BENGALURU: Jenu Kuruba, a tribe whose traditional occupation is honey gathering, staged a protest on Sunday against their “forced eviction” from the Nagarahole Tiger Reserve by the forest department.
Seven members of the tribe protest with placards at the Green Literature Festival held at the Bangalore International Centre, stating that under the guise of conservation, tribals who have been living in forests for ages, have been threatened, harassed and relocated.
“We are facing constant harassment and forced evictions by the forest department. NGOs like Wildlife Conservation Society are supporting relocations by projecting that we are living under constant fear of wildlife, which is not the case. We are fighting against the WWF’s conservation model,” said Shivu J A, a Jenu Kuruba youth leader, who took part in the protest.