The Centre’s move merging Project Tiger and Project Elephant is in contravention of the earlier decision of the National Board for Wildlife which had opposed such a proposal way back in 2011.
This has been pointed out by conservation activist Giridhar Kulkarni who said that proposal by the Planning Commission to merge three centrally funded projects – PT, PE, and Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats – was shelved in 2011 as the members of the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) had opposed and described it as a retrograde step. Besides, the NBWL had stated that such a move would adversely impact efforts to conserve wildlife and nature, said Mr. Kulkarni who has written to the Centre to rescind the merger order.
The merger has not only left the Forest Department officials divided over the wisdom of such a move but miffed conservationists on the grounds that it would dilute the focus of both the flagship conservation programmes.
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change announced the merger in April and notified Project Tiger (PT) as Project Tiger and Elephant (PTE). The administrative approval was received in June and the Additional Director General of Forests – Project Tiger (ADG-PT) was redesignated as ADGF (PT &E).
In addition, the Inspector General of Forests PT was brought under ADGF (PT & E) creating an apprehension that Project Tiger in the year of its 50th anniversary, had lost its identity.
Questioning the move, Mr. Giridhar Kulkarni, in a letter (dated August 13th, 2023) to MOEF & CC said that the move was against the key recommendations of the Tiger Task Force, 2005 which has called for strengthening the role of Project Tiger Directorate in monitoring and coordination, and had recommended according it administrative autonomy besides making PT to report annually to the Indian Parliament.
Mr. Kulkarni said the National Tiger Conservation Authority which evolved as a result, has a single-minded focused attention on conserving tigers and is disconnected from the tentacles of the vast bureaucracy. This, Mr. Kulkarni, argued, has put the endangered tiger on an assured path of recovery by saving it from extinction as revealed by the recent findings of the All India Tiger estimation using refined methodology.
In a subsequent letter dated August 20th, 2023, Mr. Kulkarni pointed out that a similar proposal by the Planning Commission was rejected by NBWL.
Pointing out that Project Elephant had always received a step-motherly treatment with no strategic plan to strengthen it, Mr. Kulkarni expressed concern that Project Tiger, consequent to its merger with Project Elephant, would be bogged down in the bureaucratic quagmire of MOEF & CC.
‘’The unnecessary move of merging two divisions of the ministry defeats the purpose of creating statutory bodies like NTCA, and it will have far-reaching implications for tiger conservation in India,’’ said Mr. Kulkarni in his letter to the Centre.
He said there was a risk of tiger conservation slipping into the pre-2006 era when it was not steered and this could jeopardise other species as well. Mr. Kulkarni argued that given the precarious status of elephants, Project Elephant division should continue to exist as a separate entity with focus on elephant conservation.
