Why is an international NGO targeting a wildlife park in Assam?

The wildlife park in question is the Kaziranga National Park cum Tiger Reserve in Assam.  This park is famous for the one-horned rhinoceros.  In the last few years, it has also been developed as a Tiger Reserve and has been quite successful in increasing the tiger population.

This is one of the few parks where the conservation policy has been successful and the authorities consequently has been justly very proud of its efforts.

The NGO targeting the park is the Survival International, based out of London describes itself on its website  as an international NGO which fights for ‘tribal peoples right’.

Survival international contacted the British Broadcasting Corporation  and the BBC  obliged and “commissioned an investigation”. 

According to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, the BBC  approached them for permission to film night patrols of forest guards in Kaziranga to highlight conservation efforts. The synopsis submitted to the ministry  suggested that the documentary film would be about a “story on challenges and expertise of India’s conservation drive. We would like to report on and feature what we consider the most exciting aspect of conservation in India – the elite rangers of Kaziranga as they go on night patrol and show our viewers the efforts being taken to protect wildlife in India.”

But the film, as shown on BBC on March 7^th was entirely different.  Titled ‘Our World : Killing for Conservation’,  it alleges a dark side to Kaziranga National Park’s success in conservation. It suggests that rangers are permitted to  ‘shoot at sight’, that local communities along the forest edges have been evicted and that there are incidences of torture and extra-judicial killings.  The forest officials along with the conservationists have been painted as villains, dislodging people who have resided in the forests for ages.

The tone of the commentator, Justin Rowlatt was partisan as well. While  he allowed Survival International to voice their views,  any facts which did not support his narrative was omitted.

An example shown in the documentary was that of Akash Orang who was shot accidentally in the leg for having trespassed into the park looking for his lost cows in July 2016.

The BBC documentary shows the shooting as an attempt at cold-blooded murder. But what they failed to show was that the incident occurred when Manas Bora, a forest guard at the Mihi Tongi anti-poaching camp, was trying to stop a rhino from entering the boy’s village near the camp. Also, to its credit, the forest department immediately took moral responsibility for the accident and suspended Bora and Anil Kalita, the camp in-charge, without delay. It also handed Bora over to the police, from where he was sent to judicial custody. And apart from expressing regret and ordering an official enquiry into the accident, the forest department also financed Akash Orang’s treatment at the hospital and assisted with post-treatment counselling.

On  the Survival International  website, Kaziranga is described as ‘ India’s infamous 'Shoot on Sight'  national park.’ It states that  innocent tribal people face being shot, beaten, tortured and killed at the hands of heavily armed park officials.

There are also allegations that the real poachers are the corrupt park officials conspiring with criminals. This is defamation and the Govt of India should definitely ask for an explanation.

Survival international is backed by a number of well known personalities like Noam Chomsky, international stars like Gillian Anderson and Mark Firth as well as Vandana Shiva from India.

Interestingly, the website does not mention any names of the members of the organisation simply saying that the staff remains ‘anonymous for their own safety’. Only the names of the President and the founder of the organisation  are mentioned.  The names of the sponsors and financial backers are also missing.

In response to the documentary, National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has issued an official memorandum recommending the "blacklisting" of BBC's South Asia correspondent, Justin Rowlatt for portraying the anit-poaching measure undertakne by the authorities in a negative light. The Indian government has also banned BBC from filming in any tiger reserve for five years.

Survival International has now asked many well known tour operators to boycott Kaziranga National Park. They have also sent out an  appeal to international tourists to avoid visiting the park and tiger resort.

Meanwhile, the Assam Environmental NGO Forum has expressed its deep concern about the ‘propaganda’ launched against Kaziranga national park. As reported in  The Assam Tribune  the NGO Forum has alleged that “Survival International was campaigning against Kaziranga either due to vested interests they may have to instigate rhino poaching in Kaziranga, or they were misled by some mischievous elements aiding illegal wildlife trade”.

They have said in a statement that ‘ Rhinos are being targeted by well-organized gangs of poachers having access to arms threatening not only the rhinos, but also the frontline forest guards patrolling day and night to protect the rhinos from becoming extinct to ensure that future mankind can see the rhinos alive.

Pointing out that poachers are being killed not just in Kaziranga National Park to protect precious wild animals, but across many protected areas in the world including countries like South Africaand Zimbabwe, the NGO Forum questioned why Survival International was targeting Kaziranga National Park alone.

“What is the motive of Survival International asking international tourists not to visit Kaziranga? Are they instigating rhino poaching in Kaziranga and for whose interest are they working for?” it asked.

  

 In Kaziranga, several other local organisations have also come forward to protest against  Survival international. Questions have come up regarding the circumstances under which the BBC journalist was allowed to take statements from the local people during the filming of the controversial documentary.

 It is clear that Survival International  and BBC had set out to  tarnish the Kaziranga park. The following points speak for themselves:

-          Survival International  requested BBC to make the film.

-          The BBC  submitted a false synopsis to get permission to make a documentary.

-          The documentary was aired without showing the film to a representative of the Government of India, in contravention of an undertaking provided by them.

-          Survival International is trying to prevent tourists from visiting to the park.

The question is why? Why should they do so?  What is the agenda behind it? And who is behind it all?

Some people around the Kaziranga park have said that it is a lesson for all of us and the government must be careful while dealing with any international organisation in future on such issues.

Hopefully , the Govt of India will be very careful while giving permission to international media to film  documentaries or make any program in India.