activities relating to entry of tourists a result, as it was reported to the Task Force, in the
and vehicles was handed over to the state last season (2004-2005) vehicles literally converged
department of tourism and the Rajasthan Tourism for hours in areas where tigers were sighted, often
Development Corporation. This was allegedly done creating artificial barricades and so restricting their
because of the reported instances of corruption and movement for hours. A maximum number of
mishandling by the forest department of this high- vehicles used the few tiger sighting routes, their
profile and lucrative tourist trade. drivers throwing all rules out of the window.
However, as the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 Such poorly managed tourism is beginning to
restricts entry into a protected area without the impact the reserve, say park authorities. They
permission of the chief wildlife warden or an explain they are finding that the reserves tigers are
authorised officer, the order issued by the state moving out. This, they explain, is because of the
government (no F11(8) Forests/2001) says the entry intensive human pressure on the animals habitat.
will be subject to the permits granted by the forest The Project Tiger directorate has also brought this
department. The number of vehicles allowed entry is issue to the attention of the government of Rajasthan.
restricted to 35, which make two trips each day, It is difficult for the Task Force to verify this
carrying a maximum of 462 people in each journey. assertion but, clearly, the latest tiger estimation in
The booking of tourists and vehicles is managed by Ranthambhore needs to be carefully evaluated in the
the tourist department. The routes that the tourist light of this growing impact of human disturbance on
vehicle will take is handed out by the tourist the tigers habitat. Ranthambhore highlights whether
department based on the information provided in the tourism department, instead of the forest
advance by the park authorities. The tourist department, should run the tourism business in the
department has to ensure that the routes are allotted park. And what the management regimes and
to vehicles in such a manner that there is no practices should be that will make tourism
overcrowding or convergence on any one route, says sustainable and not destructive.
this order. In other words, the regulation is designed
for good management.6 Tourism outside the park
In Ranthambhore tourism is privately operated.
Tourism inside the park There are only two state government-run tourist rest
Several submissions were made to the Tiger Task houses. The rest of the industry hotels, vehicles,
Force during its visit to the Ranthambhore tiger guides are in the hands of private entities. The list
reserve about the total mismanagement of tourist of hotels collated by the park authorities shows that
activity in the area, leading to corruption, nepotism there are 33 hotels in Ranthambhore, of which 26
and destructive impacts on the park itself. The park hotels are prominent. The clientele of these hotels is
authorities and the staff of the tiger reserve, who met solely based on the reserve, as there is no other
the Task Force, informed it of their problems in alternative tourism attraction point. All these are
managing this trade, which was now not under their high-end premium hotels providing exclusive
direct control. They explained that even though, wildlife experience. Therefore their business is
technically, they still controlled the entry numbers of directly linked with the infrastructure management
vehicles into the park, all other activities were out of and character of tourism in the park.
bounds for them. The costliest hotel around the reserve is Aman-e-
It is also evident that the rules of booking for a Khas, owned by a multinational hotel chain, with a
visit to the park have been made so convoluted in room tariff of Rs 30,000 a night. The Oberoi chains
Ranthambhore that they are amenable to corruption Vanya Vilas, with 25 rooms and an average room rate
and underhand dealings. The Task Force was told of Rs 16,500, follows.8 Assuming a season of eight
that numerous problems exist in the way bookings months, and using data park authorities provided
are handled, as a result of which even hoteliers data related to the average room rate, occupancy
suffer. For instance, under the rules, bookings for levels the annual turnover from the top elite 21
park visits need to be made in advance at times the hotels is an estimated Rs 21.81 crore.9 This is clearly
period of advance can stretch to as much as 60 days. substantial and could be invested back into the park
All the vehicles going in are then designated fixed and people.

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This is precisely what does not happen. The park of the hotels and other construction activities, as this
does not even get the gate receipts. The local people clearly creates a precedence for ecologically
also do not benefit. The result of such exclusive high- damaging activities. In Ranthambhore, a few hotels
end tourism has been that a large number of other are located on land buffered between the Sawai
smaller entrepreneurs, as well as people in the Madhopur sanctuary and the main park. This is
neighbourhood and fringe of the park, feel alienated anomalous in view of the fact that, all over the
and believe that these hotels corner the only source country, ecologists today promote the idea that such
of revenue the park generates. Revenue that, in the buffer areas which work as corridors for wild
first place, should have been redistributed to the animals to move around in an already limited forest
people who were affected by the creation of the park. space must not be altered, encroached upon or
their land use changed. In fact, in a similar case in
Building in eco-sensitive areas Karnatakas Bandipur tiger reserve, the opposition of
In addition, many of the hotels and resorts have several experts has ensured the government does not
come up on land that is considered eco-sensitive allow a resort to come up in the famous Moyar gorge
on land adjacent to the park boundary or buffered belt, which is a corridor for elephants.11 These
between the sanctuary and the national park. Many experts have submitted to the Task Force a need to
disputed land and hotel sites are owned by regulate tourist and resort activities in these
conservationists. This locational advantage (of some) ecosensitive zones.12
has only fuelled the anger of local people, who again There are no provisions which govern the
see this as unfair. This issue gets particularly construction of tourist complexes in and around
aggravated and sensitive as conservation imperatives protected areas. So, hoteliers are taking advantage of
stop the movement of local people in the park, while this lacuna.
the prime land outside the park is taken up by In many cases the land a hotel has come up on is
conservationists, rich hoteliers and foreign owners. former grazing land. This change in land use only
This dichotomy leads to enhanced anger against the aggravates the grazing situation of the park. A poor
park and is detrimental to its interests. grazier woman the Task Force met in Ranthambhore
The problem is that there are no clear restrictions complained that not only had she lost her grazing
on building hotels on what are considered eco- land, but that the hotels were also draining
sensitive zones. In Ranthambhore it was tried and groundwater. We are better dead than alive, she
then abandoned. In December 2002, the secretary to said. The park has given us nothing but trouble.
the government of Rajasthan issued directives setting This is a sad commentary on conservation.
out criteria for the location of hotels around the park.
It said that construction activity near the park will Alternative models
be allowed beyond a distance of half a kilometre
from the boundary of the park. All construction in As against the usual business model of regular
the zone near the park will be banned and there will tourism practiced in and around tiger reserves, some
be a total freeze in extension of existing structures. parks in India and abroad have experimented with
But within six months, this directive was withdrawn. minor modifications to look at community-based
The same official of the government issued orders tourism, working either completely on its own or in
saying that all ongoing hotel projects which have tandem with large-sized tourism businesses to
been affected by the earlier order may be granted ensure equity and provide opportunities to
special relaxation for taking up construction within entrepreneurs as well as local communities. There is
500 metres of the Ranthambhore national park. a great advantage to these models for they can be
This, said the letter, was being given as a very very used as important tools in engaging the people on the
special case only10. fringe of forests in activities related to forestry and
The fact is that it was widely reported in the local therefore reduce their alienation attendant to the
press that this permission was given for very special creation of parks and sanctuaries. There are several
hotels, including the very exclusive Aman-e-Khas. case studies of such models, now emerging in India
Local people, who met the Tiger Task Force during and abroad.
its trip, were clearly convinced that this was done to
benefit a few. Again, the problem is that the Periyar Tiger Reserve
protection regime in the park affects many and so if
the benefits do not accrue equally, it creates In Periyar tiger reserve in Kerala, park authorities
problems. have reduced poaching threats by converting
ex-poachers and other regular trespassers into
Does location matter? eco-tourism guides. Periyars success has been to
It is also important to evolve criterion for the location create economies from the forest based on

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developing the skills of people in tourism, protected areas. The problems are manifold. In
park management and impact monitoring. The group many protected areas there has been relocation of
ecodevelopment committees that have been created tribals and cultivators from within to outside the
here work professionally and have been able to parks. The virtual take-over of protected areas by
generate a regular monthly income from luxury tourism would open fresh wounds in the yet-
the park itself. There are four professional to-heal conflict between parks and people. The issue
committees the former-cinnamon bark collectors of profits from tourism being ploughed back into the
committee, Tribal Trekkers, the Tribal Heritage local economy as well as park management also has
ecodevelopment committee and the Periyar Tiger to be seriously addressed, says Sukumar. In addition,
Samrakshan Samiti. All four ecodevelopment there is a need to ensure that critical corridors and
committees are involved in ecotourism activities ecologically important areas are not used for tourist
such as border hiking, jungle rafting and bamboo activities.14
rafting. At the same time the impacts of tourism in the
The Tribal Trekkers ecodevelopment committee tiger reserve must be studied carefully so that base
was constituted by recruiting young men line data on carrying capacity is used to monitor
from amongst the Mannas and the change. Thereafter periodic review studies of the
Paliyan tribes living in settlements of the fringes of different impacts of tourism must be carried out.
the tiger reserve. The men, earlier involved in Again, as these periodic monitoring either by experts
fishing, collecting honey, thatching grass and or under their guidance shall require resources, it is
collecting firewood, were trained to guide essential that the park dedicate some of the revenue
tourists through a nature walk. From their traditional generated by tourism into the tourism impact
knowledge of terrain, flora, fauna monitoring mechanism.
sprang one of the most successful ecotourism Tourism has a large potential for involving
enterprises at the tiger reserve. This committee was people in the forests and it is also a way of paying
set up with a fund of Rs 3.5 lakh; it today has Rs back people the value of the ecological services the
4,26,490 in its community development fund. It has forests provide to the society. While other forms of
given other ecodevelopment committees loans of Rs payments to the community for protection of forests
2 lakh. It has given loans to its own members, to the joint forest management and other mechanisms
tune of Rs 3,63,202, for medical and educational are also explored today across the world, the best
purposes. form of payment for ecological security can only
The trekkers take back a monthly salary of Rs come from a rights-based approach. In this, people
3,800. From their funds, 10 per cent is contributed to get preferential chances to earn money from an
park welfare, 5 per cent to park maintenance and 10 activity that not only generates enough revenue to
per cent to their own ecodevelopment committees. keep them from being alienated, but also helps foster
The rest goes to their community development fund, a relationship between the forests, the forest
from which salaries are paid. department and the people inside and along fringes.
The impact of involving groups of people who
earlier engaged in destructive activities with the park The Pilgrim flood
is obvious.
However, much like Ranthambhore, tourism in Another facet to tourism in Indias tiger reserves
and around the park is high revenue as well. But in today is the pilgrim tourist, visiting shrines inside
recent years, there has been a conscious effort to protected areas. While this is a tradition in many
promote homestead tourism so that people can reserves, under present circumstances pilgrimage
experience life in cardamom and tiger country. If has become a challenge for the park authorities in
Periyar can continue to innovate on these measures, managing the deluge of devotees in reserves such as
it will sustain its success and local interests will be Sariska or Periyar.
enjoined with the park.13 Perched on a hill in the western division of the
Periyar tiger reserve, surrounded by evergreen forests
Tourism with equity religiously called poongavanam, is Sabrimala, the
shrine of the Hindu deity Lord Ayappa. The shrine
Tourism must therefore have a purpose, which draws five million pilgrims annually. Pilgrims fast
promotes conservation and livelihood security. R for days; attired in black they take a holy dip at the
Sukumar of the Centre for Ecological Sciences at river Pampa before trekking up to Sabrimala. The
Bangalore has been studying elephant ecology for most propitious time to visit the shrine is during the
years; and in his submission to the Task Force has Makkaravalaku season; its 60 days, from mid
noted with concern that a new wave of luxury November to January, attract the bulk of the pilgrims.
tourism now threatens to unleash across our The passage of thousands of people through the

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Innovating in Tourism by involving local communities: some successful examples

Annapurna Conservation Area Project, Nepal In other words, the benefits of tourism go back to
Managed by the King Mahendra Trust for Nature local communities and build a stake in the protection of
Conservation, Annapurna Conservation Area in the reserve. As a result, there is much less garbage and
neighbouring Nepal has created a system whereby all waste in the area. The cause of conservation is
elements of tourism are today taken care of by people advanced. It is a lesson to learn from.
living in the area. Ghazala Shahabuddin from the New
Delhi-based Council for Social Development has Costa Rica
studied this approach and says that the government has In Costa Rica, nature is a tourism factory. Tourism was
ensured that benefits accrue to local people this small Central American countrys top foreign
managing homesteads, trekking routes and eateries exchange earner, till the computer giant Intel set up its
along trekking routes, people earn at each stage of the microprocessing plant there. In 1995 in Costa Rica,
business. the industry generated over US $650 million per annum
The Annapurna Conservation Area comprises of 7.5 per cent of the countrys GDP. Tourism has been
spectacular landscape, that of the 8,000-metre plus built on the development of national parks in 1996,
Himalayan ranges of Annapurna and Dhaulagiri. The of the 781,000 visitors from abroad, nearly 270,000
area is extremely biodiversity rich as it straddles a very visited national parks. With this economic interest
large gradient. The programme, initiated in 1986, assured, as much as 31 per cent of the country is
covers an area of 7,600 sq km spread over five districts. under the protected area system and now private
Fifty-five village development committees form the individuals are finding that it pays to conserve
anchor of the programme. A total of 1,00,000 people biodiversity for tourists.
live in the area and about 1,16,000 tourists visit the area The tourism value chain is still in favour of the
annually. The area now has one of the most famous airlines and large and international operators. But
trekking routes in Nepal. The project has created nevertheless, a substantial proportion stays within the
Conservation and Management committees in each country and is shared. This has led to increased
village to manage tourism.15 dependence and so a vested interest in the trade and,
The areas management has ensured local people therefore, also an interest in protecting the
are able to create small tourist lodges to earn from environment. Interestingly, over 70 per cent of the
tourists. Most lodges, equipped with solar hot showers hotels in the country have less than 20 rooms. This
and other facilities, are extensions of peoples homes. means that the small lodges near national parks do
When mineral water bottles, adding to litter, became a more than their bit to conserve the environmental
problem, villagers started safe drinking water stations resources around.
in every village along the route, using advanced Ecotourism built on remote and small-scale
technology for water cleaning. The revenue of this nature reserves is an opportunity to provide local
water sale goes back to the village. employment and local economic growth. In this

forest poses a huge challenge for the forest Kerala government and the forest department to
department of the tiger reserve. Pilgrims travel up to minimise impact. A sewage treatment plant has been
the Pampa river in vehicles. Hundreds of shops set up, toilets have been made and buildings
mushroom along the routes, tonnes of firewood are regulated. But the fact is that the impact remains
cut from the forest and the hills turn into a nightmare because of the large numbers of pilgrims.
of plastic. During the season, villagers complain, the It is clear that while uncontrolled visitors to
Pampa gets highly polluted. these pilgrim sites are bound to impact the forests,
Over the years, efforts have been made by the one must remember that these sites can also be used

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 TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS

country, everything from butterfly farms which income comes from selling hunting concessions to
export live butterflies, to organic coffee farms, to rich professional hunters and safari operators working
and deep rainforests, to live volcano to river swamps to set government quotas. Individual hunters pay
are all marketed and sold. Nature is truly a cottage high fees to shoot elephant (US $12,000) and buffalo
industry here. And a profitable one too.16 and are strictly monitored, accompanied by local,
licensed professionals.21
Zimbabwe: Campfire project Selling live animals: This is a fairly recent
The story of Zimbabwes struggles with wildlife development. Some areas with high wildlife
management mirrors Indias challenges. Almost five populations sell live animals to national parks or
million people live in arid and semi-arid communal game reserves.
lands surrounding the countrys protected areas. Harvesting natural resources: A number of natural
Despite the dryness and difficult conditions, a wide resources such as crocodile eggs, caterpillars, river-
range of wildlife is also found here. Today, 15 per cent sand and timber are harvested and sold by local
of Zimbabwe is protected as conservation areas.17 Some communities. Skins and ivory can be sold from
animal species have prospered so much in the 'problem animals' (individual animals who
protected areas that they are causing serious damage to persistently cause damage or threat and can legally
peoples livestock and agriculture. Some species are be killed).
also suffering genetic problems because of Tourism: Most revenue from tourists has not gone
inbreeding.18 to local communities. Five districts of Zimbabwe
At the same time many people, just as in India, now benefit from tourism. Development of
were evicted when the protected areas were created. specialist areas such as culture tourism and bird
They now live in the surrounding communal lands. watching are promoted with local people employed
They are no longer permitted to hunt the animals and directly as guides or hired to run local facilities for
harvest the plants now found inside protected areas, tourists.
again just as in India Selling wildlife meat: Where there are many
As a reaction to the problems arising out of the species that are used for meat, the countrys
creation of these parks, CAMPFIRE (Communal Areas National Parks Department supervises killing and
Management Programme for Indigenous Resources) selling of skins and meat.
was started in the 1989 as a programme designed to
assist rural development and conservation.19 It works Put together, these various activities have given the
with the people who live in these communal lands, local population in Zimbabwe a source of livelihood
supporting the use of wildlife as an important natural which has today helped ensured that the countrys
resource. dwindling elephant population has reached levels
Five main activities help provide extra income to where it has ironically become a menace of
local communities20: overpopulation.
Trophy hunting: About 90 per cent of CAMPFIRE's

to tie people into a relationship with forests as in nominal sum of money that is ploughed back into
the sacred groves tradition practiced in India. maintenance and monitoring of the pilgrim
To regulate pilgrim movement in the park, visitations.
pilgrim sites must be maintained as sacred groves In Periyar, a part of the route has been reserved
with an extremely strict code of conduct enforced by for the ecodevelopment committees of local villages
the park authorities in tandem with the shrines to operate. This has made people stakeholders in the
management. To ensure the imposition of this code, conservation of the park and needs to be further
again it is essential that pilgrims be charged a promoted.

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 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

Recommendations
1. The regulation and management of tourism in tiger reserves must remain in the charge
of the forest department. The Ranthambhore experience clearly shows that tourist
interests, if allowed to take precedence over conservation, can be extremely detrimental
to the park. If the park management does not have the capacities to manage tourism,
efforts must be made to involve local communities and staff welfare associations in the
running of affairs. These interested communities will bring benefits to the conservation
efforts in the park for their interests are enjoined with its protection. Under no
circumstances should there be any move to privatise the park management for tourism
activities.
2. The zone adjacent to the park its fringe and high impact zone must be reserved
for homestead-based tourism run at a small scale by local communities. This zone should
ideally extend up to three km from the outer periphery of a reserves boundary. In case it
is not possible to extend this zone up to three km, the reserve management must decide
how far the zone should extend, after due consultation with the Project Tiger directorate.
3. All other resorts and hotels can only be allowed beyond this zone reserved for
homestead tourism. This reservation will promote alternative tourism and provide for
opportunities for local communities to directly benefit from this economic activity.
4. The Union ministry of environment and forests must finalise an eco-tourism policy
for tiger reserves that incorporates this land-use reservation into the Environment
Protection Act, 1984.
5. Reserve managements must increase gate ticket prices by imposing an ecological cess,
which must be ploughed back to each reserve. Ideally all gate money should go back to the
reserve. But given the requirements of state governments, this may not be possible. In this
case, the extra revenue collected as ecological cess should be given to the reserve,
explicitly to be shared with local communities who continue to live within its boundaries
and for staff benefits.
6. Hotels within a radius of 5 kilometres from the boundary of a reserve must contribute
30 per cent of their turnover to the reserve. This has to be a compulsory cess on the hotel
industry, for this industry is drawing advantages out of investment made from public
funds for the protection of reserves. The hotels can be allowed to claim 100 per cent
income tax benefit for the same, as an incentive.
7. The tourism plan for each reserve must be developed and approved by the Project
Tiger directorate. The plan must designate the tourism zones, clearly demarcate the
zoning plan and be based on carrying capacity studies. The plans must be available in the
public domain along with all tourism-regulating rules.
8. The reserve must ensure that all possible avenues of engaging local communities are
exhausted before it resorts to using other resources as guides and for other employment
and work opportunities.
9. The pilgrim sites inside the park must be designated as sacred groves with strict
controls and regulations. All transit camps and places of stay for such pilgrimages inside
the park must be minimised and severely restricted. The benefits of the pilgrimage
activity must accrue to local communities. The temple boards must be persuaded to allow
this to happen.

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3.11 Ecological services agenda

Almost all tiger reserves are watersheds for major these services which standing forests and protected
and minor streams and rivers. Without the reserves, areas provide to the country. It is today an imperative
water security will certainly be further to ensure that these costs are internalised.
compromised. But currently, this ecological service Therefore, we need to incorporate the principles
being rendered by the reserves is not rewarded. For of valuing forests for the tangible as well as
instance: intangible benefits these lands provide. This cost
The dam in Pench tiger reserve provides water to must be paid to the communities who live in and
the city of Nagpur in Maharashtra. around these forest lands. They bear the cost of
The dam in Periyar tiger reserve in Kerala is used maintaining these watersheds. To maintain these
for towns and agriculture in the neighbouring forests demands the people who live in and around
state of Tamil Nadu. these forests forego the developmental fruits that the
The town of Sawai Madhopur in Rajasthan gets rest of the country enjoys at their cost. Therefore,
its water through deep tube-wells at the edge of they must be compensated for protecting these
the Ranthambhore tiger reserve. natural resources at the cost of their own economic
The city of Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu gets its and social development. This concept of an
water from the dam in the Kalakad- ecological tax paid for water, recreation or other
Mundanthurai tiger reserve. services that these reservoirs of biodiversity provide
is gaining ground across the world.
But none of these cities, states or towns pays for the At present, there exists a provision to calculate
conservation of these watersheds. There is a cost to the net present value (NPV) of forests, and pay an
bear for their conservation though the cost of amount when they are diverted for non-forest
conserving the forests that keep the watersheds alive. purposes. But this is nothing but payment for
The State of Forests Report 2003 has, for the first destruction. In that sense, it is a negative approach of
time, assessed the water bodies rivers, streams, providing value to forests. This is not a payment to
lakes, ponds and wetlands located inside forest protect forests as forests and for keeping them
areas. It estimates that 17,396 sq km of water bodies inviolate. Also, the money goes to a central authority,
exist within the forested areas of the country.1 The not to the state that has diverted its forests. The
role of forests in maintaining the hydrological cycle money also does not go to the community that bears
of the country is critical. In addition, there is the the cost of diversion. There is no incentive to
biodiversity value of forests. protect forests, as there is no value of standing
Currently, there is no mechanism to account for forests.

