Dumping the Parliament to Save the Tiger

Now that the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has used its non-existent jurisdictional powers and ordered that FRA not be recognized in critical tiger habitats one can be assured that the tigers of India are feeling safe! The NTCA order came on 28th March 2017 and directed the Chief Wildlife Wardens of all Tiger Range States that, in the absence of any guidelines, not to recognize the rights of Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers as per the Forest Rights Act (FRA) in Critical Tiger Habitats. The NTCA seems to have forgotten that it holds no jurisdiction to issue orders pertaining to forest rights recognition under the FRA. Nor does it realize that such an order is a direct attack on the lives and rights of over 4 lakh tribal and traditional forest dwellers in tiger reserves across the country.

The FRA and the Wildlife Protection Amendment Act, 2006 (WLPA) both talk about the recognition of rights of tribal and forest dwelling people in tiger reserves and critical tiger habitats. These legislations were passed by the parliament of India. But if NTCA does not seem to be unduly concerned about violating these legislations. The FRA is administered by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA), the WLPA by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC). Perhaps the hostility that NTCA displays towards the FRA stems from the fact that it is the nodal responsibility of MoTA and not the MoEFCC. Adivasi communities have always been looked upon as ‘encroachers’ by the forest and wildlife administration. However, the WLPA is responsibility of the MoEFCC, which is also the parent authority of NTCA.

The WLPA Amendment Act, 2006 clearly mentions in Section 38 (O) (2) that the power to issue directions for tiger conservation is should see that “no such directions shall interfere with or affect the rights of local peoples particularly the Scheduled Tribes”. Yet the order of the NCTA unashamedly violates this provision and blatantly undermines the provisions of WLPA; ironically, the legislation which governs NTCA is actually established under the WLPA Amendment Act, 2006 section 38 L. And if gross the violation of the FRA is not enough, NTCA is violating the WLPA too.

The FRA defines ‘forest land’ under Section 2 (d) to mean forests of all categories including the protected areas such as Wildlife Sanctuaries, National Parks and Tiger Reserves; Section 4 (1) of the Act provides for recognition and vesting of all kinds of forest rights of tibal and other forest dwellers Section 3, notwithstanding anything contained in any other laws for the time being in force. These provisions of FRA render the NTCA order as illegal and surreptitious, which adds to the growing discontent in the implementation of the FRA by the forest and wildlife administration.

Coming back to critical tiger habitats, Section 4 (2) of the FRA lays down the procedure for relocation or resettlement of communities from such spaces after the process of recognition and vesting of rights is completed. To conclude, the NCTA order needs to be immediately revoked and the MoTA needs to step in and instruct the state administrations concerned to implement FRA, and to continue with the process of recognition and vesting of forest rights in protected areas and in critical tiger habitats. It is rather strange that an administrative order has the audacity to over-rule a legislation passed by the parliament of our country!