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Top Ranthambhore officials removed: Action follows Express report on Park killings
20 November, 2005
Taking note of The Sunday Express report on the killing on tigers inside Ranthambhore National Park, the Rajasthan government today transferred the two top forest officials of the Park.
Conservator of Forest Shafat Hussein and deputy field director G S Bhardwaj have been asked to relinquish charge with immediate effect. ‘‘Both officials have been put on APO (Awaiting Posting Order). The CM is keen to fix accountability and has signed the order on a Sunday,’’ Rajasthan Chief Wildlife Warden R N Mehrotra told The Indian Express. While R S Shekawat will immediately take charge as DFO, the new Conservator may be named tomorrow.
Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje has also convened a high-level meeting tomorrow to discuss the crisis. The Sunday Express reported how three poachers had confessed to killing 10 Ranthambhore tigers since 2003 and named another seven who had taken out at least a dozen more.
‘‘We will work in close coordination with the police department and, like we have done in Sariska, hope to bust the entire racket here very soon,’’ Mehrotra said. Meanwhile, a joint team of CID crime branch, Kota (Rural) police and Sawai Madhopur police raided villages around the Park in search of suspects named by poachers in custody.
Taking note of The Sunday Express report on the killing on tigers inside Ranthambhore National Park, the Rajasthan government today transferred the two top forest officials of the Park.
Conservator of Forest Shafat Hussein and deputy field director G S Bhardwaj have been asked to relinquish charge with immediate effect. ‘‘Both officials have been put on APO (Awaiting Posting Order). The CM is keen to fix accountability and has signed the order on a Sunday,’’ Rajasthan Chief Wildlife Warden R N Mehrotra told The Indian Express. While R S Shekawat will immediately take charge as DFO, the new Conservator may be named tomorrow.
Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje has also convened a high-level meeting tomorrow to discuss the crisis. The Sunday Express reported how three poachers had confessed to killing 10 Ranthambhore tigers since 2003 and named another seven who had taken out at least a dozen more.
‘‘We will work in close coordination with the police department and, like we have done in Sariska, hope to bust the entire racket here very soon,’’ Mehrotra said. Meanwhile, a joint team of CID crime branch, Kota (Rural) police and Sawai Madhopur police raided villages around the Park in search of suspects named by poachers in custody.
'Ten of us, we killed at least 22 tigers'
Three hunters confess to killing 10 tigers, name seven who poached a dozen more. A stunned police now wonder what the 273 staff at Ranthambhore were doing. The Sunday Express, which first exposed the vanishing tiger, travels to Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh to meet, first hand, the men, who the cops say, took out the Ranthambhore tiger. And finds out that their startling testimony could hide more than it reveals
19 November, 2005
They are shocking in their frankness: "Jangal ke andar ghumte rahte the hum. Sher ka panja milne par per pe baith jate. Raat ko mar ke chale jaate aur subah jaake khaal nikalte the." ("We roamed in the forest looking for tiger pugmarks. Once we had spotted them, we would take position on trees. We hunted in the night and returned in the morning to skin the tiger.")
That's how three poachers, by their own admission, killed at least 22 tigers in Ranthambhore since 2003 right under the nose of 273 forest staff that guard India's most famous tiger reserve.
Ever since the tiger count in Ranthambhore fell from 47 to 26 in less than two years, officials in New Delhi and Rajasthan have been wary of attributing it to poaching.
They can't any more.
Working on leads from wildlife activists, a crack team of the Rajasthan Police has arrested three Moghiya tribal poachers who have confessed to killing 10 Ranthambhore tigers. They have named another seven who, according to them, have taken out at least 12 more tigers during the same period.
While Prithviraj alias Pirthia confessed to killing one tiger, Kesra and Devi Singh say they killed four and five big cats respectively. Pirthia and Kesra are tribals from Kota and Bundi in Rajasthan; Devi is a sarpanch of Dhamni village in adjacent Sheopur in Madhya Pradesh.
Interviews with the police and these three alleged poachers by The Sunday Express reveal a method remarkably simple:
They operated from villages, like Uliana, right next to the national park.
Their weapon of choice: muzzle-loading guns although in one case, metal traps were also used.
Didn't the guards act as a deterrent? Says Devi Singh: "Yes, we came across them but they never intercepted any of us." He confessed to even firing guns within a few hundred yards of forest chowkies. Why didn't anybody come checking? "Pata nahin (Don't know)," is his answer.
Kesra, who says he killed four tigers, is more forthcoming. "My in-law has good contacts and forest guards never told us anything while we moved around in the jungle)," he told The Sunday Express.
All of them say they supplied tiger skins and bones to one Azad in Madhya Pradesh who is now the target of a massive police hunt. While a tiger fetched Rs 60,000, a tigress would bring anything between Rs 40-50,000, depending on her length. They also poached leopards at will, each for just Rs 15,000.
Pirthia and his father were arrested on November 2 from their village, Ashok Nagar Kanwad, 100 km from Kota under Itawah police station. Police said the family had several wildlife items including tiger whiskers and bear claws.
Kesra was present at Pirthia's residence and was also picked up. During interrogation, he named Devi Singh.
"The network extends from Sawai Madhopur to interiors of Madhya Pradesh. We hope to make more arrests soon," said Alok Bashisht, SP, Kota (rural), who is heading the investigation.
"During interrogation, we were surprised to know how these poachers had such free access to the forests. They seemed very confident and even travelled by jeep. We will know exactly how deep inside the national park they ventured to once we take them for spot verification," said IG (crime) Ajit Singh Sekhawat who is monitoring the investigation from Jaipur.
While police work on these confession statements, one thing is clear: if there is one thing these poachers have made clear, it's the ineffectiveness of the official machinery.
Not without reason.
The average age of the Ranthambhore ground staff is 49. The last recruitment took place 15 years ago. How tuned the staff was to the poaching is evident by DFO G S Bhardwaj's presentation to the PM during his visit to Ranthambhore on May 22 this year: Everything is in order, he said.
This denial wasn't new. When The Sunday Express first reported that 18 tigers had gone missing in Ranthambhore, Project Tiger director Rajesh Gopal and DG (wildlife) R P Katyal dismissed the report. But after other national parks began reporting the same trend, officials were eventually forced to conduct a joint tiger census involving independent organisations.
In July, the census established that the tiger population was indeed down by 21. Besides, Census figures showed that seven tigers went missing in the adjoining Palpur-Kuno sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh during the same period.
Anticipating resistance from villagers, nine policemen visited Dhamni village, near Sheopur, in two vehicles, posing as PWD officials.
They asked Sarpanch Devi Singh (in photo) to join them for a quick inspection of sadak yojana work saying the Collector would survey it the next morning.
Once Devi Singh came out of the village, the police team whisked him away.
On November 10, interrogation began at Itawah PS and the sarpanch said he had killed five tigers. He named other poachers operating in Ranthambhore.
The weapons have been recovered. Devi Singh will be in police remand until Nov 24, the others are in custody
Others in the Net
March 16, 2005: A gang of suspected poachers confessed to killing at least 10 tigers in Sariska during 2002-2004. All in custody. Trial yet to begin.
June 30: Sansar Chand, India's most wanted wildlife criminal, was arrested in west Delhi. Wanted by 9 states in over 50 cases of poaching and skin smuggling. Named by CBI in report on the disappearance of Sariska tigers.
July 29: Arrested by Chhattarpur (MP) police, Raees and Yusuf confessed to selling five tiger and 29 leopard skins from Panna
19 November, 2005
They are shocking in their frankness: "Jangal ke andar ghumte rahte the hum. Sher ka panja milne par per pe baith jate. Raat ko mar ke chale jaate aur subah jaake khaal nikalte the." ("We roamed in the forest looking for tiger pugmarks. Once we had spotted them, we would take position on trees. We hunted in the night and returned in the morning to skin the tiger.")
That's how three poachers, by their own admission, killed at least 22 tigers in Ranthambhore since 2003 right under the nose of 273 forest staff that guard India's most famous tiger reserve.
Ever since the tiger count in Ranthambhore fell from 47 to 26 in less than two years, officials in New Delhi and Rajasthan have been wary of attributing it to poaching.
They can't any more.
Working on leads from wildlife activists, a crack team of the Rajasthan Police has arrested three Moghiya tribal poachers who have confessed to killing 10 Ranthambhore tigers. They have named another seven who, according to them, have taken out at least 12 more tigers during the same period.
While Prithviraj alias Pirthia confessed to killing one tiger, Kesra and Devi Singh say they killed four and five big cats respectively. Pirthia and Kesra are tribals from Kota and Bundi in Rajasthan; Devi is a sarpanch of Dhamni village in adjacent Sheopur in Madhya Pradesh.
Interviews with the police and these three alleged poachers by The Sunday Express reveal a method remarkably simple:
They operated from villages, like Uliana, right next to the national park.
Their weapon of choice: muzzle-loading guns although in one case, metal traps were also used.
Didn't the guards act as a deterrent? Says Devi Singh: "Yes, we came across them but they never intercepted any of us." He confessed to even firing guns within a few hundred yards of forest chowkies. Why didn't anybody come checking? "Pata nahin (Don't know)," is his answer.
Kesra, who says he killed four tigers, is more forthcoming. "My in-law has good contacts and forest guards never told us anything while we moved around in the jungle)," he told The Sunday Express.
All of them say they supplied tiger skins and bones to one Azad in Madhya Pradesh who is now the target of a massive police hunt. While a tiger fetched Rs 60,000, a tigress would bring anything between Rs 40-50,000, depending on her length. They also poached leopards at will, each for just Rs 15,000.
Pirthia and his father were arrested on November 2 from their village, Ashok Nagar Kanwad, 100 km from Kota under Itawah police station. Police said the family had several wildlife items including tiger whiskers and bear claws.
Kesra was present at Pirthia's residence and was also picked up. During interrogation, he named Devi Singh.
"The network extends from Sawai Madhopur to interiors of Madhya Pradesh. We hope to make more arrests soon," said Alok Bashisht, SP, Kota (rural), who is heading the investigation.
"During interrogation, we were surprised to know how these poachers had such free access to the forests. They seemed very confident and even travelled by jeep. We will know exactly how deep inside the national park they ventured to once we take them for spot verification," said IG (crime) Ajit Singh Sekhawat who is monitoring the investigation from Jaipur.
While police work on these confession statements, one thing is clear: if there is one thing these poachers have made clear, it's the ineffectiveness of the official machinery.
Not without reason.
The average age of the Ranthambhore ground staff is 49. The last recruitment took place 15 years ago. How tuned the staff was to the poaching is evident by DFO G S Bhardwaj's presentation to the PM during his visit to Ranthambhore on May 22 this year: Everything is in order, he said.
This denial wasn't new. When The Sunday Express first reported that 18 tigers had gone missing in Ranthambhore, Project Tiger director Rajesh Gopal and DG (wildlife) R P Katyal dismissed the report. But after other national parks began reporting the same trend, officials were eventually forced to conduct a joint tiger census involving independent organisations.
In July, the census established that the tiger population was indeed down by 21. Besides, Census figures showed that seven tigers went missing in the adjoining Palpur-Kuno sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh during the same period.
Anticipating resistance from villagers, nine policemen visited Dhamni village, near Sheopur, in two vehicles, posing as PWD officials.
They asked Sarpanch Devi Singh (in photo) to join them for a quick inspection of sadak yojana work saying the Collector would survey it the next morning.
Once Devi Singh came out of the village, the police team whisked him away.
On November 10, interrogation began at Itawah PS and the sarpanch said he had killed five tigers. He named other poachers operating in Ranthambhore.
The weapons have been recovered. Devi Singh will be in police remand until Nov 24, the others are in custody
Others in the Net
March 16, 2005: A gang of suspected poachers confessed to killing at least 10 tigers in Sariska during 2002-2004. All in custody. Trial yet to begin.
June 30: Sansar Chand, India's most wanted wildlife criminal, was arrested in west Delhi. Wanted by 9 states in over 50 cases of poaching and skin smuggling. Named by CBI in report on the disappearance of Sariska tigers.
July 29: Arrested by Chhattarpur (MP) police, Raees and Yusuf confessed to selling five tiger and 29 leopard skins from Panna
‘Aim for the heart, four fingers away from the shoulder’
19 November, 2005
Devi Singh never missed his mark. He has been a well-to-do Moghiya tribal who became a sarpanch one-and-half year back and runs a shuttle jeep to district headquarter Sheopur in Madhya Pradesh. He has two wives, a motorcycle, and two houses in two adjacent villages, Dhamni and Angora. His elder son has been to the local school before he was big enough to look after his father’s agricultural land.
Devi Singh loves the challenge of his muzzle-loading gun. It gives him just one chance at a time. During last two years or so, he used it on tigers on five occasions. Be it twilight or moonlight, he never needed to fire one extra round. Five striped skins were his for just five country-made bullets.
Like most men in his community, Devi Singh hunted for bush meat. For Moghiya and Bagri tribals, it is a way of life. Traditionally, farmers hire them to protect their crop in the night. And the Moghiyas kill whatever comes their way—usually deer and wild boars. Devi Singh’s second wife belongs to Rajasthan but more than the hospitality at his in-law’s place in Uliana, he loved the bounty the adjacent forests of Ranthambhore National Park offered. His shooting skill made him a hero of sorts and he often camped at Uliana for months together, hunting spotted deer and wild boars.
Then, one evening, he met Azad. The villagers never knew much about Azad, except for the fact that the man used to visit them with promises of what seemed to them big money in exchange for tiger or leopard skin and bones. Once Devi Singh felt greedy, there was no stopping the man revered as the shikari in his community.
Devi Singh targeted the Pilighati area, about a kilometer from Uliana. With his brother Mukesh, sisters-in-law Rup and Bhola and nephew Bablu, he used to comb the jungle for pugmarks and hunt tigers from trees after sundown. The first one was a 7-foot male. Devi Singh still remembers he was on a Jamun tree. The bullet pierced the heart and the animal died within minutes.
"Pasli me, kandhe se char anguli piche, dil pe marna parta. Sher awoon awoon karta rehta hai jab tak pran na nikal jaye (Aim for the heart four fingers below the shoulder, the tiger cries till it dies),’’ he explained to The Indian Express. No tiger survived more than 15 minutes after being shot. Sometimes, Devi Singh and his team had to wait for hours atop trees. Sometimes, the tiger showed up within minutes of taking position. The men usually returned in the morning to skin the carcass. They disposed off the flesh, carried the skin and bones and dug the booty in the village field. Then Devi Singh used to call Azad from the nearest telephone booth at Kundera village. The code (bolibhasha) to guard the message from the booth operator was simple: "Bada kar diya (Done a big one).’’
Next he used to pack the skin in a bag or suitcase and take a bus to Sawai Madhopur, about one hour from Uliana. Another bus and a little over two hours would take Devi Singh to Sheopur. Here he would board the afternoon train and reach Tentra by seven in the evening. The handover would take place near a nallah outside the village.
Why Tentra? "Thoda out si hai, log nahin hota us jagah," he explained. Bulk of the payment was made on the delivery of the skin. Devi Singh would again return with the bones — by now treated with salt etc — in a few weeks and collect the rest.
Besides killing five tigers himself, Devi Singh also guided other poachers in the trade. He was the person Kesra contacted after killing his first tiger. Devi Singh took the skin from him for just Rs 38,000 and sold it to Azad for Rs 60,000.
