Hey folks,

As per the last count, India has lost more than 50 per cent of its tiger population during the past five years! Reason enough to raise a hue and cry, right? Well, there is more bad news. The latest State of Forest Report declares that India’s dense forests cover is dwindling. No wonder, then, that the tiger census cites ‘loss of quality habitat’, as one of the main factors behind the plummeting tiger population.

But hasn’t our government been taking the job of conservation rather seriously for the past three decades? It has tried to cater to the tigers, exclusively. Marked out ‘inviolate’ or protected spaces for them. Displaced communities, who have lived in the forests for generations, and depended on them for their livelihood. You see, it is the land of the poorest people that is set aside for protection. It is they who share resources with the tiger, without getting any benefits from it.

It is now obvious that ‘fencing the forests’ has not worked. Driven out of homes, the locals have turned hostile towards both tigers and the forests. Even become willing partners of the poaching and timber mafia… So what do we do? Involve the people in regenerating the forests, of course. And ensure that they, too, benefit from protecting the tiger’s den.

Then watch our forests and the royalty, which once ruled the domain, flourish again…