Page 47 - Tehelka Issue 13 - July 15, 2018

monkey menace

of state farmers for the last three high in 595 GPs. Report says that ‘’the
decades. Tehsils where monkeys Centre has once again declared rhesus
On this issue RC Kang, chief wild- have been declared ver- macaque monkeys as ‘vermin’ in ten
life warden and principal conservator min, includes Shimla districts of Himachal Pradesh, thus al-
of forest (wildlife) said that depart- Rural, Rampur and Nerwa lowing the state forest department to
ment is trying its best to save crops of Shimla district, Cham- cull them for preventing crop loss, con-
in Himachal. ‘’Wildlife experts from ba, Dalhousie, Bhatiyat flict with humans, and property loss’’.
Bengaluru will study the eating habits and Sihunta of Chamba ‘’The fresh notification, brought out
of monkeys and further suggest meas- district, Nurpur, Indora, by the Ministry of Environment, Forest
ures to reduce their attacks on farm- Fatehpur, Jawali, Kangra, and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), will be
lands in the state,” added Kang. Palampur and Baroh of valid for an year and will be applicable
According to the experts the state Kangra district, Bharwain, only in non-forest areas. MoEF&CC had
farmers are facing onslaught from all Amb, Una, Haroli and issued a similar notification in May 2016
directions. Firstly, there are natural Bangana of Una district, that expired after one year. Himachal
calamities like drought, floods, hail- Ghumarwein, Nainadevi, Pradesh forest department, though, did
storms or delayed rains. Secondly, Bilaspur Sadar and Nam- not cull a single monkey between 2016
they are being subjected to exploita- hol of Bilaspur district, and 2017, its senior officials told DNA. In
tion from middleman in the markets Pachhad, Rajgarh, Renuka, Bihar and Uttarakhand, too, they had
besides diminishing subsidies and Shillai and Kamrau of issued similar notifications, declaring
increasing cost of agricultural inputs. Sirmaur district, Manali, nilgai and wild boars as vermins in the
Wild animals including monkeys in- Kullu and Sainj in Kullu
vade fields and destroy cash crops (off- district, Badsar and Bihari
season vegetables, apple etc.) and food in Hamirpur district, Nala- The state
grains (maize, millet etc.). “The liveli- garh, Kasauli, Solan and government had
hood of farmers today in Himachal is Darlaghat in Solan district
seriously threatened by wild animals. and Sundernagar tehsil of spent 48,63,996
Crop raiding wild animals like mon- Mandi district.
keys (rhesus macaques), wild boars, in the last six
blue bull, hares, porcupine, parrots, years just to pay
bear, bats peacocks etc. have broght
farmers on large numbers on roads,’’ agricultural land and 80 percent peo- as compensation
said Kuldeep Tanwar, a leading farmer ple depend on agriculture and horti- towards monkey
and CPM leader. culture. Out of 3,243 GPs nearly 71 per
According to the data collected by cent panchayats (2,301) in the state are biting cases
the Tehelka reveal that state govern- affected by wild animals menace while
ment have spent 48,63,996 in the last 80 percent farmer families (8,00,000 )
six years just to pay as conpensation are affected. respective states,’’ said Dr Om Prakash
towards monkey biting cases. As many According to a survey conducted Bhuraita.
as 1,220 monkey biting cases came in by Kheti Bachao Sangharsh Samiti, the After the 2016 notification became
front of government for claims in state have total 3243 gram panchayats void, previous Virbhadra Singh-led
these years. (GPs) out of which 2301 are affected. The government sent a fresh proposal to
After much hue and cry from the study revead that the intesity of prob- the environment ministry seeking to
state farmer unions, state government lem in 936 GPs is low, 770 middle and declare monkeys as vermin again. The
sent a proposal to the centre in 2017. proposal was accepted after due ap-
After which central environment, praisal, a ministry official said. The is-
Forest and Climate Change Ministry attacks by monkeys/compensation sue of crop losses caused by monkeys
issued a notification on December 20, 2012-13 : 358 15,18,560 was also poll issue in the recent assem-
2017, declaring monkeys as vermins in 2013-14: 513 24,24,969 bly elections. In their electoral cam-
38 more tehsils of Himachal Pradesh 2014-15: 59 1,37,696 paigns both the Congress and the BJP
covering 10 districts. 2015-16: 154 3,56,222 had promised farmers of appropriate
The threat posed by wild animals, action.
including monkeys becomes all 2016-17: 50 1,55,195 ‘’We have issued a fresh notification,
the more grim in a scenario where 2017-18: 86 2,09,354 it is not an extension of the old one.
aaproximate 68 percent families in Total: 1220 48,63,996 Apart from Himachal Pradesh, Bihar
the state possess one hectare less of had also sought renewal of the notifi-

Tehelka / 15 july 2018 47 www.Tehelka.com

46-49 Rakesh Rocky.indd 3 03/07/18 4:03 PM