Project update - November 2005

Brief report on the current state of Ranthambhore (August 2005)
by Dr Goverdhan Singh Rathore, Director of the Prakratik Society

Watchdog role of NGO saves the tiger from the brink of extinction in Ranthambhore.

When we started ten years ago we were not sure that our actions would make any difference to the future of tigers in Ranthambhore. Over two hundred thousand people, with nearly as many cattle, wanted access to the diminishing natural resources of the Park, be it for fuel wood, fodder or land. Few had the wisdom that if this continued the Park would soon disappear and their problems would not be resolved. Yet how could one find a way to help nearly 200,000 people understand the precarious situation and, at the same time, enable them to find alternatives to life their reliance on the Park? Just keeping people out by force was certainly not going to work, as had been proved over the past decade.

The job was not made any easier by the abysmal state of the social situation where literacy among the tribal girls was less than 2%. Overall, literacy was below 40%. Two children died out of every hundred born. Maternal mortality was almost as high with one woman out of hundred dying in childbirth. Mothers would refuse to acknowledge the birth of a girl child if it was the third successive girl. Some would go to the extent of calling their girls - "Anchahi" or unwanted. People were unwilling to send their girls to our school even on a full scholarship. Despite modern maternal health care being available, hundreds of women still chose to get their deliveries done at home under unhygienic conditions and by untrained midwives. Many arrived at our hospital in a critical condition, sometimes after being in labour for nearly 12 hours. A large number of pregnancies resulted in stillbirths as it was already too late to save the baby. Many mothers would also have died had it not been for the medical facilities that exist as a result of our efforts.

Today, as a result of our work, human population growth has shown a dramatic reduction by 4% between 1991 and 2001 in the 40 villages where our family planning campaign has been working intensively. Alternate energy programs, literacy and environment education, better and more sustainable animal husbandry programs, afforestation programmes etc. have meant that more and more families no longer depend on the park for their day to day needs for fuel wood and fodder. All of this translates into habitat protection so that the tiger can survive.

In our opinion there should not have been a better time for the tiger in Ranthambhore. The past few years of drought have meant that the cattle population is less than half of what it used to be only a few years ago. Easy availability of LPG gas to cook on in the villages has meant that hundreds of people who can afford gas are now using it instead of paying someone to go into the forest to get wood. The closure of all saw mills due to a directive from the Honourable Supreme Court has helped reduce the local timber trade dramatically. Most importantly, even local politicians, unlike the past, are less likely to take the side of local people with regard to illegal grazing because of the strong intervention of the Honourable Supreme Court. Our work with local people, strong legal intervention and natural factors have all helped contribute to the reduced extraction of forest produce from the park all of which helps to improve the habitat. The result is visible through the better vegetation both inside and outside the park.

However the weakest link in tiger conservation continues to be the threat of poaching. The past two years have seen an increase in poaching directly due to a lack of commitment by the park authorities to combat this menace. Once again this was highlighted by a local NGO, Tiger Watch, when it declared that as per its research 18 tigers were missing in Ranthambhore. In 1992, when a similar crisis threatened to decimate the tiger population in Ranthambhore, the inquiry commission instituted provided protection to all the park officials responsible by saying that there was a system failure and therefore no one person could be held accountable. The current crisis has led to the State Government declaring a Red Alert, putting additional armed guards inside the park. Three different inquiry commissions have been set up. It may be another six months before any of them actually submit any suggestions. Meanwhile most top park officials are on leave (as of June 05) during what is technically a Red Alert. Most of the blame is being put on harmless tourism that is already overregulated rather than on the real issues of poaching, woodcutting, grazing and illegal encroachment.

In the past few years support from all over the world has helped provide jeeps, trucks, motorcycles, cycles, uniforms etc. to help the park authorities to deal with poachers and other wildlife crimes. Unfortunately there is no independent system of audit and accountability and therefore vehicles end up getting used for taking family and friends into the park instead of conducting anti-poaching patrols. Top park officials in charge of the critical core area do not live and work in the core but spend most of their time sitting in an office in town. Park officials try to divert all attention towards tourism as being the main reason for missing tigers and therefore spend their entire time trying to control the 35 tourist vehicles allowed inside the park, counting tourists, checking passports and monitoring routes rather than conducting anti poaching patrols or monitoring tiger movement. Every tourist has to fill out a visit report stating whether they saw a tiger or not, yet this critical information that could be used as an indicator of tiger movement and numbers is not analysed or referred to. Even independent research is blocked.

Because there is no rapid action anti poaching patrol on stand-by twenty four hours per dya and there is no system of recording any information passed on by discreetly by villagers, it becomes even more difficult for local people to help the park authorities to deal with poachers for fear of retribution from poaching gangs.

Without a system of accountability within the Park management system the tiger in Ranthambhore will never be safe.

Prakratik Society is committed to expose these faults within the system. In the current year the Society is helping another local NGO, Tiger Watch, to put together a network of informers to help collect information of poachers and then pass it on to local park officials. We will also attempt to record the reaction time of the official anti poaching squad and to make it more accountable to the people. We will put every effort to work together with the park officials but, at the same time, we will not hesitate to hold local officials responsible for not doing their jobs. It is our belief that the tigers in Ranthambhore may not be able to withstand another crisis like the current one. Unless poachers are stopped and park officials are held accountable the tiger does not stand a chance.

We wish to thank all our donors for having had the faith in our work and for their unwavering support. Without your support the tiger in Ranthambhore would have long disappeared.

Dr. G. S. Rathore
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
PRAKRATIK SOCIETY