CHANGING STATE EXPENDITURE ON FORESTRY AND REVENUE EARNED FROM THE SECTOR

350 Himachal Pradesh 60 Arunachal Pradesh

300 Expenditure
45
250 Expenditure
Rs crore

Rs crore

200
30
150 Revenue

100
15
50 Revenue

0 0
1993-1994

1995-1996

1997-1998
1987-1988

1989-1990

1991-1992

2000-2001

2002-2003

2004-2005

1987-1988

1989-1990

1991-1992

1993-1994

1995-1996

1997-1998

1999-2000

2001-2002

2003-2004
2004-2005

Source: Ruksan Bose 2005, Too cut and dried, Down To Earth, Vol 14, No 5, July 31, 2005, p24

The way ahead 141

 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

Ecological services valuations from these forests. Yet it pays Rs 9.5 crore to supply
highly subsidised drinking water, which could be
Himachal Pradesh saved if a fraction of the cost was spent on
A valuation of Himachal Pradeshs forests used a conservation activities in the catchment area4.
combination of methods: market prices or
estimates for timber, fodder, fuelwood and non- Costa Rica
timber forest produce which have markets; and the In 1996, Costa Rica implemented a system of
travel cost method to gauge the value of payments for environmental services (PES).
ecotourism. They revealed that the states forests Through financial and legal mechanisms, local,
provide annual benefits exceeding Rs 1,00,000 national and global beneficiaries of forest services
crore.2 compensate those who protect them. Funds are
allocated through the National Forestry Financial
Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh) Fund, which works directly with people, and
The Kolar dam provides nearly 60 per cent of through NGOs; these funds compensate those who
Bhopals water. The dam receives water from the provide these services. Costa Ricas 1996 forestry
Kolar river, which originates from a thickly law explicitly recognises four ecosystem services
forested area 70 km upstream3. The 60-70 villages provided by forests: carbon fixation and
in this catchment area put significant biotic sequestration, hydrological services, biodiversity
pressure on these forests: they are largely poor protection and scenic beauty5.
tribal communities dependent on the forests for
their fuelwood, fodder and non-timber forest Community management of Mayan Biosphere
produce. To maintain watershed services in the Almost 3,88,000 hectare (ha) of the Mayan
long run, an incentive-based system was proposed Biosphere, a 2-million ha reserve in Guatemala, has
to motivate communities in the catchment areas to come under community managed concessions. The
protect the forests, which would be cheaper than first community concession was awarded in the
other alternatives. area in 1996. The concessions were created as a
A study by Madhu Verma on the Bhoj wetlands response to increased illegal logging and the
used a combination of methods like direct development of new agricultural areas. The
valuation, contingent valuation, preventative or community forest management is verified for
replacement cost and hedonic pricing to put a sustainability by independent parties, and reports
value on various benefits. Livelihood benefits were indicate that the pressure on the reserve has
calculated using incomes or the market price of decreased, biodiversity values have been
products. Bhopal currently makes no payments at maintained and extra income has been generated
all for watershed protection services it receives from the communities.6

earned from the sector)

Cost of conservation The situation is such that India, today, has
become a major importer of wood that is to say,
In fact, the burden of conservation has grown over from forests cut elsewhere. By 2001, Indias export of
the last few years. An analysis of the revenue and forest-based products stood at Rs 4,459 crore; the
expenditure of the state forest sector shows that major items were rubber and paper products. But
conservation is costing forest-dependent states imports were over a whopping Rs 12,000 crore
enormously. three times higher. That year, the country spent over
While the revenue generated by the states from Rs 2,000 crore simply on importing wood7.
forests have dwindled, expenditures have mounted. The repercussions are at three levels. One, the
In the mid-1990s, for instance, Madhya Pradesh country loses precious foreign exchange. Two, the
made money from its forest resources. Its revenue country keeps its own millions of people deprived of
was higher than its expenditure in this sector. But by economic development. And three, the costs of
2005, the situation completely reversed. Now the maintaining these forested areas are borne by state
state spends more than it can earn. Today, Arunachal governments whose budgets are reduced and who
Pradeshs spending on forestry is as high as its have less and less money for development
revenue used to be in the mid-1990s; 80 per cent of programmes.
the state is forested, but today it makes practically Economic valuation of forests offers a
nothing from its vast forest wealth (See graph: methodology to quantitatively calculate the benefits
Changing state expenditure on forestry and revenue that forests provide, and also helps elucidate who are

142 The way ahead

 TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS

benefiting from the forest, and who are bearing the regime for those who protect forests could create
costs of conservation. more alienation.
Incentives do not have to be land-based,
Not a one-size fits all approach however, nor do they have to be cash payments: this
Over 300 PES (payments for environmental services) has been demonstrated in the village of Sukhomajri
systems have been inventoried in the world. Each in Haryana, where water rights were de-linked from
model is distinct and appropriate for specific land. The pani panchayats in Maharashtra also work
circumstances in order to calculate the costs and to this way. Such innovative approaches to expand
pass them to the right owner. PES is applicable, but it rights, including rights to environmental benefits, are
is not a monolith. Indias approach too needs to be needed.
appropriate and tailored to each forest and situation It is clear that conservation support in India will
on the ground. The main peculiarity in India is that need innovative approaches. The fact is that we have
the poorest people in forests have no land rights. to make conservation pay so that the burden on the
Since many PES systems link land use to the poor is reduced. It is they who live within the
provision of services payments are based on clear conservation areas; it is they who are deprived of
land rights its application without a land rights development and livelihood opportunities.

Recommendations
The Tiger Task Force recommends that the Project Tiger directorate must take urgent
initiative to begin a definite and time-bound programme for payment of ecological
services to stakeholders.

To do so, it must work with the tiger reserves to carry out an evaluation of the ecosystem
services that accrue to the nation from the reserves, and must formulate the mechanism
for charging the city/area/districts that get water from the watersheds secured by this
reserve, and sharing the revenue so earned between the reserve authorities and the people
in and around the reserve in an equitable fashion.

The way ahead 143

144
 04
Action plan for change
Key recommendations

145
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Key recommendations
Since the inception of Project Tiger in the early 1970s, the country has consistently invested in the protection
and conservation of the tiger. The Tiger Task Force report has reviewed the work done over these years; the
crisis; and the challenges ahead, to recommend reform in the framework of action.
The report advocates that the following needs to be done urgently:

a. Reinvigorate the institutions of governance.

b. Strengthen efforts geared towards protection of the tiger, checking poaching, convicting wildlife
criminals and breaking the international trade network.
c. Expand the inviolate spaces for the tiger by minimising human pressure in these areas.
d. Repair the relationships with the people who share the tigers habitat by building strategies for
coexistence.
e. Regenerate the forest habitats in the fringes of the tigers protective enclaves by investing in forest, water
and grassland economies of the people.

Sariska
1. Sariska is an important reserve supporting the therefore, the land available for their relocation
largest intact habitat of the tiger in the Aravalli must be able to either meet their grazing needs, or
ecosystem. The reserve is also the catchment for there must be sufficient investment for them to
innumerable streams in this otherwise dry region. switch over to land-based livelihoods.
Urgent steps must be taken to restore the park and 5. Park authorities, working in cooperation with the
rehabilitate tigers in the reserve. Project Tiger directorate, must evolve a plan for
2. The state government must fix accountability for the remaining villages that will continue to exist
the events in Sariska. This is essential, for it will in the park because relocation is not possible or
act as a deterrent to other officers in Rajasthan as feasible for all.
well as in other parts of the country; what 6. A plan should be developed to further manage
happened in Sariska is unacceptable. pilgrimage traffic; it must be ensured that the
3. The state government must take steps to improve benefits of tourism are shared with affected
the internal working of the park. It must also make a villagers and the park.
firm, time-bound, commitment to the Project Tiger 7. Park authorities should work on an agreement
directorate in this regard and draw up benchmarks with villagers living on the periphery (fringe) to
for its performance review and assessment. increase investment in their lands, in return for
4. The relocation of villages within the key tiger their cooperation in protecting the reserve.
habitat must be done with utmost care and with 8. An institutional mechanism a park-level
full consultation with affected villagers. Park management committee should be constituted
authorities should realise that villagers living to monitor progress in habitat improvement and
within the park are forest-dependent and, peoples involvement.

Institutional mechanisms
1. Reorganise the Union ministry of environment administrative autonomy. Project Tiger should
and forests to create two separate departments: report annually to the Indian Parliament so that
that of environment and that of forests and political commitment to the project deepens.
wildlife. 4. To ensure that project states follow the guidelines
2. Revitalise the National Board for Wildlife. The and prescriptions laid down for the project, a
prime minister could be requested to chair the system of having a Memorandum of
steering committee of the Project Tiger for the Understanding (MoU) with these states can be
coming few years. instituted. Any deviation or default from the MoU
3. The Project Tiger directorate should be converted should be reported to the steering committee.
into a Project Tiger Authority by giving it 5. Considering the multifarious nature of work

146 Action plan for change

 TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS

handled by the director, Project Tiger, it is should be created, with the chief minister of the
essential to strengthen the directorate with tiger range state as its chair.
autonomy and personnel. 9. Management committees should be set up for each
6. The director, Project Tiger, should be delegated protected area. These committees will include local
powers to deal with states under Section (3) of the community representatives, NGOs and researchers.
Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, especially for the 10. Create a sub-cadre of wildlife specialists and
enforcement of Project Tiger guidelines. professionals.
7. The role of director, Project Tiger, should not be 11. Independent audits of each reserve must be
confined to tiger reserves. Instead, it should conducted annually; the information generated
extend to other crucial forest areas as well which must be placed in the public domain.
have viable tiger populations. 12. Build collaborative networks with researchers to
8. A state steering committee for Project Tiger monitor change.

Protection
1. Each reserve must have a specific and detailed monitoring should be built into the system. The
strategy for protection. The independent incentives must be withdrawn in reserves that
monitoring of the reserve must include an score low on the rating chart. This should be done
assessment of the enforcement mechanisms in with complete transparency so that it is not seen
place and the patrolling efforts of field staff, so as political or discriminatory. In fact, this move
that policy interventions can be designed. will be a test for the independence and rigour of
3. A clear strategy for protection is needed in the independent assessment as well.
the northeastern reserves, where local people will 7. Investments in basic facilities should be made for
be the only ones capable of traversing and the frontline staff:
protecting the area. There should also be a clear a. Housing camps in neighbouring district
strategy for the reserves controlled by naxalites towns, usually where the project headquarter
and other insurgent groups, where armed is based, for families so that the education of
intervention by security forces might be the only their children can be secured;
option. b. Free rations for guards living in the camps.
4. Further recruitment of staff foresters as well as This practice is followed by many protection
guards should be reserved for local villagers. forces and helps in their work.
The criterion for recruitment should be amended
so that it relaxes the formal educational 8. A staff welfare fund can be created for each
qualifications needed for these positions and reserve, out of the income from tourism. This can
instead, values skills in jungle craft. In addition, be used to supplement medical and other benefits
there should be provision for in-service training for the staff.
for locally recruited staff. 9. There must be an urgent review of the crisis in
5. Institutionalise training so that each reserve has forestry services and steps that have been taken to
skilled and committed personnel. address issues of training, personnel develop-
6. Disincentives and rewards based on independent ment, staff reviews and salaries.

International trade in wildlife products

1. Very proactive and strong measures are needed on 2. A bilateral relationship must be built up with
the matter of international trade in wildlife and China to combat the trade in tiger parts. The
wildlife products. The Union ministry must work environment minister should take the lead by
to shape the agenda at the Convention on discussing and developing this relationship with
International Trade in Endangered Species of his Chinese counterpart, and this dialogue must
Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), to ensure that the be kept alive and ongoing. It is critical that India
global market for tiger products is investigated. takes the leadership on this issue and does not
The international community must be put under leave it to global institutions which are proving
pressure to combat and destroy this trade. inadequate in this regard.

Action plan for change 147

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Domestic wildlife crime

1. The wildlife crime bureau must be set up the Sansar Chand case.
immediately, based on the modifications d Regional forensic facilities must be set up to
suggested in the report: investigate wildlife specimens and the
a. At the central level, a strong bureau is needed evidence in wildlife crime.
with a capacity to develop a country-wide e. The wildlife crime bureau must be made a
database of wildlife crime to enable statutory body under the Wildlife (Protection)
coordination, investigation and legal follow- Act, 1972 to make it effective and give it
up. autonomy.
b. At the state level, there must be a node of the
wildlife crime bureau with the capacity to 2. The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 should be
both investigate and to follow up on the ammended as suggested in the report, so that the
crime. provisions related to crime are tightened and
c. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) must made more stringent, particularly for designated
be given the responsibility to investigate critically endangered species. This will provide
organised wildlife crime and to take over for deterrence for criminal actions against these
charge of certain special cases, for instance, species and result in speedier trials.

Innovative protection
1. Identify the major hunting tribes and communities on working with its forest-dependent traditional
in proximity to, or operating in, a reserve. Each hunting communities. The park management and
park authority must work to develop plans to use Project Tiger must work on locale-specific
the expertise of these hunters for protection as well approaches with these communities. These efforts
as for gathering basic ecological information. should be supported and carefully monitored, so
2. The independent monitoring of each park must that the learning can be disseminated and can
evaluate the work done by the park management become practice.

The science
1. The Tiger Task Force has reviewed the revised variety of tools photo-identification and
methodology proposed by the Project Tiger monitoring, camera traps, radio-telemetry and DNA-
directorate and the Wildlife Institute of India for based genetic studies in different landscape units.
estimating/monitoring tiger status and its habitat, 4. The work in the field of molecular techniques for
and endorses the approach. It hopes that the estimation needs to be supported. Encourage the
national tiger estimation, which is to be Wildlife Institute of India and the Centre for
conducted from November 2005, will be done Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) to take on
using this evolved methodology. pilot programmes at a landscape level using this
2. The Project Tiger directorate must set up a technique. The CCMB should be asked to provide
scientific expert group immediately with inputs in the development of molecular
expertise in relevant technical disciplines for techniques for identification of individual tigers.
overseeing the process. This group should work 5. The inclusive, open approach that we advocate
from the very inception of the process and assist depends crucially on free access to all
in suggesting appropriate ways of analysing and information, except where very evident security
interpreting the data. concerns are involved. In modern times, this
3. All efforts should be made to encourage and would be best ensured by posting all pertinent
facilitate intensive research and monitoring information on the Web, in English as well as in
studies of source population of tigers using a all Indian languages.

148 Action plan for change

 TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS

Research
1. Put in place institutional mechanisms that would and socio-economic research that has been
streamline existing procedures for clearance and conducted; these plans should be put in the
coordination of research and ensure better public domain and be used for the independent
utilisation of the research output. To do this, evaluation of the reserve.
panels should be set up at the state and national 3. The independent audit must be used to create a
levels, chaired by the inspector general of forests reputational advantage for the reserve.
(wildlife) or chief wildlife wardens, and including a. The Project Tiger directorate should work to
the secretary of the National Biodiversity further improve its criterion and indicators
Authority or the State Biodiversity Board and for the rating. The criterion must be
other experts in ecology, social sciences and bio- developed to benchmark the progress and
statistics. These panels must serve as single problems in all critical areas and set targets for
window clearing houses for all matters relating to its improvement.
wildlife research, so that they streamline current b. The rating should then be used for
procedures, rather than create another layer of management decisions and for creating an
decision-making. informed and involved public opinion on the
2. The process of designing and implementing the working of individual reserves.
management plans for each tiger reserve needs to c. It must be used to inform Parliament of the
be reworked. The plans must be updated progress being made in tiger conservation and
regularly, taking into consideration the scientific the challenges ahead.

Relocation
1 There should be an urgent and realistic review of the process of relocation does not lead to further
the number of villages that actually need to be resource degradation or loss of livelihood of people.
relocated from the reserves. The decision must be 5. The financial allocation for the relocation scheme
based on the fact that the villages that need to be must be revised and enhanced so that it can take
relocated are made to do so because they are into account the needs, particularly, of providing
situated in the critical habitats tiger natal areas irrigated land and other facilities to ensure
and key conservation priority areas. There must livelihood security.
be a criterion for the identification of these 6. The scheme must take into account the options for
villages, so that it is clear which village is to be livelihood in the resettled village. It is important
relocated and why. for planners to keep in view the fact that people
2. There must be a tight schedule of one year to who live within the reserves are forest-dependent
study settlements and list the ones to be relocated. communities, and survive within agro-silvo-
This schedule must be strictly complied with. pastoral economies. The relocation package must
3. Based on this list, the Project Tiger directorate be designed to provide viable alternatives.
should draw up a time-bound action plan to 7. The classfication of land after the families are
complete the process of relocation. The action relocated must be changed from forest to revenue
plan for relocation must be completed in terms of land, which will allow the settlers advantages of
its financial and land provisions before it is development and other facilities.
finalised and accepted. 8. Set up a task force at the Central level to monitor
4. During the formulation of this action plan, the the quality of relocation and to ensure that there is
responsible agency must keep in mind the careful coordination and follow-up in the
experience of past relocation efforts to ensure that relocation work.

Action plan for change 149

 JOINING THE DOTS TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT

Coexistence
1. People will continue to live in protected areas: the participation of local communities in
policy must accept this. It is not possible to settle decision-making and in management becomes
the rights and relocate all the families living in the essential. Regulation is best possible if all are
reserves. The facts are clear: in the last 30 years, parties to the decision.
less than 10 per cent of the families in tiger 6. It is important that this approach of inclusive
reserves have been relocated. protection is incorporated into conservation
2. If people live in protected areas, ways must be management urgently. For this, the following
found to secure their use of resources and must be done:
livelihoods. The current legal framework does not a. Each tiger reserve (to begin with) must take
account for the use of resources by communities, into account the current needs of people who
because people are not expected to be in the live within the reserve and evolve a plan for
national park at all, and in a limited way in the resource management and use. This strategy
sanctuaries. The law provides that during the must be developed in consultation with local
time the rights are settled and people live in communities, researchers and local NGOs.
protected areas, the state government has to b. The strategy must include plans for careful
provide alternative sources of fuel, fodder and monitoring and evaluation.
other forest produce. In short, the rights of c. The Project Tiger directorate must have
people cannot be expunged without providing internal capacity and staff to be able to
alternatives. monitor and guide this process carefully.
3. In this situation, the selective interpretation of the Every effort must be made to encourage
Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 which innovation and experimentation.
curtails the use of resources by people without d. Begin this process immediately. The plans for
taking into account the safeguards, has only led to each reserve must be completed within one
greater unrest around our protected areas and has year and be available publicly.
been detrimental to conservation.
4. Strategies for joint-collaborative-inclusive 7. The independent monitoring of tiger reserves must
management of our protected areas are then provide a high weightage for the work done by park
essential, so that this illegal use is made legal managers in collaborative management. The
and regulated. improvement in relationship between people and
5. All use need not be destructive. The question is parks must be a key criterion in the review. Each
how the use will be regulated or managed. In tiger reserve must be rated for this work and the
order for the resource use not to be destructive, best and worst identified for rewards and penalties.

The fringe
1. The tigers habitat cannot be secured unless we measured for during the evaluation of the reserves
secure the future of the millions who live on the and their ranking.
fringe. Currently, there is little information about 3. Pay compensation for crop damage as well. In
the numbers or their impact on the reserves. addition, compensation must be paid to families
Studies, preferably on a GIS-based platform, who continue to live within the reserves.
should be carried out to collect this information, 4. The Tiger Task Force understands that the
which can be used for the reserves management. government is currently working on the next
Place these studies and their results in the public phase of an externally aided ecodevelopment
domain along with all empirical data, so that other plan. It is important that all the issues listed in the
institutions and researchers can then build on this report regarding the opportunities and failures of
information. It should be a part of the work of the the first phase of the ecodevelopment project are
Project Tiger directorate to encourage and carefully considered and incorporated into the
undertake research on people-wildlife plan. The country cannot afford such expensive
interactions within and on the fringes of the experiments, unless they are carefully crafted and
reserves. skillfully executed.
2. Timely payment of compensation for livestock 5. The joint forest management programme in the
death and human injury and death, which falls in vicinity of the reserves must be revamped so that
the purview of the field directors, should be made people living in the fringes can be given
one of the criteria that the park management is management decisions and rights over the

150 Action plan for change

 TIGER TASK FORCE REPORT JOINING THE DOTS

produce of forests; this will improve the resource regimes of the areas and not by investing
productivity of the resources as well. The answer in short-term, assets-based alternate livelihoods.
to the crisis within the reserve lies in our abilities The investment will work if people are involved
to rebuild the resources outside. in the management of the natural resources.
6. The government must increase the per capita 7. The additional funds for development must be
expenditure in the development of forests, spent as a reciprocal arrangement with local
grasslands and water on the fringes of the tiger villagers increased investment in their
reserves. For these investments to be productive, resources to build collaborative and protective
they must be made in tune with the natural fences around the reserves.

Tourism
1. The regulation and management of tourism in prices by imposing an ecological cess, which
tiger reserves must remain in the charge of the should be ploughed back into each reserve
forest department. The Ranthambhore experience explicitly to be shared with local communities
clearly shows that tourist interests, if allowed to who continue to live within its boundaries and for
take precedence over those of conservation, can be staff benefits.
extremely detrimental to a reserve. If the park 6. Hotels within a radius of five km from the
management does not have the capacities to boundary of a reserve must contribute 30 per cent
manage tourism, efforts must be made to involve of their turnover to the reserve. Make this a
local communities and staff welfare associations compulsory cess on the hotel industry, for this
in the running of affairs. These interested industry is drawing advantages out of investments
communities will bring benefits to the made from public funds for the protection of
conservation efforts in the park, for their own reserves. The hotels can be allowed to claim 100
interests are enjoined with its protection. per cent income tax benefit for the same, as an
2. The areas adjacent to the park its fringe and incentive.
high impact zone must be reserved for 7. The tourism plan for each reserve must be
homestead-based tourism run on a small scale by developed and approved by the Project Tiger
local communities. This zone should ideally directorate. The plan must designate the tourism
extend up to three km from the outer periphery of zones, clearly demarcate the zoning plan and be
a reserves boundary. In case it is not possible to based on carrying capacity studies. The plans
extend this zone up to three km, the reserve must be available in the public domain along with
management must decide how far the zone should all tourism-regulating rules.
extend, after due consultation with the Project 8. The reserve must ensure that all possible avenues
Tiger directorate. of engaging local communities are exhausted
3. All other resorts and hotels can only be allowed before it resorts to using other resources as guides
beyond this zone reserved for homestead tourism. and for other employment and work
This reservation will promote alternative opportunities.
tourism and provide for opportunities for local 9. Designate the pilgrimage sites inside the park as
communities to directly benefit from this sacred groves with strict controls and regulations.
economic activity. All transit camps and places of stay for such
4. The Union ministry of environment and forests pilgrimages inside the park must be minimised
must finalise an eco-tourism policy for tiger and severely restricted. The benefits of the
reserves that incorporates this land-use reservation pilgrimage activity must accrue to local
into the Environment Protection Act, 1984. communities. The temple boards should be
5. Reserve managements must increase gate ticket persuaded to allow this to happen.

Ecological services
1. The Project Tiger directorate must take urgent reserves, and must formulate the mechanism for
initiative to begin a definite and time-bound charging the city/area/districts that get water from
programme of payment for ecological services to the watersheds secured by this reserve. The
stakeholders. It must work with the tiger reserves revenue so earned can be shared between the
to carry out an evaluation of the ecosystem reserve authorities and the people in and around
services that accrue to the nation from the the reserve in an equitable fashion.

