NAGARKURNOOL:The presence of tribals in protected zones in forests have raised eyebrows time and again. While a few say they have no business staying in areas like core zones of tiger reserves, a closer look reveals an eco-system that has integrated the tribals in its fold.
Deep inside the forests of Nallamalla, in the core zone of the Farahabad tiger reserve, by a placid lake and under the shadows of an age-old temple stands a single room. The writing on its wall reads ‘Bairapur base camp’. Only a narrow dirt track approaches this camp situated over 35 kms from the last human settlement. Here, far from the businesses of town life, thrives a symbiotic relationship between the forest dwellers — Chenchu tribals — and officials of the forest department.
Chenchus, spread across Telangana, AP, Karnataka and Odisha, are one of the primitive tribal groups living mainly by hunting and gathering. There are several pockets inside the dense Nallammalla forest range inhabited by them. While consecutive governments have tried bringing the tribals to the mainstream, the tribals have been mostly unenthusiastic in their response.
Interestingly, if the revised Project Tiger guidelines are taken into consideration, this ‘relationship’ shouldn’t exist in the core zones of Tiger Reserves at the first place. The guidelines mention about the financial support given to State governments for relocation of villages or providing rehabilitation for people living in the core tiger habitats (`10 lakh per family).The guidelines state: “Tiger being an ‘umbrella species’, this will also ensure viable populations of other wild animals (co predators/preys) and forests, thereby ensuring ecological viability of the entire area. Thus, it becomes an ecological imperative to keep the core areas of tiger reserves inviolate for the survival of source populations of tiger and other wild animals.”While forests officials in Tadoba Tiger reserve of Maharashtra have relocated villagers from the core zones, the Telangana forests still have a sizeable Chenchu population in the core zones.
An opportunity?
Telangana forest department officials, meanwhile, claim they sensed an opportunity in the presence of tribals inside forests. They engaged them. And this gave way to the beginning of a barter-like system. “Chenchus don’t want to leave the forests. So, we engage them to keep an eye on what goes deep inside the forests. They help us monitor the area from inside. They know the forest like the back of their palm, and this helps,” said A Shankaran, District Conservator of Forests (retd.), and Officer on Special Duty (wildlife). Shankaran was of the opinion that the tribals play a very important role in the conservation of the forest. “No body knows the forests the way they (tribals) do,” he added. The fact that the All India Tiger Census conducted in January had several tribals guiding the volunteers as well as officials on several beats inside Amrabad and Farahabad tiger reserves cements Shankaran’s claims.
Incidentally, there also is a severe shortage of staff as the number of beats have increased after bifurcation but the staff have been divided. The official website of the Nagarkurnool district administration too shows only 45 Forest Beat Officers against the 141 sanctioned available posts.However, not everyone seems to be on the same page when it comes to the role of tribals inside forests. An official from the department, on condition of anonymity, said some tribals not only kill wild animals like boar and deer for consumption, but also help poachers by guiding them inside the forest.
School in the middle of nowhere
Proceed another few kilometres from the Bairapur Base camp and you will cross the bustling Chenchu hamlet Appapura. The road ends at an Ashram School, run by the Tribal Welfare Department for the children of the Chenchus inhabiting the forests lands. “Since the children cannot travel several kilometres to villages to attend school, we have brought the school to them,” said Shankaran. When asked whether it is safe to have a school in the core zone, he said it is much safer than the schools being run in cities like Hyderabad. “It has been years since the school has been functioning from that building but never has been an incident of animal attack reported,” he added. While the seniors from the department feel that presence of a school inside the forest is an inclusive step to bring tribals to the mainstream, Forest Range Officer of Mananur range, Sridevi, believes a risk factor always lurks in the vicinity. “The school is in the core zone, and that alone is risky enough,” she said.