Tiger panel for radical moves

The report submitted by the Tiger Task Force to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, titled Joining the Dots, prescribes radical measures for tige...

The report submitted by the Tiger Task Force to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, titled Joining the Dots, prescribes radical measures for tiger-people co-existence. Claiming that the 8216;8216;current approach of guns, guards and fences is simply not the solution8217;8217;, it says, 8216;8216;the biggest threat to the tiger today is not poaching per se, but a deadly combination of poachers8217; guns and the growing anger of people who live in and around tiger habitats8217;8217;.

Such recommendations, as The Indian Express reported on July 30, created rifts among the task force members 8212; a dissent note by Valmik Thapar is now part of the report. Claiming that 8216;8216;if some of the recommendations are endorsed in policy, they could have dangerous repercussions for the tiger8217;8217;, Thapar points out in his note: 8216;8216;The Task Force was mandated to suggest measures to save the tiger 8212; Unfortunately, in its eagerness to find 8216;eternal solutions8217; for all problems afflicting the country at one go, the Task Force appears to have lost this mission-focus8230;8217;8217;

8216;8216;The facts are devastating,8217;8217; task force chairperson Sunita Narain said in her response which is also part of the report. She argues that in the past 30 years, only 80-odd villages have been relocated from all 28 reserves. Another 1,500 remain, of which 250 are within core areas of tiger reserves. Relocating them will cost Rs 660 crore at the minimum while land costs will jack it up to Rs 11,000 crore.

Given the meagre relocation package the government works with, its track record and the logistical hurdles, the report says there is no way all villages can or will be relocated. In this case, Narain claims, India has no choice but to make peace with the communities that share the tiger8217;s home.

Thapar, however, finds the idea 8216;8216;utopian8217;8217;. 8216;8216;The fact is each tiger must eat 50 cow-sized animals a year to survive, and if you put it amidst cows and people, the conflict will be perennial,8217;8217; his note reads. 8216;8216;The promise of continued co-existence over vast landscapes where tigers thrive ecologically, as well people thrive economically, is an impractical dream. Such a scenario will be a 8216;no win8217; situation for everyone and result in further declines and eventual extinction of tiger populations. Alternatives where tigers have priority in identified protected reserves and people have priority outside them have to be explored fast and implemented expeditiously.8217;8217;

Thapar also objects to the idea of making the head of the proposed Wildlife Crime Bureau report to ADG Wildlife in the Ministry of Environment and Forests: 8216;8216;All this will do is to prevent his independent functioning in such a sensitive investigative job.8217;8217;

On Sariska, the Task Force recommends that tigers be reintroduced into this crucial habitat in the Aravalli, today under threat from miners, but after action has been taken to 8216;fix8217; the problems. The report blames the state governments for the tiger crisis and wants the Project Tiger directorate to be turned into a statutory authority under the MoEF.

8216;Finalise plan for relocation of villages8217;

Story continues below this ad

8226; Revitalise National Board for Wildlife and/or request the PM to head the Project Tiger steering committee for the next 2 years

8226; Carry out the next tiger and habitat census in Nov 2005 using the new methodology suggested by MoEF and endorsed by the Task Force

8226; Present the independent audit report to Parliament in six months, which will rate state performance

8226; Finalise plan for relocation of villages from key tiger habitats in a year

Story continues below this ad

8226; Each reserve to prepare plan for coexistence in a year