More than 50 per cent of India’s tiger population was lost in the past five years with the numbers dwindling to 1,411 from 3,642 in 2001-02, according to the latest tiger census report. The report titled “Status of Tigers, Co-predators and Prey in India” estimates that there are just 1411 tigers in six landscapes across the country.
With this recent census report, it is but obvious that the Project Tiger has again taken two steps backward except in the state of Tamil Nadu. This much touted project too was slammed by the Comptroller and Auditor General for just about sustaining the population in the designated areas.
Extensive poaching, destruction of the tiger habitat along with a decrease in the prey has effected the tiger population across the country in various states especially in the North and North-Eastern states. An ill fitted and ill equipped forest officials apart from the indifferent bureaucracy is also an inescapable fact of the Indian Forest Department.
Indian bureaucracy still suffers from a colonial hangover with a very apparent ‘babu’ attitude. There is no coordination between the local tribes within a forest area or reserve and the forest officials.
There is an urgent need to create zones or reserves which are free from human presence. Last year, 270 villages were identified in core areas of these tiger sanctuaries which need to immediate relocation. Just a few weeks before the census, the government had cleared funds for tiger conservation and designated eight new reserves for inclusion under Project Tiger for the 11th plan. Much of the funds are to be used for relocating the displaced people from the core areas. The focus of considerable attention still remains the human-tiger conflict and there is but an urgent need to resolve this tug-of-war.
Any attempt to conserve the tiger without the involvement of all the stake holders is going to be a failure. There is no coordination between the local tribes within a forest area or reserve and the forest officials. Forest officials need to coordinate with the local tribes (who again are on their way to win their land rights), local communities, researchers and scientists apart from passionate tiger conservationists apart from the common man.
Apart from the poachers, there is a need to control the armed insurgency in the Eastern Ghats and parts of central India. Tiger reserves in areas with heavy Naxalite presence and influence are the country’s worst, according to the Wildlife Institute of India’s latest tiger census report that has recorded a sharp fall in tiger population. Forest officials in the three states of Orissa, Jharkhand and Chattisgarh have almost acceded control of the tiger reserves to the rebels. The Tiger Conservation Authority should also ensure that the unsustainable resource extraction apart from indiscriminate killing of the tiger’s prey be stopped.
The constant demand for the tiger skin and other related products in the international market is putting immense pressure on the already declining tiger population. It is a question of simple economics caught in the midst of a complex environmental problem. If the demand comes down, so will the supply. With widespread international support to save the tiger, what this conservation agenda most needs is a dedicated political will.
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