India rejects World Bank offer to help tigers

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India rejects World Bank funds to save tigers

13 Jun 2008, 0259 hrs IST, Nitin Sethi,TNN

 

NEW DELHI: The government has all but decided to refuse the 'offer'

from the World Bank for a loan to save Indian tigers. In what would be seen

a snub for the bank, government feels that it has enough resources to tackle

tiger conservation on its own and the Bretton Woods organization would not

be able to provide any technical input that India cannot muster

domestically.

 

TOI had earlier reported how two of the biggest names in the tiger

conservation circuit, Ullas Karanth and Valmik Thapar, had written against

the Bank's offer to the government to take the loan. Thereafter, members of

the National Board of Wildlife and other conservationists also wrote to the

PM asking to reject the offer.

 

The bank wanted to launch a programme across all tiger-bearing countries

including China and India, the former a key market for tiger parts and the

latter one of the biggest reservoir of tigers left in the world. On June 9,

it had unilaterally launched a public campaign in Washington roping in some

Hollywood stars. It had sought India's 'endorsement' of the event after it

had decided to hold it. But the government decided not to endorse the event.

 

 

The bank had suggested that it was in a 'position to convene' a high-level

meeting of the countries on the issue and host a high voltage 2010 summit on

tiger. But the bank officials in their internal meeting had pointed out that

its efforts would get greater visibility if India participated. Sources in

the government said that at this juncture, India did not see any reason for

seeking any help from the Bank, which does not have any great record in the

past of working on conservation.

 

An observer closely watching the issue also noted that the government would

naturally be averse to becoming part of any inter-country programme set up

by the bank. With some of the lending institutions realigning their

operations to run regional and pan-country programmes, the Indian

government, he pointed out, is bound to tread carefully about accepting such

proposals.

 

Sources also told TOI that with the government in the past couple of years

having reacted strongly against the emerging tiger crisis and backed several

administrative and legal changes in the protection regime with Rs 600 crore

over the next five years, it does not see how the Bank could lend any

advantage.

 

In fact, there is an opinion within the government that utilizing the bank

funds might bring upon its own set of problems under the Indian conditions.

For one, the bank has its regulations that would require amending existing

Indian laws.

 

Others point out that it would be fraught with political risk as well to get

the label of the bank appended to its conservation activities with tribal

and forest-dwelling communities. The bank has traditionally been held in a

not so positive a light by many mass organizations that work with the

forest-dwelling communities.