In its report, “India’s Tiger Reserves: Tribals Get Out, Tourists Welcome”, released on the occasion of the International Tiger Day, Rights & Risks Analysis Group (RRAG) stated that at least, 5,50,000 Scheduled Tribes and other forest dwellers are to be displaced by India’s much vaunted Project Tiger. These include 2,54,794 persons from 50 tiger reserves notified by 2017 and at least 290,000 persons from 6 (six) tiger reserves in the post 2021 period. The report also highlights indictment by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) for non-compliance with the Forest Rights Act regarding non-displacement of the STs and other forest dwellers without consent, uncontrolled commercial, eco-tourism and linear project activities in the Tiger Reserves after displacing tribals, and in fact, more tigers are being killed by linear project activities.
“While 2,54,794 persons were identified for relocation from 50 Tiger Reserves from 1973 to 2021, at least 290,000 persons are slated to be displaced from six tiger reserves being created from 2021 period. It means a whopping 967% increase of displacement per Tiger Reserve in the post 2021 period.” – stated Mr Suhas Chakma, Asia Campaign Manager on Indigenous Peoples Affected by Protected Areas and Other Conservation Measures, University of Arizona and co-author of the report.
About 290,0000 persons expected to be displaced in the post 2021 period are about 4,000 people from the Srivilliputhur-Megamalai Tiger Reserve, Tamil Nadu (2021); about 4,400 persons from approximately 1673 families from the Ramgarh Vishdhari Tiger Reserve, Rajasthan (2022); about 45,000 persons from the Ranipur Tiger Reserve, Uttar Pradesh (2022); at least 72,772 persons from the Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary under Durgavati Tiger reserve, Madhya Pradesh (2023); about 4,000 persons from the Dholpur-Karauli Tiger Reserve, Rajasthan (2023), and about 160,000 persons from the Kumbhalgarh Wildlife Sanctuary, Rajasthan (2023).
“The notification of an area as a Tiger Reserve has become the means for displacement. No tigers were found in five Tiger Reserves namely, Sahyadri Tiger Reserve (Maharashtra), Satkosia Tiger Reserve (Odisha), Kamlang Tiger Reserve (Arunachal Pradesh), Kawal Tiger Reserve (Telangana) and Dampa Tiger Reserve (Mizoram) but a total of 5,670 tribal families were displaced from these five TRs! Displacement destroys the affected communities and there is no rationale to displace tribal communities when there are no tigers for whom the displacement were carried out in the first place.”- further stated Mr Chakma.
India short circuited the free, prior and informed consent both under the Forest Rights Act and the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 by not seeking consent before designation as a Tiger Reserve. The consent is only sought regarding forcible relocation after designation of an area as a Tiger Reserve.
The report highlights forced evictions through massive human rights violations. The houses are often destroyed and indigenous peoples can no longer hunt, fish, gather food, or access to their religious, sacred and cultural sites, burial grounds and medicinal plants. The State government and authorities stop all sorts of development programs in order to force the victims to accept what is euphemistically called voluntary relocation. The victims also face gross civil and political human rights violations including extra-judicial killings, enforced disappearances, torture and ill treatment, sexual and gender-based violence, arbitrary arrest and detention, threats and intimidation often for collecting honey, flowers, firewood, hunting or fishing in or near the tiger reserve or for opposing or resisting evictions.
Highlighting the case of Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve in Assam, the report stated Assam’s Forest Department in a Report of 2014 claimed that hundreds of alleged poachers were shot dead in encounters over the years but not a single forest staffer had been killed in an encounter between 1985 and June 2014, thereby raising suspicions about the encounters. From 2014 to 2016 alone, at least 57 persons were killed – 27 in 2014, 23 in 2015 and 7 in 2016.
The report also highlighted damning revelations on non-compliance with the free, prior and informed consent and rehabilitation of the affected persons from the tiger reserves found by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) after audit in Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, West Bengal, Kerala, and Maharashtra. The CAG found uncontrolled commercial and eco-tourism activities such as establishing petrol pumps, rest houses being run on commercial basis by the Forest Department and Tourism Departments, staff colony and other residential quarters, high tension electric lines causing deaths of substantial number of tigers in electrocution, huge number of vehicles being allowed against ceiling imposed, resorts / hotels, road construction/ widening /up-gradation, linear projects in core areas of the Tiger Reserves despite prohibition.
Furthermore, there are ongoing commercial and linear project activities such as road projects in Rajaji TR (Uttarakhand); Limestone mining and highway projects in Mukundra Hills TR (Rajasthan); limestone mining and skywalk projects between Tipeshwar Wildlife Sanctuary and Tadoba-Andhari-Kawal Tiger Reserve(Maharashtra); road projects through Nagarjunasagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve (Andhra Pradesh); construction of underground pipeline and pump house in core area of Amrabad Tiger Reserve (Telangana); laying of OFC by Airtel in Tiger Corridor in Kagaznagar (Telangana), irrigation project in core area of Kawal Tiger Reserve (Telangana), etc.
The process of turning the Tiger Reserves into a tourism industry is all set to intensify and India enacted the Forest Conservation Amendment Act, 2023 to exempt “establishment of zoo and safaris and eco-tourism facilities” from the Forest Conservation Act.
Highlighting successful co-existence of indigenous peoples with tigers, the report stated that in Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Tiger Reserve (Karnataka) where the Soliga tribals have been allowed to co-exist with the tigers including in the core area/critical tiger habitat, the number of tigers almost doubled from 35 to 68 between 2010 and 2014, which was far higher than the national rate at which the tiger population was growing.
“In fact, more tribals are being killed by the linear projects. The CAG found that in Madhya Pradesh “out of 115 reported deaths of Tigers in the State during 2014-18, 16 were through electrocution, making it the second biggest cause of deaths after territorial fights”- also stated Mr Chakma.
Expressing concerns about the impact of displacement, the report stated, out of 5,50,000 Scheduled Tribes and other forest dwellers identified for relocation by the Tiger Projects, about 20,857 families 92,605 persons were relocated by 31.12.2021 as per the Government of India. Therefore, about 457,394 persons or 1,03,016 families are yet to be relocated. In monetary terms, if India were to relocate these 452,189 persons or 101,844 families at the current rate of Rs 15 lakh per family for rehabilitation and resettlement, it would cost Rs 15,2766 million or US$1,853 million in addition to requirement of massive land for resettlement. There are simply no lands available to properly resettle 101,844 families from the Tiger Reserves. In the meantime, their human development shall remain stunted as the State governments and authorities shall not undertake any development project to force involuntary relocation. The report called upon to promote Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Tiger Reserve (Karnataka) model by allowing Scheduled Tribes and Tigers to co-exist, suspend the remaining displacement of 1,03,016 families and conduct fresh assessment as per the Forest Rights Act and the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 to conclude that other reasonable options of co-existence are not available.
