March 23, 1999, Monday, sunny 14-34C

 

[22:39 @ Rm.12, Bandhavgarh Jungle Lodge]

     The last 24 hours I’ve been clandestinely whisked from one place to another, to interview one person then another, gathering information from the death of Sita to other missing tigers, to compensation for cattle lifting by tigers, to villages still in the park and their impact on wildlife, to cooperation between forest department and local people or lack thereof, to anti-poaching work or lack thereof, to park protection measures or lack thereof, to corruption in officialdom (or lack thereof?), to possible solutions (or lack thereof)…  I was alternatively surprised, amazed, dismayed, saddened, incredulous, disheartened, bewildered, horrified, infuriated, disgusted, outraged…, or in various combinations thereof.

     Incredible as it may seem, I’m being treated like some kind of hero.  No, more like a saviour.  This great honour is bestowed not out of politeness, nor protocol, nor courtesy, nor kindness, nor slavishness, nor a desire to please, nor a state of hope, but out of sheer desperation, one bordering on despair.  They are clutching at straws and I just happen to walk in.  Well, a little more than that.  I’ve been here twice before, once to know the place and the other to be the “star” of the Champions of the Wild film shoot.  Champions is shown in 20 countries around the globe.  They see me as bringing the beauty and plight of Bandhavgarh to world attention.  They hear tourists telling them it was because of their seeing Champions that they have heard of Bandhavgarh, and been impressed enough to have come to see it.  In this morning’s park drive, our park guide and a park guard serenaded me with a song they made up last night after seeing the Champions video, sung with pride and gusto.  “We are the Champions of Bandhavgarh!”  And this “we” seems to include me.  So I sang it along with them, as did Anne, Faiyaz and even Tarun.

     To protect the privacy, security and safety of those who guided me and those whom I interviewed, their identities will not be revealed here.  Suffice to say that not a single piece of the following information did not come directly from the mouths of somebody in the know in Bandhavgarh.

     The following information has been organized into categories.  It is a composite of several interviews.  I have recorded every significant point during the interviews, and I have not omitted any point recorded.  Here they are:

 

1.  The death of Sita

     It is not an overstatement to say that Sita is revered by the locals.  Even though her death was estimated to have occurred in August 1998, now in March 1999, it is still the talk of the place.  Whenever I hear her name mentioned, I see a deep sadness in the speaker.  Sita was 17 years old.  In other words, she has been around 17 years.  Some of the guides themselves are that old.  In other words, they have known her all their lives.  They have seen her bring up seven litters of 18 cubs, out of which seven survived to adulthood to bring up cubs of their own.  It also so happens that Sita’s territory was near the entrance of the park, and was therefore one of the most traversed, making her one of the most seen tigresses at Bandhavgarh.   

     Basically everybody believe she’s been poached.  The guides knew where she was everyday, until August 11, 1998, after which no one had seen her nor found her even though they tried.  One forest guard found some blood and tiger meat.  He reported this to the authorities.  He was ordered to clean up the mess, and to shut up.

     They even told me the name of a poacher and know where to find him, but said that it would do no good to report him, nor the person who bought her skin, because her real killer was higher up.

     There seems to be agreement about how Sita died – caught in a leg-hold trap and beaten to death with sticks.  One said that people around Jungle Camp heard a tiger screaming on August 10.  Sita’s skin was moved from Tala (a village on the verge of Bandhavgarh) to Umaria around March 1.

     Park officials do not seem to want the death of Sita to be known.  Why?  Because the park receives special funding in the name of Sita from some NGOs, including the World Bank.  But it is said that evidence for Sita poaching is available if we go after the FS, Assistant Conservator of Forests and Ranger of Tala.

     “Mother is missing in the eyes of her cubs, born Sept. 96, about 2 years old when Sita died, about 2.5 years old now,” said one.  “They sometimes scream and are sometimes found still together which is biologically unusual.  We think it’s due to the lack of the ‘last training chapter’.”

     Another said that they are also slightly less competent in hunting than other tigers their age, attributing this to their lack of this last training chapter.

     Sita was one of the four or five ‘wives’ of Charger.  Because of his old age, he’s not as efficient as a tiger should be for independent hunting.  Since about 1.5 years ago, he’s been scavenging the kills of Moruni’s cubs (born March 97, his grand sons) instead of Sita’s.  Previously, Charger was never seen eating kill of Moruni’s cubs (been hunting since Nov. 98), always Sita’s only.  This indicates Sita’s absence.

     Sita and Charger used to mate once every 2.5 years or so.  This time it should be around early March, but Sita has not appeared.  Now Charger was seen on the second week of March mating with another female of Raj Bahera Range.  Mating lasted only about 2 days (usually about 1 week to 10 days, which Charger is too old to maintain).

