Why tigers no longer roar in Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh has recorded 30 tiger deaths in 2016, earning the dubious distinction of becoming the state with the highest tiger mortality in the country.

As per the last tiger census findings announced in January 2015, the state had 308 tigers in the wild. In other words, the state has lost almost a tenth of its recorded tiger population in the last one year.

Tiger deaths in MP also account for a third of the total tiger deaths in the country in 2016 (98). From being the state with the highest number of tigers in the country till recently to this, MP’s slide has been drastic.

As in the rest of the country, tiger numbers have been a cause for concern in Madhya Pradesh too. However, other states, especially Karnataka and Uttarakhand, have done better in managing tigers than MP — a state that boasts of a strong and dedicated forest department.

In the 2006 census, Madhya Pradesh recorded 300 tigers and revelled in being referred to as the "tiger state" of the country — a tag it had assigned itself — as the state then was home to the largest tiger population in the country.

In the 2010 census, the findings of which were announced in 2011, MP with a recorded population of 257 big cats slipped to number two spot in terms of tiger numbers after Karnataka (300 tigers). In the 2014 census, Karnataka (with 406 tigers) had taken pole position and in the 2014 census, the findings of which were announced in 2015, MP slipped to third position after Karnataka and Uttarakhand (340 tigers).

Here’s why MP should be worried about high tiger mortality.

Madhya Pradesh is home to some of the most renowned tiger reserves in the country — Kanha, Bandhavgarh, Panna and Pench — where a large number of tourists, both domestic and foreign, arrive to see the big cat. Minus the tourist arrivals from outside the state (both domestic and foreign) to the tiger reserves (and Khajuraho, which is clubbed by tourists with the Panna tiger reserve) there isn’t substantial tourist footfall in MP.

The tiger, in that sense, has helped build brand MP more than the tourism development corporation which was set up with that express purpose. Tigers are to Madhya Pradesh what the Taj Mahal is to UP, the beaches are to Goa, and palaces and forts are to Rajasthan; the tiger is the icon, besides of course the Khajuraho temples, that draw tourists to the state.

An economic valuation of the Kanha Tiger Reserve during a study by Professor Madhu Verma of the Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM), Bhopal, estimated the tangible benefits accruing from the reserve to be Rs 999.36 million while the intangible benefits were calculated at Rs 15,451.64 million.

A software called InVEST was used to spatially map and value the goods and services from nature that sustain and fulfil human life and helped arrive at the figure. Every rupee spent on the park gives a return of Rs 273, as per the study.

The loss of tigers points to poor or weak governance, something a state like MP that is bending backwards to get investment should be concerned about. The known causes of death of tigers range from poisoning, road and rail hits, drowning and electrocution and infighting. In many cases, the cause of death has not been specified as yet.

Curiously, tiger deaths in MP are at times projected by the forest department as indicators of the success of the conservation programmes and their efficiency. Every time a tiger is killed by another in a territorial fight, the "excess" population spin is given to it, with "excess" suggesting tiger numbers having increased beyond controllable numbers.

There is never any word on how rampant encroachment has led to clearing of large tracts of forestland outside sanctuaries and national parks, leading to a situation in which the animals struggle for space within protected areas and kill each other in the process.

Why has MP had a disproportionately high number of tiger deaths? For one, the forest department in MP has been grappling with the problem of shortage of frontline staff. Posts of rangers, deputy rangers, foresters and forest guards are vacant in all parks with one person often doubling up for others. There is also a shortage of wildlife trained officers in the IFS cadre.

There is a huge difference between the level of protection accorded to tigers in parks and those outside in what are called territorial forests. The Union government has made massive cuts in budgets which is affecting protection outside and inside tiger reserves.

It is also true that there has been an increase in tiger numbers inside reserves. Tigers being territorial animals often come in conflict with each other while carving out territory. This too has contributed to tiger mortality.

Wildlife, in general, is a low priority sector for the government that has always resisted pro-wildlife measures like notification of buffer areas around tiger reserves. The state wildlife advisory board, chaired by the CM, bulldozed the proposal for the Ken Betwa river link in the face of resistance by independent members of the board. Their reservations were not even taken on record. The project is going to eat up a substantial part of the tiger habitat in the Panna tiger reserve.

While the CM who has been in the saddle for 11 years knows a bulk of the IAS and IPS officers in the state cadre by name, it is only recently that he has started identifying some IFS officers by name. This, in some ways, reflects on the importance or rather the lack of it, he accords to their job.

While posts can be filled up with recruitment, the larger issue is of ensuring viable habitats outside reserves and notifying new reserves where increasing tiger populations can spread out to. Currently, about 10,000sqkm of the 95,000 odd sq km of forestland in MP is notified as sanctuary or national park, collectively called Protected Areas under the wildlife protection act, 1972.

Protected Areas have not seen any augmentation for many years and the last sanctuary to be created in MP was about 17 years ago. Political will is essential for creation of sanctuaries and national parks as the notification imposes a fair degree of restrictions on the local population.

The bulk of the notifications in MP were done during the chief ministership of Arjun Singh in the early 1980s.

Unless new habitats are not secured for tigers, numbers will only drop — or at best, plateau.

(Courtesy of Mail Today.)

Also read: Putting price tags on India's tiger reserves is silly