Government bans tribal rights in tiger zones

Cites its own failure to put wildlife protection rules in place over last 10 yrs as reason for ban

After failing to frame a particular set of rules for wildlife protection over 10 years, the government has banned recognition of tribal rights under the Forest Rights Act (FRA) in all key tiger-bearing areas, owing to the lack of such regulation.

The environment ministry’s National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has told states the rights of tribals and other forest-dwellers over their traditional forest lands should not be recognised in these key areas (known as critical tiger habitats under the wildlife law) as the government hadn’t formulated rules since 2007 to declare these tiger-bearing lands as “critical wildlife habitat” under