Kesra, a Moghiya tribal, was lured to the trade by his in-laws, all Bagri tribals, and made base south of Ranthambhore. Once he personally came to know Azad, he used to deliver skins to him directly at Sawai Madhopur railway station, usually near the ticket counter. A poor landed Moghiya, Kesra admitted he was tempted by the lure of easy money. "Das-das hazar ek ek ko milta tha. Mushkil nahin tha marna. Baas thoda time lagta tha," he told The Indian Express.
Pirthia, a small-time hunter, killed his only tiger after coming in contact with Kesra and passed on the skin to him. While both Devi Singh and Kesra claimed that they didn’t hunt in recent months, they didn’t rule out the chances of others still continuing in the trade. But didn’t they feel bad killing tigers? Kesra softened up a bit: "Teen bachcha hai, paisa chahiye tha. Aadmi se galti ho jata hai (Had three children, needed the money. People do make mistakes)." But Devi Singh looked surprised: "Paisa milta hai to achcha lagta hai, dukh thodi lagta hai (You feel nice when you get money, there’s no sorrow)."
Devi Singh never missed his mark. He has been a well-to-do Moghiya tribal who became a sarpanch one-and-half year back and runs a shuttle jeep to district headquarter Sheopur in Madhya Pradesh. He has two wives, a motorcycle, and two houses in two adjacent villages, Dhamni and Angora. His elder son has been to the local school before he was big enough to look after his father’s agricultural land.
Devi Singh loves the challenge of his muzzle-loading gun. It gives him just one chance at a time. During last two years or so, he used it on tigers on five occasions. Be it twilight or moonlight, he never needed to fire one extra round. Five striped skins were his for just five country-made bullets.
Like most men in his community, Devi Singh hunted for bush meat. For Moghiya and Bagri tribals, it is a way of life. Traditionally, farmers hire them to protect their crop in the night. And the Moghiyas kill whatever comes their way—usually deer and wild boars. Devi Singh’s second wife belongs to Rajasthan but more than the hospitality at his in-law’s place in Uliana, he loved the bounty the adjacent forests of Ranthambhore National Park offered. His shooting skill made him a hero of sorts and he often camped at Uliana for months together, hunting spotted deer and wild boars.
Then, one evening, he met Azad. The villagers never knew much about Azad, except for the fact that the man used to visit them with promises of what seemed to them big money in exchange for tiger or leopard skin and bones. Once Devi Singh felt greedy, there was no stopping the man revered as the shikari in his community.
Devi Singh targeted the Pilighati area, about a kilometer from Uliana. With his brother Mukesh, sisters-in-law Rup and Bhola and nephew Bablu, he used to comb the jungle for pugmarks and hunt tigers from trees after sundown. The first one was a 7-foot male. Devi Singh still remembers he was on a Jamun tree. The bullet pierced the heart and the animal died within minutes.
"Pasli me, kandhe se char anguli piche, dil pe marna parta. Sher awoon awoon karta rehta hai jab tak pran na nikal jaye (Aim for the heart four fingers below the shoulder, the tiger cries till it dies),’’ he explained to The Indian Express. No tiger survived more than 15 minutes after being shot. Sometimes, Devi Singh and his team had to wait for hours atop trees. Sometimes, the tiger showed up within minutes of taking position. The men usually returned in the morning to skin the carcass. They disposed off the flesh, carried the skin and bones and dug the booty in the village field. Then Devi Singh used to call Azad from the nearest telephone booth at Kundera village. The code (bolibhasha) to guard the message from the booth operator was simple: "Bada kar diya (Done a big one).’’
Next he used to pack the skin in a bag or suitcase and take a bus to Sawai Madhopur, about one hour from Uliana. Another bus and a little over two hours would take Devi Singh to Sheopur. Here he would board the afternoon train and reach Tentra by seven in the evening. The handover would take place near a nallah outside the village.
Why Tentra? "Thoda out si hai, log nahin hota us jagah," he explained. Bulk of the payment was made on the delivery of the skin. Devi Singh would again return with the bones — by now treated with salt etc — in a few weeks and collect the rest.
Besides killing five tigers himself, Devi Singh also guided other poachers in the trade. He was the person Kesra contacted after killing his first tiger. Devi Singh took the skin from him for just Rs 38,000 and sold it to Azad for Rs 60,000.
Kesra, a Moghiya tribal, was lured to the trade by his in-laws, all Bagri tribals, and made base south of Ranthambhore. Once he personally came to know Azad, he used to deliver skins to him directly at Sawai Madhopur railway station, usually near the ticket counter. A poor landed Moghiya, Kesra admitted he was tempted by the lure of easy money. "Das-das hazar ek ek ko milta tha. Mushkil nahin tha marna. Baas thoda time lagta tha," he told The Indian Express.
Pirthia, a small-time hunter, killed his only tiger after coming in contact with Kesra and passed on the skin to him. While both Devi Singh and Kesra claimed that they didn’t hunt in recent months, they didn’t rule out the chances of others still continuing in the trade. But didn’t they feel bad killing tigers? Kesra softened up a bit: "Teen bachcha hai, paisa chahiye tha. Aadmi se galti ho jata hai (Had three children, needed the money. People do make mistakes)." But Devi Singh looked surprised: "Paisa milta hai to achcha lagta hai, dukh thodi lagta hai (You feel nice when you get money, there’s no sorrow)."
Environment Minister writes to PM: PMO order is not what you ordered
Tribal rights: Bring us into the debate, you had asked for draft Bill: Raja
25 October, 2005
Being abruptly cut out of the debate on the contentious tribal Bill, a debate it has high stakes in, the Ministry of Environment has officially complained to the Prime Minister.
Told by the PMO on October 4 to stop work on its ‘‘alternative draft’’ Bill on tribal rights, Union Environment Minister A Raja has written to the PM saying that the ‘‘note from your office (the Oct 4 order)...I feel, is inconsistent with the decisions taken in the meeting held by you on 30 September.’’
Raja’s letter is being seen as a last-ditch effort by his Ministry to get itself heard in the meeting convened by the PMO on October 28 to finalise the draft Tribal Bill.
In his letter, a copy of which is with The Indian Express, Raja reminds the PM that it was the Cabinet Committee on Tribal Affairs—formed by the PM himself—that had asked his Ministry to draft a bill.
And that a meeting held by the PM on September 30 had concluded that "the Environment Ministry and the Department of Tribal Affairs would discuss their respective versions of the Bill, and attempt at an agreed draft, to be discussed in a workshop convened by the PMO.’’
But barely four days later, as first reported by The Indian Express, the PMO sent a note asking Raja’s Ministry ‘‘not to proceed’’ with work on the draft Bill.
The key difference between the two drafts revolves around giving land rights in national parks and sanctuaries to local tribal residents. The Environment Ministry has opposed the Tribal Affairs Ministry’s Bill.
25 October, 2005
Being abruptly cut out of the debate on the contentious tribal Bill, a debate it has high stakes in, the Ministry of Environment has officially complained to the Prime Minister.
Told by the PMO on October 4 to stop work on its ‘‘alternative draft’’ Bill on tribal rights, Union Environment Minister A Raja has written to the PM saying that the ‘‘note from your office (the Oct 4 order)...I feel, is inconsistent with the decisions taken in the meeting held by you on 30 September.’’
Raja’s letter is being seen as a last-ditch effort by his Ministry to get itself heard in the meeting convened by the PMO on October 28 to finalise the draft Tribal Bill.
In his letter, a copy of which is with The Indian Express, Raja reminds the PM that it was the Cabinet Committee on Tribal Affairs—formed by the PM himself—that had asked his Ministry to draft a bill.
And that a meeting held by the PM on September 30 had concluded that "the Environment Ministry and the Department of Tribal Affairs would discuss their respective versions of the Bill, and attempt at an agreed draft, to be discussed in a workshop convened by the PMO.’’
But barely four days later, as first reported by The Indian Express, the PMO sent a note asking Raja’s Ministry ‘‘not to proceed’’ with work on the draft Bill.
The key difference between the two drafts revolves around giving land rights in national parks and sanctuaries to local tribal residents. The Environment Ministry has opposed the Tribal Affairs Ministry’s Bill.
For a ‘greener’ law on tribal rights, PM proposes, PMO disposes
Cabinet asked Environment Ministry for alternative draft, PM got it distributed but his office scrapped it
21 October, 2005
How does a 20-page draft Bill on a crucial subject like tribal rights over forest land get reduced to a two-page, five-point ‘‘input’’? When the Prime Minister himself asked to see the entire Bill? Ask the Prime Minister’s Office.
As early as August 25, after opposition by environmental groups to the draft tribal rights Bill prepared by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, the government asked the Environment Ministry—which also opposed the Bill—to come up with its ‘‘alternative draft.’’
The key objection revolved around the issue of giving land rights in national parks and sanctuaries to local tribal residents. The Prime Minister’s idea was to look at both draft Bills and come up with a revised new law that took into account tribal rights and conservation concerns.
But official records with The Indian Express show how barely four days after the Environment Ministry presented its draft Bill to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the PMO sent the Ministry a note asking it ‘‘not to proceed with the preparation with any draft bill.’’
‘‘We made a comprehensive draft for the Cabinet Committee. Then we are told by the PMO not to proceed with it. We are disappointed. Our draft bill addresses the concerns of the Prime Minister who wanted to know what was the way out at the September 30 meeting. We will offer our solutions again at the next meeting (on October 28) to reach a consensus," JC Kala, director general, forests, told The Indian Express.
The sequence of events behind this curious rethink:
= On August 25, the Cabinet Committee on Tribal Affairs, chaired by Home Minister Shivraj Patil, asked the Environment Ministry to prepare an alternative draft.
= This draft was presented at a meeting chaired by the Prime Minister on September 30. According to MoEF sources, the Prime Minister asked his officials to get copies of the new draft distributed among the participants —ministry officials and independent experts—and wanted a consensus between the two ministries.
= On October 4, Environment Minister A Raja gave a copy of the draft to Patil explaining how it addressed the concerns raised by the Prime Minister at the September 30 meet.
‘‘Kindly peruse the Draft Bill of my Ministry and give us an opportunity to steer it through for enactment,’’ Raja wrote to Patil.
= However, the same day, R Gopalakrishnan, joint secretary in the PMO, sent Raja’s ministry a note asking it not to proceed with any draft bill. ‘‘The draft Bill prepared by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs comprehensively addresses the issue,’’ he wrote, adding, in bold letters, that this "course of action" had the Prime Minister’s approval. Despite several attempts, Gopalakrishnan was not available for comment. On October 10, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs asked the MoEF for its input on the original draft bill. In response, the MoEF sent a five point two-page input on 12 October.
21 October, 2005
How does a 20-page draft Bill on a crucial subject like tribal rights over forest land get reduced to a two-page, five-point ‘‘input’’? When the Prime Minister himself asked to see the entire Bill? Ask the Prime Minister’s Office.
As early as August 25, after opposition by environmental groups to the draft tribal rights Bill prepared by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, the government asked the Environment Ministry—which also opposed the Bill—to come up with its ‘‘alternative draft.’’
The key objection revolved around the issue of giving land rights in national parks and sanctuaries to local tribal residents. The Prime Minister’s idea was to look at both draft Bills and come up with a revised new law that took into account tribal rights and conservation concerns.
But official records with The Indian Express show how barely four days after the Environment Ministry presented its draft Bill to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the PMO sent the Ministry a note asking it ‘‘not to proceed with the preparation with any draft bill.’’
‘‘We made a comprehensive draft for the Cabinet Committee. Then we are told by the PMO not to proceed with it. We are disappointed. Our draft bill addresses the concerns of the Prime Minister who wanted to know what was the way out at the September 30 meeting. We will offer our solutions again at the next meeting (on October 28) to reach a consensus," JC Kala, director general, forests, told The Indian Express.
The sequence of events behind this curious rethink:
= On August 25, the Cabinet Committee on Tribal Affairs, chaired by Home Minister Shivraj Patil, asked the Environment Ministry to prepare an alternative draft.
= This draft was presented at a meeting chaired by the Prime Minister on September 30. According to MoEF sources, the Prime Minister asked his officials to get copies of the new draft distributed among the participants —ministry officials and independent experts—and wanted a consensus between the two ministries.
= On October 4, Environment Minister A Raja gave a copy of the draft to Patil explaining how it addressed the concerns raised by the Prime Minister at the September 30 meet.
‘‘Kindly peruse the Draft Bill of my Ministry and give us an opportunity to steer it through for enactment,’’ Raja wrote to Patil.
= However, the same day, R Gopalakrishnan, joint secretary in the PMO, sent Raja’s ministry a note asking it not to proceed with any draft bill. ‘‘The draft Bill prepared by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs comprehensively addresses the issue,’’ he wrote, adding, in bold letters, that this "course of action" had the Prime Minister’s approval. Despite several attempts, Gopalakrishnan was not available for comment. On October 10, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs asked the MoEF for its input on the original draft bill. In response, the MoEF sent a five point two-page input on 12 October.
Indian tiger skins flooding Tibet blackmarket
Last month, London environmental agency found shop after shop in Lhasa with stocks
7 September, 2005
Despite the red alert sounded by the Ministry of Environment and Forests across the country, the trade in tiger and other big cat skins from India is flourishing alarmingly in Tibet and adjoining areas of China. With increased supplies of tiger, leopard and otter skins, many new shops have sprung up in what is arguably the world’s single largest wildlife blackmarket.These are some of the startling findings of an ongoing survey conducted by the London-based Environmental Investigative Agency (EIA) with the help of the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI).
The survey report will be released later this month but sources confirmed that the situation has only worsened since October 2003 when China’s Anti-Smuggling Bureau intercepted a truck in their ‘‘Tibetan Autonomous Region’’ that was carrying a consignment of 31 tiger, 581 leopard and 778 otter skins from India.
‘‘This has been an extensive survey and we also covered new areas. We will start analysing our data before we finalise the report,’’ EIA’s senior campaigner Debbie Banks told The Indian Express.
Conducted last month, the key findings of the recent survey are:
= Both the open sale and use of fresh tiger, leopard and otter skins is even more widespread than last year.
= All dealers the team talked to said the skins had come from India.
= In Lhasa, many new shops were openly selling tiger and leopard skin chubas — a traditional Tibetan outfit. At one shop, the team found three fresh tiger skins — priced up to Rs 5.4 lakh each — and seven fresh leopard skins for sale. All these skins were said to have been smuggled from India.
= Most Tibetans wearing chubas claimed they had purchased the outfits during the past two seasons.
= Only 10 shops in the main Barkhor circuit stocked 24 tiger skin chubas. Another 20 stocked 54 leopard skin chubas. There are a total of 46 shops in the market.
= A large number of leopard and snow leopard skins were also found on the streets of Linxia.
= The over-all situation is much worse than what was found during the EIA survey last year.
‘‘The survey confirms without doubt that there is large-scale poaching of tigers and leopards in India whose skins are smuggled to Tibet,’’ said WPSI’s Belinda Wrights, also a member of Rajasthan’s State Empowered Committee (SEC) on Forest and Wildlife Management.
Wrights has pointed out some of the preliminary findings in the panel’s report that was presented to Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje this evening in Jaipur. Among other recommendations, the SEC report has emphasized the need to curb cross-border smuggling in wildlife objects.
