If tomorrow comes

The Pioneer , Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Correspondent : Prerna Singh Bindra
Will the tiger survive its current crisis? Doubtful, says Prerna Singh Bindra

The tiger is extinct in Sariska. This is not an isolated tragedy, but an indicator of the problems that plague our beleaguered national animal. It was in early March this year that the tiger crisis caught the attention of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. He wrote to the Rajasthan Chief Minister, Vasundhara Raje to look into the matter, ordered a CBI enquiry into the Sariska catastrophe, set up a Tiger Task Force to look into the current crisis and arrive at effective solutions.

Great, isn't it? Remarkable that the Prime Minister's Office has deigned, finally, to respond to the tiger tragedy. Why, then, does despair still persist? Why is there a deep conviction today that there is little hope for the tiger? Why, then, is the sense of impending doom greater than ever?

Let's look at what has happened since the PM acted in response to the crisis. Not much, really. The Sariska CBI report has said that India's biggest wildlife trader Sansar Chand is responsible for the disappearance of tigers in Sariska and the CBI is in the know of others involved as well. However, obtaining permission from the Rajasthan Government for a detailed inquiry took over a month, and further investigation and arrests have been delayed.

Let us not forget too, that Sariska is just one tiger reserve from a list of 28, where poaching is a severe problem. Numbers have fallen drastically in Ranthambhore, the list of missing felines in Panna is long, and Bandhavgarh has seen a recent spate of tiger deaths. There has been no sign of the tiger in Buxa for the past year, Dampha is a similar story and no one knows the fate of tigers in Nagarjunasagar and Indravati, under the influence of naxalites. All of the above are Sariskas in the making, unless we act, now.

The Government essentially disagrees that a tiger calamity exists, and even if it is right, tigers must get the benefit of doubt, and therefore protection. Tiger numbers are just too fragile, and the habitats far too vulnerable to permit any laxity. In the period 1994 to 2004, Wildlife Protection Society of India has documented the illegal killing of 719 tigers. Obviously, not all have met their end in Sariska. Wherever there are tigers, there are poachers, and the sooner we act on this assumption, the sooner we can hope to protect the tiger.

Why, then, has not the CBI been given a national mandate to investigate poaching and the illegal trade in wildlife? Why is it that even in the face of such horrific continuing massacre, the National Wildlife Crime Prevention and Control Bureau is still gathering dust? Yes, we know that it exists and that orders were issued that it must be activated in the National Board for Wildlife meeting chaired by the PM on March 17. Well, it just hasn't happened.

Monsoon is the most vulnerable

According to Project Tiger estimates, nearly 60 percent of the tiger population lives outside the reserves. Given the state of the tigers inside the reserves, one despairs at their fate once they cross the protected boundaries. A close look at the figures show that much of the poaching occurs outside the reserves. A radio-collared tiger, 120, suffered an agonising death in a poacher's noose just outside the boundaries of Panna, while a tigress with her three cubs were poisoned outside Tadoba, and B1 and B2 were killed outside the precincts of Bandhavgarh.

GS Bhardwaj, Deputy Director of Ranthambhore says that once the tigers leave the reserve, it is akin to walking into a death trap. He is right, the Kaila Devi Sanctuary adjoining the Reserve has also lost all six tigers that the last census listed. Tigers outside protected areas, or even in forests not carrying the "Tiger Reserve" tag, have absolutely no protection. Moreover, such "outsiders" are thrown into sharp conflict with man. Outside sanctuaries, the natural prey base is minimal. As the recent Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi case has shown, hunting of deer and other creatures is carried on with impunity. With no natural prey to feed on, the tiger must assuage its hunger with livestock. Irate farmers avenge the loss of their cattle by poisoning or electrocuting straying tigers.

Nor will protection alone safeguard the tiger. The tiger's habitat is rapidly shrinking and degrading by the day. Most of our reserves today are fragmented islands with tiny tiger populations. Take Ranthambhore as an example. With a core area of little over 300 sq km, it hosts anywhere between 20 to 40 tigers (depends on who you want to believe - the NGOs who say the numbers have dipped, or the optimistic official census). The Reserve is like an island surrounded by enormous populations of people and cattle. Apart from the problem of illegal cattle grazing inside, such a segregated population leads to inbreeding. Inbreeding translates to lower sperm count, higher infant mortality rate and a population prone to disease.

A more immediate worry is that such patchwork forests allow little space for tigers. Tigers are territorial animals, and the male needs anything between 30 to over 200 sq km, depending on sufficient prey base and the availability of females for breeding. Even as tigresses breed within the reserves, once cubs, especially the males, grow up, they need to carve their own territories. But there is just no place for them. Territorial fights between "challenger" and the existing dominant tiger increase. While this is only natural, a spurt in such fights due to lack of space could also increase mortality rates. Cubs also stray outside the reserve and fall prey to poachers or succumb to a conflict situation. It is essential therefore to protect not just isolated reserves, but also ensure at least some contiguous habitats.

