Page 48 - Tehelka Issue 13 - July 15, 2018

cation to declare Nilgai as vermin but The latest He added, ‘’Culling is also difficult as
their proposal has not been accepted. religious sentiments are attached with
They are yet to provide impact studies. estimates put monkeys. Unless any Panchayat passed
Uttarakhand has not sought any order the loss of a resolution to cull monkeys, we do not
to declare wild boars as vermin again,” want to cull them.’’ Infect, People are
said a senior ministry official on the 300-450 crores reluctant to harm animal, due to the
condition of anonymity. to crops. Fallow religious sentiments associated with it,
When asked as to why the state gov- believing it to be a descendant of Lord
ernment sought a fresh notification land due to wild Hanuman.
when no monkey was culled, a sen- Animal rights activist Gauri Maule-
ior officer in Forest department said, animal menace khi who had moved Supreme Court
‘’Though we did not cull any monkey, (out of 78,791 against the earlier orders of Centre,
we reached out to farmers to create said, ‘’Conflict with wild animals is a
awareness and have succeeded to an hectares) amount direct result of mismanagement of for-
extent in curbing the solid waste is- to loss of more ests. The forest department has waste
sue. Open dumping of food waste is the tens of crores of public funds on coun-
main attraction for monkeys.’’ than 500 crores terproductive sterilisation and now

Wild animals threaten livelihood of Himachal farmers

Tehelka talked to Dr Om culture. Human-wildlife conflict Shimla are facing the threat of
Prakash Bhuraita, National has increased alarmingly in past wild life on agriculture. Going
Treasurer Bharat Gyan Vigyan few years and in the absence by the newspaper reports, 53
Samiti (BGVS) and Dr Kuldeep of a appropriate management per cent of damage to crops
Tanwar of Kheti bachao Sang- plan this problem is only going has been reportedly done by
harsh Samiti on this issue. Both to increase in future. This is the monkeys and 23 per cent by
are raising farmers issues in the single biggest and urgent issue wild boars. Conservative esti-
hilly state for the long time. Here troubling farmers in HP today. mates put the loss of 75 crores
are the exerpts: There are also other wildlife to horticulture, 100 crores to
species endangering crops. agriculture and 150-200 crores
Many a time voices have been to other sectors. The threat
The livelihood of farmers today raised regarding this problem posed by wild animals becomes
in HP is seriously threatened but not in any organized man- all the more grim in a scenario
by wild animals. It has become ner. Rural people in Himachal where 84 per cent families in
such a loosing battle, that many have now been forced to raise the state possess 5 bighas or
farmers have stopped growing their collective voice through less of agricultural land and 70
crops, vital to their sustenance. ‘Kheti Bachao Sangharsh per cent people depend on agri-
In a human population of 65 Samiti’, as a manifest of their culture and horticulture. Due to
lakh, monkey population is 3.17 anger. Protecting the crops is this reasons, people are forced
lakh (2004 Forest department not a matter of saving an indi- to keep their land vacant which
survey estimates) and must vidual family, but any threat on is a dangerous signals in a land
have proportionately increased agriculture is a threat to long use based economy, like that of
by now. This is one of the larg- time food security of the people Himachal Pradesh. An estimate
est concentration of monkeys of state. The magnitude of the of FSI indicates that during
and amounts to 1 monkey for problem has to be viewed in this 2000-03 there was decline of
every 18 humans. Because the light. Nearly 2301 panchayats 1453 sq. kms. in dense forest
state forests cannot carry or in the state are affected by wild category and increase in open
sustain such a large concen- animals. Most of the panchay- forest category by 1446 sq.
tration of monkeys, they are ats in Hamirpur, Kangra, Solan, kms. in the same period. But the
posing a grave threat to agri- Sirmaur, Mandi, Una, Kullu and most important question is, how

Tehelka / 15 july 2018 48 www.Tehelka.com

46-49 Rakesh Rocky.indd 4 03/07/18 4:04 PM