Wildlife Conservation

To understand the dilemma of wildlife conservation in India today, the disparity in the demands of two sections of our society - an urban priviliged elite and a marginalised poor - needs attention. The conserving elite has generally seen communities living in and around reserved areas as people violating the conserved space; either whose rights need to be "settled" or who are rank encroachers. The Tiger Task Force report has brought an alternative image of this community into official discourse, that of potential partners in wildlife conservation, an image that had till now remained confined to a small group of environmental activists and academics.