{"id":43273,"date":"2025-10-27T04:58:21","date_gmt":"2025-10-26T23:28:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=43273"},"modified":"2025-10-29T14:45:32","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T09:15:32","slug":"debate-surrounding-village-relocation-for-tiger-reserves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/debate-surrounding-village-relocation-for-tiger-reserves\/","title":{"rendered":"Debate Surrounding Village Relocation for Tiger Reserves"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Why in News?<\/li>\n<li>Legal and Procedural Requirements for Relocation<\/li>\n<li>Debate Surrounding Village Relocations from Tiger Reserves<\/li>\n<li>Conclusion<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) has intervened in the debate surrounding village relocations from tiger reserves.<\/li>\n<li>The commission responded to complaints against the National Tiger Conservation Authority\u2019s (NTCA) June advisory requesting state forest departments to submit action plans for village relocations.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Legal and Procedural Requirements for Relocation:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Families living inside tiger habitat:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>As per <a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/national-tiger-conservation-authority-ntca\/\" target=\"_blank\">NTCA<\/a>, 591 villages comprising 64,801 families live inside critical tiger habitats, also known as core areas, in 54 tiger reserves across 19 states.<\/li>\n<li>So far, 251 villages with 25,007 families have been relocated outside tiger reserves.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Legal requirements:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Under the Wildlife Protection Act<\/strong>, areas free of human settlements can be created in the core of tiger reserves.<\/li>\n<li>However, this is to be done after recognising the rights of tribal communities under <strong>the Forest Rights Act (FRA) 2006<\/strong>, and with the informed<strong> consent of the Gram Sabha<\/strong> concerned.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Procedural requirements (Voluntary Village Relocation Program [VVRP] of the NTCA):<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Additionally, before the voluntary relocation,\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The state government has to conclude<\/strong> (based on consultations with ecological and social scientists),<\/li>\n<li>That the activities of the tribal communities or forest dwellers or their presence are sufficient to <strong>cause irreversible damage to tigers and their habitat.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>They have to also conclude that there is <strong>no other reasonable option<\/strong> for the community to co-exist with tigers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Compensation:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The NTCA had raised the<strong> relocation compensation <\/strong>for families opting for voluntary relocation <strong>from \u20b910 lakh to \u20b915 lakh per family in 2021.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Those accepting the resettlement package receive two hectares of land, homestead land, house construction assistance, a financial incentive, and basic amenities, including water, sanitation, electricity, and telecommunication.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Debate Surrounding Village Relocations from Tiger Reserves:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Opposition to NTCA&#8217;s advisory:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>NTCA advised state forest departments to <strong>prioritise the relocation of villages from core tiger habitats across 54 tiger reserves<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>However, this advisory prompted pushback from over 150 tribal rights groups and activists.<\/li>\n<li>The petition to NCST pointed out that the NTCA letter did not dwell on the legal and procedural requirements, making it violative of laws.<\/li>\n<li>They argued that NTCA&#8217;s approach violates FRA and the Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Act 2006, as<strong> village relocation should be voluntary<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>NCST take on NTCA advisory:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>NCST requested an update<\/strong> from NTCA on village relocations and their adherence to NCST&#8217;s prior recommendations.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The commission also seeks an action-taken report<\/strong> from the Union Environment Ministry and NTCA on its 2018 recommendations to revise the compensation for villagers who voluntarily relocate from tiger reserves.<\/li>\n<li>The NCST wants to ensure this package aligns with the <strong>2013 Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act\u2019s<\/strong> guidelines and entitlements.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Conclusion:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>NCST\u2019s intervention underscores the <strong>need to balance tiger conservation with tribal rights<\/strong>, ensuring that relocation policies comply with legal requirements.<\/li>\n<li>By engaging with NTCA, the Environment Ministry, and tribal representatives, NCST aims to <strong>create a fair relocation framework<\/strong> that respects both conservation goals and tribal communities\u2019 rights.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Q.1. What is the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST)?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The NCST is a constitutional body in India that works to protect the social, economic, educational, and cultural interests of Scheduled Tribes (STs).<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Q.2. What is the Forest Rights Act (FRA) 2006?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006 legally recognises the rights of forest-dwelling communities and tribal populations in India.<\/p>\n<p><strong>News:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/india\/village-relocation-tiger-reserve-national-commission-scheduled-tribes-ntca-9653193\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Scheduled Tribes panel to seek report from NTCA on villages\u2019 relocation from tiger reserves<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) responded to complaints against the National Tiger Conservation Authority\u2019s (NTCA) advisory requesting state forest departments to submit action plans for village relocations<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":43274,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-43273","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43273\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}