‘‘We were told that the Tibetan chuba is exempted from the law even if it is adorned with an entire tiger skin. In Linxia, traders claimed that in the Hui Autonomous Prefecture of Gansu Province, there is a special policy that allows them to openly sell skins,’’ wrote WPSI’s Wrights in the SEC report.
The information gathered by the EIA/WPSI team has been passed on to the Chinese authorities. A delegation from India — a MOEF and a CBI official — was in China a couple of weeks back to attend a CITES meet. They were also briefed about the findings at an EIA presentation.
7 September, 2005
Despite the red alert sounded by the Ministry of Environment and Forests across the country, the trade in tiger and other big cat skins from India is flourishing alarmingly in Tibet and adjoining areas of China. With increased supplies of tiger, leopard and otter skins, many new shops have sprung up in what is arguably the world’s single largest wildlife blackmarket.These are some of the startling findings of an ongoing survey conducted by the London-based Environmental Investigative Agency (EIA) with the help of the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI).
The survey report will be released later this month but sources confirmed that the situation has only worsened since October 2003 when China’s Anti-Smuggling Bureau intercepted a truck in their ‘‘Tibetan Autonomous Region’’ that was carrying a consignment of 31 tiger, 581 leopard and 778 otter skins from India.
‘‘This has been an extensive survey and we also covered new areas. We will start analysing our data before we finalise the report,’’ EIA’s senior campaigner Debbie Banks told The Indian Express.
Conducted last month, the key findings of the recent survey are:
= Both the open sale and use of fresh tiger, leopard and otter skins is even more widespread than last year.
= All dealers the team talked to said the skins had come from India.
= In Lhasa, many new shops were openly selling tiger and leopard skin chubas — a traditional Tibetan outfit. At one shop, the team found three fresh tiger skins — priced up to Rs 5.4 lakh each — and seven fresh leopard skins for sale. All these skins were said to have been smuggled from India.
= Most Tibetans wearing chubas claimed they had purchased the outfits during the past two seasons.
= Only 10 shops in the main Barkhor circuit stocked 24 tiger skin chubas. Another 20 stocked 54 leopard skin chubas. There are a total of 46 shops in the market.
= A large number of leopard and snow leopard skins were also found on the streets of Linxia.
= The over-all situation is much worse than what was found during the EIA survey last year.
‘‘The survey confirms without doubt that there is large-scale poaching of tigers and leopards in India whose skins are smuggled to Tibet,’’ said WPSI’s Belinda Wrights, also a member of Rajasthan’s State Empowered Committee (SEC) on Forest and Wildlife Management.
Wrights has pointed out some of the preliminary findings in the panel’s report that was presented to Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje this evening in Jaipur. Among other recommendations, the SEC report has emphasized the need to curb cross-border smuggling in wildlife objects.
‘‘We were told that the Tibetan chuba is exempted from the law even if it is adorned with an entire tiger skin. In Linxia, traders claimed that in the Hui Autonomous Prefecture of Gansu Province, there is a special policy that allows them to openly sell skins,’’ wrote WPSI’s Wrights in the SEC report.
The information gathered by the EIA/WPSI team has been passed on to the Chinese authorities. A delegation from India — a MOEF and a CBI official — was in China a couple of weeks back to attend a CITES meet. They were also briefed about the findings at an EIA presentation.
Centre to join tiger census, promises real figures
29 August, 2005
Under pressure to put a realistic figure on the number of tigers in the country, the Project Tiger directorate has decided to bite the bullet. For the first time, it will take part in the primary data collection across the country during the next national tiger census. The data will be analysed in Delhi and Dehra Dun by experts from the Wildlife Institute of India, in the presence of state representatives.
‘‘We gave gone through too many controversies over complaints that states sent us dubious tiger census figures. This time, we will join the estimation process and end all speculation by making public whatever tiger density we find,’’ Rajesh Gopal, director of Project Tiger, said.
The directorate will also introduce GIS technology for tiger estimation in the forthcoming fourth national tiger census between November 2005 and February 2006. The method was endorsed by the Tiger Task Force in its report but not without inviting flak from a number of tiger experts, including dissenting Task Force member Valmik Thapar, for being cleared without proper scrutiny.
‘‘Two of our best scientists, Y.V. Jhala and Qamar Qureshi of Wildlife Institute of India, are involved in the project. I guess we cannot satisfy all. But we had to opt for a more reliable and transparent methodology as the chances of error and manipulation in traditional the pugmark count census have been high,’’ Gopal countered.
MoEF secretary Pradipto Ghosh, DG (Wildlife) R.P. Katyal, Gopal and WII experts briefed senior forest officials on the new methodology at a workshop here today.
Under pressure to put a realistic figure on the number of tigers in the country, the Project Tiger directorate has decided to bite the bullet. For the first time, it will take part in the primary data collection across the country during the next national tiger census. The data will be analysed in Delhi and Dehra Dun by experts from the Wildlife Institute of India, in the presence of state representatives.
‘‘We gave gone through too many controversies over complaints that states sent us dubious tiger census figures. This time, we will join the estimation process and end all speculation by making public whatever tiger density we find,’’ Rajesh Gopal, director of Project Tiger, said.
The directorate will also introduce GIS technology for tiger estimation in the forthcoming fourth national tiger census between November 2005 and February 2006. The method was endorsed by the Tiger Task Force in its report but not without inviting flak from a number of tiger experts, including dissenting Task Force member Valmik Thapar, for being cleared without proper scrutiny.
‘‘Two of our best scientists, Y.V. Jhala and Qamar Qureshi of Wildlife Institute of India, are involved in the project. I guess we cannot satisfy all. But we had to opt for a more reliable and transparent methodology as the chances of error and manipulation in traditional the pugmark count census have been high,’’ Gopal countered.
MoEF secretary Pradipto Ghosh, DG (Wildlife) R.P. Katyal, Gopal and WII experts briefed senior forest officials on the new methodology at a workshop here today.
PM’s tiger task force pulls tribal rabbit out of hat
Task force divided over draft, dissent note says it’s being used to push the Tribal Bill
29 July, 2005
The ‘‘final draft’’ of the report of the Tiger Task Force, constituted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in April after The Indian Express expose on tigers missing from reserves, has proposals that are hardly going to help them survive: for instance, there’s a prescription for ‘‘coexistence’’ of tigers and tribals within a reserve with humans holding all rights to the place.
The draft report, which completely ignores the dwindling tiger numbers in reserves such as Ranthambhore and Panna, also gives a clean chit to the Project Tiger directorate and takes potshots at the Supreme Court’s Central Empowered Committee. The draft, however, has a chapter on the ‘‘Sariska Shock’’.
The 14-chapter draft, accessed by The Indian Express, claims that the ‘‘issue is not about tiger per se... but about rebuilding forest economies.’’
The draft recommends a short deadline for the government to relocate all those people who live inside tiger reserves. Those who remain behind, says the draft, must be granted all rights to the reserves. To achieve this goal, the draft calls for specific action plans within a year for every tiger reserve.
Recommendations such as these have led to sharp divisions in the five-member Tiger Task Force, headed by Sunita Narain of Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). While Task Force members refuse to comment at this stage, sources say that one or more members have raised objections to the proposed recommendation on the following grounds:
= Government’s failure to relocate people can’t be rationalised by weakening the conservation regime
= Given the assurance that they would get all rights inside tiger reserves if they stay put for a certain period, villagers will anyway refuse relocation packages
= The proposed recommendation will mean dilution of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, in violation of several Supreme Court orders
= The idea will, in all probability, be used to push the controversial Tribal Act Bill now lying with a Group of Ministers
The Tribal Bill wants to give tribals land and other rights inside Protected Forest areas and has drawn strong opposition from many quarters, including the Ministry of Forest and Environment (MoEF).
Given the public stand taken by the MoEF, the Task Force draft recommendations seem surprising because Project Tiger Director Dr Rajesh Gopal has been holding daily discussions for a week now with Sunita Narain at the CSE’s India Habitat Centre office.
But then Gopal has reason to cheer: going beyond its terms of reference, the Task Force, in its draft report, praises the Project Tiger chief’s three-year tenure as the most fruitful time in the project’s history since its inception in 1973.
This apart, draft excerpts speak of some radical recommendations. Consider these:
= A 30 per cent cess on local tourism income to pump back money for upkeep of forests
= A wildlife sub-cadre among forest officials upto the rank of conservator
= A joint secretary-level officer (from any cadre) to head the proposed Wildlife Crime Bureau and report to Additional DG (Wildlife) in MoEF
= The cream of Schedule One animals must be separated in a super schedule with stronger provisions for punishment of crime against these select species
= The Prime Minister himself may chair the Project Tiger Steering Committee for the next couple of years
= CMs should form similar panels to monitor tiger projects in respective states
= Participatory management and jungle-dwellers’ rights should be part of management plans
It’s learnt that Sunita Narain was keen to present the report to the Prime Minister this week. But given the differences among members on certain key issues, last minute modifications, if any, may delay the report further.
WHO STANDS WHERE
Shortly after they were named to the Task Force in April, this is what four of the five members told The Indian Express: = Sunita Narain: Protection-based conservation can only have limited success in our country where forests are mostly inhabited = H S Panwar: It’s madness to tinker with the sanctity of the old growth (core) forests = Valmik Thapar: Give them new rights (inside Protected Areas) today and expect total chaos as their population grows = Samar Singh: There is no reason for apprehension that we will lose our forests if we take people along
29 July, 2005
The ‘‘final draft’’ of the report of the Tiger Task Force, constituted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in April after The Indian Express expose on tigers missing from reserves, has proposals that are hardly going to help them survive: for instance, there’s a prescription for ‘‘coexistence’’ of tigers and tribals within a reserve with humans holding all rights to the place.
The draft report, which completely ignores the dwindling tiger numbers in reserves such as Ranthambhore and Panna, also gives a clean chit to the Project Tiger directorate and takes potshots at the Supreme Court’s Central Empowered Committee. The draft, however, has a chapter on the ‘‘Sariska Shock’’.
The 14-chapter draft, accessed by The Indian Express, claims that the ‘‘issue is not about tiger per se... but about rebuilding forest economies.’’
The draft recommends a short deadline for the government to relocate all those people who live inside tiger reserves. Those who remain behind, says the draft, must be granted all rights to the reserves. To achieve this goal, the draft calls for specific action plans within a year for every tiger reserve.
Recommendations such as these have led to sharp divisions in the five-member Tiger Task Force, headed by Sunita Narain of Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). While Task Force members refuse to comment at this stage, sources say that one or more members have raised objections to the proposed recommendation on the following grounds:
= Government’s failure to relocate people can’t be rationalised by weakening the conservation regime
= Given the assurance that they would get all rights inside tiger reserves if they stay put for a certain period, villagers will anyway refuse relocation packages
= The proposed recommendation will mean dilution of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, in violation of several Supreme Court orders
= The idea will, in all probability, be used to push the controversial Tribal Act Bill now lying with a Group of Ministers
The Tribal Bill wants to give tribals land and other rights inside Protected Forest areas and has drawn strong opposition from many quarters, including the Ministry of Forest and Environment (MoEF).
Given the public stand taken by the MoEF, the Task Force draft recommendations seem surprising because Project Tiger Director Dr Rajesh Gopal has been holding daily discussions for a week now with Sunita Narain at the CSE’s India Habitat Centre office.
But then Gopal has reason to cheer: going beyond its terms of reference, the Task Force, in its draft report, praises the Project Tiger chief’s three-year tenure as the most fruitful time in the project’s history since its inception in 1973.
This apart, draft excerpts speak of some radical recommendations. Consider these:
= A 30 per cent cess on local tourism income to pump back money for upkeep of forests
= A wildlife sub-cadre among forest officials upto the rank of conservator
= A joint secretary-level officer (from any cadre) to head the proposed Wildlife Crime Bureau and report to Additional DG (Wildlife) in MoEF
= The cream of Schedule One animals must be separated in a super schedule with stronger provisions for punishment of crime against these select species
= The Prime Minister himself may chair the Project Tiger Steering Committee for the next couple of years
= CMs should form similar panels to monitor tiger projects in respective states
= Participatory management and jungle-dwellers’ rights should be part of management plans
It’s learnt that Sunita Narain was keen to present the report to the Prime Minister this week. But given the differences among members on certain key issues, last minute modifications, if any, may delay the report further.
WHO STANDS WHERE
Shortly after they were named to the Task Force in April, this is what four of the five members told The Indian Express: = Sunita Narain: Protection-based conservation can only have limited success in our country where forests are mostly inhabited = H S Panwar: It’s madness to tinker with the sanctity of the old growth (core) forests = Valmik Thapar: Give them new rights (inside Protected Areas) today and expect total chaos as their population grows = Samar Singh: There is no reason for apprehension that we will lose our forests if we take people along
Maneater at Corbett? Tourists are rushing in
Tigress, four cubs lurk too close for comfort at Dhikala Tourist Complex
15 June, 2005
A desperate tigress on the prowl with four big cubs; a waiter mauled at his doorstep, now fighting for life at faraway AIIMS; solar fencings coming up on warfooting; a retired sharpshooter and forest staff guarding the deserted approachways at night; and the tourist count reaching an all-time high. Anguish and anticipation never blended so much at Corbett National Park’s famed Dhikala Tourist Complex.
Just a few months ago, Umesh Tiwari, range officer of the neighbouring Sarpduli, proudly narrated how ‘‘the Mother Courage’’ has been successfully rearing four cubs: ‘‘If tigers could be decorated, I would recommend a Padma award for her.’’
Then, early this year, the family of five moved into the Dhikala range zone to the delight of ranger Suresh Panth and staff.
Dhikala has always been the most coveted destination in the park. As it is much easier to spot a tigress with semi-adult cubs—three female and one male—the rush doubled up. On Sambar road, tourists on elephant back combed the jungle to track the family. High on tips, mahouts often made four elephants pin down the family for close-ups. If constant disturbances by the tourists were not enough, peak summer pushed a number of inland tigers towards the Ramganga river where this family marked out its territory.
Dumps of leftover canteen food invite a good population of herbivores to the Dhikala tourist complex every night. As tigers traditionally avoid human contact, the mother tigress had no competition at Dhikala. This arrangement must have worked reasonably well for everybody—till May 26.
That night, canteen worker Madan Mohan Pande reached his room at about 11 after a hard day’s work and bent over the lock in the dark. He is now fighting for his life at AIIMS with a crushed shoulder, a half-eaten leg and dozens of stitches all over. He was lucky that forest guard Nand Singh Bisht spotted the commotion and raised alarm.
The incident has sharply divided opinions at the CNP. The management sticks to the official line that the incident was due to mistaken identity: Pande was bending over, his head was invisible and was mistaken for an animal from behind. Some officials feel it was the male cub, and not the tigress, that attacked Pande. ‘‘It would have been impossible to rescue Pande if it was the tigress. His neck was intact. These indicate that probably the male cub did it in his youthful exuberance,’’ said Dhikala ranger Panth.
But vintage sharpshooter Thakur Dutt Joshi, who gunned down over 50 maneaters in last three decades, and is now busy leading the night vigil at Dhikala, insists it was the mother. ‘‘She was about to attack me the next day (May 27) near the corner boundary. The tigress was so close that there was no chance for me to raise my gun. I focussed my torch on her eyes and made a loud noise till she backed out,’’ he said.
