Managing human-wildlife conflict in India will involve addressing the power structures that exist between the forest department and the local population.
This paper describes the process of relocation and rehabilitation of villages populated primarily by sahariya tribals in Sheopur district of Madhya Pradesh. It examines the rehabilitation package offered, the process followed for relocation and resettlement and the impact that this shift has had on the livelihood of the affected people. While the rehabilitation package and the general attitude of the agency that carried out the relocation has been a significant improvement over previous such experiences, the shift has nevertheless had a negative impact on the livelihood of the people, at least in the short run.
The government of Gujarat, the only state where the Asiatic lion now survives, has opposed the central government's Rs 68-crore plan to move the lions in the Gir forest to a new home Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh. Gujarat's intransigence may well put in jeopardy a longterm plan, approved in the international wildlife conservation circles, to repopulate old habitats with species that were native to it thereby allowing for further healthy and secure growth of the endangered animal populations....
