With 60 tiger deaths recorded in 2010, environment minister Jairam Ramesh’s statement clarifying that critical tiger habitats located in tiger reserves do not infringe on tribals protected under the Forest Rights Act (FRA) is now wearing thin.
The problem has arisen because while the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, mentions “core or critical tiger habitat”, the FRA uses the phrase “critical wildlife habitat” making no mention of critical tiger habitats.
Mr Ramesh explains that while the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972, Section 38 V, was issued subsequent to the FRA 2006, it remains compatible to the latter Act.
With India steadily losing its remaining 1,400 tigers, Mr Ramesh’s statement issued on Monday makes a crucial differentiation between “critical tiger habitat” and “critical wildlife habitat” clarifying that tigers require a minimum inviolate area of 800-1,200 square kilometres to sustain a viable population of 20 breeding females.
The ministry of environment & forests (MoEF) has already identified critical tiger habitats by using the latest scientific devices in 16 of the 17 tiger states but the problem of “voluntary relocation” of the tribal population living in these core areas remains a bottleneck which the ministry has been unable to resolve.
The revised Centrally-Sponsored Scheme of Project Tiger (2008) allows the tribal population to be paid a lump sum of `10 lakhs per family so that they can relocate on a purely voluntary basis or else have the forest department provide them with alternate land.