Indigenous Indian village dismantled in the name of tiger protection

France 24

3 days ago

'How is it that people believe that we are the ones destroying wildlife … when we have taken care of the forest for ages and believe wildlife is part of us?' says our Observer Shivu, who is a youth leader within the Jenu Kuruba, an Indigenous people in India. He says this is the paradox at the heart of the conflict between his village and those who run the tiger reserve in Nagarhole National Park in Karnataka state, southwest India.
Images sent to our team show men wearing the uniform of Karnataka police and Indian park rangers taking down a wooden shelter as several villagers protest. The incident took place the night of June 18, 2025, according to our Observer, who says that six large shelters – home to women and children – were destroyed.
The villagers are accused of illegally settling in the national park. But for Shivu, the reverse is true: he believes the Jenu Kuruba should never have been forcibly displaced in the 1980s, when his ancestors' village was moved to develop the Bengal tiger sanctuary in Nagarhole. Back then, there was nothing to protect the rights of his people, who, like many of India's tribal or Indigenous communities (also known as "Adivasis"), were forced to leave their land.
The Adivasis represent 8.6 percent of the Indian population overall, but make up 40 percent of forced displacements. Since 1947, more than 20 million Adivasis have been displaced to make way for development projects, including mining operations and the construction of roads and irrigation systems, along with the creation of national parks.
India's Forest Rights Act was introduced in 2006. The aim was to help right the wrongs of the past by protecting the rights of Indigenous or tribal minorities, including the need to obtain their permission in order to build on their land. The next year, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples strengthened these rights globally.
But though this legal framework exists, its respect and application remain precarious. Still, when Shivu and nearly 50 Jenu Kuruba families decided to return to and resettle in their ancestral village, Karadikallu Atturu Koli, last May, they based their actions on these laws. They began by seeking to bring proceedings against the Department of Forests, and when they didn't get a response, they decided to notify the government of their plans to settle there and move ahead with the action.
'We will live on this land or we will die on this land'
However, since their return, the situation has become tense between the village and the park authorities, who want to push them back out.
In a letter to the Forest Department, 70 local organisations standing in solidarity with the Jenu Kuruba denounce the presence of "over 120 paramilitary troops of the Forest Department, the State police, and the Special Tiger Protection Force (STPF) [that] have been deployed to intimidate members of the Jenu Kuruba tribe, with threats to forcibly evict them.'
On June 18, 2025, after the Jenu Kuruba did not comply with the Forest Department's demand that they leave, the security forces attacked their homes. Shivu told us more:
'There were children, there were women, there were elderly people who were sleeping.
We told [the security forces] that it's monsoon time and it's going to rain, and a lot of us might fall sick. It's against human rights if you take out these shelters, but they just did not listen, and they took away all the things that they destroyed.
There is a situation of fear for families and children. They might come again and forcefully evict us, but we have also decided that come what may, we will live on this land or we will die on this land.'
Shivu had not yet been born when his family was forced to leave their home in the name of the conservation of the Bengal tiger, a threatened species. For several generations, the families from his village worked in neighbouring coffee fields, returning every once in a while to their former home for religious ceremonies, such as holidays and funerals.
The park authorities say that the village of Karadikallu Atturu Koli never existed, but Shivu said that he has discovered some vestiges. He also says that his people have been taking care of wild animals for generations:
'If we had not thought that animals, forest, and wildlife are equals, would they have seen tigers at all today? We don't see wild animals and the forest as part of our self-pleasure. It is not for extracting profit. It's because we think they are part of us.
All of this was done without the consent of our people. So how can this be called a tiger reserve? This is our home, our ancestral land.'
'It is about money and tourism, more than it is about the protection of the forest and the wildlife'
The Jenu Kuruba constantly come up against the same argument from the forest authorities, who say that human presence hurts flora and fauna. And yet, many tourists come to the Nagarhole reserve.
Sophie Grig is the Asia Campaigns Director with the NGO Survival International, which fights for the rights of tribal people. She says the situation in Nagarhole is a form of "green colonialism', a term theorised to define a particular approach to conservation during the colonial era in Africa:
'This is in the colonial model of fortress conservation. It's a model that basically says, 'We need to protect these areas for animals and wildlife,' which means, 'We have to kick out the Indigenous people who live there.'
The mentality of the conservation business is, 'We are the experts from outside and we know best, and these people are backward and primitive, and they cannot be trusted with the forest; they will cut it down.' That's always been the argument. But at the same time, they welcome tourists. A lot of it is about money and tourism, more than it is about the protection of the forest and the wildlife.
Because [tourists] have been programmed to expect these places to be empty of people, they complain if they see a cow or a goat or a village because it's not what they're expecting. We see the same in Africa.'
In India, more than 600,000 people who lived in the forests have been displaced so that reserves or national parks can be set up. These expulsions, which began with the adoption of the national policy of conserving the tiger back in 1973, continue all these years later. A 2024 report counts more than 550,000 people who were evicted from the country's 55 reserves by the authorities working on tiger conservation in 2021 alone.
The Nagarhole tiger reserve and the Indian Forest Department did not respond to our request for interview. However, on its website, the reserve mentions the rehabilitation of 45 tribal sites.
According to Survival International, the government committee that's charged with deciding whether or not the forest rights will be recognised rejected the request to resettle Shivu's village on May 22. The Jenu Kuruba have 60 days to appeal the decision.
'It's a violation of the forest rights that they tried to kick them out and dismantle their houses while this appeal process is still ongoing,' Grig said. 'Every step of the way, the Jenu Kuruba's rights have been violated.'