As the news of the tiger attack spread, says Sher Khulia who works at the reception of the complex, tourist rush increased manifold: ‘‘Even VIPs are coming in huge numbers. We have to do an actual count, but this is easily the record crowd here.’’
Tourist movements on Sambar road, however, was prohibited after the attack. With night curfew on, nobody including the staff is allowed to venture out after 7.30 pm and food is served in the room. But many don’t mind staying up long hungry nights by their windows for that lifetime glimpse.
The staff at Dhikala, however, is plain scared. With the end of tourist season on Friday, they said they would be left alone to fend for themselves
15 June, 2005
A desperate tigress on the prowl with four big cubs; a waiter mauled at his doorstep, now fighting for life at faraway AIIMS; solar fencings coming up on warfooting; a retired sharpshooter and forest staff guarding the deserted approachways at night; and the tourist count reaching an all-time high. Anguish and anticipation never blended so much at Corbett National Park’s famed Dhikala Tourist Complex.
Just a few months ago, Umesh Tiwari, range officer of the neighbouring Sarpduli, proudly narrated how ‘‘the Mother Courage’’ has been successfully rearing four cubs: ‘‘If tigers could be decorated, I would recommend a Padma award for her.’’
Then, early this year, the family of five moved into the Dhikala range zone to the delight of ranger Suresh Panth and staff.
Dhikala has always been the most coveted destination in the park. As it is much easier to spot a tigress with semi-adult cubs—three female and one male—the rush doubled up. On Sambar road, tourists on elephant back combed the jungle to track the family. High on tips, mahouts often made four elephants pin down the family for close-ups. If constant disturbances by the tourists were not enough, peak summer pushed a number of inland tigers towards the Ramganga river where this family marked out its territory.
Dumps of leftover canteen food invite a good population of herbivores to the Dhikala tourist complex every night. As tigers traditionally avoid human contact, the mother tigress had no competition at Dhikala. This arrangement must have worked reasonably well for everybody—till May 26.
That night, canteen worker Madan Mohan Pande reached his room at about 11 after a hard day’s work and bent over the lock in the dark. He is now fighting for his life at AIIMS with a crushed shoulder, a half-eaten leg and dozens of stitches all over. He was lucky that forest guard Nand Singh Bisht spotted the commotion and raised alarm.
The incident has sharply divided opinions at the CNP. The management sticks to the official line that the incident was due to mistaken identity: Pande was bending over, his head was invisible and was mistaken for an animal from behind. Some officials feel it was the male cub, and not the tigress, that attacked Pande. ‘‘It would have been impossible to rescue Pande if it was the tigress. His neck was intact. These indicate that probably the male cub did it in his youthful exuberance,’’ said Dhikala ranger Panth.
But vintage sharpshooter Thakur Dutt Joshi, who gunned down over 50 maneaters in last three decades, and is now busy leading the night vigil at Dhikala, insists it was the mother. ‘‘She was about to attack me the next day (May 27) near the corner boundary. The tigress was so close that there was no chance for me to raise my gun. I focussed my torch on her eyes and made a loud noise till she backed out,’’ he said.
As the news of the tiger attack spread, says Sher Khulia who works at the reception of the complex, tourist rush increased manifold: ‘‘Even VIPs are coming in huge numbers. We have to do an actual count, but this is easily the record crowd here.’’
Tourist movements on Sambar road, however, was prohibited after the attack. With night curfew on, nobody including the staff is allowed to venture out after 7.30 pm and food is served in the room. But many don’t mind staying up long hungry nights by their windows for that lifetime glimpse.
The staff at Dhikala, however, is plain scared. With the end of tourist season on Friday, they said they would be left alone to fend for themselves
Bharatpur’s lone tigress dead, officials say it was heat stroke
10 June, 2005
Its bird count falling, Bharatpur’s parched Keoladeo National Park claimed its latest victim this week when its lone tigress died of a ‘‘heat stroke’’.R P Kapoor, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, Rajasthan, confirmed that ‘‘the young tigress seemed to have died due to acute water shortage and excessive heat’’ over several days.
The tigress had migrated to the Park in 1999 and used to be the star tourist attraction. According to official records, the last Bharatpur tiger before her was hunted down in 1962.
‘‘I visited the Park recently and found the water situation grave. We have been pumping water in some pools but in many areas minor water reserves have completely dried up,’’ Kapoor told The Indian Express.
Water supply to the national park from the Panchna dam was stopped last year as local farmers backed by a dozen MLAs claimed they were being denied irrigation water.
On the death of the tigress, Bharatpur Field Director Arun Prasad said: ‘‘We have not found any sign of snare or trapping—the neck and ankle bones were intact. We can’t rule out poisoning or snake bite till viscera tests are done. Samples are being sent to Dehradun and Jaipur. At this moment, heat stroke seems to be the only reason.’’
Sources said that the final kill made by the tigress was spotted as recently as Monday. ‘‘On Thursday, our ground staff picked up a foul smell that they thought was coming from another kill. But this morning we found the carcass of the tigress,’’ said a Park official.
Prasad claimed the Park authorities were also trying to collect sample of the kill to ascertain if it was poisoned. ‘‘We will also conduct a DNA test at Hyderabad to know from where she migrated,’’ Kapoor said.
With the death of the Bharatpur tigress, Rajasthan’s tiger map shrunk further. As was first reported by this newspaper, tigers have already disappeared from Sariska and Keladevi.
The Bharatpur tigress was first spotted in mid-1999 by Bibhu Prakash, member of a Bombay Natural History Society research team. She was very young—not more than 2 years old—and probably came into the Keoladeo National Park from the buffer area of the Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve (Mandrail) by following the Gambhir river course.
The then Park manager Shruti Sharma remembered her as ‘‘very shy’’ and said that the tigress was too young for a natural death. ‘‘There were several proposals to relocate the lonely tigress in last few years. Last year, a plan was afoot to shift her to Sariska,’’ she said. But as Kapoor pinted out: ‘‘Sariska itself became unsafe for tigers.’’
Its bird count falling, Bharatpur’s parched Keoladeo National Park claimed its latest victim this week when its lone tigress died of a ‘‘heat stroke’’.R P Kapoor, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, Rajasthan, confirmed that ‘‘the young tigress seemed to have died due to acute water shortage and excessive heat’’ over several days.
The tigress had migrated to the Park in 1999 and used to be the star tourist attraction. According to official records, the last Bharatpur tiger before her was hunted down in 1962.
‘‘I visited the Park recently and found the water situation grave. We have been pumping water in some pools but in many areas minor water reserves have completely dried up,’’ Kapoor told The Indian Express.
Water supply to the national park from the Panchna dam was stopped last year as local farmers backed by a dozen MLAs claimed they were being denied irrigation water.
On the death of the tigress, Bharatpur Field Director Arun Prasad said: ‘‘We have not found any sign of snare or trapping—the neck and ankle bones were intact. We can’t rule out poisoning or snake bite till viscera tests are done. Samples are being sent to Dehradun and Jaipur. At this moment, heat stroke seems to be the only reason.’’
Sources said that the final kill made by the tigress was spotted as recently as Monday. ‘‘On Thursday, our ground staff picked up a foul smell that they thought was coming from another kill. But this morning we found the carcass of the tigress,’’ said a Park official.
Prasad claimed the Park authorities were also trying to collect sample of the kill to ascertain if it was poisoned. ‘‘We will also conduct a DNA test at Hyderabad to know from where she migrated,’’ Kapoor said.
With the death of the Bharatpur tigress, Rajasthan’s tiger map shrunk further. As was first reported by this newspaper, tigers have already disappeared from Sariska and Keladevi.
The Bharatpur tigress was first spotted in mid-1999 by Bibhu Prakash, member of a Bombay Natural History Society research team. She was very young—not more than 2 years old—and probably came into the Keoladeo National Park from the buffer area of the Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve (Mandrail) by following the Gambhir river course.
The then Park manager Shruti Sharma remembered her as ‘‘very shy’’ and said that the tigress was too young for a natural death. ‘‘There were several proposals to relocate the lonely tigress in last few years. Last year, a plan was afoot to shift her to Sariska,’’ she said. But as Kapoor pinted out: ‘‘Sariska itself became unsafe for tigers.’’
They can show you the money, if not tiger
PM visits Ranthambhore tomorrow, funding shouldn't be a problem: this reserve gets almost as much as all 27 across country
21 May, 2005
When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visits Ranthambhore on Monday, there's a little equation that should worry him as much as the tiger crisis. In the last 10 years, at least Rs 55 crore have been marked in the name of the tiger here. That works out to Rs 1.5 crore per tiger, not exactly a princely sum, but still more than what the Government kept aside for all 27 tiger reserves across the country.
Clearly, Ranthambhore is the crown jewel and of its estimated population of 35 tigers in the reserve, 18 are missing - no one knows why.
Records accessed by The Sunday Express - which first exposed the dwindling number of tigers in Sariska and elsewhere - show that whatever the reason for Ranthambhore's plummeting tiger count, lack of money isn't one of them.
Just NGOs have got at least Rs 5 crore over the last 10 years. This excludes private donations that come from visitors, each running into lakhs. The Centre and the state have spent about 12 crore in the last decade. The World Bank also chipped in with its Rs 38 crore Ranthambhore ecodevelopment project.
''After such expenditure on areas like resettlement, community care and general conservation, it's surprising that the Ranthambhore tiger reserve still faces huge biotic pressure and we need armed policemen to stand guard around the Park. We are not even in a position to conduct any constructive dialogue with the local population. If money was not the problem, we must ask what was?'' says Rajesh Gopal, director, Project Tiger.
That's a valid question, consider this:
Between 1994-2000, as ''Support for Ranthambhore'' four UK-based groups, Global Tiger Patrol, Care for the Wild International, David Shepherd Conservation Foundation, and 21st Century Tiger earmarked $447,091 (about Rs 2 crore) to Valmik Thapar's Ranthambhore Foundation and Fateh Singh Rathore's Tiger Watch. Ostensible purpose: ''increase law enforcement...activities relevant to tiger conservation...and general support for daily management of protected areas''
While there is no mention of purpose in the biggest installment of $325,000 in 1994, what we can find in specific terms include: $17,000 for 2 jeeps for Rathore's NGO; $13,200 for motorbikes, office equipment for Ranthambore Foundation; $9200 for 6 motorbikes, office equipment for both NGOs and even $3,100 for first edition of The Ultimate Ranthambore Guide 2000.
In 1998, the Washington-based Save The Tiger Fund, gave $103,000 to Fateh Singh's Tiger Watch for conducting ''a voluntary resettlement project for nearly 70 families living around the edge of Ranthambore'' Objective: helping families get access to better health care, reducing poaching.
Almost six years later, in a letter dated 27 March, 2003, then Park manager G V Reddy informed Project Tiger director Rajesh Gopal that no work had been done on any such project. ˜During last 6 years from 1997 to 2003, no voluntary resettlement project was taken up by Tiger Watch. Nor by any organization in and around Ranthambhore Tiger reserve. No amount has been spent on any such project'' the letter read.
Fateh Singh accepts that no family was resettled under the scheme but claims Tiger Watch never availed of the money. ''When the government was not keen to facilitate the project, we didn't access the money.''
Prakritik Society, an NGO run by Fateh's son Govardhan Singh, got $14,316 from Save The Tiger Fund for a project on bio-gas and forest conservation in 1999. The same year, it got another $30,280 from the same source to ''support community healthcare and family planning.'' Objective this time: to ensure incentives for local people to ''tolerate tigers,'' compensation for livestock predation.''
During 1998 and 2001, Save the Tiger Fund gave Prakritik $199,300 for ''capacity building'' and ''support for day-to-day Protected Area management.'' The same project mandate for which other agencies were funding other NGOs. WWF-India also opened the pursestrings. It spent about $30,000 on Ranthambhore ecodevelopment project during 1998 to 2002. The project aim was to ensure ''economic incentives for local people to tolerate tigers'' - More or less the same goals for which Prakitik about $50,000 around the same time.
During 1995-2000, David Shepherd Conservation Foundation, Tiger Fund and the US Fish & Wildlife Service sent a grant of $104,990 to TigerLink. This is the newsletter for the Ranthambhore Foundation's ''collecting, collating and making available information on tiger conservation in India.'' Thapar was mentioned as the point person for managing this corpus.
Government agencies weren't exactly feeling a financial pinch either. The World Bank project was launched in 1996 with a budget of Rs 38 crore and it was supposed to cover 96 Ranthambhore villages by 2002. The state was supposed to spend about 10% of the budget in terms of staff salary and infrastructure. Eventually, irked by the state government's indifference and slow implementation, the Bank slashed the budget to Rs 20 crore. More than a year after the project was over, Rajasthan still has about 1.5 crore left which it has to refund to the Centre. Says P K Sen, ex-director, Project Tiger: ''With so much money, one could appoint dedicated staff 24x7 for vigilance of individual tigers. Too much hype ruined Ranthambhore.''
= Valmik Thapar: A National Park is the jurisdiction of the forest department. If they can't ensure proper protection, NGOs working in villages cannot work miracles. During 1990-1998, there was a complete breakdown of the Park management and we stopped accepting funds. Then GV Reddy did some good work as the park manager. Money was never a problem at Ranthambhore. What we need are efficient managers. Today, in the entire state forest department, do we have three efficient officers who can turnaround Ranthambhore?
= Fateh Singh Rathore: Whoever wants can check our balance sheets. Today, there are queues for bio gas. Students throng our school. Our hospital can't cope with the pressure. But the government must step in and NGOs have limited capacity. Money is not an issue. I managed this Park with Rs 9 lakh in 1988. Today, they have money but no management. The government can't stand me. They harassed me for years for my land which I got in exchange for my fertile plot in Ganganagar in 1983. I am even ready for a CBI probe.
The Scandal that is Ranthambhore
On February 6, Express was first to report the tiger crisis in Ranthambhore:
= Officials couldn't account for 18 ''missing'' tigers
= Officials admitted adjoining sanctuaries Kela Devi in the north and Sawai Mansingh in the south are ''death traps.''
= Hardly any check on poaching by Moghiyas - tribal hunters hired by villagers to guard their fields
= Hundreds of villagers enter NP daily for anything between Rs 150-250 paid to forest guards to collect wood and grass
= Lakhs of pilgrims enter the core area on foot every year and are allowed even LPG supply, loud speakers and diesel generators
= Grazing pressure is huge, during the monsoons when villagers herd in thousands of cattle and settle down for the season
= Forest staff is inadequate and aging
=Management blamed shortage of funds for delay in post-monsoon repair of patrolling roads. Vehicles donated by foreign agencies rust in garages.
21 May, 2005
When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visits Ranthambhore on Monday, there's a little equation that should worry him as much as the tiger crisis. In the last 10 years, at least Rs 55 crore have been marked in the name of the tiger here. That works out to Rs 1.5 crore per tiger, not exactly a princely sum, but still more than what the Government kept aside for all 27 tiger reserves across the country.
Clearly, Ranthambhore is the crown jewel and of its estimated population of 35 tigers in the reserve, 18 are missing - no one knows why.
Records accessed by The Sunday Express - which first exposed the dwindling number of tigers in Sariska and elsewhere - show that whatever the reason for Ranthambhore's plummeting tiger count, lack of money isn't one of them.
Just NGOs have got at least Rs 5 crore over the last 10 years. This excludes private donations that come from visitors, each running into lakhs. The Centre and the state have spent about 12 crore in the last decade. The World Bank also chipped in with its Rs 38 crore Ranthambhore ecodevelopment project.
