An increase in its population is gratifying but the tiger still faces problems, including the frequent man-animal conflicts. A national-level strategy is needed to manage this interface
Jim Corbett wrote in the Man-Eaters of Kumaon, the “tiger is a large-hearted gentleman with boundless courage and that when he is exterminated —as exterminated he will be unless public opinion rallies to his support — India will be the poorer, having lost the finest of her fauna.” Had the legendary hunter-turned conservationist and writer been alive, he would have noted with relief the contents of the latest estimation report on the number of tigers, titled the Status of Tigers, Co-Predators, Prey and their Habitat, 2018, released by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 29, annually observed as Global Tiger Day. The report puts the number at 2,967, which marks an increase of 33 per cent over the figure of 2.226 in the estimated tiger count in 2014 and a phenomenal 210 per cent over the 2006 figure of 1,411.
The increase is gratifying because it comes as a part of a continuing upward trend since 2006. Besides it represents one of the few instances in which the Union or a State Government’s efforts have succeeded. It all started in 1970 when the Union Government banned the hunting of tigers throughout the country. Two other important developments followed in 1972. The country’s first tiger census put the number of the striped lords of the jungles at 1,827. More important, Parliament passed the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, for protecting animals, birds, reptiles and plants. It prohibited the capturing, killing, poisoning or trapping of wild animals, the injuring, destroying and removing any part of a wild animal’s body, also forbade disturbing or damaging of the eggs of wild birds and reptiles. It further prohibited the picking, uprooting, destruction, acquisition and collection of specified plants and trade in these. The Act also provided for the creation of sanctuaries and national parks where wildlife would be safe and for restriction of entry into these. More, it provided punishment for each category of crime.
The Act was an important step as the Wild Birds and Animals Protection Act of 1912 (eight of 12) and the various State laws prevailing until then offered little protection. It was, however, aimed at wildlife in general and not specifically tigers. For the latter, Project Tiger was launched on April 1, 1973, with two objectives — identification of the causes of shrinking tiger habitats, adoption of remedial measures and repair, to the extent possible, of the damage already done; and, second, the maintenance of a viable tiger population.
The project’s distinguishing feature has been the creation of sanctuaries, called Tiger Reserves, to protect tigers from poaching and other threats. Against nine spread over 9,115 square kilometres at the beginning, there are now 50 of these encompassing an area of 74,749 square kilometres. No human activity is allowed in their core areas, while limited access is granted to the buffer zones around these. Strong action is being taken against poaching with rangers and forest guards being provided wireless communication systems, improved weaponry and facilities for rapid movement.
Funded by the Union Government, administered by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MOEFCC), and functioning under the direct supervision of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), set up under the provisions of the Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Act, 2006, Project Tiger has made the most important contribution to increasing the number of tigers. One, however, has also to take into account the efforts made to protect wildlife from crimes against it, which has helped significantly, particularly since poaching to meet the demand abroad for tiger body parts for their allegedly medical and aphrodisiacal value, has been a contributory factor in the decline in numbers. In this context, one needs to recognise the critical role played by the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) set up in 2006 under the same amendment act that established the NTCA.
A statutory multi-disciplinary body under the MOEFC, to combat organised wildlife crime in the country, it collects and collates intelligence pertaining to organised wildlife crime and disseminates the same among State and other enforcement agencies for immediate action. Its functions also include the establishment of a centralised wildlife crime data bank, co-ordination of actions by various agencies in enforcing the Act’s provisions and assistance to foreign authorities and international organisations to facilitate global action against wildlife crime. Among other things, it also helps to improve the capacity of agencies combating wildlife crime to conduct scientific and professional investigations and assists State Governments to successfully conduct prosecution for the same.
A proud feather in its cap has been the United Nation Environment Progamme’s conferring on it in November last year of an Asia Environment Enforcement Award in the Innovation category for successfully innovating enforcement techniques that have dramatically improved action against trans-boundary environmental crimes in India. Earlier, in 2010, it had received the prestigious Clark R Bavin Wildlife Law Enforcement Award for outstanding work on wildlife law enforcement. Not surprisingly, its actions, along with those of other enforcement agencies, have resulted in the arrest of 350 wildlife criminals and huge seizures of tiger/leopard skins, rhino horns, elephant ivory, turtles/tortoises, raw mongoose hair, mongoose hair brushes, protected birds, marine products, live pangolins, deer antlers and so on across the States.
There is, however, hardly any scope for complacence. Human-tiger conflicts are becoming more frequent as the increase in the number of tigers continues along with growing human encroachments into their habitats in the form of new settlements, more extensive farming, infrastructure, and environmentally-disastrous industrial projects benefitting blue-eyed entrepreneurs. In this context, there is an urgent need to implement the NTCA’s suggestion for developing a national level strategy for management of human-tiger interface and dispersing tigers in compliance to its standard operating procedure, ensuring active collaboration between district administrations, police and forest department personnel, and, when required, for mob management to ensure safe capture or movement of animals.
All this, however, will not help if State Governments clear projects threatening the tiger’s survival. Two examples come immediately to the mind. Maharashtra sanctioned last year the diversion of 467.5 hectares of forest land in Yavatmal district for a cement plant. Also, its recommendation has led to the clearance, in principle, of 87.98 hectares of land in Kondhali and Kalmeshwar ranges — barely 160 km from Yavatmal — to an explosives company in Chakdoh for manufacturing defence products.
Unfortunately, tigers do not vote. Nor do they contribute to the funds of political parties.
