Accountability for disappearing Tigers

In country where millions go to bed hungry every night and where people, especially those living in & around forest areas, have to scratch for a decent living it is hardly a surprise to see the local villagers not completely on board in the government's efforts to save tigers. Accountability is the name of the game these days what with newspapers full of statements made by our new minister on Fixing responsibility on forest officials for dereliction of duty in the case of missing tigers of Panna. As early as 2002 conservationists working inside the park have been warning the state of government of the danger signs. As if to prove to the country that they couldnt care less, officials in the MP Forest Department did not just continously look the other way but went out of their way to cover up for the fact that big cats were disppearing from under their noses when they were writing in magazines on how all the tigers were safe and were scattered in the jungles nearby when the census was carried out. Accountability in isolation is a dangerous sword. What needs to be addressed to avoid reccurance of such cases is to address the root cause of cover ups. State governments, most of them on the brink of a financial crisis, are burdended with the task of meeting basis aspirations of people. If Madhya Pradesh or for that matter any other state has little drinking water available to quench the thirst of its population then it is unfair to expect the chief minister to focus on Tiger Conservation. Priorities are set at the top and officials down the line take a cue from the leader. Hence is it imperative that the Centre takes a larger leadership role in this issue. From quickly raising the tiger protection force to ensuring inter state poaching cases are solved at the earliest, quick and transparent justice will bring in as much benefit to tiger protection as any other step. If, as the centre says, repeated warning of tigers disappearing were ignored by the state government between 2002 & 2008 then the central goverment is also complicit in not ensuring that the poachers were quickly caught and brought to book. With most poaching syndicates operating across state boudaries it is impossible for a state goverment to alone act and apprehend wildlife criminals and thats where the centre has to play a crucial role. Making people living in and around the forests a stake holder in the development is another aspect on which reams has been written but the results achieved have been mixed. Tadoba National park in Maharashatra has been in news recently for many tiger deaths around the peiphery. My recent there relvealed that there are still many villages inside the park and some of the villagers who had moved out earlier have reentered demading better compensation from the goverment. Official apathy, bureaucracy, corruption and confused policies both at the central and state levels is a deadly cokctail that is the biggest impediment to tiger conservation efforts. If the minister has to fixaccountability let him start with removing these ills atleast at the central level, the states will take care of themselves.

Important step towards Tiger conservation

Well after yesterday's news, Indian Express today carried the following report. Apart from the translocation of new tigers which has been widely reported an important step towards making the system more effective is the move to give the NTCA more teeth. As the story says, NTCA has so far acted as an advisory body with no definite say in forest conervation affairs which is state subject. With the proposal to bring NTCA member secretary at par with the Chief Wildlife Warden at the state level, state governments can not ignore NTCA dictats any more. NTCA was set up by the Prime Minister after the Siriska disaster and its efforts so far to galvanise tiger conservation efforts hav been mixed at best what with the state governments not treating the matter with the priority it deserves. With the new evnironment minister making all the right noises within days of taking over, the green lobby clearly sees new hope.

Centre clears translocation of 4 big cats to Panna

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/centre-clears-translocation-of-4-big-cats-to-panna/481822/1

The states ignoring NTCA’s warnings is a common occurrence since wildlife is a concurrent subject. This is now set to end as the Cabinet has okayed bringing the position of NTCA member secretary at par with the Chief Wildlife Warden at the state-level. “This will strengthen the NTCA’s position,” Ramesh told The Indian Express. In the past, states have often ignored NTCA advisories on issues like transfer of officials, culling of maneaters and notifying buffer zones for tiger reserves. This had reduced the NTCA to little more than a fund-giving body for the Centrally sponsored Project Tiger scheme.