WWF attempts rehabilitation programme for traditional hunting community

[Guest guest]

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 basis”.

 

*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 habits”*. 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 department”*, 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.