Elephants rampaging in Mysore and killing people is a wakeup call, if not heeded, will lead to the annihilation of our forests and wilderness for whenever there is a conflict between humans and the wilderness, man never loses. I fear that though the writing is on the wall, no one is reading it.
Whilst I am completely in agreement that forest officers, especially those that have managed to conserve our dwindling wilderness, should be made heroes and paid handsomely for their efforts, what I saw one evening when I went to a felicitation of officials in Bengaluru was quite sad. Every person on the dais raved about everyone and everything but the most crucial issue. The catch phrase “man-animal conflict” was hammered down our throats. Not a single person in the entire gathering asked the question; why is there a man-animal conflict? Many feel that I am naive for expecting people within our hollow yet fanatical wildlife fraternity to understand this conflict for how would people living in urban jungles, weakened by corruption and greed, know how it is to live the life of the poor rural of our country?
My beliefs have founded over a period of three decades for it took time to comprehend the many nuances in the field. To me, it appears that most people in urban India where policies are made, be it voters, bureaucrats or the politicians, have lost their “connect” with wild rural India. They never take the pain to come to our tribal hamlets where the poor have literally been jailed in poverty for decades. They never get to see the families which lack even basic amenities like two good meals a day. I wonder if the officials who threw out our nomadic tribes from their forested homes where they once lived a free and happy life; ever ponder on the consequences of their action? Surely it’s a failure if an entire displaced Indian community does not have the means to make two ends meet? As long as they were living in the forests it did not matter for they could gather their food at will but now it does for they need to eke out a living in a dog eat dog world of politicians, corruption, greed and poverty. When was the last time that blankets were distributed to these people or at least one meal offered till they stand on their feet? These poor people have lived without hope for so long that today abject poverty has become a way of life for many.
The problem is not new. Since 1947, our poor living around the forests have been forgotten by India. Out of sight has been out of mind for our policy makers. As a result, a conflict has brewed since independence wherein the local people living in these far flung areas have lost complete trust and faith in the government and in order to feed their children have continued to enter the forests. Over time, with the change in law, mere acts essential for survival have made them hardened criminals. Further the term, “official” to most of them denotes “corruption” which further distances them from the government. The official on his part acts as if every person living in such areas is a poacher or a smuggler and needs to be jailed. These diametrically opposite beliefs have created a conflict which is driving the people and the officials apart at such a galloping pace that it is impossible to get them back together. And if the local person does not trust you, he stops listening. And that’s where the crux of India’s conservation problems lie. The much hyped man-animal conflict is nothing but a consequence of this local man-official conflict where the animals and the forests suffer as a consequence. Unless this man-official conflict is addressed and practical and implementable solutions found, India can forget saving her forests, especially her tiger.
The proposed law of banning/restricting development within five kilometres of a national park or sanctuary will further add to the woes of the local people of that area. If there is no development how on earth will people earn revenues that are legitimate? How will they plan a living? The law assumes that these people will leave their homes and fields to travel the five kilometres to work. Yet there are no roads and have no timely transport to take them out of the so called no-development zone. Further no development has been planned beyond the no development zone, no swaps thought of for creating job opportunities. Whatever existing hope the locals have will be further dashed. Sadly this move to take people away from the zone will only benefit corrupt officials in furthering their personal wealth; there will be fewer people to notice their actions, and of course their failures. if such a law is passed the conflict will spiral completely out of control. This new awakening amongst our officials who for some odd reason believe that if you have chosen to live near the forest, you are a criminal and should be bought to book is disturbing. Officials show case-registers to prove their point. They show the register solely because there is a register for such cases but there never is a register for every conservation act that has been accomplished. There are no case registers which name every person that has dedicated his life to conservation. There isn’t for the term “conservation” is missing from the lives of most of our officials and politicians. From Delhi to the deepest jungles, protection is the new phrase. Whilst conservation takes a lifetime of dedication; protection shows quick results in but a few months. If everyone living around our forests is a criminal then surely the easiest thing to do is to arrest a few on a weekly basis, show quick results? Further the fact that conservation measures take life times of effort creates a problem of funding. No official is willing to spend the scarce resources under his control in an area where he cannot show case his work. And as protection measures are visible and thus get all the funding.
At the end of two decades of working with the locals living around our forests, the one thing that I can say with complete certainty is that the local people finally see the light of day but the lack of foresight and consistency within the official and the lack of political will kills any and all good work that is ever accomplished in the field of conservation in India. Most policy-makers get caught in their own webs of self obsession and greed and lose their “connect” with ground level reality, as a consequence policies on conservation fail to have any positive impact whatsoever on the wilderness or the locals of the area.
As I have said before, the writing is on the wall. Get up, India, read it before it’s too late.