''After such expenditure on areas like resettlement, community care and general conservation, it's surprising that the Ranthambhore tiger reserve still faces huge biotic pressure and we need armed policemen to stand guard around the Park. We are not even in a position to conduct any constructive dialogue with the local population. If money was not the problem, we must ask what was?'' says Rajesh Gopal, director, Project Tiger.
That's a valid question, consider this:
Between 1994-2000, as ''Support for Ranthambhore'' four UK-based groups, Global Tiger Patrol, Care for the Wild International, David Shepherd Conservation Foundation, and 21st Century Tiger earmarked $447,091 (about Rs 2 crore) to Valmik Thapar's Ranthambhore Foundation and Fateh Singh Rathore's Tiger Watch. Ostensible purpose: ''increase law enforcement...activities relevant to tiger conservation...and general support for daily management of protected areas''
While there is no mention of purpose in the biggest installment of $325,000 in 1994, what we can find in specific terms include: $17,000 for 2 jeeps for Rathore's NGO; $13,200 for motorbikes, office equipment for Ranthambore Foundation; $9200 for 6 motorbikes, office equipment for both NGOs and even $3,100 for first edition of The Ultimate Ranthambore Guide 2000.
In 1998, the Washington-based Save The Tiger Fund, gave $103,000 to Fateh Singh's Tiger Watch for conducting ''a voluntary resettlement project for nearly 70 families living around the edge of Ranthambore'' Objective: helping families get access to better health care, reducing poaching.
Almost six years later, in a letter dated 27 March, 2003, then Park manager G V Reddy informed Project Tiger director Rajesh Gopal that no work had been done on any such project. ˜During last 6 years from 1997 to 2003, no voluntary resettlement project was taken up by Tiger Watch. Nor by any organization in and around Ranthambhore Tiger reserve. No amount has been spent on any such project'' the letter read.
Fateh Singh accepts that no family was resettled under the scheme but claims Tiger Watch never availed of the money. ''When the government was not keen to facilitate the project, we didn't access the money.''
Prakritik Society, an NGO run by Fateh's son Govardhan Singh, got $14,316 from Save The Tiger Fund for a project on bio-gas and forest conservation in 1999. The same year, it got another $30,280 from the same source to ''support community healthcare and family planning.'' Objective this time: to ensure incentives for local people to ''tolerate tigers,'' compensation for livestock predation.''
During 1998 and 2001, Save the Tiger Fund gave Prakritik $199,300 for ''capacity building'' and ''support for day-to-day Protected Area management.'' The same project mandate for which other agencies were funding other NGOs. WWF-India also opened the pursestrings. It spent about $30,000 on Ranthambhore ecodevelopment project during 1998 to 2002. The project aim was to ensure ''economic incentives for local people to tolerate tigers'' - More or less the same goals for which Prakitik about $50,000 around the same time.
During 1995-2000, David Shepherd Conservation Foundation, Tiger Fund and the US Fish & Wildlife Service sent a grant of $104,990 to TigerLink. This is the newsletter for the Ranthambhore Foundation's ''collecting, collating and making available information on tiger conservation in India.'' Thapar was mentioned as the point person for managing this corpus.
Government agencies weren't exactly feeling a financial pinch either. The World Bank project was launched in 1996 with a budget of Rs 38 crore and it was supposed to cover 96 Ranthambhore villages by 2002. The state was supposed to spend about 10% of the budget in terms of staff salary and infrastructure. Eventually, irked by the state government's indifference and slow implementation, the Bank slashed the budget to Rs 20 crore. More than a year after the project was over, Rajasthan still has about 1.5 crore left which it has to refund to the Centre. Says P K Sen, ex-director, Project Tiger: ''With so much money, one could appoint dedicated staff 24x7 for vigilance of individual tigers. Too much hype ruined Ranthambhore.''
= Valmik Thapar: A National Park is the jurisdiction of the forest department. If they can't ensure proper protection, NGOs working in villages cannot work miracles. During 1990-1998, there was a complete breakdown of the Park management and we stopped accepting funds. Then GV Reddy did some good work as the park manager. Money was never a problem at Ranthambhore. What we need are efficient managers. Today, in the entire state forest department, do we have three efficient officers who can turnaround Ranthambhore?
= Fateh Singh Rathore: Whoever wants can check our balance sheets. Today, there are queues for bio gas. Students throng our school. Our hospital can't cope with the pressure. But the government must step in and NGOs have limited capacity. Money is not an issue. I managed this Park with Rs 9 lakh in 1988. Today, they have money but no management. The government can't stand me. They harassed me for years for my land which I got in exchange for my fertile plot in Ganganagar in 1983. I am even ready for a CBI probe.
The Scandal that is Ranthambhore
On February 6, Express was first to report the tiger crisis in Ranthambhore:
= Officials couldn't account for 18 ''missing'' tigers
= Officials admitted adjoining sanctuaries Kela Devi in the north and Sawai Mansingh in the south are ''death traps.''
= Hardly any check on poaching by Moghiyas - tribal hunters hired by villagers to guard their fields
= Hundreds of villagers enter NP daily for anything between Rs 150-250 paid to forest guards to collect wood and grass
= Lakhs of pilgrims enter the core area on foot every year and are allowed even LPG supply, loud speakers and diesel generators
= Grazing pressure is huge, during the monsoons when villagers herd in thousands of cattle and settle down for the season
= Forest staff is inadequate and aging
=Management blamed shortage of funds for delay in post-monsoon repair of patrolling roads. Vehicles donated by foreign agencies rust in garages.
This turnaround hinges on Naxal mercy
Forest staff dare where cops don’t, but mistaken identity spells death in Palamu
14 April, 2005
The forest officials are back at their posts. Deserted forest rest houses deep inside the core area got a face-lift recently and an overnight stay is not ruled out anymore. Since even facilities at Betla were deserted in 2003, the Palamu Tiger Reserve staff have managed to make their presence felt under the indomitable Field Director A.N. Prasad. But the good news ends there.
Look closely and you will see the officials don’t use their best vehicles — two Gypsy jeeps — and, in fact, have asked for replacements. Forest guards make do with ‘‘half uniform’’. Nobody here can afford to be mistaken as policemen. The police personnel posted at Betla, however, avoid the Naxal-infested forest as a rule. ‘‘Very rarely we involve policemen while conducting raids. It’s risky,’’ says A.N. Bhagat, Range Officer, Betla.
But even such extreme precautions can’t rule out casualties. The biggest blow came last September when a jeep was blown off — ‘‘by mistake’’ — with a forester and a guard in it. In 2003, Naxals killed two daily wage labourers to avenge the killing of a villager by then DFO Santosh Tiwari who had to open fire in self-defence during a raid. Then there are dacoits everywhere. Even DFO South Division P.K. Gupta was robbed of his GPS set on Teno Road this January. Palamu is still on short fuse.
Naturally, tiger numbers are suspect. As forest guards don’t have free access across the reserve, most tigers are accounted for by reports from villages. Pressed hard, the officials themselves come down to 30 from the 2003 census figure of 38 in this 1,026 sq km reserve. Even honorary Wildlife Warden Dr D.S. Srivastava, who has been working in Palamu for the last three decades, ducks the big question: ‘‘Why go into numbers? If we can save the jungle, tigers will naturally multiply.’’ On his part, he promises ‘‘a most accurate census’’ soon.
As such, the movement of extremists inside the forest at any given time determines the ground access of staff. Conducting raids is another delicate proposition. ‘‘One must learn how to pick up individuals without offending the village community. If a raid causes mass resentment, Naxals are bound to intervene. They can’t risk losing popular support,’’ says Jalaj Kumar, Assistant Conservator of Forests.
‘‘Prasad and his team have done a great job. But the law and order situation at Palamu is still far from satisfactory,’’ says Project Tiger Director Rajesh Gopal. In a spate of judicial activism, more than a dozen offenders were sentenced in the last two years. Till then, timber smugglers operated in several teams of 30-40 villagers and cleared the forest daily. The effect shows on large patches of waste land where the jungle once flourished. Palamu also has a tradition of revenge-killing of tigers by poisoning cattle kills. Though the situation has palpably improved, protection is still far from adequate.
Though the Project Tiger Steering Committee meet on April 12 put the idea of denotifying ‘‘troubled reserves’’ on hold, the staff here feel that any such move in the future will destroy whatever is left of Palamu. The officials list their achievements since Prasad took over. They have persuaded the Railways to maintain a 25-km speed limit while running through the reserve after more than a dozen elephants died in the last decade. No death has been reported since 2003. They could also stop grazing and tree-felling in the tourism zone — a 35 sq km pocket around Betla — an achievement ex-director P.K. Sen describes as ‘‘nothing short of a miracle’’. But beyond that, staff movement and conservation work are at the mercy of Naxals.
Like in Indravati, here too, the officials seek solace in the fact that the Naxals have publicly warned against hunting and tree-felling. But they — the PWG and MCC — earn by levying tax on tendu trade and offer obvious protection to these contractors. Add to this a huge cattle population of 90,000 that depends on the jungle. ‘‘As far as grazing is concerned, most villagers, particularly the Yadavs, enjoy certain immunity as they shelter and support the extremists,’’ says Srivastava. The dry deciduous parts of the forest can hardly take such pressure.
There are certain plusses though. Since the formation of Jharkhand, funds have never been a problem. The World Bank-sponsored India Eco-Development Project has finally taken off and is being used well to win the villagers’ trust. A recent World Bank report lauded Palamu for engaging women in the project. Says Prasad: ‘‘It may not be the best of reserves but we have worked hard to bring Palamu back on track. Now there should not be any looking back.’’
14 April, 2005
The forest officials are back at their posts. Deserted forest rest houses deep inside the core area got a face-lift recently and an overnight stay is not ruled out anymore. Since even facilities at Betla were deserted in 2003, the Palamu Tiger Reserve staff have managed to make their presence felt under the indomitable Field Director A.N. Prasad. But the good news ends there.
Look closely and you will see the officials don’t use their best vehicles — two Gypsy jeeps — and, in fact, have asked for replacements. Forest guards make do with ‘‘half uniform’’. Nobody here can afford to be mistaken as policemen. The police personnel posted at Betla, however, avoid the Naxal-infested forest as a rule. ‘‘Very rarely we involve policemen while conducting raids. It’s risky,’’ says A.N. Bhagat, Range Officer, Betla.
But even such extreme precautions can’t rule out casualties. The biggest blow came last September when a jeep was blown off — ‘‘by mistake’’ — with a forester and a guard in it. In 2003, Naxals killed two daily wage labourers to avenge the killing of a villager by then DFO Santosh Tiwari who had to open fire in self-defence during a raid. Then there are dacoits everywhere. Even DFO South Division P.K. Gupta was robbed of his GPS set on Teno Road this January. Palamu is still on short fuse.
Naturally, tiger numbers are suspect. As forest guards don’t have free access across the reserve, most tigers are accounted for by reports from villages. Pressed hard, the officials themselves come down to 30 from the 2003 census figure of 38 in this 1,026 sq km reserve. Even honorary Wildlife Warden Dr D.S. Srivastava, who has been working in Palamu for the last three decades, ducks the big question: ‘‘Why go into numbers? If we can save the jungle, tigers will naturally multiply.’’ On his part, he promises ‘‘a most accurate census’’ soon.
As such, the movement of extremists inside the forest at any given time determines the ground access of staff. Conducting raids is another delicate proposition. ‘‘One must learn how to pick up individuals without offending the village community. If a raid causes mass resentment, Naxals are bound to intervene. They can’t risk losing popular support,’’ says Jalaj Kumar, Assistant Conservator of Forests.
‘‘Prasad and his team have done a great job. But the law and order situation at Palamu is still far from satisfactory,’’ says Project Tiger Director Rajesh Gopal. In a spate of judicial activism, more than a dozen offenders were sentenced in the last two years. Till then, timber smugglers operated in several teams of 30-40 villagers and cleared the forest daily. The effect shows on large patches of waste land where the jungle once flourished. Palamu also has a tradition of revenge-killing of tigers by poisoning cattle kills. Though the situation has palpably improved, protection is still far from adequate.
Though the Project Tiger Steering Committee meet on April 12 put the idea of denotifying ‘‘troubled reserves’’ on hold, the staff here feel that any such move in the future will destroy whatever is left of Palamu. The officials list their achievements since Prasad took over. They have persuaded the Railways to maintain a 25-km speed limit while running through the reserve after more than a dozen elephants died in the last decade. No death has been reported since 2003. They could also stop grazing and tree-felling in the tourism zone — a 35 sq km pocket around Betla — an achievement ex-director P.K. Sen describes as ‘‘nothing short of a miracle’’. But beyond that, staff movement and conservation work are at the mercy of Naxals.
Like in Indravati, here too, the officials seek solace in the fact that the Naxals have publicly warned against hunting and tree-felling. But they — the PWG and MCC — earn by levying tax on tendu trade and offer obvious protection to these contractors. Add to this a huge cattle population of 90,000 that depends on the jungle. ‘‘As far as grazing is concerned, most villagers, particularly the Yadavs, enjoy certain immunity as they shelter and support the extremists,’’ says Srivastava. The dry deciduous parts of the forest can hardly take such pressure.
There are certain plusses though. Since the formation of Jharkhand, funds have never been a problem. The World Bank-sponsored India Eco-Development Project has finally taken off and is being used well to win the villagers’ trust. A recent World Bank report lauded Palamu for engaging women in the project. Says Prasad: ‘‘It may not be the best of reserves but we have worked hard to bring Palamu back on track. Now there should not be any looking back.’’
In this tiger reserve, saving timber is priority
Poachers walk across Nepal border, even govt vehicles into smuggling
11 April, 2005
At Valmiki Tiger Reserve, too many people are on the move. Five companies of Sashastra Sena Bal (SSB) are camping inside the jungle to hunt down extremists from across the border. And the Nepal Maoists, with their Indian counterparts MCC, have gone into flash operation mode. In between ducking for cover, a handful of forest personnel devote all their energy to control teak-felling. The tiger, or any wildlife, is lost in the melee.
Officials admit that there is not even one forest guard per 10 sq km to keep track of the animals.
Some startling finds from the Valmiki Reserve in West Champaran for the Project Tiger Steering Committee to chew on—it meets in New Delhi tomorrow:
= Ungulate presence is sparse in many areas. Depleting prey base cannot sustain all 52 tigers claimed in the 2003 census. A just-concluded Wildlife Trust of India survey could confirm ‘‘at least 12 tigers’’ in the 840 sq km Reserve. The same survey didn’t find any sign of tigers in the Raghia range where the 2003 official census claimed five tigers. Even the Project Tiger directorate in Delhi admits there is no system in place to correctly ascertain tiger density.
