Forests as livelihoods for tribals – Project Tiger in Odisha (Orissa)

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EcoWalktheTalk blog post dated May 13th, 2010

Indian social workers Pushpanjali Sathpathy & Gunjan Jain highlight the real fate of tigers and the indigenous people of Simlipal Biosphere Reserve in the east Indian state of Orissa. Simlipal Biosphere Reserve was included in UNESCO’s World Network of Biosphere Reserves. What is the official media account and what is the fate of the tribals who have been dislocated? Who bears the real costs of displacement, and who should in fact bear the responsibility? […]

Forests as livelihoods for tribals

We were shown some 30 varieties of indigenous seeds of pulses, millets, crops, vegetables, and roots used or grown by the villagers in their village inside Simplipal. It was evident that it would be very difficult for them to practice the same kind of farming that they used to do in the new location. This time of the year, they could have prepared for the second crop on their original land. Now, however, they are not only jobless but have lost this season’s harvest as well. It was clear that the Project Tiger authorities had not ensured the basic amenities required for ensuring a secure livelihood before relocating the forest dwelling tribal families of Jenabil to Ambadiha. […]

The displaced from Jenabil have new neighbors who were once their old neighbors belonging to tribal families (23 families from Bathuri community, jenabil and 8 families from kharia community, Kabataghai) displaced in 1998 from the same Simlipal core area and settled here. […]

The forest department and the block administration in Udala say it is the responsibility of the Project Tiger director to look into all the problems and promises of the displaced people. […]

If tribals were the real enemies of the tigers then the only tigers left would not have been in tribal areas. Time can only say if the Simlipal tigers will be saved or not by the displacement of the tribals leaving only government forestry staff in-charge, but it is already evident that the tribals cannot be saved by relocating them in this manner.

Source: Endangered Tigers and the Fate of Indigenous peoples: The Story of Jenabil, India | EcoWalktheTalk
Address : http://www.ecowalkthetalk.com/blog/2010/05/13/endangered-tigers-and-the-fate-of-indigenous-peoples-the-story-of-jenabil-india/
Date Visited: Wed Aug 17 2011 20:11:19 GMT+0200 (CEST)

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When your neighbour is a tiger | People’s Archive of Rural India
People living near or within the forest in the Bandipur National Park and the Sundarbans revere as well as fear the tiger. Their proximity to tigers, leopards, crocodiles and other big animals often causes violent confrontations, but it has also inspired myths and conservation. Here are PARI’s tales from tiger territory >>

“Cover Your Country” by PARI: Rural people speak about their lives through photos, narratives, film, and audio materials >>

Video | “I saw women working 90 per cent of the time. They did backbreaking jobs for which you need an erect spine,” says P. Sainath in Visible Work, Invisible Women: Bricks, coal and stone | RuralIndiaOnline.org >>

In Marginalised but not Defeated, Tarun Kanti Bose (a seasoned public interest journalist) asserts that “the mainstream development paradigm is being questioned and new rainbows of collective, community reassertions are happening across the tribal belt in India. More so, in most cases, led by brave, empowered and resilient women.” | Learn more: https://countercurrents.org/2023/05/book-review-marginalised-but-not-defeated >>

“In less than 200 years, photography has gone from an expensive, complex process to an ordinary part of everyday life. From selfies to satellites, most of the technology we use and spaces we inhabit rely on cameras. […] While photographic documentation can aid in shaping history, it can also be a window into the horrors of the past.” – Read more or listen to Butterfly Effect 9 – The Camera on CBC Radio Spark 26 May 2023 >>

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