Action plan for change 151

152
05
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government of India, Delhi Tiger Task Force, personal communication
15. Nitin Sethi, 2004, Officially bankrupt, Down To 4. MoEF, 2002, the National Wildlife Action Plan
Earth, Vol 13, No 5, Society for Environmental 2002-2016, government of India
Communications, New Delhi 5. Anon, 2004, compendium of guidelines issued
16. Nitin Sethi, 2004, Officially bankrupt, Down To by Project Tiger director, New Delhi
Earth, Vol 13, No 5, Society for Environmental 6. Government of Rajasthan, 2004, guidelines
Communications, New Delhi regarding regulation of tourists and vehicles in
17. Nitin Sethi, 2004, Officially bankrupt, Down To Ranthambhore national park, September 20,
Earth, Vol 13, No 5, Society for Environmental Jaipur
Communications, New Delhi 7. Dharmendra Khandal, 2004, Tourism
18. Anon, 2000, Bone of contention, Down To management in the Ranthambhore national park:
Earth, Vol 9, No 7, Society for Environmental problems and solutions, September, Tiger
Communications, New Delhi Watch, Sawai Madhopur, mimeo
19. K Ullas Karanth, 2005, Comments and 8. Anon, 2005, data received from Rajasthan state
suggestions on some general issues of tiger forest department to the Tiger Task Force, 2005
conservation in india, Centre for Wildlife 9. Anon, 2005, data received from Rajasthan state
Studies, Wildlife Conservation Society forest department to the Tiger Task Force, 2005
Bangalore 10. A K Garg, 2003, Order No F 11 (14) forest/01,
20. Vishwas Sawarkar, 2005, What will it take government of Rajasthan, forest department,
to secure in the long term the future of tigers May 26, Jaipur
in the forests of India an appraisal, 11. R Sukumar, 2005, brief note placed before
submitted to the Tiger Task Force, government of the Tiger Task Force, at the meeting held at
India the CES, IISc, Bangalore, June 21, Centre for
21. V K Bahuguna et al 2004, Root to Canopy, Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science,
Winrock International India mimeo
22. V K Bahuguna et al 2004, Root to Canopy, 12. R Sukumar, 2005, brief note placed before the
Winrock International India Tiger Task Force, at the meeting held at the CES,
23. Mark Poffenberger and Betsy McGean, 1996, IIS c, Bangalore, June 21, Centre for Ecological
Village Voices, Forest Choices, Oxford Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, mimeo
University Press 13. Deepa Kozhisseri, 2005, Once poacher,
24. V K Bahuguna et al 2004, Root to Canopy, now guard, Down To Earth, Vol 14, No 6,
Winrock International India Society for Environmental Communications,
25. Anon, 2004, Forest and Wildlife Statistics India New Delhi
2004, Union ministry of environment and 14. R Sukumar, 2005, brief note placed before
forests, New Delhi the Tiger Task Force, at the meeting held at
26. Anon, 2004, Forest and Wildlife Statistics India the CES, IISc, Bangalore, June 21, Centre for
2004, Union ministry of environment and Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science,
forests, New Delhi mimeo
27. Ruksan Bose, 2005, Too cut and dried, Down To 15. Ghazala Shahabuddin, 2005, When people take
Earth, Vol 14, No 5, Society for Environmental charge, sustainable tourism equals sustainable
Communications, New Delhi living, mimeo
28. Ashish Kothari, 2005, comments on the Wildlife 16. Rustam Vania, 2002, The enterprise, Down To
(Protection) Amendment Bill, 2002, Kalpvriksh, Earth, Vol 11, No 5, Society for Environmental
Pune Communications, New Delhi
29. Mohit Gera, 2004, Jammu and Kashmir, Root to 17. http://earthtrends.wri.org/text/biodiversity-

158 References
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protected/country-profile-205.html as seen on 2. Ruksan Bose, 2005, Too cut and dried, Down To
July 24, 2005 Earth, Vol 14, No 5, Society for Environmental
18. http://www.globaleye.org.uk/archive/summer2k/ Communications, New Delhi
focuson/mars_pt1.html, as seen on July 22, 3. Ruksan Bose, 2005, Too cut and dried, Down To
2005 Earth, Vol 14, No 5, Society for Environmental
19. Richard Hassler 1999, Overview of the social, Communications, New Delhi
ecological and economic achievements and 4. Madhu Verma, 2001, Economic valuation of
challenges of Zimbabwes CAMPFIRE programme, Bhoj wetlands for sustainable use, mimeo
IIED 5. Ruksan Bose, 2005, Too cut and dried, Down To
20. http://www.unsystem.org/ngls/documents/ Earth, Vol 14, No 5, Society for Environmental
publications.en/voices.africa/number6/vfa6.08. Communications, New Delhi
htm, as seen on July 22, 2005 6. Augusta Molnar et al 2004, Who conserves the
21. http://www.globaleye.org.uk/archive/summer2k/ worlds forests? A new assessment of
focuson/mars_pt1.html, as seen on July 22, 2005 conservation and investment trends, Forest
Trends, Washington, USA
3.11 Ecological services agenda 7. Ruksan Bose, 2005, Too cut and dried, Down To
1. Anon, 2004, State of Forest Report, Forest Survey Earth, Vol 14, No 5, Society for Environmental
of India 2003, Dehradun Communications, New Delhi

References 159
160
 06 Annexures
I. The composition and terms of reference
of the Tiger Task Force
II. Note of dissent by Valmik Thapar, member,
Tiger Task Force
III. Response of the chairperson, Tiger Task Force,
to note of dissent
IV. Expert consultations based on terms of reference
of the Tiger Task Force
V. Visits of the Tiger Task Force
VI. Experts requested to comment on
methodology of tiger estimation
VII. Suggestions received on the terms of reference
of Tiger Task Force
VIII. Methodology for estimating and monitoring
tiger status and habitat
IX. Investing in institutions for change:
strengthening the Project Tiger directorate
X. A critique of cadre-building in the forestry sector and
suggestions for human resource improvement
XI. Amending the criminal provisions of the
Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972
XII. Guideline on establishment of widlife wings issued 1973-1981

Annexures 161

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ANNEXURE-I The composition and terms of

reference of the Tiger Task Force
No 6 (4)/2005-PT
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT AND FORESTS
(PROJECT TIGER)
Annexe No. 5, Bikaner House
Shahjahan Road, New Delhi-11
Dated the 19th April, 2005.

NOTIFICATION
In pursuant to the decision taken during the second meeting of the National Board for Wildlife held on
17-3-2005, a Task Force for reviewing the management of Tiger Reserves has been constituted. The Members
of the Task Force are as follows:

(1) Ms Sunita Narain, Director, Centre for Science and Environment. - Chairperson
(2) Shri H S Panwar, Ex-Head, Project Tiger and Ex-Head, - Member
Wild Life Institute of India.
(3) Prof Madhav Gadgil, Environmental Historian and Member, - Member
National Board for Wildlife.
(4) Shri Valmik Thapar, Member, National Board for Wildlife. - Member
(5) Shri Samar Singh, Ex-Secretary, Govt. of India and Member, - Member
National Board for Wildlife.

The terms of reference of the Task Force are as follows:

1. Suggest measures to strengthen tiger conservation in the country.

2. Suggest measures to incentivise the local community in conservation of tigers.
3. Suggest measures to incentivise local forest staff posted in sanctuaries/national parks and ensure an
effective HR plan for tiger conservation/wildlife managers.
4. Suggest measures to improve the methodology of tiger counting and forecasting.
5. Suggest methods of transparent professional audit of wildlife parks and placing data on tiger conservation
in the public domain.
6. Suggest a new wildlife management paradigm that shares concerns of conservation with the public at
large.
2. The Project Tiger Division of the Ministry of Environment & Forests would be facilitating the working of
the Task Force and render all necessary help.
3. The Task Force should submit its report within three months from the date of this notification.
4. The sitting fees and travel cost would be reimbursed to the Members of the Task Force as per norms.

(DR. RAJESH GOPAL)

IGF & DIRECTOR, PROJECT TIGER
To
(1) All Members of the Task Force.
(2) P.M.O.
(3) PS to MEF
(4) PS to MOS (E&F)
(5) PPS to Secretary (E&F)
(6) PPS to DGF & SS
(7) PPS to Addl. DGF (WL)

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ANNEXURE-II Note of dissent

19, Kautilya Marg,
Chanakyapuri,
New Delhi-110021
Dated: 27.07.2005

To

Ms Sunita Narain,
Chairperson,
Task Force for Reviewing the
Management of Tiger Reserves,
New Delhi

Subject : Dissent Note on the Report of the Task Force for Reviewing the Management of Tiger
Reserves

I am enclosing my Note of Dissent on the report alongwith Annexure A to D. It may please be ensured
that this Note of Dissent alongwith enclosures is recorded and incorporated in the final report. A soft copy on
floppy is also enclosed.

Please acknowledge receipt.

VALMIK THAPAR
Member
Task Force for Reviewing the
Management of Tiger Reserves

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NOTE OF DISSENT BY VALMIK THAPAR, MEMBER ON THE DRAFT REPORT OF THE TASK FORCE
FOR REVIEWING THE MANAGEMENT OF TIGER RESERVES

I. The long term survival of tigers will depend on the single most important factor namely inviolate
protected areas A certain minimum area has to be managed exclusively in its natural form for the tiger.
The area may be ?%, 1% or 2% or more of the geographical area of this country depending on the political
mandate to do so. Let the principle of this be applied in the interest of the tiger. After all it is these areas
which provide the water, food and ecological security of the country. On the other hand the entire report
is based on a totally different strategy namely that:

There are two essential strategies here:

1. The habitat must be shared between the people and the tigers, so that both can coexist, as
they must. The poverty of one, otherwise, will be the destruction of the other.

(Page 4, Chapter 02 A Paradigm Change Making Conservation Work)

II. The concept paper on A Paradigm Change Making Conservation work and the chapter on Co-
existence of people raise serious issues that impact on the entire report. Let us not forget that the task
force was mandated to suggest measures to save the tiger from vanishing off the face of India. It was a
response to an ongoing tiger crisis. Unfortunately, in its eagerness to find eternal solutions for all
problems afflicting the country at one go, the Task Force appears to have lost this mission-focus and has
gone adrift trying to find solutions to all the problems of inequity and social injustice that afflict India. In
the process the interests of the tigers survival has been relegated and lost sight of.

III. It is imperative to note that all the potential tiger habitats in the protected areas of India, add up only to
100,000 sq. km. and populations where reproduction is taking place now occupy less than 20,000 sq. km.
This is a relatively small fraction of Indias huge rural poor population is exposed to tigers. The premise
that there are vast areas of India where tigers and people must be forced to co-exist through some
innovative scheme of increased use of underutilized forest resources by involving the local people does
not make any sense to tiger conservation especially when the human and cattle populations are
constantly rising. The fact is each tiger must eat 50 cow-sized animals a year to survive, and if you put it
amidst cows and people, the conflict will be eternal and perennial. Tigers continue to lose out as they did
in Sariska (and over 95% of their former range in India). The premise of continued co-existence over vast
landscapes where tigers thrive ecologically, as well people thrive economically, is an impractical dream,
with which I totally disagree. Such dreaming cannot save the tiger in the real world. On the other hand
such a scenario will be a no win situation for everyone and result in further declines and the eventual
extinction of tiger populations Alternatives where tigers have priority in identified protected reserves
and people have priority outside them have to be explored fast and implemented expeditiously. There
is no other way. The present concept of a new coexistence is an utopian idea and impractical and will
not work. This I am absolutely clear about.
Blaming strict nature reserves and conservation laws where tigers have priority, for all the poverty
and inequity driven ills that plague our vast country is pointless polemics: These ills are consequences of
the failure of development, economics and politics of the country and society as a whole and cannot be
simple-mindedly blamed on conservationists.

IV. In the chapter 5.8 The Co-Existence Agenda, it is stated that:

Exacerbating tensions with protection

If this was not bad enough, recent events have made things even more unbearable for the people who
live in these reserves.

In February 2000, the Amicus Curiae (in the omnibus forest case ongoing in the Supreme Court),
had filed an application seeking .. The court in its order dated 14.2.2000 ordered that
in the meantime, we restrain the respondents from ordering the removal of dead, diseased,
dying or wing-fallen trees, drift wood and grasses etc. from the national park or game sanctuary
or forest.

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This order has lead to a number of directions: .

But matters (and confusion) did not end there.

On October 20, 2003, the Ministry of Environment and Forests wrote to all chief secretaries a letter
detailing the guidelines for diversion of forest land for non forest purposes under the Forest
Conservation Act 1980.

But even this was not enough.

On July 2, 2004, the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) set up the Supreme Court to assist it in the
forest matters, wrote to all state governments .

Impact on conservation

The combined result of these directions, orders and clarifications has been that all hell has broken
loose in the protected areas.

The report gives an impression that the Honble Supreme Courts orders dated 14.2.2000, 3.4.2000,
10.5.2001, and February, 2002, application moved by the Amicus Curiae pursuant to which some of the
above orders have been passed, guidelines issued by the MoEF and clarification dated 2.7.2004 issued by
the CEC for implementation of the Honble Supreme Courts order are unwarranted, misplaced and that
these have been issued without application of mind. This view is totally unacceptable. I firmly believe
that the Honble Supreme Courts orders have been most invaluable in furthering the cause of
conservation and the protection of wildlife habitat. The large scale destruction of the tiger habitat due to
massive mining, tree felling, supply of bamboo to paper mills, diversion of protected area habitat for ill
conceived projects, etc. have been controlled significantly something which would not have been
possible but for the intervention by the Honble Supreme Court.

V. The concept paper simply ignores what sound science tells us about tiger conservation. It fails to note the
deteriorating protection of the tiger reserve, and the need to put in place alternative, effective mechanisms
to protect the core breeding populations of tigers in these protected areas. A Paradigm for Change
should have included a complete revision in the process of protection and enforcement coupled with
reform. Though this is suggested in other chapters its absence in the concept is perplexing. In the chapter
on Co-existence with people the recommendation of relocating people will come into direct conflict with
the recommendations on co-existence of people. In the end the recommendations would be a bundle of
contradictions and the outcome will come to naught. The suggested measures because of the inherent
contradictions will only cause further degradation of the tiger habitat and the tiger will be the end
sufferer. After all why on earth would anyone want to leave a protected area when the co-existence
package is so attractive? We are only too aware that there are criminal elements out there ready to kill the
tigers and plunder their home under the cover of livelihood related uses given a chance. The report of the
CBI about Sariska has confirmed this. Let us not overlook the fact that our mandate is about securing the
future of the tiger and this can only be done in the framework of our laws. Let there be no doubt about
our mandate.

VI. Even after many rounds of discussions, the final chapters have changes that were never discussed. For
instance few examples are:

(i) the decision taken by the Task Force was that the Honble Prime Minister should Chair the Steering
Committee of Project Tiger. This was not either or with the National Board of Wildlife (Chapter
The Way Ahead);

(ii) it was agreed that the Wildlife Crime Bureau should be headed by a senior officer in the super time
scale. Now added to this is the person should report to the Additional Director General of Forests.
Can this make any sense? All it will do is to prevent his independent functioning in such sensitive
investigative job. This is a typical bureaucratic approach to make the system ineffective (Chapter
Domestic Enforcement 3.3(a));

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(iii) regarding the State Empowered Committee of Rajasthan, I had clearly mentioned that the extension
of the term of the Committee was to do with the census the Committee was carrying out. The
Committee had taken a series of actions from its inception. Now the said paragraph states .but has
now extended its term by another three months which has delayed the urgent action needed (page 7
of Chapter 2 The Sariska Shock). This is factually incorrect and misleading;

(iv) there was a boxed section in the Chapter 3.5 The Science Agenda on how senior researchers and
scientists have been hounded and harassed by officials in the Parks. This has now been totally
deleted though it was earlier agreed to be retained.

VII. I am also quite shocked how the report has glossed over the role of the MoEF including the Project Tiger
Directorate in recent years. In the report given by me in the first meeting itself on 29th April, 2005, I had
clearly brought out the role of the Project Tiger in the debacle that took place in Sariska and the extinction
of tigers in Keladevi Sanctuary. It was then pointed out by me that there was need to inquire into and fix
the responsibility for the debacle. The vital issues raised in the above report find no mention in the final
report without any apparent reasons. Since then more than 21 tigers have been found to be missing in
Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve. This is a very serious issue. Again very little of this finds place in the report
(ANNEXURE-D).

I had earlier sent to you (i) a draft report (now final) identifying specific problems of tiger conservation
and giving specific solutions (ANNEXURE-A); (ii) an action plan for co-existence of people (ANNEXURE-B); and
(iii) objection to Research and Study Chapter (ANNEXURE-C). I have also objected to the sub-cadre in wildlife
and have instead proposed the alternative of creating a panel of suitable officers (Para 1(I to v) of Part II of my
report (ANNEXURE-A). I have also urged a Central Forest and Wildlife Protection Force may be set up (Para 2(vi)
of Part II) of my report (ANNEXURE-A).

Copies of the above are enclosed as ANNEXURE-A to ANNEXURE-C to this Note of Dissent. These together with
ANNEXURE-D form part of my Dissent Note.

Before parting, I am constrained to observe that sadly much of the report has become focused on how to
improve the life of people inside protected areas rather than protecting tigers inside them. This people focus
should have been the job of another task force. The focus on the tiger has therefore blurred since the priorities
have shifted. In a way this is tragic and if some of the recommendations are endorsed in policy they could
have dangerous repercussions for the tiger.

(Valmik Thapar)
Member
Task Force for Reviewing the
Management of Tiger Reserves

Dated :27.07.2005

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DISSENT NOTE

ANNEXURE-A

A PLAN OF ACTION TO ENSURE THE LONG TERM SURVIVAL OF TIGERS

INTRODUCTION having more than 40 per cent density has been lost in
just two years. Out of this area of 26,245 sq. kms of
1. The Sariska tiger crisis happened because (a) the dense forests, a total of 23,140 sq. kms is in
Tiger Reserve was completely mismanaged thereby potentially rich tiger habitats and includes, among
leaving the field open for poachers; (b) the actual others, States like Assam, Jharkhand, Karnataka,
number of tigers was much less than that reflected in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and
the earlier census figures because the census was not Uttranchal. The trends revealed in this latest report
participatory, transparent and scientific, the total are exceedingly grave and disturbing and, if not
count pugmark census methodology used since the reversed, could have serious consequences for the
1970s has been proven inaccurate; and (c) excessive tigers forests. There would be 300,000 sq. kms of
human and livestock disturbance right across the potential tiger habitat. Less than 10% contain
area. breeding population.

2. The Sariska tiger crisis is symptomatic of most of 4. The unregulated biotic pressure has resulted in a
India. In 2004-2005 local extinctions have taken conflict of interests between the local population and
place not only in Sariska Sanctuary but also in Kela the forest management with the real threat of large
Devi Sanctuary in Rajasthan. These two sanctuaries scale destruction of wildlife habitat looming on the
between them lost 24 tigers. There was also a sharp horizon. Encroachments, delayed settlement of rights
decline of 21 tigers in Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve. of the people and the diversion of forests for ill
All the seven tigers in the Palpurkuno Sanctuary and conceived projects have compounded the problems.
all the six tigers in Rani Durgawati Sanctuary in In this background the populist approach of liberally
Madhya Pradesh have been wiped out and are now regularizing encroachments and grant of pattas in
locally extinct. The decline across the North East forest areas and management interventions in the
including Namdapha and Dampha Tiger Reserves form of dry bamboo extraction, underplanting, etc.
coupled with the declines in places like Palamau will both mean further fragmentation inviting
Tiger Reserve, Valmiki Tiger Reserve, Dudhwa Tiger irreversible ecological disaster. Ultimately the tiger
Reserve, Indrawati Tiger Reserve, Panna Tiger itself will be on the brink of extinction.
Reserve and Nagarjuna Sagar Tiger Reserve reflect
the grim national scenario. The States have obviously 5. Tiger populations breed well and grow rapidly
not given the required priority to the issue of in population in habitats without incompatible
conservation and protection of tigers human uses. They cannot co-exist with people
notwithstanding the existence of many reports, particularly in a situation where both human impacts
recommendations and the Wildlife Action Plan that and livestock grazing are continuously on the
are drawn up from time to time after involving increase. In the Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve the
experts at the national level. The non- tiger has gone locally extinct in Kela Devi Sanctuary
implementation of the National Wildlife Action Plan and Sawai Mansingh Sanctuary in the year 2005.
(2002-2016) particularly stands out starkly in this The reason for this is the presence of 52,510 goats,
regard. 10178 buffaloes, 4928 cows and even 37 camels. Not
to talk of 40 villages and their ever increasing human
3. The tremendous pressure on forests and the population. One wonders whether this sanctuary
unsustainable levels of biomass removals by local has been declared to protect forest and wildlife or
people as well as by the forest department and cattle? The long term survival of tigers will therefore
rampant grazing have adversely affected the National depend on how secure and inviolate are the
Parks/sanctuaries/reserve forests. The State of the protected areas in which they live.
Forest Report, 2003, clearly brings out that the forests
having more than 70 per cent density is only 51,285 6. In the above background an attempt has been
sq. kms. (1.56 per cent of this countrys geographic made to highlight the problems (Part I) under six
area). Further, an area of 26,245 sq. kms (0.75 per heads as below :
cent of countrys geographic area) of dense forests i) Forest Personnel;

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ii) Infrastructure; be effective. This also raises issues like how do you
iii) Biotic Pressure on the Wildlife Habitat; create a system to ensure that the best person is on
iv) Policy and Enforcement Issues; the job and how do we make him fully effective in
v) Research, Science and Monitoring ; and that job? Particularly given that the State
vi) Funds Related Issues Governments really make the final decisions in all
personnel posting in reserves. How do we attempt
7. Similarly, an attempt has also been made to this?
provide possible solutions to the problems listed in
the preceding para within the existing legal and 10. Similarly, to minimize human disturbance how
administrative framework that exists in India. The do you involve the forest management and the local
solutions suggested (Part II) have been indicated inhabitants? Ultimately both the forest management
under the following heads : and the local people have to develop a sense of pride
i) Manage the Protected Area with Competent and satisfaction in what they are doing if the forests
Officials so that Problems are Resolved ; and wildlife are to be conserved and protected.
ii) Sensitize the Centre and State Today the area in which tigers live undisturbed is
Administration to the Needs of the Tiger; grossly inadequate and therefore the long term
iii) Prevent Destruction of the Tigers Habitat; survival of the tiger hangs in the balance.
iv) Strengthen Research and Training Across
Tiger Habitats; 11. There has to be close coordination and
v) Provide Timely Funds to all Specially dovetailing of the activities initiated by the National
Designated Tiger Areas; Level Committee headed by the Prime Minister, the
vi) Legal Support; and State Level Committee headed by the Chief Minister
vii) International Cooperation. and the National Advisory Committee on Research
so that they all move and act in tandem and become
8. The Plan of Action drawn up identifies the receptive mechanisms for change.
problems and provide solutions without becoming
encyclopedic. The problems have to be tackled on a 12. It is with all these factors in mind that this plan
war footing to ensure that the solutions are faithfully of action has been spelt out in a simple and straight
implemented in the field in a time bound manner. forward way without too much detail which
The need of the hour is implementation. wherever further required has been left to the
appropriate expert administrative and research
9. Issues related to personnel matters need to be committees. This Plan of Action has been so
given a very high priority because the officials who structured so as to ensure that the existing delicate
manage the tigers landscape, and the local people, balance of responsibility and power between the
have to be committed and dedicated and trained to Centre and the State is not disturbed.