= Presence of a railway track inside the Reserve and a porous border with Nepal all along the northern boundary makes Valmiki an open field for smuggling of wildlife objects and timber. The Bagha-Chhitauni track runs across the Reserve and the embankment has caused permanent inundation of vast tracts in the Madanpur range. The forest department has sued the Railways seeking compensation and the case is pending with the Supreme Court
= The porous border means rampant poaching. Last December 16, a leopard was poisoned in the Ganauli range. The same year, Nepal authorities arrested seven Indian villagers carrying leopard skin and tiger bone at Triveni Bazar, across the border from Valmikinagar. In 2004, RPF confiscated leopard skin at Bettiah station. In 2003, forest guards caught a Nepal citizen with leopard skin. Recently, SSB personnel apprehended a Nepal policeman for straying into the reserve and shooting ungulates
= About 15,000 people in 20 villages depend on the core area. Absence of waste land between villages and jungle aggravates grazing problems
= Busy fighting the timber mafia, the forest department couldn’t achieve much in wildlife management. Forget advanced systems like grassland management, even effective beat monitoring is a luxury here. ‘‘Till date, Valmiki doesn’t even have certain basics in place,’’ admits Bharat Jyoti, field director, who took charge last September and has been trying hard to shift focus on wildlife
= Funds were a major problem till 2000 but acute staff shortage continues. ‘‘We are operating at 50 per cent of required strength. Many of them (staffers) are under suspension for either corruption or alcoholism. In division two, we have just 22 guards and 18 trackers to look after 500 sq km of forest,’’ says BB Paul, range officer, Madanpur
= Even after SSB deployment in 2003, the MCC and Maoists from Nepal operate in tandem. During the recent Assembly polls, two campaigning jeeps belonging to the RJD candidate here were burnt in the Govardhana range, say officials. In January, a tiger tracker was abducted from Madanpur range and killed. The Harnatan range officer claims to have received explicit threats. ‘‘The extremists want access to timber for villagers loyal to them,’’ says Braj Kishore, range officer, Ganauli
= Though Chhote Ram, commander of the SSB camps at Valuthapa and Valmiki Ashram, strongly denies any poaching instances, forest staff fear that ungulates can be easy bush meat
= A lavish tiger territory in the Seventies, Valmiki was handed over to the Forest Development Corporation in 1974. Result: pro-revenue management, teak plantation and rampant felling. It was declared a Tiger Reserve in 1990 and by the time the Bihar government implemented the order in 1994, it was too late. Tree-felling by villagers has become a normal affair
= Forest officials allege that even top government officials continue to join the timber hunt much after it became illegal. ‘‘Whoever gets posted in this area thinks it’s godsend to ensure timber supply for their generations to come. We even caught a Bihar Education Project vehicle smuggling out rosewood last year. The BDO with armed guard was escorting the loot,’’ says DFO, division one, BP Sinha.
= Boulder mining inside the protected area is a serious problem. Till date, there is no legislation in place to ban or control mining here, say officials
= Project Tiger director Dr Rajesh Gopal claims to have repeatedly sought adequate staff support from the state government and a better law and order situation. ‘‘Since there has been no response from the state, I have finally suggested that Valmiki be delinked from the tiger project. Let Bihar manage its forest the way it wants to,’’ says Dr Gopal.
11 April, 2005
At Valmiki Tiger Reserve, too many people are on the move. Five companies of Sashastra Sena Bal (SSB) are camping inside the jungle to hunt down extremists from across the border. And the Nepal Maoists, with their Indian counterparts MCC, have gone into flash operation mode. In between ducking for cover, a handful of forest personnel devote all their energy to control teak-felling. The tiger, or any wildlife, is lost in the melee.
Officials admit that there is not even one forest guard per 10 sq km to keep track of the animals.
Some startling finds from the Valmiki Reserve in West Champaran for the Project Tiger Steering Committee to chew on—it meets in New Delhi tomorrow:
= Ungulate presence is sparse in many areas. Depleting prey base cannot sustain all 52 tigers claimed in the 2003 census. A just-concluded Wildlife Trust of India survey could confirm ‘‘at least 12 tigers’’ in the 840 sq km Reserve. The same survey didn’t find any sign of tigers in the Raghia range where the 2003 official census claimed five tigers. Even the Project Tiger directorate in Delhi admits there is no system in place to correctly ascertain tiger density.
= Presence of a railway track inside the Reserve and a porous border with Nepal all along the northern boundary makes Valmiki an open field for smuggling of wildlife objects and timber. The Bagha-Chhitauni track runs across the Reserve and the embankment has caused permanent inundation of vast tracts in the Madanpur range. The forest department has sued the Railways seeking compensation and the case is pending with the Supreme Court
= The porous border means rampant poaching. Last December 16, a leopard was poisoned in the Ganauli range. The same year, Nepal authorities arrested seven Indian villagers carrying leopard skin and tiger bone at Triveni Bazar, across the border from Valmikinagar. In 2004, RPF confiscated leopard skin at Bettiah station. In 2003, forest guards caught a Nepal citizen with leopard skin. Recently, SSB personnel apprehended a Nepal policeman for straying into the reserve and shooting ungulates
= About 15,000 people in 20 villages depend on the core area. Absence of waste land between villages and jungle aggravates grazing problems
= Busy fighting the timber mafia, the forest department couldn’t achieve much in wildlife management. Forget advanced systems like grassland management, even effective beat monitoring is a luxury here. ‘‘Till date, Valmiki doesn’t even have certain basics in place,’’ admits Bharat Jyoti, field director, who took charge last September and has been trying hard to shift focus on wildlife
= Funds were a major problem till 2000 but acute staff shortage continues. ‘‘We are operating at 50 per cent of required strength. Many of them (staffers) are under suspension for either corruption or alcoholism. In division two, we have just 22 guards and 18 trackers to look after 500 sq km of forest,’’ says BB Paul, range officer, Madanpur
= Even after SSB deployment in 2003, the MCC and Maoists from Nepal operate in tandem. During the recent Assembly polls, two campaigning jeeps belonging to the RJD candidate here were burnt in the Govardhana range, say officials. In January, a tiger tracker was abducted from Madanpur range and killed. The Harnatan range officer claims to have received explicit threats. ‘‘The extremists want access to timber for villagers loyal to them,’’ says Braj Kishore, range officer, Ganauli
= Though Chhote Ram, commander of the SSB camps at Valuthapa and Valmiki Ashram, strongly denies any poaching instances, forest staff fear that ungulates can be easy bush meat
= A lavish tiger territory in the Seventies, Valmiki was handed over to the Forest Development Corporation in 1974. Result: pro-revenue management, teak plantation and rampant felling. It was declared a Tiger Reserve in 1990 and by the time the Bihar government implemented the order in 1994, it was too late. Tree-felling by villagers has become a normal affair
= Forest officials allege that even top government officials continue to join the timber hunt much after it became illegal. ‘‘Whoever gets posted in this area thinks it’s godsend to ensure timber supply for their generations to come. We even caught a Bihar Education Project vehicle smuggling out rosewood last year. The BDO with armed guard was escorting the loot,’’ says DFO, division one, BP Sinha.
= Boulder mining inside the protected area is a serious problem. Till date, there is no legislation in place to ban or control mining here, say officials
= Project Tiger director Dr Rajesh Gopal claims to have repeatedly sought adequate staff support from the state government and a better law and order situation. ‘‘Since there has been no response from the state, I have finally suggested that Valmiki be delinked from the tiger project. Let Bihar manage its forest the way it wants to,’’ says Dr Gopal.
After tiger count, experts call Panna bluff
Re-census: ‘Numbers absurd, we were asked not to intervene in the process’
30 March, 2005
Prodded by The Sunday Express report on depleting tiger numbers in Madhya Pradesh’s ‘showpiece’ sanctuary, Panna, officials there conducted a fresh census recently and came up with a bizarre finding.There was no problem in Panna, they said, and the tiger population stays at 34—the same number claimed in the previous census before the Express report.But a careful study of the tiger map prepared along with the new census calls their bluff, reveal independent tiger experts who were present in Panna during the latest census last week.
One of them even alleges that the experts were asked not to intervene in the process at it might ‘‘unnerve the officials’’.
‘‘I know officials tend to claim higher numbers but these people went overboard. It is not possible to show 34 tigers when there are not more than 10-12. If you count different tigers for each different pugmark of the same tiger, you are bound to throw up this absurd tiger density in small pockets,’’ says Fateh Singh Rathore, tiger expert and former field director, Ranthambhore, who joined the census at Panna.
Consider these:
= Official figures released last weekend show that 24 of 34 tigers counted are present in an area less than 100 sq km. Even in India’s best reserves like Kanha, tiger density is not half as high. If you consider the male tigers alone, 11 in less than 100 sq km throws up a density unmatched even in Kaziranga that boasts India’s highest tiger density. Besides, why should so many tigers fight it out in such a small pocket when there are no tigers, as per census data, in half of the 550 sq km National Park?
= In a particular pocket of about 12 sq km, the census claims the presence of as many as eight tigers. ‘‘Absurd,’’ says P K Sen, WWF-India tiger programme chief and former director, Project Tiger. ‘‘Tigers are not social animals. Such concentration is not possible.’’
= In spite of preparing an unusually high number of PIPs (pugmark impression pads made by preparing soft soil beds on the jungle floor), only 31 of 2,200 pads registered tiger imprints during the seven-day census. Another 33 were collected outside PIPs. Says Nitin Desia of Wildlife Protection Society of India who took part in the census: ‘‘All they had were 64 pugmarks and they claimed 34 tigers. During pugmark analysis, Fateh Singhji, and Panna Tiger Research Project chief Raghunandan Singh Chundawat and I were told not to intervene as it might ‘unnerve the officials’. We sat and watched how they finished the analysis in a matter of hours and declared the figure they wanted to in the afternoon.’’
The Sunday Express had on March 6 highlighted a report on Panna by Chundawat, which claimed that 30 tigers were missing due to a ‘‘total system failure’’.
Sen points out the absurdity of the official tiger distribution map in terms of prey base sustenance.
‘‘A tiger needs at least 35 kg meat per week, 24 tigers would need 43,680 kg a year. A spotted deer means 15 kg meat and since tigers usually consume only half the kill, it would take 5,824 animals to sustain 24 tigers. Then again, 5,824 spotted deer would require at least over 1,20,00,000 kg bio-mass as feed every year,’’ he says.
‘‘Even in wet evergreen forest, such availability of bio-mass is next to impossible,’’ says Sen.
‘‘In Panna, it is just absurd. Even if we theoretically accept 24 tigers in less than 100 sq km, they would either starve or the jungle would disappear,’’ he says.
For the record, a dry tropical forest like Panna doesn’t have more than 900 kg/hectare per year. So in 100 sq km, maximum bio-mass available would be just about 90,00,000 kg.
Panna field director Sanjay Mukharia, however, is defiant: ‘‘We have not fudged anything. Whatever pugmarks we found, we compared and got the figure. External experts were there. We didn’t restrict anyone. I am open to any probe or fresh census. How can you prove there are not that many tigers here?’’
Asked to explain the tiger density, he says five tigers were seen together in Panna a few years ago. ‘‘It may seem unusual. But how do I know why they prefer that zone?’’
In model reserve, retching tiger worries keepers
At Kanha, reputation is at stake: No poacher can come here, assure guards
20 MARCH, 2005
No Tiger Reserve is run better and none has employees who will go to such lengths to uphold its reputation. But even Kanha is not immune to pressures of human population and the danger it poses to animals.
Encroachment problems persist in certain pockets but what has got some officials worried is the case of a tiger spotted retching near Baigatola, close to Khatia, a buffer village.
Forest officials refuse to classify this as a case of human poisoning until there is more concrete evidence. The animal was promptly darted with antidote by a forest vet and it survived.
But while officials await ‘‘results of laboratory tests’’, they cannot discount the fact that even Kanha can be vulnerable to poachers or to villagers bent on revenge.
‘‘It was a peripheral tiger and probably strayed out of the Park when it was poisoned,’’ said Field Director K Nayak. ‘‘But I am not sure—traces (of poison) were found only on its tongue and not in the stomach.’’ He won’t even reveal the exact date of the incident.
DFO H S Negi also tries to downplay the issue: ‘‘It could have been a porcupine quill or something. I don’t think it was poison. Poachers are smart people and won’t do such a shoddy job.’’
B R Nagpura, range officer, Kisli, looks hurt: ‘‘It is not for us to say that there is no poaching here. But show me one person who can claim he has poached in Kanha. Who knows if that tiger swallowed some poisonous plant... If it was chemical poison, do you think we could have saved it?’’
But given Kanha’s pristine reputation, even the off-chance that poachers may be making their way here needs to be eliminated. It is, as wildlife experts across the country point out, a role model for other reserves.
Its officials have a hard job. Kanha needs to negotiate 18 core and 150 buffer villages. Some pockets have grazing problems. ‘‘Our schemes offer help to 130 out of 150 villages in the buffer zone. But it’s not easy to please all. We take all precautions against mischievous villagers to protect the forest against fire,’’ says Nagpura who has spent three decades in Kanha.
The presence of Baiga tribals—who are still largely dependent on the jungle for survival—adds to the problem. ‘‘We can’t rule out occasional hunting for bush protein in the periphery,’’ admits Nagpura.
Guards constantly man all 118 chowkis inside the Park. ‘‘Nothing goes unreported here,’’ says Nayak. One reason why even the Naxals, particularly active in the region adjoining the Mukhi range, are yet to venture inside the 940 sq km of core territory.
It’s easy to see how Kanha made its reputation. Field Directors and DFOs get unusually long terms here and often old officers are brought back. Field Director Nayak had served here as DFO earlier. DFO Negi has been posted here for more than nine years now. ‘‘There is no dearth of funds, very few vacancies,’’ says Negi. ‘‘Swamp deer population is healthy and our latest census shows almost 100 tigers in the core area alone.’’
Project Tiger director Dr Rajesh Gopal flaunts Kanha as the project’s biggest success story.
The staff is motivated—and you can see why. On a rainy night in July 2003, beat guard Manua Prasad Kartikeya was mauled so badly by a sloth bear that his cerebrum was exposed. Braving monsoon conditions, officials rescued Kartikeya from the remote chowki and rushed him to Jabalpur. He was treated for weeks together and more than Rs 75,000 was spent from Vikas Nidhi funds. Today, Kartikeya will do anything for the Park.
The Kanha imprint is unmistakable even on Tourism management. Ranthambhore also gets comparable volume of tourists but if you have suffered the touts and the corrupt staff at the Park gate there, meet the professional staff at Kanha tourist vehicle permit office. They clear serpentine queues of vehicles in a matter of minutes.
Guards are posted at strategic points to check if vehicles overspeed or tourists break rules. Criss-crossing the core area, this correspondent could not spot a trace of plastic or other waste. Penalty is prompt and this is probably the only reserve where junior forest staff will tick off VIP visitors, confident that the management will stand by them. Says WWF-India Tiger programme chief and ex-director, Project Tiger, P K Sen: ‘‘Credit goes to the past and present Park managers, including Dr Gopal, for spending long hours in the field and building Kanha as a model. But if indeed there has been a case of tiger poisoning, it is shocking. We can’t take chances with Kanha.’’
20 MARCH, 2005
No Tiger Reserve is run better and none has employees who will go to such lengths to uphold its reputation. But even Kanha is not immune to pressures of human population and the danger it poses to animals.
Encroachment problems persist in certain pockets but what has got some officials worried is the case of a tiger spotted retching near Baigatola, close to Khatia, a buffer village.
Forest officials refuse to classify this as a case of human poisoning until there is more concrete evidence. The animal was promptly darted with antidote by a forest vet and it survived.
But while officials await ‘‘results of laboratory tests’’, they cannot discount the fact that even Kanha can be vulnerable to poachers or to villagers bent on revenge.