Will the PM's interventions save the tiger? How can one believe that if the same office which declares concern for our national animal pushes a Bill to redistribute the tiger's habitat among people, effectively ending any chance of its survival? There has been much controversy surrounding the Schedule Tribe Recognition of Forests Rights Bill, 2005. I will stress on just a few points. Once forests lands come under private ownership as the Bill proposes, the land mafia will move in. It is a moot point whether tribals will benefit. Why do we want to keep the tribal at subsistence levels and not give them the fruits of development? Unfortunately, the spread of civilisation into wilderness has shown that the symbiotic relationship between forests and tribals is a myth. The day of the "hunter-gatherer" tribal is over. They have been exposed to consumerism, but lack the wherewithal to avail of the goodies. Opening up of the forest and its land, trees, timber, with no law enforcement in place will lead to exploitation, and the ultimate death of the forest. There is simply too much money in exploiting forests and killing tigers to do away with the laws governing wildlife and forests as the Bill proposes.

And where will it all stop? If tribals get ownership of land say, in Melghat Tiger Reserve, where will their children go to school? Will they not want electricity? How about hospitals? Do they not have the right to better communication and roads? Will we provide for these? If not, what happens to the "historical injustice" that the Government wants to rectify? If yes, will someone please explain that a forest does not remain a forest once such development takes over. It starts as a village, and then develops into a town that ultimately morphs into an urban centre. A cub needs his forest and a healthy prey base if he is to become a tiger, not a school.

Then there is the Tiger Task Force. Well intended, but clearly with an agenda. In a recent meeting at Nagpur, the force steered clear of the subject of tiger conservation. The focus of the meeting was how tribals could use forests, acquire land and other rights over the tiger's habitat. Which, after all, the chairperson was to explain later, is the purpose of forests. The task force has effectively divided issues into categories like tribal versus tiger, people versus tiger, wildlifers versus people's rights. It is not so. Locals must be included in conservation efforts. They have always enjoyed rights to minor forest produce for sustenance, and must continue to do so. Any wildlifer will be the first to admit that in India the issues of people and wildlife cannot be isolated. However, it is best not to wear rose-tinted glasses and romanticise the tribal-forest relationship. Modern day pressures have meant that tribals seek more than mere sustenance. It is called greed - that is what led the locals in Sariska to lead the poacher to the tiger. Ditto for Ranthambhore and Bandhavgarh. It is a human trait, the poor villager living in abject poverty in jungles is as vulnerable to the lure of money to help raise his living standards as his urban counterpart.

People living within a tiger reserve isn't good news, both for man and animal. Living cheek by jowl, the conflict between man and carnivore will only intensify. For the tiger, having people living in its habitat is catastrophic. Java, Bali and Caspian tigers have become extinct because of excessive exploitation and human interference. Wildlife scientists from across the world have concluded that tigers do not breed in co-existence with human beings. Cats need inviolate spaces in order to proliferate. If people dwell around its habitat, the forest will soon see a tiger drought.

A classic example of this is Chilla range in Rajaji National Park, where there were several deras of the Van Gujjars, a nomadic, pastoral tribe. The habitat bore the scars of a human dwelling: refuse, putrid nullahs, and grasses minced away by livestock. For 20 years, Chilla rarely saw a tiger. Then, about two years ago, the Gujjars of Chilla were relocated. This year, at least two tigresses have made Chilla their nursery. Chilla teaches us that all the tiger needs to flourish is an inviolate space and adequate protection.

This is a thought that the chairperson of the task force does not subscribe to, and this has created a chasm within the members of the task force. The task force must remember that the purpose of its creation was to halt the decline in the number of tigers and to protect and effectively manage their habitat, not to push the Tribal Land Rights Bill. The rationale bandied about is that since the forest service and conservationists have failed to protect the tiger, people must take over. By the same token, people must take over law enforcement too. One sees ample instances of lawlessness to brand the police a failed institution, but does that meant we should disband the police force?

Blaming Project Tiger exclusively doesn't work. The tiger crisis has not occurred overnight, but was years in the making. It is the need of the hour to give Project Tiger more teeth, transforming it into something more than a mere bank whose job is to finance tiger reserves across the country, with only recommendatory powers towards its management.

Saving the tiger has taken on the tone of a circus. The honourable Union Minister for Science Mr Kapil Sibal wants to invest huge amounts in - hold your breath - artificial insemination, and to collect semen for future use. The CCMB plans to create tiger clones. Let us not even question the science, which is yet to be perfected. Is it justified to invest crores in cloning tigers? Will someone please tell me where these "Tiger Dollys'' will live, hunt and breed once DNA has "resurrected" them? With tribals in the forest? If we have been unable to protect the wild tiger and its habitat, what master plan do we have to conserve the ones we "create"?

India's tigers are today at the crossroads, where it could possibly live and thrive, or more likely, going by our present comatose mode, could be lost forever. Trips to Ranthambhore don't save tigers howsoever well-meant they may be, Mr Prime Minister. Only unrelenting commitment to do so can. It is high time that the recommendations by numerous committees set up over the years for controlling poaching and conserving the tiger were adhered to. Like the immediate creation of a Wildlife Crime Bureau. The protection of tiger reserves by well-equipped forest staff (eventually building up a forest police force) supported by paramilitary forces is an urgent requirement. The fresh recruitment of forest staff should be given priority. In some states, recruitment has been frozen for over 20 years. And finally, the creation of a dedicated ministry or at the very least, a separate forests and wildlife department will make all the difference. It is absolutely essential that at least four percent of India remains inviolate, dedicated to wildlife.

Else, let's stop uttering platitudes and making false promises. Let us give up pretence of our concern for the tiger and continue to plunder the tiger and its habitat. This is not time for half-measures.

 
SOURCE : The Pioneer, Tuesday, January 31, 2006
 


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