PART I

THE PROBLEMS

1. FOREST PERSONNEL years.

vi) No effective system of specialized training
i) Lack of professionally trained, committed, (induction stage, in service etc.)
competent and physically fit Field vii) Transfer policy no fixed tenure.
Directors and other officials. Irrational transfers on extraneous
ii) The Forest Departments mindset is that of considerations.
an owner not a custodian. viii) Lack of incentives including special pay,
iii) There is no system of selective housing, etc.
appointments to the sensitive posts at ix) Insufficient promotion avenues forest
various levels in the PAs/Tiger Reserves. guards remain stagnant for years.
(Instead many are treated as punishment x) Poor service conditions for front line staff
postings). in terms of provisions for ration, special
iv) Vacant posts numbering nearly 5000 in pay, family accommodation, working
PAs/Tiger Reserves. hours, schooling, medical facilities,
v) The average age of forest guards is above 50 compensatory leave, life and other

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insurance policies etc. ix) Unregulated and poor tourism management.

xi) Physical fitness programme No training x) Excessive/illegal grazing and removal of
or drill centres on site. fuelwood, MFP, etc. continues at
xii) Lack of effective disciplinary action system unsustainable levels.
against the delinquent officials. xi) Presence of roads (State and other roads)
Punishment should be swift and act as a with heavy traffic passing through PAs.
deterrent. xii) Poor management of tigers outside
xiii) Lack of priority for deployment of armed PAs/tiger reserves.
police in time of crisis/to sensitive area.
IV. POLICY AND ENFORCEMENT ISSUES
II. INFRASTRUCTURE
i) Lack of will at higher echelons of political
i) Forest Officials are not empowered to use and administrative set up at both Centre
fire arms for protection of Government and State levels (committees hardly meet,
property/forest produce/wildlife except in decisions kept pending, whatever decision
Karnataka/Tamil Nadu. taken remains unimplemented, posts not
ii) Inadequate as well as out dated fire arms filled, dual charge, powers of
exist with the officials and wherever transfer/posting misused, etc.).
available no proper training programme/ ii) Ineffective role of the MoEF in convening
facilities exist. meetings of committees, decision taking
iii) Lack of uniform, shoes, patrolling kit for delayed, poor follow up action on
the staff. decisions taken, appointments etc. Endless
iv) No/inadequate wireless hand-sets for recommendations of expert committees
communication. gathering dust in MoEF for years e.g.
v) Inadequate mobility (motorcycles, jeeps, Subramanayam Committee.
trucks, boats, etc.). iii) Lack of a grasp of human and ecological
vi) Inadequate forest chowkies/posts, anti concerns in wildlife conservation resulting
poaching camps, patrol camps and staff in poor policy.
quarters. iv) National Wildlife Action Plan (2002-2016)
vii) Poor service and maintenance of vehicles, only on paper. Completely ignored and
wireless, chowkies/checkposts, buildings, remains unimplemented.
equipments, etc. v) Lack of professionally trained wildlife
officials leading to poor enforcement of
III. BIOTIC PRESSURE ON THE WILDLIFE forest and wildlife laws which is a critical
HABITAT component in the protection work.
vi) Lack of coordination between Centre and
i) Settlement of acquisition rights under State in the implementation of policies,
Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 pending laws, guidelines and directives.
for decades in PAs. vii) Lack of coordination amongst the various
ii) No effective steps taken to prevent and agencies/departments.
remove encroachments. viii) National Wildlife Crime Bureau is yet to be
iii) Very poor progress of relocation of set up even though decision to create it was
villages located inside the National taken eight years ago.
Park/sanctuary. ix) Ineffective intelligence collection and
iv) Inadequate compensation for the loss of networking at local level, state level,
life and property including crops resulting national level and international level, and
in anger and deliberate damage both to absent or ineffective in most States.
wildlife and habitat.
v) Habitat fragmentation due to ill conceived V. RESEARCH, SCIENCE AND MONITORING
projects/schemes which have adverse
impact on PAs. i) No wildlife management manual the
vi) Absence of adequate wildlife corridors Protected Area manager has no guidelines
connecting one PA/Tiger Reserve with to refer to and no clear prescription to
another. follow which leads to taking ad hoc
vii) Conflict of PA with local community decisions.
(within as well as in peripheral villages). ii) Absence/poor quality of Management
viii) Rampant legal/illegal mining continues. Plan for Protected Area. Wherever they

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exist the prescriptions are poorly VI. FUNDS RELATED ISSUES

implemented due to lack of funds or
expertise. i) Grossly inadequate allocation (State
iii) Poor scientific input in management and plan, Central Plan).
monitoring of PAs. ii) Diversion of Central assistance in
iv) Unscientific estimation of tiger population absence of proper funding mechanism.
Grossly inflated because of defective iii) Earmarking of funds necessary so that it is
methodology. Also lacks transparency. not diverted for non-forestry/non-wildlife
v) Size of the breeding tiger population activities.
depends on good protection/adequate iv) Delay in disbursement and utilization of
preybase, less disturbance and adequate funds Late release of funds results in it
water availability. either being misutilised or remaining
vi) Independent scientific researchers unutilized because it is not possible to use
discouraged, even harassed. it before the financial year ends on the 31st
vii) Poor management of the area (habitat, March of that particular year.
animals, people tourism etc.). Should v) Inadequate delegation of financial powers
include independent ecological audit and purchases etc.
monitoring. vi) No funds for intelligence gathering.

PART II

SOLUTIONS

I. MANAGE THE PROTECTED AREA WITH to be shifted before completion of tenure

COMPETENT OFFICIALS SO THAT only in exceptional cases with reasons to
PROBLEMS ARE RESOLVED be recorded and communicated along with
transfer orders.
i) Prepare a panel of officials who have vii) Like some of the specialised government
evinced keen interest in wildlife at the agencies the tenure may be extendable in
level of Field Director (Conservator of deserving cases no cap need be fixed.
Forests)/ Deputy Conservator of Forest viii) Eligibility for in situ promotion to ensure
level), A.C.F. and RFO Make a small continuity.
beginning say with 10 Field Directors, 25 ix) Special pay and facilities for officials
ACF s, 50-100 RFOs and then increase the posted in the field.
numbers. x) Mechanism for swiftly fixing
ii) The panel to be drawn up by the Ministry accountability and responsibility against
of Environment & Forests in consultation lax/corrupt/defaulting officials.
with independent experts and State
Governments. The detailed procedure and II. SENSITISE THE CENTRE AND STATE
standards for this purpose to be laid down ADMINISTRATION TO THE NEEDS OF THE
by the National Committee headed by the TIGER
Prime Minister (refer para II (i)).
iii) The empanelled officers may be i) A National Tiger Management Committee,
considered for posting in any of the at the Central level, under the
premier PAs within his home cadre and in Chairmanship of the Prime Minister with
other States (on State to State deputation representatives of the Ministries of
basis). Environment and Forests, Home, Finance,
iv) In addition to forest officers, the panel may Tribal Welfare, Rural Development and the
include non-government experts and Planning Commission as well as
willing officers from other services on independent experts as members should be
deputation. Lateral induction may also be constituted to provide policy input and
resorted to. inject innovative reforms in the system.
v) Extensive training on a continuous basis to The said Committee, wherever required,
empanelled officials. may intervene to provide the requisite
vi) Security of tenure to be ensured officials political and administrative inputs and

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support at the Central/State level. The viii) Projects like eco-development etc. should
Central Committee will regularly interact not be handled by the Forest Department
with the State Committee chaired by the whose sole job must be focused on
Chief Minister. protection.
ii) A High Powered Committee under the ix) The environmental impact of all
Chairmanship of the Chief Minister with commercial and developmental projects
the Forest Minister, Chief Secretary, proposed to be undertaken in and around
Secretaries looking after Departments of the tigers habitat needs to be thoroughly
Forests, Home, Finance and Planning, scrutinized by experts before being
Principal Chief Conservator of Forest and cleared.
Chief Wildlife Warden as members to be x) The impact of externally aided projects in
constituted immediately for taking the field of wildlife conservation and
decision for filling up vacant posts, protection has by and large been negative
imparting training to the front line staff, and therefore should be discouraged.
providing incentives to the officials,
improving service conditions and facilities III. PREVENT DESTRUCTION OF THE TIGERS
and the deploying of armed police in HABITAT
sensitive areas in times of crisis. This
Committee will also deal with other i) Settlement/acquisition of rights in the PAs
administrative issues such as empowering under the provisions of the Wild Life
the use of fire arms, providing uniforms, (Protection) Act, 1972 should be
patrolling equipment, wireless networks, undertaken on priority.
vehicles, and the allocation and release of ii) A time bound programme for the
adequate funds for wildlife conservation relocation of villages from within the
with adequate delegation of financial protected areas should be prepared and
powers, etc. implemented at the earliest. The
iii) To accord priority and focus on the rehabilitation plan should ensure that the
conservation and protection issues, a compensation package is the best possible,
separate department for Forest and liberal and attractive so that it leads to a
Wildlife should immediately be carved out better quality of life. As far as possible the
within the Ministry of Environment and relocation process should be outsourced
Forests. It may be mentioned that during with the Forest Department playing only a
the meeting of the National Board of catalytical role.
Wildlife held on 17.3.2005 under the iii) Since the above matter is of critical
Chairmanship of the Prime Minister, there importance, the State Committee under the
was a general consensus for a separate Chairmanship of the Chief Minister should
Department for Forest and Wildlife. regularly review the all round progress.
iv) Immediate implementation of the National The funds for this purpose may be made
Wildlife Action Plan (2002-2016). Funds to available by the MoEF, Ministry of Tribal
be earmarked for the implementation of Affairs, Ministry of Rural Development
this Plan. and the State Governments. Other sources
v) The Wildlife Crime Bureau should like the Compensatory Afforestation Fund
immediately be made effective preferably may also be tapped.
before 1st September, 2005, and even after iv) Prevention and eviction of encroachments
it is set up the CBI should continue to play a should be given emphasis.
lead role. v) The villagers in and around the PAs should
vi) A Central Forest and Wildlife Protection be effectively involved in conservation and
Force should be constituted by drawing protection of the area. Some of the
officials on deputation from Police, CRPF, suggested measures are :
CISF , ITBP , etc. This fully equipped and a) creation of village patrols where
trained force can be deployed at short local villagers are trained, given
notice to any trouble spot. monthly remuneration and like
vii) The officials posted in PAs should not be home guards can be effectively
used for election or any other non- deployed. A specially designed
protection work. Similarly the vehicles course may be drawn up for their
belonging to the PA shall not be diverted for training;
any work relating to election or other duties. b) use of local villagers for water and

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soil conservation, fire protection, as habitats in forests outside the protected

tourist guides and interpreters and areas.
in any other P.A. based activity. vii) Priority needs to be accorded for
Suitable training courses for these identification and protection of wildlife
activities may be drawn up; corridors for the movement of
c) networking local people in tigers/wildlife from one PA/habitat to
intelligence gathering against timber another.
mafia and poachers; viii) Imposing a cess on hotels and tour
d) build up close rapport with forest operators who depend on the PA for their
staff and local anti-poaching patrols business. The cess will be determined by
(to use their traditional knowledge the State Committee under the
of the area) to track poachers; Chairmanship of the Chief Minister. The
e) impart training for their cess can be used for the welfare of the local
involvement in scientific research population such as schooling, medicine,
(special courses that are site specific etc.
to the ongoing research can be ix) efforts should be made to provide alternate
conducted); routes to the existing roads/National/State
f) the revenue from tourism collected Highways passing through the PAs which
by the Park Authorities may be are playing havoc with the tiger and
used for the establishment of a wildlife.
Village Trust Fund for engaging the xi) Mining (new leases as well as renewal
local population in the protection cases), hotels and resorts and other
of the PA to be administered by activities which have a negative impact on
the village elders. Some of this the habitat and wildlife should not be
revenue could also go towards staff permitted within the safety zone (say one
welfare; km. from the boundary).
g) the local population may play an xi) Protected Areas affected by
effective role in conservation and insurgency/naxalites and which have good
protection of the area by forests and tiger habitats require special
establishing Management attention through special measures. Both
Boards/Committees for the PA Central and State Committees will deal
consisting of representatives of the with this issue.
villages, Park officials and locally xii) Under no circumstances mining,
based conservation NGOs and agriculture, regularization of
scientists. This Management encroachment and other activities which
Board/Committee may meet every lead to fragmentation/destruction of the
three months in order to encourage a habitat should be permitted.
transparent and participatory
approach towards management and Many of the above activities can be
thereafter will regularly send its prohibited/regulated under the existing provisions of
recommendations to the State Level the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 and also by
Committee; issuing of notification under the Environment
h) rehabilitation of hunting tribes, (Protection) Act by the MoEF.
traditional poachers living in and
around PAs should be done on a IV. STRENGTHEN RESEARCH AND TRAINING
priority basis (as was done in ACROSS TIGER HABITATS
Periyar). One way of rehabilitating
them is by involving them in anti- i) A Wildlife Management Manual/Code
poaching works which gives rich should be prepared in a time bound
dividend. They could also be manner by the MoEF with the assistance of
resettled away from forest areas and the Wildlife Institute of India. It should be
then given alternatives for their ensured that every PA is managed as per the
livelihood. This would need to be prescriptions of the Management Pan for
closely monitored; that particular P.A. The Manual would be
vi) Specific prescriptions for tiger protection akin to a handbook that provides detailed
should be incorporated in the Working information for the better management of
Plans in respect of identified tiger rich the P.A.

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ii) An important component of the V. PROVIDE TIMELY FUNDS TO ALL

Management will be a detailed SPECIALLY DESIGNATED TIGER AREAS
prescription for tourism, managing it and
ensuring both respect for the tiger and the The Central assistance, instead of being routed
visitor. through the normal State Government
iii) A National Level Research Advisory machinery, should be released directly to
Committee with independent experts and the field staff on the existing pattern of release
institutional members may be constituted of funds by the MoEF through the Forest
to give inputs/frame guidelines from time Development Agency (FDA). This will not
to time regarding: (this should be an only ensure timely release and utilization of
autonomous body free from government funds but responsibility and accountability can
shackles so that they render independent also be easily fixed for non-utilization and
and objective advise fearlessly) misuse of funds. A system of concurrent
a) tiger census methodology (to be financial audit as well as ecological audit should
decided after a complete review by be put in place
all scientists associated with this
especially because of the serious VI. LEGAL SUPPORT
limitations of the total counts in the
pug mark methodology); i) Legal cells headed by experienced legal
b) research, monitoring and ecological officers should be set up in each State for
audit; and imparting training to officers/staff in
c) issue of transparent guidelines for investigative skills, collection of
Research Projects including evidenced, preparation of charge
redressal of grievances sheets/complaints etc.
expeditiously. ii) The Legal Cell will vigorously and closely
iv) Revamp the course and curriculum at the pursue and monitor serious cases of
IGNFA which imparts training to IFS poaching etc. They shall in such cases
probationers and also organize special appoint special counsels/senior lawyers so
refresher courses for the serving IFS that cases are taken to their logical end
officers. without delay.
v) A full fledged Centre for Wildlife Studies iii) Regional Forensic Laboratories to be
consisting of (a) forest officials and other established and recognized under the
experts on deputation to the Indira Gandhi provisions of Code of Criminal Procedure.
National Forest Academy; (b) visiting The opinion/reports of these laboratories
faculty consisting of reputed national level are accepted as evidence in the Courts.
experts; and (c) experts from the Wildlife iv) Provide prompt and effective legal support
Institute of India, etc. should be to officers/staff facing harassment on
established in the Indira Gandhi National account of false retaliatory cases filed
Academy of Administration. against them.
vi) The Centre for Wildlife Studies in v) Should also expedite cases (departmental
coordination with the MoEF should be or criminal) against officials by pursuing
made responsible for the preparation of the them vigorously.
curriculum and imparting training for the
IFS probationers, conducting refresher VII. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
courses and specialized studies/research.,
etc. In some areas, Indias tiger habitats are
vii) This Centre may also be used for providing contiguous across national boundaries with
specialized refresher courses/training Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Mynamar.
programme for other officials (from Forest These transboundary issues need to be taken up
Department as well as other Departments). at bilateral level as also at SAARC meetings so that
viii) A detailed annual presentation can be a joint/special task force could be set up for
made to NBWL/Prime Ministers Committee better protection and management of these areas.
by the National Advisory Board of Research This will greatly help the present population of
in order to apprise him each year regarding tigers that move to and fro across international
the prevailing state of affairs. borders.

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DISSENT NOTE

ANNEXURE-B

RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE TASK FORCE REGARDING COEXISTENCE OF PEOPLE IN THE

PROTECTED AREAS DRAFT PREPARED BY VALMIK THAPAR

BASIC CONSERVATION STRATEGY modification of its order dated 14.2.2000 to

enable the legal right holders to enjoy the
i) The areas falling within the National Parks benefits in the sanctuary and in the areas
should be made inviolate. People living in where final notifications have not been
these areas should be relocated and their issued. The CEC has filed its report dated
rights acquired under the WLPA. If any 4th November, 2004, which is under
village is not found of strategic importance consideration of the Honble Supreme
within the National Park the boundary of Court. The MoEF may intervene in the said
the park should be altered to exclude such I.A. and modification of the said order.
village. The excluded village may be viii) A number of sanctuaries have been
included in the adjoining sanctuary, if notified which include non-strategic areas
any. Needless to say that rehabilitation of very low conservation value with many
package should be the best available and villages. A time bound exercise of
attractive. rationalizing the boundaries of such
ii) Relocation from the sanctuary should be sanctuaries should be undertaken by the
restricted to the minimum possible taking MoEF in consultation with the States. This
into account the conservation value of the process will result in the exclusion of
area i.e. the relocation should be restricted many areas. This will be of great help in
to the area which are absolutely vital for mitigating the sufferings of a large number
the protection of tigers and are to be treated of people.
as core area for tiger conservation. ix) Even in non-strategic areas of the
iii) A detailed time bound plan for relocation sanctuaries, if the villagers volunteer to
of villages identified should be prepared shift out, such shifting should be
and funds required should be made facilitated.
available at the earliest. x) The villages from the sanctuaries may be
iv) It should be made clear that the existing allowed to be shifted into reserve
provisions of the W.L. (P) Act. allows the forest/protected forest/unclassed forest
right holders to carry out their legitimate without payment of compensatory
activities such as agriculture, grazing, etc. Afforestation, NPV, etc. For this purpose a
v) Pursuant to Honble Supreme Courts order simplified procedure for granting approval
dated 14.2.2000 in IA No. 548, no under the F.C. Act should be formulated.
harvesting/removal of forest produce xi) For the villagers which remain inside the
including minor forest produce is sanctuary, innovative interventions within
permissible from national the framework of the law and the Supreme
parks/sanctuaries. Courts order should be introduced to
vi) It may be clarified that the WLPA allows ensure that the bona fide livelihood needs
making of alternate arrangements for of the local people are taken care of. These
making available fuel, fodder, and other may include :
forest produce to the existing right holders a) preference in employment in
(Section 18-A(2)). Section 29 of WLPA various government departments;
provide that any forest produce required b) engagement in water and soil
from the sanctuaries should be distributed conservation and other forest
for meeting the personal bona fide needs of management measures;
the people living in and around the c) involvement in village protection
sanctuaries (and not for any commercial force;
purpose). d) passing on part of cess collected
vii) In view of above legal provisions, the MoEF from nearby hotels;
may move the Honble Supreme Court for e) employment in private sector hotels

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and in other developmental projects (Protection) Act, 1972 provides for meeting all
around the park; the concerns and requirements of the local people.
f) tourist guides, trackers, intelligence The only issue is its effective implementation,
gatherers, etc. therefore, there is no need for any review/revision of
The above list is indicative and not the Act.
exhaustive. The management plan should The MoEFs directions are in consonance and in
include a detailed prescription for compliance of Honble Supreme Courts orders and
involving the local population in the park therefore cannot/should not be withdrawn. It may be
management, mitigating man-animal mentioned that the Honble Supreme Court in Pradip
conflict with a view to improve their Krishen v/s UOI (AIR 1996 SC 2040)+ has specifically
quality of life. directed to complete settlement proceedings
The existing provisions of the Wild Life expeditiously.

DISSENT NOTE

ANNEXURE -C

OBJECTION BY MR. VALMIK THAPAR MEMBER TIGER TASK FORCE ON RESEARCH AND
SCIENCE TO BE INCORPORATED IN THE REPORT

Mr. Valmik Thapar Member of the Task Force proposed scheme. Their critique covers the issue of
has submitted the following note of decent in the very design of the surveys in proposed stages,
relation to the recommendations on approaches to be practical problems in implementing many of the
adopted for monitoring tiger populations in the survey methods in field conditions, problems of
future. analysis as well as with the demonstrated example
The past history of Project Tiger is strewn with from Satpura-Maikal Pilot Project which actually has
failures to reform the monitoring system due to a lack not implemented the occupancy estimation
of attention to detail and ignoring of inputs form approach. Given this Valmik Thapar strongly
scientists seriously engaged with tiger conservation believes that a technical panel of experts proposed by
issues. the Task Force should examine all these aspects of
Since then the proposed scheme has been the proposed methodology before it is implemented
thoroughly examined and critiqued by leading in order to resolve the problems that are admitted to
carnivore ecologists who have specialized in exist with this protocol. This should be done within
population survey methodologies for decades at the a time frame of just 3 months. Such a process
specific request of the Task Force. These in put will ensure the removal of any flaws and errors
shave come from Dr. Ullhas Karanth, Dr. Raghu which may be present and prevent costly
Chundawath, Dr. M. D. Madhusudan, Dr. AJT expenditures from taking place before the method
Johnsingh, Dr. SP Goel, Dr. Yoganand (the last has been vetted. This safeguard will be vital to this
three are from the Wildlife Institute of India). All new step we are taking.
these analysis, have endorsed the broad idea of Therefore Valmik Thapar disagrees with the
Project Tiger taking up countrywide distribution view that the protocol regarding tiger estimation
surveys of tiger under a new sampling-based should be implemented immediately and even before
paradigm (instead of total count censuses). But the technical panel has a chance to examine and
they all have pointed out several flaws in the improve it.

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DISSENT NOTE

ANNEXURE- D

SPECIAL NOTE

From: Valmik Thapar also been provided for patrolling (details of this
Member TIGER TASK FORCE (TTF) can be made available from the State as an
example of what can be done as a preventive step
To: The Chairman and all other Members, for other States to follow).
for the meeting of the Task Force on 29th April, 2005.
DISSEMINATE ALL INFORMATION. This is
Date: 28th April, 2005 vital as a case study so that everyone realises
what happened and can learn a lesson from it to
The Tiger Task Force (TTF) was born from a crisis prevent repeats. This case study should be sent
that resulted in the extinction of the tigers in Sariska across India as an example of what can happen.
and Kela Devi Sanctuaries. The Prime Minister
described the state of affairs as the worst crisis of WHAT HAPPENED?
wildlife since the inception of the Project Tiger.
Lets not forget as far as Sariska is concerned the
OBJECTIVE Director of the Reserve provided an early
warning in his census report on 25th May, 2004.
The objective of this note is to spell out short term It remained unheeded to by the Chief Wildlife
and long term measures that will help save wild Warden of Rajasthan and he only communicated
tigers. I presume that is the objective of the TTF. it or part of it on August 17th, 2004 to the
Directorate of Project Tiger who did not react
till February 2005 after each tiger had been
SHORT TERM MEASURES wiped out. I quote below from it.

