Withdraw relocation notices to villagers living in tiger reserves, citizens tell Centre
Efforts to protect wildlife should not violate the rights of forest-dwelling communities, 150 groups and activists said in a letter.
A total of 150 groups and individuals on Thursday demanded that the National Tiger Conservation Authority withdraw its notice asking state governments to submit action plans for the relocation of villages in the core areas of tiger reserves.
The Authority operates under the Union environment ministry. It is tasked with the protection of endangered animals and the implementation of Project Tiger, a conservation effort that began in 1973.
The core areas that lie deep inside tiger habitats are protected as “inviolate” under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, to maintain a viable population of breeding tigers.
On June 19, the National Tiger Conservation Authority sent a notice to state wildlife departments seeking an action plan for the relocation of 591 villages from inside the core areas of India’s tiger reserves. These villages are home to 64,801 families.
The move would be among the largest displacements of people for wildlife conservation. Over 25,000 families have already been relocated from the core areas of tiger reserves since the beginning of Project Tiger.
Notifications have already been sent to families about the relocation, Tushar Dash, a forest rights researcher and a signatory of the letter, told Scroll. “In Amrabad Tiger Reserve in Telangana, over 400 families from four villages have been notified to relocate.”
He added: “In Madhya Pradesh, gram sabhas have held meetings and passed resolutions under the Forest Rights Act challenging the relocation plan.”
Passed in 2006, the Forest Rights Act upholds the rights of forest dwellers to conserve forest resources they have traditionally used.
In Thursday’s letter, the signatories said that steps should be taken to ensure that efforts to protect tigers did not violate the rights of forest communities. They also demanded the withdrawal of the “Protected Area” model of conservation.
“We are appalled that NTCA [National Tiger Conservation Authority] has issued a relocation order like this, in complete violation of the existing laws and conservation framework, and disregarding the rights of forest-dependent communities and their role in preserving the biodiversity and wildlife of the country,” the letter said.
The letter added that according to the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, all conservation efforts must take into account the livelihood concerns of residents and that relocations must be “voluntary” and on “mutually agreed terms”.
The letter also noted that the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, required the government to compensate those forced to relocate with twice the value of their land and its assets.
The National Tiger Conservation Authority was offering Rs 15 lakh to each relocated family, which the signatories said constituted “a meagre portion of acquiring and compensating their rights”.
This amount did not meet the total cost of resettlement and rehabilitation as required by the Act, the letter added.