 

     2.  Other tiger disappearances

     Some say at least six tigers have gone missing in 1998-1999.  The bones of 2 tigers were seized from Dobha village.  One very big male has not been seen since April 1998 from the Raj Bahera village area of the park.  A 5 year old tiger was poisoned to death March 3, 1999 from Kalwah Range of the park.  Bara Bacha, a son of Sita, the one described as “a very heavy tiger” in Champions, has disappeared since June 1998.  No one knows what has happened to him, but everyone wonder why, if he’s still alive, he left the area. 

 

3.    Lack of anti-poaching measure

The general consensus is that at today’s rate of poaching, Bandhavgarh tigers will be extinct by 2003.

     Park officials tell, in fact order, the guides, etc., that if they leaked info re. poaching, they would be sacked.

     Shots have been heard from inside the park, mostly during the monsoon season when the park is closed, sometimes in other parts of the year, usually after dusk.  One guide phoned the forest department about this and was told, “It’s not your job.  Mind your own business.”

     A forest guard was forced to make a false statement by the field director and the deputy director about a tiger poaching case.  Later, when his statement was proved wrong after the release of the forensic report, he committed suicide by pouring kerosene on himself and setting himself on fire.

     Poachers with guns come from nearby towns, e.g. Jabalpur, or from as far as Mumbai (Bombay).  They receive help from local people regarding the tigers’ whereabouts.

     A poacher from Dabha village from where forest dept has seized a lot of bone and skin is still poaching

     Jeeps can enter freely from the backside of the park. The barriers placed across many roads can be easily breached.  There is no constant vigil at the barriers during the monsoon season, although there is supposed to be a foot patrol in the rest of the year.

     Park officials (park rangers, not the Field Director nor the Deputy Director) are said to have received money from the black market. 

     One said, “I’m surprised to see the present position of Indian politicians.  They are proud of the atom bomb, but not the tiger.  I am proud of the tiger.”

     Privilege poaching for influential people such as thakurs (landlords, martial caste) is said to be rampant.  They are allowed to kill Chital (spotted deer), sambar, jungle fowl and other birds, and animals for meat, often in large quantities, such as to feed a wedding party.  One such privileged poacher is quoted as saying, “If I come all the way to Bandhavgarh, I’m not going to eat goat or chicken, I’m going to eat chital and Sambar.  What is good enough for the tiger is good enough for me.”

     Commercial middlemen seldom contact the thakurs because they would want the lion’s share of the profit.  So they contact lowly villagers to do the bloody work.

 

4.    Corruption

     WWF (world Wildlife Fund) vehicles, donated for tiger conservation work only, are used, misused, for functions such as wedding parties.

     An air-conditioned (considered a luxury) Mahindra Voyager van was purchased in the name of patrolling, but was in fact used as a personal residential vehicle by a high official.

     Two other high officials live and work in Umaria, 32 km away from park.  They take all 4 patrol vehicles for family use, time and fuel consumed, emergency use not available.  They come to the park only when dignitaries (including supposedly me) and personal friends visit.

     Other examples of corruption include the purchase of lamps at Rs. 1600 per unit, but billed at Rs. 4700 per unit by park officials, and video cameras were purchased at Rs. 35,000 per unit, but billed at $72,000 per unit.  (Why does this sound so familiar?) 

     Certain high-price items, the amphitheatre included which is seldom used, are built as further means to overcharge for personal gain.  Other examples - children’s park, day-rest centre. 

     When big NGOs and WB (World Bank) come visiting, park officials don’t want people to talk to them, for fear of such information as what I am writing about coming to light, thus the clandestine ambiance of my interviews.  They monitor everything said, and select the drivers and park guides who service the visitors.  I’ve even been warned that being in possession of such information would put my safety in some jeopardy.

     The attitude of high officialdom filters down the hierarchy.

     It is opined that WB and WWF should not fund the Forest Department, but fund the local NGOs instead.

     When asked, “Can NGOs prosecute offenders?”, the answer was, “Yes, you can use PIL - Public Interest Litigation - to go after even the high level officials.”

     Remains of 3 tigers, 2 leopards, some sambar and chital have been seized by forest official (not park officials) from outside-of-park territorial forests (over what time period?).  Non-park officials are generally deemed more concerned and efficient than park officials.

 

     5.  Relationship between forest dept and local people

     “The relationship is bad,” one said.  “There is little cooperation between them, but lots of suspicion.  In a friendlier, more honest environment, if the forest department treats people with more respect, then village people would cooperate.”

