(IN) WWF attempts rehabilitation programme for traditional hunting community

[Guest guest]

The Prime Minister Employment Generation Programme - PMEGP of MSME very

useful for their rehabilitation and I am ready to extend all specialization

to this................hope for better India.

 

On Sun, Apr 18, 2010 at 11:56 PM, <

journalistandanimals wrote:

 

> http://www.wwfindia.org/?4280/Pardis-hunters-in-need-of-help

>

> *How changing times have turned against a traditional hunting community*

> *

> An adventurous people*

> Hardly has a community in India’s recent history been more affected by

> changing laws and times, as the Pardis, a nomadic tribe of Central India,

> have. Spread across the states of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh as well as

> along the latter’s borders with Rajasthan, the traditional occupation of a

> majority of Pardis is hunting and selling wildlife derivatives, including

> meat.

>

> The erstwhile Maharajas used their skills in their hunting expeditions.

> Pardis used to drive the wildlife towards the kings’ hunting parties. They

> would also indulge in hunting expeditions or ‘hakas’ and provide meat to

> royal kitchens. They would be rewarded in return. Many farmers in Central

> India used Pardis to guard against crop raiding wild herbivores. The Pardis

> would halt over in farmlands and trap the crop raiders. In return, they

> would benefit from temporary shelter to stay around villages as well as get

> to retain the hunted animals’ meat, which they would consume and also sell.

> Over centuries, they honed their hunting skills this way.

>

> Their various occupations and hunting practises evolved them into different

> sub-castes. For example, the *Phaandiya Pardis* hunt their quarry using a

> rope noose. The *Teliya Pardis* sell meat and oil extracted from reptiles

> which they capture. But, the most remarkable aspect of hunting by Pardis is

> their total dependence on traditional means and basic equipment, like

> twines, wooden clubs (*Lathis) *and knives to bring down wildlife. They

> rarely use a search light, vehicles, guns or electricity. There are also

> some among them who moved away from nomadic life and settled down to

> practice agriculture.

>

> *Troubled times: Post independence and Wildlife Protection Act (1972)*

> Some Pardis like Langoti Pardis have been attributed with thievery since a

> long time. However, the British treated a majority of Pardis as social

> pariahs. Most of their sub-sects were included in the list of ‘criminal’

> tribes in the *Criminal Tribes Act* notified in 1871. Though the act was

> over turned in 1952, after Independence, and they were ‘denotified,’ the

> historical stigma continues to haunt them.

>

> Pardis had to endure more post-1972, when the Government of India brought

> into effect the Wildlife Protection Act. They were not only prohibited from

> entering many of the Government controlled lands that are now designated as

> protected forests - national parks and wildlife sanctuaries, but they were

> also required to stop hunting overnight. With hundreds of years of practice

> and perfection in making a living out of hunting, they were suddenly left

> without a profession they could legally practise. With no formal and

> organised training and assistance provided to them to earn their bread in

> any other way, they covertly continued with their hunting practices.

> According to Mr. Golla Krishnamurthy, IFS, who has served for Panna Tiger

> Reserve in the past *“They mainly hunt big game and trade their skin with

> middlemen located in cities for further illegal export. They hunt animals

> like deer, wild boar and other small herbivores for staple food on a day to

> bay basisâ€.

>

> *Added was the problem of them being an ex-*‘criminal’* tribe and the fact

> that they were nomads. Village after village across their vast land of

> existence viewed them suspiciously and prevented them from living close to

> their habitation. There are reports in the media of this happening even to

> this day. This discrimination and blanket denial of opportunities may have

> actually prevented them from giving up poaching as well as criminal

> activities and may have even encouraged them to indulge in them for their

> survival.

>

> *The way forward*

> According to sources in the Madhya Pradesh Forest Department, a vast amount

> of the wildlife poached in that state, particularly in and around Panna

> Tiger Reserve, has links to Pardis. Most of India’s big wildlife traders

> and

> illegal trade mafia have used them to source their wildlife. Their links to

> poaching have surfaced in many other forests across India, even in the core

> of well-known sanctuaries like Karnataka’s Rajiv Gandhi (Nagarahole)

> National Park, over a thousand kilometres away from Panna.

>

> The challenge lies in rehabilitating them into the social mainstream. Many

> wildlife lovers and NGOs have thought on this and are making concerted

> efforts to save both the Pardis and the wildlife around Panna Tiger

> Reserve.

> The strategy has been to wean their children away from turning to hunting

> as

> a profession by providing them formal education. To initiate formal

> education for their children, WWF-India along with the forest department

> has

> been conducting a ‘Residential bridge course’ (RBC), at two locations

> around

> Panna, under the Government supported ‘*Sarva Shiksha Abyiyaan’*

> (‘Education

> for all’) scheme. The bridge course is 9 month long and prepares these kids

> to enter a state-administered formal education system. Their stay at the

> student hostel helps them get into the mainstream by inculcating physical

> hygiene. Says Mr. Krishnamurthy *“They live for months without bathing.

> Most

> of them lack general hygienic habitsâ€*. A residential school has been

> specially set up for this in Panna District. Simultaneously the adults are

> being trained in alternative professions. It is felt that those who do not

> wish to do either should be dealt with a firm hand according to provisions

> of the law. *“This school for Pardi kids has few parallels as it not only

> aims at mainstreaming a nomadic tribe but also aims at holistic development

> of the entire area by attempting to interlink solutions for the problems

> faced by the wildlife and forest departmentâ€*, adds Mr. Krishnamurthy.

>

> The devastating impact which the Pardis have had on the wildlife around

> them

> is undoubted, especially after the degradation of wildlife habitat outside

> and within some of the PAs. The irony however is, there is no future for

> wildlife, particularly tigers, in vast parts of India, without

> rehabilitating these people from hunting. Their future generations have to

> be weaned away from poaching to save India’s wildlife. These schools are a

> step by the MP Forest Department and WWF-India in that direction.