Setting aside land to preserve the habitat of tigers, a highly endangered species, certainly sounds like a good idea, one that I would normally support. However, the government is in the process of setting up a tiger preserve in a nearby forest area, and it seems like a mess all around.
The first issue that although they have claimed the area has a population of 30+ tigers, local villagers and forest officials say its two, possibly three tigers living in the area. The second issue is that the forests they are setting aside are already populated by aadavasis.
Aadavasis are the aboriginal peoples, much like Native Americans, except they are ethnically identical to the rest of the population. Only culture separates them from the rest of India, and even some of that culture has seeped in. The aadavasis rely on the land to provide them with their livelihoods.
Pretty much everybody who lives in the forest area is poor, and some are members of scheduled tribes/castes, officially recognized as groups needing extra help. These people will be getting some assistance in relocating. Others are just poor, but not a member of any of the designated groups, and they will be receiving much less help even though they need it as much.
One of the outreach clinics run by JSS is in a village scheduled to be moved. They are involved in educating the villagers about their rights, as the doctors are literate and not in as vulnerable a position. There is a risk of them being labeled Naxalites, a word thrown around as carelessly as "terrorist" is in America. It has the same effect of raising fears and shutting down any rational argument, and those to whom the label is applied are treated as unjustly and arbitrarily, outside the normal bounds of the law.
One of the doctors has written some about it: http://ramani-fieldnotes.blogspot.com/2009/12/tiger-reserve.html
The first issue that although they have claimed the area has a population of 30+ tigers, local villagers and forest officials say its two, possibly three tigers living in the area. The second issue is that the forests they are setting aside are already populated by aadavasis.
Aadavasis are the aboriginal peoples, much like Native Americans, except they are ethnically identical to the rest of the population. Only culture separates them from the rest of India, and even some of that culture has seeped in. The aadavasis rely on the land to provide them with their livelihoods.
Pretty much everybody who lives in the forest area is poor, and some are members of scheduled tribes/castes, officially recognized as groups needing extra help. These people will be getting some assistance in relocating. Others are just poor, but not a member of any of the designated groups, and they will be receiving much less help even though they need it as much.
One of the outreach clinics run by JSS is in a village scheduled to be moved. They are involved in educating the villagers about their rights, as the doctors are literate and not in as vulnerable a position. There is a risk of them being labeled Naxalites, a word thrown around as carelessly as "terrorist" is in America. It has the same effect of raising fears and shutting down any rational argument, and those to whom the label is applied are treated as unjustly and arbitrarily, outside the normal bounds of the law.
One of the doctors has written some about it: http://ramani-fieldnotes.blogspot.com/2009/12/tiger-reserve.html