(The writer is Consultant Editor, The Pioneer, and an author)
Writer: Hiranmay Karlekar
Courtesy: The Pioneer
Yes, the numbers of the big cat have doubled but so has the intensity of man-animal conflict. Let’s address that too
In 2008, alarm bells had rung when the tiger census in the country threw up a dismally low number of 1411, despite years of initiatives under Project Tiger. Home to 70 per cent of the world’s wild tiger population, India had no option but to turn the needle through aggressive pursuit of various conservation efforts. So it is indeed heartening that in little over a decade, we now have almost doubled that number, clocking 2,967 tigers and registering an increase of almost 33 per cent in the fourth cycle of the latest census. Little wonder then that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who released the new figures, seized another moment of national pride that India has achieved by claiming that the target of doubling the tiger population has been met four years before the deadline. What makes the numbers remarkably reassuring is that they have come at a time when biodiversity is severely challenged. Yet the government and the community have persistently been in sync with their conservation efforts. Also the four-year counting exercise, the world’s largest wildlife survey effort in terms of coverage and intensity, is a celebration of technology. Over 15,000 camera traps were installed for capturing tiger images and recording their unique stripe pattern with the help of a dedicated software, there were satellite mapping and GIS-based apps for in-depth tracking of the big cats and the data collection process. Madhya Pradesh saw the highest number of tigers at 526, followed by Karnataka at 524 and Uttarakhand with 442 tigers. So it is the healthy patches which have pushed up the total numbers rather than the dotty ones.
This brings us to the most important aspect of tiger management in their habitats than just recording figures. While tiger numbers have increased, tiger habitats have been dwindling due to human encroachments, infrastructure projects and truncated wildlife transit corridors. The man-animal conflict has never been worse, therefore. Be it the killing of Avni or villagers beating up straying tigers, or the confused tiger hitting back with a counter-charge, the headlines point to a dangerous trend of overpopulation not being commensurate with increase in prey base-rich forest zones. The Wildlife Trust of India’s conflict database for Uttar Pradesh records 63 cases of attacks on humans by tigers from 2014 to February 2019, an average of 10.8 cases per year. This marks a dramatic increase from an average of 5.6 attacks on humans per year between 2000 and 2013. The tiger will stray into human settlements when its food chain is frayed and villagers cannot be expected to prioritise conservation when the lives of their own and the livestock are at stake. It is now imperative to understand what’s causing the conflict on the ground on a case by case basis and address it immediately before avenging kills start showing up in the numbers. Awareness of tigers should now also include equal awareness about its ecology and behaviour and the need to provide alternative ranges. Recent examples have shown how some railway underpasses to facilitate wildlife transit are working as animals, like the elephant and tiger, are adapting to changed migration routes. There are still viable tracts of pristine forests that can be turned into reserves by relocating animals from overpopulated stretches. But forests are a state subject and an inter-state agreement on shared corridors needs to be ironed out and coordinated if translocation is to succeed. Meanwhile relocation needs are mounting. The entire process cannot be fast-tracked but needs to be graded and spaced out to ensure tigers’ acceptance of a new territory as their own household. Apart from peripheral villagers, a new tiger also has to deal with resident cats or in the total absence of its kind, reconcile to being a lone ranger and sync up with other relocated companions. And if forest dwellers have co-habited with tigers before, there is no reason why we cannot make them stakeholders in conservation efforts, keeping them invested as park patrollers and monitors, generating a subsidiary tiger economy that ensures them revenue, incentivising forest produce and enhancing the tiger gene pool that can promote “sighting tourism.” Till this is done, our pride will continue to be their enemy. The tiger sits on top of the food chain in the forest and by saving it and giving it a home, we are protecting all sub-species and curating a biosphere that even includes grasslands and rivers.
Writer & Courtesy: The Pioneer
The Chennai water crisis calls for the establishment of a National Water Committee, consisting of scientists, administrators and domain experts
The country is witnessing acute water shortage in many areas either due to the failure of rains or inadequate rainfall. The crisis has been brewing in many States like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Gujarat and even the national capital of Delhi because of which people are suffering terribly.
In Chennai, women were seen lining up in queues, holding plastic buckets and waiting for tankers, some of which are reportedly fleecing the public. IT firms, restaurants and the construction industry have all admitted that they are struggling without water. Violent clashes between residents on the issue of water sharing, too, have been reported. Meanwhile, reservoirs supplying water to Chennai have all dried up.
A BBC report said, “India is facing its worst water crisis in its history.” India Today stated that “50 per cent” of the country is staring at “drought.” In this connection, this writer had written an article titled, ‘Water Woes’, which was published recently in The Hindu. I also issued an appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to immediately set up a ‘National Water Committee’ consisting of scientists, administrators and other eminent people to deal with the problem on a war footing.
This writer had set up a similar committee by a judicial order as a judge of the Supreme Court in MK Balakrishnan vs Union of India (2009) case under the chairmanship of former Secretary in the Union Ministry of Science and Technology, Thirumalachari Ramasami. In the case of Delhi Water Supply & Sewage Disposal Undertaking vs State of Haryana (1996), the Supreme Court observed, “Water is a gift of nature. Human hand cannot be permitted to convert this bounty into a curse, an oppression.” However, scant notice was given to this admonition and the natural resource has been converted into precisely that.
When this writer was the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court (2004-2005), a Bench, presided over by him in L Krishnan v. State of Tamil Nadu (2005), noticed that most of the lands marked in the revenue records of the State as ponds or lakes had been encroached upon. Many houses and illegal shops were built on them. The Bench directed the removal of all illegal encroachments. It is doubtful if the order was effectively implemented by the authorities. In Karnataka last year, a piquant situation cropped up. While in the coastal and Malnad region as also some districts of the State, the rain fury wreaked havoc, other regions, especially the northern part of the State, witnessed drought-like situation during the same time. This was unbelievable.
China, too, experienced a similar situation before the 1949 Revolution. Some areas (those next to Hwang He, also known as the ‘river of sorrow’) experienced frequent floods, while others experienced drought. After the Chinese Revolution of 1949, the authorities constructed huge dams on these rivers. Canals were built to carry excess water to drought-hit areas. This way, flood as well as the drought problem was solved. Why could this not have been done in India, too?
States along the coastal lines have access to unlimited sea water but it needs to be desalinated. Desalination methods like reverse osmosis are extremely expensive. But with the help of scientific research, inexpensive methods can be found out. The Himalayas, too, have almost unlimited water in the form of snow but it needs to be harnessed properly. Other techniques like rain water harvesting must be made mandatory in all human settlements. All such efforts call for a strong political will — on the part of the Central as well as State Governments — using scientists (both Indian and foreign). Unfortunately, this will was missing until now.