 

     6.  Villages still in the park

     There are 60 villages in the “Periphery” (Bandhavgarh’s equivalent to Kanha’s Buffer Zone, but disorganized), and 6 within the park. 

     The total human population of all 6 in-park villages 1400-1500; cattle population 3,000.  Village by village:

     Kalwah - forest village, under administrative control of director of park, human population 179, cattle population 204,

     Magdhi - forest village - human population 254, cattle population 306, 

     Bagdari - forest village, human population 259, cattle population 252,

     Milli - revenue village, under district collector, human population 255, cattle population 347,

     Gadhpuri - revenue village, human population 516, cattle population 1030,

     Mainwah – revenue village, human population 88, cattle population 259.

     There is unofficially a lot of grazing inside the park           

     Tigers do occasionally prey on cattle.  Bureaucratic compensation procedure for cattle lifting usually takes 2-3 months, faster with bribe, but even so, the end compensation is usually considered to be less than the cattle’s worth.

     Village size is about 1-1.5 sq.km each, totaling about 10 sq.km., not including the forest lands grazed by the cattle which are estimated to cover another 30 or so sq.km., totaling 40 sq.km. or 10% of the parks total area.  Bandhavgarh is not a big park – at about 400 sq.km. it is less than half the size of Kanha.  I’ll be sure to go and take a look at one or two of the in-park villages before I leave.

 

7.    Possible solutions

     Some advocate relocating the six in-park villages out of the park, others advocate fencing them in inside the park.  Others advocate allowing irrigated agricultural land inside the park as long them are fenced off from wildlife.  Of course I would like to see the six villages moved out of the park to some place of equal or better agricultural value, and with adequate provisions and compensations of course.

     There is general agreement that an anti-poaching force should be established.  It should comprise 16 men and 2 Gypsies, which should be capable of patrolling half the park or about 200 sq.km daily, plus night patrol and foot patrol.  Cost:  Salaries - Rs.3000 per man per month, or Rs.48,000/mo (CDN$2,000/mo = CDN$24,000/yr) for the force of 16.  Vehicles – C$15,000 each initial purchase or C$30,000 for both, and fuel for about 30 litres for both vehicles per day at about C$0.70 per litre or C$21 per day or about C$7,000 per year.

     Anti-corruption.  No readily perceptible solution.

 

     The slideshow I gave this evening at the amphitheatre, with Faiyaz translating line for line as usual, was well attended and well received.  The audience was even larger, over 100, perhaps due to word of mouth “advertising”.  Tala is just a village, really, so people probably attend just about anything that goes on at the amphitheatre, if only out of boredom.  But I did notice that almost all of those who came last night to the video show were back, including the officials and the guides and guards, and tour operators and hoteliers including Latica and Nanda, and a couple of dozen foreign tourists, and just plain villagers including children.  The applause they gave was more than heart-warming; it was thunderous.   

     While unwinding back in BJL, Faiyaz and Anne asked me about the OSES Cycle on the higher levels of Transcendental Integration after the organismization of the Solar System.  The general picture I presented to them is as follows:

     Once the integrative transcendence of the Solar System into the Stellar Organism Sol has come to pass, humanity will quantum-leap from interplanetary to interstellar affairs, from the Planetary Level of Organization to the Stellar Level of Organization. The question here is: How many levels are there from the Stellar to the Galactic, and how many from the Galactic to the Universal Level of Organization?  

     Between the Stellar and the Galactic, I would venture to guess 2 intermediate levels: The Segmental Level of Organization (segments of spiral galactic arms, each embracing on average about 300,000 stars) and the Sectoral Level of Organization (major sectors of the galaxy, each embracing on average 300,000,000 stars.  This would give an average of 1000 Segmental organisms per Sectoral Organism.  On the Galactic Level of Organization, the Milky Way Galaxy, comprising about 300 billion stars, will comprise about 1,000 Sectoral organisms.  On the higher levels, the light-speed-barrier must have been broken, by whatever space-time-manipulating technology.

     Since the number of galaxies in the Universe is in the order of 100,000,000,000, I would guess also 2 intermediate levels between the Galactic Organism and the eventual and ultimate Universal Organism.

     Finally, the Universe Itself can be seen as the Ultimate Cosmic Egg, whose Universal Embryo, too, has since the Big Bang been developing, and will continue develop, according to Its own 14-stage metamorphic schedule, which, too, may be subject to Its own success or failure.

     It has been a point of much speculation whether the physical Universe will continue to expand to nothingness or collapse back upon itself.  One way or the other, life in the Universe would likely not be able to survive, unless the Universal Organism succeeds to transcendentally integrate into being, enabling it perhaps to just pack up and fly away, and while at it, perhaps generate another Big Bang and create a new infant Universe.