Who benefits?

The National Forest Commission has performed a very important service by raising an alarm on the UPA government8217;s proposed new legislation on tribal rights. The new legislation seeks to give tribals a five-year 8220;temporary8221; presence in the forests, after which this would be made permanent. Equally odious are provisions whereby a different set of laws will apply for tribals, violating the constitutional guarantee of equality of all citizens of the country.

It is clear to every conservationist that tribals and tigers cannot co-exist in the same forest. The profit that can be made by killing tigers is too high, and policing tribals within the forest is too difficult. Hence, as long as human habitations are not fully relocated out of a given national park, tigers will not survive. If the preservation of the present lifestyle of tribals is a goal, then the only feasible path consists of having wildlife parks and tribal reserves. India can choose to set aside 10,000 square kilometres where tribals can lead a traditional lifestyle, while ensuring that wildlife parks are safe for biodiversity. This is a feasible path, unlike the UPA8217;s proposed legislation. However, it is based on escapist romanticism. It is also an inhuman strategy, one that pretends that tribals are not human and do not have a claim to a prosperous and comfortable life. Our effort should be to bring tribal children into top quality schools, give tribals access to the NREG, and put in special effort to bring them out of the forests and into mainstream India.

A remarkable feature of the present situation is that the cost of relocating tribal populations has been estimated by the Tiger Task Force at Rs 11,000 crore. The Central government must allocate the money and not leave it to state governments who do not have the resources to relocate the tribals. Looking forward, the revenues that would accrue to India from vibrant tiger tourism easily dwarf this number. The need of the hour is to make a big push on securing tiger populations and protecting biodiversity. Once this is done, a slow and careful effort on ecotourism can begin, whereby tourists are carefully given access at 1000 a night, in a limited way, to the forests. There is extensive experience internationally on the judicious blend of ecotourism and biodiversity, which can be drawn upon for this purpose. The revenue stream for India, on a net present value basis, from tiger tourism is enormously bigger than the one-time cost of Rs 11,000 crore.