“The forest is our home. We have lived here for generations,” says Dalvir Singh Gond, 61, a member of the Gond tribe, who lives near Atraila village that abuts the Sanjay-Dubri Tiger Reserve. “But the government wants to throw us out.”
The core zone of the Sanjay Tiger Reserve in eastern Madhya Pradesh was formed in 2006 and its buffer zone in 2011. The National Tiger Conservation Authority decided to expand the reserve soon after. Says Y.P. Singh, the director of Sanjay Tiger Reserve, “Since the number of tigers was increasing, we needed to increase the number of herbivores as well. Herbivores thrive in grasslands.” This meant increasing the land under the reserve and relocating the villagers living in the buffer zone.
Sanjay Tiger Reserve consists of Sanjay National Park and Dubri Wildlife Sanctuary, and there are villages between these two sections. “This prevents tigers from moving freely,” says Singh.
Deep connection
In exchange for moving out of the lands they have lived in for generations, the villagers repeatedly petitioned the government for land titles elsewhere. This, however, was denied. In 2008, after a meeting with the Gram Sabhas, the government announced instead a compensation of ₹10 lakh for each family, which was raised to ₹15 lakh last year.
While official figures state that nearly 6,500 families will be displaced by the expansion project, unofficial figures place the number at 10,000 families, with populations of 17 villages already relocated. However, families in the Sidhi district are
Dalvir Singh Gond
staunchly resisting eviction, which has caused the present impasse.
“They will give us ₹15 lakh, but they are taking everything from us,” says Dalvir Gond. “For that price, even an acre of land won’t be available. The houses we built, the farms we cultivate, the trees we grew came up over generations. It will all be lost,” he says. Dalvir Gond owns six acres of land near the reserve, where he grows wheat. He also owns cattle that graze in the forest. Like him, the other villagers are deeply connected with the land. “The government should give us houses and farmland so that we can rebuild our lives,” says Dalvir Gond.
Huge distrust
There are concerns also that the displaced people do not thrive in their new environments. Umesh Tiwari is the founder of Roko Toko Thoko, a tribal welfare organisation. He says, “There are no official records to indicate where the displaced people have gone. There are reports that many of them have moved into cities and are living in slums. Some even beg for food. The displacement process has affected the culture and livelihoods of thousands of such Adivasis.”
In Kusmi Tehsil of Sidhi district, where Dalvir Gond comes from, 6.62% of the total population are Scheduled Castes and 61.4% are Scheduled Tribes. Madhya Pradesh has a total tribal population of nearly 1.5 crore. Among their main economic activities are gathering chironji, honey, firewood and tendu leaves. Many also practise rudimentary farming.
The Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006 recognises indigenous peoples’ rights to forest resources. It is mandatory also to notify a buffer area in every tiger reserve under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. In 2010, a buffer zone of 6,318.72 sq. km was added to all tiger reserves in Madhya Pradesh, which is forcing villagers to move. However, according to Clause 4 of the FRA, the government
A boy returning from the market to his village, Baheradol, via the Sanjay Tiger Reserve
can only remove villages if it is proven beyond reasonable doubt that the human habitation directly harms wildlife.
Saroj Singh, a member of Ekta Parishad, a people’s movement for land rights with 2.5 lakh members, says, “Recently a Gram Sabha was organised in Baheradol Panchayat in Kusmi, where nearly 60% of the people did not agree to leave their land. There is huge distrust among tribal people towards the government.” Singh claims that the families willing to be displaced are outsiders who have purchased lands here solely to claim compensation.
Some 40 families were displaced in Umariya Panchayat in Kusmi block recently. Says Singh. “In most cases, the families received ₹6-7 lakh in place of the promised ₹10 lakh. Many of those families are now on the streets.” Says Dalvir Gond: “I am an uneducated Gond; if the same thing happens to me, how will I fight against the sarkari sahibs (government officials)? Many dalals (middlemen) are threatening us and asking us to accept whatever the government offers or we will be forcibly evicted.”
In darkness
Virbhan Loni lives in Magara, one of the 17 villages already relocated. But Loni resolutely stays on, despite having received compensation. “The government is now giving ₹15 lakh, but we received only ₹10 lakh. The farms, houses, trees, and wells we are giving away cannot be bought for ₹10 lakh. This is discrimination,” he says. The government has now cut off electricity. “We live in darkness. But I will not leave my house unless the government gives us a house and farming land in exchange,” says Loni.
In 1973, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi launched Project Tiger. Its mission was to battle poaching, mitigate human-tiger conflict, and expand undisturbed areas for the big cats. Over the past 10 years, tiger reserves have grown from nine to 51, across 18 States.
Each reserve has core and buffer zones; in the former, all forms of human interference are prohibited while buffer zones are where people and wildlife coexist. India’s most important tiger habitats today are home to 496 villages and 41,086 forest-dwellers. In the 48 years since Project Tiger began, 18,493 families in 215 villages have been displaced.
Forest officials often cite human-animal conflict to drive forest-dwellers away from the forests.
But Dalvir Gond and his fellow villagers don’t seem to be strangers to cohabitation. Yes, their cattle is often attacked or taken by tigers but they say they don’t want to leave their homeland. “We know how to live with tigers. We worship them,” they say.
The writer is an independent journalist based in Sidhi district of Madhya Pradesh .