Now that his Government has a mandate, it is hoped that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not miss this opportunity. He should immediately set up the National Water Committee, giving it adequate funds and other support.
(The writer is a former Judge of the Supreme Court)
Writer: Markandey Katju
Courtesy: The Pioneer
The odd killing of elephants by tigers at Corbett is not just aberrant behaviour, it is about survival
Tigers tend to get maligned every time they display aberrant behaviour and become the subject of alarmist headlines that make them a feared monstrosity rather than the endangered species that they could become. Yet the fact of the matter is we need to study the conditions and reasons for their uncharacteristic behaviour and mutations and factor them in future wildlife conservation policies. The latest Government study, done with the Corbett National Park authorities, which has found that park tigers have killed and eaten elephants, at first sounds incredible and unbelievable. Considering the different physical dimensions of both creatures and the fact that elephants move in herds, a tiger’s kill potential indeed seems microscopic. But it is not impossible, considering the tiger is remarkably agile, adaptive, has penetrative canines and claws and is extremely intelligent, isolating stray members of any pack animal before the hunt. Elephant calves can become its prime target, even borne out by the study which says that carcasses of the young were the maximum among the 60 percent deaths because of tiger attacks. Besides, the big cat attacks the trunk, the major food conduit of the elephant which usually dies on its own subsequently, unable to eat and nourish itself back to health. Also, as the Sundarbans tiger has shown, the big cat can alter hunting behaviour according to its location. For example, African leopards have taken down the largest antelopes as elands, greater kudus and wildebeests, though they are more than five times heavier than their own size. Lions, too, there have taken down elephant calves. Which is why the study is worrying wildlife experts as tigers usually don’t eat elephants and this could be the beginning of a new intra-wild species conflict.
Not that the alerts haven’t been there. Instances of tigers charging at elephants have been fairly videographed in Corbett. We also seem to have not learnt our lessons despite isolated cases settling down into a patterned behaviour. In 2017, six elephants died in Kerala’s Wayanad wildlife sanctuary in tiger attacks, triggered as they were by bitter turf wars over scarce water in a drought year. Tigers are already bearing the brunt of over-population, reduced roaming territories and prey base, broken habitats and migration corridors as well as human encroachment. All this is challenging their primal instincts and forcing them into evolving survival tactics given the context they find themselves in. So cattle-lifting and man-eating are not just about an old territorial tiger anymore but regulars who are getting accustomed to easy prey options. Even Corbett in-charge Sanjiv Chaturvedi admitted that tigers “need comparatively less amount of efforts and energy in killing an elephant as against that needed in hunt of sambhar and cheetal. It is large quantum of food for them too.” He said the national park has a unique ecosystem with more elephants than tigers, 1,100 against 225, unlike other national parks like Ranthambore, Kanha and Bandhavgarh. Does this mean that Corbett tigers are working out their own kill choices depending on easy availability of a stray calf or a sick pachyderm? That they are feeding on elephants, which were killed in herd infighting, also proves that they are changing the rules of hunt and game. Does it mean they are prioritising easy availability as evidenced in tiger attacks on elephants in Kaziranga too? If this is an emergent crisis, then we need to develop strategies to save both species. Buried in the report is also the fact that most tiger deaths are because of infighting over mating and territorial rights. Has the tiger then been literally pushed into a corner?
Writer & Courtesy: The Pioneer
Besides Project Tiger, our achievements were also possible because wildlife conservation is deep rooted in the Indian culture and tradition
India, a mega-biodiversity country with diverse climate and natural habitats in the world, is the last hope for the survival of several mega-mammals, including big cats on planet Earth. Of the seven big cats — lion, tiger, jaguar, puma (mountain lion), common leopard, snow leopard and cheetah (hunting leopard), five were found in India. But one of them — hunting leopard — exterminated from the Indian sub-continent in the early 1950s. Clouded leopard, a cat occurring in the north-east of India, is also considered a big cat by some naturalists but it falls slightly short of the minimum size of the big cat as its average weight is just below 20 kg.
India’s wildlife richness is incomparable in the world. It were the invaders, who brought a culture of reckless hunting, impacting the abundance of mega-mammals. According to official records, over 80,000 tigers, more than 150,000 leopards and 200,000 wolves were slaughtered between 1875 and 1925. About 300 lions were hunted around Delhi during 1957-58 a few years after independence. All four big cats have disappeared from their previous habitats in Asia or are surviving in restricted habitats in small numbers. But their story in India is different. Their survival depends on their conservation here in India where they still have viable populations despite high human population.
The Asiatic lion, which had extensive distribution in West Asia to India, has a restricted population in the Gir forests in Gujarat. They disappeared from the northern and western parts of the country. At present, over two-thirds of the global population of the tiger is found in 17 States in India. The number of other sub-species of the tiger in other countries in Asia is very small and none of them has over 500 individuals. Similarly, out of about 20,000 Asiatic leopards in about two and half dozen countries in Asia at present, 15,000- 16,000 individual leopards are estimated in India alone. Status of snow leopard is not known but there is no sign of any significant decline of its number in high altitudes of the Himalayas.
Occasionally, scientists and conservationists played the numbergame by providing population figures which suited to their academic greatness. Some of the figures quoted by naturalists and referred in the scientific documents and papers are far from the truth. Hence, the history of these big cats needs to be renewed. For example, the Nawab of Junagadh and some naturalists quoted about dozen remnant numbers of the Asiatic lion in the beginning of the 20th century. It has also been quoted in all scientific literature. If Asiatic lion’s number was one dozen in the first or second decade of the 20th century, then how could it reach to 287 individuals in the first Asiatic lion census in 1936? Annual hunting records also denied the low figure. In fact, logically, the Asiatic lion population never dropped below 50 during its entire history. Scientists and naturalists presented distorted and wrong history of this species. The present number of over 600 lions, perhaps over 700 as locals believe, is a healthy population spreading in four districts, although the threat from epidemic disease is high due to increased predation on domestic livestock, dogs and domestic animal carcasses. Loss of habitats outside the Protected Areas is also a matter of concern. The lion conservation landscape in Junagadh, Amreli, Gir-Somanath and Bhavnagar support about 1,300 big cats (over 600 lions and over 650 leopards). The numbers suggest human-wildlife conflict is a matter of concern.