‘‘It was a peripheral tiger and probably strayed out of the Park when it was poisoned,’’ said Field Director K Nayak. ‘‘But I am not sure—traces (of poison) were found only on its tongue and not in the stomach.’’ He won’t even reveal the exact date of the incident.
DFO H S Negi also tries to downplay the issue: ‘‘It could have been a porcupine quill or something. I don’t think it was poison. Poachers are smart people and won’t do such a shoddy job.’’
B R Nagpura, range officer, Kisli, looks hurt: ‘‘It is not for us to say that there is no poaching here. But show me one person who can claim he has poached in Kanha. Who knows if that tiger swallowed some poisonous plant... If it was chemical poison, do you think we could have saved it?’’
But given Kanha’s pristine reputation, even the off-chance that poachers may be making their way here needs to be eliminated. It is, as wildlife experts across the country point out, a role model for other reserves.
Its officials have a hard job. Kanha needs to negotiate 18 core and 150 buffer villages. Some pockets have grazing problems. ‘‘Our schemes offer help to 130 out of 150 villages in the buffer zone. But it’s not easy to please all. We take all precautions against mischievous villagers to protect the forest against fire,’’ says Nagpura who has spent three decades in Kanha.
The presence of Baiga tribals—who are still largely dependent on the jungle for survival—adds to the problem. ‘‘We can’t rule out occasional hunting for bush protein in the periphery,’’ admits Nagpura.
Guards constantly man all 118 chowkis inside the Park. ‘‘Nothing goes unreported here,’’ says Nayak. One reason why even the Naxals, particularly active in the region adjoining the Mukhi range, are yet to venture inside the 940 sq km of core territory.
It’s easy to see how Kanha made its reputation. Field Directors and DFOs get unusually long terms here and often old officers are brought back. Field Director Nayak had served here as DFO earlier. DFO Negi has been posted here for more than nine years now. ‘‘There is no dearth of funds, very few vacancies,’’ says Negi. ‘‘Swamp deer population is healthy and our latest census shows almost 100 tigers in the core area alone.’’
Project Tiger director Dr Rajesh Gopal flaunts Kanha as the project’s biggest success story.
The staff is motivated—and you can see why. On a rainy night in July 2003, beat guard Manua Prasad Kartikeya was mauled so badly by a sloth bear that his cerebrum was exposed. Braving monsoon conditions, officials rescued Kartikeya from the remote chowki and rushed him to Jabalpur. He was treated for weeks together and more than Rs 75,000 was spent from Vikas Nidhi funds. Today, Kartikeya will do anything for the Park.
The Kanha imprint is unmistakable even on Tourism management. Ranthambhore also gets comparable volume of tourists but if you have suffered the touts and the corrupt staff at the Park gate there, meet the professional staff at Kanha tourist vehicle permit office. They clear serpentine queues of vehicles in a matter of minutes.
Guards are posted at strategic points to check if vehicles overspeed or tourists break rules. Criss-crossing the core area, this correspondent could not spot a trace of plastic or other waste. Penalty is prompt and this is probably the only reserve where junior forest staff will tick off VIP visitors, confident that the management will stand by them. Says WWF-India Tiger programme chief and ex-director, Project Tiger, P K Sen: ‘‘Credit goes to the past and present Park managers, including Dr Gopal, for spending long hours in the field and building Kanha as a model. But if indeed there has been a case of tiger poisoning, it is shocking. We can’t take chances with Kanha.’’
In Chhattisgarh park, Project Tiger left to Naxals
Indravati: For 3 yrs, tiger reserve has been off-limits for forest staff; SDO says: We’re happy Naxals are doing our job
14 March, 2005
In Chhattisgarh’s Indravati National Park, nobody has time for the tigers. And you can’t blame them.Imagine a Tiger Reserve that no forest guard has entered — not on their own, at any rate — in last three years. Imagine 56 revenue villages surviving virtually outside the government in a jungle where the People’s War Group (PWG) claims to run its own ‘‘government’’. Imagine a forest management that wanted to move the field director’s office to Raipur, more than 500 km from the National Park.
Now, consider these:
= Since 2002, says Field Director K Murugan, PWG has been clear: Forest staff is not welcome inside the Park. Coming after the director’s office was shifted 200 km away to Jagdalpur in 1996, after then CF P M Tiwari was beaten up by the Naxalites, nobody took the ban lightly
= The situation even prompted a move to denotify the Park till the state put its foot down. ‘‘The proposal has been put on hold. The Park will be orphaned if we denotify it now,’’ says Dr Rajesh Gopal, director, Project Tiger
= Villagers are unanimous that they have not seen any forest staff inside the Park for years. As such, they are supposed to inform the PWG if they spot an outsider
= Denied access, officials take solace from the complete stop to hunting and tree-felling inside Indravati following a Naxal ban a few years ago. Even the month-long annual hunting fest of the local tribals — paradh — has been under check. ‘‘Thanks to the PWG ban, animals and the jungle are safe. We are happy that Naxals are doing our job,’’ says SDO S G Parulkar. There is no way to ascertain the tiger status before the Naxal ban
= The Naxalite threat notwithstanding, tiger census reports are filed every year. Parulkar claims 31 tigers were counted in the 2005 census, the highest since the Park came under Project Tiger in 1984 with 38 tigers
Lakhshminath Nag is the lone beat guard manning the chowki at Farsegarh, a village on the Park boundary. He says others posted there avoid staying overnight and only make short visits. Nag sometimes ventures inside the Park on foot. ‘‘That’s the best I can do,’’ he says. He hasn’t forgotten how badly he was beaten up inside the forest by the Naxals before he sought this ‘‘safer’’ posting.
Mid-90s onwards, forest staff became wary of serving at Indravati and the department employed locals who have no choice as they can’t leave their villages.
Says Field Director K Murugan who took charge a few months back: ‘‘It’s a conflict situation. Naxalites don’t allow road maintenance so the Park is inaccessible by car. Our men try to go in on two-wheelers and foot. Our chowkis inside have been dismantled. But it’s wrong to say there is no access. It is limited but our staff does go in...Villagers may not see us as we avoid them unless necessary. There is no funds problem. No major vacancies either.’’
But admits Dr Rajesh Gopal, Director, Project Tiger: ‘‘Indravati is not in good shape. I had to stop the move to shift the HQ to Raipur by stopping funds. But Murugan is trying to improve the situation.’’
But how are PT funds spent in the absence of proper access to the Park? While villagers allege corruption — ‘‘forest officials spend it on paper’’ — Murugan laughs it off: ‘‘What corruption? We do some developmental work that the Naxalites don’t object to. Anyway the fund is too small. So spending it is not a problem.’’
Valmik Thapar, member of Central Empowered Committee formed by the SC, is not impressed: ‘‘Indravati is a failure. It is understood that all project Parks can’t succeed. But why can’t they be honest and declare it a failure? If tigers are safe with Naxals, let Project Tiger spend that money elsewhere.’’
‘‘Naxalite ban on hunting is great logic,’’ says P K Sen, ex-director, Project Tiger, and chief of WWF Tiger Programme, ‘‘but if villagers can’t flout PWG ban on hunting, do you think forest staff would defy Naxals and enter the Park to conduct tiger census? Then, how do these numbers come up every year?’’
14 March, 2005
In Chhattisgarh’s Indravati National Park, nobody has time for the tigers. And you can’t blame them.Imagine a Tiger Reserve that no forest guard has entered — not on their own, at any rate — in last three years. Imagine 56 revenue villages surviving virtually outside the government in a jungle where the People’s War Group (PWG) claims to run its own ‘‘government’’. Imagine a forest management that wanted to move the field director’s office to Raipur, more than 500 km from the National Park.
Now, consider these:
= Since 2002, says Field Director K Murugan, PWG has been clear: Forest staff is not welcome inside the Park. Coming after the director’s office was shifted 200 km away to Jagdalpur in 1996, after then CF P M Tiwari was beaten up by the Naxalites, nobody took the ban lightly
= The situation even prompted a move to denotify the Park till the state put its foot down. ‘‘The proposal has been put on hold. The Park will be orphaned if we denotify it now,’’ says Dr Rajesh Gopal, director, Project Tiger
= Villagers are unanimous that they have not seen any forest staff inside the Park for years. As such, they are supposed to inform the PWG if they spot an outsider
= Denied access, officials take solace from the complete stop to hunting and tree-felling inside Indravati following a Naxal ban a few years ago. Even the month-long annual hunting fest of the local tribals — paradh — has been under check. ‘‘Thanks to the PWG ban, animals and the jungle are safe. We are happy that Naxals are doing our job,’’ says SDO S G Parulkar. There is no way to ascertain the tiger status before the Naxal ban
= The Naxalite threat notwithstanding, tiger census reports are filed every year. Parulkar claims 31 tigers were counted in the 2005 census, the highest since the Park came under Project Tiger in 1984 with 38 tigers
Lakhshminath Nag is the lone beat guard manning the chowki at Farsegarh, a village on the Park boundary. He says others posted there avoid staying overnight and only make short visits. Nag sometimes ventures inside the Park on foot. ‘‘That’s the best I can do,’’ he says. He hasn’t forgotten how badly he was beaten up inside the forest by the Naxals before he sought this ‘‘safer’’ posting.
Mid-90s onwards, forest staff became wary of serving at Indravati and the department employed locals who have no choice as they can’t leave their villages.
Says Field Director K Murugan who took charge a few months back: ‘‘It’s a conflict situation. Naxalites don’t allow road maintenance so the Park is inaccessible by car. Our men try to go in on two-wheelers and foot. Our chowkis inside have been dismantled. But it’s wrong to say there is no access. It is limited but our staff does go in...Villagers may not see us as we avoid them unless necessary. There is no funds problem. No major vacancies either.’’
But admits Dr Rajesh Gopal, Director, Project Tiger: ‘‘Indravati is not in good shape. I had to stop the move to shift the HQ to Raipur by stopping funds. But Murugan is trying to improve the situation.’’
But how are PT funds spent in the absence of proper access to the Park? While villagers allege corruption — ‘‘forest officials spend it on paper’’ — Murugan laughs it off: ‘‘What corruption? We do some developmental work that the Naxalites don’t object to. Anyway the fund is too small. So spending it is not a problem.’’
Valmik Thapar, member of Central Empowered Committee formed by the SC, is not impressed: ‘‘Indravati is a failure. It is understood that all project Parks can’t succeed. But why can’t they be honest and declare it a failure? If tigers are safe with Naxals, let Project Tiger spend that money elsewhere.’’
‘‘Naxalite ban on hunting is great logic,’’ says P K Sen, ex-director, Project Tiger, and chief of WWF Tiger Programme, ‘‘but if villagers can’t flout PWG ban on hunting, do you think forest staff would defy Naxals and enter the Park to conduct tiger census? Then, how do these numbers come up every year?’’
If Sariska is scary, drive through MP’s showcase sanctuary
At Panna National Park, over 30 tigers have disappeared in three years, says field researcher’s report
6 March, 2005
More than a month after The Sunday Express first reported on the vanishing tigers of Rajasthan, prompting PM Manmohan Singh to express his concern, it turns out that even Madhya Pradesh is not the big success story it’s being made out to be.In fact, a visit to the Emerald Forest there clearly shows that the Panna Tiger Reserve could be going the Sariska and Ranthambhore way.
A well-known field researcher has submitted a report this week that some 30 tigers may have died or gone missing in the Panna reserve over the past two-and-a-half years. And, the Central Empowered Committee, set up by the Supreme Court, warned last month that unless quick action was taken ‘‘the tiger may never recover here.’’
Local Park officials insist that there is no cause for worry and the number of tigers has remained steady since 2001, when between 30 and 34 were logged. But on the ground, the signs are chilling:
= Till a couple of years back, tourists could frequently spot tigers even on roads here, a fact corroborated by everyone from Park officials to jungle guides. Now even elephants acquired from Sanjay National Park find it difficult to locate tigers for tourists.
= Ken river flows across the Park — three ranges are in the east and one, Chandranagar, in the west. It is the unwritten law of Panna that animals don’t return when they cross the river and enter Chandranagar.
= In other ranges, too, population pressure is huge. If barbed wire and chain link fences were not enough, traps, snares and crude bombs wait for the animals. Primarily meant for herbivores, one such snare killed a tigress in December 2002 (see photo).
= Some villagers inside the core area admit to frequent hunting sprees — a few outsiders accompanied by locals in groups of 25-50 people. While herbivores are routine targets, they say, tigers are not spared. Even the less forthcoming ones admit that they do not feel signs of tiger or leopard presence in the surroundings any more.
= In the entire southern periphery—places like Kishangarh, Paturi, Vikrampura, Amanganj—you are likely to get ‘wildlife objects’ for a price. Many in these areas poach regularly and supply to centres in Uttar Pradesh — like Kanpur and Allahabad — via Niazpur for tanning. Katni, the hub of India’s poaching trade, is just 130 km south of Panna.
= Villagers have right to cultivation and they make good use of large areas between the plateaus or along the river inside the core area. Absence of any buffer zone makes the problem worse as peripheral pressure tells directly on the Park.
= Patrolling is lax, if not absent, in large areas of the park that has several vacancies at the Range officer and game supervisor level
This week, Dr Raghunandan Singh Chundawat, principal investigator, Panna Tiger Research Project, submitted a report documenting the loss of 30 tigers to the Project Tiger directorate. Project Tiger director Dr Rajesh Gopal has already sent a team to Panna to evaluate the situation.
Meanwhile, after inspecting the Park last month to follow up on a petition filed by Belinda Wright (Wildlife Protection Society of India), the Supreme Court’s Central Empowered Committee report on February 18 concluded: ‘‘Panna is showing signs of Sariska...It is necessary to put it right before it is too late. Otherwise the tiger will never recover here.’’
Dr Chundawat says it was a change in the Park management that signalled the decline. Between 1995 and 2002, he says, tiger density in the 542 sq km park had gone up from 2-3 per sq km to 7 per sq km. Then, over the past couple of years, he says that that nine out of the 11 breeding females have either died or gone missing. Some 21 mature cubs have gone the same way.
He says when he alerted the Park authorities, they barred his access to the Park. He got it back only last month, after speaking to top state officials. ‘‘I went back to find the situation really grave,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, Shyamendra Singh alias Vinnyraja, a local royal who has been running an eco-tourism outfit by the Ken for last 20 years, agrees that all is not well with the Park. ‘‘Tigers have become difficult to spot. I can sense some suspicious activities in the jungle. A resident tigress in the tourist zone vanished after March last year. Given the excellent habitat by the riverside, it’s worrying that no other tiger has occupied her zone in the last one year,’’ said Singh.
Panna’s Deputy Field Director Mudrika Singh claimed that while tigers cannot be individually identified, some 34 were counted in a census in January.
Told how no trace of forest officials was found during a 4-hour drive cutting across the National Park in the Chandranagar range, Singh admits there is "some free movement" due to too many villages. "But wildlife density is not too high there," he justifies.
Singh accepted that his staff needed to be more vigilant. He also acknowledged hunting activities in the region but said there have been no ‘‘confirmed reports’’ of tiger poaching. The real problem, Singh said, is the presence of so many villages around him—there are 13 villages inside the Park and 45 at its peripheries. ‘‘Security will be more effective once we can relocate them. These villagers need to be educated. The Wildlife Act doesn’t have any impact on them," he rues. But Madla range officer N S Parihar said that it takes so long to get funds issued for relocation that by the time the money comes, inflation makes it meaningless.
