Tigers - The Disastrous Decade

For 40 years now I have served wild tigers.

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My life with them started under the tutelage of a Rajasthan state forest officer, Fateh Singh Rathore. He was a remarkable man who believed in two principles for tiger conservation. The first is to protect tiger turf against any exploitation such as poaching, wood cutting, grazing or agriculture. He believed that success in field protection would result in healthy tiger populations and in Ranthambhore, where he worked throughout his life, he not only proved this, but he also put this tiger turf on the world map. His second principle was to welcome all those who believed in this mission and link both the government and non-government sector with a unity of purpose. I worked closely with him and still believe these are the issues that will determine the future health of tigers.

Sadly, in the last decade both issues have suffered severe neglect. Nearly 10 years ago Project Tiger was replaced with the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), a more powerful instrument for governing the tiger and the states. This is where the rot starts. Over these years the NTCA tried its best to bully the states with hundreds of instructions and advisories that undermined the talents and abilities of state forest officers. Managing tigers is a state subject and from 1974 for more than 30 years, Project Tiger respected this fact and played a positive role in supporting state endeavours. Bureaucrats at the best of times are not known for their innovative ideas and those that arrange to get deputed to Delhi, and this includes both forest officers and administrative officers, enjoy ruling the roost, and issuing endless paper directives that have little to do with site-specific field issues. This is what has happened to the NTCA.