Guns, saws and double standards

RECENTLY, the Rajasthan High Court, concerned about lesser tigers in the Ranthambore tiger reserve, directed that all vehicles should be denied entry into the park. The response was immediate and furious. Conservationists, tiger lovers and tourist operators combined to argue that the ban would destroy the hotel industry and hit livelihoods of tourist operators. Angry scenes of foreign tourists denied sight of the tiger flashed on national media.

Tiger task force seeks people's participation

Let the tiger roam

"She has never seen a tiger": this is how some conservationists questioned my credentials to chair the tiger task force when it was set up three months ago. It did not surprise me. Cola, pesticide or diesel car-making companies reacted precisely like this to our work. Discredit the messenger and hope the message also gets dismissed.

Uncertain future

Let them co-exist

india'sTiger Task Force (ttf), constituted recently to review the management of the country's tiger reserves, concluded its first round of consultations with experts on May 19, 2005 in New Delhi. After the two-day meet, ttf chairperson Sunita Narain observed: "Clamming up on traditional rights of the people to collect forest produce in protected areas has increased the conflict between them and the wildlife."

Simmering

a long-drawn battle between local villagers and forest officials of the Melghat Tiger Reserve (mtr) in Maharashtra's Amaravati district has once again been brought to light by a fire that scorched the mtr's Dhargad range on April 3, 2005. About 480 hectares (ha) of the forest was engulfed in the blaze; experts point out such incidents have become an annual feature.

Troubled tiger

Fund game

Several years back, I mentioned to an editor of an environmental magazine that I was associated with a project under the World Bank- sponsored India Eco-development Programme (iedp). He immediately flew into a fit of rage. "Apologise immediately in writing," he said. "And resign immediately from iedp, else I will give you a bad press."

In Mowgli's land

At the entrance to the Pench Tiger Reserve -- spread over 758 square kilometres (km) in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra -- there is a signpost. Welcome to Mowgli's land, it says. Mowgli's land has been the object of many a conservation effort. In 1977, it was made into a sanctuary to protect tigers and in 1983, the Pench National Park was carved out of this sanctuary.

Compromised!

the Union ministry of environment and forests (moef) has taken Karnataka to task over the implementation of an administrative reorganisation plan by the state forest department (fd) in May.