NEW DELHI, Feb 14: Voluntary relocation of villages from core areas of tiger reserves should be carried out on a “priority” to support wildlife conservation and ensure the inclusive growth of people living in forest areas, the NTCA has said.
During a meeting of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), some members also said that the current voluntary village rehabilitation package might not be attractive to all communities living in core and critical tiger habitats and suggested it be revised.
According to the minutes of the latest NTCA meeting, Union Environment minister Bhupender Yadav said green growth should be achieved through mitigation strategies in buffer and corridor areas while core and critical tiger habitats made “inviolate”, according to tiger management principles.
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Yadav, who is also the NTCA chairman, “emphasised” that “voluntary relocation of villages from core or critical tiger habitats of the tiger reserve, which is backed with statutory provisions, should be taken on a priority so that a win-win situation for tiger conservation and inclusive growth can be achieved and people living inside forest areas can be brought into the mainstream”.
He stressed that the needs of forest dwellers should be considered while carrying out voluntary relocations and highlighted the potential of tiger reserves as an “instrument for development of Tier II cities”.
Last year, a large number of people from tribal communities living in the core zones of India’s tiger reserves protested against the NTCA’s directive to forest officials to speed up the relocation of 64,801 families from 591 villages in the core areas of 54 tiger reserves.
Gobind Sagar Bhardwaj, the NTCA’s member secretary, said in the meeting that village rehabilitation was a “completely voluntary process” and “informed consent of the gram sabha and the people affected is obtained” before relocation.
The resettlement package for families was raised from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 15 lakh in 2021, he added.
An NTCA member suggested that the relocation package be revised periodically based on inflation trends.
He pointed out that the people being relocated from forest areas were usually reluctant to change and this should be considered while encouraging voluntary rehabilitation through capacity and skill development programmes.
A Union tribal affairs ministry official informed the NTCA that it had received several representations from organisations following the NTCA’s letter requesting states to undertake voluntary village relocation.
The ministry last month asked states to gather data on the number of villages and families living in tiger reserves, details of villages relocated outside, and the status of claims to forest land and produce settled under the Forest Rights Act, 2006.
A tiger reserve consists of two zones — the core (critical tiger habitat) and the buffer (peripheral areas).
According to the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, core areas must remain “inviolate for the purpose of tiger conservation”. The buffer areas, in contrast, permit sustainable human activities alongside wildlife conservation.
Tribal and indigenous communities residing in the core areas say they have lived in harmony with nature and forests for generations and their livelihoods, culture and traditions are deeply connected to the forest ecosystem.
Under the Forest Rights Act, these communities are granted individual and community rights to access, manage and use forest resources, as well as live in these forests.
However, they argue that the law’s “contentious” and “delayed” implementation has left them vulnerable to forced eviction. (PTI)