Future of the tiger also lies in India. Although its habitat and distribution shrunk in the country, it is still found in about 90,000 sq km area in 17 States. In the past, some naturalists quoted a figure of 40,000 individual tigers in India at the beginning of the 20th century. This figure, too, has no scientific basis. After the declaration of Project Tiger, the population of this big cat was estimated over 1,800 individuals, which increased consistently and doubled in three decades. A reverse trend started due to massive poaching, after the success of its conservation. The camera image trap method for tiger counting in 2006 quoted a population of 1,411 individual tigers in India. Naturalists played the numbergame again. They publicised a decline by half. There was over-reporting of the number of tigers by some States using the pugmark method of counting, but the decline was not as drastic as highlighted by non-field conservationists.
Undoubtedly, the disappearance of tiger from four reserves, including Panna and Sariska, was a conservation blunder. The hullaballoo that followed resulted in the birth of National Tiger Conservation Authority. In 2006, tigers were never counted in Jharkhand, Sundarbans and North-East of India, Naxalite affected areas and also other forests area where few nomadic tigers occurred. Also, only sub-adult and adult-tigers were counted and cubs below one and half years, which constitute about 30 to 35 per cent of the population, were not accounted.
The numbers were again wrongly put. If all these are accounted logically, tiger population, including cubs, was not below 2,000 individuals in 2006. In 2014, the number of sub-adult and adult tiger was about 2,230 individuals, which was about 65 per cent of the global tiger population. With cubs, the number was perhaps about 2,800-2,900 individuals. Initial survey in 2018 revealed that the number has gone up due to strict protection measures India’s tiger habitats can support about 3,000 individuals of sub-adult and adult tigers. With growing human and industrial pressure in the previous habitats and around the tiger reserves, protection of dispersing tiger is difficult.
Leopard, a versatile cat, has very high adaptive capacity. Its population was never estimated accurately due to the concealing behaviour of the smart cat. The surveys of this cat in different States reveal that about 15 per cent to 20 per cent leopards are found outside the national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and forests. The tea gardens, sugarcane fields, ravines and agricultural fields have become habitats for the leopards. Expanding irrigation network turned beneficial to this cat. In 1964, EP Gee, a known wildlifer, quoted a figure of 6,000 to 7,000 leopards in India. He also mentioned that the number was 10 times in the beginning of the 20th century. This figure is quoted in all scientific documents. However, even with advanced technology, wildlife managers failed to estimate its accurate population. So, how could a naturalist guess a population of 6,000-7,000 leopards in 1960s? Recently, a conservation organisation in collaboration with Karnataka Forest Department projected an unbelievable population of 2,500 leopards in Karnataka. As per the recent reports, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka each has an estimated leopard population of over 2,000 individuals. Gujarat and Chhattisgarh each has over 1,000 leopards. Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal and Odisha have over 500 or nearly 1,000 leopards. Leopard occurs in 29 States and one Union Territory and its present population is estimated about 15,000-16,000 in the country. Although leopard presence is in over two and half dozen countries in Asia, none has above 1,000 of the species. Only Iran has nearly 1,000. It is, thus, a matter of great pride that about three-fourth of the total Asiatic leopard survives in India.
Conservation achievements of these big cats were possible because wildlife conservation is deep rooted in the Indian culture and tradition. Indian mythology, ancient art, literature, folk lore, religion, rock edicts and scriptures, all provide ample proof that wildlife enjoyed a privileged position in India’s ancient past. Kautilya’s Arthashastra, a book written in the third century BCE, reveals the attention focussed on wildlife in the Mauryan period: Certain forests were declared protected and called Abhayaranya like the present day ‘sanctuary’. Heavy penalties, including capital punishment, were prescribed for offenders who entrapped or killed elephants, deer, bison, birds, or fish, among other animals. Lord Mahavir Jain, Gautam Buddha and Mahatma Gandhi always advocated Ahimsa towards living creatures.
The ashrams of rishis, which were sites of learning in the forests, were frequently visited by the animals. The Vedas, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, the Upanishads, the Puranas, the Arthashastra and the Panchtantra are among the many texts of ancient India that deal with the influence of forests and wildlife on human society. Ashoka, the most powerful monarchs, who put lions at the top of rock pillar, was a staunch wildlife conservationist.
Another key factor for survival of carnivores in India is never considered in analysis. About 524 million livestock in India provide major food to carnivores such as big cats, canines, hyena, small carnivores and raptors. Nearly half of the food for lions comes from hunting of domestic animals or their carcasses. Leopard is largely dependent on dogs, sheep, goats, poultry, other domestic animals and their carcasses. The tigers also extract substantial food from livestock abundantly available around the Tiger Reserves.
(The writer is Member, National Board for Wildlife)
Writer: HS singh
Courtesy: The Pioneer
At present, India’s figure stands at nearly 134 crore while China is inhabited by nearly 140 crore. Which means in another two years, India will overtake China
A rapidly growing population is a stupendous national problem. Therefore, the suggestion of yoga guru Baba Ramdev to disenfranchise those having more than two children may sound preposterous but at least has raised a crucial issue, that of a demographic dividend quickly becoming a demographic slag. He has also suggested that such people should be deprived of other Government facilities to send a strong message to others to effectively control the fast-growing population of India. Whatever the nature of his suggestions, unless fresh restrictions are imposed, then India will soon surpass China to become the most populous nation in less than five years.
At present, India’s population stands at nearly 134 crore while China is inhabited by nearly 140 crore. Which means in another two years, India will overtake China. There is no denying that urgent and aggressive steps such as strict control policies and linking their observance with incentives are urgently needed to control the population. Until and unless the Government goes for some effective measures to adopt a comprehensive population policy, all attempts at economic progress and recovery will be a damp squib because the country will not be able to bear the burden of the burgeoning population. The population of the United States (US) stands at 33 crore but its landmass area is 9.834 million square km, making the density of the population 35 person per square km.
