The Centre cannot decide. Should it phase out tourism from critical tiger habitat or should it support tourism and save the livelihood of the local population? Does tourism in the core areas of wildlife reserves damage the tigers chances of survival or will hiding it from the public eye hasten the extinction of the rare animal? Tiger conservation in India maps out a story of government indecision and incompetence. On Wednesday,the Supreme Court used this very indecision as grounds for extending its ban on tourism in core areas. Wildlife reserves are to be divided into core areas and buffer zones,according to the Wildlife Protection Act of India. But till July this year,most of the states with reserves had not even notified their core areas and buffer zones. It was only after the draconian ban on tourism,imposed on July 24,that they rushed to do so. Eco-tourism guidelines laid down by the government say that core areas should be held inviolate. Last year,the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) had filed an affidavit with the apex court urging that this be enforced. But a day before the apex court was to review its ban,the ministry of environment and forests and the NTCA filed an affidavit asking that the existing guidelines be revised. However,in spite of the guidelines,the government had allowed indiscriminate tourism across tiger reserves for years. Regulated tourism,involving the local population,would have yielded revenues for conservation. Now,with the tiger population whittled down to a pitiful 1,700 and the government having failed to control the real threat poaching tourism has become a soft target. Confused government policy combined with shoddy implementation of guidelines have brought things to this pass. A blanket ban by the court is unlikely to do wonders for conservation. It only underlines the abject failure of state conservation efforts.
