Away from the glitzy media campaigns that are running in our big cities to save the tiger, at Ground Zero it's a competition between man and animal or sometimes - perhaps animal and animal. Domestic vs wild. And the recent incident of poisoning of the tiger cubs in Ranthambore is a prime example of this conflict. Less than 10 days after the incident I make my way to the tiger graveyards to find out what was it that drove local people to poison the big cats.
The two tiger cubs were killed by men from the Gujjar community from a nearby village of Tadla Khet. Reason: the tigers had been repeatedly attacking the goats around their village. It's not easy reaching the site of Tadla Khet. It's far from the tourist zone of Ranthambore National Park. The area is actually a corridor linking the National Park with Kailedevi Sanctuary. It's dotted by ravines and a dry river bed. The only village nearby is Tadla Khet which is a small hamlet of 5 houses.
In the backdrop we can see the plateau of the Kailedevi Sanctuary - oft neglected but with a landscape which is more breathtaking at times than its high-profile neighbour- Ranthambore. We snake our way through the dusty ravines in an open jeep that kicks up sand in the blistering overhead sun. The smell of death is still in the air at the tiger graveyard. There are still some shreds of hair next to a bush, the yellow and black indicating it belonged to the dead tigers. Ahead on the right is a patch of grey ash - where the tiger carcasses were burnt by the forest department after the post-mortem confirmed poisoning as a cause of death.
But the story of the dead tigers lies in the nearby village. We leave our jeep and walk through the ravines. It's a ten-minute walk but with the sun beating down on us and carrying our camera equipment it's a tedious exercise. The village has the look of a ghost town. Every house has a lock, no animals no human life or property can be seen. It's all been abandoned.
In one house we do manage to find an old man asleep on a charpoy with a couple of house sparrows twittering at his feet for company. He shuffles his feet he is scared to talk to us, worrying we maybe from the forest department. Once he has lit his bidi and he's satisfied we are not from the department he talks. It was his son who was arrested - Ram Khiladi. He spits on the ground clears his throat and raises his thin brown arms in the air - I told them (the forest department) to arrest me as well but they said baba - what will you do with me' I said - 'Make pickle out of me but leave my son alone'
So what prompted the Gujjars here to plan the murder of the tigers in so much detail? Was there no fear that they would be caught? And why had the tiger cubs strayed out of the forest? These are the questions in my head as we walk around the abandoned village.
It's also obvious that while this area seems like complete wilderness - and therefore a good habitat for the tigers, there's no food or natural prey base. So obvious then, that the tigers had turned to killing the local peoples cattle to feed themselves. But why did the big cats stray out of the forest where there is an ample prey base?
Officials in the park claim that they had been pushed out because of competition for space. And there you have it -- that's the crux of our problem when it comes to saving tigers. The issue of space. Ranthambore today is a habitat that is saturated. And the surrounding regions of Kailadevi and Sawai Mansingh Sanctuary are devoid of the big cat. So if the tigers are to colonies new areas it's the corridors linking these vital habitats that must be freed.
While there is a massive effort on to move people out of the tiger reserve to create a larger habitat for the tiger, it's a lengthy and complicated procedure. The good news is that it is being initiated in a sensitive manner with no forced evictions. The National Tiger Conservation Authority, for the first time, has announced a massive incentive of Rs 10 lakh for individuals living inside tiger reserves to move out. So only those people who want to move have to move. The bad news is that the second clause of the rehabilitation package is still not being implemented. And that's the clause of 'land for land'. And this essentially means compensating local farmers with the same quantity of land outside the forest as they had inside.
Take the village of Hindwar in Ranthambore. The sarpanch here has convinced the entire village to move out. It's right next to the main road, every person here stays in Delhi or Jaipur. But now with the Rs 10-lakh compensation many are coming back to stake their claims and move out. But will vacating a village which is right on the road be of any ecological benefits?
Then there are others who have simply refused to move. In the village of Bhind I meet Murari Gujjar. He has refused Rs 10-lakh compensation as he has 50 bighas of land. The amount is too less. He twirls his white moustache as he smokes his hookah. 'I will move out only if the forest department gives me land for land -10 lakhs is too small an amount'. Murari Lal did not succumb to the greed of easy money. He realizes there is more security with getting land instead of cash. Here in the forest he has ample land to plant his crops and graze his cattle. Its people like him the forest department will have to convince. The tragedy is with all the funds being pumped in only half the village will be vacated- which mean it's still not available for the Park or for wild animals.
Murari Gujjar is also sensitive to the other problems that come with money. Suddenly there are flashy motorbikes in the village. Many have already spent the cash they got on paying off their debts. But will that give them long term security such as a house or land when they move out this month out of the forest? What surprises me is that the entire process of relocation which is fraught with social problems is not being monitored by even one social agency. Over the ages a policing department like the forest department has been asked to take over many social roles. Is this fair to assign this task to an already overburdened department? I am not too sure.
Back in the tourist zone of Ranthambore, we are lucky to spot a tiger. It's a female and she stares at us calmly and dozes off as trigger-happy tourists surround her on their jeeps to click photos. There's cheer on their faces of the hundreds of tourists who have come from far off destinations to see the tiger. In the distance a langur gives out an alarm call and a wily mongoose scurries past. The peace in the forest is ephemeral.
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