The Government may have established a migration commission to carry out academic exercises on the burning issue of migration but nothing concrete has been done to address the problem of damage caused to agriculture-the mainstay of mountain economy-by wild animals. The elected members of legislative assembly must spend a portion of their local area development fund on measures to tackle the human-wildlife conflict and provision of basic facilities in the rural areas. These views were expressed by activists and villagers at a meeting of the Gaon Bachao Andolan held here on Monday.
Himalayan Environmental Studies and Conservation Organisation (HESCO) founder Anil Prakash Joshi said that farming is the mainstay of mountain economy. It is wrong to say that farming is not a practical means of livelihood as it is quite economically viable in Uttarakhand.
But, about 65 per cent agriculture in the State is affected in one way or the other by wildlife causing 30 to 60 per cent damage.
Apart from discussion, the Government has not brought out any effective plan to tackle this situation. He said, “Focus of the MlAs needs to be elicited to ensure that a decent portion of the local area development funds is used for tackling the human-wildlife conflict and other issues in the villages. Out of the Rs 193 crore MlA lAD funds in 2017-18, about 88 per cent was not used till the end of 2017 with 21 MlAs not spending the fund at all. The Chief Minister himself spent only about 50 per cent of the fund. Damage caused to agriculture by wildlife is among the major reasons for people abandoning farming and migrating from the mountains.
On the one hand the authorities boast of increase in the big cat population but fail to take measures for tackling the human-wildlife conflict. We cannot simply blame the wildlife as humans too have encroached on their habitat.
The Government needs to ensure adequate food sources for the wildlife so that the wild animals do not venture to the villages in search of food. We will inform the government and MlAs about the decisions we take together here.”
Dhad organisation’s head Harshmani Vyas said that political parties should include the issue of human-wildlife conflict in their election manifesto.
Farmers from Almora, Uttarkashi and other parts of the state also shared their experiences and expressed their views in the meeting. Along with the farmers, activists too were of the opinion that arbitrary use of the MlA local area funds should be stopped.
Such ineffective use of funds meant for public welfare encourages corruption and threatens democracy, they opined. It was unanimously decided that meetings will be held in every district to decide the future course of action. letters will also be written to the chief minister and MlAs in this regard.
