Why the push by India’s tiger conservation body to relocate forest-dwellers is contentious

On January 10, a letter from the Union tribal affairs ministry to all states brought back into the spotlight a fraught question: the relocation of forest-dwellers, ostensibly to protect wildlife.

The ministry’s letter noted that under the Forest Rights Act, such communities could not be “evicted or removed from forest land they occupy until the process of recognition and verification of their rights is complete”.

While the question of such relocation has been debated for decades, the ministry’s letter was a response to a relatively recent development, dating to June 2024.

That month, the National Tiger Conservation Authority sent a letter to 19 states, calling for the relocation of almost 65,000 families living inside critical tiger habitats across 53 tiger reserves on a “priority basis”. The letter noted that the “progress of village relocation is very slow and it poses grave concern in light of tiger conservation”.

Several organisations and gram sabhas wrote to the NTCA, the ministry of tribal affairs, and the ministry of environment, forest and climate change, demanding that this letter be withdrawn. They argued that such relocation would violate laws meant to protect the rights of forest dwellers. They added that they were particularly concerned that relocation would be carried out without the payment of…

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