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