79 tribals villages adopt Tadoba tigers

The tigers of the Tadoba reserve in Vidarbha region, have new owners. They are the tribals who live in the 79 villages just outside the reserve (known as the buffer zone), who have been given a direct economic stake in the well-being of the tigers.

“Visitors who wish to see the tigers in the buffer zone have to pay a fee to the village,” said a senior forest official. “And, each party travelling in that area has to hire a guide, who must be a tribal, and pay him Rs200, up from the Rs100 earlier. This gives the tribals a sense of ownership in the wellbeing of the tigers.”

With their economic incentives directly linked to tiger sightings, the tribals are keen to ensure that visitors get an opportunity to spot the big cats and return again, besides spreading the word. Moreover, it is expected that this will wean the tribals away from poaching activities, which is a major reason for the decline of tigers in India.

Tadoba, which is in Chandrapur district, is the location of one of the rare success stories of tigers in India. The tiger population, which had declined to a pathetic 1,411 in 2007, increased marginally to 1,706 in 2011. At 150 tigers today, Tadoba thus accounts for 8% of them. While the reserve itself houses 50 tigers, the buffer zone has 100 tigers.

“During a recent sighting census, officials from the state revenue and forest department saw as many as 20 tigers in one day. Where else in India is that possible today?” asked the official.

The state government has also put in place other schemes to reduce the potential for human-tiger conflict. The first is to provide tribals cooking gas at a massive subsidy of 75%. This reduces the need for womenfolk to go into the forest to collect wood for use as firewood, reducing the chances of encountering tigers, besides helping more trees grow.  “We have started this scheme and already 200 families get such subsidised cooking gas,” the official said.

Another move is the ‘stall-fed cattle’ scheme.

Here, fodder is delivered to the cows in their sheds for free, thus doing away with the need for tribals to take them into the jungle for grazing.

“The real problem is not that the tiger will attack the cattle in the jungle, but that when the cattle graze, they eat up everything in their path. This forces the deer to come out of the jungle looking for food, and this in turn brings the tigers preying on the deer out of the jungle,” the official said.

He admits that if Tadoba is a success story, it is because the state has been able to make the population of sambhar and chital grow rapidly. This gives enough prey to the tigers without having to lift cattle, which keeps the tribals happy.