According to a UN survey, India will soon become the world’s most populous country as its population is predicted to surpass that of China within the next decade. It is expected to continue to grow until mid-century, reaching an estimated 1.68 billion in the 2050s. But an important piece of evidence tells us that population growth will come to an end: The number of children in India peaked more than a decade ago and is now falling. But the effects of a boom will haunt us for the next three decades at least.
If we study patterns of population change since 1950 and the UN’s projections of population by age bracket, then we would see that the number of children under the age of five (under-5s) peaked in 2007; since then the number has been falling. The number of Indians under 15 years old peaked slightly later (in 2011) and is now also declining. These are landmark moments in demographic change. Still India’s population will continue to grow as a result of “population momentum” — the effect often referred to by Hans Rosling and Gapminder as the “inevitable fill-up” when young generations grow older. Reaching “peak child” anticipates the later “peak population.” The number of children has peaked; the total population will follow and reach its peak in four decades.
India’s landmass area is 3.287 million square km and the density of its population is 382 per square km. Let us see the density of population of some other countries: China (152 per square km), Canada (four people) Russia (8.4 people), England (259), Germany (227), France( 118) and Italy (201). Even in Pakistan, the density of population is 251 per sq km, which is much less than India. Except for Bangladesh (1,120 per square km), all other neighbouring countries have less and lighter burden of population. In Sri Lanka, it is 325, in Nepal it is 201 and in Myanmar it is almost one-fourth of India ie, 95.
Our neighbour China has adopted a very harsh population measure of a one-child policy, which mandated that the vast majority of couples in the country could only have one child. This was intended to alleviate the social, economic and environmental problems associated with the country’s rapidly growing population. But the policy itself is now being relaxed in view of the skewed gender ratio and a growing geriatric population.
In India, however, it was a very liberal policy of “hum do aur humare do” (we two and ours two) adopted by Sanjay Gandhi during Emergency. Its timing and implementation were wrong but the policy was certainly commendable. Regrettably, successive Governments have thrown the child away with the bath water. Australia is a continent which is over twice the expanse of India — its population is less than 2.50 crore. An example is given in jest, which is also a fact, that the number of children born every year in India is equivalent to the population of Australia. But jokes cannot be appreciated when the burden on resources becomes unbearable. No country can then think of making any progress.
With increasing population, India is already at the receiving end of infrastructural pressure. More houses, hospitals, educational institutions, roads, parks and space for offices, manufacturing units, factories and other establishments will be needed. Construction of buildings will certainly need more land, which will ultimately eat into agricultural and forest areas. This can cause enough damage to the flora, fauna and the environment.
When you have more people to feed and less soil for farms, then howsoever scientific method of agriculture and dairy farming you adopt, there will always be a crisis of food and milk. One cannot expect to provide enough food and milk to the entire population. The demand for food will double in the year 2050 and even if India manages to feed its expanding population, its growth may not be ecologically sustainable. In India, the global demand for water in 2050 is projected to be more than 50 per cent of what it was in 2000.
We are already at the receiving end of malnutrition and further compromising national health may end up stressing hospitals and compounding the disease burden. This resource crunch is India’s biggest decelerator.
UN experts have also pointed out how India’s rate of urban population growth will climb because of migration and especially youths seeking jobs. “By mid-century, half of India’s population, about 830 million people, is expected to be urban dwellers, which will challenge government capacities to provide basic services and infrastructure. About one-fifth of the population lives without electricity,” wrote Joseph Chamie, the former director of the UN population division and Barry Mirkin, former chief of the UN’s population policy section, in a research paper in 2017.
“Healthcare also lags with about half of Indian children reported to be undernourished. About two-thirds of them are immunised for diphtheria/ pertussis/tetanus, compared to nearly all in China. Tuberculosis in India accounts for over a quarter of reported new cases worldwide, the highest of any country. Another public health challenge: the lack of sanitation facilities for more than half of India’s rural population,” they concluded.
It must be understood that a law on population control, if it is made, will be applicable to not only one community but for all sections of society. It is really very surprising that a senior advocate in the Supreme Court has come out with a bizarre logic, which does not have any leg to stand upon. He has said that more than a hundred Members of Parliament have got more than three children, does it mean that they should be debarred from participating in the elections? There is no need to tell that no such law can have a retrospective effect and it has been settled by the Supreme Court in Golak Nath case. So, there cannot be any fear to anybody on that count. Moreover, this is a suggestion which should be discussed by Parliament in detail. For test studies have predicted an increase in cases of desertion and bigamy, neglect and death of female infants, cases of pre-natal sex determination and induced abortion of female foetus, child given away for adoption as fallouts of possible legislation.
A consciousness has to be brought about, either by increasing the awareness of the people with a sprinkling of some punitive or coercive measures, which are bound to boomerang in a democracy like India. They can be successful only in authoritarian regimes like China, not in India. We do have existing policy and initiatives but there is no doubt that there has to be drastic enforcement.
(The writer is Advocate on Record at the Supreme Court of India)
Writer: Parmanand Pandey
Courtesy: The Pioneer
The Saraswati might have been a myth for some but satellite imagery clearly shows that such a river system did exist in line with present-day Ghaggar and had a very wide basin right up to the Rann of Kutch. It was linked to the Sutlej
River valleys over the centuries have cradled and nurtured some famous civilisations. For obvious reasons, this pattern has continued and even today most of the large cities continue to flourish on the river banks. Excavations and discoveries undertaken by Sir Mortimor Wheeler during the earlier decades of the last century unravelled the secrets of the Indus Valley civilisation hitherto lying buried under centuries of history.
We may have known about the Indus Valley civilisation much earlier had the original discoveries by Charles Mason, a noted archaeologist in the 1820s, been given more serious consideration. It may come as a surprise but some of the Harappan sites around the Indus are known to have been pillaged by contractors for brick ballast to build a portion of the Lahore railway in the later half of the nineteenth century.
