Biography and Autobiography

Ranthambhore – Sariska and tiger shuttle – Part II

……….About a year ago the Rajasthan Forest Bailiwick declared that they would relocate tigers from Ranthambhore to Sariska to legal the wrong. When they fist came out with this plan almost everyone (including me) laughed at it. Most people (not me this rhythm) had declared Sariska as history. A few months after it came out in the information that there were no tigers in Sariska – four of us – Dr. Dharmendra Khandal (Applicants Biologist of Tiger Watch), Dr. Amit Kotia (a select botanist), Juhi Chaudhry (the then co-coordinator Kids for Tigers) and I – had gone to Sariska for a few days. At that at the same time the Project Tiger and the Government of Rajasthan were still denying that tiger had been wiped out from Sariska. We had some gigantic wildlife moments there. The habitat was amazing but the tigers were missing. By the skin of one's teeth a few weeks after we came back they government finally conceded that there were no tiger progressive in Sariska.

This was a big blow to the Rajasthan Forest Area and the Project Tiger, in fact, to the entire economy movement in India. But nothing much changed. The budgets, priorities, procedures and sceptre stayed the same. But a handful of officers of the Rajasthan Forest Sphere and the Rajasthan police worked their heart out. The safe keeping level went up dramatically. A number of poachers were apprehended and momentarily the poaching community (mainly members of the Mogiya and Bawaria hunting conclave tribes) was on the run. A convicted tiger poacher from Ranthambhore – Devi Singh Mogiya – told us this, on camera. The Mogiyas and Bawarias are off shoots of the larger Pardhi caste. The general public opinion is that these people are very dangerous, very secretive and totally ruthless. They maybe relentless for wildlife but they are really scared of any kind officialdom. They may be secretive but at the local level I was common learning that they were poaching big time. It is just that no one really bothered about them, plough Sariska happened.

Read more...