(1) Deployment of additional Home Guards and On 25-4-2004 the Field Director of Sariska
Armed Police in different tiger reserves across reported to the Chief Wildlife Warden of
India which are facing serious problems. This is Rajasthan and stated on the basis of the
an essential preventive measure pre-monsoon available evidence and on ocular analysis of the
2005. pugmarks and movement of tigers the team
(a) Manas Tiger Reserve, Assam reached a rough estimate that the number of
(b) Namdapha Tiger Reserve, Arunachal tigers were between 16 and 18..Since this
Pradesh estimate is quite different from that of last years
(c) Simlipal Tiger Reserve, Orissa census and could lead to
(d) Valmiki Tiger Reserve, Bihar controversyExperts should be called to
(e) Palamau Tiger Reserve, Jharkhand carry out examination of the evidence.
(f) Nagarjuna Tiger Reserve, Andhra Pradesh
(g) Indravati Tiger Reserve, Chattisgarh However, the Chief Wildlife Warden ignored this
(h) Panna Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh letter and on the 17th August, 2004 sent a letter to
(i) Pench Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh the Director, Project Tiger stating for Sariska
(j) Tadoba Tiger Reserve, Maharashtra Tiger Reserve has 16-18 tigers. There is then an
(k) Dudhwa Tiger Reserve, Uttar Pradesh asterix on this that says: Due to bad weather
most of the Pugmark Impression Pads were
(2) Ranthambhore and Sariska Tiger Reserve are not damaged and it obstructed effective trekking
on this list as the Government of Rajasthan have and collection of evidence.
already taken essential steps of deploying more
than 300 Home Guards and armed Police on the Why did Project Tiger in Delhi not reject the
periphery as a precaution against armed census and order a new one?
intruders. All regular raids are being conducted
against possible poachers and unwanted (3) It is also understood that a Tiger Assessment
elements. A full infrastructure of vehicles has Report was submitted by the Wildlife Institute of

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India after a 10 day site visit with two senior The alleged disappearance of 18 tigers from
biologists and eight Ph.D. students. They also Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve is misleading and
found no evidence of tigers and shockingly not true. There is a daily monitoring system in
found a wild boar stumbling round dragging a place wherein details of tigers utilizing different
tiger trap in its legs. This was March and you parts of the habitat within the reserve are
can imagine how many steel traps were spread recorded.
across the heart of this tiger reserve.
The idea of daily monitoring of tigers without
(4) It is understood that the CBI report on Sariska radio collars in an absurdity. While on the 23rd
talks of: February, 2005 Director, Project Tiger was
making these comments on a site visit to
a) Grossly inflated census figures over 10 Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve the Deputy
years related to the maximum sustainable Director, Project Tiger, Sawai Madhopur (buffer)
population 80% margin of error. had on the 3rd February, 2005 (20 days earlier)
b) 75% of staff are untrained and unsuitable sent a letter to the Field Director saying that in a
for extensive on foot responsibilities. large component of Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve
c) More than 3000 hectares of the tiger reserve which is Kela Devi Sanctuary there was no
is encroached. evidence of tigers, pugmarks or faecal matter. On
d) Complete lack of monitoring and 16th March, 2005 he again sent a letter to Field
astonishment regarding the fact that NO Director stating that after intensive patrolling he
intelligence was gathered on poachers could not find anything and finally the Field
glaring failure of intelligence by forest staff. Director sent a letter to chief Wildlife Warden on
e) No effort to effectively patrol or maintain 31st March, 2005 saying that the tigers in Kela
communication with villagers. Devi were down from 6 to 0. Local extinction.

We must examine this example it must be (b) The Project Tiger Directorate receives
reflective of several areas in India. If these updating periodically from tiger reserves on
factors are true for other areas there is little important events / happenings, as well as
chance of saving tigers. Also examine why the mortality of wild animals due to poaching /
CBI was able to find all this in 2 days and Project natural deaths, complemented by factual
Tiger not at all. This will be the only way to information gathered during frequent field
understand the root of the problem that afflicts visits of MoEF officials. Therefore, there is
our tiger reserves. We need to send the Sariska no collapse of any warning system.
case history to all our Project Tiger reserves and
other protected areas so that such a debacle is The alleged decline of tiger counts across the
never repeated. country is only a speculation at this stage by NGOs
and media. Is this why the Deputy Directors
If the CBI can get into Predator-Prey letters of 3rd February and 16th March, 2005 were
density ratios, statistics and census analysis not acted on? Or is it because there was no
what stopped Project Tiger doing this in earlier knowledge of them? Both are terrible examples of
years? monitoring or early warning mechanisms!

(5) We also need to study the Kela Devi example It is obvious that from both the examples of
where in 600 odd sq. kms of this sanctuary (a Sariska and Ranthambhore that one part of
part of Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve) in Project tiger (the field) did not know what the
February 2005 there were written records other part of Project Tiger (Delhi) was doing or
stating that for moths there were no signs of any vice verca. There is obviously no daily
tigers. In fact in February this was monitoring, let alone communication of it to
communicated to the Field Director of Project Tiger, Delhi. Project Tiger (Delhi)
Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve. appears to live in the dark about most matters.

Yet when the Additional D.G. (Wildlife) and the Analyse both these examples. They must be
Director, Project Tiger went to Ranthambhore symptomatic of reserves across India. We need
Tiger Reserve for a site visit immediately after to find ways to prevent such horrific events.
Sariska (23rd February, 2005) what did they write
in their site visit report? (6) We must also look at the role of activist NGOs both
They wrote: in Sariska and Kela Devi. In Sariska Rajendra

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Singhs Tarun Bharat Sangh was deeply involved the media regarding threats of poaching, illegal
with wildlife matters. They had in the late 1990s woodcutting by timber mafias and encroachment
held a Bagh Bachavo Yata and have stated that on forest land by commercial groups including
they had sent some warning of the crisis of 2004 to mining mafias.
the forest department. In Kela Devi another NGO
had played a role in preventing livestock from (10) All relevant reports, CBI, WII, Project Tiger
outer areas to come in and it was a much quoted assessments and evaluations, earlier reports i.e.
example of peoples participation in wildlife Wildlife Crime Bureau, Subramanyam
protection. Arun Jindal from the Society for Committee, affidavits of MoEF to the Supreme
Sustainable Development based in Karauli had for Court, Supreme Court orders to be provided for
years been supporting a process of participation. the reference of the Committee immediately.
So had Rajendra Singh. Lets learn from their The CBI report will be essential reading for every
failures since the tiger has gone from both areas. Park Director across India.

(7) Co-opting as a special invitee the head of the (11) Activate all State Wildlife Advisory Boards to
investigation in Sariska Shri B.K. Sharma from convene meetings since these institutions need to
the CBI and asking him to make a presentation be alerted to the gravity of the problem and
both on Sariska and other areas in terms of thereby take necessary steps to diffuse the
poaching and illegal trade. problems. These boards are also like early
warning systems that can help to detect other
(8) Provide a mandate to the CBI to continue problems.
investigations into poaching, illegal trade etc. all
over India and this will be an immediate (12) Immediate implementation of the new Wildlife
deterrent to the accelerating activities of Crime Prevention and Control Bureau as endorsed
poachers. This will have to be recommended by by the National Board of Wildlife on the 17th
the Prime Minster. March, 2005 meeting. This is immediately needed
to prevent the illegal trade in tiger derivatives and
(9) Immediate educational awareness campaign in minimise the activities of poachers.

Extracts from

REPORT (UNCORRECTED) OF THE DEPARTMENT RELATED PARLIAMENTARY STANDING

COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, ENVIRONMENT & FORESTS

(139th & 146th Reports)

PRESENTED TO THE RAJYA SABHA ON THE 25TH APRIL, 2005

(LAID ON THE TABLE OF THE LOK SABHA ON THE 25TH APRIL, 2005)

The Committee expresses its serious concern over forces must be constituted to combat the menace of
the sudden disappearance of the Tigers from Sariska poaching of wildlife.
Tiger Reserve. The Committee feels that the Moreover, the Ministry should also involve the
negligence of Forest staff coupled with the large scale villagers living in and around National Parks / Tiger
poaching has cost the country dear. Conditions in reserves to prevent the poaching as they are aware of
most of the national parks are more or less same, the tentative movement of the poachers but because
posing a clear danger to protected animal species. of poachers threats or any other compulsion, they
Poaching is not a new phenomenon but the poachers refrain from coming out openly to help the forest
are now more advanced with latest weapons and Department to catch the poachers. The Committee
very powerful communication network, making the strongly recommends that all vacant positions
lackadaisically managed tiger reserves easy picking. should be filled immediately and at no time any tiger
In contrast, forest guards are usually equipped with a reserve in the country should be left with the junior
wooden stick and most of the times without any officers.
means of communication. Taking note of this The Committee notes the reply of the Ministry
alarming situation, the Committee is of considered and is strongly of the opinion that Ministrys
opinion that a Special Task Force at the central or efforts have in no way improved the state of
state level with the involvement of Para-military project tiger and management of tiger parks in the

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country as sadly reflected in the increased provisions, Ministry should evolve a mechanism to
incidence of poaching of tigers and disappearance implement its plans / steps emphatically.
of a section of wild cats from strategic areas in The Committee observes that despite various
the country. The Ministry needs to undertake schemes of the Ministry, effective patrolling of
complete review of its programmes and plug the wildlife is almost missing as is evident from rampant
loopholes, where necessary to implement them poaching. In the recent past, the Committee during
effectively. its study visits to some Tiger Reserves / Wildlife
The Committee fees that the Ministry has not Sanctuaries was anguished to see the forest rangers
taken much action in pursuance of its equipped with a wooden stick and roaming on feet
recommendation for protecting and developing whereas poachers, in contrast, are believed to be
wildlife parks. The Ministry has informed only equipped with latest communication network,
about Tigers and their habitats. Nothing has been modern weapons and vehicles. In view thereof, any
mentioned about other animals like elephant, lion, financial assistance for the wildlife protection which
rhino, etc. Even achievements of the programmes was made has not been successfully utilised in the
under Project Tiger have come under scrutiny as past. The Committee reiterates that interested NGOs
evident from recent news reports that tigers have should be encouraged to provide latest transport and
disappeared from the Sariska and Ranthambhore communication facilities to the staff responsible for
Tiger Reserves. The Committee feels that for proper the protection of wildlife parks. The Committee is
development and protection of the wildlife parks, also of the opinion that a Special Task Force must
emphasis should be given on anti-poaching camps, be constituted to combat the menace of poaching of
mobile squads, capacity building of frontline staff in wildlife.
intelligence gathering, detection and successful The Committee feels that by merely including
prosecution of cases and providing necessary endangered species of animals in Schedule I of the
infrastructure to them. Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, may not be enough.
The Committee is of the view that quoting The Ministry should also take some stringent
statutory provisions is not the proper action expected measures along with enforcing the provisions of the
from the Ministry. What is more important is proper Act for their survival. The Committee would have
and holistic implementation / enforcement of these appreciated if the Ministry had come forward with a
provisions. These provisions / guidelines themselves comprehensive plan of action for preserving the
cannot act as a deterrent. With the support of these aforesaid species.

LONG TERM MEASURES and other wildlife Members of Parliament to be

present slide presentation to be made. We
(1) Discussions on creating a dedicated Ministry for must realise that saving the tiger and forest is a
Forests and Wildlife by bifurcating the present state subject and therefore Chief Ministers will
Ministry of Environment and Forests. have to be inspired to act.

(2) Creating a dedicated and specially trained (6) Encouraging the role of scientific research and
National Park Service meant to govern and its recommendations in the management of our
administer 100 of the best protected areas in wilderness.
India. This service must allow inter-state
transfers. (7) Encouraging the protection of our wilderness
areas by local communities / tribals / forest
(3) Opening fresh recruitment for all forest staff on a dwellers who can be fully trained in special
priority basis just like the Police and Army, and schools for this purpose and for other
fill up all vacancies. requirements of forests and wildlife management
i.e. eco-tourism etc. Even if 10 people each are
(4) Extra allocation of finances by Planning trained in one Park and the programme started in
Commission for the forest and wildlife sector 20 Parks within 6 months we will have 200
especially in the area of protection. A meeting people engaged in protection. And this figure
will be essential with Deputy Chairman of can be tripled over the years.
Planning Commission.
(8) Creating a Manual or Code of Conduct and
(5) A meeting between the Prime Minister and all Procedure for all protected area managers that
chief Ministers regarding the crisis of the tiger becomes their Bible to follow in the field and

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includes systems for early warning and detection WHY DO TIGERS DIE AT THE HANDS OF
of problems etc. POACHERS OR OTHERS?

(9) A review of the entire structure of Project Tiger (a) for revenge against livestock kills;
with a view to overhaul it and create a Project (b) by accident as poachers try for ungulates;
Tiger Division in MoEF that is streamlined, (c) by intent and for commerce be it skin or
efficient and effective especially in a crisis bones;
situation. There must be a way to have better (d) or orchestrated by mining mafias or those
communication from the field to Project Tiger who want to denotify protected areas and
(Delhi) so that Kela Devis and Sariskas dont destroy habitats.
happen.
The above note spells out that if the climate of
(10) Financial allocations and disbursement of Sariska or Ranthambhore prevails then there could
money how to create a rapid flow and prevent be a wipe out of tigers across India. To prevent their
non-utilisation of funds etc. death by poachers or others we need early
implementation of both short term and long term
(11) Corridor connectivity from one tiger area to measures This is the only way forward.
another is also vital for the prevention of habitat
fragmentation and vital existing corridors must
be identified for protection. Valmik Thapar

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ANNEXURE-III Response of the chairperson, Tiger

Task Force, to note of dissent
SUNITA NARAIN

30.07.2005
Valmik Thapar
Member, Tiger Task Force
19 Kautilya Marg
Chanakyapuri 110021

Dear Mr Thapar,
This is with reference to your note of dissent on the report of the Tiger Task Force. It is
extremely unfortunate you have decided to take this step, as I do believe we have worked
hard to put together a report that will assist conservation of tigers in India.
As I have explained to you, my effort as chairperson has been to listen to and
incorporate the views of many concerned people across the country. We have received
submissions from and met over 200 different experts, officials and villagers in the past
three months. The initial draft report, which you have, includes references to these
conversations and research findings, as it is essential that informed knowledge drives the
process of conservation in the country.
As I have discussed, I find one key problem with tiger conservation is that the
constituency in favour of the tiger has become extremely exclusivist. Therefore, even as
threats to the tiger have multiplied, there is limited support for its protection. The
response of a few conservationists has been to keep the group small, as they believe that
everyone else is against the tiger. The problem is compounded by the fact that some
conservationists have direct interests in tiger protection through businesses in hotels,
filming, land or conservation and this has only lead to even greater alienation of all against
the tiger, which they believe is being protected for the sake of a few.
I even told you I was extremely concerned at the level of anger I saw among people in
Ranthambhore from villagers to small hotel owners to guards and others. Not only was
it their complaint that they had got nothing from the park, but they were bitter that others
prominent conservationists were misusing their position to circumvent rules for
their own interests. This sense of injustice has created a huge constituency against the
park and I strongly believe this is bad for conservation.
My effort, then, over the past few months has been geared to making this constituency
in favour of tiger protection much more broadbased and inclusive. It is for this reason that
the draft report has detailed these positions, for I believe that public support will be
crucial to further the cause of tiger conservation.
We have, of course included your note of dissent in the report, but let me take the
opportunity to explain many of the issues you have raised. I do believe that we must work
to understand each other so that differences, over time, can be resolved.

1. You have quoted from the draft chapter, which looks at the approach to make
conservation work. According to you, this coexistence that the report talks about is just
not possible and it will devastate the tiger.
The fact is that you have selectively quoted from the chapter, when you are clear that the
approach that we are advocating in the report is very different it is much more nuanced

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and much more complicated.

The report makes clear that there are separate and equally urgent strategies as far as the
tiger protection is concerned:
a. We must make areas inviolate for tigers, as you and your colleagues have suggested.
But the report only qualifies this, saying that making areas inviolate for tigers will require
more than strong statements. For the first time, we have collected data on the numbers of
villages that have been relocated from the reserves and how many remain to be relocated.
The facts are devastating. Only 80 villages have been relocated from tiger reserves till
date. There are roughly 1,500 villages that still exist within the reserves. Even the ones that
been relocated have often come back because relocation was shoddily done, or have
turned deeply antagonist to the tiger. This was clearly evident in Ranthambhore on our
visit. This, I know, is a tiger reserve you know well.
Therefore, this task force has, for the first time, put these facts on the table. It has
argued that there needs to be urgent, speedy and sensitive relocation of these families. It
has also argued that the funds for relocation must be enhanced so that people can be
resettled without exacerbating conservation problems.
The Task Force has calculated that Rs 665 crore will be required for this relocation,
using even the existing meagre budget norms. Please do note that till date the country has
spent Rs 14 crore on most relocation efforts and Rs 173 crore on Central assistance for tiger
conservation in the past 30 years.
b. The report has argued that if people continue to live within the protected reserves
(after the process of relocation is complete and all cannot be relocated by any chance),
then ways have to be found in which we can buy peace with communities. It is here that
we have suggested that different methods can be used from preferential shares in
tourism to collaborative management involving communities who will share benefits and
so safeguard the tiger. The report states unequivocally that the current tension within the
parks is leading to disastrous consequences for the tiger and conservation.

2. You have quoted from the draft chapter on coexistence on the problems you have
concerning the analysis on the directions issued by the Central Empowered Committee
(CEC).
I do realise that you are a member of CEC, and therefore, our analysis of the legal provisions
as against the interpretation of CEC is not easy for you to accept. I had, as promised, read all
the material on the CEC position and have incorporated it in the chapter. But I still find that
the facts bring out a different position.
The issue is if the 2003 amendment of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 which gives
powers to disallow the collection of minor forest produce, grass and other subsistence
needs of communities can be enforced without taking recourse to the safeguards also
provided in the same amendment, that make it incumbent on governments to provide
alternative fuel, fodder and other forest produce in these cases.

The report argues:

a. That the Ministry of Environment and Forests and CEC should have also ensured that
the alternatives were provided, if the rights were expunged.
b. That not doing so has meant that the anger of local communities against the protected
areas of India has intensified.

3. The decision was to ask the prime minister to chair the steering committee not to
leave it as an either/or option on revitalising the National Board for Wildlife.
The idea to request the Prime Minister to chair the steering committee came from Mr

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Samar Singh. We all agreed to it. However, it is clear that it is the prerogative of the Prime
Minister to decide and we cannot direct him to do so. It is for this reason that Mr Samar
Singh and I decided to reformulate this recommendation. But the intention is clear and I
cannot see any reason for your disagreement on this matter.

4. Wildlife Crime Bureau should be headed by senior officer in super time scale. But
according to you, the person should not report to the additional director general of
forests.
Again, your raising this completely baffles me. The fact is that the person has to report
within the given hierarchy. It was agreed that the crime bureau would be within the MoEF
and, therefore, the officer reports to the senior-most official in wildlife issues. Clearly, we
could not formulate this in a way that the officer would continue to report to someone in
CBI or home ministry, unless the bureau was located there. We did not take any such
common decision.

5. On the extending of the term of the state empowered committee of Rajasthan.

The point in the report is that the government of Rajasthan has not taken adequate action
as far as the episode in Sariska is concerned. It is in this context that the report mentions
that the extension of the term of the state committee (I know you are a member) has only
led to further delays as crucial decisions are pending. I cannot see how this is factually
incorrect or misleading.

6. On dropping the box by Raghu Chundawat on the harassment of scientists.

The box is very much included. It is not in the science chapter but in the research chapter.

7. On glossing over the role of MoEF and Project Tiger directorate in the Sariska and
other debacles.
Again, everyone who knows me even a little should know that I do not gloss over the role
of government. What I have simply done is to look at the facts and the circumstances to
conclude that the key failure came from the state governments mismanagement (and
continued) mismanagement of the park in Sariska.
What we did discuss is why the systemic failure took place so that the Project Tiger
directorate was unable to intervene and did not even have the information from the state.
It is this that led us to recommend the need to convert Project Tiger into an authority and
to vest the officer in charge (whoever it may be) with legal powers to facilitate working
with states.
You repeatedly allege the report has a people focus and not a tiger focus. I do not
know how to respond to this, because then you clearly do not even begin to understand the
challenge of tiger conservation in the country today, as we see it and have detailed in the
report. Indeed, it is unfortunate you were consistently busy during the entire term of the
Task Force, because of which your interaction with all of us was limited. If we had seen
more of you, I am sure a better common understanding would have emerged.
I will publish this response in the report, along with your note of dissent. I have always
believed dialogue is more powerful than dissent.

With regards

Yours cordially

Sunita Narain

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ANNEXURE-IV Expert consultations based on terms

of reference of the Tiger Task Force
The Tiger Task Force had invited a wide range of experts from different fields for consultation to
learn from their experiences and insights, and to develop strategies for the future based on these
learnings. They were also asked to provide any papers that they have written and, if possible, give
written submissions on the different aspects that the Task Force has been asked to examine. All
reports of the consultations will be available on the website: www.projecttiger.nic.in

The Task Force had held these consultations at New Delhi, Nagpur and Bangalore.