Archaeological evidence shows that Indus was highly prone to floods and frequent changes of course. As the sister river to the Indus, the Mihran also carried large volumes of water along a course parallel and eastwards of Indus. But over the millennia, the Mihran has ceased to exist, so also the towns on its banks. In later studies, the Mihran came to be identified with Hakra as well as the Saraswati (also extinct).
Recent (May 2019) excavations reported from Ganweriwala indicate the town to have been located on the banks of old river Hakra, often cited as the mythical Saraswati. There has been a renewed interest in the recent years in river Saraswati, as the department of culture has initiated a project for research on satellite imagery to ascertain and chart out the entire route of this ancient river. It would be in the general area of the present states of Haryana and Rajasthan that evidence would be attempted to be collected to ascertain whether the civilisation around the Saraswati was an extension of the Indus valley or vice versa.
The mythical Saraswati River, which is now extinct, has found wide mention in the Puranas and ancient Indian history. The Skanda Purana mentions that the Kanyakubja Mahadesh of Bhoja, comprising 36 lakh villages, extended up to Kurukshetra and Saraswati. In the Rigveda, a river course has been mentioned, which now corresponds to the Saraswati and Ghaggar. The Saraswati has been mentioned as a mighty river from the pre-Vedic times. By the time the Manusmriti and the Mahabharata came to be written, it had already developed its present character. Manu calls the place where it disappears as Vinasana. The Mahabharata states that after disappearing, the river reappeared at three places. It disappears in sands near the village of Chalaur and reappears at Bhavanipur. At Ballchapart, it again disappears, only to appear again at Barakhera. At Urnai, near Pehova, (ancient Prithudaka), it is joined by the Markanda stream. At Sirsa (ancient Sairishka), it is joined by Drishavadi or Chitang.
The area between the Saraswati and Drishadvati is known to be the sacred land of Brahmavarta, the home of the Vedic rishis. After disappearing, the dry bed reappears south of Rohri and runs parallel to the Indus into the Arabian Sea, which is analogous to the ancient Mihran Hakra System. The other cities of the Saraswati era were Kapishthala (Kaithal), Sonaprastha or Sonepat and Paniyaprastha or Panipat.
Reports of the appearance of sweet water in certain dry areas of Kutch after the earthquake also led to a revival of interest in the archaeology of the Indus Valley and the impact of tectonic movements on the river systems. It is widely believed that the Saraswati river system may have become dry on account of one such upheaval. There is sufficient data to show that the original course of the Sutlej was to follow a southward flow from Ropar (Punjab) towards the Ghaggar, the two coming together near Shatrana in Sangrur district and then flowing towards Kutch. The sharp bend and a directional change at Ropar, which is extremely unusual considering the flat terrain, may appear to have been possible on account of a tectonic uplift. This may have led to the ultimate drying up of the Ghaggar-Saraswati system as Sutlej was the only perennial source of water in the area, which may have changed course due to an earthquake.
That the Sutlej was earlier joined to the Ghaggar-Saraswati system is also borne out from a legend in the Mahabharata, where it is mentioned that Vashistha threw himself into the Sutlej to commit suicide. The Saraswati might have been a myth for some but satellite imagery clearly shows that such a river system did exist in line with the present day Ghaggar, and had a very wide basin right up to the Rann of Kutch.
Another interesting feature of the ancient history of this area is the speculation on the possible linkage between the Harappan civilisation and the Gangetic plain. Is it that the river Saraswati could provide the missing link? Only forthcoming research would be able to decipher this centuries-old secret whether Saraswati was originally joined by Sutlej or by river Yamuna, both these rivers having changed course centuries ago.
(The writer is a former Commissioner of Police, Delhi)
Writer: Dr KK Paul
Courtesy: The Pioneer
According to Soumi Roy Chowdhury, Devendra B Gupta and Sanjib Pohit, “The value of a river will depend on a unique data-set to construct the water poverty profile and experts who can suggest future correctives” In India, water is rarely a focus area in the discourse about new pathways for development. The narrative generally centres on two things: First, the availability of water and second accessibility to good and safe drinking water. Public policies largely focus on the latter even as the Government launches flagship programmes like Namami Gange and National Rural Drinking Water Programme.
But to be able to measure societal impact of any given programme, it is important to have baseline and end line information. In this case, how river water scarcity or its quality impacts common households. Specially, information on the use of water, livelihood aspects and quantifiable aesthetic value of the river are of utmost importance to gauge value.
Such information is, however, sparse and available only for pilot projects. Further, no serious efforts have been made to compile them for better identification of water- stressed regions, especially in the Indian context. However, efforts are under way to create a data-driven policy-making in our country.
With the launch of the Composite Water Management Index developed by NITI Aayog, one gets a sense of the macro picture of the effectiveness of water management across various States. Efforts like these must, however, be complemented with information linking household welfare, understanding livelihood implications of water scarcity and the degree to which it impacts human population. All of these can succinctly bring disparate data sources together.
Further, river basins in India are of different sizes, with habitation and livelihood depending on it. Therefore, analysing the communities living off the basin is critical to take into account both the physical and socio-demographic factors associated with water scarcity. A water poverty index approach is appropriate for such an analysis as it can monitor both the availability of water as well as the socio-economic factors that hinder the use and access of the same.
Elsewhere in the world, water poverty index, a relatively newly introduced policy tool, has caught the attention of policy-makers in the realm of water-driven issues. However, it is yet to catch the attention of Indian researchers and legislators.
The concept is based on the premise that the lack of adequate water supply in a country can lead to poor health of its population, whereas despite its availability, it is the user cost of clean water that can drive one to use inadequate and unreliable sources of water supply.
Therefore, a country, which is water-scarce should encompass understanding of different inter-related components: The availability of internal water resources and external water inflows followed by access to safe water and sanitation in the region. Equally important is to capture the share of regional water use for domestic, industrial and agricultural purposes.
Scientific measurements of water quality parameters are equally critical to understanding the role of different kinds of regulatory mechanisms to preserve the water body, including biodiversity threats.
