The Supreme Court’s order of banning tiger safaris in core areas of all the 42 tiger
reserves in the country was made with a simple reasoning – to provide the tiger with
much needed solitude and let the big cat enjoy its kingdom without the hounding
paparazzi. But leaving the tiger alone is the last thing in the minds’ of the tour
operators whose life revolves around selling the national animal. In the aftermath of
the new code of conduct the nation is still mulling whether the move will really help
bring the tiger back from the brink of extinction.
Booming Business
Every year, thousands of tourists from around the world, armed with fancy cameras
and English – Hindi dictionaries make a beeline for India to see the nation’s second
most popular attraction after the Taj Mahal – the tiger. Luring them are the tour
operators who have over the years gained the acute sense of understanding every
demand that a tourist might have. So even when the hotels and resorts are in the
wilderness, swimming pool, spa, yoga classes and wi-fi connectivity make sure that
the city bred guests are at home and ready to spent thousands on services.
It is also not just the private players who are gaining from business in tiger’s
kingdom. State governments too are promoting tourism in protected areas fiercely
because it earns them revenues. Take the case of Madhya Pradesh. The state is
home to three of the most popular tiger destinations – Kanha, Pench and
Bandhavgarh. The state earns close to Rs 15 crore by way of entry fee only which is
not more than Rs 22 for the national parks. But add to it the amount spent by a
tourist to buy an entire tour package, the tourism earnings easily shoot up to Rs 150-
200 crore. The state forest department not only uses the earning to manage the
national parks but also shares it with the state. Karnataka and Rajasthan too have an
equally big share of revenue coming solely from tiger tourism.
But the profits the tourist resorts make is often at the cost of local resources.
According to a yet to be published study by a forest official in Madhya Pradesh, in
2009, 48 resorts in Kanha extracted 540,000 litres of ground water per day. The
hotels also consumed 302 tonnes of firewood, 42 percent of which came from the
forests.
Conservation Vs Commercialization
In March last year, Bhopal based non-profit Prayatna had filed a public interest
petition pleading that critical tiger habitats should be kept devoid of any human
disturbances including tourism. It is this petition that prompted the SC this July to first
put into place a revenue sharing system where tour operators had to part with 10
percent of their profits for conservation. The court had also summoned individual
state governments to define the buffer and core areas of their state national parks.
Miffed by the lack of response from seven state forest departments, the court took
the strict measure of an interim ban on tiger tourism.
Experts opine that the move can do more harm than good to the tigers. Tourists
unknowingly play the important role of extended ears and eyes of the forest guards
when they can observe ludicrous activities within the forest and also deter poachers.
But some say that poaching activities occur only in the darkness of the night when
tourists are not around. Others also believe that the revenue generated through
tourism helps local communities. But again views are divided in this regard. While
some say the ban will hit hard on locals who have opened food joints and tourist
homes in the fringes of the forest, according to researcher M D Madhusudan from
Nature Conservation Society at Mysore, elitist model of tourism that generate
revenue for the private sector have very little profits that percolates down to the local
community.
Eco-discipline
From truly the conservation point of view, most conservationists believe that even if
total ban of tourist activities is a bit too harsh, a more regulated module of eco-
tourism is needed urgently. “While it is important to regulate tourists, it will be a
national loss if the SC order takes away common man’s chance to see the tiger,”
says Madhusudan.
India’s tigers have become a symbol of conservation that everyone relates too. But
as one senior officer of the Environment Ministry rightly puts, “The main objective of
creating a tiger reserve is to conserve tigers, tourism is only a by-product.” It is once
again the question of setting our priorities right– do we want to see the last remaining
tigers bypassing all laws of nature, or do we want…really want the tigers to last.
Original Publication: Deccan Herald
Date: 31 July, 2012