Jenu Kuruba families reoccupy ancestral land in Nagarahole Tiger Reserve

MYSURU: To reclaim their ancestral land, from where they had been evicted four decades ago in an apparent bid to boost wildlife protection and tiger conservation, around four dozen tribal families from the Jenu Kuruba community barged into their haadis, or colonies, inside Nagarahole Tiger Reserve (NTR) on Monday.The land ought to have been returned to these indigenous people in keeping with the provisions of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.However, that has not happened until now. To reinstate their rightful claim over the land, Jenu Kuruba members entered their haadis and constructed three makeshift huts, including two for Odathi (goddess) and Ajjayya (god), the deities they worship.J K Timma, the president of Nagarahole Adivasi Jammapale Hakkottaya Samiti, said they were shunted out of their haadis 40 years ago in the name of wildlife protection."We are now trying to reclaim our haadis. So far, we have not been granted land rights. So, led by community leader Shivu, we decided to return to our ancestral land," Timma explained.Supporting the move, Shivu said: "We will remain here.""Tiger conservation is a scheme of the forest department and various wildlife NGOs to grab indigenous lands by forcefully evicting us," he alleged.While NTR director P A Seema was not available for comments, Kodagu DC Venkat Raja said he sought a report from forest department officials.According to Caroline Pearce, the director of Survival International, an NGO, the Jenu Kuruba community's re-occupation of their ancestral land is an "inspirational act of repossession". They're reclaiming what is theirs, in defiance of a hugely powerful conservation and tourism industry that has enriched itself at their expense, she alleged."If the Indian govt really cares about tiger conservation, it will not only allow the Jenu Kuruba people to return, but encourage them to do so, because the science is clear that tigers thrive alongside the indigenous people whose forests they live in," Pearce further reasoned.