New Delhi consultation, May 18, 2005: on conservation of the tiger, problems of poaching and
enforcement

1. B K Sharma, deputy director (admn), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Block No 3, 4th Floor,
CGO Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi 110 003
2. Belinda Wright, executive director, Wildlife Protection Society of India, M-52, Greater Kailash
Part I, New Delhi 110 048
3. Ashok Kumar, senior advisor and trustee, Wildlife Trust of India, C644, First Floor, New
Friends colony, New Delhi 110065
4. Amlan Dutta, assistant programme officer, Wildlife Trust of India, C-644, First Floor, New
Friends Colony, New Delhi 110065
5. Manoj Mishra, Peace Institute, 178-F, Pocket-IV, Mayur Vihar, Phase I, New Delhi 110 091
6. P K Sen, director, Tiger and Wildlife Programme, WWF 172B, Lodi Estate, New Delhi 110003
7. Madhu Sarin, environment journalist, 48, Sector 4, Chandigarh 160 001
8. A K Mukerjee, former director general of forests, I-1625, Chittaranjan Park, New Delhi 110 019
9. B S Bonal, director, National Zoological Park, Mathura Road, New Delhi
10. Harsh Vardhan, honorary general secretary, Tourism and Wildlife Society of India, C-158A,
Dayanand Marg, Tilak Nagar, Jaipur 302 004, Rajasthan

New Delhi consultation, May 19, 2005: methodology of tiger counting, forecasting, professional
audits of wildlife, research guidelines and access to information

1. Ullas Karanth, director, Wildlife Conservation Society-India Program, 823, 13th Cross, 7th Block
West, Jayanagar, Bangalore 560 082, Karnataka
2. Raghu S Chundawat, Wildlife Institute of India, Post Bag No 18, Chandrabani,
Dehradun 248 001, Uttaranchal
3. Y V Jhala, head, Department of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, Wildlife Institute of
India, Post Bag No 18, Chandrabani, Dehradun 248 001, Uttaranchal
4. Qamar Qureshi, faculty, Wildlife Institute of India, Post Bag No 18, Chandrabani,
Dehradun 248 001, Uttaranchal
5. Ravi Chellam, programme officer, United Nations Development Programme, 55, Lodi Estate,
P O Box 3059, New Delhi 110 003
6. Vasant Saberwal, programme officer, Department of Environment and Development, Ford
Foundation, 55 Lodi Estate, New Delhi 110 003
7. Asad R Rahmani, director, Bombay Natural History Society, Hornbill House
Dr Salim Ali Chowk, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Road, Mumbai 400 023, Maharashtra
8. A J T Johnsingh, head, Wildlife Institute of India, Post Bag No 18, Chandrabani,
Dehradun 248 001, Uttaranchal

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9. Surendra Prakash Goyal, scientist, Wildlife Institute of India, Post Bag No 18, Chandrabani,
Dehradun 248 001, Uttaranchal

The Task Force also met John Sellers, senior enforcement officer, CITES, and Debbie Bank, senior
campaigner, Environmental Investigation Agency, 62/63 Upper street, London N10NY

Nagpur consultation, June 12, 2005: on issues connected to local communities and tiger
conservation

1. Ashish Kothari, coordinator, Kalpavriksh - Environment Action Group, Apt. 5 Shree Datta
Krupa, 908 Deccan Gymkhana, Pune 411 004, Maharashtra
2. Bittu Sehgal, editor, Sanctuary magazine, 146, Pragati Industrial Estate, N M Joshi Marg,
Mumbai, Maharashtra
3. Mohan Hirabai Hiralal, Vrikshamitra, Shende Plot, Ramnagar, Chandrapur 442 401,
Maharashtra
4. Shailendra J Chaudhuri, 38 Manish Nagar, Nagpur, Maharashtra
5. Motiram, Hosangabad, Madhya Pradesh
6. Ashish Goswami, People for Animals, Gopuri, Wardha 442 001, Maharashtra
7. Manojit Saha, Deccan Herald, 303, Tulsiamich, Nariman Point, Mumbai, Maharashtra
8. Bhurelal Gandhi, coordinator, Tawa Matsya Sangh, Kesla, Hosangabad, Madhya Pradesh
9. Sunil, village and PO Kesala, Hosangabad, Madhya Pradesh
10. Milind Pariwakam, Centre for Wildlife Studies, Bangalore, Karnataka
11. Devaji Navalu Topha, Adivasi Mitra, gram sabha, village Lekha Mendha, Post Heti, Tehsil
Dhanora, Gadchiroli 442 606, Maharashtra
12. Sulabha Chakravarty, coordinator, Green Hope, 46, Om Sai Building, Anant Nagar,
Nagpur 440013, Maharashtra
13. Anuradha Paul, executive editor, Green Hope; executive secretary, VED Council, 50, Anand
Palace, Dhantoli, Nagpur 440012, Maharashtra
14. Prafulla Bhamburkar, WWF-India, 6, Venkatesh Nagar, Khamla Road, Nagpur 25, Maharashtra
15. Uday Patel, honorary wildlife warden, D-71/1, Urjanagar, Chandigarh
16. Satish Gogulwar, convenor, Maharashtra State Participatory Forest Management Network,
Kurkheda, Gadchiroli 441 209, Maharashtra
17. Rahul Bais, Amhi Amachya Arogyasathi, c/o Ramesh Alomes house, Plot No 21, near Sanjuba
School, Surve Layout, Nagpur 440014, Maharashtra
18. Shanker Patil, president, Adivasi Gram Vikas, Paryatak Margdarshak Aur Vanyajeev
Sanrakshan Samiti, PO Moharli, Taluka Bhadrawati, Chandrapur, Maharashtra
19. Vinod Jambhule, Tiger Research and Conservation Trust, CTPS Urjanagar, E-233/6 Chandrapur,
Maharashtra
20. Pandurang Shrirame, PO Moharli, Taluka Bhadrawati, Chandrapur, Maharashtra
21. Shilpa P Hande, Plot No. 4, Nagbhoomi Society, Chhatrapati Nagar, Nagpur, Maharashtra
22. Mohan, Rashtriya Van Shramjeevi Manch, 501, Lakshmi Apartments, Ravi Nagar Chowk,
Nagpur 440 033, Maharashtra
23. Ravishankar Bhure, Rashtriya Van Shramjeevi Manch, 9, Postal Audit Colony, Ramapratap
Nagar, Nagpur 440022, Maharashtra
24. Archana Singh, Lokmath Samachar, Pandit Jawaharlal Marg, Nagpur 440010, Maharashtra
25. Debi Goenka, Bombay Environmental Action Group, Kalbadevi Municipal School, # 54,
2nd Floor, Mumbai 400 002, Maharashtra
26. Poonam Dhanwatey, Tiger Research and Conservation Trust, Plot No 59-60, Shivneri,
Ramdaspeth, Nagpur 440 010, Maharashtra
27. Harshawardhan Dhanwatey, Tiger Research and Conservation Trust, Plot No 59-60, Shivneri,
Ramdaspeth, Nagpur 440 010, Maharashtra
28. Vijay Ghugey, Nature Science Club, 138, Kalpataru, Mahalaxminagar No 2, Manewada Road,

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Nagpur 440 024, Maharashtra

29. Rucha Ghate, SHODH: The Institute for Research and Development, 50, Puranik Layout, Bharat
Nagar, Nagpur 440033, Maharashtra
30. Gokuldas Shankar, Gedam, At. Botezari, Post Moharli, Taluka Bhadrawati, Chandrapur,
Maharashtra
31. Mahadev B. Kumre, At Botezari, PO Moharli, Taluk Bhadrawati, Chandrapur, Maharashtra
32. Kanhu Shinde, At Botezari, PO Moharli, Taluk Bhadrawati, Chandrapur, Maharashtra
33. Devrao V. Kannake, At Botezari, PO Moharli, Taluk Bhadrawati, Chandrapur, Maharashtra
34. Vilas Shanker Kannake, At Botezari, PO Moharli, Taluk Bhadrawati, Chandrapur, Maharashtra
35. Murali Manohar Rahi, Main Road Gondiya, Gondiya, Maharashtra
36. Kundan Hate, vice president, Satpura Foundation, 86, Shivneri Appartments, Kanfadenagar,
Ring Road, Nagpur 440015, Maharashtra
37. Raj Kumar Khodecha, National Environment and Wildlife Society, Gondia, Maharashtra
38. P V Joseph, National Environment and Wildlife Society, Gondia, Maharashtra
39. Sunita Shukla, SRISHTI, 103, Mount Road, behind Hotel Upvan, Sadar, Nagpur 440 001,
Maharashtra
40. Raju Kasambe, 64, Vidya Vihar Colony, Pratap Nagar, Nagpur 440 022, Maharashtra
41. Prakash Amte, Lokbiradari Prakalp, Hemalkasa, PO Bhamragad, Gadchiroli 442 710,
Maharashtra
42. Gopalrao Thosar, Vasundhara, 66, Ganesh Colony, Pratap Nagar, Nagpur 440 022, Maharashtra
43. Kishore Rithe, Nisarg Sanrakshan Sanstha, Pratishtha, Bharat Nagar, Akoli Road, Near Sainagar
Jawal, Amravati 444 607, Maharashtra
44. Dilip Gode, secretary, Vidarbha Nature Conservation Society, Tidke Ashram, Ganeshpeth,
Nagpur 440 018, Maharashtra
45. Shripad Suklikar, president, Vidarbha Nature Conservation Society, Tidke Ashram,
Ganeshpeth, Nagpur, Maharashtra
46. Kusum Karnik, environmentalist, Bhimashankar Prakalp, At and PO Manchar,
Manchar 410 503, Maharashtra
47. V Chandra, Rashtriya Van Shramjeevi Manch, 5/87 Bharatnagar, Nagpur, Maharashtra
48. Kaustubh Pandharipande, Samvedana, Professors Colony, Karanja (Lad), Washim 444 105,
Maharashtra
49. Ramu Bhagwat, The Times of India
50. Mahesh Upadev, Saamana, Mumbai, Maharashtra
51. Rohini Kant Matey, The Hitavada, Wardha Road, PO Box No 201, Nagpur, Maharashtra

Bangalore consultation, June 21, 2005: on the measures to improve the methodology of tiger
counting and forecasting; suggest methods of transparent professional audit of wildlife parks; and
placing data on tiger conservation in the public domain

1. Anil Gore, professor of statistics, department of statistics, Pune University, Ganshkhind, Pune
411 007, Maharashtra
2. P S Roy, deputy director, National Remote Sensing Agency, Balanagar, Hyderabad 500 037,
Andhra Pradesh
3. Pushpa M Bhargava, ANVESHNA, Furqan Cottage, 12-13-100, Lane # 1, Street # 3, Tarnaka
Hyderabad 500 017, Andhra Pradesh
4. Kartik Shankar, fellow, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE),
No 659, 5th A Main Road, Hebbal, Bangalore 560 024, Karnataka
5. Sumati V, student, WCS, Bangalore, Karnataka
6. Shomita Mukherjee, Centre for Wildlife Studies, Bangalore, Karnataka
7. Anindya Sinha, National Institute of Advanced Study, Indian Institute of Science campus,
Bangalore, Karnataka
8. M D Madhusudan, wildlife ecologist and trustee, Nature Conservation Foundation, 3076/5 IV
Cross, Gokulam Park, Mysore, Karnataka

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9. Soumya Prasad, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012, Karnataka

10. Aparajita Datta, senior scientist, Nature Conservation Foundation, 3076/5, IV Cross, Gokulam
Park, Mysore 570 002, Karnataka
11. D V Girish, Nature Conservation Guild, Chickmagalur, Karnataka
12. Praveen Bhargav, managing trustee, Wildlife First, No.1235, 1st Floor, 26th A Main,
32nd G Cross, 4th T Block, Jayanagar, Bangalore 560 041, Karnataka
13. K M Chinappa, Centre for Ecological Research and Conservation, 076/5 IV Cross Gokulam Park,
Mysore 570 002, Karnataka
14. Krishna Narain, Wildlife Watch, Bangalore, Karnataka
15. G Vishwanath Reddy, conservator of forests, 27/A Vanashree, Gokulam Main Road, V Mohalla,
Mysore 570 002, Karnataka
16. K N Murthy, Watershed Development Department, Vana Vikas Building, Malleswar,
Bangalore, Karnataka
17. R Sukumar, chairperson, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science,
Bangalore 560 012, Karnataka
18. N Samba Kumar, Centre for Wildlife Studies, Bangalore, Karnataka
19. Harshwardhan Dhanwatey, Tiger Research and Conservation Trust, Nagpur, Maharashtra
20. M C Vinay Kumar, 18Y 52nd B Cross, 3rd Block, Rajajinagar, Bangalore, Karnataka
21. S Dhananjaya, Karnataka Forest Department
22. B Venkatesh, Karnataka Forest Department, Bandipur
23. K A Subramanium, National Centre for Biological Sciences, UAS-GKVK Campus Bellary Road,
Bangalore 560 065, Karnataka
24. Mahesh Rangarajan, independent researcher, 24 Samachar Apartments, Mayur Vihar Phase-I
Extension, Delhi 110 091
25. Jagadish Krishnaswamy, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, No 659,
5th A Main Road, Hebbal, Bangalore 560 024, Karnataka
26. Milind Watve, Department of Microbiology, Babahasaheb Garware College, Karve Road, Pune,
Maharashtra
27. M K Surappa, honorary secretary, Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology,
Bangalore 7, Karnataka
28. Shivanna, secretary, Karnataka Biodiversity Board, Ground Floor, Vanavikas, 18th Cross
Malleshwaram, Bangalore 3, Karnataka
29. C Srinivasan, field director, Bandipur
30. P Anur Reddy, conservator forests (wildlife), Karnataka
31. A K Verma, chief wildlife warden, Karnataka
32. Jagmohan Sharma, Karnataka Forest Department
33. D Yatish Kumar, Karnataka Forest Department
34. Col C P Muthanna (retd), Coorg Wildlife Society

ANNEXURE-V The visits by Tiger Task Force

The Task Force members have undertaken field visits to a few tiger reserves in the country to
understand the management and the present status of these reserves. The members also visited the
Wildlife Institute of India to discuss with the officials the methodology of tiger estimation and
habitat monitoring. The visits were as follows:

1. Periyar Tiger Reserve, Thekkaddy and Sabarimala, Kerala

2. Pench Tiger Reserve, Maharashtra
3. Pench Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh
4. Kanha Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh
5. Sariska Tiger Reserve, Rajasthan
6. Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve, Rajasthan

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ANNEXURE-VIExperts requested to comment on

methodology of tiger estimation
The proposal from the Project Tiger directorate and the Wildlife Institute of India to review and
change the methodology for assessing tiger habitat and to estimate the numbers was sent to many
experts for their comments. The names of the experts are given below:

1. Aparajita Datta, senior scientist, Nature Conservation Foundation,3076/5, IV Cross, Gokulam

Park, Mysore 570 002, Karnataka
2. S P Goyal, scientist, Wildlife Institute of India, Post Bag No 18, Chandrabani,
Dehradun 248 001, Uttaranchal (comments received)
3. Anil P Gore, professor of statistics, department of statistics, Pune University, Ganeshkhind,
Pune 411 007, Maharashtra (comments received)
4. A J T Johnsingh, dean, faculty of wildlife sciences, Wildlife Institute of India, Post Bag
No 18, Chandrabani, Dehradun 248 001 (comments received)
5. Jagdish Krishnaswamy, fellow, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment ,
No 659, 5th A Main Road, Hebbal, Bangalore 560 024, Karnataka
6. Sharad Lele, coordinator and senior fellow, Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in
Environment and Development, ISEC Campus, Nagarabhavi, Bangalore 560 072, Karnataka
7. Kartik Shankar, fellow, and Mohammed Irfan Ullah, fellow, Ashoka Trust for Research in
Ecology and the Environment, No 659, 5th A Main Road, Hebbal, Bangalore 560 024, Karnataka
(comments received)
8. Ullas Karanth, director, Wildlife Conservation Society-India Program, 823, 13th Cross,
7th Block West, Jayanagar, Bangalore 560 082, Karnataka (comments received)
9. P S Roy, deputy director, National Remote Sensing Agency, Hyderabad.500 037, Andhra
Pradesh (comments received)
10. M D Madhusudan, wildlife ecologist and trustee, Nature Conservation Foundation,
3076/5 IV Cross, Gokulam Park, Mysore, Karnataka
11. T R Shankar Raman, wildlife scientist, Nature Conservation Foundation, 3076/5 IV Cross,
Gokulam Park, Mysore 570 002, Karnataka
12. R Sukumar, chairperson, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science,
Bangalore 560 012, Karnataka
13. R S Chundawat, Wildlife Institute of India, Post Bag No 18, Chandrabani, Dehradun 248 001
(comments received)
14. B L Deekshatulu, ISRO visiting professor, University of Hyderabad, 10-3-123/3/1,
East Maredpally, Secunderabad-500 026
15. Ravi Chellam, programme officer, United Nations Development Programme, 55, Lodi Estate,
PO Box 3059, New Delhi 11000
16. Asad R Rahmani, director, Bombay Natural History Society, Hornbill House, Dr Salim Ali
Chowk, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Road, Mumbai 400 023, Maharashtra

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ANNEXURE-VII Suggestions received on the terms

of reference of Tiger Task Force
The Task Force had written to a number of experts and activists requesting them to send their ideas
and suggestions, based on the terms of reference. Many people had also written voluntarily to the
Task Force giving their suggestions and ideas. The Task Force is grateful to them for sending their
ideas and recommendations, contributing to our understanding of issues.

1. Praveen Bhargav, managing trustee, Wildlife First, No 1235, 1st Floor, 26th A Main,
32nd G Cross, 4th T Block, Jayanagar, Bangalore 560 041, Karnataka
2. S S Bist, director (PE) and IGF, ministry of environment and forests, Room No 126, Paryavaran
Bhawan, CGO Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi 110 003
3. Aparajita Datta, senior scientist, Nature Conservation Foundation, 3076/5, IV Cross, Gokulam
Park, Mysore 570 002, Karnataka
4. Rucha Ghate, SHODH: The Institute for Research and Development, 50, Puranik Layout, Bharat
Nagar, Nagpur 440 033, Maharashtra
5. Anil P Gore, professor of statistics, department of statistics, Pune University, Ganeshkhind,
Pune 411 007, Maharashtra
6. Radhika Johri, department of anthropology, York University, 2054 Vari Hall, 4700 Keele Street,
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3J 1P3
7. Krithi K Karanth, doctoral student, Terborgh Lab Levine Science Research Center,
PO Box 90328, Nicholas School of Environment, Duke University, Durham NC 27708
8. Jagdish Krishnaswamy, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment,
No 659, 5th A Main Road, Hebbal, Bangalore 560 024, Karnataka
9. Kusum Karnik/Anand Kapoor, environmentalists, Science of Conservation, Bhimashankar
Prakalp, At and PO Manchar, Manchar 410 503, Maharashtra
10. Sharad Lele, coordinator and senior fellow, Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in
Environment and Development, ISEC Campus, Nagarabhavi, Bangalore 560 072, Karnataka
11. Kamal Naidu, chief conservator of forests, government of Andhra Pradesh, CCF Office,
Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh
12. V B Sawarkar, director, Wildlife Institute of India, Post Bag No 18, Chandrabani,
Dehradun 248 001, Uttaranchal
13. V D Sharma, former PCCF & CWLW, Rajasthan
14. Tykee Malhotra, managing trustee, Sanskara Development Trust, F-328, Lado Sarai, Mehrauli,
New Delhi 110 030
15. V B Mathur, professor and head, department of protected area network, Wildlife Management
and Conservation Education, Wildlife Institute of India, Post Bag No 18, Chandrabani,
Dehradun 248 001, Uttaranchal
16. Ashish Kothari/Pankaj Sekhsaria, Kalpavriksh Environment Action Group, Apt 5, Shree
Datta Krupa, 908, Decan Gymkhana, Pune 411 004, Maharashtra
17. Fateh Singh Rathore, vice chairperson, Tiger Watch, Ranthambhore, Rajasthan
18. Madhu Sarin, environment journalist, 48, Sector 4, Chandigarh 160 001, Punjab
19. Krishna Narain, Wildlife Watch, wildlife_watch@vsnl.com
20. Qamar Qureshi, faculty, Wildlife Institute of India, Post Bag No 18, Chandrabani,
Dehradun 248 001, Uttaranchal
21. Sanjeeva Pandey, director, Great Himalayan National Park, Shamshi, Kullu 175 126, Himachal
Pradesh
22. Vinod Kumar Damodar, honorary animal welfare officer, Animal Welfare Board of India,
Breeze, 5/2750-A, Behind Officers Club, Thiruthiyad, Calicut 673 004, Kerala

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23. M C Vinay Kumar, 18Y, 52nd B Cross, 3rd Block, Rajajinagar, Bangalore, Karnataka
24. Charudutt Mishra, executive trustee, Nature Conservation Foundation, 3076/5 IV Cross
Gokulam Park, Mysore 570 002, Karnataka
25. S C Dey, former director of wildlife conservation and secretary general, Global Tiger Forum,
A-269, 2nd Floor, Defence colony, New Delhi 110024
26. Debbie Banks, senior campaigner, Environmental Investigation Agency, 62-63 Upper Street,
London, N10NY
27. S K Ramalinge Gowde, president, IFS Association, Room No 538, Block B, Paryavaran Bhawan,
CGO Complex, Lodi Road, New Delhi 110 003
28. B S Thengdi, DyCF, Land Reccords, Nagpur, Maharashtra
29. A K Mukerji, former director general of forests, I-1625, Chittaranjan Park, New Delhi 110019
30. Vaishaish Uppal/Raman Mehta/Shekhar Singh, D-4, Gulmohar Park, New Delhi
31. P S Roy, deputy director, National Remote Sensing Agency, Balanagar, Hyderabad 500 037,
Andhra Pradesh
32. Lalji Singh, director, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Uppal Road,
Hyderabad 500 007, Andhra Pradesh
33. Harini Nagendra, Asia research coordinator, Center for the Study of Institutions, Population
and Environmental Change, Indiana University, and Fellow, Ashoka Trust for Research in
Ecology and the Environment, Bangalore, Karnataka
34. Arun Agnihotri, bichhubooti@yahoo.com
35. Shomita Mukherjee, Centre for Wildlife Studies, Bangalore
36. S Chandola, addl PCCF and CWLW, Uttaranchal
37. K Yoganand, PhD scholar, Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun 248 001
38. Mohammed Irfan Ullah, fellow (scientist), Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the
Environment, 659, 5th A Main Road, Hebbal, Bangalore 560 024, Karnataka
39. Mahesh Rangarajan, independent researcher, 24 Samachar Apartments, Mayur Vihar Phase-I
Extension, Delhi 110 009
40. Harsh Vardhan, honorary general secretary, Tourism and Wildlife Society of India, C-158A,
Dayanand Marg, Tilak Nagar, Jaipur 302 004, Rajasthan
41. Bransdon S Corrie, chief conservator of forests (WL), Thiruvananthapuram
42. Anjana Gosain, honorary secretary, Tiger Trust, 206, Rakeshdeep, 11 Commercial Complex,
Gulmohar Enclave, New Delhi 110 049
43. Archana Singh, Lokmath Samachar, Pandit Jawaharlal Marg, Nagpur 440010, Maharashtra
44. Arpan Sharma/Asmita, Samrakshan Trust, E-314, Anandlok, Mayur Vihar Phase I, New Delhi-91.
45. Anil Garg, near PO Khadi Bhandar, Kothi Bazar, Betul 460 001, Madhya Pradesh
46. Vivek R Sinha, 764, 100 Feet Road, HAL IInd Stage, Indiranagar, Bangalore 560 038.
47. Anita S Areckal, deputy conservator of forests, Mangalore Forest Division, Mangalore, Karnataka
48. Ashok Kumar, senior advisor and trustee, Wildlife Trust of India, C-644, First Floor,
New Friends Colony, New Delhi 110 065
49. Raghunandan Singh Chundawat, Wildlife Institute of India, Post Bag No 18, Chandrabani,
Dehradun 248001, Uttaranchal
50. Vijay Soni, angler, environmentalist, Indian Fish and Wildlife Conservancy, 43, Golf Links,
New Delhi 110 003
51. Dr S Shivaji, scientist (deputy director), Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB),
Uppal Road, Hyderabad 500 007.
52. Dr M Janikaraman, 6060 Village Bend Street, Apt # 310, Dallas TX 75206, USA
53. Avdhash Kaushal, RLEK, 68/1, Suryalok colony, Rajpur Road, Dehradun, Uttaranchal.
54. Meenal Shrivastava, professor, international relations, Wits University 2050, Johannesburg,
Wits, South Africa
55. S K Tiwari, wildlife photographer, naturalist, kaysat@sancharnet.in
56. Ramma Handoo, B-12, Maharani Bagh, New Delhi 110 065
57. S M Jain, consultant, forestry, 7-B, Talwandi, Pvt Sector, Commerce College Road,
Kota 324 005, Rajasthan