6 March, 2005
More than a month after The Sunday Express first reported on the vanishing tigers of Rajasthan, prompting PM Manmohan Singh to express his concern, it turns out that even Madhya Pradesh is not the big success story it’s being made out to be.In fact, a visit to the Emerald Forest there clearly shows that the Panna Tiger Reserve could be going the Sariska and Ranthambhore way.
A well-known field researcher has submitted a report this week that some 30 tigers may have died or gone missing in the Panna reserve over the past two-and-a-half years. And, the Central Empowered Committee, set up by the Supreme Court, warned last month that unless quick action was taken ‘‘the tiger may never recover here.’’
Local Park officials insist that there is no cause for worry and the number of tigers has remained steady since 2001, when between 30 and 34 were logged. But on the ground, the signs are chilling:
= Till a couple of years back, tourists could frequently spot tigers even on roads here, a fact corroborated by everyone from Park officials to jungle guides. Now even elephants acquired from Sanjay National Park find it difficult to locate tigers for tourists.
= Ken river flows across the Park — three ranges are in the east and one, Chandranagar, in the west. It is the unwritten law of Panna that animals don’t return when they cross the river and enter Chandranagar.
= In other ranges, too, population pressure is huge. If barbed wire and chain link fences were not enough, traps, snares and crude bombs wait for the animals. Primarily meant for herbivores, one such snare killed a tigress in December 2002 (see photo).
= Some villagers inside the core area admit to frequent hunting sprees — a few outsiders accompanied by locals in groups of 25-50 people. While herbivores are routine targets, they say, tigers are not spared. Even the less forthcoming ones admit that they do not feel signs of tiger or leopard presence in the surroundings any more.
= In the entire southern periphery—places like Kishangarh, Paturi, Vikrampura, Amanganj—you are likely to get ‘wildlife objects’ for a price. Many in these areas poach regularly and supply to centres in Uttar Pradesh — like Kanpur and Allahabad — via Niazpur for tanning. Katni, the hub of India’s poaching trade, is just 130 km south of Panna.
= Villagers have right to cultivation and they make good use of large areas between the plateaus or along the river inside the core area. Absence of any buffer zone makes the problem worse as peripheral pressure tells directly on the Park.
= Patrolling is lax, if not absent, in large areas of the park that has several vacancies at the Range officer and game supervisor level
This week, Dr Raghunandan Singh Chundawat, principal investigator, Panna Tiger Research Project, submitted a report documenting the loss of 30 tigers to the Project Tiger directorate. Project Tiger director Dr Rajesh Gopal has already sent a team to Panna to evaluate the situation.
Meanwhile, after inspecting the Park last month to follow up on a petition filed by Belinda Wright (Wildlife Protection Society of India), the Supreme Court’s Central Empowered Committee report on February 18 concluded: ‘‘Panna is showing signs of Sariska...It is necessary to put it right before it is too late. Otherwise the tiger will never recover here.’’
Dr Chundawat says it was a change in the Park management that signalled the decline. Between 1995 and 2002, he says, tiger density in the 542 sq km park had gone up from 2-3 per sq km to 7 per sq km. Then, over the past couple of years, he says that that nine out of the 11 breeding females have either died or gone missing. Some 21 mature cubs have gone the same way.
He says when he alerted the Park authorities, they barred his access to the Park. He got it back only last month, after speaking to top state officials. ‘‘I went back to find the situation really grave,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, Shyamendra Singh alias Vinnyraja, a local royal who has been running an eco-tourism outfit by the Ken for last 20 years, agrees that all is not well with the Park. ‘‘Tigers have become difficult to spot. I can sense some suspicious activities in the jungle. A resident tigress in the tourist zone vanished after March last year. Given the excellent habitat by the riverside, it’s worrying that no other tiger has occupied her zone in the last one year,’’ said Singh.
Panna’s Deputy Field Director Mudrika Singh claimed that while tigers cannot be individually identified, some 34 were counted in a census in January.
Told how no trace of forest officials was found during a 4-hour drive cutting across the National Park in the Chandranagar range, Singh admits there is "some free movement" due to too many villages. "But wildlife density is not too high there," he justifies.
Singh accepted that his staff needed to be more vigilant. He also acknowledged hunting activities in the region but said there have been no ‘‘confirmed reports’’ of tiger poaching. The real problem, Singh said, is the presence of so many villages around him—there are 13 villages inside the Park and 45 at its peripheries. ‘‘Security will be more effective once we can relocate them. These villagers need to be educated. The Wildlife Act doesn’t have any impact on them," he rues. But Madla range officer N S Parihar said that it takes so long to get funds issued for relocation that by the time the money comes, inflation makes it meaningless.
Deathtraps in place, Ranthambhore gets that Sariska feeling
NGO says 18 tigers missing since 1999; officials can’t agree on number: ‘nothing foolproof, only Almighty perfect’
6 February, 2005
Ranthambhore is not Sariska. You cannot escape pugmarks inside the park, you can sense the tigers lurking from frequent alarm calls and you can actually see them on a lucky day.Ranthambhore is not Sariska—yet.But then, you could find signs of tigers around in Sariska, too, till last year. Then, one monsoon, they vanished altogether.
It’s difficult to miss the uncomfortable signs of a Sariska in the making in Ranthambhore. Consider the warning signs:
• The number of tiger sightings, say guides and tourists, has dropped in the recent past. Forest authorities dismiss it as ‘‘rumour’’ but can’t offer any comparative data as they ‘‘couldn’t find time’’ to tabulate figures from guide feedback forms in months.
• Forest officials admit the adjoining sanctuaries—Kela Devi in the north and Sawai Mansingh in the south—are ‘‘death traps’’ and tigers stand little chance of survival when they move in those forests.
• Hardly any check on poaching by Moghiyas—tribal hunters hired by villagers to guard their fields at night. If they can get away with killing sambars, boars, even sloth bear, it is anybody’s guess if they are also trying their hand at bigger animals or guiding outsiders in.
• Hundreds of villagers enter the National Park every day—between Diwali and Holi, for anything between Rs 150-250 paid to forest guards—to collect wood and grass.
• Lakhs of pilgrims enter the core area on foot every year and are allowed even LPG supply, loud speakers and diesel generators.
• Grazing pressure is huge, particularly during the monsoons when villagers herd in thousands of cattle and settle down for the entire season.
• Forest staff is inadequate and aging; 45 posts have been lying vacant at present.
• Shortage of funds means post-monsoon repair of patrolling roads delayed for months. Vehicles donated by international agencies rust in the garage.
‘‘Nothing is foolproof, only the Almighty is perfect,’’ says Shafat Hussein, Ranthambhore's Chief Conservator.
Says his deputy Govind Sagar Bhardwaj, DFO: ‘‘Animals keep moving to the adjoining forests which are death zones with very few guards. But here, you can see our staff is on the go all the time.’’
But it seems too many people are on the go. Valmik Thapar, a member of the Central Empowered Committee constituted by the Supreme Court, visited Ranthambhore last week to prepare a report. He wasn’t amused: ‘‘With wood and grass-cutters come local poachers. And with them come outsiders who target big animals.’’
It is scary how little check is in place.
In fact, it was only after The Sunday Express reported the Sariska tragedy on January 23 that forest authorities here invited local NGOs and volunteers—they were earlier told to stay away from the park—to launch Operation Cooperation on January 26 and conducted four raids in a week. The catch? A poacher on his mobike with gun and a sambar, more poachers, sloth bear’s nails, wild cat’s hair, stock of bush meat...
Wildlife expert Fateh Singh Rathore says his NGO, Tiger Watch, has been blacklisted here. ‘‘We have photographed 25 tigers here. Dr Ullas Karanth photo-trapped 16 tigers in 1999 and 10 of those have gone missing. Another eight have vanished last year. We wanted the department to find out what happened to these 18 tigers and keep a record. And they were after us,’’ alleges Rathore.
DFO Bhardwaj has also photographed what he claims are 34 different tigers. Nine of these, officials claimed, are in Kela Devi, the ‘‘death trap’’. But the bosses can’t agree on the current number. While Shafat puts it around 40 and promises to be more ‘‘transparent’’ during the next census coming up in May, Bhardwaj pegs it between 32 and 36.
But they are non-committal about comparing their data with independent experts and settle the dispute about the ‘‘missing’’ ones. ‘‘We are not allowed inside the park so that the officials can get away with false claims. Khandar, Kundera, Sanwata, and Rajbag chowki are open bush meat markets. You burst a cracker near any chowki, see if a forest guard comes checking,’’ claims Rathore.
‘‘Just four raids and we have proved how porous the park is. Some guards and rangers often mislead the officers as no independent monitoring or research is permitted inside the park,’’ says Aditya Singh, a member of the volunteer team.
But the Ranthambhore DFO dismisses such claims. ‘‘NGOs come up with false studies and figures which don’t match our reports,’’ he says.
And the catches which his guards couldn’t pull off without volunteers? Bhardwaj grudgingly accepts some of his men have links with intruders. ‘‘But now I don’t tell many people about raid targets."
The control, however, everyone seeks in Sawai Madhopur is that of tourism. Jungle safari was controlled by the Forest Department till last year after which it was handed over to the Tourism Department. Then the DFO had dealt a blow, warning there would be no big cats left to see in five years unless the number of tourists to Ranthambhore is controlled.
That sounds hypocritical, given the free run government vehicles and guests have inside the park. Even as we talk, Bhardwaj gets three such calls in two hours: more sarkari guests are on their way.
" I am trying, sir. Things are under control,’’ he tells one of his bosses in Jaipur over phone.
Ironically, the problems of grazing or grasscutting are not visible in the tourism zone. The rest of the national park is quite unlike what the tourists see along their designated tracks. But the forest officials stick to their claims and reasons: ‘‘Grazing is zero’’ but ‘‘women from villages are a problem as we don’t have women staff to handle them’’.
Bhardwaj also lists the logistics problems: ‘‘My staff is aging. Our arms are obsolete. Since last June, we need to take permission from Jaipur even to move staff...Without rotation, the staff inside the jungle feels demotivated. But we are fighting to save the park. I’m open to everyone who wants to help us.’’
6 February, 2005
Ranthambhore is not Sariska. You cannot escape pugmarks inside the park, you can sense the tigers lurking from frequent alarm calls and you can actually see them on a lucky day.Ranthambhore is not Sariska—yet.But then, you could find signs of tigers around in Sariska, too, till last year. Then, one monsoon, they vanished altogether.
It’s difficult to miss the uncomfortable signs of a Sariska in the making in Ranthambhore. Consider the warning signs:
• The number of tiger sightings, say guides and tourists, has dropped in the recent past. Forest authorities dismiss it as ‘‘rumour’’ but can’t offer any comparative data as they ‘‘couldn’t find time’’ to tabulate figures from guide feedback forms in months.
• Forest officials admit the adjoining sanctuaries—Kela Devi in the north and Sawai Mansingh in the south—are ‘‘death traps’’ and tigers stand little chance of survival when they move in those forests.
• Hardly any check on poaching by Moghiyas—tribal hunters hired by villagers to guard their fields at night. If they can get away with killing sambars, boars, even sloth bear, it is anybody’s guess if they are also trying their hand at bigger animals or guiding outsiders in.
• Hundreds of villagers enter the National Park every day—between Diwali and Holi, for anything between Rs 150-250 paid to forest guards—to collect wood and grass.
• Lakhs of pilgrims enter the core area on foot every year and are allowed even LPG supply, loud speakers and diesel generators.
• Grazing pressure is huge, particularly during the monsoons when villagers herd in thousands of cattle and settle down for the entire season.
• Forest staff is inadequate and aging; 45 posts have been lying vacant at present.
• Shortage of funds means post-monsoon repair of patrolling roads delayed for months. Vehicles donated by international agencies rust in the garage.
‘‘Nothing is foolproof, only the Almighty is perfect,’’ says Shafat Hussein, Ranthambhore's Chief Conservator.
Says his deputy Govind Sagar Bhardwaj, DFO: ‘‘Animals keep moving to the adjoining forests which are death zones with very few guards. But here, you can see our staff is on the go all the time.’’
But it seems too many people are on the go. Valmik Thapar, a member of the Central Empowered Committee constituted by the Supreme Court, visited Ranthambhore last week to prepare a report. He wasn’t amused: ‘‘With wood and grass-cutters come local poachers. And with them come outsiders who target big animals.’’
It is scary how little check is in place.
In fact, it was only after The Sunday Express reported the Sariska tragedy on January 23 that forest authorities here invited local NGOs and volunteers—they were earlier told to stay away from the park—to launch Operation Cooperation on January 26 and conducted four raids in a week. The catch? A poacher on his mobike with gun and a sambar, more poachers, sloth bear’s nails, wild cat’s hair, stock of bush meat...
Wildlife expert Fateh Singh Rathore says his NGO, Tiger Watch, has been blacklisted here. ‘‘We have photographed 25 tigers here. Dr Ullas Karanth photo-trapped 16 tigers in 1999 and 10 of those have gone missing. Another eight have vanished last year. We wanted the department to find out what happened to these 18 tigers and keep a record. And they were after us,’’ alleges Rathore.
DFO Bhardwaj has also photographed what he claims are 34 different tigers. Nine of these, officials claimed, are in Kela Devi, the ‘‘death trap’’. But the bosses can’t agree on the current number. While Shafat puts it around 40 and promises to be more ‘‘transparent’’ during the next census coming up in May, Bhardwaj pegs it between 32 and 36.
But they are non-committal about comparing their data with independent experts and settle the dispute about the ‘‘missing’’ ones. ‘‘We are not allowed inside the park so that the officials can get away with false claims. Khandar, Kundera, Sanwata, and Rajbag chowki are open bush meat markets. You burst a cracker near any chowki, see if a forest guard comes checking,’’ claims Rathore.
‘‘Just four raids and we have proved how porous the park is. Some guards and rangers often mislead the officers as no independent monitoring or research is permitted inside the park,’’ says Aditya Singh, a member of the volunteer team.
But the Ranthambhore DFO dismisses such claims. ‘‘NGOs come up with false studies and figures which don’t match our reports,’’ he says.
And the catches which his guards couldn’t pull off without volunteers? Bhardwaj grudgingly accepts some of his men have links with intruders. ‘‘But now I don’t tell many people about raid targets."
The control, however, everyone seeks in Sawai Madhopur is that of tourism. Jungle safari was controlled by the Forest Department till last year after which it was handed over to the Tourism Department. Then the DFO had dealt a blow, warning there would be no big cats left to see in five years unless the number of tourists to Ranthambhore is controlled.
That sounds hypocritical, given the free run government vehicles and guests have inside the park. Even as we talk, Bhardwaj gets three such calls in two hours: more sarkari guests are on their way.
" I am trying, sir. Things are under control,’’ he tells one of his bosses in Jaipur over phone.
Ironically, the problems of grazing or grasscutting are not visible in the tourism zone. The rest of the national park is quite unlike what the tourists see along their designated tracks. But the forest officials stick to their claims and reasons: ‘‘Grazing is zero’’ but ‘‘women from villages are a problem as we don’t have women staff to handle them’’.
Bhardwaj also lists the logistics problems: ‘‘My staff is aging. Our arms are obsolete. Since last June, we need to take permission from Jaipur even to move staff...Without rotation, the staff inside the jungle feels demotivated. But we are fighting to save the park. I’m open to everyone who wants to help us.’’
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