Last but not the least, the socio-economic ability of availing clean water resources and status of health information constitute the much-needed water data for a comprehensive analysis. The applicability of this kind of measure goes beyond just ranking the regions, which is the usual reporting norm, but actually categorising the components. Targeted approach allows diagnosis of the source of water problem and helps identify those policy parameters that need more attention.
Indeed, this is by no means a simple task that can be accomplished easily. An interdisciplinary team of researchers is needed to understand and analyse the water poverty index of a river basin. More frequently, it happens that data is not available at the adequate level in India. For example, scanty information is available on water scarcity or how the poor quality of the same impacts the health and developmental goals of the people in various communities across river basins.
In sum, working towards a unique data-set to construct a water poverty measure will require hydrologists, who can advise on the water flow and availability, scientists who can develop water quality measures and social science researchers, who can assess the information on the use and implications of river water usage, including health costs, economic costs and other socio-demographic linkages.
(The writers are Associate Fellow and Professors at National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), New Delhi. Views expressed here are personal)
Writer: Soumi Roy Chowdhury, Devendra B Gupta and Sanjib Pohit
Courtesy: The Pioneer
Issues faced by children nationwide need to be dealt with firmly, and they should not be drowned amidst political mudslinging.
In the present world of hostilities, discrimination, violence, harassment and negligence, being a child is no child’s play. Unaware of their rights and often devoid of voice, children and their issues need direct attention from the State and society at large.
Development indices show that India has failed to protect the most vulnerable section — its children. An imperative query that needs highlighting is: Where do children’s’ issues rank in the ambit of political discourse and State priorities?
In a modern society, children are the ‘subalterns’ that Spivak (1988) had discussed: They have no voice to ‘speak’ or make themselves heard from either the rights-based or protectionist perspective. This sociological situation is further worsened by the absence of linkages between the rising menace of exploitation and violence perpetrated on children and the lack of political will in addressing children’s issues.
Increasing abuse
Statistics indicate that the overall picture of child protection in India is grimmer than expected. Every fifth child in the world lives in India, comprising 39 per cent of the country’s population. Alarmingly, in recent years, the country witnessed a rise in child exploitation cases. For instance, crimes against children have registered a shocking 180 per cent jump in five years between 2012 and 2016, as per the Crime in India, 2016 report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
Similarly, child sexual abuse showed a worrying 142 per cent increase in recorded cases between 2015 and 2016. There is also a serious issue of growing pendency in investigations with criminal trials delayed for most crimes against children. Not surprisingly, conviction rates under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, stand at 29.6 per cent, with pendency being 89 per cent.
It’s important to explore why our political landscape places the dynamics of our children at the bottom of their priority list. Firstly, ignorance stems from the basic premise that children cannot vote. Thereby, advocating their issues may seem disadvantageous for our political parties whose agendas are driven by an enthusiasm to expand their vote bank.
Secondly, the lack of immediate tangible impact. Political motivation arises from the instantaneous and quantifiable impact that can be exploited to further their chances of being elected and re-elected. The impact of working on most child-related issues, however, has a vital but gradual ripple effect cascading over many years. For example, investing in children’s education today will only accrue returns a decade or so down the line.
Thirdly, children’s issues are perceived as ‘personal’ and not part of the political realm. It’s an inconvenient national truth that no one wants to advocate the core children’s issues due to the prevailing perception that it’s a family matter and that only the family must address them.
Apathy and silence
The vicious cycle of silence, stigmatisation and systemic violence fosters a ‘culture of compromise’ wherein most pressing issues of children are neglected and/or dealt with an irresponsible or casual approach, without a sense of urgency.
Consider the manner in which political decision-making is being pushed back in the Anti-Trafficking Bill, 2018, due to the upsurge of rivalry and one-upmanship between political parties. The Bill is a crucial step in providing a comprehensive legal framework for protecting millions of vulnerable children and women and in targeting the organised, multi-faceted nature of human trafficking. Nonetheless, the political class fails to comprehend the urgency of closing ranks in clearing the Bill.
Sweeping children’s issues under the carpet for years has resulted in heinous crimes like the recent Muzaffarpur shelter home rape case in Bihar, where 33 girls were repeatedly drugged, raped and forced to sleep naked. The owner of the shelter home allegedly had strong political connections. The decades-long political and societal neglect has posed an insurmountable challenge to the polity while resulting in irreversible loss of childhood for the victims. Such incidents demonstrate how the system and people in power do not prioritise children’s issues in governance and decision-making, thereby pushing children onto the political back-burner.
Accordingly, it’s critical to assert that the nationwide issues and concerns confronting the country’s most vulnerable, marginalised children should not be camouflaged by the larger political agendas, interests or biases of different political parties. By combating the culture of silence, compromise and impunity, and making children’s issues a political and national priority, we can break the barriers in attaining a just and child-friendly country.
Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi summed up the situation succinctly: “Children and their issues need to be addressed now. Politicians can wait for the next election but children cannot wait for the next day or even the next hour.”
Writer: Piyali Chatterjee
Courtesy: The Pioneer
Yes, the evacuation was spectacular. But there can be no complacency about post-disaster management
While there are no two ways about our mammoth effort in minimising human casualties with probably modern India’s biggest pre-emptive evacuation plan before the dreaded cyclone Fani struck, we have obviously not been as sharp about post-event management of human lives and rehabilitation. Fact is the operational efficiency of existing disaster drills is not enough to counter the ecological, financial and infrastructural damage caused by Fani, the destructive scale of which has been much larger than ever anticipated. So though deaths have been few, the lives of over 1.5 crore affected people may not return to normal very soon as everything that they built over the years and the world as they knew it have all but flattened. With power grids in disarray, roads cut off in places, food and water supply disrupted and most importantly, the capital Bhubaneswar in a shambles, reconstruction is a taller order. Restoring the basics of power and water may take up to a week in some places. Imagine, it could take up to a month to restore power supply to the entire Puri district! People are crowding Bhubaneswar station to charge their communication devices as it is the only place that has a power supply. Providing food, shelter and medical care is immediate priority and with hospital buildings and other structures decimated, there’s no roof over people’s heads quite literally. About 80,000 km of low tension power lines and 64,000 distribution transformers cannot be repaired overnight and with the nerve centres of Odisha — Cuttack, Puri and Bhubaneswar — crippled, Odisha is staring at a much much longer road to recovery. In short, disaster preparedness along Odisha’s coast should now mean a re-assessment of how basic infrastructure has been planned along these cities all this while and how they can be saved, reconfigured or brace up for the future. For climate change-induced extreme events mean that cyclones will only become more intense in the Bay of Bengal.
