Naxal insurgency destroys India’s oldest tiger reserve in Jharkhand
Naxal insurgency or Left wing extremism (LWE) has impeded forestry operations in India’s oldest tiger reserve in Jharkhand. Forest officials from the Palamau Tiger Reserve have informed the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) that Naxals have eaten into the reserve.
The Palamau Tiger Reserve was part of India’s first nine tiger reserves which were declared after the Union Government launched Project Tiger in 1973. Officials pointed out that the core zone of the tiger reserve was inaccessible due to the presence of Maoists, so conservation efforts cannot be carried out in those areas. As a result, a tiger census has not been conducted there.
The reserve had 71 tigers in 1995, which was the highest it recorded ever and thereafter, the population has been declining. Three tigers were seen in 2014 and in 2019, the All-India Tiger Estimation found no tigers in the reserve. In 2020, a dead tiger was found in the reserve and after a gap of three years in December 2023, two male tigers were spotted.
“Left wing extremism activities and the movement of security personnel inside the reserve have decreased the prey for tigers and therefore, the animals have moved into the neighbouring states of Chhattisgarh and Odisha. While two tigers were spotted, we want to increase the prey base and are even planning to relocate two tigresses to the reserve,” a senior forest official told The Tribune.
The official added that the Palamau tiger reserve has been facing the problem of left wing extremism since 1990. He said the recruitment of staff has also been pending since the 1990s and more than 60% posts, including eve those of forest guard, are vacant. Most of the occupant staff were nearing retirement, he added.
“The livelihood dependency of local people on forests is very high. There are managerial issues like the paucity of frontline staff. The local workforce is deployed to assist the field staff in day to day protection and tiger monitoring,” an official said.
