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  • 30/03/1995

"We were thrown out in July 1974, during the rains. They didn't give us houses, or even money to build them. We took shelter under the trees," says Khudyan Singh Moravi, a Baiga tribal from Lonadhar, Balaghat district, Madhya Pradesh. Moravi's only fault was that he had been staying within what is today the Kanha National Park (KNP).

Are the 450 sanctuaries and 80 national parks India has today worth the miseries of the impoverished millions? The government feels that forest dwellers are the sworn enemies of the forests. But forests must be saved. Results: according to the Union ministry for environment and forests, 6 lakh tribals had been displaced by forest projects by 1990.

In KNP, the village of Sonf, lying in the habitat of the barasingha deer, was the first to be displaced. Twenty-five more villages soon followed suit. Today, only 17 villages remain within the park. And the government applauds itself: "KNP is today the country's best managed park." beams Jagdeesh Chandra, assistant director, Project Tiger, KNP.

Resettlement is a myth here. "Patta-vatta kuch nahin mila (we have not received any land deeds). The government has cheated us," says Puran Singh Moravi of Lonadhar.

Residents of Indravangram village were threatened by officials that elephants would be used to reduce their houses to rubble unless they moved. In 1977, they moved to Malkakheri. Each family was given a paltry sum of Rs 500, and tonnes of assurances. "We still have no water," says Charubhai. "The nearest forest is 3 km away. Where do we get our firewood from? Where can our animals graze?"

The Karondi village fell victim to the Madhav National Park (MNP), near Shivpuri, in 1959. Mano, a Sahariya tribal woman, clearly recalls how the park officials had literally chased them out, screaming, "Bhago!" (Scram). Promises were trudged upon, as usual. "Kachchu nahin abhi (we have nothing now)," Mano laments. But Vijay Kumar Ambade, Director, MNP, simply denies any displacement: "There were never any villages inside the park."

S Madamma, a Jenu Kuruba tribal woman who was displaced by the Nagarhole National Park in Karnataka, says, "We adivasis were a part of the forest. But, suddenly, they wanted to preserve the forests and throw us out. Where do we go now? Can the forests survive without us?"

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