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58. Rakesh Shukla, research officer, Kanha tiger reserve, New Kanha Colony, near Mandla Forest
Range, Civil Lines, Mandla 681 661, Madhya Pradesh
59. A N Prasad, field director, Palamau tiger reserve, government of Jharkhand, Daltonganj 822
101, Jharkhand
60. S M Satheesan, B-16/5, AAI Colony, Sahar Road, Andheri East, Mumbai 400 099, Maharashtra
61. Bittu Sehgal, editor, Sanctuary Magazine, 602 Maker Chamber V, Nariman Point,
Mumbai 400 021, Maharashtra
62. K Ullas Karanth, director, Wildlife Conservation Society-India Program, Centre for Wildlife
Studies, 823, 13th Cross Road, Jayanagar, 7th Block (West), Bangalore-560 082, Karnataka
63. M K Saran, innovativeimpex@vsnl.com
64. Brian Child, chairperson, SASUSG
65. Kaushlendra Singh, aviansociety@rediffmail.com
66. A J T Johnsingh, head, Faculty of Wildlife Biology, Wildlife Institute of India, Post Bag No.18,
Chandrabani, Dehradun 248 001, Uttaranchal
67. Y V Jhala, head, Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology Department, Wildlife Institute of
India, Post Bag No.18, Chandrabani, Dehradun 248001, Uttaranchal
68. Kartik Shanker, fellow, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, 659, 5th A
Main Road, Hebbal, Bangalore 560024, Karnataka
69. Nirvana Bodhisattva, chairperson, Nirvanavan Foundation, Director CHILDLINE Alwar, Mahila
Thana Campus, Moti Dungri, Alwar, Rajasthan
70. Ghazala Shahabuddin, research associate, Environmental Studies Group, Council for Social
Development, 53, Lodi Estate, New Delhi-110003
71. Barun Mitra, director, Liberty Institute, Julian Simon Centre, C-2/13, Sahyadri Apartments,
Plot No.5, Sector-12, Dwarka New Delhi 110045
72. Shekar Dattatri, Plot 40, Door No.11, 3rd East Street, Thiruvanmiyur, Chennai 600041,
Tamil Nadu,
73. Sanjay Thakre, Email: sptwardha04@yahoo.co.in
74. Navneet Maheshwari, Email: navneet@rediffmail.com
75. Subhadra Urmila Majumdar, E-mail: msurmila@hotmail.com
76. Vijay Verma, Patur, Turner Road, PO Clement Town, Dehradun 248002, Uttaranchal
77. S S Murthy, Mission Compound, Napier Town, Jabalpur 482001, Madhya Pradesh,
78. A S Negi, Email: raj70bisht@yahoo.co.in
79. Ujjal Kumar Sarma, E-mail: uks_wildlife@yahoo.co.in
80. Ajith Kumar, Wildlife Conservation-India Programme, 294, 5th main, Canara Bank layout,
Bangalore 560097, Karnataka
81. M D Madhusudan, Wildlife Ecologist and Trustee, Nature Conservation Foundation, 3076/5, IV
Cross, Gokulam Park, Mysore 570002, Karnataka,
82. Shantanu Guha Ray, producer & head, Cricket Show and Special, ESPN Star Sports, 22, Pushpa
Vihar Commercial Complex, New Delhi .
83. H S Jamadagni, professor and chairperson, Centre for Electronics Design and Technology,
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012, Karnataka and Dr A. Pittet,
Chief Project Advisor
84. Manoj Misra, Peace Institute, 178-F, Pocket IV, Mayur Vihar, Phase I, New Delhi 110 091,
85. T R Shankar Raman, wildlife scientist, Nature Conservation Foundation, 3076/5, IV Cross,
Gokulam Park, Mysore 570002, Karnataka
86. Punit Lalbhai, project associate, CEE Tiger Conservation CELL
87. Ratna Kapur, Email: rkcflr@gmail.com
88. S P Goyal, scientist, Wildlife Institute of India, Post Bag No.18, Chandrabani,
Dehradun 248 001, Uttaranchal,
89. Jarnail Singh, conservator of forests & field director, Pench National Park, Near Government
Printing Press, Civil Lines, Nagpur, Maharashtra
90. Hitesh Malhotra IFS, Addl. PCCF (WL) and CWLW, Govt. of AP, R & D Circle, Opp. RBI Building,
Aranya Bhavan, Saifabad, Hyderabad 500004, Andhra Pradesh

Annexures 191
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91. J C Daniel, honorary secretary, Bombay Natural History Society, Hornbill House, Dr Salim Ali
Chowk, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Road, Mumbai 400023, Maharashtra
92. Janaki Lenin, Draco Films, PO Box 21, Chengalpattu 603001, Tamil Nadu
93. A R Maslekar, B-15, Amar Heights, Aundh Road, Khadki- Pune - 411 020
94. Karamjeet Singh, Email: kjsingh.geo@yahoo.com
95. Manojit Saha, manojitsaha@deccanherald.co.in
96. V P Singh, chairperson, Empowered Committee on Forests & Wildlife Management - 2005, Van
Bhawan, Vaniki Path, Tilak Marg, C-Scheme, Jaipur 302005
97. Ramanuj Choudhary, chief conservator of forests (Working Plans), Office of the Chief
Conservator of Forests (Working Plans), Nagpur-440001
98. K Chanchal Singh, convener, Kota Regional Chapter, INTACH, 71, Lodhi Estate,
New Delhi-110003
99. Parul Rishi, Faculty of Personnel Management & Organisational Behaviour, Indian Institute of
Forest Management, Nehru Nagar, Bhopal-462003.
100. Bijan Ghosh, advocate, Supreme Court of India, 341 New Chamber Block, Supreme Court
Buildings, New Delhi 110001
101. Jayan P A, Jayanpa@rediffmail.com
102. Kartick Satyanarayan, co-founder, chairperson, Wildlife S.O.S, D-210, Defence colony,
New Delhi 110024
103. Sanjay Upadhyay, Enviro Legal Defence Firm, 278, Sector 15-A, NOIDA 201301
104. Prakash Gole, director, Ecological Society, B/2 Jayanti Apartments, Senapati Bapat Road,
Near Ratna Memorial Hospital, Pune 411016
105. R K Singh, Wildlife Trust of India, New Delhi
106. Ravi Singh, secretary general and CEO, WWF-India Secretariat, Pirojsha Godrej National
Conservation Centre, 172 B, Lodhi Estate, New Delhi 110003
107. Satya Priya Sinha, consultant and project coordinator, sos Rhino Project, Wildlife Institute of
India, Chandrabani, Dehradun 248001
108. Vijay Ghugey, Nature Science Club, 138, Kalpataru, Mahalaxmi Nagar, No 2, Manewada
Road, Nagpur 440024
109. Gopal Thosar, honorary president, Vasundhara, 66, Ganesh Colony, Police Chowki,
Pratapnagar, Nagpur 440022
110. S N Sukliker, president and Dilip Gode, secretary, Vidarbha Nature Conservation Society,
Tidke Ashram, Ganespeth, Nagpur 440018
111. Kundan Hate, vice president, Satpuda Foundation 86, Shivneri Apartment, Kanfade Nagar,
Ring Road, Nagpur 440015
112. Saharsh Agarwal, Camp Umariya, Umariya district, Madhy Pradesh 484661
113. Pasi Joseph, Murali Rahi, Rajkumar Khodecha, National Environment and Wildlife Society,
Gondia, Maharashtra
114. R Annamalai, field director and conservator of forest, Tamilnadu Forest Department, Project
Tiger, NGO A colony, Tirunelveli 627007
115. S S Chitwadgi, chartered forester, Bharat Forestry Consultancy, 156/A, Indrapuri, Bhopal
462021
116. S H Patil, conservator of forests and field director, Tadoba-Andhari tiger reserve Chandrapur

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ANNEXURE-VIII Methodology for estimating and

monitoring tiger status and habitat
Y V JHALA, faculty, Wildlife Institute of India
QAMAR QURESHI, faculty, Wildlife Institute of India
RAJESH GOPAL, director, Project Tiger

The only form of tiger population monitoring in press) and tiger DNA profiles obtained from scats
undertaken in the country is a total count (census) of and other non-invasive techniques (Broquet and
the country-wide tiger population every four years Petit 2004, Prugh et al 2005 and Xu et al 2005).
and within tiger reserves every one-two years. The Here, we propose an alternative technique based
census is based on intensive monitoring of tigers on a four-stage approach:
within areas, identifying individual tigers by visual
inspection of the pugmark tracings/plaster casts, Stage I: Spatial mapping and monitoring of
mapping tiger distribution at the local scale and tigers, prey and habitat
inferring total numbers from the above information
(Choudhury 1970, Panwar 1979, Sawarkar 1987 and This stage consists of mapping
Singh 1999). This methodology has come under (a) tiger presence and relative abundance (Karanth
severe criticism (Karanth et al, 2003). The major and Nichols 2002);
limitations of the above technique are that (b) tiger prey presence and relative abundance and
1. it relies on subjective (expert knowledge) (c) habitat quality and anthropogenic pressures at a
identification of tigers based on their pugmarks; high spatial resolution of 15-20 km2.
2. the pugmarks of a tiger are likely to vary with We consider a forest beat (an administrative unit,
substrate, tracings/casts and the tigers gait; 15-20 sq km in size, delineated primarily on natural
3. it is not possible to obtain pugmarks of tigers boundaries) as the unit for sampling. Since each beat
from all tiger occupied landscapes, and is allocated to a beat guard for patrolling and
4. the method attempts a total count of all tigers protection, the boundaries of a beat are well
(Karanth et al, 2003). recognised by forest staff. The sampling would be
An alternative proposed by tiger biologists is to systematically distributed in all beats of tiger occupied
use individually identified tigers by camera traps in forests (tiger reserves, revenue and reserve forests).
a capture-recapture statistical framework to estimate Thus, in effect, the entire landscape where tigers are
tiger densities (Karanth 1995 and 1998, Karanth and likely to occur is sampled (beats are not stratified or
Nichols 1998, 2000 and 2002, Karanth et al 2004, Per randomly sampled, but all beats are sampled as large
Wegge et al 2004 and Pollock et al 1990). The method humanpower is available for sampling). In forest
has been useful in determining tiger densities in areas, where beat boundaries are not delineated (< 20
small areas, within tiger reserves having high to per cent of tiger occupied forests in the country)
medium density tiger populations. The method has a such as the northeast 15-20 sq km sampling units
high potential for monitoring source population and will be identified on the basis of natural boundaries
smaller sample areas within tiger occupied (ridges, drainage, etc). The detailed methodological
landscapes. However, due to the technical nature of approach for sampling carnivore signs, ungulate
the technique, high cost, security issues of the encounter rates, pellet/dung counts, habitat and
equipment and low performance in low density tiger anthropogenic pressures are presented in the Field
populations this method has its limitations Guide (Jhala and Qureshi 2004).
for a country-wide application for monitoring The target data are extremely easy to collect and
tigers (Carbone et al 2001, Karanth 1995 and require no high level of technical skills or equipment.
1998, Karanth and Nichols 1998, 2000 and 2002, It is crucial that the forest department staff is primarily
Karanth et al 2004 and Kawanishi and Sunquist responsible for the data collection due to the sheer
2004). magnitude of the task involved. Furthermore, the
The other two potential methods that can be used involvement of the forest department staff instills
in smaller sample areas for monitoring source tiger ownership and accountability of this agency which is
populations are the individual identification of tigers primarily responsible for the protection and
from digital images of their pugmarks (Sharma et al, management of wildlife resources. The forest

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department staff will be trained in the data collection We have tried to address the issue of reporting
protocol and tested for consistency. inflated numbers by laying emphasis on animal signs
The spatial data generated will be scientifically instead of numbers. Furthermore, the resolution of the
robust, and amenable for statistical analysis and data generated will be reduced to four-five categories
inference. Since several replicate surveys will be (high, medium, low and absent). Several corroborating
undertaken in each beat, we shall be able to model variables like prey encounter rates, pellet group
tiger occupancy, detection probability of tiger signs, counts and habitat condition will help in ensuring
and relative sign density at a high spatial resolution quality data; discrepancies in reporting will be easy to
(stratified on the basis of ecological characteristics, pinpoint. There would be an audit mechanism in
range or a superimposed grid of varying scale) using place to scrutinise the data collection, compilation
the approach of MacKenzie et al (2002), Royale and and analysis. National and international experts
Nicholes (2003) and Royle (2004). Since the data will would act as observers while officers in-charge will
be analysed in a GIS domain, several spatial and ensure adherence to the prescribed protocol and
attribute data like human density, livestock density, transparency of protocol implementation.
road network, topographical features, forest type and The system, once institutionalised and imple-
cover, meteorological data, poaching pressures and mented, will not only serve to monitor tiger popula-
landscape characteristics will be used as covariates tions but will also monitor the status of other
to model tiger occupancy and relative abundance in biodiversity resources of all tiger occupied landscapes,
a landscape and individual forest patches. Time- truly exemplifying the role of the tiger as a flagship. It
series analysis of the data at a larger spatial will serve as an effective tool for decision makers,
resolution is likely to have sufficient precision for managers and conservationists alike and will help
monitoring spatial occupancy of tigers in association guide and plan land use policy at a landscape level.
with changes in tiger prey, habitat quality and We have tested the logistics of implementation of
anthropogenic pressures. the above methodology in the Satpura-Maikal

Map 1: DISTRIBUTION OF UNGULATE TIGER PREY IN THE SATPURA-MAIKAL LANDSCAPE

Relative density
Low

Medium

High

Forest

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Map 2a: TIGER SIGN PRESENCE WITHIN THE SATPURA-MAIKAL LANDSCAPE

Relative density

Protected area

Tiger sign

Forest cover

landscape (about 48,000 sq km) in Madhya Pradesh current spatial distribution of tigers, potential
covering 3,150 beats in 178 forest ranges and mapped habitats, threats to crucial linkages between
tiger and ungulate abundance. Tiger presence was occupied landscapes and conservation planning.
recorded in 290 beats with 78 beats having high, 57
having medium and 155 having low abundance of Stage III: Estimating the population of tigers
tiger signs. Ungulate tiger prey was recorded in 1,678 and its prey
beats. Spatial distribution of these is shown in Figures
1, 2a and 2b. The analysis of this data is in progress. Stage 3 of the proposed methodology answers the
question of how many tigers and ungulates are there.
Stage II: Spatial and attribute data Teams of researchers will be deployed in each
landscape complex for estimating tiger density and
The spatial and aspatial data that are likely to ungulate densities within stratified sampling units.
influence tiger occupancy of a landscape will be used
for modeling in a GIS domain. The vegetation map, Tiger numbers
terrain model, night light satellite data, drainage,
transportation network, forest cover, climate data, We propose to stratify a Tiger Conservation Unit
Normalised Difference Vegetation Index, livestock (TCU) into tiger sign abundance classes of high,
abundance, human density, socio-economic medium, low and no tiger sign at the beat and larger
parameters, etc will be used for modeling habitat spatial resolution (range 100 sq km). In each of these
condition and tiger occupancy. Beat-wise vegetation strata, within a landscape (TCU), we propose to
sampling will be done to generate broad vegetation estimate actual tiger density in three-five replicates
map. IRS (KISS3 and AWiFS), LANDSAT and AVHRR of sufficient size (50-200 sq km).
satellite data will be used. Part of this component All known techniques of tiger density estimates
will be done in collaboration with Forest Survey of will be used depending on the logistic possibility
India. This modeling will help in determining within each landscape: capture-recapture based on

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Map 2b: 100 SQ KM HABITAT BLOCKS WITH DIFFERENT ABUNDANCE RANKING OF TIGER SIGNS WITHIN THE
SATPURA-MAIKAL LANDSCAPE

Low

Medium

Good

High

Forest cover

camera traps (Karanth 1995 and 1998, Karanth and population and site-specific occupancies. To convert
Nichols 1998, 2000 and 2002, Karanth et al 2004, encounter rates to density, an estimate of the
Pollock et al 1990, Carbone et al 2001 and Per Wegge effective strip width of these transects would be
et al 2004), mark-recapture based on pugmarks essential. The effective strip width of a transect
(Sharma et al in press) and DNA profile obtained from primarily depends on the visibility (vegetation and
tiger scats (Broquet and Petit 2004, Prugh et al 2005 terrain type), ability to detect ungulates by different
and Xu et al 2005). These densities will then be observers and animal behaviour response (Buckland
extrapolated for the areas under various density et al 1993). We modeled effective strip widths in
classes within the landscape to arrive at a tiger different vegetation types of a landscape in the
population estimate (Figure 3). We do realise that Satpura-Maikal landscape using model ungulate
these population estimates are likely to have high cutouts (Figure 4). Effective strip widths determined
variances, but since these estimates will not be used from the model and actual sightings of ungulates for
for monitoring trends (which is proposed to be done different vegetation types estimated for the same
through the site occupancy and relative abundance season did not differ (Mitra 2004) within Kanha (a
data), they should suffice the need for converting a protected area). However, ungulate response is likely
relevant ecological index to a more comprehensible to play an important role in disturbed areas in
concept of numbers. determining effective strip widths. We intend to
determine habitat and terrain-specific effective strip
Tiger prey widths by actually sampling selected sampling units
and by modeling. Since the transect line in a beat is
Stage I of the protocol would be reporting encounter habitat-specific (Jhala and Qureshi 2004), we would
rates on line transects (Buckland et al 1993); these be able to use these estimates of effective strip widths
would suffice for monitoring trends in ungulate for converting encounter rates of ungulates to density

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tigers obtained by camera traps or by regular cameras

EXTRAPOLATING TIGER SIGN INDEX TO TIGER
should be maintained in the form of a photo identity
DENSITIES AND POPULATION ESTIMATES
album. Records should be kept on the location,
Stage III - Intensive Area Samped ~48,000 km2 condition (breeding status, injury, etc) and
12
stratified sampling for High Density Tiger~1,800 km2 associated tigers whenever a tiger is sighted. This
Tiger Density Estimation Medium Density Tigers~1,300 km2
10 will provide crude data on ranging patterns,
(currently ongoing, Low Density Tigers~5,900 km2
Tiger Density 100 km-2

preliminary data) demography and mortality.

8
Tiger pugmark and other signs: Regular monitoring
6
of tiger signs (pugmark tracings, plaster casts, etc)
4
should be undertaken in every beat at a weekly
interval with monthly compilation of data. With
2 experience and exposure to the resident tigers and
their pugmarks, the forest staff may be able to
0 identify individual tigers from their track set
Now sign Low Medium High
characteristics (Panwar 1979, Smith et al 1999 and
Tiger sign index
Sharma 2001). Sign surveys and individual tiger
Preliminary data suggests tiger population in the Satpura-Maikal
landscpe ranges between 239-392 (315)
monitoring should become a regular task for every
guard as was the practice some years ago and is
currently practised in some tiger reserves. The
estimates by modeling detection probabilities. monthly data should be mapped and maintained to
Pellet group counts on transects would serve as analyse trends.
an index to the presence of ungulate species and
pellet relative abundance (and are not used for Monitoring by telemetry in select areas: Use
absolute density estimation), especially in disturbed modern technology of VHF, GPS and satellite telemetry
areas where actual sightings may be difficult. to study and monitor aspects of demography,
metapopulation dynamics (dispersal, ranging
Stage IV: Intensive monitoring of source patterns), mortality, predation ecology and
populations behaviour.
In all source populations, tiger abundance and
We propose that source populations of tigers (tigers density should be estimated using camera traps,
in tiger reserves and protected areas) in each tiger digital images of pugmarks and/or DNA profile from
landscape complex be monitored intensively. We non-invasive methods biannually.
propose the following methodology for this The Project Tiger directorate will play the
monitoring: overall supervisory and coordination role for all
the phases and tasks under each phase of the
Photo registration of tigers: Pictures of individual monitoring.