And this is the real problem, understanding the intensity. While the IMD and satellites predicted the superstorm with a fair bit of accuracy, the response mechanism probably erred on visualising how the gale force would manifest itself. Most rescue teams had factored in a tidal wave surge swamping the coastline, that being the traditional impact that people are used to and probably resulted in the spectacular evacuation drive. Instead, the wind speed, at 200 kmph, was very high and took down everything in its path. Which means that power cables now on have to be embedded in the earth than strung to overground poles. Such a measure helped Puducherry, which was hit by a severe cyclone in 2011, restore power in less than 12 hours. Odisha faced a similar problem during Phailin and considering the lay of its land, will have to permanently invest in disaster risk-reduction measures. Building zones need to be recodified for height and structural stability, a system of common underground shelters needs to be executed and more out-of-the-box solutions developed with disaster mitigation experts. With thousands of trees uprooted across Lake Chilika and marine life affected because of heightened salinity of its waters, the change in biodiversity maps could take decades to overturn and will drastically change livelihoods and the local economy. It is for such rapidly changing climate impacts that the Government passed the National Disaster Management Act (2005). It envisaged a comprehensive framework and introduced a management approach called Incident Response System (IRS) which each State was expected to follow. A national guideline was also issued subsequently in 2010. Had these been followed in spirit, they would have resulted in better utilisation of resources. The private sector with interests in this belt should partner with the government in recovery and rejig efforts and make disaster risk reduction a part of its CSR. Yes, we have managed to evacuate well. But in times of climate change, there is no room for complacency in meeting immediate goals. We cannot just go by past experiences, we have to look far ahead and use a predictive methodology. Lives have been saved no doubt but robbed of their past, we have not given them answers what to do next. They are refugees in their own land.
Writer: Pioneer
Courtesy: The Pioneer
The Judiciary must intervene to curtail Human activities like mining which have taken a toll on the Aravallis, which were once a contiguous range. The range today has blunted, desertified and needs protection. The might of the mountain ranges is almost mythical. These natural formations have not only shaped history and topography but have also played a pivotal role in conserving the ecology. These once formidable ranges — be it the Western Ghats along the south-western coast of India or the Aravallis in the North — have existed unchallenged throughout the history of time. But the reign of supremacy for these colossal wonders seems to be waning thanks to deteriorating environmental and worsening climate conditions. The negative role played by mankind is unfortunately expediting the end of these marvels of nature.
The Aravalli mountain range is one of the oldest in the world. It extends across more than 693 kms from Gujarat to Delhi (through Rajasthan and Haryana). The Aravallis, with their vast landscape and biological diversity, have shaped India’s northern landscape in more ways than one.
They guide the monsoon clouds and act as a groundwater recharge zone. Thus, they are important for long-term ecological security of Indian cities. The Aravallis also help in preventing long-term desertification. They act as a barrier against the wind, carrying sand from the Thar Desert and prevent it from entering the Delhi-NCR region.
Greenery associated with this mountain range has been replaced with dry and dusty shrub-like environment. This is due to the mountain range being subjected to decades of abuse and threats from mining activities and large-scale real estate developments. The degradation of the Aravallis has led to a decline in wildlife habitat, thus adding to the animal-human conflict. The revival of the Aravallis has become almost an uphill task, thanks to the many problems associated with it and the continuous intervention of humans. The situation has been exacerbated due to a decline in rainfall in the past few decades, which has led to the depletion of the groundwater table.
As the Aravallis paid the price of being close to human habitations, human intervention sadly did not stop at deforestation of the mountains. The real estate lobby and the mining mafia started eyeing the geological wealth of the mountain ranges. Political protection and apathy of the authorities further compromised the already delicate condition of the range. And it’s not that only the terrain has been affected. People and communities, who were dependent on the Aravallis, are now faced with an uncertain future. Further, large-scale mining with dynamites blowing up huge tracts of granite rocks caused relentless vibrations and tremors that led to the permanent displacement of many bird species that were native to the area.
Prosperity of a region is directly proportionate to the concern and care shown by the local people towards their natural assets and resources. This is exactly the problem with conservation initiatives for the Aravallis as the people as also the officials have not realised the potential of natural marvel that they have at their disposal. They could only decipher the economic value of the range. As a result, this amazing creation of nature with all its unique flora and fauna was taken for granted and exploitation started to finish off large stretches.
To make matters worse, the Haryana Government recently passed an amendment in the Punjab Land and Preservation Act, a law that was drafted by the British in 1900. With a change in the law, it is now being feared that large areas of the Aravalli forest area, that were earlier protected, will now face the risk of being used for development purposes. But the Haryana Government defended the Act by stating that even though the protection of forests was its priority, the present scenario also required changes to be done, especially at a time when the State has to progress ahead.
This is shocking as the authorities admit that the State’s progress must happen at the cost of ecology and the environment.
There is no way to undo the damage done to the Aravalli range. Humans have exacted a terrible price from nature. The sad thing is that all of this is happening under the supervision of State authorities. Mining mafia trucks ply day-in and day-out, carrying loads of stone extracted from the quarries deep within the Aravallis.
In the midst of these dreary and grim conditions, all hope is not lost. The judiciary of India is playing a vanguard role by taking up critical issues pertaining to the well-being of the country and environment is certainly one of them. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has intervened many times to ensure that the environment is safe. In matters pertaining to the Aravallis, too, the judiciary must intervene. This alone can stop the otherwise certain doom and death for the much-fabled Aravalli ranges.
(The writer is an environmental journalist)
Writer: Kota Sriraj
Courtesy: The Pioneer
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