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ANNEXURE-IX Investing in institutions for change:

strengthening the Project Tiger directorate
The tiger-reform agenda will not be possible without National:
revamping institutional structures and processes
across the board. The Project Tiger directorate itself A. General
will have to be strengthened: planning, 1. Processing of the annual plan of operations
implementation, monitoring and corrective received from states for providing funding
mechanisms must happen down the line. support
Currently, the directorate has only the 2. Collation and scrutiny of utilisation certificates
incumbent director as an effective professional. as received from states vis--vis the central
Whatever assistance he has is deficient in field assistance provided
experience as well as the needed senior status to 3. Collation and scrutiny of monthly, quarterly,
measure up to the desired equations, as is required to half-yearly and annual reports received from the
deal with the states. states
The directorate staff lacks field training, and 4. Monitoring compliance of instructions relating
doesnt have the seniority to deal with states to patrolling/special patrolling/protection
effectively. initiatives
Certainly, this situation must improve. 5. Supervisory field visits and interaction with
Compenent professional assistants having chief wildlife wardens and field staff
expertise in wildlife management, Geographical 6. Facilitating networking for wildlife crime
Information Systems, statistics and socio- detection
economics. Only carefully selected, individuals 7. Collation of tiger poaching data
from the state forest service cadre and scientific 8. Replying to Parliament questions, Parliamentary
cadres with the participation of the director in the Committees/VIP references.
selection process can ensure the requisite 9. Filing replies relating to tiger conservation
professional experience and calibre in the litigation ongoing in courts of law
candidates selected. 10. Furnishing replies to audit paras, furnishing
It is on these lines that the Project Tiger reports and returns and participating in the
directorate shall have to be revamped. It will be routine meetings of the ministry
necessary to accord a fair measure of autonomy to the 11. Fostering awareness, eliciting public support
directorate in order to ensure quick decision-making towards tiger conservation
and exercising timely interventions for correctives at 12. Implementing complementary externally aided
the tiger reserve and state administration levels. projects
Likewise, effective institutional structures shall have
to be put in place to approve programmes and B. Technical
finances. 1. Providing technical comments to the state chief
A competent governing body will be essential wildlife wardens on management plans of tiger
to take decisions on policy and programme-merit reserves
and its size for the different reserves. The states 2. Formulating guidelines on managerial issues
response shall have to be ensured by carefully relating to core and buffer zones, including
selecting lead managers in each reserve and placing carrying capacity for tourist visitation, eco-
the buffer zones under field directors control right tourism and park interpretation
away, where not already done. Simultaneously, a 3. Carrying out independent monitoring of tiger
judicious planning exercise shall have to be reserves based on a set criteria by a panel of
undertaken to launch the integrated conservation experts
and people supportive programmes over a larger 4. Monitoring the country-level status of tiger
area, say a sub-landscape much beyond the existing population/habitat based on Geographical
buffer zones. Information Systems (GIS)
The Director, Project Tiger should have 5. Carrying out the all India estimation of tigers, co-
considerable operational freedom and office support predators and prey animals once in every four
to perform the above role. At present, the Project Tiger years
directorate is performing the following functions: 6. Assessing the comparative forest cover status of

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tiger reserves and their surrounds through the 14. Facilitating capacity building of field officers in
Forest Survey of India tiger reserve for management and crime
7. Facilitating faunal survey of tiger reserves detection
through the Zoological Survey of India 15. Mainstreaming the good/wise practices from
8. Facilitating floristic survey of tiger reserves various tiger reserves
through the Botanical Survey of India 16. Participating in training courses of field officers
9. Preparing a country-level status paper on Project as resource person
Tiger
10. Digital customisation of category-wise funds International:
utilised in tiger reserves since the inception of
the project, and its updation 1. Participating in international meetings of
11. Linking tiger reserves in the GIS domain through conventions like the Convention on International
National Information Centre for Management Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)
Information Systems. 2. Participating in trans-boundary meetings with
12. Fostering field research and radio telemetry Nepal on tiger conservation
studies of tigers in tiger reserves in collaboration 3. Participating in the meetings of the Global Tiger
with the Wildlife Institute of India Forum
13. Organising national/international workshops on 4. Evolving bilateral protocol with neighbouring
tiger conservation tiger range countries

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ANNEXURE-X A critique of cadre-building in the

forestry sector and suggestions for human
resource improvement
H S PANWAR, member, Tiger Task Force

The institutional hierarchy in the forestry sector is in wildlife management. Besides they also carry out
organised in the following structures: the works e.g. fire protection, road maintenance.
Foresters and forest/wildlife guards constitute
The Indian Forest Service (IFS), an All-India Service, the main frontline whereas the rangers are the main
leads forest and wildlife management both in the field executants. ACFs (IFS probationers and SFS
states and the Centre. Recruitment in the service is officers), DCFs and CFs carry out different levels of
direct and by promotion from the State Forest supervisory and control functions in an ascending
Service. Central government positions are also filled order from rangers above:
by IFS officers seconded on deputation from the state
cadres. Assistant Conservator of Forests (ACF): Field
supervision of protection and management.
The State Forest Service (SFS): The SFS officers render
the function of supervisory assistance in protection Deputy Conservator of Forests (DCF): Above plus
and work execution. Recruitment is both direct and planning annual work programmes, budgets,
by promotion from range forest officers. When IFS rendering accounts and exercising administrative
was reconstituted in 1966, direct recruitment to the control over their territories and units in their charge,
state service was stopped. But, ostensibly, to share say a forest division, a protected area or a part of a
the increased workload direct recruitment was tiger reserve.
restarted in 1978. As it proved later this was an
unwise move as over time this has led to widespread Conservator of Forests (CF): As head of a forest-circle
stagnation in forestry cadres down the line from or the field director of a tiger reserve, carries out
rangers to forest/wildlife guards. planning, oversees implementation and exercises
overall administrative control. In a territorial charge
Forest Rangers or Range Forest Officers (RFO): Forest a CF usually controls 4-5 forest divisions.
and wildlife protection and execution of field
activities as well as accounts are organized and Poor Cadre Planning & Management
controlled with a range as the base unit. The RFO is
the key field level functionary. Recruitment is both The adverse impacts of revival of direct recruitments
direct and by promotion from the post of deputy to the SFS have significantly upset the promotion
rangers. prospects lower down leading to frustration in the
subordinate forestry cadres the rangers and the
Forester/Deputy Ranger (Range Assistant or Round frontline staff. This has been further drastically
Officer): A range is usually organized into two compounded by the heavy direct recruitments in the
subunits in charge a forester or deputy ranger. They IFS and SFS and even RFO cadres during 1978 up to
lead or participate in patrolling parties as well as about 1990. In the IFS the peak years were 1988, 1989
execute field works and other activities. Recruitment and 1993, otherwise they have remained at annual
at forester level is both direct and by protection from averages during periods shown below:
forest guard level. Generally deputy ranger Positions Peak years: 1988 - 155; 1989 - 107 and 1993 - 82
are all filled by promotion from foresters. 65 during 1968-1986
55 during 1989-1997 (excluding 1993, a peak
Forest and Wildlife Guards: Basic protection unit is year)
a beat manned by a forest/wildlife guard assisted by 25 during 1998-2003
a watcher. In PAs, guards must live in interior
chowkis and carry our patrolling as well as keep In the SFS also these have been erratic with
track of animals or animal-signs and habitat use by irrationally high levels from 1980 to 1990 averaging
them. They thus render valuable information of use at 123 per year. They dropped off to about 33

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between 1991 and 1998, steeply declining in 1999 to (ascertained by test) the educational qualifications
just three. There was no recruitment in 2000 and 16 may be brought down to just 5th standard of school
were recruited in 2001. After that there have been education. In any case all cadres need a thorough
just a few or no recruitments. review and an obligatory institution of a rational
At RFO level the recruitment were again high strategy so that such upsets that affect the very core
during 1978 to 1982 averaging at 470 per year. It of forestry and wildlife functions are not ever
ranged from 120 to 290 between 1983 and 1989, repeated.
averaging at 209 per year. Later it dropped to a
trickle. The total cadre strength of RFOs of all states Capacity Building
put together is 9974. If a third is to be filled by
promotion from lower rank, the net strength of direct In tune with the decay in the forestry services, the
recruits would be 6600. If an average of 20-25 year capacity building has deteriorated too, mainly from
stay in RFO cadre is taken before promotion, this lack of interest on part of the states. Thus, there is
would suggest a mean quota of about 260-330 per not only a shortage of staff but also a steep fall in the
year, or say an average of 300 per year. Steady direct professional capacity, particularly in wildlife
recruitment to the RFO cadre at this rate is critical management and in respect of the needed paradigm
because the average age of this important field shift in favour of participatory management of forests
executive cadre must remain around 40 years. But and PAs through initiatives e.g. JFM and
erratic heavy recruitment in six years from 1978 to ecodevelopment. The low availing of training
1982 upset this and also the avenues for promotion facilities in wildlife management in the WII is now
for the frontline staff. the reason of many PAs in many states being managed
It is not difficult to see that the direct by untrained officers. The training capacity of WII for
recruitments to the different levels of forestry cadres 9-month PG Diploma course in wildlife management
have been erratic and irrational across the board. for IFS and SFS officers is 30 per year but right through
This has undermined the functional efficacy of nearly two decades the actual number of trainees has
institutional structures in field functions. This has stagnated at less than 20 on an average. Likewise the
also led to marked stagnation in all cadres too, which 3-month certificate course for the rangers having also
has been a major reason for the low morale of the a capacity of 30 has remained underutilised at well
forestry services all across. As challenges and threats below 20 per year. In order to meet the reason
have aggravated, the forestry service efficacy has advanced by the states of paucity of funds the MoEF
been steadily decimated by these horrors in cadre has provided for cent percent training cost to be
planning and management. It has also done untold borne by itself from 2003. This has so far had only
harm to the training institutions, also all across. marginal improvement. It is also seen that training
The forestry services have to discharge a wide interest varies from state to state.
spectrum of functions from policing to development There is low priority to capacity building and to
including contribution to the socioeconomic well undertaking organized staff development plan in the
being of the forest dwellers. Besides the well over a forestry services. The worst sufferer of this lapse is
decade old adoption of none or next to negligible the wildlife management. States have not taken
direct recruitments by the states at all levels has much interest in upgrading their forester and forest
given a severe blow to the protection and guard training schools in terms of introducing
development functions of the forestry services. special packages for wildlife management within
While it is not advisable to make direct forestry courses and undertaking full time wildlife
recruitment to the SFS cadre in most states it is management courses. Some years back the WII had
necessary to fill up positions by promotion from the developed specific curricula in wildlife management
RFO cadre. It is essential to revive direct recruitments for forester and wildlife guard courses and selected
at normal levels immediately at the RFO and forester two schools (Kalagarh in Uttaranchal and
levels. Recruitments to the FG/WLG cadres shall have Bandhavgarh in Madhya Pradesh) for assistance by
to be somewhat heavier in order to fill up large-scale way of training of trainers and also helped run one
vacancies and thus rationalize the average age of the course. But these schools are now running under
frontline. There is, however, no case for any increase utilized. It is necessary to strengthen these schools
in the respective sanctioned strength of all the so as to meet the needs of other states in the
cadres. In order to mend the fence with the local respective regions. WII should also ask other large
community, a good measure would be to fill up all or states to come forward to avail this capacity building
at least 50 per cent posts at forester and 75 per cent help in developing their schools and staff. WII has an
posts at forest/wildlife guard levels by preferential enormous responsibility ahead to bring up capacity
appointment of local candidates. For the tribal in states and to prepare a fair number of IFS officers in
candidates having good jungle-craft skills order to constitute the long awaited wildlife sub-

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cadre, which the TTF has fully endorsed. But envision conservation at landscape level, which
unfortunately it has lost long years in stagnation while securing ecosystem services, biodiversity and
despite its efforts to the contrary. wildlife helps rapid amelioration of degraded forests
and pastures in a transparent participatory mode
Preparing for paradigm shift with the genuine local stakeholders and deserving
beneficiaries. IGNFA, WII, IIFM and rangers colleges, all
There has been some recognition but hardly any institutions in the domain of the MoEF, need to gear
conviction for the paradigm shift in forest and up to prepare the forester-wildlifer to be a realistic
wildlife management towards an integrated visionary, a planner and implementer of intergraded
management strategy to ameliorate degraded forests programmes capable of ushering the paradigm shift
in order to improve ecosystem services and enhance into the field level. This will require a thorough
productivity for the forest dwellers, the country at review of all curricula of these institutions as well as
large and for state revenues. Diversion, degradation a wherewithal for competent and adequate training
and fragmentation of forests from pressures of of fresh recruits. Equally, IGNFA and WII shall have to
industrial development, markets and a steep rise in expeditiously take up the work of planning and
human population post-independence have forced running refresher courses for IFS and SFS officers.
foresters to adopt a protectionist enforcement Short-term courses will be needed for senior IFS
approach. This has cost them the loss of sympathy officers and medium terms courses for other IFS and
of forest dwellers and the development planners SFS officers. WII shall also have to design and
alike. implement such courses for the rangers. Both
While industrial development needs being institutions shall have to take up special training of
obligated to observe stricter discipline and to carry trainers (ToT) programmes imparting expert help in
greater environmental responsibility, the forestry- the initial stages in institution based and field
wildlife sector equally needs to become a key training modules. They must continue to run such
mainstream development agency, especially programmers later as and when needed to update the
contributing to the well being of the forest and forest- capacity of training institutions. The Director of
fringe dwellers. The sector must also simultaneously forestry education shall similarly have to participate
improve overall conservation in the interest of in the capacity building of rangers colleges and in
ecological security including water security, effectively running programmes.
protecting our rich biodiversity and wildlife, Importantly, similar assistance will be needed
endangered species included. This reinforces that for forester and forest/wildlife guard training schools
while a forester-wildlifer is a strict enforcer against on the new outlines suggested. Identified regional
miscreants, he is a friend and development schools should be dedicated to running special
functionary of the local people, particularly the poor wildlife management courses for foresters from all
and the landless forest-dependents states and for wildlife guards from the states that do
The needed paradigm shift entails an ability to not have their own wildlife training schools.

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ANNEXURE-XI Amending the criminal provisions of

the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972
Critique by PILSAC, New Delhi for the Tiger Task Force

A. Offences and penalties under any other law is not barred for any act which
constitutes an offence under this Act, or from being
The Act prescribes various offences and punished for a higher punishment or penalty than
penalties. These are discussed below: that provided by this Act [Section 56].
a. Any violation of the provisions of the Act, its
rules or orders made thereunder attracts a B. Special provisions relating to the
punishment of three years or a fine up to Rs investigation procedure
25,000 or both [Section 51(1)]. A second or
subsequent offence of the same nature attracts an 1. The Act prescribes distinct and special
imprisonment term of at least three years procedures for investigation which are (a)
extending to seven years and a minimum fine of different from those for the investigation of an
Rs 25,000 [second proviso to Section 51(1)]. offence under the Code of Criminal Procedure,
b. Where offences are committed in relation to 1973 and (b) ostensibly designed to empower
animals mentioned in Schedule I, or Part II of forest officials to initiate and participate in the
Schedule II, or where the offence relates to investigation process so that any immediate
hunting in a sanctuary or national park or violation of the Act can be remedied. To the extent
changing their boundaries, the punishment will to which forest officials have been brought into the
be at least three years imprisonment extending to investigative process to deal with an immediate
seven years and a fine of Rs 25,000 [first proviso transgression of the regime of the Act, these
to Section 51(1)]. provisions are salutary. But after an initial
c. Violation of provisions prohibiting trade or investigation is enabled in this way, the procedure
commerce in trophies, animal articles and the limps forward, only to get ensnared as a relatively
like, derived from certain animals, would attract minor case through the criminal process.
a punishment of at least three years of 2. It might be useful to recount the special
imprisonment extending to seven years and a investigative provisions of the Act of 1972 (as
fine of Rs 10,000 [Section 51(1A)]. amended). These are as follows:
d. Any person who teases, molests, injures, feeds Power to enter, search and seize
animals in zoos or causes disturbance to animals Power to arrest and detain
or litters the zoo will be punishable by Power to record evidence
imprisonment for a term of six months or a fine Duty to render assistance
which may extend to Rs 2,000 or with both Power to destroy or dispose
[Section 51(1B)].
e. Persons convicted under the provisions of the Power of entry, search and seizure:
Act also stand to lose their license or permit Section 50 (1) (a) allows certain officials, including
[Section 51(2) and 51(3)] while also having their the Director or any other officer authorised by him in
license under the Arms Act, 1959 cancelled/ this behalf, or the Chief Wildlife Warden or the
reinforced by an order that no re-issue of arms authorised officer or any forest officer or any police
license be made till up to five years from the date officer not below the rank of a sub-inspector, to
of conviction [Section 51(4)]. They will also have require the production, for purposes of inspection,
no claim to the vehicle used while the offence any article of wildlife or license and permit
was being committed [Section 51(2)]. It also documents to be kept by the person under the
becomes difficult for persons convicted to provisions of the Act. These officers are also given
receive bail under Section 51A. powers of search [Section 50 (1) (b)] and seizure
f. Persons who, without reasonable cause, fail to [Section 50 (1) (c)].
produce the things they are required to produce It should be noted that this immediate power of
under the Act, will be guilty of the offence entry, search and seizure can be exercised to (a)
[Section 50 (8)]. require any animal, trophy to be produced; (b) stop a
g. It is also important to point out that prosecution vehicle or search premises, baggage or other things;

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or (c) seize any animal, trophy, plant in respect of animals to the custody of the person, in whose
which an offence is created. An exception is made of possession they are, need examination.
fisherfolk who inadvertently enter by boat, not used These provisions provide the enforcement
for commercial fishing, into a national park. process a healthy start; the process then flounders.
There is no provision for inviting a Special
Power to arrest and detain: Investigation Team. As soon as these immediate
There is a power to arrest and detain without warrant acts are done, the entire case is placed before a
for something impermissible done without magistrate to limp along without priority or speed.
permission. Such a detention may not take place if
the officers in question are satisfied of the name and C. Method and forum of trial
address of a person and if the person concerned will
answer a summons or other proceedings that might Following investigation, a case proceeds on the basis
be taken against him Section 50 (3). While such an prescribed under the Code, 1973 [Section 4(2), CrPC]
approach is conducive to civil liberties, such unless the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 lays down
provisions work against the poor, who often have no special provisions to the contrary [Section 5, CrPC].
fixed address nor are able to satisfy the officer of their Broadly speaking, this means:
bona fides. It should be noted that persons detained 1. There is no distinction between serious and trivial
or things seized will be produced before a magistrate cases. All cases proceed under weak trial regimes.
[Section 50 (4)]. 2. All the cases proceed as complaint cases, rather
than serious criminal cases to be tried by
The power to record evidence: sessions.
Under Section 50 (8) (d), any officer not below the 3. Even as complaint cases, where the offence
rank of an Assistant Director of Wildlife Preservation attracts imprisonment for two years or more, it is
or Wildlife Warden shall have the power to receive treated as a warrant case to be tried by a
and record evidence. More importantly, such procedure different from normal crimes.
evidence can be admissible in any subsequent trial 4. Where the offence attracts imprisonment for less
under Section 50 (9) before a magistrate, the only than two years, it is treated as a summary case, to
condition being that it should have been taken in the be tried by a less rigorous procedure.
presence of the accused person. 5. Very minor cases can be tried by summary
procedures.
Duty to render assistance:
Under Section 50 (7), all persons have a duty to What needs to be done?
render assistance for the purposes of (i) prevention or The cases need to be treated as serious criminal
detection of an offence; (ii) apprehending persons cases. The first step must be to differentiate between
charged with violation of the Act and (iii) for seizure serious and non-serious cases and ensure that serious
of substances when exercising the power of seizure cases are tried as police cases by the Sessions Courts.
under Section 50 (1) (c). This has an impact on the manner in which the
cases are prosecuted. Since they are complaint cases,
Power to destroy or dispose: the police do not prosecute them. It is left to the
If the article seized is government property as defined overworked forest officials to come to court and build
in Section 39, then the officer has the power to arrange the case before it can be taken further. The cases linger
for the sale of the seized substance under Section 50 on because they are prescribed as lesser cases and are
(6) (a). If on the other hand, the article is not not treated as priority. The prosecutors, mainly forest
government property, then the proceeds of the sale officials, are inept and lose interest. The second step
shall be returned to the owner under Section 50 (6) (b). therefore must be to have special prosecutors.
These special provisions are necessary in order Since these cases randomly languish in courts
to police the various areas and regimes created by the throughout the country, they are not monitored by a
Act of 1972. They are also hedged in by civil liberty Centralised Monitoring Task Force either at the state
precautions, so that what is done is placed before a or the Union level. So, the third step must be to
magistrate; and a person arrested may not be create a Centralised Monitoring Task Force for all
detained by an officer where the bona fides of an cases especially the serious ones.
arrestee are established. This does hurt the landless, In order to appreciate the distinctions created by
but that is no reason for the provisions to be the Code, it would be useful to summarise the
removed. Consistent with the Constitution, it should relevant provisions of the Code. The Code makes a
be made clear that where a person is arrested, he distinction between summons cases and warrant
should be brought before a magistrate within 24 cases. Summons cases under Section 2 (w) mean a
hours. The provisions that remand live or captive case relating to an offence and not being a warrant

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case. Warrant cases under Section 2 (x) of the Code D. Special provisions
are those relating to an offence punishable with
death, imprisonment for life or imprisonment for a The Act prescribes certain special provisions relating
term exceeding two years. As has been listed earlier, to cognisance of the offence, compoundability of the
the various offences of the Wildlife Protection Act, offence and presumptions at the stage of trial which
1972 prescribe punishment of more than two years are outlined below:
except for violation of Section 38J related to teasing 1. Section 54 allows the Government to compound
of animals in a zoo. Thus, Sections 238-250 of the any notified offence whereby a person, who
Code dealing with warrant cases would come into has committed such an offence, would be
play for all the major offences of the Act. discharged on paying a certain sum of money
When the case is instituted on the basis of a [Section 54(2)]. Such compounding is done
police report, the magistrate, once satisfied that the only to the extent of a penalty of Rs 25,000.
various documents that were to be handed over to the All such compounding terminates all pending
accused under Section 207 have been done so proceedings in relation to that offence, and no
[Section 238], proceeds to frame the charge [Section further proceeding is taken in respect of that
240]. If the magistrate does not believe a case can be offence. The penalty is determined by the forest
made out on the police documents, he may discharge officer in accordance with Section 54 (1).
the accused [Section 239]. When the accused records 2. Every persons complaint of the violation of the
a plea of guilty he is convicted under Section 241. If Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 does not result in a
he pleads not guilty, the magistrate frames the charge trial. The process of cognisance the manner in
if a case has been made out and proceeds to hear the which judicial notice is taken of the offence is
case on merits after the prosecution [Section 242] and limited to complaints according to the provisions
the defence [Section 243] have arrayed the evidence of Section 55, which lists authorities like the
required. If the case is not instituted on a police Director, Wild Life Preservation, Member-
report, then the magistrate hears the prosecution and Secretary, Central Zoo Authority as being
decides whether, on the basis of the evidence competent to make the complaint. Section 55 (c)
presented by the Prosecution [Section 244], an also allows any general member of the public to
offence has been made or not. If no case has been make a complaint, after giving notice of 60 days
made out against the accused, then the magistrate to the government that he intends to do so. If the
discharges the accused [Section 245]. Otherwise, a government does not proceed on the
charge is framed under Section 246(1), and the matter prosecution, then such a person could complain
goes to trial, following the procedure prescribed in to the Court, which would then take cognisance
Section 246. With respect to the offence of teasing in of the offence.
a zoo, the procedure followed is the mechanism 3. Other special provisions relate to presumptions
indicated for a summons case. Summons cases do not in Section 57, which reverses the onus of
require the framing of a charge [Section 251] and if proof on to the person who has been caught with
the accused pleads guilty, the magistrate starts the an animal part and presumes unlawful
trial process as prescribed in Section 254. The forum possession of the same unless the contrary is
to be used for conducting trial is guided by Part II of proved.
the First Schedule of the Code, which deals with the 4. A special provision relating to offences by
classification of offences against other laws. On the companies in Section 58 pins liability on the
basis of the punishment prescribed, the case goes person from the company who has connived in
before a magistrate (for punishment of imprisonment the commission of the offence.
of less than three years) or a First Class Magistrate (for 5. Any person involved in the abetment or attempt
imprisonment of three years and not more than seven to violate the provisions of the Act is deemed to
years) or a Sessions Court (for imprisonment of seven have violated that provision and punishment
years, life or the death sentence). accordingly follows [Section 52].

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ANNEXURE-XII Guidelines on establishment of

wildlife wings etc issued during the
period 1973- 1981
1. Letter No. 694-PMO/73 dated 27 December 1973 of the Prime Minister to the Chief Ministers of all States.
2. Letter No. 15/ii (i)74-AIS(IV) dated 16 January 1976 of the Cabinet Secretariat (Deptt of Personnel and AR)
to the Chief Secretaries of all States and UTs.
3. Letter No. J-11014/75-76 FRY(WL) dated 16 September 1976 of Joint Secretary (F&WL), Ministry of
Agriculture to the Chief Secretaires of all States and UTs.
4. Letter No. J-11014/75-74 FRY(WL) dated 25 October 1976 of Joint Secretary (F&WL), Ministry of Agriculture
to the Forest Secretaries of all States and UTs.
5. Letter No. 279-PMO/76 dated 16 December 1976 of the Prime Minister to the Chief Ministers of all States.
6. Letter No. 5-6/80-FRY(WL) dated 8 April 1980 of the Union Minister of Agriculture to all Governors and
Chief Ministers.
7. Letter No. 660-PMO/80 dated 20 April 1980 of the Prime Minister to all Governors and Chief Ministers.
8. Letter No. 8-1/80-FRY(WL) dated 21 April 1981 of Joint Secretary (F&WL), Ministry of Agriculture to the
Forest Secretaries of all States and UTs.

206 Annexures